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Gary Numan (with Pino Palladino) - I, Assassin


40hz
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I've just discovered this album (I'm younger than most on here!) and it's incredible. Captivating from start to finish. I never even knew this side of Numan existed!

What I found really interesting, aside from the usual wonderful playing, is that, IMO, you can REALLY hear a strong Mick Karn influence on Pino across the album.

Fave track has to be War Games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75woL59qYU

 

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The album before this, Dance, had Mick Karn playing bass. I have heard people moan about Pino ‘copying’ MK on I, Assassin but he was asked to play like him so he was doing what was required. I think I’m right in saying that Pino used effects whereas MK always double tracked which gives MK a subtler sound imho.

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1 minute ago, Frank Blank said:

The album before this, Dance, had Mick Karn playing bass. I have heard people moan about Pino ‘copying’ MK on I, Assassin but he was asked to play like him so he was doing what was required. I think I’m right in saying that Pino used effects whereas MK always double tracked which gives MK a subtler sound imho.

Well I've learned something! I had absolutely no idea Mick had played on the prior album or any history behind this! In no way is this a slight on Pino, he's killing it across the board as always and makes me respect him more for being able to switch up his style like that.

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3 minutes ago, 40hz said:

Well I've learned something! I had absolutely no idea Mick had played on the prior album or any history behind this! In no way is this a slight on Pino, he's killing it across the board as always and makes me respect him more for being able to switch up his style like that.

Pino is amazing! I’ve just been reading up on the albums, MK did backing vocals on one of the I, Assassin tracks. This is Numan’s quote about Pino on the album...

He was brilliant. I had never heard playing like it...He came up with stunning bass lines, song after song. I leaned on him heavily during the making of the album. I pushed his playing to the forefront of the tracks and, inadvertently, created a new style. It was one of the first times that the fretless bass had been used as the lead melody instrument, allowing the album to be atmospheric, dreamy and funky.

I’ll probably get stick but Pino always struck me as a brilliant technical player, but MK is deeply intuitive. I remember reading an interview with him where he said he had no musical theory at all and couldn’t tell you what notes he was playing if a string was “An E or a C”, also that the rest of the band would rehearse a song into existence and then MK would arrive having made up a bass line just based on the title of the song, they’d rewrite entire songs around his lines because they were so good! Anyway, any excuse for Bestial Cluster...

 

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1 hour ago, Maude said:

IBTAPC.

😄

 

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Anti Pino contingent?

 

1 hour ago, Maude said:

Nope, it's coming, wait for it. 

If I say what it is, people purposely won't post it. 

😉

 

52 minutes ago, 40hz said:

 

In before the anti pino crowd? Does such a thing exist?

 

2 minutes ago, tonyf said:

 

Boom!! 

And there it is, the 'Alan Partridge Clip'. 

😂😂😂

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12 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

The album before this, Dance, had Mick Karn playing bass. I have heard people moan about Pino ‘copying’ MK on I, Assassin but he was asked to play like him so he was doing what was required. I think I’m right in saying that Pino used effects whereas MK always double tracked which gives MK a subtler sound imho.

I heard thats how Mick liked to record (listen to Dali's Car)

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13 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Anyway, any excuse for Bestial Cluster...

 

I fully endorse this, it's an awesome album. btw look at little Stevie Wilson there. Wonder if he'll amount to anything one day?

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A slight correction, hoping I read your post correctly @Frank Blank :

Pino Palladino can't read music and never studied it.

Mick Karn was not reading music very well, but studied it as a teenager and had an excellent ear. He had a conventional music cursus as a bassoon player and was even the 2nd bassoonist of the London School Symphony Orchestra, which is what really started it all, not because of it, but because of the stolen bassoon...

Thanks for posting again (like I did a few times) Bestial Cluster with a young and already talented Steven Wilson on guitar.

Massive Mick Karn fan here.

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4 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

A slight correction, hoping I read your post correctly @Frank Blank :

👍

4 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Pino Palladino can't read music and never studied it.

I never knew that, how interesting.

4 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Mick Karn was not reading music very well, but studied it as a teenager and had an excellent ear. He had a conventional music cursus as a bassoon player and was even the 2nd bassoonist of the London School Symphony Orchestra, which is what really started it all, not because of it, but because of the stolen bassoon...

I always thought it odd that he stated he had no musical theory given his abilities on other instruments. Maybe he had such a good ear that he relied on that making him such an intuitive player.

4 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Thanks for posting again (like I did a few times) Bestial Cluster with a young and already talented Steven Wilson on guitar.

Thanks for the extra info, always happy discussing MK.

4 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Massive Mick Karn fan here.

Seconded.

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3 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Pino Palladino can't read music and never studied it.

Not wanting to open up a can of worms, but I would query this - I'm sure that's the narrative that Pino maintains in interviews, but I'm pretty certain that he took some lessons with Joe Hubbard back in the day.

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On 08/03/2021 at 23:07, Frank Blank said:

Pino is amazing! I’ve just been reading up on the albums, MK did backing vocals on one of the I, Assassin tracks. This is Numan’s quote about Pino on the album...

He was brilliant. I had never heard playing like it...He came up with stunning bass lines, song after song. I leaned on him heavily during the making of the album. I pushed his playing to the forefront of the tracks and, inadvertently, created a new style. It was one of the first times that the fretless bass had been used as the lead melody instrument, allowing the album to be atmospheric, dreamy and funky.

I’ll probably get stick but Pino always struck me as a brilliant technical player, but MK is deeply intuitive. I remember reading an interview with him where he said he had no musical theory at all and couldn’t tell you what notes he was playing if a string was “An E or a C”, also that the rest of the band would rehearse a song into existence and then MK would arrive having made up a bass line just based on the title of the song, they’d rewrite entire songs around his lines because they were so good! Anyway, any excuse for Bestial Cluster...

 

Agree on Mick

Numan was only a year after Tin drum but its clear the sound he went for wasn't co incidence or spontaneous 

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