The best Synth basslines

[Rob]

[slinkp]

Stevie's synth bass from "Innervisions" alone makes him the king of synth bass.

Oh man yes!  "Boogie on reggae woman" is so cool....

[slinkp]

"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.

[4stringer77]

Many good synth bass parts on this album...

[gearHed289]

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.


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. 

[Pekka]

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.  

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! 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:

[Highlander]

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...?

[Pekka]

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.

[Highlander]

More distractions...

Cheers, Pekka

[gearHed289]

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!

[Highlander]

Signals also contains that Ben Mink track, Losin It... up until now the finest violin solo I've ever heard...

[jumbodbassman]

old vinyl here.  some good stuff

[Pekka]

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":


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!

[Highlander]

I had/have never heard anything quite like it...

[Pilgrim]

That looks just like the mountains in Colorado - especially Breckenridge.  Love it.