Mike Rutherford the Bass player !

[scags]

He did a great job bridging the keys with the drums, at least while Hackett was there. After that, I neither know nor care.

[gearHed289]

I always like Mike's bass playing, especially on the early stuff. He was like a toned down Squire. I've found him a much more interesting bass player than guitarist, though I do love his 12 string work, and it's an integral part of their classic sound. When he shifted more toward guitar, and had Stuermer playing a good chunk of the bass live, I thought it was kind of a waste of both players real talents.

[JIF]

I love his bass playing, particularly during the Hackett years! Get 'em Out By Friday, Watcher of the Skies, The Lamb... great stuff. He's no Stanley Clark, but the music didn't require it. The way he locked with Phil really propelled a lot of the classic Genesis songs along. Bravo, Mike!

Get 'Em Out By Friday has great bass work by Michael. It's funny that the Gabriel albums credit him as Michael, while the Phil albums credit him as Mike.

[Adinfinitum]

Any one know the correct 12 string tuning for Your Own Special Way?

[bp]

Get 'Em Out By Friday has great bass work by Michael. It's funny that the Gabriel albums credit him as Michael, while the Phil albums credit him as Mike.

....and Phil was Phillip early on.

I love Mike's bass playing, especially in the days before he started using active basses. He always has had a great sense for space in his playing.

I often thought that he would be great in The Who after the Ox passed. He certainly would have been a better stylistic fit than Pino. It would have been great to hear Mike go back to the distorted, aggresive bass tones that were so great on The Lamb.

[JIF]

....and Phil was Phillip early on.

I love Mike's bass playing, especially in the days before he started using active basses. He always has had a great sense for space in his playing.

I often thought that he would be great in The Who after the Ox passed. He certainly would have been a better stylistic fit than Pino. It would have been great to hear Mike go back to the distorted, aggresive bass tones that were so great on The Lamb.

Ah, way to make fun of me. On Selling England By The Pound, Steve Hackett is credited as Stephen Hackett. Btw, what are active basses?

[GuitarGeek]

Ah, way to make fun of me. On Selling England By The Pound, Steve Hackett is credited as Stephen Hackett. Btw, what are active basses?

Presumably, he means active electronics. Most guitars and basses have passive electronics, ie just conventional pickups, volume and tone controls and a pickup selector. With active electronics, you have souped up electronics, sometimes with active pickups that are designed to emphasize certain frequencies, or onboard EQ and/or preamps. Ibanez and especially Alembic were very innovative in those areas back in the 70's. Pickup companies like EMG and Bartolini made a name offering active pickups.

Active electronics were a big boon for bassists, because you could finally get a tone that allowed you to be audible without necessarily screwing up the bottom end or cranking your amp to the point that there was smoke pouring out of it. The only thing is, typically this stuff is all battery powered. Nowadays they do it with a watch battery and switching jack that disengages the power when you unplug, but back in the day, it was all 9 volt batteries, and you had to remember to flip the power switch on the guitar when you weren't using the instrument.

I think John Entwistle said the business with changing the batteries on the Alembic basses were the reason why he stopped using them. He told a story once of how he "crossed a couple wires" backstage before The Who went on at Live Aid, so his main bass wouldn't work. Then he had to run and get his back up bass, which wasn't tuned up. Apparently, he had to tune up as they played the opening number of their set.

[martiprog]

When he shifted more toward guitar, and had Stuermer playing a good chunk of the bass live, I thought it was kind of a waste of both players real talents.

Spot on! Mike's no great shakes as a lead guitarist, but a great bass player. Daryl would've been far more interesting, although live, Mike played lead on the post-Hackett stuff, which wouldn't have been that challenging to Daryl unless he was given the same free rein to re-interpret them as he was with Steve's solos. It may well be that this didn't sit so well with Mike,or maybe with Daryl, given that anything Daryl did with them would put Mike's original solos in the shade somewhat. Then again, maybe the band felt that the post-Hackett stuff was more simplistic and didn't need a big solo (Abacab excepted).

[Rand Kelly]

Spot on! Mike's no great shakes as a lead guitarist, but a great bass player. Daryl would've been far more interesting, although live, Mike played lead on the post-Hackett stuff, which wouldn't have been that challenging to Daryl unless he was given the same free rein to re-interpret them as he was with Steve's solos. It may well be that this didn't sit so well with Mike,or maybe with Daryl, given that anything Daryl did with them would put Mike's original solos in the shade somewhat. Then again, maybe the band felt that the post-Hackett stuff was more simplistic and didn't need a big solo (Abacab excepted).

My 2 favorite lead guitar solos by Mike are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SdGhDIueA94


and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ep7W89I_V_g

[JIF]

I agree with you on Burning Rope.

[Adinfinitum]

Rutherford was quoting that after listening back to ATTW3, that he wanted to go back and redo all the guitar parts. I think he was being a wee-bit hard on himself. He had big shoes to fill and after a time realized, he couldn't fill them, so he developed his own style.

[Paulrus]

so he developed his own style.

Which is no style, IMHO. I don't think he has really brought anything distinctive to Genesis since he became lead guitar and bassist. Sure, he's done some cool stuff in the studio with delay effects and other processing ideas, but as far as his playing goes he has no real identity of his own. I'm not a huge fan of the style, but at least his early bass work with the band was recognizably his. And don't get me started on his Steinberger period...

[fictionmusic]

He got really good. Robbery Assault and Battery for example.

Indeed. Listening to him play Supper's Ready live is so much better than on the studio version. He seems like one those superflous guitarists (from a band point of view) who gets drafted to play bass. Quite often they end up writing and performing some wickedly unique and cool bass lines. It is especially cool to see them get better and better.

[Progatron]

....and Phil was Phillip early on.

And Tony Banks was Anthony Banks!

[GuitarGeek]

Since we're talking about Mike's guitar playing too, now, I'll add that I rather like his guitar work. Not as innovative as Hackett, but I think he had a very melodic style that worked quite well. His playing on things like Behind The Lines, Duke's Travels, Abacab itself, Dodo/The Lurker, Mama, Second Home By The Sea, etc I thought was great. I also dig a lot of the stuff he came up with on 12 string on the earlier records too.

[arise_shine]

Pete
Michael
Anthony
Steven
Philip

lol

Okay, seriously. Yeah, I mostly don't really notice his bass work on the early albums, but starting with Abacab (especially the aforementioned "No Reply"), he went from "serviceable" to "good."

And yeah, his lead guitar work on ATTWT was pretty janky. It sounds like when I (not a guitarist) try to do guitar leads. I love "Burning Rope" until that solo. It's not bad .. it's just .. amateurish. It's like they were writing songs that the 4-piece band would have written, and Mike subbed in parts that Hackett might have written if he were there.

I think "Duke" is when he started coming into his own as a guitarist. I like his lead work on that album (and subsequent albums). It's not great, but it's serviceable. And his riffing got pretty decent, too. I think that Hackett leaving the band was one of the best things that could have happened to him as a musician. I suspect that having to do a whole tour playing guitar for much of set helped him hone his skills.

[Rufus]

His lead guitar work on Smallceeps Day is more impressive than anything he did on any Genesis song IMO

[Digital_Man]

I like his "unacompanied bass pedal solo" from Foxtrot.

[Progatron]

I like his "unacompanied bass pedal solo" from Foxtrot.

But that was Michael Rutherford.

[JIF]

Indeed. Listening to him play Supper's Ready live is so much better than on the studio version. He seems like one those superflous guitarists (from a band point of view) who gets drafted to play bass. Quite often they end up writing and performing some wickedly unique and cool bass lines. It is especially cool to see them get better and better.

When you talk about superflous guitarist playing bass, does that also apply to Chris Dreja from The Yardbirds?

Which is no style, IMHO. I don't think he has really brought anything distinctive to Genesis since he became lead guitar and bassist. Sure, he's done some cool stuff in the studio with delay effects and other processing ideas, but as far as his playing goes he has no real identity of his own. I'm not a huge fan of the style, but at least his early bass work with the band was recognizably his. And don't get me started on his Steinberger period...

Sniff sniff, sounds like someone is jealous. Why so harsh? Mike has had some cool guitar lines.

And Tony Banks was Anthony Banks!

Please stop that, Dogatron!! Tony was also credited as such on Trespass. Is that all you do on these threads:make fun of people? There's a guy on here that doesn't know how to type, because he is from a foreign country. Why don't you go make fun of him, because you seem to do pleasure in such things?

[Progatron]

Please stop that, Dogatron!! Tony was also credited as such on Trespass. Is that all you do on these threads:make fun of people? There's a guy on here that doesn't know how to type, because he is from a foreign country. Why don't you go make fun of him, because you seem to do pleasure in such things?

What the flying fuck are you talking about?

Tell you what: A show of hands, please, from anyone who feels that "all I do" is make fun of people.

And then, as an amusing followup - a show of hands for those who feel that JIF is a wildly overreacting, braying lunatic who injects negativity and extremely holier-than-thou judgment into literally every thread he opens, all day - every day.

BTW, it may interest you to know that 'foreign countries' (which I assume means 'not the U.S.') have keyboards, and therefore typists.

[GuitarGeek]

Is that all you do on these threads:make fun of people?

This, from a guy who gave me grief the other day because I didn't properly proofread a post where I made reference to Keith Moon's death. Oy vey!

[JIF]

What the flying fuck are you talking about?

Tell you what: A show of hands, please, from anyone who feels that "all I do" is make fun of people.

And then, as an amusing followup - a show of hands for those who feel that JIF is a wildly overreacting, braying lunatic who injects negativity and extremely holier-than-thou judgment into literally every thread he opens, all day - every day.

BTW, it may interest you to know that 'foreign countries' (which I assume means 'not the U.S.') have keyboards, and therefore typists.

Check posts #65 and #70 to see what I'm talking about.

[Progatron]

Check posts #65 and #70 to see what I'm talking about.

Yyyyyeah, still not getting it. Perhaps you could provide some condescending explanation (your modus operandi) as to how you feel I was making fun of you (another favourite accusation of yours to bandy about, btw).

[firth5th]

Is that all you do on these threads:make fun of people?

Someone already posted that.