Wings of Pegasus on Carol Kaye

Stjofön Big · April 07, 2020, 11:33:32 AM

Hope you haven't seen this yet. Not any real news for anyone with deep interest, but interesting anyway!

Dave W · April 07, 2020, 04:42:36 PM

I've seen parts of that interview but after hearing this guy blather on for four minutes, I tuned out. There are too many YT videos with too much talk about the subject, and not enough subject.

I love Carol's playing, but she didn't play on everything out of those Los Angeles studio sessions. Joe Osborn played on hundreds of hits too.

Also, Carol continues to insist that no one ever called them the Wrecking Crew back then.

Pilgrim · April 07, 2020, 06:27:02 PM

About 18:00 in, Carol takes them to the studio where she worked, and the people don't have any clue who she is even when she introduces herself. Just shoddy knowledge of the industry and its history.

Rob · April 07, 2020, 08:04:15 PM

"I made a lot of money for this studio ya' know."
Sad but they had no clue.

westen44 · April 07, 2020, 08:20:57 PM

It reminds me of when I bought a "Bass Player" magazine many years ago with Jack Bruce on the cover. That got some letters to the editor asking why somebody named Jack Bruce had been on the cover since they had never even heard of him. Ignorance is a choice.

Dave W · April 07, 2020, 09:08:57 PM

Quote from: westen44 on April 07, 2020, 08:20:57 PM
It reminds me of when I bought a "Bass Player" magazine many years ago with Jack Bruce on the cover. That got some letters to the editor asking why somebody named Jack Bruce had been on the cover since they had never even heard of him. Ignorance is a choice.

No surprise there, Bass Player used to be little more than a Jaco Pastorius worship tract.

westen44 · April 07, 2020, 09:33:46 PM

Quote from: Dave W on April 07, 2020, 09:08:57 PM
No surprise there, Bass Player used to be little more than a Jaco Pastorius worship tract.

I just looked it up. That was the September 2001 issue. I let my subscription lapse. I buy one from time to time at the bookstore mostly because it's the most convenient store to where I live. Several month ago, to my surprise, they actually did have a page or two on Jack again. Of course, he wasn't on the cover.

uwe · April 12, 2020, 02:23:12 PM

Hasn't it ever occured to you that hardly a single one of the first generation electric bass giants left much of an imprint on today's bassists?

I hear guitarists today and you can tell after a few seconds they were raised on Hendrix or Page or EvH or Yngwie Malmsteen, what have you. But when did you last hear a bass player in a contemporary song who reminded you of Jack Bruce, Macca, Chris Squire, John Entwistle or James Jamerson? Éxceptions are few and far between. When Flea does not do his funk routines, but plays melodious, I hear Jack Bruce in him. You never hear anybody inspired by Chris Squire unless he plays in a Prog band aping his bright Ric clank on a superficial level. I sometimes think that Macca played more thirds on Sgt. Pepper than all bassists combined on records that followed it, all I hear today are root notes und fifths, thirds seem to be verboten. And no one, absolutely no one plays like JAE or James Jamerson these days.

Pilgrim · April 12, 2020, 06:51:19 PM

There are reasons that playing like JAE or Jamerson is rare.

JAE is extremely difficult to emulate. His bass lines and speed intimidate the hell out of me. There are people who can run his bass lines, but not many can do it well.

Jamerson is a challenge not only of technique, but of thought. He had a way of thinking that resulted in bass lines different from anyone else.

Dave W · April 12, 2020, 10:45:51 PM

I don't pay much attention to what most of today's bassists are playing. That's not a criticism, I just don't listen to much of the music.

Joe Osborn, Jack Bruce, McCartney and Wyman were the players who taught me how to think about the role of the bass, even though they each had a different approach. Carol Kaye and Jamerson to some extent too, although I didn't know who they were back then.

Basvarken · April 13, 2020, 04:06:59 AM

I don't understand what is so appealing to these self important nobodies making videos where they comment on other artists, pausing all the time to show their limitless expertise. This guy or that dreadful woman RebeccaVocalAthlete (that name alone makes me itch).

uwe · April 13, 2020, 06:25:34 AM

Quote from: Pilgrim on April 12, 2020, 06:51:19 PM
There are reasons that playing like JAE or Jamerson is rare.

JAE is extremely difficult to emulate. His bass lines and speed intimidate the hell out of me. There are people who can run his bass lines, but not many can do it well.

Jamerson is a challenge not only of technique, but of thought. He had a way of thinking that resulted in bass lines different from anyone else.

That doesn't really convince me given the fact that it is difficult to play like EvH, Yngwie or, say, John Petrucci too, yet many kids all around the world do it. Speed is something enough 16 year olds can learn relatively quickly if they set their minds to it as any visit to a Guitar Center or music fair will tell you.

Now you can of course say that the more technically-minded kids tend to go for guitar rather than bass, but there are still enough blitz kids on bass out there.

I believe that the role for bass has simple become more limited in the last few decades - people say what a genius JAE was, yet I'm certain that anybody playing like him (outside of a bass solo spot) would be unceremoniously kicked out of most recording studios and auditions today. People are no longer prepared to give that type of bass playing room.

Even his former band mates do not really seem to miss his bass playing that much. Townsend misses him as a person, but not really his bass playing (where JAE allowed little outside interference); I've never heard Daltrey say anything about JAE other than that he doesn't like performing his songs on stage. And Kenny Jones has immortalized himself with the quip: "Within The Who there was only one person playing bass: my bass drum. But we had two lead guitarists. I could never adapt to that role."

I always said it, they should have chosen Ian Paice over Kenny J at those post-Keith Moon auditions.

But they went for the guy they personally knew rather than the guy who would have fitted better musically.

Dave W · April 13, 2020, 10:25:36 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on April 13, 2020, 04:06:59 AM
I don't understand what is so appealing to these self important nobodies making videos where they comment on other artists, pausing all the time to show their limitless expertise. This guy or that dreadful woman RebeccaVocalAthlete (that name alone makes me itch).

In his 70s best selling book Looking Out For #1, author Robert Ringer invented the term "schmexpert" which he described as a schmuck passing himself off as an expert.

I wonder if Ringer watches YT now and marvels at the number of schmexperts.

gearHed289 · April 14, 2020, 09:05:37 AM

I see this guy on the YouTube sidebar all the time. I always get a chuckle out of the "British guitarist" tag. Like, who gives a F where he's from?

I haven't watched any of his, but I've seen a couple of "vocal coach reacts to" videos that just made me cringe.

uwe · April 15, 2020, 11:06:20 AM

I've seen some of his stuff, he has commented on Be Bop Deluxe for instance (favorably). Most people think that is a jazz music style. $:-\$ There are worse people out there, but in depth he is not.

It was great gratification for me though when Bill Nelson, the man behind Be Bop Deluxe reviewed an anniversary edition of DP's Machine Head and actually lauded the music for being "smart" and Blackmore's solos as "clever". This from a man who once panned Angel (the band) as "flve people, all dressed up as Freddie Mercury" and whose experiences touring with Ted Nugent made him doubt whether he was cut out for a rock star career (he wasn't).