On my evening walk a couple of days ago this slice of gorgeousness popped unbidden into my head as an earworm, and it’s been with me ever since, sharing headspace with Chris and Morgane Stapleton singing ‘Fire Away’.
While I love the the beautiful interplay between guitar and horns, what really stands out for me is the bass, apparently improvised in the studio by Marq “Remarqable” Jefferson.
So, fellow Afterworders, what bass parts enthral you?
Floyd’s Money is fantastic, but too well known. Japan’s Sons of Pioneers is a favourite, fluid and gorgeous. But my all-time favourite ever bassline that fills me with joy and happiness at the mere mention of its title is UB40’s The Earth Dies Screaming.
Chapeau for mentioning Sons of Pioneers, Gary!
I often have this just on a loop in my head, all day. Wonderful.
Paul Webb, 1983
Robbie McIntosh on guitar.
Basslines, you say?
…and not a prog band in sight…
Ginger Baker. No, not that one.
Frequently referred to on here as one of the best bass riffs ever:
And sampled from here in a much more Brazilian vibe.
Debaser, but pretty much anything by Kim Deal, to be honest.
agreed
The first thing that sprang to mind was Jack Bruce’s playing on Badge.
My baseline projection is that this is going to be a good thread.
My favourite subject. I think it is the bass that usually jumps out to me so I tend to err towards songs with a good bass riff.
Some of my favourite ones;
I Shoulda Loved Ya – Narada Michael Walden
Love Less – New Order (could have picked any Hooky riff to be honest, but today it is this!)
Reformation – The Fall (Not Hanley, but see below)
Turning Of The Years – House of All (impossible ot to have a Steve Hanley one in here somewhere!)
One of my all time favourites
Babe, I’m On Fire – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Scott Walker – The Old Man’s Back
I love it when Prince straps on a bass
Yes indeed and also:
Apparently he used the pre-programmed Fairlight sounds rather than sample anything new. Genius is surely taking something anyone could use and fashioning from it something amazing.
Let’s hear it for Norman Watt-Roy.
Three off the top of my head:
XTC – Mayor of Simpleton. apparently Andy Partridge came up with the bassline for Colin to play
Whitesnake – Fool for your Loving -I think Neil Murray said he was channeling Jack Bruce at the time
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick – Ian Dury & the Blockheads. the genius of Norman Watt-Roy
Plus anything by Bernard Edwards
Just upgraded the audio at home. Turned it up loud. Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick shuffled around. Floored. Can’t believe I’d heard that song hundreds of times in the past forty years (!) and never copped to the genius of the bassline. Superb!
Love the bass on this Paul McCartney tune.
Yes Macca is the greatest. This too:
Those two are the Macca basslines I point any idiot to when they say they don’t rate him.
No matter how often I hear it, I still love this
Fret not.
Jaco wins.
Seconded. That was what first came to my mind.
Steve Swallow is a fantastic bassist, never needlessly flashy, but can swing like hell and when a solo is required…
Of course there’s Jaco and “The Chicken”, plus the stuff he did on Joni Mitchell’s “jazz period” albums.
.
Boo and, peradventure, dowwww
Fretless? Time for The Man Himself – Percy Jones
I have to give Roundabout a mention
Yes, indeed…
Here’s Chris Squire in full flight again, with my favourite Yes bassline, on “Parallels”:
..then there’s this wicked bassline by Fred Pallem.
JJ Burnel and Bruce Foxton are often cited as the best bass players of the New Wave era.
I offer a third way – Ali McMordie of Stiff Little Fingers, particularly on this cover of The Specials Doesn’t Make It Alright
Back to JJ Burnel, a lovely player, his apogee being Down In The Sewer, going from ultra rhythm section scaffold to melodic lyricism.
There are many but this is a life long fave
Lee Skylar. See also “Spectrum”.
I have always loved Bruce Thomas’s basslines on those early Elvis Costello albums. Just like this one:
There are many but this is a life long fave
Lee Sklar. See also “Spectrum”.
Good to see you got his name right this time, @Twang 😜
Yes I was doing three things at once and didn’t spot the autocorrect.
you say bassline, I think
Stuart Morrow’s bass playing on the first couple of NMA albums is very distinctive
Bass!
Pretty much every track on Diamond Life just oozes with the bassline, but this is the one that plays in my head when I think of bass
Well, that and Sunshine of Your Love, ever since John Bender hummed it.
Barnstorming performance from Barn Stradling
Prog bass? Got to mention The Late Ray Shulman. This is a cracker of a line…
By contrast with the snaky, the skanky and the widdly
No such list complete without some ‘Nard
This is the mighty Davie504 in an early ‘Chewb. His clips are always entertaining, and boy does he know his bass.
Nice bit of slapping there. Which brings us neatly to Mr Thunderthumb himself, Mark King.
No Level 42 here, though. This was MK’s only contribution to Nik Kershaw’s album The Riddle. You’ve probably never heard it, but it’s right good.
This prompted me to dust off Level 42’s first album, first time in decades. Worra nice album.
Wot? No Sly ‘n’ Robbie in here? Gotta fix that.
Minimalist and ruthlessly effective.
The rhythm section’s pretty good, too.
Tina!
Look at them, doing Top of the Pops-style miming just like a normal band!
Hello, hello, hello
Some incredibly tight playing over a propulsive bassline.
Shoehorning some jazz into this poll to show how hip I am. The Jimmy Giuffre Trio’s “The Train And The River” is just stunning all the way through, with Ralph Peña’s prowling bass. No drummer, no keys – how they held it together is telepathic.
My all time favourite album ever.
Every home should have a copy.
No James Jamerson so far? For shame. His playing on both versions of Ain’t No Mountain… is sublime.
Love this
Did someone mention Tony Levin on stick? There’ll be ructions!
Talking of which
I’ll have what he’s having
Signature late sixties UK freakbeat bass.
Macca’s bassline on ‘Something’ is a song in itself.
Yeah – and let’s have a big thumbs-up for the bassline on “Rain”, as well …
Here’s a masterclass from John Paul Jones on how to do a three chord trick. The whole song he’s unbeatable but the money is from 3 minutes.
Very 1980. Same Old Scene.
The Tibbsatollah as I live and breathe!
Want some nonchalant Thunderfingers? Of course you do!
Let it happen, bass player
Out of the blue, this came rushing in…
(John Wetton)
Oh, yes!
For a band that kept changing bass players, they have a lot of great bass lines. John Gustafson this time:
Oh Yeah!
A short history of Roxy Music bass players.
https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/people-drifted-off-bryan-ferry-on-roxy-music-s-many-bass-players-28139/
From this:
to this:
in 12 years. Quite the journey.
From Dancing away the heartache to standing and delivering in 2 years.
I particularly like the bass on this one, by fusioneer Neil Jason according to Wikipedia. A superb piece of in-the-pocket grooving.
In the pocket grooving? Paging @Lenny-Law
I expected a fnar fnar comment when I wrote that.
Came here to see this comment.
Another in-the-pocket bass groove – hell, it’s ALL pocket!
Ho yus. I left it for you.
The pumping heart of one of the most thrilling singles ever.
George Porter Jr.
The Meters – Cissy Strut
Porter, good call. Always loved his work with Dr John, especially the Desitively Bonaroo album.
Tower of Power took the JB template and funked it up to the max.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XF4Qwd5rso
Amazing how she plays this on an ordinary six string electric guitar with one of the strings removed! I suspect the strings are “tuned down”, or there’s some “studio trickery” involved.
Ol’ Sausage Fingers writes: she has fingers that go on for ever. Not fair!
My man Davie 504 playing the bass with no strings attached. This is fantastic.
That’s great.
Distinctive.
Another great Mick Karn bassline
His finest moment. Everything about this is perfect (although it doesn’t show the moment when he unstraps the guitar – almost the punchline of the gag). But the audience laughter is just unnecessary and horrible.
For you, H.P.
And it turns out Alan really can play bass
Wasn’t that Pino on bass?
Yes it was – apologies to Mr P.
As some of you will recall, I had some Camel overexposure recently. Struggled to choose my favourite Richard Sinclair bassline.
Sir Duke
Tuba.
Aston “Family Man” Barrett
Exodus
XTC = Colin Moulding
Across This Antheap
I see that, since this thread was launched, the “Best Ever Bass Lines” thread on the Steve Hoffman Forums (originally from 2018) has been reactivated. They must’ve been inspired by us!
They hang on our every word.
Fun Fact: Steve Hoffman is Deram Daze.
That’s your idea of fun?
… with Dai on Ondes Martenot.
Surprised no one has mentioned Peter Tork’s nifty fretwork on this track from The Monkees’ Head
It is a fantastically nimble bassline.
https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2022/06/you-stick-it-to-em-tell-them-how-avant.html
Rodney “Skeet” Curtis on this.
Funkadelic “Grooveallegiance”
A golden oldie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK0DbgovWZo
All this way down the thread and no mention of Bernard Edwards? For shame!
The bass also propels this dancefloor banger along:
Regarding Mr Edwards: see above – way, way above…
Stanley Clarke unplugs his electric bass and shows us what he can do on his bass fiddle.
BASS =
Bass
Around
Sthe
Sworld
The bass battle at the end has some of the most epically grin-inducing playing I’ve ever heard.
116 posts and no mention of the late(?), great Johnny Cymbal’s contribution to all things bass
We just wanted to see how low he could go…😉