steve-soar Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 (edited) Just been listening to Bowies "Singles" album, absolutely mesmerising bass lines, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Boys, China Girl..... WOW. Production, amazing. This may lead on to a great producers thread. So here goes.... Edited September 3, 2008 by steve-soar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 The song 'David Bowie' by Phish has a great bassline too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 My band plays (older stuff) Moonage Daydream and Ziggy Stardust. Neither are bass playing rocket science, but a bit more interesting than the usual all the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveK Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 [quote]Just been listening to Bowies "Singles" album, absolutely mesmerising bass lines, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Boys, China Girl..... WOW. Production, amazing.[/quote] Had the pleasure of working on an album with Tony Visconti (produced Ashes to Ashes and Fashion) in 1981. At the time it was kinda like working with God - knowing that this guy had produced some of the great records of the 70s. It was also my first time with a "Name" producer. I remember the buzz when he suggested that, "maybe this track could feature a multi-tracked bass section". I also remember being mightily impressed at his ability to score a vocal arrangement for one track while listening to another. As it turned out, he probably wouldn't regard the album as the defining moment of his career ... I sure as hell learnt a lot though. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 [quote name='steve-soar' post='276594' date='Sep 3 2008, 11:02 PM']Just been listening to Bowies "Singles" album, absolutely mesmerising bass lines, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Boys, China Girl..... WOW. Production, amazing. This may lead on to a great producers thread. So here goes....[/quote] +1 Bowie's my absolute all-time favourite artist and I started listening to his stuff in 1972, a few years before I first picked up a bass. So the early playing of The Spiders From Mars bassist, Trevor Boulder really influenced me, along with Dennis Dunnaway Alice Cooper's bassist. In both cases, their bass playing was always very musical and creative, doing much more than just playing root-note stuff so that the bass lines were really integral parts of the song. There's lots of other great bass lines on Bowie records too.. For example, the descending bass line in the chorus of 'Changes' absolutely makes it for me and is a great hook in itself.. And later on, when Bowie had Dennis Davis on drums and George Murray on bass, some of the bass lines on 'Station to Station' and 'Low' in particular are brilliant! Another +1 for Tony Visconti as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 As well as producing it didn't Tony Visconti also play Bass on "the man who sold the world" - I've always love that album especially the fuzz bass on "she shook me cold". I must dig the CD out and give it listen tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassMunkee Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Heroes - in addition to being one of my very favourite songs and a fine example of Frippertronics in action also has an excellent bassline in it IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='silverfoxnik' post='276629' date='Sep 4 2008, 12:02 AM']Trevor Boulder really influenced me, along with Dennis Dunnaway Alice Cooper's bassist. In both cases, their bass playing was always very musical and creative, doing much more than just playing root-note stuff so that the bass lines were really integral parts of the song.[/quote] Good to see I'm not the only one who still rates Dunaway. Alice Cooper had a cracking band in the 70s and it was largely built around Dennis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilee Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Boulder is a monster, some of his lines are very tough indeed. Hang onto Yourself is a real killer at full speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Not that I'm being pedantic but it's "Bolder" as opposed to Boulder : [url="http://www.myspace.com/trevorbolder"]http://www.myspace.com/trevorbolder[/url] Herbie Flowers played some neat stuff in earlier Bowie stuff as well and, of course, there's Gail Ann Dorsey as well [url="http://www.gailanndorsey.com/"]http://www.gailanndorsey.com/[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='Happy Jack' post='276905' date='Sep 4 2008, 12:48 PM']Good to see I'm not the only one who still rates Dunaway. Alice Cooper had a cracking band in the 70s and it was largely built around Dennis.[/quote] There's a few of us lurking around here I think! [quote]Not that I'm being pedantic but it's "Bolder" as opposed to Boulder[/quote] Oops - sorry molan.. Must look at the My Space later and +1 on Gail Ann Dorsey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidbass Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 John (I'm Only Dancing) has a fantastic melodic bassline too, I can't believe no one has mentioned it so far! The runs in the chorus are very McCartney-esque +1 to this thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassicinstinct Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='276795' date='Sep 4 2008, 10:56 AM']As well as producing it didn't Tony Visconti also play Bass on "the man who sold the world" - I've always love that album especially the fuzz bass on "she shook me cold". I must dig the CD out and give it listen tonight.[/quote] Agreed. I've always thought it was [b]VERY [/b]apparent that album was produced by the person who played bass on it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky L Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='acidbass' post='277104' date='Sep 4 2008, 03:39 PM']John (I'm Only Dancing) has a fantastic melodic bassline too, I can't believe no one has mentioned it so far! The runs in the chorus are very McCartney-esque +1 to this thread [/quote] You beat me to it! I have always loved that bass line Hang On To Yourself is one of my all time fav Bowie tracks, and of course Laughing Gnome Oh, and huge kudos to Trev Bolder's monster sideburns What a pair of chops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Splayer Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 [quote name='molan' post='276985' date='Sep 4 2008, 01:46 PM']Not that I'm being pedantic but it's "Bolder" as opposed to Boulder[/quote] guess he is a [b]fearless[/b] bloke and his fave genre is [b]heavy rock [/b] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monz Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Sound and Vision does it for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisba Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 We do "Slip Away" from Heathen in our set. Nice bass line with a few twiddly bits that I copy shamelessly. Would sound better on a fretless if... a: I had one b: I could play it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 [quote name='Monz' post='277684' date='Sep 5 2008, 11:12 AM']Sound and Vision does it for me...[/quote] +1 And 'A New Career In A New Town' from the same album... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parker_muse Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Very much into Bowie at the moment, i'm addicted to China Girl. Great song, wonderful bassline and great hooks. Great music. Heroes also has 157 plays in my itunes! Jesus christ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJA Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 the bassline on "Criminal world" on Let's Dance is a favourite- both the playing (by Carmine Rojas) and the tone- I think he used a Spector NS2 or a Fender with PJ pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 [quote name='silverfoxnik' post='277791' date='Sep 5 2008, 01:32 PM']+1 And 'A New Career In A New Town' from the same album...[/quote] A brilliant song, up there in my own top ten of all time favourite songs. George Murray was the bass player on that album & the other 'Berlin Trilogy' ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBomber414 Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 [quote name='BassMunkee' post='276823' date='Sep 4 2008, 11:32 AM']Heroes - in addition to being one of my very favourite songs and a fine example of Frippertronics in action also has an excellent bassline in it IMHO.[/quote] Plus One for Heroes - not the studio track - the live version on their Far East Tour, it's on Vid. I don't know who the Asian looking Bass Man was but he was superb and the bass was cranked right up to become the feature of the track. Anyone tell me who the bass player was ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I really enjoyed learning Suffragette City with the hope my band at the time would put it in the set - they never did though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauster Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Another Bowie fan here! 12 years ago I was in a band that was doing a cover of Ziggy Stardust when I started the segue into Suffragette City and the lead guitarist and drummer flowed suit. After that it stayed in our set list. Great fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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