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Bass Players: What About John Taylor?


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I pretty much always hated Duran Duran.

I did kinda like Power Station, because it was guitar-based rock when there wasn't that much guitar-based rock on the pop charts.

But as I was going through songs searching for some that are in my vocal range, I discovered (somewhat to my chagrin) that "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" are low enough I can sing them. So they went on the "commuting" CD for the car.

And as I listened to them a few times, I noticed that the bassist, John Taylor, seems extremely skilled. He sets a strong root, flies all over the place, includes good voice leading, and establishes a nice groove...!

What is his reputation in the bass community? Admired? Derided? Studied? Ignored?

Seems to me he would be a good role model for bass players, but I recognize I have the worst musical taste of anyone on HFC, so I have to ask.

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It was after I started playing bass that I realized he was a pretty solid player. A lot of their songs are driven by the bass line. My sister WORSHIPPED them so I heard way too much of it, but years later I can groove along to it.

I also was shocked when I saw him playing a Kubicki (after I knew what they were) ;)

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Exactly. That was the song that established John Taylor's reputation with me.

He's all over the place, yet never loses the root. If I were still playing bass, I'd place him above Paul McCartney as an influence.

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John Taylor bass lines are sometimes two bass lines - studio work. Yes, he is great. But, he is creative and song centric if you will. I think it was Rio that use one of his two baselines baselines. They built up songs in the studio so he’d lay down one line, then add another. I learned this on a Classic Albums of Rio or something like that. Check it out.

I’m not taking a shot at John Taylor just like I’m not taking a shot at Tom Scholtz guitar work, any vocalist in the last 20 years, and etc. The studio is an instrument, you play it.

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John Taylor bass lines are sometimes two bass lines - studio work. Yes, he is great. But, he is creative and song centric if you will. I think it was Rio that use one of his two baselines baselines. They built up songs in the studio so he’d lay down one line, then add another. I learned this on a Classic Albums of Rio or something like that. Check it out.

I’m not tacking a shot at John Taylor just like I’m not taking a shot at Tom Scholtz guitar work, any vocalist in the last 20 years, and etc. The studio is an instrument, you play it.

That isolated bass track sounded just like just one bass. Not sayin' it was or was not a single take, but I didn't hear any doubled notes.

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John Taylor bass lines are sometimes two bass lines - studio work. Yes, he is great. But, he is creative and song centric if you will. I think it was Rio that use one of his two baselines baselines. They built up songs in the studio so he’d lay down one line, then add another. I learned this on a Classic Albums of Rio or something like that. Check it out.

I’m not tacking a shot at John Taylor just like I’m not taking a shot at Tom Scholtz guitar work, any vocalist in the last 20 years, and etc. The studio is an instrument, you play it.

That isolated bass track sounded just like just one bass. Not sayin' it was or was not a single take, but I didn't hear any doubled notes.

Not doubled notes, two parts. The discussion of having two parts was by John himself in the video I saw. He was discussing it in the context of having to figure out how to play it live.

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John Taylor bass lines are sometimes two bass lines - studio work. Yes, he is great. But, he is creative and song centric if you will. I think it was Rio that use one of his two baselines baselines. They built up songs in the studio so he’d lay down one line, then add another. I learned this on a Classic Albums of Rio or something like that. Check it out.

I’m not taking a shot at John Taylor just like I’m not taking a shot at Tom Scholtz guitar work, any vocalist in the last 20 years, and etc. The studio is an instrument, you play it.

It might have been on some other tracks on the Rio album, but pretty sure it wasn't on the title track(listening to the notes and trying to find a cut off or bleed over).

ETA: Pretty sure the 3 Taylors in Duran Duran were the only ones that could actually PLAY when the band formed. Nick Rhodes was a total one hand keyboard player for a while. If you go back and listen to most of their upbeat numbers, the arrangements are pretty wide open, leaving a lot of room for the bass to drive the band. Some good examples of John: Girls on Film, Is There Something I Should Know, Save A Prayer (very Pino Palladino quality to his playing), and New Moon on Monday. (Ah crap, is now when I admit I still sometimes listen to them?)

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I pretty much always hated Duran Duran.

I did kinda like Power Station, because it was guitar-based rock when there wasn't that much guitar-based rock on the pop charts.

But as I was going through songs searching for some that are in my vocal range, I discovered (somewhat to my chagrin) that "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" are low enough I can sing them. So they went on the "commuting" CD for the car.

And as I listened to them a few times, I noticed that the bassist, John Taylor, seems extremely skilled. He sets a strong root, flies all over the place, includes good voice leading, and establishes a nice groove?

What is his reputation in the bass community? Admired? Derided? Studied? Ignored?

Seems to me he would be a good role model for bass players, but I recognize I have the worst musical taste of anyone on HFC, so I have to ask.

You took the words out of my mouth. I developed respect for the guy once Duran Duran was toast and I actually listened to the music. He's a superb player.

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I'm equally impressed by the fact that they got away with putting out a 5 1/2-minute pop song.

Or a 5 1/2 minute video with a song attached?

I always thought he was the only reason to listen to that band. I hated the overplayed, overhyped image, but really dug his playing.

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I was listening to the Live Aid set by Power Station the other day (Michael Des Barres on lead vocals instead of Robt. Palmer) and J. Taylor meshed well with Tony Thompson, who shoulda scared the bejeezus outta almost every other drummer on the scene back then. A very good performance overall in spite of Des Barres' put-on enthusiasm.

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I listened to them too. I was quite into Zappa for a while and really dug Warren Cuccurrullo's guitar work as well as Patrick O'Hearn's bass playing and Bozzio's drumming of course. So, I also listened to Missing Persons a lot too. At that time, I didn't care for Duran Duran (and I really disliked Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes). I was a bit astonished to learn that Cuccurrullo got the guitar spot in DD then (while Bozzio and O'Hearn went with Andy Taylor). I liked Andy Taylor's album "Thunder" and also both of the Power Station albums. Some of the DD stuff was nice, but once Cuccurrullo got fired I lost interest in them...

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Mick Karn from Japan was pretty good too

Mike Karn is an amazing bass player. I don't actually have any Japan stuff, but I have a few things he's done with David Torn.

Back to John Taylor, I think he's great as well. I was just listening to Hungry Like the Wolf on the radio this morning and his bass part is very tasty, especially in the chorus where he creates a bit of satisfying tension by going to a resolving the progression before the rest of the music gets there (at the end of the "I'm on the hunt, I'm after you line).

-

Austin

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