Barking Spiders

During lockdown I've spent quite a bit of time checking out what are claimed to be 'greatest' basslines to see which are worth adding to my repertoire. Some are right-on the money and deserve their reps. Others leave me thinking, 'really?!!' Among those leaving me a tad underwhelmed is 'Orion' by Metallica, which I believe is meant to have cemented Cliff Burton's place in basstory. I'm not saying there's owt wrong with it but I don't see why it often appears is best basslines lists. Another One Bites The Dust is also often mentioned yet it's derivative of Good Times. On the other hand I never see the lines to Party Fears 2 or Club Country by The Associates mentioned yet these are worthy of any greatest bassline list. Feel free to be outraged etc 😊

I got dragged along to see the Stereophonics at some festival. Absolutely charisma-free and no communication with the crowd. Boring as f***. Terrible band. Remember, around the same time many people were castigating the organisers of the Cheltenham Gold Cup festival for going ahead with covid spreading, the Stereos snuck in under the radar and did a stadium gig in Cardiff!

They sure are. Definitely my fave funk band ever. If there's any one player who I'd point to and say that's how to play slap bass in a funk band it's Big Tony Fisher.

I've got that one and very good it is too. I'm a big slap fan but I get exasperated with all these 'professional' bedroom slappers on their YT channels who seem more focused on showing off their machine gun thumbing and fitting in as many ghost notes as possible. Problem is they don't seem to know how to create a groove.

When you're going through their back catalogue, don't forget the first class The War Room EP. Yep, live they always deliver. Very good at festivals.

I would never like Kiss in a zillion years but I have a pathological dislike of them largely because of Gene Simmons who's a sexist, materialistic, greedy, Trump supporting, arrogant tool. If it wasn't for him I'd just have a neutral attitude towards the band.

IMO the best example of how to play a tasteful slap bass solo is by Louis Johnson on the Brother's Johnson's Stomp. It's to the point, it's not excessive and it's played with skill and taste.

An excellent and underrated act. Good live too. At the moment I'm working so have got 76:14 by Global Communication providing a nice backdrop

Fair enough people, that's what I wanted to know. Funk is a fave genre of mine though there are many songs I think could've been improved if slap had been used instead of fingerstyle, to give them some welly. E.g Hollywood Swinging by Kool and the Gang and Get Down Tonight by KC and the Sunshine Band. Of course there are other tunes where fingerstyle is the best method such as on Tower of Power's What Is Hip. Slap wouldn't work there at all.

I know there are lot of BCers who say they hate slap bass but don't say why. For my money at the highest level it's the most challenging technique to master. Is it because haters don't like funk and so have a thing against slap n' pop or have they only heard it in rock songs where it might be inappropriate? Is it because they've heard it (badly) overplayed in guitar stores? Thing is most well known players (within the bass world) have different approaches e.g. Marcus Miller's style differs from Louis Johnson's so it's understandable if people like one player's approach over another's.

Actually, covid will last forever, just as viruses have from previous pandemics. As with the flu pandemics of 1957-58 (Asian), 1967-68 and 1969/70 (Hong Kong) and 2009 (swine) , covid should attenuate and become part of the 'season'. On the other hand it isn't an influenzavirus and may constantly keep mutating and so it'll become impossible to find a vaccine, as is the case with the common cold. Scientists in China have discovered over 30 different strains of covid-19! Pandemics last a long time. The Spanish flu lasted 36 months. The Asian flu (est 2 million deaths) lasted about 2 years and the Hong Kong one (about 1 million worldwide) subsided in 1968 only to return a year later. Seems to me too many people still think this is 'just a flu virus' , strangely unaware that even a 'normal' flu epidemic is a major killer of the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

Yup, in a nutshell most bands should've probably stuck to making singles and putting out hits compilations and live albums. For my money The Who, Rolling Stones, Queen, Kinks , Eagles, Blondie, Quo and many more besides made better singles than studio albums.

Any non-essential sectors of the economy will be hit very hard this year. Unless they've got robust online markets, I cant imagine many music gear retailers surviving beyond the year end. After all, things hadn't been good anyway with many music stores having disappeared.

The live music circuit has been on its knees for quite some time anyway. In Cheltenham , fr'instance, I know of around a dozen venues in the town centre that disappeared before covid came along. As others have said, how would any pub be able to maintain 2m between punters? People have to accept that in the 'new normal' a lot of industries will either no longer exist or be in much-reduced formats. This includes pubs and brewing. The British Beer and Pub Association has recently said that without government support 40% of pubs could be gone by september.

Hugely impressive technical skill but would I want to listen to it for pleasure more than once ? Not really.

One of my fave acts from that era and their singles all still stand up well today. Shame quite a number of people have fvcked over some of their best songs e.g. that bluddy terrible version of Everybody ..by Lorde.

yup!

Even the most die-hard fans of certain bands would have to admit most of their albums are pretty samey and that one or two is all casual fans might need. So, to BC hardcore fans of such bands , what would you recommend to casual punters who might quite like some of their of their stuff. Kicking off with some from my CD collection... ZZ Top - the 2CD Rancho Texicano, with 38 songs from across their career to 2004, this has all their best stuff though there are skippable tunes Quo - some bands are just better live than in the studio and IMO the Live album from SQs 'classic' line-up trumps their other stuff. All the tunes have more muscle than the studio originals. AC/DC - like Quo's Live, 'If You Want Blood' is 1000 x better than anything they did in the studio. I'm definitely in the Bon Scott camp Motorhead - You'll Get Yours single best of CD. I got this as it has Ace of Spades, Bomber, Overkill, Motorhead and Please Don't Touch. Don't have much time for the post Fast Eddie and Philthy Animal era. Foo Fighters - In Your Honour CD1, cracking rockier side but IMO the acoustic CD is a bit meh. Ramones - the singles were where this lot were at and TBH the first Mania comp has all the good bits Slayer - the obvious choice really. Don't think you'll find much argument Rage Against The Machine - love their rap-rock sound but the debut is really the only 'essential' the other albums are paler imitations

While they're somewhat predictable in an AC/DC and Status Quo kinda way they , like those bands they're beyond criticism inasmuch as they have a sense of humour and don't take themselves seriously. That said I find a good hits compilation is all the casual 'fan' really needs.

It's allowed me to spout all manner of gibberish without being censored 😁

Bland? Then what does that make Coldplay, Keane and Travis? I started watching this as a confirmed neutral. Admittedly, I could do without the slower tunes featuring guess singers but the uptempo numbers more than make up for it though I do enjoy the accapella routine. The sheer fun these guys are having is infectious.

some irritating kid next door who's been kicking a football against a wall for about 4 hours now

Controversial I know but hey I'm a rock n'roll kinda guy who kicks against the establishment. btw as a non-angler I never knew there were even two ways to thread a fishing rod let alone 8!

#1 teal #2 vermilion #3 forest green... ...#98 black #99 turquoise #100 ecru

Very sad to hear this and he died from covid too. The Stranglers are one of 3 or 4 bands I've stayed with all my music listening life. Other than JJ's bass it was Dave's keyboard playing that largely set them apart from the herd.