The Last Bass Outpost

... may I sneak in the question whether anybody has heard the new Yes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzoNTYTSufY&feature=related

It immediately reminded me of why I always liked Starcastle better than Yes - they didn't have Jon Anderson singing! I like this new guy from a Cannuck tribute band way better - more timbre in his voice and he still hits the high notes, even a bit of Police era Sting in him. Squire's bass playing ain't as "I command you to make room for me, mortals!"-abrasive as it was, but he still gets his due playing time in the mix. Downes' - on loan from Asia - keyboard playing (always more a pianist than an organist) and songwriting is all over as is Trevor Horn's stellar production job which echoes some of Alan Parson's best work in the past. And the first song errm, work is close to 30 minutes long including a lengthy neo Mike Oldfieldish-repetetive part (is the needle hanging or are they playing this on purpose?) instrumental part over weird meters, at 20.14, shortly into the song  . Oh yes (pun not intended, but still working rather well), Steve Howe still can't play a rock guitar solo or break to save his life.   But overall the album is tuneful and catchy - sometimes only the deliberate "let's make this sound strange and not natural!"-breaks give away who's playing. Recommended.

Who ever said that anything was bad about the seventies? I feel inclined now to see them on their German tour.

We are in eager anticipation ...

Yes, I know, it reads Tobias, but they are made by Gibson in Nashville and even listed on the official site as Gibson USA basses.

"One of the Most Resonant Basses in the World

One of Tobias’ main concepts from the very beginning was that all instruments are first and foremost an acoustic instrument. Over the years, the company’s experimentation with different combinations of tonewoods produced a wide variety instruments with distinctly different sonic and tonal qualities, and the new Tobias Growler from Gibson USA continues this honored tradition. Starting with its solid multi-piece swamp ash body, the Tobias Growler is one of the most resonant basses ever made by Gibson USA. Swamp ash tonewood is characterized by huge, open pores and soft layers, which gives each new Growler a deep reverberation and fullness of sound across the entire frequency spectrum. The Growler’s tone is unique, and it’s hard to match. The highs are clear and bell-like. The mids are bold and pronounced. And the lows are strong and definite.

Electronics and Controls Bring Out Its Diversity

The new 2009 Limited Run Series Tobias Growler from Gibson USA stands out, and it’s easy to hear why. It gets its power from one of the best bass pickups in the business – a quad-coil, 5-string bass pickup from Bartolini. This advanced design delivers an extended and more resonant frequency range, along with more air and definition at the top end without sacrificing its lows and low mids. The pickup is also cast in epoxy to effectively remove any unwanted feedback and microphonics. A separate pickup-blend control lets you sweep between all four of its coils for unlimited tonal possibilities. Additional controls include the customary volume knob, and separate bass, mid and treble controls. Together, the controls of the 2009 Limited Run Series Tobias Growler lets you choose between a boundless array of sonic alternatives, allowing you the ability to adapt to any playing environment.

Subtle Changes, Big Rewards

In most cases it’s best to leave perfection alone. But two key differences to the new 2009 Limited Run Series Tobias Growler make it one of the best basses in its class. First, Gibson USA improved the Growler’s truss rod by making it bi-directional. The new, fully adjustable “Quad Bass” truss rod allows players the ability to adjust the Growler’s neck in both directions, a feature that integrates well with probably its best overall enhancement – the Growler is the first Gibson bass to receive the revolutionary Plek system setup. The Plek is a German-made, computer controlled machine that carefully measures each fret, along with the fingerboard height under each string, and then automatically dresses each fret, virtually eliminating string buzz and greatly improving the overall playability of the bass. This pioneering process does in minutes what it takes a luthier several hours — sometimes even days — to accomplish. Every fret is accurately aligned, and the bass is properly intonated, leaving the instrument “Plek’d” and amazingly playable.

Precision Glued Neck Joint
 
Still another key feature of the new 2009 Limited Run Series Tobias Growler is the change from using a bolt-on neck to gluing it in place. As evident on many of Gibson’s most iconic models, gluing the 34”-scale length neck to the body of the Growler bass ensures an exact “wood-to-wood” contact, leaving no air space in the neck cavity and ensuring maximum contact between the neck and body. This allows the neck and body to function as a single unit, which results in better tone, longer sustain, and no loose or misaligned necks. The neck is constructed from pure maple with purple heart laminate for a creamy smooth feel and easy, comfortable playability. It is matched with a 24-fret rosewood fingerboard void of any inlay markers and no binding.

Tobias Tradition, Gibson Innovation

Everything about the 2009 Limited Run Series Tobias Growler breathes excellence. The rightful adherence to the quality and tradition set forth in the mid-1970s remains intact in every detail of today’s masterpiece. Just like the name Gibson represents more than a century of originality and superiority, the name Tobias guarantees quality and distinction, leaving no doubt that the bass in your hands is one of the finest in the world. The new 2009 Limited Run Series Tobias Growler from Gibson USA maintains this tradition. And like all the guitars from this special series, only 350 will be produced and distributed. Each one will come with a Tobias case and special Limited Run Series certificate of authenticity."

Having resigned myself to the fact/fate that I will never get my hands on a Continental V, I am now considering to obtain one of those:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Tobias-Growler.aspx







What makes this bass different from other Tobias Growlers both from the Michael Tobias and the (much derided among Tobiasites) Gibson (Gibson bought Tobias in the early nineties) era is the chrome hardware, the ABM bridge and the - a bow to Gibson tradition - set neck. (All other Tobias Growlers are bolt-on.)

So has ever anyone of you seen one of these in a shop or with one of the mailorder shops? The official Gibson site still lists them among Gibson USA basses, but that site is often hopelessly behind things. OTOH, I cannot believe that the market could have gobbled these up so quickly if really 350 were built. Tobias basses have their diehard fanbase, but 99% of them are only interested in the pre-Gibson takeover output. I've randomly checked ebay in the last few months, not once did one show up.

 

The closet Carpenters  and Burt Bacharach fan in me crept out again in its full vile untrendiness:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z7Uxo625w&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSAV2LnT1ro&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnQn_FxSIH0&feature=related

And unlike Karen, she seems to eat properly too. That is a good thing.

And if so, how did you like it (it's not really a film to "like", I guess you can be impressed with it)? I saw it on Saturday with high expectations and, no, I wasn't expecting an "easy" or "entertaining" film, but something heavy and with depth. I can even watch Wim Wender films and other European "art cinema" with enjoyment. But this here ...



At my snappiest I would say (and this is someone who loves Kubrick's 2001 for the story, not just the effects, the special effects guy from that film was however resurrected for Tree of Life and it shows in the  - nice - non-computer-animated special effects): What a pompous, lumbering, disjointed, pretentious, self-absorbed and inanely-metaphysical piece of crap. The film is so hilariously dead serious about its opaque message (unless the fact is enough for you that God sometimes takes the life of a 19 year old for no apparent reason and saves the life of a sickly plant-eating dinosaur in North-Americans woods from a carnivore hunter dino for no apparent reason as well - I guess it is supposed to tell us that everything evens out in the end in his infinite wisdom) that the (art-cinema type) audience broke out laughing at its end, though quite a few had already left during the film.

I can appreciate esoteric films, spiritual and religious ones. In my book, the comparatively recent "The Rite" with Anthony Hopkins as an exorcist, although shamefully (mis-)presented as a horror flic, was pretty much an unabashed call to arms for Catholic faith, including its darker, "unmodern" and not scientifically explainable aspects, I still enjoyed it and found it thoughtful even though I was half-waiting for an official Vatican sponsorship to show up in the credits at the end! And I guess you could describe Malick's film as the cinematic presentation of a two hour stream of consciousness with God, bible citations, prayers, human despair and all. But it is a strangely amorphous, disconnected God he is speaking to and getting no answers from. You could replace the concept of God in this film with the Four Elements or some equally pagan-spiritual concept, it would amount to the same thing.

Brad Pitt plays well and nuanced, a stern fifties father figure, both deeply religious and aching for recognition in the here and now, but for all his inability to understand his sons (and wife) he loves them all deeply. He's the redeeming factor in the film (as are the kid actors). Sean Penn, much as I like him, rides an elevator most of the time, his face in furrows (that typical "I am so concerned"- Sean Penn type-cast look he has perfected since masticating with his chewing gum over fallen buddies in the 1989 Vietnam drama "The Casualities of War"), or wanders, face still furrowed, aimlessly on a beach that leads him to other aimlessly beach-wandering people, inter alia his mother and father, when they were young, and his dead brother (we never find out what he died of nor whether that plant-eating dinosaur, once spared by the raptor, got back on its feet again, it all ticks the "God works in mysterious ways" box) silently among them. You take your pick whether this is heaven, purgatory, the search for God of the human mind, a dream of memories or just Sean Penn walking on the beach seeing dead people and squinting his eyes for lack of shades.

This is now starting to sound cynical, so I better stop (especially after eliciting cheers from the cinema audience after quipping during the credits at the end: "I now need a shot of Transformers III!!!"), but did anyone see it here and find it rewarding?

Uwe

PS: For the record: It is exquisitely filmed, features stunning interior design to rival any Kubrick film and has great, often sparsely used music, yet which in other scenes sometimes bludgeons you Spielberg style and then rates high on the "kitsch-o-meter".

two Cannuck friends, one of them a hotel bar brawler, the other an Ayn Rand disciple, I am about to see here in Festhalle Frankfurt (sold out to the brim, all 10.000 capacity of it) in a few minutes ... It's been thirty years since I saw these guys last ... Permanent Waves tour it was I believe ...

The first Cat is the deepest ... In the Berlin O2 Arena ... Edith says that i'm not allowed to say that I'm there for her, but that it was my idea to drag her there ... But we all know that Cat Stevens records in boys' bedrooms always served one purpose only  ... The old sonic seducer, currently on stage with just an acoustic guitar ... Now inviting Allan Davies (spelling), the guy who played guitar on most of his seventies work ... Voice is still youthful, but fuller than it used to be.