V63 Video: Elvis Costello - This Year's Girl

[rickboy88]

The video to "Clubland" (another vintage Bruce Thomas bass line) is a bit of an oddball:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbasuu1gCDs

Bruce looks to be actually playing a Jaguar - guitar (no Jaguar bass yet). He pretends to play the little riff periodically, then at the end you can see that he's playing with the bass line, only he's playing a guitar.

I think I learned this one as well. Bruce's playing was sort of counter-melody on steroids, but I'm not complaining. It was always supporting though.

[rickboy88]

This link contains a nice, short bio of Bruce Thomas and his playing career:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Bruce_Thomas

[rickaddict]

Its a great song and as many have said already Bruce Thomas was a huge part of Costellos sound. It isnt the same without him. I fortunately got chance to see him twice with The Attractions in the early/mid 90's when they reformed for a tour or two. They hate each other....a massive shame as BT has to be one of the most melodic and clever bass players ever. Agreed Davey Faragher is good but not even 50% of Bruce plus he comes with a lousy sound which gets lost in the mix. I believe EC gets on very well with him though. Pump it up is a song I play regularly and always enjoy it. We are just about to bring back Watching the Detectives and Whats so Funny.....cant wait !

Thanks, Keith. This place has taught me a lot. Now I know why I've been severely disappointed when I've seen EC live, and I know not to try again. Great bass is a big part of why I enjoy or don't enjoy any particular band, and it was a HUGE part of what I liked about EC.

Reading the above and combining it with the fable I've heard here about EC persuading Macca to dump his Rick in favor of the Hofner, are two big strikes against the man as far as I'm concerned.

Wouldn't it be nice to know just how much of an artist's success/record sales were attributable to the bass player?!

I mean...don't get me wrong, the guy is a brilliant artist...I just think he might underestimate the allure/value of great bass playing.

[rickaddict]

This link contains a nice, short bio of Bruce Thomas and his playing career:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Bruce_Thomas

Thanks, David.

More education for me!

[FretlessOnly]

Wouldn't it be nice to know just how much of an artist's success/record sales were attributable to the bass player?!

In the case of my purchases, it's about 99%.

[rickaddict]

Wouldn't it be nice to know just how much of an artist's success/record sales were attributable to the bass player?!

In the case of my purchases, it's about 99%.

You must be like me then, John...Maybe worse! When I listen to music, I hear bass lines. When I'm not listening to music, I still hear bass lines!

[1965]

If you guys have a second, and a youtube account, help me vote the Elvis Costello video up. Some guy on youtube apparently doesn't like me and keeps voting all my stuff down. I made the cover below sound exactly like the original song and he gave it one star. Sounds petty I know, but better ratings mean more clicks, and I want people to see this stuff to help them figure out how to get the notes and sounds right.

[kiramdear]

You got it, Wes.

[1965]

Thanks, Kira. This guy was claiming to be teaching "lessons" on how to play songs, and one of his videos wasn't even close to how it's actually played. So I sent him a message saying I wasn't sure that it was played that way, because he gets a lot of hits and don't want to spread misinformation. I guess he got ****** and started voting all my new videos down, ones where I actually worked hard to get them to be accurate.

[kiramdear]

Yeah, there's one in every barrel. Well it looks like you're off to a good start there anyway, your ratings have come up. And I subscribed.

[JakeK]

I subscribed to you after you posted the "Think for Yourself" cover.