Category Archives: Bass Players

Aces Of 1980s Brit Bass (Part 2)

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Kev Hopper

Some years ago, we showcased some of the British bass players who, mainly influenced by Bernard Edwards, Jaco Pastorius, Louis Johnson and Stanley Clarke, brought some of the freshest grooves to 1980s pop music.

It seemed that every half-decent post-punk, New Pop, New Romantic or Britfunk band had a good bassist, and the dancefloor was the main target.

But there was some great Brit bass players investigating other corners of music during the 1980s too – here are a few of them.

Martin McAloon
The Prefab Sprout man brought a meaty tone (often tuning down a half-step to accompany his brother Paddy’s guitar) and great hook-up with drummer Neil Conti. Deceptively simple bass parts which were little compositions in themselves. Key tracks: ‘Hey Manhattan!’, ‘When The Angels’, ‘When Love Breaks Down’, ‘Horsin’ Around’

Ged Grimes
The Danny Wilson man is the very definition of bass solidity, supplying endless well-composed parts especially in combination with drummer David Palmer (Grimes now plays with Simple Minds). Key tracks: ‘Mary’s Prayer’, ‘I Can’t Wait’, ‘I Was Wrong’, ‘Lorraine Parade’

Richard Nolan
The It Bites man had three distinct phases – there was the early poppy stuff, with a trebly WAL sound and light strings, the middle-period ‘rock’ sound, then the sophisticated six-string playing of the band’s late period. It was all good and others were listening – he was later recruited by Tony Banks and Ray Davies, with whom he works to this day. Key tracks: ‘Whole New World’, ‘Heartbreaker’, ‘Positively Animal’, ‘Midnight’, ‘Calling All The Heroes’

Steve Severin
The flanger/plectrum combo was invented for the Siouxsie & The Banshees man. Every track featured a good bassline or good idea. Key tracks: ‘Cascade’, ‘Monitor’, ‘Spellbound’.

Mo Foster
The London bass legend was a mainstay of the capital’s studios during the 1980s, playing with everyone from Cliff Richard to Scott Walker and contributing to many hits. He died in 2023. Key tracks: Jeff Beck’s ‘Space Boogie’, Dennis Waterman’s ‘I Could Be So Good For You’, Gary Moore’s ‘Empty Rooms’, Elkie Brooks’ ‘No More The Fool’, Howard Jones’ ‘No One Is To Blame’

Sting
In the early 1980s he came up with brilliant, memorable lines, often scrappily played, but returned for 1987’s …Nothing Like The Sun as a model of taste and groove. Key tracks: ‘Voices Inside My Head’, ‘Rehumanise Yourself’, ‘Secret Journey’, ‘Be Still My Beating Heart’, ‘Lazarus Heart’

Matthew Seligman
Cyprus-born Matthew played great bendy basslines with The Soft Boys, Thompson Twins and Thomas Dolby, and even ended up playing Live Aid with Bowie. He died in 2020. Key tracks: ‘Living In Europe’ by Thompson Twins, ‘Absolute Beginners’ by David Bowie, ‘Screen Kiss’ by Thomas Dolby, ‘Magic’s Wand’ by Whodini

John McKenzie
Son of actor Liz McKenzie (Mrs Brumby in ‘Get Carter’), the late London bassist played some fantastic stuff on the Morrissey Mullen album Life On The Wire, then worked extensively with Eurythmics. Pretenders, Five Star, Bob Dylan and Dexys Midnight Runners too. He died in 2020. Key tracks: ‘Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)’

Alan Thomson
Another of the many great Scottish bassists of the decade, Glasgow-born Thomson excelled himself on the fretless during his valuable collaboration with John Martyn, and also played with Julia Fordham, Rick Wakeman, Robert Palmer and others. Key tracks: John Martyn’s ‘Blood Money’, ‘Couldn’t Love You More’, ‘Glorious Fool’, ‘Hiss On The Tape’, ‘John Wayne’, especially the BBC In Concert version…

Kev Hopper
Influenced by Brand X’s Percy Jones, Hopper only made a few full-length recordings with Stump during the decade but left his mark with fantastically bendy fretless sounds/effects and intrepid lines. Has gone on to make some enjoyably weird music to this day. Key tracks: ‘Tupperware Stripper’, ‘Our Fathers’, ‘Eager Bereaver’, ‘Buffalo’, and everything, really…

Camelle Hinds
Ipswich-born Hinds was a founder member of Britfunk band Central Line and often the go-to guy when you needed excellent slap bass in the 1980s. He played great stuff with Beggar & Co, The The, B.E.F., Style Council and Heaven 17. Key tracks: The Kane Gang’s ‘Looking For Gold’

Bobby Paterson
The late Glasgow-born Love And Money bassist added some of the funkiest grooves of the late 1980s on his Fender Precision and MusicMan. Key tracks: ‘Jocelyn Square’, ‘Strange Kind Of Love’, ‘Candybar Express’.

Ewen Vernal
His playing on the two Deacon Blue albums of the late 1980s featured excellent, nimble five-string playing with loads of memorable lines and he always made sure each note was given its full value. Key tracks: ‘Fergus Sings The Blues’, ‘Chocolate Girl’, ‘When Will You Make My Telephone Ring’.

Gary ‘Gazza’ Johnson
His tenure with China Crisis brought some memorable lines and grooves. He played fretless on their early hits and was an early adopter of the octave pedal for added depth/punch. Key tracks: ‘Working With Fire And Steel’, ‘The Highest High’, ‘Day After Day’, ‘Strength Of Character’, ‘Red Sails’, ‘King In A Catholic Style’

This playlist brings together some of their best work.

Anthony Jackson (1952-2025)

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Anthony during the recording session for Steve Khan’s ‘Eyewitness’ in 1981. Photo by David Tan

The brilliant Anthony Jackson, who has died aged 73, was a vital part of the early-1970s electric bass revolution, but arguably never got the same attention as contemporaries Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson and Alphonso Johnson (Chuck Rainey, Steve Swallow and Larry Graham are a bit older).

In a music world beset by fly-by-night chancers and one-trick ponies, he was a player of principle, something like the Allan Holdsworth of bass.

It was Anthony’s playing on Steve Khan’s ‘Guy Lafleur’ that first completely hooked movingtheriver – I remember thinking: who the hell is THAT?!

In two major ways, he changed the instrument as much as Jaco (though, in later years, pointedly called himself a ‘guitarist who plays a variation called the contrabass guitar’).

First there was his stretching of the instrument’s range below the standard low E (inspired by his love of Jimmy Smith’s Hammond organ playing) and above the standard top G, via his pioneering use of six-string basses, which he started playing exclusively in 1982 (Steve Khan thinks his superb ‘Casa Loco’ may have featured the debut of Anthony’s six-string).

Before that, Jackson had regularly detuned the low E string on his trusty Fender Precision, producing strikingly rich, deep timbres on work with Grover Washington Jr., Quincy Jones, Steely Dan, Chaka Khan and Earl Klugh, amongst hundreds of others (he prided himself on playing all kinds of music, working with everyone from Judy Collins and Peter, Paul & Mary to George Benson and Will Downing).

Then there was his use of effects, particularly the trademark flanger, often accompanied by the use of a pick, best heard on The O’Jays’ ‘For The Love Of Money’ and ‘Give The People What They Want’, and on his work with Al Di Meola. Oh, and then there’s a third factor – he ALWAYS sat down whilst playing, claiming that sitting down and wearing no strap was the way to go for bassists.

Jackson started playing music after seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, then became obsessed with other Brit invasion bands, Motown (via James Jamerson) and Jefferson Airplane’s Jack Casady, plus classical composers Olivier Messiaen and Paul Hindemith.

Regarding the latter two, their influence on Anthony’s playing is particularly noticeable on the live version of Khan’s ‘The Suitcase’, from 1994. Steve described this brilliant performance on his website.

One of Jackson’s first major gigs was in 1973, playing for a year in Buddy Rich’s sextet. He later called the drummer the only bona fide genius with which he had played. But then Anthony loved drummers. He enjoyed brilliant hook-ups with Steve Gadd, Buddy Williams, Steve Jordan, Harvey Mason, Simon Phillips, Steve Ferrone, Yogi Horton, Earl Young and many others.

But he lost work by refusing to ‘slap’ his bass during the disco era, and also very rarely solo’d unless he had something specific to say (to Steve Khan’s great annoyance!). Some of these concepts were laid down in his famously stern columns for Bass Player magazine.

But even Jackson wasn’t immune to some of the ‘proclivities’ of other great artists – for example, his performance was wiped from the title track of Steely Dan’s Gaucho! (Chuck Rainey’s pass got the nod instead.) But he played epochal stuff on ‘Glamour Profession’ and ‘My Rival’ from the same album, and excelled on Donald Fagen’s ‘IGY’ and ‘Ruby Baby’.

He was also fiercely loyal to artists he respected, enjoying long associations with Hiromi, Michel Camilo, Al Di Meola, Sadao Watanabe, Lee Ritenour, Grover Washington, Chick Corea, Khan and Michel Petrucciani.

In one of his rare interviews, he expressed a wish to play with Phil Collins, Ringo and Charlie Watts. Sadly it seems he didn’t achieve those ambitions. Farewell to a true pioneer and personal musical hero. Check out this playlist which brings together movingtheriver’s favourite Anthony performances.

Anthony Claiborne Jackson (23 June 1952 – 19 October 2025)

John Giblin (1952-2023): Seven Of The Best

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Phil Collins and John, circa 1980

The period roughly between 1978 and 1985 was a golden age if you were a British or American session musician.

The mission: to sprinkle your unique brand of fairy dust over a song or album. You lived on your wits and gambled on your talent but your employers were more often than not creative artists at the top of their game.

As far as UK bassists go, Glasgow-born John Giblin, who has died at the age of 72, was always near the top of the list. He was famed for his melodic fretless bass style (though later pretty much disowned it, moving to five-string fretted and stand-up acoustic basses), starting his career with ex-Yes guitarist Pete Banks. He then hooked up with Brand X and Phil Collins and the rest is history.

After prestigious work with Kate Bush, John Martyn and Peter Gabriel, Giblin joined Simple Minds as full-time member in summer 1985 but left three years later after a falling out with producer Trevor Horn during the recording of Street Fighting Years. He also ran a much-loved rehearsal studio called Barwell Court near Chessington, Surrey.

Of course he was influenced by Jaco Pastorius but didn’t really sound like him. (Anyway, he traced that particular line from Eberhard Weber, who apparently claims Jaco ripped HIM off!) Giblin played memorable bass on tens of key tracks but here are seven that particularly registered with your correspondent, in chronological order.

7. John Martyn: ‘Some People Are Crazy’
movingtheriver’s introduction to Giblin’s work, he delivers a brilliant fretless commentary here, though I’m not even sure I realised it was a ‘bass’ circa 1985 – just superb music. It’s funky, flowing and also features those famed sliding harmonics, nicked from Ron Carter and Percy Jones. Giblin is also a talking head in the great Martyn documentary ‘Johnny Too Bad’.

6. Peter Gabriel: ‘Family Snapshot’
The whole of Gabriel III is of course a bass masterclass but Giblin and Gabriel fill in the backstory of the troubled political assassin to great effect in the moving final minute of this.

5. Kate Bush: ‘Breathing’
Just business as usual for Giblin on this classic Bush anti-nuclear ballad, weaving arch, memorable lines around her vocals. Also listen out for his closing, sepulchral E-flat.

4. Phil Collins: ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’
The much-ripped off (hello Pearl Jam) line that propelled one of the better Beatles cover versions.

3. Simple Minds: ‘Let It All Come Down’
Giblin didn’t get many composer credits but this co-write was always your correspondent’s favourite track on Street Fighting Years (Jim Kerr apparently wrote the words).

2. Kate Bush: ‘Love And Anger’
Kate again, and this time Giblin lets fly with some brilliant slap bass in the final few minutes alongside David Gilmour’s tasty guitar solo.

1. Scott Walker: ‘Tilt’
Demonstrating his post-’80s five-string style, Giblin enlivens Walker’s classic title track with some strikingly ‘out’ notes and a great sense of space.

Aces Of Bass in Early-’80s Britpop

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mark_king_1988_tel_aviv_israelWatching the superb reruns of ‘Top Of The Pops’ recently, it’s apparent how many great bass players stormed the UK charts during the early/mid-’80s.

Everywhere you looked, there were hip, young four-stringers with good haircuts and some nifty licks (or ‘kids with a riff’, as Robert Palmer called them).

Though very much under the twin influences of Chic’s Bernard Edwards and Jaco Pastorius, a whole host of ’80s players managed to forge some truly original sounds while clearly utilising the feels and techniques of both American bassists.

Here’s a smattering of great British players of the period (more from across the pond soon) with a few of their enduring performances. Make sure your subwoofer is turned on…

9. Mick Karn
By Japan’s 1979 Quiet Life album, the man born Andonis Michaelides had become one of the most original fretless players of all time, effortlessly bypassing the Jaco template. His lines were also absolutely integral to the band’s formula and eventual success. ‘Visions Of China’ demonstrates his melodic approach perfectly (though somehow he was denied a songwriter credit) and his playing on the track reveals new discoveries even 35 years on.

8. Tony Butler
Shepherds Bush-born Butler brought something very unique to ’80s rock and pop with his band Big Country. He also formed a key rhythm section alongside drummer Mark Brzezicki.

7. Derek Forbes
The hyperactive Glaswegian just couldn’t stop coming up with classic early-’80s basslines. After his departure from Simple Minds in 1984, he also added some quality low-end work to Propaganda’s touring band.

6. Guy Pratt
The Artful Dodger of the early ’80s bass scene, Guy cut his teeth with Icehouse before breaking out to play with everyone from Madonna to Pink Floyd.

5. Graham Edwards
According to Pratt’s great ‘My Bass And Other Animals’ book, Edwards was always going up for the same gigs as him back in the mid-’80s. Now an almost forgotten name, he played some excellent stuff in Go West’s live band and also shone on this underrated gem:

4. Pino Palladino
Pino’s highly melodic fretless style had already graced hits by Gary Numan and Paul Young by the mid-’80s. His playing on the latter’s ‘I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down’ even had more than a hint of Bernie Worrell/Parliament’s ‘Flashlight’ about it.

3. Mark King
Mr King has to be in this list. Though best known now for his formidable slap technique, his crisp, fluid fingerstyle lines were just as distinctive, not least this Eastern-tinged salvo which really sums up the spirit of 1982.

2. Colin Moulding
The XTC man’s flowing, melodic style showed that he was a worthy heir to Paul McCartney. No matter how ‘standard’ the chord changes, you could rely on Moulding to come up with something memorable.

1. John Taylor
Like or loathe Duran Duran (I have to say I was usually of the latter persuasion), Taylor certainly came up with some memorable if somewhat samey grooves (as gleefully parodied by Mr Pratt).