While 1967 may be recalled as the year of psychadelia, it was really 1968 that it took hold in the heartland. By '68, you couldn't sell an album unless the cover had some cheap looking psychadelic mixture of drawings and photography.
Many wondered just what the Beatles would do in 1968 to surpass 1967. Not many expected what they got.
LADY MADONNA
On March 15th, the "Lady Madonna"/"The Inner Light" single was released. On "Lady Madonna," McCartney had done it again. Listen to that bass line. It's a good bass line. Close inspection to it reveals some choppiness in the playing and he tends to miss slightly on some notes but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It follows the piano bass well, and it had to because he would have clashed with the left hand on the piano otherwise and this would be devastating to this record. The piano part, while simple to play, is so well constructed that you know upon hearing the first note what song it is, and it's hard not to like. If the bass part were to run over it too much, the song would be frustrating to listen to. Instead, it follows the piano bass from A to C to D and then, while the piano bass continues to ride on the D, it completes the typical rock and roll bass line, riding up to the F# and A. It works.
HEY BULLDOG
On February 11th, Yoko visited the Beatles' in the recording studio. This was the first time any of them had allowed one of the wives into this magical inner circle. It apparantly was just done, no questions asked. On that day, they were to make a promotional film for "Lady Madonna" and instead John pulled a song out of the hat and they finished writing it in the studio. Hey Bulldog is just a great record all around. The piano moves the song, the lead solo is inspiring and beneath it all is that old one/two tandem of Paul and Ringo laying down the beat.
I believe that both John and Paul were trying to make an impression upon Yoko. They slammed together a solid tune very quickly and obviously had a lot of fun doing it. Underneath the excellent solo (played, I think, by John), you can hear John and Paul whooping it up. Then, at the end, Paul starts barking (reportedly just to make John laugh) and the following takes place:
BOTH: "HEY BULLDOG!"
PAUL: "Hey man."
JOHN: "What?"
PAUL: "RUFF!"
JOHN: "What's that you say?"
PAUL: "I said. . .RUFF!"
JOHN: "You know any mo'?"
PAUL: "ROOOOWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
JOHN: "THAT'S IT BOY!! YOU GOT IT! YOU GOT IT!!!!!"
J&P: (general insanity rivaled possibly only by the end of "Everybody's Got..."
PAUL: "Don't look at me. I've already got 10 children."
JOHN: "Calm down, boy."
PAUL: "Okay, John. Calm down."
BOTH: "HEEYYYYYY BULLDOG!"
Also, like the bass players for the Gin Blossoms and Led Zeppelin (to name but a few) Paul played RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the drum beat. The piano line starts the song. The second time through, Ringo is laying down the beat. The third time, Paul's bass comes in an octave higher than you might expect. Frequently when bass players play up high, a lot of the solid rhythm is loss. Not so here, folks. One can almost picture a boxer jabbing out the notes when all three are playing together. "Hey Bulldog" is a top notch Beatles record, but don't ask John Lennon. While he obviously had fun making it, he sure didn't think much about it later. He was embarassed, he says, that they would do something so simple and mundane for Yoko's first visit to the studio. This was an unfortunate turn of events because the Beatles seemingly rarely had as much fun in the studio again.
And now, the key to 1960's rock bass playing:
THE BEATLES (the white album)
This article is about bass playing. It's my sincere hope that bass discussion hasn't become tiring for you yet, because we've now reached the zenith of 1960's bass playing -- if not all time bass playing.
Yes, James Jamerson was great. Tim Bogart of Vanilla Fudge was revoluationary. There were a lot of rock bass players on the scene and it had finally become fashionable to pick up the instrument. No longer was it the instrument handed to the least talented guitar player.
Listening to the White Album now, it's difficult to grasp the full nature of it's impact because so much time has come and gone since it was released. Just as the Beatles had wowed an expecting public with "Sgt. Pepper," they knocked 'em out again with the White Album." Through '67 and '68, it had become the notion of the record industry that an album would not sell unless it had a psychadelic cover, even if it were to be cheaply drawn (i.e. Cream's Wheels of Fire). As the Beatles worked on the white album, there were rumors floating around that they were busy working on the killer god psychadelic albums. What would the cover be like this time? Would they record the bible? The Lord of the Rings? The only thing for sure was that it would be the most stupendous, incredible flash of psychedelia ever produced yet. It's a relatively safe statement to make that few people expected an all white album cover and some of the most blatant rock music they had ever done.
Hard rock was a new commodity in 1968 and the Beatles, especially John Lennon, approached it with an unadulterated vengence. Of course, that's not all it contained, but it was down to basics. Basics, yes, and they had once again defined what the basics were.
There was a lot of inner discontent in the studio while making this album; Ringo even quit for a short time. But, this sort of thing is comparable to the 1972 Oakland A's baseball team who fought amongst themselves all the way to a world's championship. The Beatles lived through an incredible tenseness and pulling of power make an incredible album for us.
GEOFF EMERICK DEPARTS
It happened on July 16th, 1988, history fans. Geoff had had enough of the bickering and decided to leave then and there on that day. Ken Scott took over the engineering reigns for the rest of the way.
Emerick: "I lost interest in the 'White Album' because they wer really arguing amongst themselves and swearing at each other. The expletives were really flying. . . I said to George (Martin) 'Look, I've had enough. I want to leave. I don't want to know any more.' " 6
In researching this article, I found an interesting sidelight to this fact. Following is a listing of the songs engineered by Emerick and Scott. I've put them in order by the beginning of the recording of each song. Look it over and consider the styles of the songs.
The breaking point between the two is interesting isn't it? Their music afterwards was more raw and rockish than before. Whether this was due to the change in engineers or because they were heading in a new direction anyway, or whether it's because Helter Skelter happened to be the next song they were going to record is impossible to say. But a definite change took place.
As with the change of engineers when the Revolver sessions began, there was again a new direction in sight for Paul's bass playing.
"HELTER SKELTER"
(NOTE: This article takes the position that Paul played bass on "Helter Skelter." When this article was originally issued, heated debate broke out that it was actually -- as Mark Lewisohn claims -- John Lennon who played bass on the song. It has also been suggested that the bass part was doubled to achieve the higher trebly bass effect, but you can be fairly certain that this is not the case. The entire part is far too erratic for someone to spend the hours and hours to perfect the doubled sound.)
Ken Scott's first session was "Helter Skelter." What an introduction for Ken, but what a job he did on this song, . As you listen to the bass, you can hear a high very trebly sound going along with it. Most likely this was achieved by putting the bass into two seperate channels and mixing one with treble. However it was done, it creates a wild effect, adding to the mayhem. I believe the reason for this effect is to allow the bass to stand out from the droning guitars. One of the more difficult things to do is to get bass to cut through guitars - especially more than one that are playing low bar chords.
By using this effect on the bass, Scott was able to achieve this and more. The bass actually stands out in the forefront of that song once it gets rolling. The guitars were recorded quite well, made to drone and create more of a 'noise' than a clearcut guitar chord, yet done in a clean enough way to where you can hear the chords. The way the drums are played and recorded are designed to do the same thing. I think Ringo is basically riding on his crash cymbol and tossing in the snare/tom fills at will. The effect is that of an army of Panzer tanks crashing through underbrush and tree making ready to annihilate the unfortunate Polish calvary who await them on the other side of the forest with the bass guitar tank leading the way. The voice? It's the fuehrer screaming and shouting near gibberish in such a way that your brain is turned to mush.
The guitar droning effect is something that later day heavy metal engineers should listen to. Too often, these engineers will go for the same effect with the rhythm guitars and take the easy way out by having them sound purely and simply like white noise. If they want to create mayhem, they should sit down with this record, play this song and find out what George Martin and Ken Scott did to get those sounds. On the second thought, maybe they should leave well enough alone. We don't need any more Charley Mansons.
There's so much happening on this album that it's almost difficult to keep the discussion purely to the bass playing on it, and this is mainly due to the fact that McCartney had very nicely answered John Lennon's challenge. Lennon wanted to be a hard rocker now, and credit goes to all the band members for making the change to this new hard rock music. The only piece of the puzzle that I think falls a bit short is the sound of the drums on the White Album and "Helter Skelter" is a prime example. Had a fuller sound been used on the drums, this song would have been the most devastating rock song - of ALL time. It may be anyway.
Brian Gibson, technical engineer: "The version on the album was out of control. They were completely out of their heads that night. But, as usual, a blind eye was turned to what the Beatles did in the studio. Everyone knew what substances they were taking, but they were really a law unto themselves in the studio." 6
"EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT FOR ME AND MY MONKEY"
Bow low, bass players. . . . . What is difficult to determine, and it's really unfortunate, is when the bass part to "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey" was recorded. Was it before or after Geoff Emerick was replaced by Ken Scott in the booth?
"The Beatles Recording Sessions" by Lewisohn indicates that only drums, two different lead guitars, a vigorously shaken hand-bell and a chocalho were recorded during the session that Emerick worked and that a new lead vocal, backup vocals and handclaps were added on July 23rd A.E. (after Emerick). There is no listing of when the bass was recorded.
In any discussion of the evolution of rock bass playing, this song is all important. It is nothing short of superb both in it's execution and recording. As you play the song, the initial probe of the bass line played under the verses shows what at first seems to be a rather simple blues type line. Further listening shows something else completely. It's an eight note line and a good one that starts at the first beat of the measure on the root note. It then drops down an octave and walks it's way back up time and time again to that root note. There's so much involved in making this line work.
1. The final four notes of each run of the line are the most noticable Once the second note is played, the line drops just slightly in it's presence but by the time the fifth note is hit (partly because the notes are getting higher and partly because he's switched to another string) it's right back in your consciousness again. It crescendos up to the root note and drops again.
2. The line is played again and again and again, and many times is played slightly off meter. This is probably the most important aspect of the line. The best way I could describe it, visually, would be to illustrate a child on a rocking horse swinging back and forth with total abandon Not always right on a meter, but the same thing happens over and over again, close to meter. The closer you listen the crazier it sounds. Finally, you stroll over and gently remove the child, saying "that enough , now. But inside, you're screaming "GET OFF THE HORSE BEFORE I TURN IT INTO FIREWOOD!"
3. The bass is a perfect (!) counterpoint to John Lennon's strange and insane rhythm line, a guitar part that commands an article all to itself. (While one kid is rocking back and forth on the horse, another is banging their head against two walls, back and forth three times, pausing for a moment and then starting again.) Meanwhile those hand-bells could be the alarm the kids have set off in the local firehouse. The bass counters all this.
Then - just when you're ready to shoot the house up, it all locks into place. "Take it easy!" shouts Lennon. Now, the Beatles are locked in like they've never been before on the chorus. "Take it easy!", he shouts again. Then after the orgasmic "Everybody's got something to hide 'cept for me and my monkey" comes those strange chord changes, lead lines, and drum breaks. The bells have left us for a moment. But then, they're right back again for the next verse.
This is pure Beatles' genius, and a method they weren't using for the first time. As far back as their second single they employed it, when on "Please Please Me," John would shout "Come on", building up to the "Please Please Me" explosion of vocals. At that point in PPM, the bass line comes back with it's rhythmic pounding. Here, they've done it again. Pounding the bells/bass/guitar, etc down your throat, they take it away for the big buildup. Just when you realize it's gone, here it comes again - with a vengence.
Of course. Let us not forget to make note of The Great Bass Part, ocurring towards the end of the song. The guitars all stop and John and Paul start doing their crazy "C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon. . ." and then one of the most well timed bass lines in the history of rock comes forth. You can sing it - it's even double tracked to add emphasis -- "ba pa bubububoom ba bump pa."
What I wouldn't give to have been there when they put this song together, taking it from John's original accoustic guitar/vocal demo to the powerhouse it became.
"DEAR PRUDENCE"
For a change of pace, let's play a little game here. You're at EMI (Abbey Road) studios and are standing across from John Lennon and Yoko Ono. John is sitting, looking downward, finger picking (VERY excellently by the way) a song you haven't heard before but think is really nice. You recognize, immediately that the song is about Mia Farrow's sister Prudence. It's your task to think of what bass part you'll play to this song, realizing the strong influence Yoko Ono now has over what John would like to see The Beatles do to his songs. What do you do?
Intimidated a good bit, perhaps you say, "That's a really lovely song. I think I should just stay in the background on this one. Anything more could overrun that great melody."
All this, of course, unless you're Paul McCartney in which case you construct a bass line that really moves that song without getting in it's way at all. During the verses leading up to the middle eight, he plays what you might have played, but in a very forthright manner. Then for the middle eight (The sun is up), in from left field come Paul and Ringo and from there on through the end they're there when they need to be and they're not there when they're not needed.
"Dear Prudence" is, as a matter of opinion, one of the better Beatle recordings, from Lennon's excellent guitar and vocals to the rhythm and tasteful background vocals. It moves from mood to mood and by the end, if you're listening closely enough, you're breathless.
Bring the king down from his throne?
"GLASS ONION"
Easy enough. Let's turn to "Glass Onion." After years of listening, wondering, trying to calculate, the question remains: why that bass tone? It sounds like his strings have been dead for weeks. There's absolutely no life in them at all. The playing is good enough, the interplay with the snare at the beginning of each verse works well. But the tone?
"WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD"
Strike two. To put it bluntly, this is a wild swing and miss. The piano, drums, guitar and vocal are perfect for a blues song like this. Why, then, would he fall back on such a bouncy little line?
It is a line that would befit something like "All Together Now."
"I WILL"
As if there had not been enough inovation already on this album, a new idea was put into place. Paul doubles the bass with a vocal part. The effect is nice.
Just a brief mention of the accoustic guitar on this song. It's a style that Paul developed and dropped all too soon. He used it at the end of "Mother Nature's Son" and a for a good bit on the McCartney album but rarely afterward. It's done mostly by powering the non picking fingers, or the 'playing fingers' (in Paul's case, his right hand). With each note, his right hand fingers react strongly and with a quick shake vibrato.
"I Will" could have been recorded in 1964. It's one of the few post moptop songs that could have fit in any of their eras.
"NATURE'S CHILDREN" and "MOTHER NATURE'S SON"
"Mother Nature's Son" is one of the most beautiful songs Paul ever did and yet mention of it is almost never see mention made. John had written a song with similar intent, called, I believe, "One of Nature's Children". It's melody was later employed as "Jealous Guy" on the Imagine album. The only explanation of why they never even recorded it is that he held off on recording it due to Paul's song. Things ended up all the better because both "Mother Nature's Son" and "Jealous Guy" turned out so nicely.
"YER BLUES"
Lennon's version of the blues. These are some hard blues, and Paul responded with hard, heavy and necessary simplistic bass playing. When the word 'starkness' was invented, it was with this song in mind. It's about as stark as you can get and that's interesting because it's far from the typical blues bass line of the day (1-3-5-6-7-6-5-3).
"SAVOY TRUFFLE"
Yet another song interesting in it's recording. Turn your stereo to one side, the one with the guitars, and you'll find yourself wondering if John and George were drunk when they recorded it. It's very sloppy. The rhythm section (bass and drums) takes care of this problem by standing right out front, duking it out with the saxiphones. This driving style was used again in a later Harrison classic, "Here Comes The Sun." It's bouncy and lively and moves the song along, all in all a very well structured bass line. No better line might have been played.
"PIGGIES"
How is it humanly possible that one could get one's bass guitar to sound like a pig? If you ever get a chance to talk to Paul, ask him. His bass sound almost rivals the pig voices.
"I'M SO TIRED"
The main point that stands out regarding "I'm So Tired" is the excellent dynamic flow of the musicians and vocalist. There are some points that seem to show that the Beatles had progressed far as a recording unit that they seemed to come natural. Before the second and final chorus is probably the best example. Just after John agonizes ". . .and curse Sir Walter Raliegh, he was such a stupid git!", they let you know something's coming. The music had been building up to this line, driven by all the instrumentation. The bass is walking up through the chords. Lennon's rhythm is slapping chords on the three count and when the word "git" is sung, one of the guitarists starts playing little falling notes while the bass steps back a bit to let it all happen. Then, out of the blue, they're singing "You'd say it wouldn't be wrong. . ". The Beatles are back in gear here, but restrained. The bass and drums are fluid, and a buildup is starting all over again, punctuated by the great line "I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind!". It's hard to do, almost impossible because John and Paul are singing at their most searching and powerful, but listen to the band behind these lines as they're sung. Then there is the sudden stop, a drum fill, and the line again. The sudden stop again, a drum and organ fill and the line one final time. This is ensemble playing by all the Beatles, and Paul had long ago learned lesson of laying back when most effective is put into play.
"NOT GUILTY"
It's unfortunate that the Beatles' version did not get on to this album. Very dynamic and well played. With their apparantly new style of beginning a song right in the studio and calling each rehearsal of it a take, this song went over 100 takes which has to be some sort of record for the time. Perhaps they tried too hard and too long to perfect it and got tired of it. It has an excellent hook, the six beats played just before the "I'm really sorry for your. . .". That little break is like a car screeching to a stop, and is played to perfection by Paul and Ringo. Through most of the rest of the song, the bass is played in excellent British New Orleans rock style.
"WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS"
Possibly the most dynamic, heavy bass playing on the album. At various times during the song, the bass part is doubled. This song, saved for last in this discussion on this amazing album, may contain the heaviest of all the bass playing to be found throughout it.
George Harrison: When we laid that track down, I sang it with acoustic guitar with Paul on piano, and Eric and Ringo -- that's how we laid the track down. Later, Paul overdubbed bass on it. 10
To recap, the White Album really finally defined rock bass playing. To this day many bass players' styles don't sound all that different than the style Paul McCartney created on the white album. It went from no-holds barred madness ("Everybody's Got Something to Hide. . .") to excellent ensemble sound and style ("Honey Pie") to very pretty ("I Will"). With the possible exception of "Led Zeppelin II," there may have never been an album that had more of a long lasting effect on rock bass playing than this one. Can that be enough said about the bass playing on the album? Hardly. And yet, it's time to carry on.
The version on the single is a good example of a bass player and drummer locked tight together. It's really just rock and roll, but played by one of the best rock and roll bands.
"YELLOW SUBMARINE" (LP)
One could write this album off as the collection of "Sgt. Pepper's" cast offs and rerun old Beatles' songs that it really was. But, seriously, how many bands could claim such a selection of cast offs? "Hey Bulldog," having already been discussed, easily stands out as containing the best bass playing on the album. The playing on the other songs, having in most cases been recorded a year earlier, is placed much more in the background.
"LET IT BE"
Paul switched back to his Hofner for the movie, a habit he would entertain most times he's been filmed playing in his career. Obviously, this is because it is the Beatle bass that he's known for. But knowing that makes the fact no less dismaying. The movie deserves more credit than it deserves, though, and much of the playing on the roof is great - and great fun. "Get Back" with it's solid drone A bass playing stands out. "Don't Let Me Down" would stand out as an excellent bass song had the recording of it been cleaner. It does sound muddy and a bit echo-ey (for bass), but it's really good. Ah, enough of "Let It Be."
"OLD BROWN SHOE"
Don't they call these 'dusty diamond specials'? An excellent song that never received much notice. The fact that George put it on his live (in Japan) album was gratifying. There's some superfast bass and guitar playing on this song, and the chorus contains some of the harder bass playing Paul's done. The whole song is superfast and if it wasn't recorded and sped up, then let's give three cheers to the lads.
This is one song where it would have been easier for Paul to pull out his old Hofner and play it, because it requires such speed, but he did nothing of the sort. Maybe he felt it was time to show the world that not only could he play with the group, but incredibly quickly too. Those choruses. . .Paul and George doubling each other. It is amongst the most incredible bass playing Paul's done to date.
"ABBEY ROAD"
The 'starkness' so evident on the White Album was now replaced by lushness. It's difficult to find a classier album. The Beatles, produced again by George Martin, were once again into having their recordings sound like cohesive units. There is some great playing on "Abbey Road" but it doesn't stand out as boldly as the White Album.
"COME TOGETHER"
A personal note: every once in a while, I wake up in a cold sweat, having just dreamed that John didn't record "Come Together" with The Beatles, instead introducing it with The Plastic Ono Band where he had Klaus Voorman's bass under tight reign. Then I breath a sigh of relief. No, this didn't happen. He recorded it with the Beatles, thankfully, especially Paul and Ringo.
But how did the ol' trusty rhythm section come up with the bass/drum lines that open up "Come Together" (and the "Abbey Road" LP)? It is impossible to guess because they have nothing whatsoever to do with each other (let alone the song), and yet it all works.
How did they come up with it? To hypothesize, it's possible that Paul and Ringo were jamming together (or playing nonsense stuff) and while Paul crammed his fingers up the neck and played that bass line, Ringo - not really listening to Paul was casually doing little cymbal and tom fills. John, inspired, picked up his guitar and started singing "Come Together" over it. I don't think it could be many other ways, but if you're warped enough to believe it, there is one other possibility.
There was another change of sound engineers. Yes, an old hand at Beatles recordings was back again - Geoff Emerick. He had been coaxed by Paul McCartney to run Apple Studios. This was the first song he engineered for the Beatles since "Cry Baby Cry." The old team of Martin/Emerick was back. Is it possible that McCartney (who, along with the other Beatles had taken a major interest in what exactly they were doing up in that booth) was inspired by the re-entry of Emerick? So much so that he came up with one of the best known rock bass lines ever? Or was it just that good old Beatles know-how when it came to putting a part down for a song?
If you were to listen solely to the bass parts to many Beatles songs, it might take the average listener a while to guess which song was being played. Exceptions to this would be lines that mirrored the guitar, such as "Day Tripper," "I Feel Fine" or "Ticket To Ride." But if you were to hear just the bass to "Come Together," you'd know what song it was right away without doubt.
The rest of the Beatles were pretty smart to stand of the way of that one. There's not much to the other instruments throughout the song but perfect little lines and fill chords. Once again, you really have to hand it to them for knowing what NOT to play. The electric piano on the song, played almost out of a qualude type fog set a nice tone for the record.
Paul McCartney: Whenever he (John) did praise any of us, it was great praise, indeed, because he didn't dish it out much. If ever you got a speck or crumb of it, you were grateful. With "Come Together," for instance, he wanted a piano lick to be very swampy and smoky, and I played it that way and he liked it a lot. I was quite pleased with that." (footnote 11)
"SOMETHING"
Ahhhhh, "Something." Known for one of the sweetest guitar solos George had played to date, but should also be known for Paul's ability to play adventurous bass runs and still keep out of the way of the melody. Or, perhaps, to enhance it. The line he does that leads to the final chords of the song seem like he barely makes it, but does! A great song, and the second most recorded song of all time; second only of course to "Yesterday."
"I WANT YOU (SHE'S SO HEAVY)"
John wanted that old White Album starkness again, but what about the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride bass playing he got from Paul? Aside from the mini bass solo lines (kind of reminiscent of "I'm Only Sleeping"), during the choruses, he goes completely haywire as the ending moves along like giant alien robots tramping across the Earth and bringing on the Judgment Day. Fifteen times does that section play and fifteen times does the bass part completely lose all sight of reality. They must have been some sessions, those that produced this song.
"HERE COMES THE SUN"
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" ends with that sudden break and, if you have the CD, the beautiful sounding guitar intro to "Here Comes The Sun" starts right in. It's so completely opposite of what came before, but so good and warm feeling that you jump right into the new mood.
They had long ago perfected the art of waving their pocket watch in front of their fans' eyes and causing them to feel whatever they wanted and this was no exception. From the grim reaper to a sunny morning, you will follow.
In the case of the LP, it was difficult, if not impossible, to not get up at the end of "I Want You" and turn that album over. You had to hear that acoustic guitar intro to "Here Comes The Sun."
Note: Around 1975 or so, George Harrison and Paul Simon were on "Saturday Night Live" and they did the song. Fans of the song might have found themselves yearning for Paul and Ringo to come bashing their way in with that dynamic and moving rhythm section stuff they did on the album? It should be a beautiful song by itself. but Ringo and Paul had to go and ruin it by playing so well on it.
"BECAUSE"
Bass, by itself, is rarely interesting. But bass, playing in the background and just filling in at perfect parts, is invigorating to me. Examples of excellent bass mood setting are Woody Herman's "Bijou," Percy Faith's "Theme For A Summer Place," Henry Mancini's "Moon River," and the Beatles' "Because." It fills up some of the vocal lines and walks down with little three run lines that don't just fill in gaps, but keep the song set in the right direction. Without the music, the song is beautiful. With it, we get a lesson in tasteful playing.
"MEAN MR. MUSTARD"
John Lennon: You hear lots of McCartney-influenced songs on the radio now. These stories about boring people doing boring things: being postmen and secretaries and writing home. I'm not interested in writing third party songs. I like to write about me; 'cause I know me." (footnote 1)
Apparantly, "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" were exceptions to this rule.
Fuzz bass was employed on "Mr. Mustard," employed over the standard bass sound. The rhythm moves in and out of 3/4 time. Then it's onward and upward to some more classic rock sounds.
"POLYTHENE PAM"
Ringo, engineered again by Emerick, never sounded better in his Beatles' days than he did on this album and this song is evidence for that. Where the drumming sounded a bit thin at times on the white album, it was round and full on "Abbey Road." There's some aggressive playing by both Ringo and Paul on this song, especially when they bring each verse line back home with that eighth note slam.
The intro line, repeated throughout the song, has an excellent stumble in it that was well contrived by Paul and Ringo. There's the three guitar chords (D A E) and then the four beats on bass and drums. Then Paul sounds as if he's trying to find his way back up to E, stops for a moment at D and finally gets up top. He may have added this little bit on accident and decided to leave it in.
Whatever, it works.
"SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW"
If there's one thing that made The Beatles likable, it was their unbridled enthusiasm. Even when they apparantly weren't getting along, they always sounded like they loved what they were doing. He'd probably have denied it, but it really does sound like John had fun recording the accoustic guitar track on this song. Once again, Ringo and Paul work like. . . like they'd been playing together for years. As they had.
"GOLDEN SLUMBERS"/"CARRY THAT WEIGHT"
The bass playing is deep, rich, extremely tasteful, and beautiful. With a sound system that can really carry bottom end, "Golden Slumbers" comes across like a symphony.
"THE END"
Toss taste aside and play some rock solid bottom end. Really set up a foundation that the guitar players can trade solos atop. That's what Paul and Ringo did for this song. The sound of the drums is good, especially the toms as Geoff Emerick had really mastered the fine art of drum recording. He'd mastered bass recording some years back and took care to make sure it was done right for "The End." They lay the rhythm down like there's no tomorrow, and in their case, it was just about true.
It should have been their last album and "The End" would have been an excellent way to say adios to their listening and buying public. Everyone gets their shot at stardom in it. Ringo gets a drum solo, and along with Paul's bass, lays down a killer groove for George, Paul and John to play lead guitar over.
The rock symphony is over, as are the Beatles.
POST BEATLES
When the Beatles broke up, all four of them jumped into musical activities. The merit of the musical paths taken by Paul are up to subjective opinion. What isn't so subjective, however, is the quality of his bass playing. It has never waned. Even on "Red Rose Speedway," an album where he concentrated more on his keyboards, the playing is still superb.
However, to cover all his albums and hi-lites would be incredibly boring so let's look at just one.
"WINGS OVER AMERICA"
Paul, working with a sound company from Texas, obviously spent a lot of time and money getting a good sound for his tour of the states. Many that saw the show, such as the concert given at San Francisco's Cow Palace seen by the author, were amazed at the ability of the bass to cut through the sound. This sound comes through well on the record, put well to the fore in the mix. One aspect of McCartney's bass playing that impresses a lot of musicians is his ability to play difficult lines and sing at the same time. There is no doubt that he puts major effort into preparing for his performances.
The final effect of the playing and mix on the record makes the first focal point the bass and drums, with the extraneous instruments and voice almost secondary - even if this is in your subconcious. The rhythm section constantly pulls you in and then when you do break away and listen to the vocals it's an added treat. This is the Paul McCartney people had been waiting for, hard driving and rocking.
"ROCK SHOW" (live version)
Since "Wings Over America" came out, I have listened to the studio version of that song just once and that experience was almost like trying a cigarette after not smoking for five years. Enough of that. I had to put the live version right back on. His playing, live, was with a plodding decimating style that required him to remain rooted within himself.
"Jet" is no different, and the seque from "Rock Show" into it is a throw back to his Beatles days. "Rock Show" is plodding along at a high rate of speed, the bass and drums pumping that rhythm. Then suddenly it ends and there's a moment of almost nonchalance. The beat is taken away, and then slammed home again with the opening to "Jet."
Paul had by now developed a new style of bass playing. This style had showed some evidence of itself on "Band On The Run," and furthered itself on "Venus and Mars" and "Wings At Speed of Sound." The style is completely evident throughout the "Wings Over America" album and stands up to anything he's done ever -- including the White Album.
The best way to define it is that he'd really solidified - obviously through countless hours of practice - his left wrist. If you watch the video you can see a very stiff left picking hand. In those days, he held his pick directly underneath his hand.
Also, for the purpose of adding to the show, he pulled off some pretty darn flashy bass runs. "Time To Hide" had Paul playing as if he were sitting on a burning kettle. He'd lock in with drummer Joe English and then, every so often, stick his Rickenbacker out and leap way up the neck and FLASH for a moment. But, and fledgling bass players take heart, his high bass runs are done with solid rhythm. There was no need whatsoever for speed just for the sake of speed, with one awe inspiring exception.
"SOILY"
This song is mentioned specifically for the silencing any of the nay-sayers who might question his status as one of the top notch bass players In The World, technique-wise. To achieve a tommy gun effect, he builds to that vocal line and then sprays - right in the middle of the drums -- a chromatic run that very few could duplicate. Many may play a chromatic run of that many notes, and many may do it with speed, but not many will do it at that speed and with perfect tempo.
Time Magazine had him on the front cover of one of there '76 magazines. "Paul Comes Back" said the caption. They were right, he was back. It's really an amazing album, in spite of the fact that much of the harmony vocals were reproduced in the studio. Paul was back, if he'd ever really left.
FIVE-STRING TASTE
Paul now uses a Wal 5 string bass in the studio and for part of his live shows. I think it's important to take yet another page from the McCartney bass book when it comes to 5 string bass playing. There are (at least) two ways to approach the switch from 4 to 5 string bass (where the 5th string is a low B).
One way would be to take a step back and re-approach the bass with all five strings in mind, to seek it out as a whole new instrument because in effect that's what it becomes with that approach. You've no doubt heard a number of bass players who have taken this approach, and they lean quite heavily on the low B. This can be troublesome: while we bass players tend to love low rumbling sounds, there are not many others like us out there in the world. One gets the feeling that these bass players are using their newfound low B string as a weapon to grab new power in the band sound. Interestingly enough, you 'generally' find these sorts of bass players in the club scenes and maybe it makes sense there.
The second way is to think about your bass as the old 4 string instrument -- with a fifth string available on top for effect. For one thing it makes it much easier to play without thinking so much. It's so easy, while playing, to forget that the string at the top of your neck is now a B instead of an E that it's almost survival to adopt this method both live and in the studio. Approaching 5 string bass playing in this way also causes the bass player to use the B string a bit more sparingly, and hence to much better effect.
Paul McCartney on recording "Free As A Bird": "I played the Wal, and what I liked was I played very, very normal bass, really out of the way, because I didn't want to 'feature'. There are one or two moments where I break a little bit loose, but mostly I try to anchor the track. There's one lovely moment when it modulates to C, so I was able to use the low C of the 5 string and that's it, the only time I use the low one, which I like, rather than just bassing outand being low, low, low. I play normal bass, and then there's this low C and the song takes off. It actually takes off anyway because a lot of harmonies come in and stuff, but it's a real cool moment that I'm proud of. That's my Wal moment." (footnote 2)
He hits that cool low C three times actually, the first time during the first note of George's solo.
Today, every time Paul comes out with a new album, people tend to be disappointed. As with all music, opinion is completely subjective (as is much of this article).
But the one thing that's not so open to subjectivity is his bass playing. Whether on his Rickenbacker, his Wal 5 string or whatever, he remains one of the top bass players in the world. For a guy who could rest on his laurels as one of the prime innovators of rock bass playing, that is a solid testament to him as a musician.
DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT:
GEORGE MARTIN: "There's no doubt that Lennon and McCartney were good musicians. They had good musical brains, and the brain is where music originates - it has nothing to do with your fingers. As it happened, they could also play their own instruments very well. And since those early days they've all improved, especially Paul. He's an excellent musical all-rounder, probably the best bass-guitarist there is, a first-class drummer, brilliant guitarist and competent piano player." (footnote 8)
STING: "It's hard to separate McCartney's influence on my bass playing from his influence on everything else-singing, songwriting, even becoming a musician in the first place. As a child, I would play my Beatles albums at 45 RPM so I could hear the bass better. He's the Guvnor." (footnote 2)
WILL LEE: "Growing up in Texas in the early '60s, I was so obsessed with the Beatles' music that I didn't feel like a fan, I felt like I was in the Beatles. About the same time I switched from drums to bass I became aware of who gave the band its charm and personality, from visual tunes like "Penny Lane" to the group's repartee wtih the press. It was the same fellow who was able to take a poor-quality instrument like the Hofner bass and create magic on it. I especially dug Paul's funky, Motown-influenced side, evident in the bass line from Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey," or even in the syncopated part from "A Day In The Life." Paul's influence on bassists has been so wide-spread over numerous generations that ther's no denying he's in everybody's playing at this point. We're all descendants. He played simple and solid when it was called for. But because he had so many different flavors to add to a song, he was able to take the instrument far beyond a supportive role. Paul taught the bass how to sing. (footnote 2)
STANLEY CLARKE: "Paul definitely had an influence on my bass playing, not so much technically, but more with his philosophy of melodic bass liens-especially as I hit my teens and the Beatles' records became more adventurous. On tracks like 'Come Together,' the bass line WAS the song. I've always liked that. The only other person I knew of who was doing that was James Jamerson. That was one of the reasons I was inspired to write 'School Days': so I could just play the bass lines and people would hear a whole song. I had the honor of being contacted by Paul through George Martin to play on "Tug of War," and I also appeared on "Pipes of Peace" [both on Capitol]. Paul was very nice. He asked me to show him how to slap. During Pipes we got a groove going in a studio jam, and it ended up making on the album as 'Hey Hey.' He graciously gave me a co-writing credit, and it's still a thrill to see my name next to his above the music in the song book. " (footnote 2)
BILLY SHEEHAN: "The reason I got involved with music in the first place was because I saw the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show." I watched all the girls going crazy, and I figured this was thebest business in the world to be in. Later on, when I got more deeply into music, "Sgt. Pepper" was a break-through record for me. I must have listened to it several hundred times. What intrigued me was how totally musical every aspect of it wasespecially Paul's melodic, fluid bass lines. When my band Talas was starting in the mid '70s [the Beatles' tribute show] Beatlemania was big, and we used to play entire gigs of just Beatles tunes. I've learned so much from Paul about playing, writing, and playing and singing at the same time that I should probably start sending him checks. Most bassists get into the flashy players, but I think the reason Paul is often overlooked is that what he was doing wasn't really obvious. It was so brilliantly woven into the context of the songs. One of my favorites is the bass line from 'Rain.' I still use it to test the low end of an amp. That Paul happens to play bass is a great boon to all of us, because he made us realize that there are no limitations to being a bass player. " (footnote 2)