Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a ticket stub here on my desk from the first farewell Who tour. It is dated Oct 6, 1982. I remember at the time believing it to be the last chance I would have to see them live. Silly me. The ticket price? $15.00 The Stones will be playing in Chicago soon and the ticket prices started at $160.00. What has happened to ticket prices?!

Saw them on that same "farewell" tour, Dec.3,1982, at the Houston Astrodome.

Neener neener, I saw the Who's Next tour. Their best IMHO!. Long Beach, can't remember if it was the arena or the auditorium. I saw some great bands there. James Gang, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath(Paranoid tour), Steve Miller(Joker tour)

Isn't it amazing, when you look back there was some HOT music in 70-76? I would almost venture to guess most classic rock bands did there BEST stuff in those years!


And how did all those 80's bands become classic rock? Oh, it's the passage of time and I'm getting close to geezer status.(54 yesterday!)

I'm right now listening to Queen's "A Night at the Opera" and I was just thinking that that was a really creative period in music(at least for the bands I liked at the time). And for bass players as well, lot's of good players then.

I've dug out some 70's prog-dinosaur rock in the last week, listening to King Crimson's Red a couple of times.

Sure was some good music happening in the early 70's.

ELP, Yes, Steely Dan, Doobs, Allman Bros., Who (best period IMHO). Yeah, the '70s weren't all disco, for sure.

And one of my favorite groups was Loggins & Messina. I know, you're thinkin' "Danny's Song" and "Your Momma Don't Dance," but the musicians they gathered were great. How many bands used soprano and bass saxophones, mandolin, oboe, fiddle, and other instruments I can't even recognize? Messina is a great picker (fingerpicks on a Telecaster). Great basswork on "Angry Eyes," etc. I got all their studio albums. I see they are reuniting (isn't everybody?) for a tour.

The bass player who inspired me to take up the bass was Dee Murray from the Elton John Band early-mid 70s.
It was amazing how many good bassists/bass parts were on Top-40 radio then.

It was indeed a sad day when we lost Dee Murray. What an awesome player.

"Elton John 11/17/70" is a must-own CD for any bass player. Piano, bass, and drums. Raw and live.

I thought that was Bernie on the bass when I saw him at the Filmore! EJ played La first when he came stateside, and then came up to SF. I was stationed at Treasure Island and EVERY weekend we went to the Filmore on Saturday night! It was definitely three piece but I always remember it as being Bernie Taupin on the bass.

I saw Floyd on the DSOTM and Animals tours. Both were great shows, but the quad sound system for the Animals tour was to die for. All those snarling and howling dogs were all around me and Waters' bass was so loud and solid that he damn near blew my head off. That night also, the giant inflatable "Animals" pig exploded over the stage, which apparently wasn't supposed to happen, but the eleven doobies of Acapulco Gold I smoked that evening did absolutely nothing to disminish my pure delight at that experience, lol.

While I agree that Waters, as a bassist, is not of the same caliber that Tony Levin, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, and John Enthwhistle and others are/were, he nevertheless had a profound effect on the Floyd's sound post-Barrett.

During the years of DSOTM, WYWH, and Animals, the band collaborated to the extent that there was no dominant member of the group, imo. But then came The Wall, and Waters' influence was clearly defined. Waters warned us that "Pink isn't well and he stayed back at the hotel". At first, I didn't care for TW, but being the type of individual who was not averse to a little pin-***** to make myself comfortably numb (at the time), the album eventually grew on me. But from that point on, Floyd (including the post-Waters group) went down the toilet and never recovered.

I caught Floyd again with Gilmour in the mid-90s and it rates as one of the worst shows I've ever seen, period. I'll take Waters' "In The Flesh" over Gilmour's Pink Floyd ANY day of the week. It will be nice to see the classic line-up of Floyd once again, however.

BTW, wasn't that Tony Levin playing his Chapman stick on the Peter Gabriel show that appeared on the PBS beg-a-thon recently?

The 70's were killer in terms of general pop music. Streets ahead of the contemporaries today. Agreeing with Ron the standards of musicians on all sorts of top 40 stuff shows you how far the bar has been lowered today.
Queen are a typical example. Brilliant songwriting/arrangements/musicians and imo with The Who the best live band of the era. Today only U2 compare, and only in a live format, but if you watch Live Aid you'll realize they really are no comparison..
Don't even get me started on Coldplay...

"How many bands used soprano and bass saxophones, mandolin, oboe, fiddle, and other instruments I can't even recognize?"

1960s: Brian Wilson/Beach Boys (especially 'Today' through 'SMiLE')

today: Belle and Sebastian (who, appropriately enough, write very Wilson-esque songs)

As for PF, I'm one of those people who's really only interested in the Barrett era. Saw 'em in '88 since I was too young in the 70s, but with all the session musicians onstage, it seemed more like "the Pink Floyd Revue" than the actual band ...