Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

johnallg wrote:Tony Kaye was killer on the Hammond. Chris, in the late 60s, was years ahead of his time playing-style wise.

+1

To hear Chris playing must have been. an amazing thing for a young bassist back in the early 70's. It was for me but it was 1987/88 when I first really listened to Chris/Yes & even now 2012 I'm still impressed.

I was a young bassist back in the early 70s, and yes, it was an amazing thing. I'll never forget the first time I heard Roundabout and stood transfixed through the whole song thinking "where has this music been all my life?"

When I found out what kind of bass he played, I had to buy one. As an old bassist in the 21st century I still play it.

In 1970 I was a big fan (still am) of Glenn Cornick and that lineup of Jethro Tull.
Watching Tull at Manchester Free Trade Hall was what inspired me to take up bass.
Shortly after Tull I saw Yes at the same venue on the Yes album tour and Chris Squire really impressed me!
From that concert I was determined to have a Rickenbacker bass one day instead of the EB3 and Thunderbird
that Glenn Cornick played.
(I have an EB3 now by the way)

Glenn was big for me too. The album Stand Up is really a great piece of work. I love Glenn's deep, warm tone and melodic playing, and the songs don't suck either!

Keef wrote:Glenn was big for me too. The album Stand Up is really a great piece of work. I love Glenn's deep, warm tone and melodic playing, and the songs don't suck either!

Tull is my all time favorite band. Though Ian is the big influence for me (flute/vocals/guitar) the incredible bass in the band never escaped me. Great a Glenn was, I was always partial to John Glascock. Preferred his tone immensely. Glenn always sounded muddy to me (not his amazing playing mind you, just his tone), John is very punchy and clear. Also LOVE Jeffrey. Going to see Ian solo do Thick as a Brick 1 and 2 in a couple weeks and I'm stoked. Always saddened me that there was never a Ric in Tull though.

Thanks for posting this Paul. I'd never seen Chris with the Tele bass in action... sounds great even through that backline Orange gear.

Er....while it probably WOULD,isn't that the lipsynch video....? I think this was just borrowed for the vid.
I don't think Chris ever used Orange gear....Wishbone Ash did,and it sounded great.

Wow; this takes me back to before I was born! I've seen bits of this before; but it still strikes me as to how radical Chris's tone must have seemed back then. He dared dabble in treble!

Have you ever noticed though that in these "classic rock"-era filmings, when the bassist does something solo or lead, the camera shot is instead that of the guitarist or singer standing there doing nothing? As in the beginning of "Survival" here. It begins the tune, solo, for heaven's sake. This reminds me of an old clip I saw of the Who performing "My Generation" on TV, wherein during the bass-solo breaks, the shot was of Townshend standing there not-playing. I think eventually they showed Entwistle's face, but not the bass.

What; back then, were bass players deemed always uninteresting to the viewing audience??

CageyPea wrote:......What; back then, were bass players deemed always uninteresting to the viewing audience??

Yeah, not sure why... we are usually the better looking part of the personnel on stage...

It hasn't changed that much, I still see modern videos where the cameras stay on the guitarist or singer during bass solos...

No respect.......

I always figured the camera operators stayed on the guitarist out of sheer amazement at how he could make that cool, low end sound without even touching his guitar...

Thats why Pete Townsend never trusted TV stations to reproduce the sound of the Who.

I mean,
They couldnt even get the pictures right!