John's best bass lines
 

A friend of mine asked me last night what songs have John's best bass lines, or my favorites. I immediately answered Go Your Own Way.

When I googled the question, its AI listed GWOW, The Chain and Everywhere. Yes John's lines in The Chain stand out. And they are great in Everywhere. But there are more songs where John stands out, aren't there?

Revelation has always been a fav of mine.

Gypsy, The Chain, Sisters of the Moon... I also liked his bass on Temporary One. Just a few that come to mind.

Gypsy, Temporary One, Dreams spring to mind for me.

I love his bass on GYOW. Magisterial.

I’m pretty sure that’s actually Bob Welch playing bass. I think John and Dave were MIA for a lot of Penguin.

Smile At You
Say You Love Me
Miles Away
Angel (Tusk)

Bad Loser
Hypnotized
Gold Dust Woman
Go Your Own Way
Bermuda Triangle
Angel
Everybody Finds Out
Most of Say You Will Album
Most of Behind The Mask Album

The bassline on Say you love me is a work of art in itself. Quick shout-out for Bare Trees.

For all you BTM haters.

Save Me (early take)
Go John Go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFZKrC2r4R0

When It Comes To Love
Love Shines

"Keep on Going" and "Caroline" stick out to me.

Forever from Mystery To Me.

I’m afraid I have some bad news…

Rhiannon for me…his bass line I hear loud and clear…
Everytime I hear it.

Is it an observation of that post? Are you quoting a lyric? Or is it an actual bad new?

Crystal. Actually any Stevie song he does. For some reason his bass playing always stands out for me on her songs. Probably because he has more freedom to play. No standard melody on her demos. Werewolves of London is another good one

I actually thought of that, and do remember that.

Great job "John"~

John didn’t play bass on the songs listed.

You’re right about this. According to Steve Clark’s book, John was being “paranoid” about his bass parts at this time, wanted to take a holiday in France while the band recorded Penguin, and promised to come back and lay his parts down later. Only through heavy persuasion (presumably Mick and Christine) did he stay. But there is no bass on The Derelict and Welch stepped in for Revelation. Bizarre.

John’s bass lines are essential to so many FM songs, it’s hard to pick. But here’s a list…

Miles Away
The Ghost
Bright Fire
Rhiannon
Never Forget
Go Your Own Way
Little Lies
Temporary One

And….the early take of Second Hand News, before Lindsey replaced it.

Was that "paranoia" a consequence of a drinking problem during Penguin sessions?

Mick mentioned John was "suffering a serious artistic block, a blind panic" during Tango recording sessions. He was "had spent the last couple of years drinking at a sailing hideaway"

SteveMacD just mentioned John didn't play in Caroline. Was it because of his artistic block, or was Caroline recorded in the "Lindsey Tusk solo songs" style?

I wonder if this was around the time John wanted to quit the band to become the road manager that Christine talked about in the 1986 interview?

I think “Caroline” was one of the songs that Lindsey brought over from the project he was working on and I think it’s just Lindsey.

ALL of Stevie's songs have benefitted from John's playing on them. He grounds all of them in a way they all need.

His bass line on Dreams is iconic and absolutely identifies that song as much as anything, especially the opening bars. It may not be the most sophisticated of chords due to Stevie's musical limitations, but what he does with them is magic. Same for his playing on Rhiannon.

Agree his playing on Angel is the centerpiece. His playing on Smile At You on SYW is gorgeous and is practically a duet with Stevie's lead vocal.

And his playing on the song Bare Trees is just....perfection.

eta: Agree about the playing especially at the end of Crystal.

It does not sound like any Mac member played anything on Caroline. It was lifted from Lindsey's solo album. Its all programmed bass and melody. This is why Lindsey said many Tusk elements were used for making Tango i.e. him working alone on songs without the rest of the band.

I love the bass on The Ledge. The question is, is it John or Lindsey?

For that one, i'd guess LB. i think that whole song is LB. For those older songs mentioned from Penguin etc, i had asked john myself which songs bob played on and he said i was astute or something for noticing lol but that he couldn't for the life if him remember which ones bob did. i don't think it was too many. i believe i read somewhere that Revelation was Bob, and maybe The City also?

--Lis

Probably. I think 72/73 were pretty bad years for him. although he's had a few tough periods, including around Tango. those years in duty-free St Thomas and sailing away for months on end only made the problem worse.

--Lis

You're probably right about about the instrumentation. There are some Christine-like backing vocals on Caroline, though- the bits that sound like a muezzin's call to prayer; it could equally be Lindsey doing fake-Christine.

"Keep on Going" was an oversight. Welch confirmed in one of his Q&As that he played bass on that song.

Based on the demo track of "Caroline", it appears that the bass track was eventually replaced with a more dynamic part. Whether or not Lindsey or John recorded it is uncertain, but I'm leaning more towards John.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepjvdsyZ8c

I really don’t hear a difference. I’m with Macfan4life, I think it’s all Lindsey.

“Little Lies”, OTOH, is totally McVie.