The Last Bass Outpost

It struck me how indistinctive most bass guitars sounded.
And that almost none of bassplayers had a really adventurous style.
Except for Joe Sumner of Fiction Plane. He really stood out; excellent bassplayer, great singer.





And apparently you need black suits, black and white instruments these days...

One of the most consulted German rock e-zines Home of Rock wrote a stunning review on Kharma Baby.
We are pretty excited about this one!

Go check it out here:
http://www.home-of-rock.de/CD-Reviews2/Superfloor/Kharma_Baby.html

If your German is a little rusty, I tried to translate it in English the best I could (with a little help from Uwe):


Ah, Rockpalast again? Ladies en Gentlemen from FunK Rock Arnhem (well okay, Georgia sounds somewhat... more glamorous): Floor Kraaijvanger & SUPERFLOOR! No discussion please now, this Florence Kraaijvanger is the first and biggest hope for the Funk-Rock-Throne, nevertheless she's remarkably blonde. From now on we'll call her Baby Floor.

"Kharma Baby" is the first real album of this Dutch band SUPERFLOOR, that doesn't glorify the first name of the singer for nothing. In fact, it's been ages since there's been such a drastically rocking album from the Funk, Soul, Hard Rock department, let alone with such a woman at the microphone. The three men around this Goddess can do what they want, even sometimes sound after the BLACK CROWES and relatives or a good half dozen of heroes from the Seventies ( the bass line in Been Down however is incredibly THIN LIZZY-sounding), in the end there's little more than this fantastic voice left.

Hopefully none of the gentlemen has an oversized ego. That would be fatal, because in the end each instrumentalist MUST subordinate himself to such a singing talent, no matter what he could or would. On "Kharma Baby" the devotion of the men works, even a class singer such as Rob Lamothe doesn't stand out, much less in a negative way.

Above it says: "...in the end there's little more than this fantastic voice left." That is the only - completely subjective - point of criticism at "Kharma Baby", and it cannot be justified really, realistically. The band rocks, Floor drives it to final extasy with her incredible voice, meanwhile there's wonderful Hammonds, guitarist Frank van der Wiel lets it wail/rip/slide exactky in the right places, the production is more than pleasant for today's standards, nevertheless one has the impression also after the umpteenth run that is a solo artist at work here. Honestly!, that is unfounded, SUPERFLOOR is a band and they perform that way, but the voice is supreme. What a luxury problem. Bass player Rob van den Broek can whirl up low tone mud in the opening track No Good For Me any way he wants, the Leslie horn in the title track can rotate till it turns black, the spectacular accents are set by Baby Floor.
Not until the ballad So Cold you notice the band, although that is horribly unfair, because the guys not only give it their everything, they're also good. Such a disproportion between actual condition and perception is rare, possibly BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY were the last "victim" of this type, although they could not withstand their boss actually.

As said, one cannot practice genuine criticism at "Kharma Baby", at the most remark that not all 11 titles burst with tension, perhaps slight boredom creeps up twice, otherwise one gets offered first class Soul and Classic Rock. At the guitar Van der Wiel alternates time and again between SRV-like tones and butt-kicking Hard Rock, Van den Broek doesn't just play along with his bass, he also gladly leads the way, and when Floor sings I Wanna Rock With You one falls on one's knees anyway.

Word goes that Tina Turner wants to tour again. Perhaps someone can send her this CD to the elderly home, so she knows that it is no longer necessary - the granddaughter completes the job much better than grandma.

P.S. There's also a ballad of the year. Although you shouldn't have pangs of love when Miss You is delivered. Then the mood changes from dreamy beautiful into heartbreaking.

Fred Schmidtlein. Home Of Rock. May 20, 2008

That is not an ordinary rabbit ... 'tis the most foul cruel and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

Yep now it works alright.

Remind me a lot of Skid Row. Not the pre-Lizzy Gary Moore stint of course, but the Sebastian Bach bunch...

just sent you an email with attached PDF.

cheers, Rob

So why did you sell it in the first place?

I just found out BaCH is already selling the bridge plus tailpiece at their website...

http://www.bachmusik.com/en/p101078/bachthd-se-zavesem-strun/






Of course I immediately sent them an email to ask how far they are with the project.

Brilliant!