Bon Jovi's bassist

[Dave W]

An intimate 300 capacity club is much too small to hold Bono's ego.

[lowend1]

Just to be clear...you're seeing Mick Box from Uriah Heep.  If the original members of Heep were still with us, 300 seaters wouldn't be happening.

Here's one from a quaint little toilet in my hometown, back in '92-ish. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

[ack1961]

Here's one from a quaint little toilet in my hometown, back in '92-ish. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Wow. that's depressing.  I was big into Foghat...I still think Tony Stevens was a great bassist.
I may be alone in that thought, but what else is new.

[lowend1]

Wow. that's depressing.  I was big into Foghat...I still think Tony Stevens was a great bassist.
I may be alone in that thought, but what else is new.

They always had good players. I really like the stuff (producer) Nick Jameson laid down on the "Fool For The City" album. Great live band, too.

[gweimer]

Wow. that's depressing.  I was big into Foghat...I still think Tony Stevens was a great bassist.
I may be alone in that thought, but what else is new.

Tony Stevens was great.  Nick Jameson (has gone on to do a ton of animated voiceover work) was my favorite - he was also on In The Mood For Something Rude.  I didn't really think Craig MacGregor was all that distinctive.  When I saw them live, they were good, but not great.  Kenny Aaronson was with them then.

[lowend1]

Tony Stevens was great.  Nick Jameson (has gone on to do a ton of animated voiceover work) was my favorite - he was also on In The Mood For Something Rude.  I didn't really think Craig MacGregor was all that distinctive.  When I saw them live, they were good, but not great.  Kenny Aaronson was with them then.

Pretty funny that the guy who played bass on "Slow Ride" also plays the president of Russia on "24".

[Hornisse]

I don't mind admitting that I liked "Slippery when Wet" at the time, it was probably a bit pop, but hey it helped a lot of other bands get noticed too.......
I'd certainly concur with the 3000 seat venue line too, I was very fortunate in my younger days to a lot of great bands ( Kiss, Rush, B.O.C. Nazareth, Slade, Robin Trower, etc) at Seattle's Paramont Theater, a wonderful old 3000 seat venue with wonderful acoustics........the '70's were good! 

Austin had places like the old Palmer Auditorium and City Coliseum that were fantastic places to see bands.  I was lucky enough to see Kiss and SRV in the former and Elvis Costello, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and The Clash in the latter. (back in 1982 - 84)

[uwe]

Ack1961: Of course its only Mick Box "and the other four". But one of the other four (Bolder) has been with the band for 30 years, two others for more than 20 (Lanzon and Shaw) and only the drummer who replaced Kerslake recently (for health reasons) is a new kid. Yes, Uriah Heep is very much the legacy of Ken Hensley's songs and the current line up (I've seen them three times over the years, often as opening act for role models Deep Purple) still chugs along mostly on that material (though the last studio album was very good and forceful, "Wake the Sleeper"), but as a performing band they have credibility. Shaw can sing both Byron and Lawton material equally well, yet has his own identity, Lanzon is technically a better player than Hensley (chiefy a songwriter) ever was on the organ (Lanzon is beginning to sound more and more like Jon Lord) and Bolder is de facto the bands lead bassist as he plays over, under and in the middle of the band's material live. He has a solo spot in July Morning where he actually solos over the bands backing - excellent and a welcome change from all those "I show my chops"-bass solos.

As regards Heep's commercial decline - that set in as early as after Sweet Freedom. Wonderworld was a poor seller already, Return to Fantasy was without Thain's warm melodic bass playing (Hensley: "After Gary had to leave, we made it sound like Heep with John Wetton, but the chemistry was gone, it didn't feel like Heep anymore ...") and High and Mighty saw a band on the wane. Lawton as a successor to Byron was a great singer and probably less "seventies" than Byron, but it was already diminishing returns for Heep by then, their "just like Deep Purple, only with hummable chorusses"-Euro heavy rock had run its course. Let's not even talk about John Sloman whose manifold inabilities had Hensley set sail for, eventually, Blackfoot. The ex-Trapeze guy they then had was a great singer (probably my favorite Heep singer), but not a great frontman nor did he like playing live much so after another three abums he went off and Bernie Shaw came in. Which is the way it has been for a long time now. With Byron and Thain dead, Kerslake unfit to play and Hensley lost somewhere between St. Louis and reborn Christianity, the classic line up of Heep from the Demons and Wizards to Wonderworld-era (before that bassists and drummers had come and gone) will not be resurrected in any case, but what you hear from today's line up is still firmly Heep, they carry the spirit. And those harmony-drenched chorusses that always made them more appealing to girls than Deep Purple are still there.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjRXzhsn_yM&feature=PlayList&p=2CB91F65C4A64E37&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=48

[gweimer]

I reviewed some of the first of the "comeback" albums.  My only real complaint was when they tried to sound like the old days.  They were a band that was pretty good at re-inventing a sound, and being interesting.  I got a later years compilation from someone (I think it was someone from the old Dudepit) that I really liked.  There was a '90s song, "Fear of Falling" that was great, and made me rethink my old thoughts about Trevor Bolder on bass.
I also had Siogo and Vertical Smiles from Blackfoot during the Hensley times.  Siogo was good, but very produced.  Vertical Smiles left me wanting, and their version of "Morning Dew" (an old high school band favorite from Jeff Beck) was lackluster.  I've never heard anything from Virtual Faith, the last band that I knew of that included Hensley.
Gary Thain, as some of you may know, was probably the biggest influence on my style, and I didn't even realize it for years.  "Sweet Lorraine" says just about everything you need to know about how great he was, and how bass could drive a song.  I covered "Return To Mystery" in a band, but the band just wasn't the same so soon after Thain's demise.
BTW- I guess there's a compilation CD of Thain's work over the years in the works.

[lowend1]

Gary Thain, as some of you may know, was probably the biggest influence on my style, and I didn't even realize it for years.  "Sweet Lorraine" says just about everything you need to know about how great he was, and how bass could drive a song.

A big +1.
I had much the same "light bulb moment" with Gary Thain's playing - they don't make 'em like that anymore.

[OldManC]

the little garden state wop (George, another one for your low pc collection of my legendary quotes!)

I guess that would make me the Golden State Wop! (Birth father being first generation NY Italian  )

I always liked Sambora's playing. Truth be told I think the band is pretty good but the overabundance of cheesy keyboards (and said player's BAD extensions back in the day) always ruined it for me. There are a few songs I like OK, but JBJ's voice hasn't aged well to my ears. What was once a sometimes annoying nasal quality there has grown into the piercing adenoid from hell where my ears are involved...

[Denis]

I also had Siogo and Vertical Smiles from Blackfoot during the Hensley times.  Siogo was good, but very produced.  Vertical Smiles left me wanting, and their version of "Morning Dew" (an old high school band favorite from Jeff Beck) was lackluster. 

"Vertical Smiles" has possibly one of the worst album covers of all time!

[ack1961]

Ack1961: Of course its only Mick Box "and the other four". But one of the other four (Bolder) has been with the band for 30 years, two others for more than 20 (Lanzon and Shaw) and only the drummer who replaced Kerslake recently (for health reasons) is a new kid. Yes, Uriah Heep is very much the legacy of Ken Hensley's songs and the current line up (I've seen them three times over the years, often as opening act for role models Deep Purple) still chugs along mostly on that material (though the last studio album was very good and forceful, "Wake the Sleeper"), but as a performing band they have credibility. Shaw can sing both Byron and Lawton material equally well, yet has his own identity, Lanzon is technically a better player than Hensley (chiefy a songwriter) ever was on the organ (Lanzon is beginning to sound more and more like Jon Lord) and Bolder is de facto the bands lead bassist as he plays over, under and in the middle of the band's material live. He has a solo spot in July Morning where he actually solos over the bands backing - excellent and a welcome change from all those "I show my chops"-bass solos.

As regards Heep's commercial decline - that set in as early as after Sweet Freedom. Wonderworld was a poor seller already, Return to Fantasy was without Thain's warm melodic bass playing (Hensley: "After Gary had to leave, we made it sound like Heep with John Wetton, but the chemistry was gone, it didn't feel like Heep anymore ...") and High and Mighty saw a band on the wane. Lawton as a successor to Byron was a great singer and probably less "seventies" than Byron, but it was already diminishing returns for Heep by then, their "just like Deep Purple, only with hummable chorusses"-Euro heavy rock had run its course. Let's not even talk about John Sloman whose manifold inabilities had Hensley set sail for, eventually, Blackfoot. The ex-Trapeze guy they then had was a great singer (probably my favorite Heep singer), but not a great frontman nor did he like playing live much so after another three abums he went off and Bernie Shaw came in. Which is the way it has been for a long time now. With Byron and Thain dead, Kerslake unfit to play and Hensley lost somewhere between St. Louis and reborn Christianity, the classic line up of Heep from the Demons and Wizards to Wonderworld-era (before that bassists and drummers had come and gone) will not be resurrected in any case, but what you hear from today's line up is still firmly Heep, they carry the spirit. And those harmony-drenched chorusses that always made them more appealing to girls than Deep Purple are still there.

Uwe: Good call on recent Heep...I was a huge fan (UH was my first "favorite band"), but I basically threw in the towel after Return to Fantasy.  High & Mighty and everything after that was missing something for me - I'll give the new Heep a shot.  My comment was just based on fact that Mick Box was such a small part of what drove Heep's sound for me, and with Byron, Kerslake & Thain dead, and Hensley turning into a Blackfoot Indian, it just seemed odd to see the Uriah Heep name tagged against folks who didn't drive the Heep sound the way it was back in to 60's and 70's.  Demons, Salisbury, Magicians and Wonderworld are truly some of the best albums I've ever heard.  Also, Hensley's "Proud Words..." is another fine album.

On the up-side....at least this dreadful Bon Jovi thread morphed into something more palatable.
Cheers.

[uwe]

Box is no Blackmore, Page or Iommi. I can't remember a single memorable solo from him (not a bad one either, he just melts into the music). But he's realized that early on and decided to be "just" a functional band member (and the teddy bear of the audience) at a time when guitar heroes reigned supreme leaving the spotlight to Byron and Hensley. It did Heep no disfavors at the time because with Byron and Hensley they already had enough divas on stage.

Moreover, Box's song serving rhythm guitar chugging let all the Heep bassists have considerable freedom, Thain and Bolder (admittedly, it took a while with him to liberate himself from how he had played more constrained with the Spiders from Mars) being the two bassists to use that to the best advantage of the group (Wetton to me sounded at times plainly bored with Heep, his heart wasn't in it and his playing was a lot more angular than Thain's whose subtle groove was one of a kind). Oh, Bob Daisley was great too, unfair to forget him, but money lured him back to Ozzy. If you hear Heep live today, Bolder solos more improvised runs on his worn Fender than Box plays leads on his Paula - with a lot of riffs powered by Lanzon's organ.

Hey, and Lee Kerslake is still alive, just unfit to tour due to his heart condition.  

And there is some inner justification to a Bon Jovi thread becoming a Uriah Heep one. Where most American hard rock bands patterned themselves after Led Zeppelin (even Kiss riffs sound like Zeppelin throwaways at times), I can hear traces of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep in early Bon Jovi.

[TBird1958]

" I can't remember a single memorable solo from him "

Gotta call ya on this one Herr Moderator, tho in general I'd agree.......But Box's solo during "Stealin" is good, if simple. probably his best.