Sheehan Bassics

[nofi]

i like the first couple elp albums ok. saw them tour with yes. the yes album and tarkus were the records they were pushing. greg lake's singing and playing were very impressive to me at the time. yes was having keyboard trouble at one point when they just went dead. suddenly yes was a power trio for a moment and the sound was still full and enjoyable. my two cents from the blurry past.

[Alanko]

I have a soft spot for ELP, as Pictures At An Exhibition was one of the few rock LPs in my Dad's otherwise entirely classical LP and CD collection. I've gone the other way, and I enjoy far more classical music now than I did back then. ELP's take on Pictures is at times wooden, leaden and lacking in dynamics. There is a staunch arrogance in throwing away over half of Mussorgsky's original composition, adding a pointless acoustic interlude, and offensive Hammond organ feedback jam and Moon/June/Spoon lyrics to The Great Gates of Kiev. Crediting various tracks to Mussorgsky/Emerson is equally galling. Yet, like Yes, there is something to be said for over confident middle class English dudes in their early 20s that meant that they could push that stuff out there, and ELP were all accomplished musicians. If anything I think Greg Lake was the weak link in that band. I detect a distinct lack of musicianship in his playing, though he had a very nimble pick technique. I've heard more than one live recording where his bass is audibly out of tune, and I feel he was often left to simply learn Emerson's left hand arrangements. His singing voice is impressive, but again it is raw and untrained and could sound pretty ragged on live recordings.

Then the band discovered cocaine and started their gigs with Pirates at 180 bpm. Great fun I'm sure, and you have to admire a band that could turn Mussorgsky's music into a stadium-grabbing live staple. If nothing else, a lot of kids were probably put onto classical music.

I prefer some of Emerson's playing in The Nice, when he could still do a good Jimmy Smith impersonation. Lee Jackson's voice is an acquired taste, as his rubbery Vox bass somehow doesn't fit in the music so well. Brian Davidson was a vastly underrated drummer with a great swing and jazz feel; two attributes entirely missing from Carl Palmer's stiff playing. If you must be a stiff proggy drummer, at least add all the flashy temple bells stuff like Neil Peart. Carl Palmer seems like an orchestral percussionist trapped at the back of a rock band.

[uwe]

I liked Trilogy, probably their most harmonic album. Brain Salad Surgery was already a little mad. But brave and reckless musicians they were. And Lake ensured that they had at least a few girls at their concerts. The thought of Emerson and Palmer as an instrumental duo doing 30 minute suites would probably render most women infertile on the spot.

[Basvarken]

Silly thought +++! Outside a miniscule circle of bassists who care for Billy Sheehan and still own Talas vinyl, nobody gives a damn. Besides, you're good enough, I've seen and heard you play.

Haha. Thank you for the compliment, but my pointless noodling is nowhere near Sheehan style 

[uwe]

Bollocks, you're very fluid and a lot of what Billy does is just gimmicky. Nothing wrong with being gimmicky if you're out there entertaining a few thousand people but we all know that the history of popular music would not need to be rewritten if no bassist on earth had ever tapped a single note much less neo-classical arpeggios.

My current favourite gimmick is playing a TBird, letting the open E string ring and then using my left hand (going over the neck rather than behind it) to drag the picked D# at the 20th fret of the G string up to a high E. Impresses 14-year-olds like hell. Also of musical value no doubt.

[Pilgrim]

I liked Trilogy, probably their most harmonic album. Brain Salad Surgery was already a little mad. But brave and reckless musicians they were. And Lake ensured that they had at least a few girls at their concerts. The thought of Emerson and Palmer as an instrumental duo doing 30 minute suites would probably render most women infertile on the spot.

Brain Salad Surgery has a permanent place in my regard.  Loved that whole album.  And I'll differ with earlier sentiments to say that I REALLY enjoyed ELP's version of Great Gates of Kiev.

One of my musical regrets is that ELP came to our college performing arts coliseum (with five semis of equipment) 30 years ago, and I didn't go to the concert.

[uwe]

Can I - albeit belatedly - console you with the observation that you probably didn't miss too many co-eds going there? 

It is my firm conviction that no heterosexual acts were ever committed with Brain Salad Surgery running in the background unless heavily hearing-impaired females were involved.

"Read my lips: Would you like to come over to my dorm and listen to a little ELP? I could always turn the bass up ..."


In other words: The title of ELP's fourth album was consumer fraud. No brain salad surgery with Brain Salad Surgery!

[Dave W]

...
My current favourite gimmick is playing a TBird, letting the open E string ring and then using my left hand (going over the neck rather than behind it) to drag the picked D# at the 20th fret of the G string up to a high E. Impresses 14-year-olds like hell. Also of musical value no doubt.

You impress 14 year olds? Subway is looking for a new spokesman.

[Pilgrim]

Can I - albeit belatedly - console you with the observation that you probably didn't miss too many co-eds going there? 

It is my firm conviction that no heterosexual acts were ever committed with Brain Salad Surgery running in the background unless heavily hearing-impaired females were involved.

That's OK.  My girl friend at the time was a classical music major and while dating, we were pretty harmonious.

[uwe]

So he did have sex with the other gender with ELP on!!! I'm impressed.

[uwe]

You impress 14 year olds? Subway is looking for a new spokesman.

Hey, with the limited means I got, I have to chose my audience carefully!

[mc2NY]

........

[nofi]

the above post would be kind of sad if it wasn't so...

[Alanko]

So he did have sex with the other gender with ELP on!!! I'm impressed.

To quote ELP:

Talk with the sister, spoke in a whisper, threatened to fist her if she
Didn't come clean
Jumped on the mother just like a brother asked one another if the other is
A queen.

Those lyrics function like a powerful aphrodisiac. Either that or nobody told Greg Lake about fisting at what ever plummy private school he attended. 

As for Sheehan, the curse is spreading. All joking aside, I scalloped the treble side of the last 5 frets on my OLP Stingray project bass a few nights back. Having seen Billy mention it in interviews I figured there was some logic behind it. I'm now in the market for an EBS Billy Sheehan overdrive pedal... 

[uwe]

And we all know where Billy got the idea from. From him who may not be mentioned, yet all threads end in him.