What a guy. What a storied career.
All this and ‘Grandad’ too.
*No official media stories, but confirmed by many across social media.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/herbie-flowers-mn0000677415#biography
Herbie Flowers RIP
by 14 Comments
Baritone boom or falsetto trill?
by 125 Comments
Just the sight of the Supertramp post set my teeth on edge a bit, and left me wondering why that was. ‘Logical’ and ‘Breakfast in America’ are good pop songs*, but particularly the former is something I can only take in small doses.
And then it occurred to me. It’s the Alvin & The Chipmunks/Pinky & Perky/ Father Abraham & The Smurfs factor – falsetto.
Like the Bee Gees & Yes, falsetto (or high tenor) voices are not my thing. I mean, not completely not my thing – I love The Communards, Prince singing ‘Kiss’, though they might be because of the presence of Sarah-Jane Morris, and that Prince can sing in pretty much any register.
But generally speaking, those are the exceptions to the rule – baritone is what I love to listen to – The Sisters of Mercy, of course; Ian Curtis; Nick Drake, Bowie, Springsteen, Elvis even. And that goes for female singers even more. I adore the dark notes of June Tabor, Nina Simone, the warm tones of Norah Jones, Karen Carpenter.
I’d dip down happily to the bass register for Leonard Cohen or Michael Gira. But the higher up the vocal range I listen, » Continue Reading.
The one member who just doesn’t last…
by 66 Comments
I’ve been on something of a Squeeze listening binge of late, and can’t help but notice from liner notes (and following on, Wikipedia) that they’ve been through an excessively large amount of bass players, eight in total. Reading the great ‘Song by Song’ book, no real reasons have been given for Squeeze four-stringers moving on up to 1999, unlike the dirt on drummer Gilson Lavis hitting the sauce and getting a p45 – twice. Since then, the amazing Yolanda Charles lasted one album and her predecessor Lucy Shaw (long-termer of Tilbrook’s solo band) even less time. Add Sean Hurley and Owen Biddle and it makes four in the last six years.
I know the Grateful Dead got through an inordinate amount of keyboard players, and of course the mighty Tap were forced by misfortune and accident into getting multiple drummers.
Are there any other acts that have one particular instrumentalist who never gets a gold watch?
Here are ver Squeeze with the great Keith Wilkinson:
Carol Kaye: Session Legend Interview
by 17 Comments
I stumbled across this on YouTube last night. It’s a fascinating interview with Carole Kaye. She played guitar and bass on so many hits and films from the 60’s and 70’s. She talks about her famous sessions and plays the bass and guitar through it all. I think she may well be the coolest person on the planet. Well worth an hour and 10 minutes of your weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4JWqK6r6N4
Rutger Gunnarsson
Abba’s main bass player, a great exponent of the melodic bass in the McCartney tradition, and one of Bjorn Ulvaeus’ oldest friends has died. One of those people who played along quietly in the background, but who added that extra 5% to transform a song from good to excellent. Just wanted to mark this as he was evidently a modest man with a great talent.
John Taylor vs. Mark King
by 3 Comments
Yep, a head-to-head with two of Britain’s finest plank spankers, him out of Duran Duran and that bloke from Level 42. At first sight there’s no contest. King is a master virtuoso who clearly has his slap-chops down pat, JT is that pretty bloke who sort of tries to funk it up. Well, think again, mother lovers: JT is one of the most underrated players this country has produced in recent times. He’s got funk, and some sexy syncopation action going on. King, on the other hand, is clearly very good at what he does, but doesn’t it all get a bit samey after a while?
I found this a little while ago. It’s the bass line from Rio, isolated. It’s quite a weird listen as it doesn’t really seem to go with the rest of the song, but somehow it does. I like the fact that it’s been played live, as may be evidenced by the numerous mistakes. It’s a nice little exercise for all aspiring bass players. Get this down, and you’re on your way.
