OFF: Great Bassists (was100 Greatest Guitarists)

[Doug Pearson]

On Tue, 9 Sep 2003 09:14:18 -0400, DRider <Farflung at COMCAST.NET> wrote:

>I am wondering what you (and others) think of Paul Barker
>and Peter Hook?

I'd agree that they both belong on such a list.  I don't like New Order's
synth/dance music much, but they actually turned out a couple of great
guitar-pop gems early in their career, and Joy Division, of course, were
beyond seminal.

>Also, please go ahead and tell us your thoughts about Phil Lesh
>and the GD rhythm section. Sure, I am a fan of theirs, but I would
>like to know your thoughts. Personally, I like the years 1972-1974
>the best. Part of that has to do w/ them only having one drummer
>during that time. Let it rip man. I certianly won't be offended.
>We all have a right to our own opinions. Good or bad.
>It's interesting to see how someone came to form their opinion.

Of course, this is only one person's opinion, but it's also based on the
observations of (longtime band road manager) Rock Scully in his book on
the Dead (a fantastic read, whether or not you're a fan of the band,
although ... LONG ASIDE: the band's [and it's hangers-on] practice of
dosing the unsuspecting with LSD, while providing some funny anecdotes
[the German police trying to maintain their dignity while sweating buckets
and, presumably, watching the universe collapse around them, for
instance], is utterly *despicable*.  I have no problem with the
RESPONSIBLE recreational use of that pharmaceutical, but it's clear that
not everyone's psyche is capable of handling the jolt of such a powerful
drug - any fan of psychedelic music knows of enough casualties to be well
aware of that fact!  ESPECIALLY for the HW fans here ... I assume that
everyone read the Alan Davey interview recently referred to here, where it
sounds like that's exactly why Huw seems to have recently "lost it" and
had to leave the band as a result.).

Sorry, back to the subject at hand, the Grateful Dead rhythm section.  My
problem is that of the four rhythm section players (rhythm guitar, bass,
two drummers), not a single one is a good *rhythm* player.  As I said
before, I think Phil Lesh is a great musician with a fine sense of melody
and a willingness to bring the avant-garde to what's essentially a jamming
bar band (not an insult, merely an observation!), but he would always solo
over the music, without providing the necessary foundation that is first
and foremost a bass player's function, no John Entwistle is he; fine for
jazz, but not for a band playing rock (or, as frequently in the Dead's
case, especially country-rock) songs.  Bob Weir (at least at the time)
couldn't even maintain a steady on-the-beat rhythm, absolutely essential
when backing a lead guitarist as freeform or noodling (take your pick) as
Jerry Garcia.  By all reports, he got better in the 80's, but by then, the
band was a shadow of its earlier self (due laregly to Garcia's heroin
addiction and abdication of any leadership role he once grudgingly held).

As for the drummers, Mickey Hart, like Lesh, is a talented musician, and
does percussion fills and (for lack of better term) the "ethnic
polyrhythm" thing quite well, but does not carry the beat that is, again,
essential for a rock band.  Bill Kreutzman can at least carry the beat,
but is thoroughly unremarkable in doing so.  He has none of the *drive*
that is (IMHO) required to be a great rock drummer; he seems to be a Nick
Mason type who's far more interested in things other than drumming.

FWIW I think the Dead's 1968-era output (live recordings, of course) is
excellent, and introduced (via Lesh and keyboardist Tom Constanten) a
jazz/avant-garde element to the music that could have made for an
extremely interesting (and unique) band, especially with Lesh's later
interest in electronics (i.e. his 'Seastones' album and the mid-70s space
breaks that the band retreated from because they gave too many mellow-
hippie fans bad trips).  Scully's book mentions an incident around that
time where Garcia asked him to fire Weir and keyboardist/singer Pig Pen
(great white-boy blues singer, but mediocre keyboardist and completely out-
of-place in the band's most psychedelic journeys) so that they
(Garcia/Lesh/Constanten) could, presumably follow that direction.  Of
course, if they had done that, they never would have become the
multimillionaire stadium musicians that they eventually (de-)volved into.
But I (and probably 2 or 3 other people) would have liked them a lot
more ...

    -Doug (probably my last message for a couple weeks)
     jasret at mindspring.com

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Doug Pearson" <jasret at MINDSPRING.COM>
>> And Jack Casady (but not Phil Lesh - great musician;
>> rotten, or at least inappropriate, bassist, but don't get me started on
>> the Dead's rhythm, or lack thereof, section).