Rob mad me aware of his passing in the Golden Earring thread, but I did not want to turn that into an obituary.
Alan was one of my early (and lasting) influences, he was my favorite Quo member with his no-nonsense attitude, the 'tache, curly hair and small but muscular frame. His insistent pick downstroke style in eights with lots of octave slides up and down plus the melodic parts he would always slip in were something I patterned my bass playing after. Other influences would come over time, but Alan was there first. I also liked his singing (of which he did a lot more in the 70ies when he sang live the lion's share of material with Rossi and Parfitt singing mostly the singles). The NME once quipped while reviewing Quo's 'Live!' album (where most songs are sung by Alan): "
Rossi has a fine pop voice, but the other guy who sings with him (meaning Lancaster) would have a hard time getting a job with Bachman Turner Overdrive."
Bass playing-wise, a good example for his isdiosyncratic style is this here here at 3:52 and 5:00.
Pummel that Mustang in eternity, Alan!