EssentialTension

[quote name='daz' timestamp='1347643920' post='1803615'] Ah ya bunch a wimps! I've eat me dinner off worse than that. [/quote] It looks like someone did eat their dinner off it.

[quote] [font="Arial"][size="4"] Maybe some of the bits are genuine , but maybe not .[/size][/font] [font="Arial"][size="4"] This was the preferred set up of norman wattroy from the blockheads[/quote][/size][/font] [font="Arial"][size="4"]Huh![/size][/font]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1347399907' post='1800427'] James Jamerson - a noted upright and fretted Precision bass player, is reputed to have thrown a fretless Precision at the wall of the Motown studio, after using it for a session. Not precise enough, perhaps [/quote] [quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1347516178' post='1801812'] I'm pretty sure the reputed bass was a Fender Bass V and not a fretless P. [/quote] I've seen the story told in that way too, and told it myself. [quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1347561385' post='1802516'] ... To clarify the Jamerson reference, it was the fretless Precision (ref is Standing in the Shadows of Motown - Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson) - it refers to him having played the fretless on the Supremes 'Someday, We'll Be Together' - it's actually a quote from keyboard player Earl Van Dyke who said he almost threw it at the wall and said "don't you ever let me play this piece of sh*t again". Presumably didn't work how he wanted. [/quote] That certainly sounds a reliable source for the throwing incident but the text doesn't actually say it was a fretless Precision: [quote]On a few rare sessions, James experimented a bit with a Hagstrom 8-string, an early Fender 5-string, and a fretless bass, but the results were usually unsatisfactory. (Earl Van Dyke recalled that James played the fretless on the Supremes' "Someday We'll Be Together" and almost threw it against the wall .... (pp85-86)[/quote]

4 ..... ..... that's it.

[quote name='Johngh' timestamp='1347557282' post='1802448'] ... Old men trying to re-live past glory's [/quote] More glorious than old, I'd say. Anyway, short of an attack of straightforward ageism, I don't see why musicians shouldn't be allowed to take to the stage whatever their age. If 'old' upsets you then don't watch or listen.

Faces used to cover it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lkPTrhFC8Q

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1347478237' post='1801478'] Cant say I remember the name, I remember The Jameson Raid though. I'd stopped playing by mid 77 . Barrell Organ was a good gig on a Saturday night, even if you did have to pay to use their house PA. [/quote] I'm certain we used our own PA at The Barrel Organ. Our sound guy was called Wally and he went on to be keyboard tech for Kerry Minnear in Gentle Giant. After Mr Downchild split, the PA became Pangolin PA Hire. [quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1347478237' post='1801478'] Was it like the Rebeccas/Barbs deal we got offered, You got Barbs on a Sunday night as long as you did Rebeccas for half the fee ? I wont mention the [s]price [/s]pittance they were offering, but the rest band I was with at the time, The Remoulds, wouldnt do it for the price, which is one of the reasons I quit. They werent from brum so didnt understand. i'd seen so many class acts at Barbs, that I woulkd almost have paid them. wasnt so keen on doing Rebeccas though. [/quote] I can't recall the Barbarellas or Rebeccas deal at all or how much we got paid. In fact, I cant remember how much we were getting paid at any gigs at that time. Though I do remember that any money got spent on beer (and other stuff), petrol, and on more equipment and with that band I was playing a Precision bass and HH amps and Electrovoice 1x15s and later a Hiwatt 2x15.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1347444304' post='1800776'] C'mon, which one ? I might remember you. Pity it doesnt go back a year or two earlier. Pre punk Barbarellas was a geat venue for the time. [/quote] OK, Mr Downchild, Barbarellas, Sun Aug 21, 1977. We played there a few times including the following Saturday 27th. That listing has The Slits on the 27th but, IIRC, we were playing The Barrel Organ in Digbeth when the landlord got a call from Eddie Fewtrell (or one of his mignons) saying he'd sacked The Slits and could we do Barbarellas after we finished at The Barrel Organ, which we did. The five piece Mr Downchild didn't last long after that gig and three of us went on to become The Kidneys. We are also on the menu for Rebeccas ([url="http://birminghammusicarchive.com/rebeccas/"]http://birminghammus...e.com/rebeccas/[/url] - although named as Down Child). We're sandwiched between Blondie and Jamerson Raid. I remember playing the same bill as Jamerson Raid a couple of times with a previous band (probably Nimrod) and there being some handbags backstage about who was going on first. The Rebeccas flyer also lists Ricky Cool & the Icebergs who had the Saturday residency at The Barrel Organ before Mr Downchild took it over. On the list for 7th June 1977 at Barbarellas is The Jam - that was SIlver Jubilee day.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1347382104' post='1800042'] just spotted this. Although i was at a fair few of them. why anyone would bother to compile a list like that I cant imagine. Rest of the sites got good bits. [url="http://birminghammusicarchive.com/memories-of-brum-gigs-77-79-where-you-there/"]http://birminghammus...here-you-there/[/url] [/quote] I was at a many of those gigs and at least one of them is a band I was in.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347349542' post='1799538'] The difference between a technician and a musician perhaps? [/quote] [quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347357257' post='1799656'] I wasn't being derogatory, just trying to distinguish between musicians who are primarily players rather than composers. [/quote] So, it seems possible that you are claiming that only composers are musicians.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347357257' post='1799656'] I wasn't being derogatory, just trying to distinguish between musicians who are primarily players rather than composers. [/quote] ... and which of those was Stravinsky?

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1347315005' post='1799348'] Amongst other music that I play I also play for a local morris team. Much of the music is in G or E minor. I tend to play at the bottom of the register because that way I keep out of the way of the bass end of the squeezeboxes and of the guitar. Going down to D would be really useful. I know I can get a bass with a D extension but I'm not in that sort of market (or price range) so the question is has anyone tried dropping the E string to D? If so, did it work? I'm currently using Spirocore mediums. Thanks, Steve [/quote] I'm using Spirocore Lights and I inadvertantly tuned to D-G-C-A. It sounded fine and I thought my fingers had got really strong - until I realised.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1347283134' post='1798779'] [url="http://www.monsterstudios.co.uk/"]This [/url]is the very best rehearsal studio I have ever used. They have very very clean and tidy air conditioned spaces to use. The guitar amps and drum kits are OK, the bass amps are a massive let down for me however (but I am a total snob) so I take my rig. They sell cold drinks, strings/sticks/fast fret whatever you damn well need to keep going. They are very friendly, but take the money up front (and why not, seems reasonable to me) with a very strict cancellation poilcy (again so they should!). They have a bright white light in each room which they turn on from the counter 10 minutes before the session ends to let you know its time to wind it up and get out for the next band, asystem that workds very very well indeed! If I could change anything it would be to improve the bass amps and cabs - but then I would say that! [/quote] I like Monster too. Its only problem for me is it has too few rooms and so it can be difficult to get a room when you want one.

They remind me of the Pompidou Centre in Paris:

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1347295403' post='1798971'] I wonder how many other well known sessioneers couldn't/can't read notation......Jamerson,Dunn? ... [/quote] Dunn was self-taught, so likely he didn't read. Jamerson learned upright bass in school, so likely he did read at least to a degree.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1347294104' post='1798943'] What i find quite interesting is how a top session player can't read music. Not that there is a problem with that, it's just you can encounter quite a lot of snobbery from session players who read towards those who can't. I've seen it on here, people going on about how in the 'real world' of gigs you need to read, no tab etc, i've witnessed it whilst on gigs towards those who can't....quite sad. So it's good to now some of the very best don't/can't. [/quote] ... but, as Palladino himself pointed out in the interview, if it was a reading session he wouldn't have got the job.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1347285783' post='1798808'] Agreed, and its been multicultural since the industrial revolution. But where the luftwaffe failed in the 40s, the town planners obliterated most of the architechture in the 60s, just 15 years later, and replaced it wit the soulless concrete that you see in the - mid 70s ? - Telly Savalas film. Then demolished most of it again, and replaced it with either more concrete boxes, or tacky cheapo looking eyesores like Selfridges, which looks like its made of old hubcaps and is already looking old and tattered, you have to admit its unusual to rebuild on that scale after just 40 years. [/quote] Yes, here's Chamberlain's Central Library of 1882: ... and here's what replaced it in 1974: ... which is itself now being replaced:

[quote name='Ruiner' timestamp='1347121191' post='1797198'] I recently bought one of the string through body Japanese RI Mustangs and I'm having a nightmare trying to find strings that both fit and intonate correctly (short scale strings too short, regular scale don't seem to intonate properly) After following the advice in this thread, [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f16/share-what-strings-do-do-not-fit-**-intonate-fender-mustang-reissue-758438/"]http://www.talkbass....reissue-758438/[/url] I bought a set of medium scale D'Addario's (EXL160M) but the E string tapers in front of the nut Does the E string taper look a bit on the short side to anyone else (compared to the A and D strings) making this a one off dodgy set or am I back to square one with my search? Any advice greatly appreciated. [/quote] I've never used a Mustang but I believe the Thomastik Jazz Flat 324 set fit, so you're probably right to be looking at medium scale.

Tanglewood do mini electric guitars.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347211592' post='1798090'] Ah, but that's a government-funded propaganda service merely delivered by the BBC - or was, until a recent budget review, I seem to recall, where the BBC itself has to pay for the operating costs now. Whatever, it's still a government thing [/quote] The World Service is funded by the Foreign Office but from 2014 it will be hypothetically from the licence fee. BBC Worldwide sells BBC programming on a profit basis to boost income - presumably they might be trying to sell The One Show.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347210090' post='1798064'] Well, if viewers in other countries would like to buy a UK televisions licence and thus contribute to BBC funding . . . . . . [/quote] Fair point but then again listeners abroad don't need a licence for the BBC World Service.

[quote name='spinynorman' timestamp='1347208792' post='1798041'] Fair point. I'm a southerner by birth, but have lived and worked in and around Brum since my first job in 1973, so I almost feel like I belong... [/quote] I was born in Birmingham but left when I was 35 so you've been there longer than I was.

[quote name='spinynorman' timestamp='1347208068' post='1798030'] I suppose the classic is Hey Joe, claimed by Tim Rose and half a dozen other people, none of whom seem to be able to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. [/quote] The copyright to [i]Hey Joe[/i] was registered in the US in 1962 with composer [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Roberts"]Billy Roberts[/url]: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Joe"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Joe[/url]

Completely missed this thread till today, absolutely fantastic work.

La Bella 760N Black Nylons