John Entwistle or Chris Squire, who do you prefer and why?

[paul_5]

31 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I mean this is rock and roll, lets not try and con ourself that whatever group we like you couldn't get another entirely different group of musicians to form a group that would sound exactly like those people so that you wouldn't be able to tell at a gig it wasn't them.

I reckon Airbourne could dep pretty well for AC/DC, and Greets Van Fleet for Led Zep 😉.

 

seriously though, when Robbie left Take That my request for a 20% ticket rebate fell on deaf ears.

[SteveXFR]

3 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

 😉.

 

when Robbie left Take That my request for a 20% ticket rebate fell on deaf ears.

 

Why on earth did you have Take That tickets???

 

I remember walking past the pyramid stage while Robbie was on and wondering why on earth his drummer had a huge double bass kit and he had two bassists. Didn't seem justified for the music. 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, paul_5 said:

seriously though, when Robbie left Take That my request for a 20% ticket rebate fell on deaf ears.

 

Only 20%, I would have thought it should have been more than that!

 

[EssentialTension]

I recall, as a teenager in the 1960s, mentioning The Who's bassist, i.e. Entwistle, to a friend who replied:

 

'You mean there are four people in The Who?'

[paul_5]

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Why on earth did you have Take That tickets???

 

It was a condition of entry to the venue; most places have them. Security were quite insistent about it I recall.

[Misdee]

To me, JE is an iconic figure. He played with such aggression and assertiveness. It was an artistic statement, albeit a very, very loud one. And all that equipment. Way too much equipment.

 

Most poignantly, I think back to the first set of strings I ever bought as a lad, Rotosound Swing Bass with John Entwistle pictured on the back of the packet. I feel quite emotional! 

 

To me, JE is one of those players who is kind of beyond criticism; he did what he did in a unique way and people could take it or leave it, and I don't think he could care less. Such was his self-belief.

[StickyDBRmf]

To the OP (The-Ox) - if you're still a BassChatter-follower: 

Chris Squire. Major influence in my musical education. Although I played a Jazz Bass strung w/ Ernie Balls Roundwounds with my fingers and I WANTED to sound like Chris, I wound up sounding like Me. (still do). It was the ATTITUDE of his note choices, phrasing, conviction. The ensemble benefited by all this, yet a distinctive voice nontheless.

[Bassfinger]

I wonder if the methods by which they learned their craft is responsible for the large differences in their sound?

 

Entwistle, like many young men of the time, wanted to emulate his heroes and even went as far as making his own bass as a lad because he couldn't afford one, played  formed bands, played some more, joined incrementally more successful and better bands which brought him into the orbit of the likes of Daltrey, Moon and Townshend. Pretty much the traditional route for p,ayers through the ages.

 

Squire, on the other hand, took a different route. He had a Rick-O and had noodled for a while, but didn't get serious until he had a bad acid trip. For some reason this prompted him to lock himself in his flat all day, every day, with his bass for 3 solid months and he didn't emerge until he was a top flight player and ready for the big time then and there. Then the first band he himself was involved in forming as Yes, and the rest is history.

 

How history and happenstance may shape a player is a mystery to us lesser mortals.

[Rich]

21 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Why on earth did you have Take That tickets???

 

I saw them a couple of years ago. Given the choice beforehand it wouldn't have been my first option for a night out, but there you go. As it turned out, they were surprisingly good. Rick Astley supporting was even better, and both their bands were sht hot. The ubiquitous Lee Pomeroy was in the TT bass chair.

Sorry if this doesn't meet with your approval.  

[mikel]

Chris, by a mile. Why? Note choice, note placement, musicality, and making the bass the standout instrument in a ludicrously talented band.

[BassTractor]

3 hours ago, mikel said:

Chris, by a mile. Why? Note choice, note placement, musicality, and making the bass the standout instrument in a ludicrously talented band.

Three words: Total Mass Retain.
I can't remember anyone having done anything like that, though I'm sure there must have been.

 

Edit for the uninitiated: 'Total Mass Retain' is part 2 of the four-part 'Close to the Edge' song.
Unbelievable notes with an unbelievable rhythm.
Analysis won't do it justice, I think. IMHO it's so unique it has to be experienced by the musical ear.

Here's the single edit:
 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by BassTractor

[tauzero]

On 06/04/2022 at 11:16, mikel said:

Chris, by a mile. Why? Note choice, note placement, musicality, and making the bass the standout instrument in a ludicrously talented band.

 

I first listened to Yessongs when I was a teenager who played a bit of guitar. I never noticed the bass. I'm not sure that making it the one instrument I didn't notice is my definition of "standout".

[Misdee]

15 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I first listened to Yessongs when I was a teenager who played a bit of guitar. I never noticed the bass. I'm not sure that making it the one instrument I didn't notice is my definition of "standout".

That is a pretty lousy album, from what I remember. One of my friends bought it when I was a kid. I can still remember his triple  album gatefold sleeve levels of disappointment. Yesshows was much better and CS is way up in the mix.

Edited April 11, 2022 by Misdee

[Misdee]

Back in the 1970s Chris Squire was such a  high profile bass player. Just like in the early 1990s there was an epidemic of Flea- wannabes, both amature and professional,  so in the 70s there were pound shop Chris Squire imitators everywhere you looked.

 

I can still remember the plethora of 

Rickenbacker copies, most of which were finished in a not-very- prog pinky Fireglo, to the chagrin of many a would-be Squire.  String it up with Rotos, plug it into the Bright input of your Carlsboro amp and you had the perfect formula for an ear-grating cacophony that was your own personalized version of the Chris Squire sound.

[Bassfinger]

On 06/04/2022 at 11:16, mikel said:

...in a ludicrously talented band.

Ain't that the truth. 

[4000]

My two favourite bassists, in context. Chris openly admitted to The Ox being his main influence, early on, although they were very different in many ways. Chris is my favourite, but I love them both. And Squire’s tone and Entwistle’s Alembic tone are probably my two favourite bass tones, again in context. 

[Jason Karloff]

What I loved about Entwistle was he would hide the blinding righthand technique and use a pick if it suited  that particular song. 

Like Boris the spider.