Posted by Budgie at May 4, 2005 03:27 PM

Blame it on the bassline...

...and what a bassline it is.

Track : AARON NEVILLE - "HERCULES"

"Hercules" is a track that the soul singer Aaron Neville made back in 1972. It's a bitter song, written by fellow New Orlean talent Allen Toussaint, about trying to survive the hard times in America. The lyrics may be bleak but hopeful, with Aaron sounding mighty fine as usual on vocal duties, but it's the backing track that's the star. More importantly, it's all down to that bassline. As soon as it kicks in at the start, your head is off and nodding. Compliment it with some restrained guitar, piano and horns and then back it all up with some great percussion and drumming lines and you're on to a winner.

But it's that bassline that sticks with you...

Track : YOUNG MC - "I COME OFF (THE SOUTHERN COMFORT MIX)"

Back in 1990, it don't think there was a bar in the centre of Glasgow or back room in any of the clubs that didn't play this Young MC track, it was everywhere. To me and my friends it was an anthem. When heard at the start of a night, or any time of the night for that matter, this always set us up and put us in the mood.

The original version was a fairly non-descript and typical hip hop bragging track and not a patch on Young MC's previous work, especially his "Know How" tune from a couple of years earlier. It took a little sprinking of some Balearic magic and the addition of the "Hercules" bassline to smooth it all out and turn "I Come Off" into a classic. "The Southern Comfort Mix" was the work of one time M/A/R/R/S collaborators and stalwarts on the London club scene, Dave Dorrel and CJ Mackintosh, and it is one of my all time favourite remixes.

Track : DUSTED - "WANT U"

Jump forward to the year 2000 and the bassline is still echoing down the ages. Dusted is the project of Faithless founder Rollo and his co-hort Mark Bates. "Want U", much like the majority of the tracks from their album "When We Were Young", is a great downtempo ambient piece. It takes a couple of minutes before the track really starts to get going with the introduction of a beat and a bassline, but it's when that bassline mutates about the half way mark into "Hercules" that "Want U" really starts to shine. The track soon becomes elevated with with some strings and a spoken / slightly sung male vocal but as it's just getting into it's stride, it sadly ends.

It may end too soon, but after listening to the tracks above, you'll never forget that bass...

Go Visit : Aaron Neville
Go Visit : Dusted

Go Buy : Aaron Neville - Ultimate Collection
Go Buy : Young MC - Stone Cold Rhymin'
Go Buy : Dusted - When We Were Young

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie.