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Hamer 8 string in action

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Alanko:
The more I watch that Rockpile video the more I feel a little sorry for them. They seem formed along earlier 'pub rock' lines so, after punk picked up and took over, they seem a bit tired looking. Four English blokes making music that has a vague American edge to it (which would annoy the punks) but perhaps not hard enough or technical enough for a rock audience.

I agree that Greg Lake was a remarkable player. Definitely one of the fastest and most precise pick players, choosing to use a tone that would have revealed every mistake, flaw and fluff. I'm not a big fan of that ultra-scooped Alembic tone, but I can always tell when it is him! He also had quite an unorthodox role in the band (do you need a bassist with Keith's synth battery?), but made himself heard!

uwe:
Ironically, I found his bass playing always perfunctory, technically perfect, but perfunctory! I hear nothing daring, happy-go-lucky and inspired like in Chris Squire's sonic Ric attacks in it. To me, Lake put all emotion in his voice (and his acoustic guitar playing), but not in his bass playing which was more of an afterthought to him. He was not "naturally over-busy, yet groovy" like Geddy Lee either, I always thought that his bass parts sounded like Keith Emerson wrote them out for him. A bit dead really.

I listen to a lot of ELP lately, but nothing Lake ever did on bass puts a grin on my face. He does what the overtly complex music requires and fills the space Emerson (50%) and Palmer (35%) left for him competently. That's not knocking him, I think that was kind of their mutual musical agreement right from the start, Lake (a guitarist at heart) did not join them to play bass, he played bass because the other two thought they needed a bass player for their trio concept.

I also hear none of the playfulness in Lake's playing that is so evident in what Jack Bruce does here (in a piece of music not entirely dissimilar to what ELP did):



But I'm not saying that he is not an excellent technical player!

Dave W:

--- Quote from: Alanko on December 13, 2017, 05:39:36 AM ---The more I watch that Rockpile video the more I feel a little sorry for them. They seem formed along earlier 'pub rock' lines so, after punk picked up and took over, they seem a bit tired looking. Four English blokes making music that has a vague American edge to it (which would annoy the punks) but perhaps not hard enough or technical enough for a rock audience.


--- End quote ---

When I read Top 10 Dave Edmunds Songs from earlier this year, this sentence jumped out at me: "Edmunds' roots date to the first wave of rock 'n' rollers like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers, and that's the place he's called home most often." That's why I like him so much, and if you understand that, it may help to understand his music better.

chromium:
One of my favorites:




Lowe's partly to blame for my Hamer fetish.  A well deserved obsession, if I do say  ;D

Dave W:
Great video, Joe, hadn't seen that one.  :thumbsup:

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