Prog bassists

 How important is the bassist to Prog?

 To me, an amazing bass player can make a  band into a progressive Colossus.

 For example:

  Yes- Chris Squire

  Rush- Geddy Lee

  ELP- Greg Lake

 Gentle Giant- Ray Shulman

 What do you think?                  

I think everyone's gone spineless and are posting as neutral topics as possible so as not to cause offence.

So this one doesnt do the same, I am trumping things before they happen,I predict the following:

Vapor deliberately includes lee and Lake as a sop to the "perceived rival factions. Pastorius and Clarke are thrown into the mix even though hardly anyone listens to them.

At some point,after a few very obscure or very average bassists are mentioned, somebody mentions that Lake shouldnt really be there.
The heavy mob arrive mentioning the intro to "The Barbarian" and the debut Crimson album.Then someone else calls the guy who said that Lake shouldnt be in Vapor's list "a dickhead".I chime in baiting the guy to try and get him to stop this and start using humour to make himself more digestible.It all dissolves into squabbling and the guy who gets called a "dickhead" suggests the arguing is down to me and the other faction.The humourless one then apologises to the guy and says "other" people wind him up and make him do it.
I somehow become some kind of lovelorn stalker,post til next Tuesday on the same subject,and alienate everyone on the forum until nobody will respond to any of my posts for fear of being targetted.
I get totally pissed off, "post I am off for a while" and leave the lunatics to take over the asylum.
I get forgotten and suddenly someone else becomes the target of the humourless one and a lightbulb flashes over the heads of certain "pacifist" types." Everyone leaves and this place evolves into the Unnofficial ELP fansite.Three weeks later Maani posts a new thread:

"Congratulations Everyone This Site Has Now Been Recognised As The Official ELP Fansite"

Peace.
Off.

Reed Lover wrote: Pastorius ...are thrown into the mix even though hardly anyone listens to them.

Speak for yourself - and never noticed anything remarkable about the SB bassist. As a basss fan I try to listen to the best, hence a preference for Pastorius and Hellborg.

For Christ's sake - it is a matter of taste not generalisations

I think everyone's gone spineless and are posting as neutral topics as possible so as not to cause offence.

So this one doesnt do the same, I am trumping things before they happen,I predict the following:

Vapor deliberately includes lee and Lake as a sop to the "perceived rival factions. Pastorius and Clarke are thrown into the mix even though hardly anyone listens to them.

At some point,after a few very obscure or very average bassists are mentioned, somebody mentions that Lake shouldnt really be there.
The heavy mob arrive mentioning the intro to "The Barbarian" and the debut Crimson album.Then someone else calls the guy who said that Lake shouldnt be in Vapor's list "a dickhead".I chime in baiting the guy to try and get him to stop this and start using humour to make himself more digestible.It all dissolves into squabbling and the guy who gets called a "dickhead" suggests the arguing is down to me and the other faction.The humourless one then apologises to the guy and says "other" people wind him up and make him do it.
I somehow become some kind of lovelorn stalker,post til next Tuesday on the same subject,and alienate everyone on the forum until nobody will respond to any of my posts for fear of being targetted.
I get totally pissed off, "post I am off for a while" and leave the lunatics to take over the asylum.
I get forgotten and suddenly someone else becomes the target of the humourless one and a lightbulb flashes over the heads of certain "pacifist" types." Everyone leaves and this place evolves into the Unnofficial ELP fansite.Three weeks later Maani posts a new thread:

"Congratulations Everyone This Site Has Now Been Recognised As The Official ELP Fansite"

Peace.
Off.

very good Reed i am impressed.

Living sin

Um... I quite like Geddy Lee...gulp (and not because he has good initials)

And I'll hunt down and destroy anyone who doesnt agree with me

Two words: Tony & Levin.

And yes, he's very important. Without him "Secret World" would be just ... a long song.  

Bass is a wonderful thing indeed, some faves for me in addition to Squire, Levin, Jaco & Jack Bruce:

Colin Hodgkinson (Back Door): Talk about innovative and unique!! Pulling together equal parts Ornette Coleman, Delta Blues and Funk, Colin developed a chord melody/strumming technique uniquely his own.

Percy Jones: Brand X/Tunnels fretless wonder, DOES NOT sound like Jaco in the slightest. Percy does have a unique guttural stuttering growl sound that fits the edgy musings of both previously mentioned bands quite well, and his way of playing with harmonics is uniquely his too.

Anthony Jackson: Call him an understated genius! He was actually the first person to play a 6-string bass (from mid-70's onward). His influences are as far flung as Jack Cassidy (Jefferson Aorplane), Motown, Jazz and composer Oliver Messaien. Posessing an ungodly ability to reharmonize music on the fly and a unique dark piano-like sound, he blows you away with IDEAS, not displays of fast chops (though he's got chops to match anyone's). Best heard on albums by pianist Michel Camilo and guitarist Steve Khan.

Janick Top/Bernard Paganotti: The mightyMAGMA fuzz bass virtuoso axis of doom!

Hugh Hopper: Soft Machine's fuzz bass virtuoso stylist.