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

[johnfoyle]

Here's the text that went with that unusual E.C. and The A's photo.; 'dig on Thomas’s bass brilliance. It’ll get you pumped!'
indeed!
http://www.bassplayer.com/article/elvis ... p-07/31501


Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ “Pump It Upâ€

[johnfoyle]

http://redtelephone66.blogspot.com/2009 ... rs-lp.html

[johnfoyle]

http://www.jezebelmusic.com/4638/bruce- ... tractions/

June 17, 2009
Bruce Thomas, Elvis Costello and The Attractions
by Justin Remer

HOLY MUSICIAN, BATMAN…

If you know anything about Elvis Costello and his relationship with his former backing band from the 70s and 80s, The Attractions, then you know that he hate hate hates Bruce Thomas, The Attractions’s bass player. In fact, the only difference between The Attractions and Costello’s “new” backing band (current tour excepted), The Imposters, is that Davey Faragher from Cracker now plays bass.

Some music writers have gone so far as to call Bruce Thomas Costello’s “nemesis.” It surely doesn’t help that Thomas wrote a wafer-thinly-veiled roman à clef about life on the road, in which he reportedly painted Costello with quite unflattering colors (though I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t say for sure). This bad blood has led Costello to boldly state that The Imposters have a superior rhythm section to The Attractions, and he’s even gone so far as to say that the old records had interesting bass playing but never had a groove.

This rivalry begs the question: what’s so bad about Bruce Thomas? Well, in truth, absolutely nothing. In fact, I’ve often used him in arguments as an example of a bass player who does a hell of a lot more than fart out the root notes of every chord. His playing is excited and funky, like he forgot he’s supposed to be playing new-wave rock and instead thought maybe he was subbing in for James Jamerson on a Motown revival tour. He crafts catchy melodies, accentuated by rubbery slides down the neck of the bass, creating undeniably infectious grooves.

Especially on the early albums with Elvis and The Attractions, Thomas dominates most of the sonic space. Costello’s guitar may shriek out an edgy riff now and again during “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea,” but Thomas’s bass maintains the head-bopping feel of the song. Similarly, in “Pump It Up,” apart from the between-verse sections of DAR DAR dar-dar-dar where the whole band plays in unison, Thomas’s bouncy melody is front and center, maintaining the energy of a song that’s pretty much two chords for three minutes. And on the album Get Happy!!, Costello’s guitar disappears outright for long stretches while Thomas is left to duel with keyboard player Steve Nieve for melodic supremacy.

It’s possible to almost see what Costello means about the lack of a groove listening to these recordings, in that Thomas seems to have only two gears: melodic overdrive and thud-dud-dud simplicity. Listening to “Radio Radio,” you can hear the two approaches side-by-side, as the straight-ahead verse and chorus give way to a ridiculously intricate bridge.

But one might also argue that Thomas is just serving the material. After all, as Costello’s focus wandered away from the band’s original pub-rock and R&B roots, Thomas adapted quite ably. On the country covers album Almost Blue, he’s able to strip down to Tennessee Two simplicity without sounding like he’s going to pass out from boredom. After The Attractions split from Costello in the 80s, Thomas played on many records for other folks, showing the ability to keep it simple (Billy Bragg’s Workers Playtime album) or let his funk flag fly (Suzanne Vega’s quirkily catchy single “99.9 F°”). When The Attractions briefly reunited in the mid-90s for Brutal Youth, an album where Costello’s guitar has a strong presence, Thomas seems appropriately restrained, adding melodic flourishes as necessary. Of course, it’s possible that he had just been beaten into submission by Costello at that point.

Now I mean no slight to Davey Faragher, who is an excellent bassist and awesome backup vocalist, and I hope he continues playing with Costello until they both drop dead at a ripe old age. But the fact remains that Elvis Costello’s backing band just isn’t The Attractions without Bruce Thomas.

[sulky lad]

Perfectly summed up as far as I'm concerned - and I'll never forget seeing Pete Thomas look somewhat ashamed when The Imposters tried Human Hands on the second half of the UK 2005 tour and Davey didn't quite cut the mustard !

[Otis Westinghouse]

But the fact remains that Elvis Costello’s backing band just isn’t The Attractions without Bruce Thomas.

That's right, they're called The Imposters.

[The imposter]

What Davey may lack in bass technicalities he MORE than makes up for in backing vocals. Many songs sound better for it, including some that wouldn't have been risked without backing vox. Gotta move on. Bruce is fantastic, but if he's a miserable .. What y gonna do

[bronxapostle]

But the fact remains that Elvis Costello’s backing band just isn’t The Attractions without Bruce Thomas.

That's right, they're called The Imposters.

VERY well said/corrected OTIS! i, too, love davey/imposters VERY MUCH, but to answer the original question...yes, now & then Bruce is missed.

[cwr]

EC has made four really solid albums with The Imposters, but on record they haven't really caught fire the way The Attractions did. But then again, I'm not sure that those records would have been any flashier if Bruce had been on board, really. They have a different kind of energy, and it's not just that the bass playing is different; Steve is often more restrained than in the old days, and I think Pete's playing often seems less wild and unpredictable than it was on records like Armed Forces. In part, this might be that they are just at a different point in their lives, and that the often chemically-fueled energy of the crazy days isn't perhaps the best way of serving the songs that Elvis is writing now.

In concert, I think The Imposters have proved to be just as impressive as The A's. Maybe more so, since Davey also provides very capable harmony vocals. I think it might just be that EC hasn't yet delivered a batch of songs for them that really showcases them in a way that's totally surprising. So far, I think my favorite Imposters track is the b-side "Impatience", which has the band augmented by both a horn section AND strings. It's a really exciting track, and I'd love to hear Costello make a record that uses the Imposters in conjunction with his recently honed skills as an arranger for full orchestra. My dream album would be another stab at the orchestrated kind of pop music he did on Painted From Memory, only this time with EC fully in charge of the sound of the album. He's still got lots of songs like "Burnt Sugar is So Bitter" and "Suspect My Tears" which are both fantastic and have been gathering dust for almost a decade.

[sulky lad]

I guess any comparison of performances and playing is always hugely subjective given that 32 years have passed since Elvis first played with a band that had Bruce on bass. I certainly agree that Davey's vocals are a bonus but if we're talking about bass playing then Bruce is the better improviser - however by 1996 Elvis didn't need an improvising bass player and sadly that's probably true of most of his recent (last 10 years) work. As an avid collector of Elvis live work I'm not sure that Bruce would have fitted into the way Elvis performs now and certainly the Imposters shows in 2005 (the last time they performed any sort of tour in the UK) had a real swing and groove to it up with The Attractions - though maybe not like The Attractions at their spine-tingling best -but what the hell, I'm maybe always going to prefer music from my "Brutal Youth" than the more matured Elvis of here and now

[verbal gymnastics]

You are right sulky in that any comparisons are going to be subjective.

Could Davey have come up with the bass fade out in Shabby Doll for example? Could Bruce have been as chilled out as Davey?

I enjoy both bass players' work but they were both important to the era they were in.

[wordnat]

Bruce Thomas is the best bassist I've ever heard, bar none. He loss is felt every time I play a post-ATUB EC release.

[bambooneedle]

Can anyone think of any instance(s) where Faragher's playing rises above just being his regular perfunctory style? eg. anything central to a song comparable to Thomas' playing on It's Time (nothing especially fancy or anything but it brings so much).

[Lester Burnham]

Can anyone think of any instance(s) where Faragher's playing rises above just being his regular perfunctory style? eg. anything central to a song comparable to Thomas' playing on It's Time (nothing especially fancy or anything but it brings so much).

'Turpentine', to me, is especially interesting because of Davey's bass playing. He seems to be doing some interesting things there while seeming deceptively simple.

I also noticed a lot of his work on Jenny Lewis's Acid Tongue is pretty great, especially 'The Next Messiah'.

[bambooneedle]

Good call on Turpentine - the best thing on Momofuku, imo. Don't know the other one but will now pay attention to DF if I hear it. You'd think more bass players would be more innovative just out of sheer boredom. He's no John Deacon or anything though, that's for sure.

[johnfoyle]

Some pre-Attractions Bruce -

http://progres-agitation.blogspot.com/2 ... k1971.html

[Lester Burnham]

Interesting. The sample song, 'Back On The Road', was written by Bruce, and it's nothing too spectacular, but definitely sounds like something Flip City would come up with.

Anyone know how to read Russian? Clicking on the link provided on that page, I just can't seem to figure out how to get the album...

[Neil.]

In answer to bamboo needle's question: "Can anyone think of any instance(s) where Faragher's playing rises above just being his regular perfunctory style?" - erm, how about Spooky Girlfriend? His amazing, jumpy, jackrabbitting bass is the so central to that song. Also, Tart, on the same album, and Doll Revolution. Bruce was amazing, Davy is amazing. All is well with the world.

[johnfoyle]

Here's an account of Bruce's early group The Road Runners -

http://www.vintagesixtieslive.co.uk/Road%20Runners.html

Some photos, including this -



That may be Bruce second from the right ; I've written to the site for clarification.

[johnfoyle]

Just got this -

Hi John

No sadly the pics were taken before Bruce joined.
He replaced Colin Bradley - the blonde haired guitarist.


Regards
Alan

[johnfoyle]

http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2010/12 ... ounds.html

[MoroccoToll]

Surely second from right is Paul Rogers...

[sulky lad]

That photo surely is from a secondary school identity parade taken from Dublin circa 1975 and features none other than our beloved Mr Foyle on the far left with slightly more "ginge" than he cares to display nowadays !!

[mrfeathers]

In my opinion Bruce Thomas is an exceptional bassist; not necessarily in terms of technique- there are lots of bassplayers who are better than him in that matter- but in terms of attitude & approach. His playing goes far beyond the usual Rhythmsection thing, and I believe that some of the more unusual chord-changes on the early-80's-EC-albums are rooted in BT's melodylines.
Davey Faragher is almost the perfect opposite; his technique is much more conventional & he is very experienced but still passionate & very musical on stage. I doubt that he'd have any trouble playing BT's Basslines note for note if he wanted to. By bringing his own style he "forced" the band to change their sound and, in the end, EC's songwriting.
I couldn't say whether I like the Imposters or the Attractions best, it depends on my mood; I enjoy both bands very much.

[Ypsilanti]

Welcome, Mr. Feathers. Good to have you here!

[sabreman]

I am a BT fan and prefer his playing to DF. I also don't like the heavy bass mix that most of the Imposter based recordings have.