The Last Bass Outpost

Not forgotten by some …

”Just heard about the passing of the wonderful Duane Eddy who was my first guitar idol with songs like Rabble Rouser, Shazam, Some Kind Of Earthquake. I would always rush out and buy his long playing records. My favorite all time tune from him was The Lonely One.

He was a brilliant guitarist in his own right. He was the first guitar player with that deep bass sound which I loved. Unfortunately, I never saw him live, although I tried to see him playing on a couple of occasions. One particular time, when I was 12, I went to London airport to meet him. I sat there for hours waiting, so I could get a glimpse of him. After 2-3 hours, I asked the ground staff what time his plane would be in as it was obviously delayed. They told me his plane actually came in early and I missed him. That was my first of many futile attempts to see him. But I would play his music night and day.

He was very kind to me last year, because I had missed him on so many occasions, he sent me a Gretsch Guitar as a present for Christmas. I couldn’t believe it.

He will always be my number one inspiration from the time I took up the guitar until now. He was so unique in his playing.

The world has lost a great guitar player. A truly unique guitar player.

Our hearts are with Deed and his family.”

Credited to an unknown & irrelevant Brit former ‘stadium rock’ guitarist and now Long Island resident with later in life a penchant for tights - before I get accused again of letting all threads end (or begin!) in the inevitable!


RIPnRoll for the man who invented platform crowd surfing long before KISS …

I like McBride better than Morse.

Is little Ian okay? Looks a bit stiff in the vid. Barely touching the skins of the drums

Little Ian meanwhile does what his last name says: He’s pacing himself for the rigors of the road. There is no drum solo anymore and he himself says that luckily his technique allows him to play loudly without requiring too much strength, otherwise he’d run into issues today he says. He keeps fit via playing drums with Purple tribute bands whenever he can (and Purple are not on tour).

This is good, bit like Rival Sons. Or Black Stone Cherry, but not as bone-crushing heavy. I like it!

Easy!!!


    Mk I: Blackmore, Evans, Lord, Simper, Paice

 Mk IIa: (minus Evans & Simper), + Gillan & Glover

 Mk  III: (minus Gillan & Glover), + Coverdale & Hughes

  Mk IV: (minus Blackmore), + Bolin —> line-up splits completely

 Mk IIb: as Mk IIa (first Mk II reunion)

   Mk V: as Mk IIa/b, but minus Gillan and + Turner

 Mk IIc: Turner departs, Gillan returns = as Mk IIa/b (second Mk II reunion)

  Mk VI: Blackmore departs, Satriani steps in, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

 Mk VII: Satriani departs, the Morse era begins, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VIII: Lord retires from the road, Airey joins, otherwise as Mk VII

  Mk IX: Morse retires ending his era, McBride joins, otherwise as Mk VIII, current line up: Paice (since Mk I),
            Gillan & Glover (since Mk II), Airey (since Mk VIII) + McBride (new kid)

Yeah, the Purple forums are full of gleeful anticipation re that.  I find it a bit childish, I wouldn't mind seeing Yes (with whatever remnant members they have) at a Purple gig and I don't question Howe's legitimacy of continuing with the name. So many 70ies bands are by now down to one original member (Uriah Heep and Status Quo for instance, Purple too, if you see Mk I as the original DP, but most people only start counting Mk II as real DP of which there are still three members in the current - wait for it  - Mk IX line-up).

I don't mind these "elephant pairings" that DP does mostly on their North American tours to get butts on seats. They've done it in the past with Lynyrd Skynyrd (that combination even made it to Europe), the Scorpions and Judas Priest (what a dream combo for me!). I'd take a look at modern day Yes just to see what they are like now, that Glasshammer guy isn't a bad singer. I've seen Yes without Anderson before (with David Benoit) and I've seen Anderson with Rabin and Wakeman, both gigs were fine. Both Squire and Wakeman were in their respective own way limelight-grabbing charismasaurs 🦕🦖 on stage, highly entertaining.

Whoever cut and pasted this had an eye for good modern dance choreography.

Granted, it's not Mystery Song, lamentably so.



But it was Francis Rossi's master plan all along to turn the mighty Quo from a rock band into a pop band with a rock'ish backing - and he succeeded in the end. I prefer mid-70ies Quo as well, but have come to terms with the later versions.

That song is a bit on the cheesy side, true, but then cheese and (especially later) Quo were never two different worlds:



One thing you can say about them that they are absolutely fearless in defying serious-minded rock convention in their vids! 

ESP?