BassTractor

Yeah, I thought I ordered the INVINCIBLE bass, but auto-correct won. (Seriously though, it's a phase. I fully intend to buy a bass again.)

Update time! . . . . . (Yup! 😢) 😁

BTW, I checked the MM site, and they still offer the FFA Sterling model in a few colours. Sorry my previous post was naming it as a historic model. Something tells me it now looks a bit different than the original one, but I may be wrong again. I seem to remember people saying it was MM's "Jazz" if the StingRay was the "Precision" - probably due to its neck. I'd read up on it before ordering, as I think it's a more divisive model than the StingRay - though not as divisive as the Bongo.

Again, at 1,700 quid, he is most probably not talking about a Sterling by Music Man or similar, a set of cheapish brands, but about a historic model called Music Man Sterling (which I believe they brought back a few years ago too - haven't seen them though). The brands were named after that model, and the model was probably named after Sterling Ball, son of Ernie. This is what was meant above with "full-fat American", as this model was 100% San Luis Obispo, so to speak.

Don't know the answer to the question, but do know my '95 model 5H was the best bass I've owned, and five or six of them were Music Man Bongos and StingRays. No worries, AFAICS.

Plus one, despite the provable differences between them. Back then, what they offered to me personally was a technical achievement and a promise more than an actual musical instrument. I'm aware gazillions of synth enthusiasts vehemently disagree, but to me as a synth lover, synth owner and synth teacher, the analogue polyphonic synth didn't offer the flexibility of the monophonic ones, and didn't offer the sound quality in chords that other instruments like a Hammond or a Rhodes offered. It al became a bit samey, and it grinded my gears for a large part - though not always.

London Calling is great though: it's the album that taught us that late Renaissance opera is punk too! 😁

To me the pattern seems to be he does this mainly on Fridays. A workweek of constructive posts, and on Fridays a drawer opens in more than one meaning... Maybe @ped can add a little script to the site filtering his posts based on day of the week. 😁 As to double albums, Tales from Topographic Oceans is the first to come to mind as a DON'T, but that is also because my brain is used to its being mentioned and because after Close to the Edge it was a real wtf moment. I struggle with parts of it to this day (the bits that seem lacking in purpose, as if they have no clue and think that not moving will eventually reveal direction to them), BUT I think that compositionally it's slightly more coherent than often given credit for. Also, disliking side three from day one, after enough exposure it now probably is my fave whole side, though I love bits from other sides more.

Tangentially, I didn't get "In a Silent Way", but "Bïtches Brew" sat immediately and 'explained' the former to me. Later, my composition teacher told me how he didn't get "Bïtches Brew", but "In a Silent Way" sat immediately and 'explained' BB to him. Funny how these things go. BTW, because of this thread, I played tDSotM again, and it still 'does' absolutely nothing for me - exactly like the very first time I heard it when we had a gathering for listening concentratedly to it when it just had been released. Then, I didn't make it to the end, and today I had to force myself to make it.

The Ugly: ProMusicTools in Munich. They have Music Man Premier Dealer Network status and thus can sell some exclusive stuff. They keep a high price profile, which is OK for me (but then I expect something for my money). They sell me a lim.ed. Bongo, and pack it, in a way too roomy Fender box, so badly it gets damaged during transport. Seeing the outer damage, I document the whole unpacking process, and send them the pics. They accept my claim. I tell them: rather than sending it back to them, I'll take the dents and paint damage on the chin, and will solder in a new pot myself if they just send me a new little pot or the info I need to order a pot myself. More than a whole year and several friendly and eventually polite mails later, I still haven't received a pot. I have not received the info I need to order the right pot myself. Then, probably in an attempt to shift the blame away from themselves, and maybe to protect Music Man (who I guess didn't send the pot), they start blaming me for the whole thing. I tell them I will officially complain about them to Music Man. Suddenly a pot arrives... The Bad: A local high street firm who are importer for Camps classical guitars. I buy a thin Camps from them and they are to order a thin case for it. Many years later, and lots of clear but friendly to and fro, there's still no case around my guitar. At one point they tell me a bad worker was fired, and the future looks bright. I see no difference. I just see a lousy yellow sticky notes system. The Good: John East and Bass Direct - with the usual service: very knowledgeable and very willing to share and to cater for the customer's needs. Also: Ashdown. Every time time I've had to contact them I received service over and above what I expected. Way over. Still they always left me with the feeling I could've received even more. Then it dawned on me: they were giving a slice of my service to @TheGreek. 😡 😁

@Dad3353, @Woodinblack etc. People's comments on the offtopicness notwithstanding, I've now been able to listen to that Bailey vid with the dancer that @Leonard Smalls posted. Worthless shïte! Anybody can do that! He's taking the Mickey! 😁 Seriously: I can hear absolutely nothing of value to me here, except maybe the obvious shamisen reference. It's also not the Derek Bailey as I remember him from 35 or 40 years ago, if that makes sense. My point remains: a Yes album you don't like is not necessarily without value. A Bach fugue you don't like is not necessarily a worthless composition. Etc. etc. Only blues music is worthless. 😁

@Woodinblack, my beef is not with some saying Bailey has no value TO THEM. My beef is with people saying he has no value full stop. An average Swedish "dansband" musician (simplistic three-chord music, IMHO without any redeeming originality) stating that Bach has no value whatsoever is very different to the same musician saying he doesn't like Bach, or that Bach doesn't give him anything. I guess in this, we're on the same side.

My guess is there is no link. At least in my days, he was famously wary of playing other stuff in front of audiences or microphones. But in a room with a few other musicians, he'd do it. As to the "better", I was tired and sleepy, and couldn't find a better word. See my post about pyramids above. Just because one doesn't like something, that something isn't necessarily below one's own level. Picasso's another good example. No, not everyone "can do that". People not being able to discern between a kid's drawing and Picasso think so, but they're wrong. They basically are unable and unaware (Dunning-Kruger effect), and deem themselves "better" in that they are smart and see through the smokescreen. Nope. They're unable, and they are arrogant. Not that they can be blamed for this.

Thanks for responding, Dad. I have no problem at all with "it's not for me" attitudes and posts. I do admittedly have a problem with "anybody can do this" and "taking the mickey" attitudes and posts. Some time ago, I relayed how both B.B. King and a famous Norse traditional folk musician expressed basically the same story: when their fans asked them what they themselves were inspired by, and they answered faithfully, those fans would respond: "What? That's not blues/tradfolk!". They both told the interviewer: "but it is! It's just more demanding, and it doesn't inspire the people who listen to me, but it does inspire me." IOW here as in other segments of life, there are pyramids, if you will, in understanding and being inspired by etc, and B.B. King and that Norseman both reckoned there were people they could learn something from within the styles they themselves were famous for, but whose music would be a bit demanding for their own fans. To me this sounds not only reasonable but obvious. I for one am not inspired by Riemann setting up a few hypotheses. I was inspired by my secondary school math teacher. No way though I'll ever say that anybody can do what Riemann did, and that he was taking the mickey. BTW, people did exactly the latter when Einstein proposed his stuff. BTW, my laptop still only gives me sound maybe once every 20 days, so I've not heard the youtube vids posted earlier. Maybe I'd agree he's taking the mickey in one of those. Can't imagine it though. I believe Bailey was a very serious person - to the degree that being together with him wasn't that much fun.

@Dad3353 and others, I don't know how serious people's comments on Derek Bailey are, but just in case: Bailey famously could play any style a lot better than almost anyone. I've heard him do some of it. He was a monster. It just so happened that he preferred playing his style. He knew exactly what he was doing, and taking the mickey was not part of it. He was also able to hear people play, also within his often ridiculed style, and on the spot analyse what they'd done and exactly how that was weak or strong. I've never met anyone as capable as he was, and I've met dozens of the very best musicians on the planet. You may not like what he did, but I guarantee you that's not because you're somehow "better" or "more musical" than he was. There are many mediocre people on this planet. Bailey was not one. Rant over.