On bass guitar...

It is a conceit of mine that the most exciting and innovative period for pop music was from 1977 to 1983. Of course, The Beatles, whom I'd argue were the most innovative band ever, weren't releasing music then, but I'm not talking about one band, I'm talking about all of the records that were making the charts.

And one of the interesting and, I'd warrant, not unrelated features of this period was just how many great bass players there were. (And perhaps that is a legacy of Paul McCartney's playing.)

Just looking at the bands I loved, the bassists included:

Derek Forbes from Simple Minds
Mick Karn, Japan
John Taylor, Duran Duran,
Pino Palladino, Paul Young and others
Dave Allen, Shriekback
Peter Hook, New Order
Matthew Seligman, Thomas Dolby
Jah Wobble, PiL

and lastly* but very much by no means least, Paul Gardiner from Gary Numan's band.

It was Paul Gardiner who really introduced my teenage ears to the subtle role that the bass guitar could play in pop music, rather than simply providing the bridge between the rhythmic and harmonic aspects of a song. Gardiner's fills in particular brought beautiful moments of detail to Numan's (much underrated) writing.

Over the years, one of my regular grumbles about Numan's bass players is that when they play the older material, they ignore these little details, taking a blunter approach to the bass parts. So, hold that thought...

For the last couple of years, maybe longer, Simon has been sending me links to YouTube clips of a tribute band called Tubeway Days, who solely play tracks from Numan's first four albums (two as Tubeway Army, and two as Gary Numan). Tonight we went to see them at The Lion's Den.

I have to say that despite my occasionally sneery attitude towards tribute bands, they were very good. Great song choice, excellent reproduction of the sound and music, and - perhaps the most difficult challenge for any tribute band - a singer whose delivery was faithful but not caricatured.

But my favourite part of the whole experience was the bass player, who, as far as I could see and hear, didn't miss a single one of those wonderful notes that were committed to my memory over my teenage years and subsequently.

*lastly in my list that is. I could have mentioned Nick Beggs, Mark King, Lemmy, Sting, Jaco Pastorious, Paul Simonon, and more!