Basslines: Sex In A Pan

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Sex In A Pan

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I've seen Bass Player magazine's only three-time Bass Player of the Year several times with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and the man deserves every Grammy. But fast isn't the only way to be funky, as aficionados of Stanley Jordan, Bootsy Collins, and their next-generation proteges well know. Founding Flecktone Victor Wooten gets full credit for letting this tune trip up to the edge of smooth without ever tipping over into tripe.

(Also, when did this theme turn into a feature on bass players, instead of basslines?)

Basslines: A Remark You Made

Weather Report: A Remark You Made

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Usually, a bass line is part of the rhythm of a song. This is normally true in jazz, rock, bluegrass, you name it. And I will have some examples of that later this week. But here, the bass plays a melodic line. One could even argue that the bass has the main melody, with a counter melody in the saxophone. And I have always wished that someone would take the bass line here and write words for it. and record it. The first words would be, “A remark you made...”.

To make this work, Weather Report had to have Jaco Pastorius on bass. Pastorius, as you can hear, had an amazing tone; his bass sang. In addition to Weather Report, Pastorius leant his talents, in his too brief lifetime, to the Pat Metheny Group, and to Joni Mitchell during her jazz period. All these years later, he is still sorely missed.

Basslines: Oz is Ever Floating

Oysterhead: Oz Is Ever Floating

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Primus bassist Les Claypool is renown among the Bonnaroo crowd for his earth-shattering, jazz-informed slap-and-bounce rhythms, and for good reason: where other rock and jamband bassists are content to hover in the background, Claypool plays up front and center, creating complex octave-spanning bass lines, melding heavy slap-bass style, drifting into full chords and improvisation mode as needed.

Claypool's style is so powerful and distinctive, in fact, I didn't even need to check the label to confirm his presence, along with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and Police drummer Stewart Copeland, on their highly recommended one-shot supergroup album The Grand Pecking Order. Though to be fair, Claypool's nasal tenor whine is equally unmistakable.

Basslines: The Real Me

The Who: The Real Me

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When I think of great bass players, there are a few who come to mind. Many are jazz players, and I'll consider posting one of them later in the week, but the rock/pop player that comes to my mind most quickly is John Entwistle. His style is so unique and powerful. Entiwstle once said of The Who that they really didn't have a proper bass player, and in many ways that was a true statement. There was no one in the band who stood back and thumped notes over and over for the purpose of holding the music together. Instead, Entwistle used his instrument to create powerful melodic and harmonic structures within the songs.

The Real Me, the first (real) track from Quadrophenia, is a great example of how a bass can add just as much detail and depth to a song as a lead guitar or keyboard.

Smile: Your Smile's a Drug

Patrick Park: Your Smile's a Drug

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Patrick Park is a singer-songwriter who, like many, hasn't gotten a fair shake due to record label issues. His 2003 debut album "Lonliness Knows My Name" should be known by more than it is, there are many great folk-pop songs on there that college girls should be swooning over. He reminds me a bit of Rhett Miller's folkier more melancholy side.

The song's title tells us most of what we need to know. He has fallen for a girl who's smile he is addicted to. Despite knowing that pursuing a relationship with her will mean a lot of work and possible torment, he can't seem to help himself. She smiles, and he loses all sense of what's good for him.

Smile: Your Smile Stops The Hands Of Time

Roddy Frame: Your Smile Stops The Hands Of Time

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Roddy Frame was signed by David Bowie when he was only 16 years old. Since then, he has produced a long string of hit albums in the UK and has had some limited success in the US. As much as I loved Aztec Camera when I was in high school, it is Roddy's solo work that has stood the test of time. The all acoustic album, Surf, is his best work. This song is one of a couple of slow moving, but beautiful, tracks from that album.

Smile: The Cheshire Cat Song

Gilbert Hetherwick: The Cheshire Cat Song

[purchase, by download only]

I wasn’t about to let this week go by without honoring the most famous smile in western literature. But I also didn’t know of any particular songs on the subject, and I certainly didn’t have any. So, I went hunting. And I found that there seems to be a rule that, in order to tackle this subject, you have to be someone I never heard of. Try it yourself, and see if you get the same result. Obviously, however, I did find something I like.

Gilbert Hetherwick was once a record store manager in a shop that sold classical music to the people of Louisiana. He began writing to people at the record companies, telling them how to improve their albums. Soon enough, Hetherwick had a job at one of these companies, and in due time, he rose to be the head of the classical division at Sony/ BMG. So what would someone like that do with his spare time? Why, he would write and record a psychedelic rock musical, based on Alice in Wonderland and the life of Lewis Carol. Oh yes, of course.

The Cheshire Cat Song comes from that musical, Dreams For Alice. And the song is on the soundtrack album, from 2002. The songs were written over a ten year period, and given to friends, before the whole thing was released as an album. I can find no information to indicate that the show was ever staged. The version of The Cheshire Cat Song on Dreams For Alice is marred by a production full of the worst cliches of psychedelic rock; here are corny electric guitar parts and heavy reverb on the vocals, for starters. But, in 2008, Hetherwick returned to these songs for a live album. Now The Cheshire Cat Song has a nice mostly acoustic arrangement, and the quality of the songwriting comes through much more clearly. This is the version I chose.

Smile : (You Caught Me) Smilin'

Sly & The Family Stone : (You Caught Me) Smilin'

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Simple, melodic, fun, just like a smile ... illegal smile ? With Sly, it's likely...

PS : Can somebody explain me the meaning of this AMG review (I mean the part about the lyrics). Maybe I got it wrong, but why does the guy think the hedonistic lyrics feel so wrong ? Is it because what happened to Sly next (his addiction)? Or is it that this man thinks that being hedonistic is wrong ? Why would an artist be necessarily depressed to write great things ? And is smiling when you're hurt a forbidden thing ?
I'm just wondering...

Smile: Bathsheba Smiles

Richard Thompson: Bathsheba Smiles

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In the bible, Bathsheba is the beautiful woman who causes David to turn away from God. How could anyone have such a powerful allure? According to Richard Thompson, it’s her smile. His lyric describes this power in some detail. And that’s all there is to the song. But it’s enough.