Greg Lake, Greatest Prog Bassist!
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Topic: Greg Lake, Greatest Prog Bassist!
Posted By: topographicbroadways
Subject: Greg Lake, Greatest Prog Bassist!
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 18:07
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first off Yes I Know Geddy Lee Second Off Yes I know Chris Squire But having played Rush, Yes and ELP basslines ELP stood out as the most complicated hardest too work out and by far hardest too play. Kieth Emersons left hand plays some of the most difficult sequences of notes imaginable on Keyboard, and Greg Lake translates this too Bass guitar, harder and much more complicated, Tarkus, Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression and The Endless Enigma are prime examples of how complicated Lakes bass playing got. Other Greats Richard Sinclair Mont Campbell Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond -------------  
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Replies:
Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 19:02
| Helmut Koellen was the greatest prog bass player |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 19:10
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What does "greatest" mean? -------------   
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 19:25
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for me, greatest simply means that player that does the most for me, in terms of appreciating his playing, and how listening to affects me in a positive way emotionally, mentally, and making me feel great and happier in general about things, also possibly making me feel inspired or motivated in some way there could be a million different "greatest" players out there depending upon the listener |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 19:46
Actually after all the bassists I have listened to over the course of my life, "greatest' is really too much to lay upon a single individual. What I like about Greg is that he does good guitar and vocals, too. ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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presdoug wrote:Posted By: CPicard
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 19:50
| I am. |
Posted By: WalterDigsTunes
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 19:55
Well said  |
Posted By: topographicbroadways
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 21:22
This is correct, one mans Geddy Lee is another mans Lemmy, not dissing on Lemmy but he's not a master musician lol -------------
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 21:26
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Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 18 2010 at 23:50
| Jannick Top, bro |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 00:45
Excellent points, especially Jeff Hammond-Hammond! Long unrecognized, thanks for mentioning him! I agree about Lake, the man was amazing in his day.....listen intently to the bass on the song "In the Court of the Crimson King" for example, he was just a kid! His work with ELP was sublime! I'm a Squire freak myself, and also a huge fan of Ray Bennett's work with Flash, and the late/great Gary Strator of Starcastle.....all of 'em united by the use of a plectrum and round-wound strings on the bass guitar! The only way to fly in my opinion. However, my fretless work is fingers-only. |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 03:44
This. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 03:46
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are you familiar with Stanley Clarke? Jaco Pastorius? Helmut Hattler? Colin Hodgkinson? Peter Kühmstedt? Gerald Luciano Hartwig? Matz Steinke? I could continue this list endlessly.... -------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Fusionman
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 05:51
I know most of the names on that list and none of them are prog, they're all Jazz/Fusion/Blues bassists...so what about Albert Lazlo?? --- To Open Post: Chris Squire and Geddy Lee weren't exactly prog-Mozarts, but I'll grant the opening post that they weren't terrible either. As slightly above mediocre as Jonas Reingold is in composing Karmakanic, his proficiency on the bass and ability to groove effectively are superior to any of the opening post. As a bassist, I like to believe the best bassist is the least noticed bassist. ------------- 
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Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 07:27
ahem. have you forgotten that jazz-rock is a sub-genre of prog? of the bass players named all played with bands that are in the archives. to name two other great bass players: Dave King and Eberhard Weber. both played with the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, but also with other artists who are in the archives, like Snowball and Embryo (King) or Volker Kriegel (Weber) ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Fusionman
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 07:43
I think Jazz-Fusion is lumped in with Prog-rock because of their coexistence and propensity to have fans which delve in both genres. If anything...Prog-rock should be a sub-genre of Jazz-Rock considering the chronology of Music. They inhabit the same space, but are entirely different experiences. That being said; the actual composition and execution of the two styles is entirely different. Jazz-Fusion as iconified (in my opinion) by 'Weather Report - I sing the body electric' displays freeform elements constructing a story accompanied by persistent improvisation. Prog rock on the other hand communicates a message through arranging compositions in a way which central themes (both melodically and potentially lyrically) are expressed recurrently. If you'd like to compare say... Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior to Banco De Mutuo Soccorsoro - Darwin* there's again a huge difference. Banco seeks to express its self from central themes in which music paints the emotions...where as RTF simply builds an enchanting environment. I think you'd be very hard pressed to find a well accepted Jazz-Fusion album which has a central theme which is reiterated throughout the albums. I think you'd be equally hard pressed to find a prog album which paints an image of a scene without granting a position on it. -------------
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Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 09:19
I am not quite sure what you mean by "a central theme which is reiterated throughout the albums." do you want to express that only concept albums are prog?. I think you misinterpret what jazz-fusion artists do. first of all: there are plenty of recurrent themes in jazz-rock, also with Weather Report; just listen to an album like "Black Market". in the title track the central theme is reiterated dozens of times and played with. you seem to be a bit old-school and only accept "symphonic prog" as the "real" prog. but that'*s a very narrow definition, in my opinion. by the way: for me the quintessential jazz-rock formation was the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble. ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 10:32
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It is very much a matter of taste. As well as Emerson's complex moves Lake had to cope with a turbo charged Carl Palmer which must have been a nightmare for a bassist! The fact that he coped says a lot for his ability. My personal favourite is Klaus Peter-Matziol of Eloy. The album 'Time to Turn' has everything I love about bass playing.
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Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 13:13
This was well said, and I tend to agree with you on the musical/thematic differences between "prog" and "jazz-rock fusion." I really just cannot reconcile the two art forms as being in the same space, except for generally developing in and around the same time period (60's-70's) and using common instruments. Personally, I hate the term "prog" as it is applied very narrowly, to (primarily) European bands, primarily British. The use of turntables in hip-hop was a very progressive move in musical development, but I doubt that I'll find much of that on this site!
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Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 14:16
the two are by far not as distinct as is being claimed. take for example a classic prog track like "Los Endos"; there are lots of jazz-rock elements in it. the same is true for "Sound Chaser" by Yes. lots of Guru Guru or Kraan tracks have the same symbiosis. even some tracks by High Tide. and that's just a few examples ------------- A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: CinemaZebra
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 14:21
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I'm really the first to mention Tony Levin?
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 15:13
| i quite like Hellmut Hattler, Eberhard Weber, and Dave King (i have recordings from all three of them) |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 15:33
He's not a bassist, he's a sticker  |
Posted By: Kojak
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 15:47
Wow, I guess for that alone, he's way up there. I always thought it unusual that someone who is musically creative could also have such a business head as well, but that's veeeeering way of the bass subject... |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 15:49
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[/QUOTE] the two are by far not as distinct as is being claimed. take for example a classic prog track like "Los Endos"; there are lots of jazz-rock elements in it. the same is true for "Sound Chaser" by Yes. lots of Guru Guru or Kraan tracks have the same symbiosis. even some tracks by High Tide. and that's just a few examples [/QUOTE] Yeah, I acknowledge the influences back & forth... Daryl Stuermer burned up the stage when I saw Genesis' "And then there were 3" tour (1977?), and his jazz-rock phrasing really expanded the music! They should have recorded with him, but Rutherford wanted to be a guitar hero  I think that "prog" (of the British/European vein) really anchors itself in Western classical music modalities, while jazz-rock wandered all over in its influences, particularly into blues, trad jazz, even world/African/Indian influences. The entire category "prog rock" is so broad and inclusive that it really has no meaning to me. I've seen Rush, Queen, Deep Purple etc. all mentioned on this website, and each band certainly had progressive elements, but I don't find them as inventive as the earliest Yes & King Crimson. Make mine a Rickenbacker bass and a Mellotron!!
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Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 18:37
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Greg Lake is an incredible bass player. His talent was overshadowed by Emerson and Palmer, which were stellar. Okay, he was sloppy at times (on some live documents) but his melodic lines are INCREDIBLE. And unique - I never heard a bassist having that approach - hence, the tag 'greatest' could apply to Greg lake, in a way.
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Posted By: CinemaZebra
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 18:40
But also a great bassist.-------------
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 19:07
as usual nobody mentions the late Gary Thain from Uriah Heep.
 Not only Prog, but the best rock basist ever IMHO.
Iván
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Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 19:10
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Oh wait, Joachim Florent is the best prog bassist from Jean Louis  |
Posted By: Tengent
Date Posted: June 19 2010 at 23:39
And personally, my favorite bass player is Mont Campbell. He's also an incredible composer. |
Posted By: jammun
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 00:28
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As Hunter S. once said, Mother Of Sweating Jesus!
Greg Lake. Anyone here ever heard of Crimson or ELP?. sh*t yes, he's da' man. Singlehandedly kept up w/ Fripp and Emerson! Name another. ------------- Can you tell me where we're headin'? Lincoln County Road or Armageddon. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 11:11
Well, his career is well documented, but the problem is that in September 15, 1974, after along tour, he received a severe electric shock o stage that almost killed him.
 He never recovered,. his behaviour became erratic and his heroine addiction went beyond control, so he had to leave Uriah Heep, he died a few months later at the age of 27.
He was the bass player in 5 Uriah Heep albums:
He also played in
Plus a solo album and a couple of smaller bands. He made in a few yeas what others do in a life time.
Iván -------------
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Posted By: warrplayer
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 11:24
electrocuted on stage wasn't he? |
Posted By: warrplayer
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 11:28
duh, didn't read previous post carefully enough. |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 11:46
I don't agree at all, a lot of my favourite jazz-rock is based on tight composition and structured experimentation and not of free form and improvisation, just to mention Brand X, Jonas Hellborg's projects, Weather Report's "Black Market" is also a good example, Herbie Hancock's "Crossings" & "Sextant", Mar de Robles, Freakzoid, Santana's fusion albums, Colosseum, Elephant9, Jaga Jazzist, Leb I Sol, One Shot, etc. etc. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 11:49
You read the post well (didn't mention how he died), but you quoted my post before I added more info (Even when your post appeared some seconds later).
Iván -------------
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 11:53
| Ahem, John Wetton? And Mike Rutherford deserves more credit than he generally gets. |
Posted By: warrplayer
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 14:09
Okay. Whew. I'm not as scatterbrained as I thought then. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 14:20
Yes, but he replaced Gary Thain in Uriah Heep with very little success.
 Iván -------------
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Posted By: Tsevir Leirbag
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 15:32
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- Christian Genet
- François Grillot
- Hugh Hopper
- Jannick Top
- Richard Sinclair
- Philippe Bussonnet
- Matt Thompson
- Joachim Florent
I prefer them all over Greg Lake. ------------- Les mains, les pieds balancés Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers, Un marin mort, Il dormira - Paul Éluard |
Posted By: Ronnie Pilgrim
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 15:46
I agree. Yes, Squire is a great bassist and has the recognition he deserves. Yes, Lake is a great bassist and does not have the recognition he deserves. But what puzzles me is Hammond. I love his work on studio albums, and he had more boundless energy live than any other bassist that comes to mind. But Ian Anderson publicly discredited him and said "they" used to have to teach him his bass lines note for note. So, is this just a case of "sour grapes" because Hammond left Tull, or is he really not that talented of a bassist?
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Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 17:05
| So many great points. Any one who listens to music intently and with enthusiasm, as most of us do!, will have there personal favorites. There really is no greatest, just lots of "really great" bass players. Almost all of the players I love have been mentioned, but I'll add one more-Dave LaRue-who plays with Steve Morse and the latest incarnations of the Dixie Dregs. |
Posted By: Lizzy
Date Posted: June 20 2010 at 18:15
Agreed about the first two points. As far as Jeffrey is concerned, from what I could tell, he had a very good sense of rythm. Ian indeed said that they had to 'teach' him the bass lines, but at the same time admited the had a fantastic memory, and could learn his bits by heart in several hours. I would assume there would have been a lot of practice until he got it right both for the record and for playing it live in concert. That being said, although he played on what are considered to be Tull's greatest - Aqualung, TAAB, APP and even Minstrel, I still see him way behind the likes of Glenn Cornick or John Glasscock. |
Posted By: johnfripp
Date Posted: June 21 2010 at 12:00
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well though Greg Lake is a great bass player and not a bad guitarist either but in my opinion bassist like john weton or as you said chris squire in my opinion those two would be great canidetes for the best or maybe even john myung of dream theater even but i love elp two so maybe Lake would count |
Posted By: uduwudu
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 04:16
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[/QUOTE]
This is correct, one mans Geddy Lee is another mans Lemmy, not dissing on Lemmy but he's not a master musician lol [/QUOTE]I once read a Kerrang article that favoured Lemmy technically ahead of Jaco Pastorious. Never read Kerrang since. (Not dissing Lemmy either - this article wasn't his fault and he's a terrific lyricist and a whole lotta fun, but c'mon. Jaco man! |
Posted By: uduwudu
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 04:30
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Jeffrey Hammond was a great bassist who did it for fun the quit to go back to painting. One things' for sure there are NO crappy ones. Glad to read that Gary Thain mention, his playing was killing! Now does John paul Jones count as a multi intstrumentalist, composer, arranger, mandolinist (and I have seen him play this up close and personal), lap steel player... oh and a spot of bass. Zooma. Now they don't come flying out of the tunnel more faster heavier and complex than this demonstration of how bass and drums is supposed to work. |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 11:36
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I'm tellin' y'all, Top! Check how fast that bro is going by the end of this |
Posted By: Tsevir Leirbag
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 12:46
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Now, Philippe Bussonnet. ------------- Les mains, les pieds balancés Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers, Un marin mort, Il dormira - Paul Éluard |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 12:56
| That's true, he's good too |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 13:46
| ^ I prefer the latter to the former. |
Posted By: johnfripp
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 14:13
| lemmy over pastores wow thats a bit much but lemmy isnt the best and hes probly the first one to admit it |
Posted By: Tsevir Leirbag
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 20:34
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Hey Colin "Cap'n", Alex prefers me over you!
Or was he talking about our vids... ------------- Les mains, les pieds balancés Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers, Un marin mort, Il dormira - Paul Éluard |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 22 2010 at 20:59
| :( |
Posted By: A Person
Date Posted: June 23 2010 at 01:00
As far as the bass goes, I agree, on a whole I prefer the former, Vander looks like he is having a lot of fun. |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: June 23 2010 at 04:01
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I agree that Top was very important for Magma from a creative point of view, and Bussonnet can't compare with that. But his bass doesn't sound that good on the few recordings with him that I've heard (like MDK). I probably need to hear more stuff with him. I've seen Bussonnet five times in three different bands and I can't get enough - he's amazing. |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: June 23 2010 at 18:29
I agree |
Posted By: Drummerboy
Date Posted: June 24 2010 at 12:33
| Of course Lake is the sentimental favorite, but for sheer virtuosity, this guy currently with Eddie Jobson on the Ultimate Zero Project, I think his name is Billy Sheehan (?) is so good and agressive, it is scary. |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: June 24 2010 at 12:35
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Billy Sheehan got his start as the bassist for Talas, and found fame as the bassist for David Lee Roth. He's dones some nice solo work and also an album with Terry Bozzio, and is the bassist in the great jazz/fusion band Niacin. ------------- 
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Posted By: Gerinski
Date Posted: June 24 2010 at 15:42
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Billy Sheehan is indeed a great bassist, also worked with Steve Vai and Mr. Big.
Geddy Lee deserves mention too, and more in the fusion jazz-rock scene, obviously Jaco Pastorius.
Renaissance's Jon Camp is often forgotten because his bass was not very prominent in the band's music but he played great too.
Among the more modern ones I love Pete Trewawas and Dave Meros, and Dave La Rue from the Steve Morse Band is not bad either!
Among the classics, yes Greg Lake played lovely but it's hard to rank him against Chris Squire or Mike Rutherford. Similar to Jon Camp, Mike's playing was probably not so spectacular as Greg's or Chris's but he was a hell of a bassist too!
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Posted By: rod65
Date Posted: June 24 2010 at 21:38
| Perhaps I'm being a little low-brow here in bringing in the bassist for a band classified as Proto-Prog, but what about John Entwistle? His playing on Quadrophenia was phenomenal, and any time I saw The Who live, there were times when I could barely see his fingers, they were moving so fast. Moreover, he was using his base as a lead instrument as early as the mid-60s. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 25 2010 at 01:46
Absolutely although I would also like to mention ,having looked at your avatar, that John Jowitt (Arena,Frost and IQ) is a great bassist!
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: June 25 2010 at 02:13
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Hmm...just my thoughts on some names mentioned here, lost track of this thread for sometime. Geddy Lee is obviously one of the very influential bassists for modern prog, especially prog metal. And he is generally widely acclaimed too, sometimes a bit in excess of his achievements (which is a given with hugely popular bands). Camp played great lead bass but I really dislike those bass solos he plays in live performances of Ashes are burning, very lacking in discipline and - dare I say it - show offy. I like Trewavas but can't say his style is much removed from Lee...a similar, rock-ish tone. Marillion has more Rush influences than is generally mentioned, especially evident on He Knows You Know. Entwistle is a brilliant bassist of course. It's a curious thing about The Who that they are hugely popular but somewhere don't seem to get as much acclaim as they should. Or is my recent listen of Quadrophenia making me sound fanboyish? Jazz fusion has so many monsters...Pastorius, Clarke, Jones... Hmm...has Ray Shulman been mentioned, for crying out loud?  I think that seals the issue for me, leave alone Top, it's a bit difficult to see the case for Lake not getting the credit he deserves when someone like Shulman is a lot less acclaimed. Hopper, Sinclair are amazing too...Canterbury as such actually, maybe because of the ties it shares with jazz fusion. |
Posted By: rod65
Date Posted: June 27 2010 at 06:47
Indeed he is, and I should have thought to mention him as well. As you point out, he is an obvious choice.
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 28 2010 at 18:49
Greg Lake had the biggest ego of them all. I don't think he was that good a bass player, but he was a very good and expressive personality with lyrics in his mouth. He knew how to express them. I don't think that you listen to "The Endless Enigma" for Greg's bass ... but you do for the beautiful design in instrumentation and lyrics!
Chirs nowadays doesn't even look nice. He's doing a really good Edgar Froese/Beethoven imitation and sometimes sounds like it! I guess that anger and disappointment is a hard thing to maintain with! I think there was some good stuff in the early days and he helped nail the bass down as important, but then, that's like saying that Paul McCartney was not doing anything worthwhile in the last 3 or 4 Beatles albums and showing people that music could also be done with a bass within a rock band context. And it was excellent music and as good as most of the classical over hyped stuff out there!
Geddy Lee ... I think he is a better singer and writer than he is a player. I really would like to see Rush bring along a keyboard player one day so it can free him up to have some fun ... I don't see how he can get any better and improve if he's doing everything all the time ... it's insane, somewhat megalomaniac and silly. I also think that it is making the band highly repetitive and not original anymore!
There are a lot better bass players out there, and Lothar Meid comes to mind in Amon Duul 2, in some quite different and difficult music, for which he also sang and wrote and never repeated himself.
Dave Pegg ... some of his work with Richard Thompson (specially 1 Side Live) is insanely well done and something that you can not teach. That simple. And it is progressive because it is not conventional and it bends and shapes and adds expression to the music ... but not sure that is as important here compared to the favored "gods".
Hugh Hopper ... Canterbury stuff ... enough said.
Don Schiff ... Rocket Scientists and solo. Probably the best bass player out there second to none.
MIke Howlett ... Gong and more ... probably one of the most technical players out there. Always simple, but deadly on timing, mood and expression, and that is a combination that is very difficult to teach and express on an instrument. Perhaps no one deserves his honorary chaimanship of a Musical School in Australia more than he does ... and few people know music and understand it as well as he does! Too many bass players rely on effects or this and that ... Mike is ... just there and more! ------------- 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 |
Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: June 28 2010 at 20:14
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Posted By: elder08
Date Posted: June 28 2010 at 21:31
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I would have to say that Greg Lake is good but he is no Geddy Lee and Geddy Lee is no Chris Squier
------------- "There are people who say we [Pink Floyd] should make room for younger bands. That's not the way it works. They can make their own room."- David Gilmour |
Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: June 28 2010 at 21:54
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Philippe Bussonnet, Jannick Top, Bernard Paganotti, Richard Sinclair, Hugh Hopper, etc. I think they're all more talented than Greg Lake by far.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: VonSchlemmer
Date Posted: June 30 2010 at 05:48
Knife Edge, one of the greatest prog basslines EVER 
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Posted By: idoownu
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 00:49
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Hugh Hopper, Definetaly.
The Greatest Bassline Ever: 2 minutes into Moon In June
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Posted By: yanch
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 06:07
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The simple fact that several dozen different bass players have been mentioned in this thread shows that to name one particular bass player the "greatest" doesn't mean a lot. It also shows just how many marvelously talented players are out there! |
Posted By: Evolver
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 06:24
 By a different definition, he may now be the greatest.
------------- Trust me. I know what I'm doing. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 13:41
Agreed.
Greg is not bad, though, and the music he is playing is not always that easy and he adds to it a lot more than just bass ... he is also singing ... he is also augmenting it with an accoustic guitar ... and if anything, he has to be totally aware of the depth of the music that is being playing just so he can play a proper note on his bass to fit the moment ... and that is not easy, specially when you have a keyboard player that KNOWS music very well and understands music extremelly well.
In essence you have to be good to play with someone like that!
Greg, in my book, is good, but I have always thought that what he brought to the table was that ... he was not a very good singer at all ... but he was an extremely good actor with exceptional ability for accentuating the words correctly, and in a manner that gave the music even more strength ... and the other two players allowed him room for that since it was so individualistic compared to most rock music and anyone else out there that either scream or try to impress you with their scales ... but the voice has as many earthquakes as a tear in the ocean!
There is no doubt ... the strength when you hear .... "don't tell me lies ... " and then the drums accentuate it even more ... it's as honest emotion and care as you will ever hear in ANY rock music!
The only sad thing about it all for me, is that his solo albums were hugely disappointing and he didn't have the musicianship behind him to give him the accent that was needed. The first one had the two big cuts ((Retribution Drive and the one song about radioactivity) both of which were more Garry Moore than Greg Lake anyway, and his second album was really sad in my book. He did not have it as an individual and I think he was not able to get out of his words, enough to color it with music ... or it was simply really bad production, which is also possible. ------------- 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 |
Posted By: topographicbroadways
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 14:01
he could definitely lose efew (dozen) pounds-------------
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Posted By: timothy leary
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 14:35
| Gary Willis from Tribal tech.........not the greatest but worth a mention |
Posted By: timothy leary
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 14:38
| Also worth a mention is Pekka Pohjola |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 16:08
No kidding ... just watch him keep Mike Oldfield together with Pierre Moerlin in the DVD "Exposed" .... it not only is talent, it's discipline, and ability. Pekka's material on his own also has some very nice things ... !
------------- 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 |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 17:09
Believe me, this guys was one of the best Prog Fusion bass players I ever heard, was part of the Jean Luc Ponty staff for 5 albums, then played with Aretha, Journey, Billy Cobham, Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Blue Oyster Cult etc, etc etc:
 Sadly he ended being this guy:
 And being part of this band.
  The once great bassist "Randy "The Emperor" Jackson".
Iván -------------
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Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 18:18
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^ well he is actualy the only judge I pay attention to when he coments on the preformance (becouse he have been in the buisness for quite some time. -------------  
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 20:24
Yes, but the guy talks about self indulgent music after having played in Mystical Adventures.
Iván -------------
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 20:31
| Since i have liked progressive rock, i have liked Greg Lake, but i must say that lately, as my collection of early ELP cds and dvds grows, i am starting to appreciate his greatness all the more-he is awesome! |
Posted By: Kazza3
Date Posted: September 24 2010 at 20:42
| Juan Alderete (from The Mars Volta and Racer X) has the best groove and feel I've ever heard. also can get very technical. |
Posted By: Ruby900
Date Posted: September 25 2010 at 04:00
| Squire, Wetton, Rutherford,Stanley Clarke, dare I say Entwistle??? IMHO all better. But I would agree his work on ITCOCK he is sublime. Dare I be a little daring and suggest that he was a great vocalist only on the rare occasions he was in tune.......... |