Indeed, that great 'orchestral' arrangement by Mansfield and production by Mike Smith making for a superior cover of the original, though as I originally mentioned Stableford's bassline on the UK version was a direct read-over from Putnam on the Knight original...
To get back to my orig post though - while I'm pretty knowledgeable on these matters I'm hoping someone might know of a pop/rock recorded predecessor to that distinctive chorus '2 note chord' descent pattern - otherwise Putnam (or possibly Gayden as writer, potential arranger) stands as first instance thereof.
(It's odd with the ongoing 'continuum' aspect of riffs/licks - for example - lots of people dismiss Peter Hook's 2 string drone parts as no great innovation/invention, but no one ever comes up with a concrete, indisputably recognisable example that precedes them, other than some unsubstantiated ref to an unnamed, and probably apocryphal jazz-fusion track Hook would certainly never have heard... he just invented them....)