Does anyone besides myself miss Bruce Thomas' bass work ???

[johnfoyle]

Dream Kid by The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver , a 1973 album featuring Bruce, has been re-issued -


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dream-Kid-Suthe ... sutherland

[johnfoyle]

Paul posts to F/book -


http://www.brucethomas.co.uk/?p=2103


Bruce Thomas has drawn attention to these jokers. More worthy of the name "Imposters", I think...


http://www.attractionsband.com/

[sheeptotheslaughter]

I notice Amazon UK seem to have a few copies of The Big Wheel for sale. If you haven't already bought it.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.brucethomas.co.uk/?p=2306#comments

Jerry Cohen says:
November 29, 2014 at 1:35 am

Picked up an Uncut Magazine the other day devoted to the whole career of the Beloved Entertainer. It was fun reading through the old articles. A couple of interesting things: The Attractions’ keyboardist is referred to in one piece as “Steve Young”. What? Also, EC describes a conversation with you where you apparently talked him out of quitting the business. Any memories of that?

Bruce says:
November 29, 2014 at 4:54 pm

i have several memories of that — we’d go through that little dance at least two or three times a year!



Jerry Cohen says:
November 25, 2014 at 3:36 am

I came across this lovely clip recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbeMC7ZMnqw
Can you shed any light on how the arrangement for Lipstick Vogue came together, particularly Pete’s amazing drum intro? Or did EC bring in the song and say “I hear it this way”?



Bruce says:
November 25, 2014 at 11:20 am

Strangely enough I can’t shed much light on it. This skittering bass line just came out of nowhere. On later reflection it sounds a bit like what Jack Bruce played on the extended improvisation on Cream’s live version of “Sweet Wine” so I may have subconsciously referenced that. I can’t remember which came first, the bass part of the drum intro. But Elvis certainly didn’t bring the song to us in anything like that shape. Believe it or not, a lot of the times his basic songs were quite laid back and we had to inject some urgency. That’s even more true of “Chelsea”, which was more like the Kinks “Tired of Waiting” when he first presented it to us. In fact, “Chelsea” was the first song we ever arranged together. What’s an even bigger mystery on the “Lipstick Vogue” link is where his American accent came from.


Adam Kent-Isaac says:
November 25, 2014 at 1:48 pm

“Naaaaaht jaahst anaaather maaaawwth aaahn the laaaap-staaaack vaaaauge”.

I always thought it was a weird accent on that line. “American,” indeed. Specifically, sort of Chicago-an.


Bruce says:
November 25, 2014 at 2:37 pm

Well, if you listen to the introduction — that ain’t English as she is spoken this side of Chicago. And I like your brave attempt at phonetics.


Roddy Ring says:
November 25, 2014 at 3:28 pm

I don’t believe it passes for anything spoken on this side either, except perhaps for a Milwaukeean with a cleft palate and severe sphenoidal sinusitis.


Bruce says:
November 25, 2014 at 5:12 pm

That’s an interesting description – we used to liken it to someone speaking through a hole in a tin sheet, or a cabbage attempting to bark. People can be so cruel


Jerry Cohen says:
November 25, 2014 at 4:07 pm

Interesting what you say about the arrangements needing more urgency. I think that’s something definitely lost post-Attractions. I was listening to the acoustic demo version of I Hope You’re Happy Now last night and that’s certainly a good example of what you’re talking about (I think). Wonder who he wrote that one about, hmm…


Bruce says:
November 25, 2014 at 5:11 pm
It wasn’t about me!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adam Kent-Isaac says:
November 20, 2014 at 3:44 am

OK, I have a lyric question that I hope you can shed some light on, Bruce. In “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down,” I always assumed the last line of the second verse was “and I’m right through with tears.” I always liked this, as I considered it a very “British” turn of phrase. (By which I mean, the use of the word “right” to precede a descriptor or adjective. – Indeed, the sometimes-seen honorific “Right Reverend” before a preacher’s name is an example of this – “right” essentially meaning “very.” Indeed, most people seem to think Reverend is a title. It’s not; it’s an adjective.)

BUT I DIGRESS.

When I looked up the lyrics of the song five minutes ago, I was shocked to find that the lyric, supposedly, is “I’ve WRESTLED with tears.” And indeed, in the original Sam & Dave version, that does sound like what is being said. However, the EC&tA version most definitely sounds like “I’m RIGHT THROUGH with tears.”

Googling “I’m right through with tears”, with the quotation marks to specify that exact phrase, yields zero results.

Either my ear is totally deceiving me, or some of these lyrics sites need to be updated.



Bruce says:
November 20, 2014 at 2:59 pm

Interesting. Firstly, like you I always assumed that “I’m right through with tears” is what was being sung every time we played it. In this instance being “right through” would mean being “completely through”. The use of the word “right” as you describe it is very prevalent in the part of the world I come from — Yorkshire — where everyone would understand if I now said to you, “I’m right glad you brought the subject up”. With a capital letter “Reverend” is a title, with a lower-case letter “reverend” is an adjective. Of course one would hope that a Reverend is also reverend, otherwise he would be ill-suited for the post. As regards your original question I’ve no idea if EC misheard the lyric or simply changed it — but I certainly can’t imagine Sam Moore using Yorkshire vernacular. A trivial matter, but fascinating nonetheless.

[MOJO]

Has anyone seen this?

The Letters of Wilf Turnbull and Derek Philpot

"We are also perplexed with regard to another declaration, vis a vis ''Every Day I Write The Book'' Either one is to assume that a new tome is penned every 24 hours, or that, alternatively, you have been toiling upon the same project, which by your own admission boasts a mere six chapters, for some decades now. The former scenario suggests a work of dubious quality and a disappointed readership, the latter a severe case of writer's block and an exasperated publishing house."

http://www.wilfturnbull.co.uk/DearElvis ... ctions.htm

Bruce Thomas responded. These letters are classic.

[johnfoyle]

Cool - supposedly thrashed out in one take ...

Isolated recording of Bruce Thomas's bass line on Pump It Up-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD5uZUl2e4E

[cwr]

Fascinating to listen to it like that. I'd love to hear some tracks with just Steve isolated or Pete.

Something went wrong with my headphones last week and the sound was isolating certain parts of the track "The Bridge I Burned" so I was mainly hearing the piano part, which sounded really interesting but which you can't really hear much of at all in the full mix!

[johnfoyle]

Intriguing.

http://www.brucethomas.co.uk/?p=2340#comments


BorisBrain says:
February 1, 2015

I’ve just been reminded of the promo video for ‘The Only Flame in Town’. Despite this being from what EC described as ‘Our worst ever record’, the video seemed like a lot of fun – albeit locked in a very 80s time capsule.

The band seemed to grace some exotic locations (Hawaii, Spain etc) for its videos, and ‘I can’t stand up for falling down’ also seemed like a hoot. So what – if any – promo videos do you fondly recall?

Bruce says:
February 2, 2015

The “I Can’t Stand Up” video was pretty good for its comedy value that’s certain. The one I most fondly recall is one that EC pulled because he felt it might not show him in a flattering light. I’m not being coy — I promise I’ll share it with you in due course. The one I least fondly recall was the proposed video for “I Just Wanna Be Loved” where the idea was for EC to sit in a photo booth while a queue of anonymous people took it in turns to kiss him on the cheek. Three of the anonymous people were going to be the Attractions. I toyed with the idea of sticking my tongue in his ear — but in the end elected not to take part and sneaked off while no-one was looking– and the other two also bailed out in the end. The feature roles in “Only Flame” were presented to make up for the perceived slight.

[verbal gymnastics]

Brilliant

[Neil.]

Wonder what the shelved video was? The sans spectacles video of "Only Flame"?

[verbal gymnastics]

That was my thinking.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.brucethomas.co.uk/?p=2451#comments

Adam Kent-Isaac says:
May 7, 2015 at 10:26 pm

Still slightly high after a stoned walk through the beautiful tree-lined neighborhood on this glorious spring day…turn on “Watch Your Step” from Trust…listen to that thick, punchy, melodic bass, squealing organ, and rock-solid drum beat of the intro….yeah…it does not get much better than that, does it?


Bruce says:
May 7, 2015 at 11:20 pm

Only you can say if it gets any better… But here’s a different question — guess where I pinched the bass line from?
Clue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r17KaC7C5D4

Then He Kissed Me - The Crystals

A quick comparison


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyqvdfgv6-o

Watch Your Step - Elvis & The Attractions

[Heats101]

A songwriter that includes such contrasting locations as follows..............

"They say it's good for business
From Singapore to Widnes"

Fantastic !

[johnfoyle]

Apparently Bruce was at Glastonbury. A discussion of the Who set goes of into a familiar subject .


http://www.brucethomas.co.uk/?p=2492#comments


Mike Miller says:
July 10, 2015 at 4:56 pm
You were there…does this explanation hold water?



Bruce says:
July 10, 2015 at 6:55 pm
More like water in the equipment.

Mike Miller says:
July 14, 2015 at 10:27 pm
Just watched some of their Glastonbury performances….it was pretty grim. Where were you at in that huge throng?

Bruce says:
July 15, 2015 at 12:07 am
I was off to the side with the promoter of the event, Mr Eavis (he’s the one who looks like a garden gnome). I’m still speculating as to the reason for Daltrey’s stiffness of gait — do you think he was wearing a corset?

Mike Miller says:
July 15, 2015 at 2:20 pm
Maybe his truss was too tight.

Bruce says:
July 15, 2015 at 2:23 pm
“Truss” — sounds like a good album title for you know who’s 50th album

Mike Miller says:
July 15, 2015 at 3:51 pm
Or, “The Nowhere Man”

Bruce says:
July 15, 2015 at 7:35 pm
How to be cruel!

[krm]

Bruce in his early days

IMG20231119104032.jpg (253.46 KiB) Viewed 13923 times

IMG20231119104010.jpg (255.72 KiB) Viewed 13923 times