Glenn's best bass performances

I have to admit that anything off Made in Europe is my fave. Glenn seems to be in inspired form with funky bass runs in Burn, Stormbringer and the awesome You Fool No One, just after a few bars of Ritchie shreeding the riff in comes the man in THE bass line !!!

Apart from that, Gettin Tighter from Foxbat.....

Hughes has laid down a lot of great bass tracks, but "I'm the Man" is not one of them - Tony Franklin played the bass on that tune.

This track is awesome and Tony Franklin is a hell of bass player
His new solo CD - Wonderland is awesome, and Coverdale sings in a track.

Renato Maestrali Moraes
e-mail: rmaestrali@globo.com
ICQ: 9185591

Many favorites, for rock it would have to be Gasoline....That's a stunningly difficult run to pull off on those choruses...Awesome!

JH

Keith,

This is an impossible but interesting subject to answer. Glenn's released too much good stuff since Blues. Maybe you need to split it into Solo, DP, HTP, Sabbath, Gary Moore, Trapeze, Hughes/Thrall, Voodoo Hill, etc etc etc.

What comes to mind immediately is:

Every track on DP's CTTB featured a great line but i love the simplicity of the You Keep on Moving "dum dur dumdum" repeat. Tommys playing on that track still carries the same emotion 27years later

Better Man & Sail Away have got a great funk groove.

You Fool No-one & Wherever You Go have a tremendous driving force to them.

Who will You Run To has very quick playing that impressed the moment i first heard it. Hughes/Thrall needs a remix now tho.

What I am most interested to hear is the remixed/mastered versions of Burn & Live in London. All reports of Burn say that Glenn's playing is much clearer & better up in the new mix. Even Roger Glover said how great his playing was even thou he's now decided not to do the reissue - for which im glad.

It always amazes me how Glenns cd's have such a great sound mix and production - TWII sounds like he's right in front of you - but DP have never had a decent studio mix since they reformed.

"It's in my blood"

I always thought GH was a solid bass player, but nothing spectacular, until I saw him play live with the Voices of Classic Rock. For much of that show, he was mainly bass and backing vox, so I was paying more attention to his playing than I probably would have had he been singing lead vocals. His bass playing really stood out - very impressive. Since then, I really notice his playing more on his cds as well. I guess his voice is so good that sometimes it is hard to focus on much else.

ALso, I agree with wolfy - I thought the production and mixing on TWII is great, probably the best of any cd GH has played on.

[INDENT][SIZE=-1]quote:[/SIZE]

Originally posted by Jon L:

ALso, I agree with wolfy - I thought the production and mixing on TWII is great, probably the best of any cd GH has played on.

[/INDENT]
As great as SITKOR is, the only thing disappointing about it is that it doesn't measure up production wise to albums like TWII or Feel. HTP2 suffers equally.

JH

John, I agree - I think The Way It Is has my favorite production of Glenn's solo albums. As for Glenn's more recent albums, I think he should try recording with an outside producer, and see what they bring to the table.

Wolfysmith - before John or Jon have a chance to getcha, I'll kindly point out that Glenn did not play bass with either Black Sabbath or Voodoo Hill

Cheers...Todd

I don't think he played bass on "From Now On" or "Burning Japan", either.

I don't personally like the sound of SITKOR, either, but I am not sure if the production is to blame because that was the sound they were aiming for going into recording, according to Glenn. I thought HTP2 sounded fine.

Todd,

It's so long since i actually looked at the credits for 7th Star and older stuff like that that i forget that Glenn didnt always play bass as well. I remember an old interview maybe 6 or 7 years ago where he said he "fell out" with the bass and it took him a long time to get back "in love with playing it".

I saw him on the Addiction tour where had a bass player and he just sang except for a few songs. The encore of You Fool No-one had him AND the other bass player thumping out that riff

"It's in my blood"

I think it is nearly impossible to pick a track that best sums up Glenn's bass skills. One of the best features is that Glenn can adapt to many differnt styles.What is good bass playing? you can have a flashy style that makes you stand out
or like Glenn play with feel and melody, as a rock bassist you can tell his Mowtown influence, as on a lot of that stuff was played by just one bass player, called James Jameson.Glenn is always "pushing and pulling" the song through his playing and his great skill is knowing what feel is required to keep the whole thing moving on. Listen to the track TWII(for example) very subtle but without it the song would lose all its feel. Its all about the feel.

Wolfysmith, that would have been something to see - Glenn AND another bassist both laying down the foundation! Did the guitarist turn himself up to be heard over them, I wonder?

Cheers...Todd

Todd,

Cant remember who was in the lineup or much about the show to be honest.
What i remember is:

being shocked by Glenns appearance (just like on the cover of Addiction)
A fight at the front of the stage to get position in front of Glenn
Glenn's fantastic live voice for the first time in person
"I dont want to live that way again" - Magnificent.

"It's in my blood"

Hi all,
As for bass-playing, I am a little biased, being a bass-player myself. The Live-experience is of course the moment of truth - you can't doctor anything, it's the performance that counts. Therefore my favourite Glenn bass playing was the HTP show in Vienna - it would've been much better though, if the bass tech had checked the setup before the gig and not during the second song...
I also like the bass part during Jon Lord's organ Solo in "Burn" on the California Jam Video.
Just to throw a studio recording in aswell, it's probably "Coffee and Vanilla" - always liked that one!
A word on groove: The bassplayer always needs a drummer he can rely on and vice versa. In order to groove there has to be a certain chemistry between those two people. That usually happens after two or three bars (the musical terminus it is here). It took me 12 years to find that drummer. As for Glenn, Gary Ferguson is the man, so was Ian Paice.
More thoughts, anybody?
Cheers,
Chris from Vienna

I'm certainly no expert on this topic,
but the first time that I saw Glenn live,
was at the Birch Hill show, in New Jersey, USA.
(March 2001)

Along with George Nastos on guitar, the drummer was Brian Tichy.....
and they both did a great job of complimenting Glenn's singing and bass playing.

For only 3 guys, they made some fantastic music together!!!!!

I like Glenn's style very much. I think he hasn't got a superb technique, but the way he plays is pretty unique and you can definetly recognize him especially in the earlier albums. I guess he used Rickenbacker and Fender -basses in those days.

What I don't like too much nowadays is the sound that he has. It's pretty muddy and obscure. With that non-attack-sound it's maybe easier to play and you don't have to be too precise. I'm not saying that this is the reason why Glenn has the sound! Maybe he is reaching for the sound of finger bass. Or maybe he just likes it...Just thinking aloud here The last good bass sounds I heard are in Building The Machine. Airy but offensive, strong but not fuzzy. I think the whole idea of plektra (plektrum...pick?) playing is to get the sound of attack.

I was amazed of Glenn's energetic performance when I saw him on the stage. I think it's one of the hardest parts of playing live. Looking good and being a rock'n'roll star and still playing it right. Glenn does that well!

Cheers,
-J-