Most underrated bassist in prog

I can't think of another Heep track where Thain does so many runs ...are we sure that's Thain.?

According to our PA logs it's Clarke.

Mostly noted as a session player for the singer/sonwriter crowd in the 70s, but might be more known to fans of this site as the bassist on Billy Cobham's "Spectrum" album, easily one of the greatest bass performances of all time in any genre.  

Without a doubt, Triumvirat's great bassist, the late Helmut Koellen (who incidentally, also played six string guitar, and sang lead vocals).

     He was at the forefront of the new progressive rock sound of the early to mid seventies, and was really the greatest thing that happened to Triumvirat, and was instrumental (no pun intended) in putting that band on the musical map, but is hardly ever mentioned in polls, lists, etc. of bassists. No doubt because of his early death way back in 1977 at the age of 27. Listen to his two Triumvirat albums, and if you can find it, his posthumously released solo album You Won't See Me, and if you do, then maybe he will become more well renowned, and rightly so!

 

That's true but I don't think anyone is suggesting that. Squire is a very prominent bass player but obviously Yes are about the rest of the band as well, and Squire is hardly underrated anyway.

 

I was in band once and our manager told me the bass player was the most important member of the band (although I think he was just saying that to get me to play better). Though it pains me to say this, it's not true, it's the drummer.

chopper wrote: I was in band once and our manager told me the bass player was the most important member of the band (although I think he was just saying that to get me to play better). Though it pains me to say this, it's not true, it's the drummer.

Depends what's meant by 'important'.   The bass is in many ways the most important element in terms of cohesion:  Adam Clayton is certainly not important to the music of U2 nor an extraordinary bass player, but his contribution is absolutely essential for the execution and gelling of the music.   The bass is the invisible unsung hero of rock.   Without it Zeppelin would sound shrill, Hendrix a mess, Floyd untethered, Van Halen one-dimensional.

Drums are a different matter. It would be hard to name a great band with a poor drummer. A poor drummer is someone who could be replaced by a metronome imo. Bass on the other hand can be a lot of things and it can even not be there ( or replaced by a hand on the keyboard) as was often the case with ELP. Yeah of course the composition of the music is everything. Who wants to hear bad music played by great musicians (probably the reason I don't care about Jazz much < insert winky emoticon here> )