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Topic: What Boz Really Thought About King Crimson Posted: August 10 2013 at 22:44
Boz can say what he wants, doesn't change that Bad Company is generally pretty bland. As straight rock bands go they're pretty unremarkable and dry. Though there are a couple good tracks, their music is FAR too sparse (even as straight abead rock bands go).
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Posted: August 03 2013 at 15:57
Hi,
I think that "rock music" will eventually add a "bass guitar" to its orchestra design ... just like the electric guitar.
Those two have been developed a lot better and further than most other instruments, specially when the synthesizer is nothing but a replacement for another instrument in an orchestra.
In general, from my perspective, classical music has not had the repetitive and contextual basis that rock music (and jazz!) has defined for itself ... and this creates more possibilities for the future by the time the two mix and match and learn to play together.
There is a thread, or group of folks, that do not believe that anything that is "popular music", of which the "electric" contingent belongs to and is a part of, will EVER be a part of music history ... and I think that is incorrect. Music has always shown improvements, and additions and other factors in its history, and I think that rock music will help a lot of new things in the future ... and the likes of work, like Mike Oldfield, guitar over the orchestration, will be more and more visible in the future. Unffortunately, most of us will be long dead and gone to find out about all that ... but if something like that does not happen, "classical music" will probably die after 500 years! Replaced by music that is more forceful, has more personality, and clearly defines the human nature and potential a lot better than before ... because it allows emotion with vocals, something that most classical music has very little off, and has had 500 years to address, and didn't!
I wonder if we are thinking of slapping as some sort of process that belongs in the music ... and I have always thought it was more of an accent than it was anything else ... weird to see it thought of as a process that belongs in music!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
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Posted: August 03 2013 at 00:22
stegor wrote:
Former bassist? Don't you mean recovering bassist?
I always wondered what constitutes a bassist. I've heard that guitarists make terrible bass players because they play like guitarists. Real bassists are something different?
Excellent question!! I started on guitar very young (11), but never was serious about it until I bought a cheap bass from a friend. I approached the bass guitar with a similar approach to guitar, mostly using a pick & pursuing a very aggressive attack on the strings.
....like Chris Squire, Greg Lake, Ray Bennett & many others!
I also play "thumpy" bass with my fingers, but never did get that slapping-stuff down at all. I tend to be more melodic than rhythmic.
In one band I was in, I did ALL instrumental lead work on a four-string electric bass, heavily processed! The guitarist generated walls of sound through racks, and the drummer went nuts in a Stewart Copeland fashion. I'm a decent lead guitarist, but those leads on bass were excellent! Sorry to say the tapes were lost!
Doesn't matter what you play or how you play it, the end result is what matters.
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Posted: August 02 2013 at 11:50
And what about those bassists who can't just be happy with one string but have to have five and don't get me started on Tony Levin and the whole Chapman Stick thing, I mean, like, that's waaay too many strings for a proper bassist to have...
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted: August 01 2013 at 22:53
Former bassist? Don't you mean recovering bassist?
I always wondered what constitutes a bassist. I've heard that guitarists make terrible bass players because they play like guitarists. Real bassists are something different? They don't ever touch an instrument with 6 strings? I recall that Pete Giles was brought into KC for Wake of Poseidon because he was a real bassist as opposed to Lake who was a guitarist playing the bass. I think Lake is a bassist now, isn't he? At what point did he move from being a guitarist playing the bass to a bassist?
For that matter, at what point does someone who plays the piano become a pianist? That "ist" is a powerful little suffix, isn't it?
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Posted: August 01 2013 at 19:04
CPicard wrote:
moshkito wrote:
The.Crimson.King wrote:
...
RF's journal quoted a Melody Maker article 4/24/71, "In fact, Fripp taught Boz to play bass from scratch, starting two months ago because they couldn't find a suitable bassist". Based on this fact, I found Boz' remarks in the documentary especially disappointing. If it wasn't for the situation in King Crimson that lead to RF teaching him to play bass, the Bad Company gig would never have been his and all the fame & fortune it gave him would have gone to someone else. I would think he would have had nicer things to say about Crimso
I can imagine that it takes a lot of talent to play bass on any Bad Company album! Basic and beginner level for the most part!
So what? Who cares about basslines, anyway? Who listens to the bass???
And I know what I'm talking about: I'm a former bassist.
How many bass players does it take to change a light bulb?
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who cares?
And before anyone jumps down my throat...I started out as a bass player in 70's prog bands
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Posted: August 01 2013 at 18:50
CPicard wrote:
moshkito wrote:
The.Crimson.King wrote:
...
RF's journal quoted a Melody Maker article 4/24/71, "In fact, Fripp taught Boz to play bass from scratch, starting two months ago because they couldn't find a suitable bassist". Based on this fact, <span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.2">I found Boz' remarks in the documentary especially disappointing. If it wasn't for the situation in King Crimson that lead to RF teaching him to play bass, the Bad Company gig would never have been his and all the fame & fortune it gave him would have gone to someone else. I would think he would have had nicer things to say about Crimso </span>
I can imagine that it takes a lot of talent to play bass on any Bad Company album! Basic and beginner level for the most part!
So what? Who cares about basslines, anyway? Who listens to the bass???And I know what I'm talking about: I'm a former bassist.
When I listen to Yes I do listen to the bass, and enjoy it a lot. And it's not the only band in which I enjoy the bass.
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Posted: August 01 2013 at 10:15
moshkito wrote:
The.Crimson.King wrote:
...
RF's journal quoted a Melody Maker article 4/24/71, "In fact, Fripp taught Boz to play bass from scratch, starting two months ago because they couldn't find a suitable bassist". Based on this fact, I found Boz' remarks in the documentary especially disappointing. If it wasn't for the situation in King Crimson that lead to RF teaching him to play bass, the Bad Company gig would never have been his and all the fame & fortune it gave him would have gone to someone else. I would think he would have had nicer things to say about Crimso
I can imagine that it takes a lot of talent to play bass on any Bad Company album! Basic and beginner level for the most part!
So what? Who cares about basslines, anyway? Who listens to the bass???
And I know what I'm talking about: I'm a former bassist.
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Posted: August 01 2013 at 07:49
TODDLER wrote:
Gordon Haskell was so frustrated with Sinfield's lyrical content in the song "Cirkus" that he screamed in anguish on the recording...which was something pointed out by Crimheads as creepy and fitting to the piece , yet the intention was the opposite. He cracked himself up at the closing of "Indoor Games" with the sinister laughing ...which in his mind he was thinking...."Christ! why on earth am I singing this?"
Crimheads in the 70's thought it was part of the invention and not the truthful moment.
I didn't know this. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting! I'll keep this in mind the next time I listen to Lizard.
Edited by The Bearded Bard - August 01 2013 at 07:50
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Posted: August 01 2013 at 07:11
moshkito wrote:
The.Crimson.King wrote:
...
RF's journal quoted a Melody Maker article 4/24/71, "In fact, Fripp taught Boz to play bass from scratch, starting two months ago because they couldn't find a suitable bassist". Based on this fact, I found Boz' remarks in the documentary especially disappointing. If it wasn't for the situation in King Crimson that lead to RF teaching him to play bass, the Bad Company gig would never have been his and all the fame & fortune it gave him would have gone to someone else. I would think he would have had nicer things to say about Crimso
I can imagine that it takes a lot of talent to play bass on any Bad Company album! Basic and beginner level for the most part!
Obviously Bad Co songs are basically simpler than KCs, but Boz does play some excellent little bass lines. Have a listen to "Feel like making love" or "Can't get enough".
Boz had experience/ties with the "British Blues Boom' era. Alexis Korner, Steve Marriot, etc..and he played and sang some American R&B as well. Can you imagine having all of that experience under your belt years before being asked to sing Sinfield's lyrics? That's quite a contrast and adjustment to make considering? So many British musicians were interested in American R&B, Blues, and Rock n' Roll". For example Chris Farlowe ..vocalist for Atomic Rooster, Zoot Money and Keith Tippet (who had an interest in Jazz) all crossed paths with the "Progressive Rock" development of the 70's. Ironically...Boz did an amazing job on Islands. I personally believe he shared the feelings of Gordon Haskell. Gordon Haskell was so frustrated with Sinfield's lyrical content in the song "Cirkus" that he screamed in anguish on the recording...which was something pointed out by Crimheads as creepy and fitting to the piece , yet the intention was the opposite. He cracked himself up at the closing of "Indoor Games" with the sinister laughing ...which in his mind he was thinking...."Christ! why on earth am I singing this?"
Crimheads in the 70's thought it was part of the invention and not the truthful moment.
After Greg Lake departed, it seemed difficult for Fripp to instruct a vocalist on what he wanted to surface through the pieces. Boz and Haskell both did a magnificent job, but hated the lyrics. Live concert recordings of Boz in 1971 displays a very serious minded progressive rock vocalist. Live concert recordings from 1972 do not. Most of the 72' concert recordings display Wallace, Collins, and Boz wishing to overthrow the progressive side to Crimso and replacing it with a more R&B/Blues aspect of things. Fripp was not a Blues guitarist and observe those concerts if you will...he sounds quite lost. Such was the case that the 3 of them...(Wallace, Collins, and Boz), moved into a different musical direction by recording an album with Alexis Korner and Snape. Playing songs that moved and breathed in the "British Blues Boom" form and almost immediately after their departure. Boz , Wallace, and Collins did an excellent job playing the pre-"Larks Tongues In Aspic/Starless" material which is available on the Islands 40th anniversary re-mix release. Boz , ironically...could fit into any material placed in front of him. That is evident and very ironic. His vocals on the Islands album are stylistically based on the sound of the Shulman brothers of Gentle Giant. For example....Boz would have done a magnificent job on "Runaway", "Edge Of Twilight" "Dog's Life" and many of the others where the vocals cross over into Folk, Blues, and dramatic poetic progressive.
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Posted: July 27 2013 at 15:50
The.Crimson.King wrote:
...
RF's journal quoted a Melody Maker article 4/24/71, "In fact, Fripp taught Boz to play bass from scratch, starting two months ago because they couldn't find a suitable bassist". Based on this fact, I found Boz' remarks in the documentary especially disappointing. If it wasn't for the situation in King Crimson that lead to RF teaching him to play bass, the Bad Company gig would never have been his and all the fame & fortune it gave him would have gone to someone else. I would think he would have had nicer things to say about Crimso
I can imagine that it takes a lot of talent to play bass on any Bad Company album! Basic and beginner level for the most part!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
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Posted: July 27 2013 at 13:35
tamijo wrote:
I just think Fripps level of ambition (artisticly) would often create tensions in his band(s).
But who cares, the fact that he is kinda nuts, was the reason he was able to provide some of the best albums ever.
Fripp once said that King Crimson was "a way of doing things." It was his band, if the musicians didn't like the way that he ran it, they were free to leave anytime.
I find it interesting that so many musicians, including Bill Bruford, Mel Collins and others, came back into KC time and again.
Personally, I thought Boz was a mediocre talent who filled a role that needed to be filled. I'm very glad he hit the cash register in "Bad Company," that is the way rock & roll should work. However, whenever anyone trashes RF, I just roll my eyes.
His band, his party, check your ego at the door please, let's get down to business, tune your instruments.
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Posted: July 27 2013 at 05:26
I like Islands but it is far from my favorite KC album. As to Boz, I could give a rat's ass what he thought. Then again I often feel the same way about Robert Fripp.
They did much better stuff after he left. But I'm not going to knock Boz for moving on to making music he enjoyed doing better and making more money at.
Edited by Slartibartfast - July 27 2013 at 05:30
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted: July 26 2013 at 23:13
mister nobody wrote:
I'm not surprised.
Islands is still probably my favorite KC, and Burrell's singing brought a whole lot into the album.
I love Islands too. I have several King Crimson Collectors Club live albums of the '71 and '72 tours and not only did Boz do a great job with vocals on the Islands material, he was outstanding on the Lizard tracks (Cirkus, Lady of the Dancing Water), Pictures of a City, and Schizoid Man. I think it's ironic that he found fame and fortune as a bassist rather than a vocalist.
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