The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Bass Zone => Topic started by: Blazer on January 07, 2009, 08:08:48 PM
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Love them or loathe them, Synthesizers are a big part in popular music and in the seventies and eighties they almost replaced Bassguitars as the main low end provider on popular records. But let's show off the ones where the Synth really got the bottoms moving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuUy2ShGLyo
Tom Browne - "Funkin' for Jamaica"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlIT1Y_Piog
Ben Harper - "Bring the funk"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcjkA5ZAWQo
Herbie Hancock - "Chameleon"
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This one popped into my head about two seconds after reading your subject line...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP2h16m8X1Y
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My all time favorite:
Human League - Louise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIPNBIwqZNY
Say what you will about the song but that bass line is awesome.
Other great lines:
Devo - Super Thing (that tone is so nasty!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWs4VJETQw
Although most Devo synth bass lines could qualify.
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This one popped into my head about two seconds after reading your subject line...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP2h16m8X1Y
Exect that that one's bassline was played on a Fender p-bass...
Gary numan is about the only synth pionier who used bass guitars on his records.
Anyway, can't have a topic like this without this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfhJ1tKKUBk
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Thomas Dolby - Hyperactive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zelVvrgcK_g
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First that came in my head was "Flashlight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMcgDbubIjA&feature=related
Bass version with Dennis Chambers & Gary Grainger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXaIYXrZp4&feature=related
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And there's the simple yet effective plodding one-note sequence
Genesis - Abacab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbb71r66Yuc
Missing Persons - Words. Played by a bass player no less. (and yay for inventive costume design!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6CunFiE0Cs&feature=related
and then... is it real bass? or is it synth bass? hmmmmm?!?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAugZalHrxc
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Lots of good stuff guys! I was way into synth bass back in the 80s. In fact, I still run into people from back then who thought I was a keyboardist rather than a bass player.
Surprised nobody mentioned Stevie Wonder yet. And there was a guy named Cameron Hawkins in Canadian prog band FM that did killer synth bass lines (he played bass guitar and Taurus pedals as well).
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Surprised nobody mentioned Stevie Wonder yet.
I thought about Nathan Watts - that guy is a powerhouse! He played a Roland bass synth, but I couldn't find a clip of him using the synth part of it - only the bass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEIl95xg-e0
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What?
No one posted this? The Metro! I love this song, dance to it almost every Thursday night. We play it as well, makes me feel like a robot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UXtort76gY
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One of my personal faves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNOZegkVXo
Def Leppard was my first concert - the Pyromania tour, 1983, live in Tokyo! I was 12. It was a long time ago, but I have a distinct memory of Rick Savage playing a synth during this song.
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One of my personal faves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNOZegkVXo
Def Leppard was my first concert - the Pyromania tour, 1983, live in Tokyo! I was 12. It was a long time ago, but I have a distinct memory of Rick Savage playing a synth during this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGV8wKHokSk
Def Leppard doing the song "Women" which at least has a partial Synth bassline , you can see Rick Savage run towards the Keyboard and play and he has a simply NASTY sound from it.
And I love that Hamer Scarab bass he played in those days.
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What?
No one posted this? The Metro! I love this song, dance to it almost every Thursday night. We play it as well, makes me feel like a robot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UXtort76gY
I saw Berlin about 10 years ago at HOB in Chicago. Terri Nunn was SO friggin hot in a red dress and long gloves. Freshly divorced too. Yum...
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Lots of good stuff guys! I was way into synth bass back in the 80s. In fact, I still run into people from back then who thought I was a keyboardist rather than a bass player.
Surprised nobody mentioned Stevie Wonder yet. And there was a guy named Cameron Hawkins in Canadian prog band FM that did killer synth bass lines (he played bass guitar and Taurus pedals as well).
Stevie's synth bass from "Innervisions" alone makes him the king of synth bass. Great lines and a fat sound. Beach Boys' "Holland" comes close and of course there's Jan Hammer who had a fantastic snappy Moog bass sound.
I like Cameron Hawkins synth bass and sequenced Moog stuff on early FM albums (their two eighties albums are quite awful). "Black Noise" is probably the best but "Surveillance" and "City Of Fear", while poppier, have their good moments. "Direct To Disc" is almost avant-garde at times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_q5d17XfI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_q5d17XfI)
Some of their stuff on that album (released 1979) sound like a precursor to Rush' "Signals" album.:)
Saga's Jim Chrichton plays a lot synth bass, one of my favs is "The Vendetta" from "Heads Or Tales" where the first part of the song is played on Multi-Moog and Simmons drums and for the last part Crichton and Steve Negus switch to "real" bass and drums.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYLe8G7vIc8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYLe8G7vIc8)
Max Webster used synth bass (Arp Odyssey) on a few songs, my fav is the snaky line on "Beyond The Moon".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRJvVBG3DzU
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If this isn't synth, it's got to be assisted. Great groove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_in_BNJlg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc7XJRDD74
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Stevie's synth bass from "Innervisions" alone makes him the king of synth bass.
Oh man yes! "Boogie on reggae woman" is so cool....
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"Girlfriend is Better" from the "Stop Making Sense" movie:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/kuoiRr6hLjg
I always liked this version of the song... looks like Tina is wearing a bass but mostly playing a little keyboard.
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Many good synth bass parts on this album...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pQI_ANBeE
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I like Cameron Hawkins synth bass and sequenced Moog stuff on early FM albums (their two eighties albums are quite awful). "Black Noise" is probably the best but "Surveillance" and "City Of Fear", while poppier, have their good moments. "Direct To Disc" is almost avant-garde at times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_q5d17XfI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_q5d17XfI)
Some of their stuff on that album (released 1979) sound like a precursor to Rush' "Signals" album.:)
Agreed! The four "good ones" just became available on CD FINALLY! And don't confuse them with the British FM, or "FM UK" in the states. :rolleyes:
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Agreed! The four "good ones" just became available on CD FINALLY! And don't confuse them with the British FM, or "FM UK" in the states. :rolleyes:
Yeah! I pre-ordered them all in spite I already have "Black Noise" on CD. It was released in 1995 on Now See Hear label by Cameron Hawkins in Canada and 1996 by One Way Records in the USA but both were of course deleted by now. It was my first FM album and I recall calling all the record shops in Finland to find the others, in vain of course! ;D Luckily one guy in Helsinki was familiar with them and had some contacts in Canada and managed to get me "Direct To Disc", "Surveillance" and "City Of Fear" on vinyl.
Later I found Ben Mink's 1980 solo "Foreign Exchange" (excellent!) and the two 80's FM albums "Con-Test" and "Tonight" (quite horrible AOR synthpop). I also have Nash The Slash's first two albums "Bedside Companion" and "Dreams & Nightmares" on CD called "Blind Windows". Some great stuff on that too, my favourite is "Countervail" which was written as a "soundtrack" to this magnificent painting by Robert Vanderhorst:
(http://www.robertvanderhorst.com/images/paintings/large/Countervail.jpg)
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A question for you more knowledgeable types re Ben Mink - I know of his work through KD Lang (late MiL liked "her") and the solo Geddy, plus his awesome violin solo on a much earlier Rush work - not having heard much of FM what's a good introduction to their material...?
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A question for you more knowledgeable types re Ben Mink - I know of his work through KD Lang (late MiL liked "her") and the solo Geddy, plus his awesome violin solo on a much earlier Rush work - not having heard much of FM what's a good introduction to their material...?
Probably "Black Noise" but if it has to feature Ben Mink on violins and mandolins then "Surveillance". A bit poppy at times contains a great trilogy of "Orion - Horizons - Random Harvest" and a fine instrumental "Sofa Back". "City Of Fear" is quite good too, a bit more commercial and "Direct To Disc" that was Mink's debut with the band is FM at its most experimental.
Mink's instrumental solo "Foreign Exchange" is excellent, but only available as a vinyl. Should be easy to find from eBay for example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGax8RbYMMc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGax8RbYMMc)
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More distractions... ;D
Cheers, Pekka
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All on pre-order here too! And yes, I have the first issue Black Noise. I also got Eddie Jobson's solo "the Green Album" on Now See Here/One Way. I picked up Tonight at a record swap and was terribly disappointed. I remember liking one song on the whole thing, and it included half the tracks from Con-Test as well. :-\ Also have the first four on vinyl, and Foreign Exchange. Oh, and Nash's Children of the Night and And You Thought You Were Normal on vinyl and CD.
I think Seventh Heaven off of Surveillance is a quintessential FM track, and I hear a similar vibe on Rush's Subdivisions from 3 years later.
Just last week I pulled out Geddy's solo album for the first time in years. It's great!
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Signals also contains that Ben Mink track, Losin It... up until now the finest violin solo I've ever heard...
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old vinyl here. some good stuff
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I picked up Tonight at a record swap and was terribly disappointed.
The best thing about the album is the cover which has a detail from another great Robert Vanderhorst painting, "The Dreamer":
(http://a4.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/115/33f5e6758fd140c3a20b18928f2c7190/l.jpg)
My copy has a green vinyl (or blue, I haven't played it for ages!).
I agree about Mink's solo on "Losing It", that thing triggered my quest for FM albums!
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I had/have never heard anything quite like it...
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(http://a4.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/115/33f5e6758fd140c3a20b18928f2c7190/l.jpg)
That looks just like the mountains in Colorado - especially Breckenridge. Love it.
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I had/have never heard anything quite like it...
Eddie Jobson played a few great rock violin solos, like the one on "Out Of The Blue" by Roxy Music or something on those UK albums and as I write, Darryl Way plays in the background on Gong's "Sleepy" from the album "Expresso II" but Mink still has the best sound. I like his sound more than Nash The Slash who is great at doing more "scary" stuff. He has his moments too, especially the haunting middle part in "Black Noise".
Mr. Mink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFykNMqaws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFykNMqaws)
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That looks just like the mountains in Colorado - especially Breckenridge. Love it.
There's also landscapes like that here in Finland at winter so naturally I love it too.
http://www.twoartists.ca/ (http://www.twoartists.ca/)