bristol_jonesey
Don't tell me - you've been listening to Chris Squire again, Yes?
I have never been ... enamored with Chris and his work. Maybe within the context of a symphony, concert and such, the bass parts are impressive and well designed and defined musically ... very "un-rock" like in many cases ... but by the time you hear other things, and completely different music ideas and thing ... I find him very good with his notes ... but ... too many notes ... and sometimes they are not necessary ... but they sound really good ... and it helped "identify" what became known as "YES" ... but I do not think of him as the best ... or the most important one. His real gift was that he broke some folks necks along the way, because he wanted the pickus wired separatly and folks were telling him that it couldn't be done, and he knew his "electricity" and he lambasted many idiots, and the inevitable result was that he pretty much defined a "stereo" thing on the bass that became real big. This can be read about in "Bass Guitar" magazine on an interview ... and he states he was splitting the pickup already before YES came into being.
Bass Players that stand out for ME ... would be Lothar Meid in Amon Duul 2 as the best "touch" bass player, and the least repetitive of them all EVER ... David Darling from playing with Carlos Nakai -- and those are the only two albums that stand out that have David! -- to playing with Terje Rypdal in an incredible example of "chamber music" for electric guitar and electric bass that pop song fanatics will never listen to! After that ... there are some I enjoy, but most folks do not think they are good bass players because they don't do 4/4 and rock'n'roll and too many folks find themselves feeling inferior. Roger Waters is an excellent touch player and all the catalogue shows how strong it is in the amazing variety and changes and compositional sense. Stanley Clarke, but then he is in an environment where he knows that he does not want to do the same as anyone else, but he also knows it is all about feeling/living/sleeping with that piece, and that means you are going to take care of it with special love. Bootsie Collins, still the best effects user ever on the bass! Of all the famous rock bands, I really like JPJ and what he did for Led Zep, because it really help define and drive ... what was a very special "individualistic" band that knew that the difference was how much of yourself can go into this ... to make it right and better ... the rest of us, just copy and don't know the difference! Eberhard Weber is also on my list ... the rest are just kids learning to play music on the script! Beginners! Sorry!