John Entwistle: The Bottom's Dropped Out.

Yes, it's been about a month since his passing, incidentally the same week as Ray Brown, famous and remarkable jazz bassist. What a terrible week for the bass. Their loss made me wonder if there was some cosmic statement being made. Are we to be left now with only the one-dimensional bass playing typified by U2's Adam Clayton? Perhaps we are destined to hear only quarter-notes thudding inarticulately on the root of every chord, mixed purposely low so we aren't reminded that the bass player was the guy who simply wasn't good enough to play guitar.

But now I'm listening to The Who's BBC sessions. It is immediately apparent what a force of nature John was. It's rare when one musician is both equally brain and brawn in a band. Sure, The Who had plenty of brawn to go around, especially from Keith Moon's drumming, but the intensity and creativity from Entwistle in these recordings certainly puts him in a class of his own.

The Who's live recordings are truly where his talent is most apparent. I've wondered, listening to seminal studio tracks such as "Who Are You" and "Baba O'Reilly" if Pete Townsend wasn't deliberately mixing John down to bring out his own guitar playing. For example: why start "O'Reilly" with a piano bass line, when you have one of the best bass players alive standing right next to you? And then, when he does come in, why bring him in in such a subtle way - almost as if to sneak him in? You hear the live versions of that song, and it is a different world. After the electronic introduction, the bass enters and makes a powerful, immediate statement. It says instantly that, if there was any doubt, this song is an anthem.

Well, if this toned-down studio approach was deliberate or just an oversight, there is no way to cover up John's playing on these BBC recordings. Tracks such as "Leaving Here," a mod classic, ring with his cool riffing, and rhythmic dominance. The interplay between John and Keith is simply astounding.

Dancing in the Streets, an otherwise terrible cover is made alive simply with John's bold playing. Where is Pete in this track? Pete is spare, missing a huge opportunity for his usually terrific rhythm-guitar work. John on the other hand, moves effortlessly up and down the fret board, moving forward a song that everyone else seems to want to hold back into a dirge.

John Entwistle was ahead of his time, traditional, and, strangely, a relic of his time. Still, no one before or since has played the bass quite the way he did.

He was traditional in that he shared the basic premise of what a bass player's role within a group with the jazz players. His job was not easy; he was not the bass player because he couldn't play guitar or sing. His job wasn't simply to fill in the bottom sonically like current rock and dance music, but much more. He was the skeleton of the band, the form and space of the band, the time and harmonics of the band. He was the skeleton over which draped the muscle and skin of drums, guitars and vocals. His job was to be the anchor both rhythmically and sonically. He laid down the time like a metronome, leaving Keith Moon to go nuts, and laid down the structure of the songs in his bass lines, while Pete twisted his chords into cacophony.

He was ahead of his time, because unlike earlier bass players, he did make the bass more prominent, more melodic and more powerful. Certainly Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones and countless others were influenced. Sergeant Pepper's presented a new, more melodic, and more pronounced bass playing by Paul, who even over-dubbed his playing after all other tracks were completed, so he could weave in and out of all lines to create maximum effect. Still, Paul's playing was just that: it was weaving in and out of the music without touching it; it was a low-hanging musical ornament, while John's playing anchored the rest of the chaos of The Who.

Sadly, while he was also ahead of his time, he marked a standard in rock bass playing that has not been met since. Bass is now left to that guy with the cool haircut who can't play another instrument, but who still wants to be in a band. A blanket statement, true, with certain exceptions, of course, including The Attraction's Bruce Thomas and The Specials' Sir Horace Gentleman. Still, by and large, bass is an after-thought.

So now is the time where I'm supposed to wrap up my little tirade with some statement like "Well, at least he will live on in his music," and yes that is true and right. But I am sad for the huge loss of his talent, and only hope that more would choose to take his example.



Comments, or suggestions for albums or events to review? Send an email to: jboyte@ululation.com