Old Man Riva

It’s great, isn’t it! I wish someone could/would have explained the line to me when it came out - I nearly mangled my fingers trying to learn it and still didn’t get anywhere near! If I’m honest it was only after watching the pdbass video I learned how the intro was played, with the pull-offs and hammer-ons!

… funnily enough this popped up the other day. I subscribe to the guy’s channel (pdbass) - his breakdown/appreciation of various players and tracks is always interesting (though some of the titles can be a bit clickbait-y!). This appraisal of Nick Beggs/Too Shy is well worth a watch.

It’s a rock ‘n’ roll morning, and I don’t think it gets much better than Bon era AC/DC (not a fan of the Brian Johnson era). Saw them at Cov Theatre in 1978 and to this day it’s still one of the best gigs I’ve seen. Sadly this wasn’t in the set but it’s one of my favourite tracks of theirs. This features the bluesy outro, which didn’t appear on the vinyl version at the time, and does sound a little odd (or maybe it’s what you get used to?). Anyway, over to Bon…

Did it sound, erm, ‘loud ‘n’ proud’ though?!

Charlie Mingus wrote him a letter endorsing his/this version. Probably doesn’t get much better than that… And then there’s this thing of genius and beauty…

Jan Hammer Group. It’s Thundercat, thirty-odd years before Thundercat…

Amen, brother…

I know I’ve posted previously and waxed lyrical about Be Bop Deluxe and the wonderful bassist Charlie Tumahai, and make no apologies about doing so again! As a kid I was lucky enough to see the band a couple of times in the late 70s at at Cov Theatre, and seeing Charlie (and also Norman Watt-Roy with Ian Dury & the Blockheads) was really my first exposure to what I’d call at the time, ‘funky bass’ (double stops, and all that!). Live in the Air Age was a big album for me when I was young (still is), it was really inspiring. As I recall, Shine wasn’t actually on the 12” album but was included as part of a 7” disc that came with the record (I could have this wrong?!). Anyway, here’s Bill, Charlie and the gang…

This is where the fretless Alembic ended up - not owned by the player in the clip, (Nashville session guy) Tony Lucido, but by Jim Irsay (owner of the Indianapolis Colts). Irsay is a big music fan, with a few bob to spend putting on shows and the like (that he often gets to perform at himself!). The clip, btw, is from Tom Bukovac’s (first-call Nashville session guitarist) YouTube channel, which is well worth a watch as he’s fine fine player and all round musician…

Bought a wonderful Moollon P from Ed. Straightforward and easy comms throughout, and Ed kindly put the bass on hold until I could come over and try it, which I really appreciated. Ed is a lovely guy, an absolute pleasure to deal with and a fine BC member…

Enjoyed that. Not heard it before. Steely Dan (Aja) as the main sample?

Just bought a lovely Lakland P Bass from Brian. Nice and easy communication throughout, and ended up visiting Brian at his home in Shropshire to try/collect the bass where I was made to feel really welcome - spending a couple of hours discussing football and music in the process! Buy with confidence from Brian, he’s a pleasure to deal with…

… on a related (ish) theme - early 70s P Basses - Stacey’s have a music and entertainment auction scheduled for next Tuesday. According to the catalogue there’s a ‘74 Precision listed. Not sure how these things work but thought it worth a mention.

The finish of the Sean Hurley P Bass in the pic is Charcoal Frost. It’s such a lovely colour - to me, anyway! It’s lightly reliced, where there is checking on some of the finish but all the paint was/is fully intact - any subsequent wear (where the finish has disappeared) has come from myself. The back of the neck on mine wasn’t reliced but it’s started to wear (from around the third to fifth frets) through playing. A few more pics…

Similar here. I’ve a couple of CS Precisions and a CS Jazz (all bought off here, funnily enough!) and they’re fabulous instruments - from a build, sound and playability perspective. I can’t praise them enough. The prices for newer ones (and secondhand ones in various bass shops) do appear to have risen significantly over the past couple of years, but private sales (and Basschat marketplace, obviously) can throw up some excellent basses for not-too-outlandish prices. Don’t think I’d be minded to shell out for a new one, mind, especially when there are some excellent used CS basses for sale out there. Here’s a CS (Sean Hurley) P Bass alongside an original ‘66 Jazz!

I seem to recall once reading/hearing that the same person was responsible for both the bass intro and the guitar solo! Tonka was also frustrated that George Martin faded quite a bit of the end solo out - never argue with the legendary Mr Martin!

Great advice. Absolutely spot on…

Segs from The Ruts. Just one proper album (The Crack) but his playing is superb throughout. There was also a track (Demolition Dancing) recorded after the debut album that hinted at further excellent things to come, where his bass is just this driving relentless tour de force. One of my favourite players. Him and Ruffy were a fabulous rhythm section… Could also add Horace Panter and Norman Watt Roy - more than the one album, but still a relatively small body of work?

Kevsy71 of this parish once sent me this link off the back of a Roxy discussion - well worth a read… https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/people-drifted-off-bryan-ferry-on-roxy-music-s-many-bass-players-28139/ (apologies, I don’t know how to get it to, erm, link?!)

It certainly was a lovely bass! But as you say, probably not £8k worth of nice…

Aged ice blue metallic 1970s P bass with Jazz neck in Peach Guitars?

Kamasi Washington - Vi Lua Vi Sol, and Truth…