Author Topic: Remembering John Entwistle: your two cents.... (Read 681 times)

stoney · « **on:** July 16, 2003, 10:23:51 AM »

Hi All,
I just visited Rabbit Bundrick's page and he's got a very nice section whereas you can post your thoughts about John. Rabbit also has his own JAE Tribute CD available. Proceeds go to charity.

Here's the link for Rabbit's page. Scroll down to One year on...A looking back and just follow the links http://www.thewho-rabbit.com/

Just for grins, here are a few pics. One of Rabbit and me, the other of John, Lisa and me.

senmen · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2003, 01:25:14 PM »

Stoney,
thank you very much for this information.
John was and is my everytime bass hero and I
had the luck to meet him many years ago twice
at the Frankfurt Music Fair. The Alembic Exploiters he played in the 70ies and 80ies have ever been my favorite. So it was absolute clear
that I had to buy an Alembic Spyder!

Many greetings and many thanks
Oliver

(Message edited by senmen on July 16, 2003)

palembic · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2003, 12:29:57 AM »

Hi friends,

I just went to take a peep at the indicated web-site.
One of the banners on the site contains a low quality video fragment of John playing.
Did you see HOW he plays.
I remember our all-time moder Mica saying that the action on John's basses was EXTREMELY low. (To quote John on it the best action for me is when the strings are 'behind' the frets). Nobody else could play them.
He must have had an EXTREMELY soft touch when playing and this even making those agressive LOOKING movements as you can see on the small fragment.
Amazing!

Paul the bad one

senmen · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2003, 12:54:33 AM »

Paul,
I am studying John?s technique for a long time.
I also ever thought that he had a hard playing but
recently I bought the double DVD Who at the Royal Albert. There is an approx. 3min solo of John and you can clearly study his playing style, even if the took it with a small camera fixed at the headstock of his buzzard. The action is real low and also he has flat fingerboards and you can cleary see that he plays without any big force.
But man, he was quick! Unbelievable quick playing!

Many greetings
Oliver

stoney · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2003, 09:42:52 AM »

Oliver & Paul (TBO),

Glad you enjoyed Rabbit's site. Quite true that John played with a very light touch...Hey, a couple of thousands watts & some effects seem to help out a lot. I wasn't teribly crazy about John's post Alembic sound. It was just too heavily processed for my taste.

Oliver...nice lookin' Spider, feed her a regular diet of 32nd and 64th notes!!!!

Stoney

jet_powers · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2003, 10:57:51 AM »

I was inspired by JAE to pursue an Alembic of my own and he remains one of my top bass gods.

Seeing him with his solo band close up in a nightclub where I had performed dozens of times before, I too studied his technique. At Who shows I was usually too far away to see anything good and proper but was always blown away by his performances. At the end of the show I didn't know whether to cut off my fingers and sell my gear or work even more. In retrospect, I'm glad I chose the latter.

I just wish it had not taken me so long to realize that a light touch and lots of power was the answer. I had the power part right early on but took a while to develop a light touch.

John and The Who have inspired countless musicians to create thoughtful works of art as opposed to mindless, banal pop songs. I, for one, shall be eternally grateful.

I, Like Stoney, wasn't crazy about his more recent overly effected sound, but the greatness of his playing is undeniable.

He truly is bassist of the millenium.

John Paul

senmen · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2003, 12:06:18 PM »

Stoney,
thank you very much for the information and the link.
And Jet, I have to agree 100%!
I am still very sad the JE had to go last year,
but I think and I believe he sees and knows everything about what we are talking on him.

Many greetings
Oliver

dnburgess · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2003, 04:01:11 PM »

Although having listened to much Beatles, Stones, Tull, Zeppelin, Sabbath, et al The Who have never really been in my musical sphere.

Could the Who / Entwhistle fans here recommend the best albums - both from an overall and a bass perspective?

Thanks
David B.

rogertvr · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2003, 10:41:00 PM »

Difficult one - some personal favourites of mine are Who's Next, Who's Last, Quadrophenia, The Blues To The Bush and Live At The Royal Albert Hall.

senmen · « **Reply #9 on:** July 18, 2003, 03:04:32 AM »

And of course take the solo albums of John, especially the Too late the hero. OK, music is sometimes a little bit disco and flashy, but you can clearly hear John playing, better than on other solo albums. Especially the 8strings are clearly obvious. Also a good source to hear his playing separately are the old Bass Masterclass Video and the two matching cassettes.

Oliver

harald_rost · « **Reply #10 on:** July 18, 2003, 04:51:42 AM »

But what makes me wonder is that he don't play any Alembic Bass or one of his Buzzards on the Video!?

Harald

elzie · « **Reply #11 on:** July 18, 2003, 04:56:28 AM »

This is funny. I remember being in my teens and twenties hanging with all my friends, a lot of whom were musicians. Of course, they all thought that the best bass player around was Geddy Lee, and I take nothing away from him as he is awesome.

However, I would tell my friends that one of the top bass players is JE, with the obligatory response: who?, oh yeah, that guy from the Who. I was always impressed with players like him, you know that when you first hear a song you say, wow, that sounds good, but after really listening to it you then say, man, that bass player is reeeaaly good. he not only holds down the bottom end, but he has is own groove going on.

I like a bass player, like JE, who can realy play and groove, but it's not right up front and in your face. I can listen to Stu Hamm for that;)

Paul TGO

jet_powers · « **Reply #12 on:** July 18, 2003, 05:28:44 AM »

David B.,

Quite understandable that The Who was never part of your musical sphere. I believe they only went to Australia once. A very long time ago, 1968 I think. I'm guessing they were never really big there.

I agree with Roger and Oliver. For pure composition Who's Next and Quadrophenia have no equal and Too Late The Hero is a bass player's solo album after all!

Two of my favorite Entwistle compositions are on Face Dances, a record the critics hated and even The Who themselves weren't crazy about. The songs 'You' and 'The Quiet One' are fine showcases for JAE's playing and sound. 'Trick Of The Light' from It's Hard is a good study in 8-string.

The John Entwistle Band's CD Left For Live has fine examples of his playing as well.

Cheers,
John Paul (tpo)

senmen · « **Reply #13 on:** July 18, 2003, 05:36:30 AM »

Jet,

yep you?re right. Especially the Quiet One is one of my favorites. John must have known me as he wrote this song. This fits very well to me.....
:-)

Oliver

jet_powers · « **Reply #14 on:** July 18, 2003, 05:49:05 AM »

Oliver,

He must have known me too! I think many of us bass brothers fit that description. I still use a line from that song frequently:

I ain't quiet. Everyone else is too loud.

BTW- Have you put down the Spyder yet?!!!

John