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Bass on Roxy Music's "Stronger Through The Years"


darkandrew
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I've just been listening to Roxy Music's "Manifesto" in my car and am reminded what a great album it is. One track that stood out for me in terms of its bass playing was "Stronger Through The Years" - some great bass playing that goes off in all sorts of directions, so much so that I couldn't believe just how much freedom the bass player appears to have been given considering that they were a session musician (although I believe Gary Tibbs had played with them for a while), which brings me to my question: The album credits both Gary Tibbs and Alan Spenner with playing bass but doesn't say who played on which track - does anyone know who played on this track?

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Just now, spectoremg said:

Can't help you I'm afraid but the whole thing's a bass album. I've heard Paul Carrack say that Dance Away was going nowhere until Alan Spenner came up with the bass part. 

Absolutely - the bass playing all over the album is spot-on, whether it's experimental (such as on the title track) or more straight forward (such as on Angel Eyes) it is has both creativity and "groove". The album as a whole has also aged very well - I suppose being too late for a "70's" album and too early for an "80's" album meant that it escaped the worst excesses of both decades. 

Edited by darkandrew
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+1 - the bass is a Wal which Alan Spenner changed to in the mid/late 70s. Prior to that he played a Precision and with Kokomo got some great sounds.

However the Wal was a step forward in sophistication and made a great player sound even better. It is the sound of that era of Roxymusic and Gary Tibbs played one as well. 

For anyone who doesn't know already Alan Spenner is  on the original Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack and plays some fabulous bass on that as well.

He is a big reason why some of us (well me particularly) chase the Wal sound (Percy Jones being another). 

Edited by drTStingray
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