silverfoxnik

Apologies 🙏😁

@lowdown... I'm just curious how you would determine talent? As for the source of McCartney's reputed musical genius, I doubt it came from any divine intervention - more like a combination of some fortuitous circumstances in his early life, plus inate musical instinct and ability, plus a lot of hard work and an ability to focus on what he wanted to achieve...

Just bought some great headphones from Patrick, who's been a pleasure to deal with from start to finish! Great comms, super-fast shipping and as I said, really good headphones. Highly recommended! 👍 Thanks Patrick - I'm really pleased with the Audio Technica h/phones and hope to deal with you again. 😊 Cheers Nik

Well said @Dad3353 She is one the few artists who's work and career arc (for want of a better phrase) have had that sort of spellbinding power over us mere mortals.. I used to have a book years ago called - I think - 'The Craft of Lyric writing', or something like that anyway... It was a great book, full of fascinating analysis and insight into the craft of lyric writing in popular music..and it had sections on writers like Dylan, The Beatles, Cole Porter etc, etc.. But the author reserved their absolute highest praise for Joni Mitchell, saying that she was just on another level to everyone else. As the years have gone by, I'm more and more convinced that the author was 100% correct. Joni Mitchell is the greatest storytelling songwriter of the last 50 years...

Yep, me too 👍 Used to cover this in a band I was in a few years ago.. We did a mash-up of the original version and Carleen Anderson's cover of it , and it was great fun to play!

Can't agree at all with @Nail Soup @PaulWarning @neilp or @TheLowDown, but hey - that's the joy of good, honest debate here on Basschat... 😁 Only my opinion of course, but Eleanor Rigby (amongst many of McCartney's other songs) is a work of absolute genius. No doubting the stunning foresight and incredible contribution of George Martin of course, and the very different, complimentary genius of John Lennon, but McCartney's place as one of the very, very best songwriters of the 20th century, is absolutely assured. In addition, his bass playing contribution is right up there too and as if that isn't enough, in 2010, he was ranked No. 11 on the Rolling Stone Magazine '100 Greatest Singers of All Time'.

Great stuff there @chris_b! I really like his tone, as well as what he plays too... And that band - they're absolutely rockin'. 👍👌😊

Wow! 😱

I'm in agreement with you on this point... Only my observation of course, but I'd say that here on Basschat, Macca isn't talked about quite as often and/or in quite the same reverential tones as the other bassists you've cited above . Is that because he isn't recognised as having raised the bar for bass? Probably.. Do I agree with that? No... My personal view is that he did raise the bar for bass, bringing far more creativity, and melodic invention to bear in a catalogue of (brilliant) pop songs than some of his contemporaries might otherwise have done.

Just Googled it.. Wow - I didn't know that!! 👍

Sounds good - I've a fair few Adam stories to share too! 👍😊

Ah, cool.. It was a great little venue back in the day! I played The Moonlight myself many times and also saw U2, Adam and The Ants, Monochrome Set there amongst many others... Eventually, the Decca Records site was taken over by English National Opera and I spent a lot of time there too as my then other half worked for them - in fact she still does all these years later.

Definitely - those were good days for sure! Do you mean West End Lane as in West Hampstead? If so, then that's yet more nostalgia for me. I used to spend a lot of my time there at The Railway Tavern and The Moonlight Club... I always thought Barson was a genius of a songwriter - 'My Girl's Mad At Me' being a case in point... As good as anything by Sting, Squeeze, Elvis Costello and other contemporary post-punk songwriters..