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Neil Murray


andy67

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Growing up in the 60/70/80s afforded me the pleasure of seeing and hearing some of the  most amazing bass players on the planet - personal influences inc. in no particular order: Ali McMordie, Phil Lynott, Cliff Williams, Roger Glover, Les Claypool, Geddy Lee, Larry Graham, Flea, Jack Bruce, Carol Kaye, Donald Dunn and many, many more!

I have been listening to Whitesnake and Snakecharmer a fair bit lately and I have to say Neil Murray is probably my personal favourite and the player who has influenced my playing most. His technique, dynamics, melody, nuances and lovely runs in songs are so cool and so understated! 

So starting an appreciation thread for Neil but open to all to discuss and to add your most influential and why? :D

Andy

 

Edited by andy67
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1 minute ago, stewblack said:

I will go check out his work. I have of course heard of Whitesnake but not sat and listened properly. 

Always happy to follow another bassist's recommendation. 

Most things before the Slide it in remix. Anything post this isn't Neil unfortunately. 

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1 hour ago, Skybone said:

Remember being dragged to see "We Will Rock You", and being pleasantly surprised that Mr Murray was playing bass for that show.

Always understated, always played to the song. Top player.

Never could stand Whitesnake though! :D 

I did some guitar tech work on that show, and spent many a night sitting behind him - which meant I could hear his fantastic playing, but not actually see him play 🙄

 

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Yeah he’s a very tasty player. I was learning the original Fool For Your Loving a few weeks ago and the bass on it is great.

Had the pleasure of making Neil Murray a cup of tea many years ago at the Roland HQ in Swansea where I worked.

I said: “You’re Neil Murray aren’t you?” and he said: “Well I’m an older, fatter version of him,” which I thought was quite witty. 

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Neil Murray ? Fantastic bass player.

If you listen to his playing on the classic Whitesnake records it soon becomes clear he is a cut above most rock bassists in terms of his playing ability and overall musicality. He has got proper jazz-rock fusion level chops. 

Even though a lot of the 'Snake songs are blues- based and fairly standard fare, NM 's playing is  always fresh, inventive and agile .And tasty. Would have been nice to hear him play in some other musical genres as well as rock. 

Edited by Misdee
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One of the earliest concerts I attended was Whitesnake in 1980. NM was, and I'm sure still is, a cracking player who never let his considerable chops override his job in that band. Occasionally you'd get something pretty tasty sneaking in (Fool For Your Loving is a killer line) but it always fitted perfectly in a genre where fancy bass shenanigans were not the norm. Best of all was the way he and Ian Paice played together. I can only describe it as "heavy swing" and something that, even to my young ears, made that lineup pretty special.

The next time I saw the 'snake, Colin Hodgkinson had replaced him, so clearly Coverdale had a thing for tasty bass players! Not sure that Colin was as good a fit as Neil, although clearly a great player. Cozy Powell was a great drummer too but while I think his style worked well in Rainbow, he didn't really do the Paice swing thing that seemed to suit the blues-rock material so well.

The last time I saw the band Neil was back but things were already getting a bit heavier and a lot hairier (John Sykes lineup). Not quite my thing but much more to my liking than the spandex 'n' hairspray antics that followed.

Neil's built up quite the C.V. over the years and it's nice to see he's still doing well. A real talent and someone who's ability was quite special in a genre of music where the bass player is more often called to do the "lukewarm water" thing, to quote another great player ;) 

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For whatever reason I never got into Whitesnake back in the day...when I moved to a new flat back in the summer some very kind friends bought me an Alexa dot thing, which somehow brings out bass better than my DAB radio ever could (don't ask me how, it just came like that lol) I find myself with a rather better appreciation of them now...

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