TERRY BOZZIO!!! Thank you for the response...! I am HONORED! and yeah, "Honey Sweating" is my favorite track off POLYTOWN...! And waitaminute...that's YOUR work on that album, too! And Major Kudos to David Torn!!!
Thanks for your feedback, Terry. Yes, Polytown is a great album, I love it. Individually and collectivly, the performance is amazing. And cheers to you, you have played with some of my favorite bassplayers : Mick, Pat O'hearn and my good old friend Tony Levin. Remember you from 78 in Bern, Switzerland, with FZ : Still my favourite line-up.
I'm amazed that there has been such a slow awakening of Mick Karn's talent. There was no one like him and I suspect there never will be.., a total one-off.. By a mile, the most original bassist of all time... I would also add that no one played a WAL like him.., the two complemented each other so well. 🙏
I’ve thought this too. My theory is that it’s because Japan had a relatively short period of popularity in a commercial sense, and once they’d split up the individual members headed in a less commercial and more avant garde direction. Also the culture of fetishing equipment and players had not yet reached the level it’s at now. They were easily forgotten by the public sadly. Incidentally, the bass player in the band I was in in the mid 80s was a massive Mick Karn / Japan fan, as was I. He played a fretless bass in my band, and he and I spent a long time trying to figure out the pedals Mick used to achieve his tone. There was very little resource in those days to find out stuff like that without your own trial and error. Eventually we got it!
I also thought the same and then realised that he sounded the same when he was playing a Travis Bean bass. I also think the WAL basses are the best bass guitars ever made (especially the ones actually made by Wal himself and Pete).
Any mention of Mick Karn by fans, musicians and critics often makes me happy. 1. Swing 2. Life In Tokyo (‘7 remix) 3. Obscure Alternatives (Live) 4. Sons of Pioneers 5. European Son
Thank you for posting. Mick Karn is indeed my favorite bass player, a genius. There are just too many great artworks by him. But do not forget that he was more than that. He was a great composer and together with his Japan band members created so many avantgarde masterpeices throughout his and their career until his unfortunate and untimely death.
He's one of my favourite musician's and not just as a bass guitarist. I think his compositions are terribly overlooked. I'd strongly recommend his solo albums "Titles", "Dreams of reason produce monsters", "More better different", "Three part species", "Each eye a path" and "The Concrete twin". The Dalis Car album, "The Waking hour" is a longtime favourite of mine with Peter Murphy of Bauhaus contributing wonderfully on vocals.
You have a lot to investigate.I have loved Japans music for over 40 years.I still am amazed at the incredible progression(more a complete total change) in musical style between their fist album in 1978 & Sylvians first solo album in 1984.If you get a chance to hear those six albums,you will know EXACTLY what I mean.
As a big Japan fan, I'm so pleased to see you cover Mick Karn. Can't pick a single favourite track, but the basslines on 'Methods of Dance' and 'Halloween' are a couple of favourites. He's very much missed.
Mick Karn's bass got me interested in Japan. Without Karn, there is no Japan as far as I'm concerned. Japan's debut album had Karn playing regular bass so he was very capable of standard bass lines.
Interestingly, Mick Karn cited Percy Jones as an influence, and although Mick developed his own voice on the instrument, you can hear that influence in his lines.
@@davidwylde8426it’s very clear that Mick was influenced by Percy Jones especially in terms of his approach to the attack of his notes and use of harmonics and slides. Mick’s note choice seems, to my ears to reflect Turkish folk music (but what do I know?). I still find so much to discover in Mick’s bass playing and song writing. A real once in a lifetime bass player.
As a teenager in the early 80s I was a fan of the band he was a founding member of: Japan. His playing stood out for me it was so unique at the time and was probably the main reason why I liked their music. The news of his passing was soul crushing, although I was aware he had been ill for some time. This video is a fitting tribute to a talented musician sadly little known outside of his realm but much revered as a true pioneer of the fretless bass guitar. May his soul rest easy with the greatest of them all. Amen.
Mick Karn is really the only post Jaco player to have added to the language of the fretless electric. Some of the other basslines I love are JBK's "Ego Dance", Kate Bush "Heads We're Dancing", and his own tracks "Feta Funk" and "Bestial Cluster"
I'd probably add Bakithi Kumalo, Pino Palladino, Tony Franklin and Les Claypool to that list, but even so, Karn still stands out in an immediate and striking way.
PB you’ve had my favorite bass channel for a while. This just blew my head up. I’ve been a big fan of mk since Japan. My favorite album is the one he did with Terry Bozzio and David Torn. Polytown. Thank you so much for featuring him.
Couldn't get to the "like" button fast enough..! Thank you for introducing Mick Karn and his idiosyncratic bass style to (hopefully) a new group of players..!
Saday Maday is also one of my fav if not my favorite bass line from Mick. I would find myself humming that melody at work last summer a lot, great great song.
I`ve always loved Mick Karn`s bass playing. The guy was unbelievable & he played a Wal mostly. Whenever I think of his basslines I think of Vision of China.
THANK YOU SO MUCH PAUL!!! Mick was (and still is) one of my greatest bass heroes and a neverending source of inspiration. The world lost him way too soon. As for my favourite basslines by him - well, all of them are beyond awesome, but if I have to choose, I'll go with two: "Still Life In Mobile Homes" and "Art Of Parties", both from Japan's live albul "Oil On Canvas".
One of my all-time favourite melodically astute and virtuoso bass guitarists. Had the privilege of seeing him live on the Bestial Cluster tour back in the early 1990s. A phenomenal musician sorely missed.
Dude, we need to hang. SO MANY BASSLINES! (Visions... is definitely at the top for me.) Dalis Car - The Judgement Is The Mirror Rain Tree Crow - Pocket Full of Change Japan - Art of Parties You never disappoint, my brother. 🙌🏾🙏🏾
Surprised and gratified to see a piece on Mick! I'm no expert on his work, coming to him mainly from that Dalis Car record, but he is so strong, so fully developed, so individual that just that record is enough to blow your head open. I've played it for some of the best players I know and they were always baffled. His otherworldly whoops, slides, and smears only barely belong to Western tonality. Never mind his snakey funk and time feel. I guess I've always wished he didn't belong to such a glammy, new wavey era and genre, but there is certainly art in limitation. Mick made some of the most outstanding.
I’m so well familiarized with Mick Karn, yet, it never registered with me that for all the years I’ve been listening to Gary Numan, as well as, Japan and Dalis Car, that Mick Karn was the collaborative base player for Gary Numan and now I can recall the obscure baselines!😅He was and still is an idol of mine ❤ as his music lives on! Everything is infinite!❤
I knew that name was familiar! Was just listening to Kate Bush's The Sensual World, and he plays what sounds like an odd tapping groove on "Heads We're Dancing". It's fantastic!
His contributions on Heads were dancing are increadible. I am currently teaching myself this tune, and although the part you are refering to sounds like he is tapping (my initial thoughts too), he is playing his usual finger style but incorperating an open G with those higher register notes. Very cool stuff. I think there are a few bass players featuring on The Sensual World and they all kick arse! Great album!
Many of us including me were huge fans of Japan in the 80,s .As well as the amazing music they created we believed they showed us how to live an alternative lifestyle. The band took a while to find their feet but moved on to produce some excellent music which i still listen to. They also showed me how to live a life less ordinary which i still live today. Thank you for your kind tribute pdbass
I'm very chuffed to see that you mentioned Numan's 'A Subway Called You'. That track is my fave from Numan's 'Dance' album and also one of my fave ever Karn basslines. An amazing collaboration.
I read Mick's autobiography. In the book, he says he can 't read music scores and don't know much about theories. But he created great music and performances. I want to ask you about that. Do you think the lack of such knowledge has some influence on Mick's music? My favorite his bass play is Japan's "My New Career." Thanks for this great post.
That’s my understanding as well. There’s plenty of musicians who don’t read music but very few like Mick who play purely by ear without having much of the grasp of basic music theory.
Great video thanks! Mick Karn deserves to be known. I love his playing, with Japan, Gary Numan and solo :) Hard to find a favorite, but one that comes to mind that I really love is "Weather The Windmill" on Titles.
My favorite of Mick's playing was on the album Polytown with David Torn and Terry Bozzio. The 1st song Honey Sweating is astounding. As I understand it, they improvised that album, overdubbing tracks over what the others played. Another great bass video! I love your channel!
Thank you and...respect brother. Mick is my all time musical hero bar none, the absolute top. For a brief video this did him justice and I am pleased others appreciate him. 'Son of Pioneers' was simple but powerful in good cans or sublime from vinyl on big speakers in a still room. And to be different, the marimba playing on Ghosts still haunts...always will. RIP Mick. Bless up mate.
Thank you for this! He was really into Percy Jones of Brand X fame, another fretless master. Check Mick's basslines on drummer Gavin Harrison's solo albums (the track Aim is unbelievable), and also on the album Liquid Glass, recorded with Yoshihiro Hanno.
Even as someone who isn't much of a musician with a limited formal sonic vocabulary, I really enjoyed this detailed spotlight on Mick's playing. I especially appreciate the mention of organic tone; I always thought there was something immediately mystical about the way the bass seems to slither and wind itself through the tracks on Tin Drum.
Mick Karn and Percy Jones were the preeminent fretless players out of the U.K. in the late 70's/early 80's. As a guitarist and bassist, Jaco, Jones, and Karn (sounds like an ambulance chasing law firm) were major influences on my fretless bass playing - of which I played exclusively on bass gigs at the time.
First heard him on the album Polytown with Terry Bozzio and David Torn. One of my favourite records to this day. Really outstanding musician with a very unique style. Thanks for the video! Subscribed
Oh yes. Totally amazing bass. It talks. It drives. It moves. Oh, and before the days of mind blowing, I will never forget his entrance on stage during the Tin Drum tour.
Loved "After a fashion" with Midge Ure as singer. Mick's family was from Cyprus, a door to the Middle East, and the oriental influences, scales, wavy, groovy, modulated sounds are obvious. Thank you for keeping this unique musician into the light...
I was getting into Japan just before the band was breaking up. Frankly, it was as much the bass as the vocals that drew me in as a teen. I reconnected with the band member’s solo albums about a decade later mostly for my affinity for David Torn’s guitar work. What a wealth to explore. Thank you for spotlighting Mick Karn. His contributions to music are unique and captivating. And +1 to Polytown; they’d have been amazing to see in person.
Bestial Cluster, After a Fashion, When Love Walks In and Buoy are my 4 tops, but usually when listening to any Japan record, for every track I'll say "this bassline is even doper than the previous one!". MK was a unique explorer in search of feeling
I saw him live in my hometown, I think during the tour for "Bestial Cluster". Absolutely amazing! His playing was classy yet ferocious, with his relentless low end growl and those screaming distorted sliding harmonics! Unmistakable! And by the way my favorite Mick's track is probably "The Tooth Mother", go check it out! 😉
Mick Karn is WHY I became a bass player. I bought my first bass circa 1985, a fretless. I upgraded to a 1982 (June) full spec Ibanez Musician in around 1994. I still have it. I learned bass on a fretless, because of Mick.
Ok. I'll start from the top. At around 9:11pm last night, whilst watching unrelated RU-vid, I had the desire for 'Mick Karn Bass Solos' I'm 53, Gen X, 80s child. Yours was the first one and I was surprised by it being 2 months old. You sparked in me a love I haven't felt for so so so long. It's now 5:40am and I've spent a very beautiful night with a dear dear friend. Them being the Band, Japan. Only instead of lying on the floor with my head between two speakers, I have Bluetooth speakers. I was also angrily reminded that I never got my 'Titles' album back or indeed my 'Rain Tree Crow' album that I lent out on the day I bought it. Still angry after 33 years. Mick Karn still lives in all of us.
Great compilation of my biggest influence among base players. My favorite track in Mick Karn’s catalogue would be Ain’t that peculiar from the Gentlemen take Polaroids album.
Thank you for this! It's easy to disappear for days in Mick Karn's music. A couple of my favourites are The Jump, from More Better Different, and Sons of Pioneers - which stands out because, unlike many of his complex masterpieces, he plays simply and sparsely, but creating beautiful space for the rest of the instruments. Well played.
It's impossible for me to pick a favorite bass line from him! Listening back to Japan they were so integral to the songs. Gentlemen Take Polaroids and My New Career are awesome, but they all are! Legend.
Read that Mick Karn's mom was Turkish and listened to middle eastern music which is where he picked up the microtonalities that western listeners perceive as "out of tune" despite Mick having ridiculously accurate intonation. And dude. If you've listened to Polytown then you know Mick Karn and Terry Bozzio make one of the most unique and absurdly powerful rhythm sections in the history of electric music. Thank you for making this video!
God Bless Mick Karn. He was a unique legend!!! One of rare full track live with Mick. Mick Karn with Richard Barbieri, Steve Jansen and Steve Wilson - Sleepers Awake live
I absolutely loved Mick Karns style. I’d hazard a guess that he sounded so unique because I don’t think he could read music and didn’t really grasp (or care for) a lot of music theory- opting instead to feel the music and play what he thought would work, and boy did it! RIP Mick 🙏
Still Life in Mobile Homes. Such a great track, and his unique ability to weave textures with "outside" tones, but also effortlessly lock into a groove in a heartbeat marks him out as a truly great player
Thank you so much for covering Mick Karn. 👍😁 My personal favourites are Methods of dance & swing but there are many gems including his solo albums. Gone but not forgotten.✝️❤👑👍😁 we love you Mick. Ps. He was also a great sculptor. Another string to his bow. Don't know if his son will follow in his dads footsteps.❤
Funny you should post this video. First I have to as I love your channel. Starting about a month ago my girlfriend and I started listening to Japan. It had been years or not decades. Then I started listening to a lot of other projects that Mick Karn was part of. A particular favorite is Liquid Glass with Yoshihiro Hanno. It’s a mix of techno and ambient and I love Karn’s sense of space and the restraint he exhibits. Another fretless player to explore if you haven’t is Percy Jones. His playing on Brian Eno’s Another Green World is stellar.
Oh Mick Karn. That TONE. That swoop, that range. Second only to Jaco Pastorius. And the ‘Karn shuffle’ was actually even more impressive than Jaco’s moonwalk.
Dear Mr Pdbass thank you so much for this wonderful video. Great job analysing the lines and also thanks for the slower versions for us mere mortals. If you like Mick, there is another bass player, Kev Hopper from Stump you should check out. I discovered him because of a letter to Guitarist Magazine describing him as being like Mick on acid. Very best!
Favourite Karn riff? The "da-da-da-UH-OH, baduhbauhwuh" in His Box. Some pretty good runs in The Judgement Is The Mirror, too. Lost Affections In A Room would be a second fave.
Loved Japan since the mid-80s primarily for Karn's bass playing , and didn't consciously realize it until seeing your video. Of course, i loved Sylvian's mournful vocals. They went so well together
Thank you for this. Mick Karn was the reason I removed the frets from my first bass. Being young without financial means some plyers was the way to go in the 80'ies.
Well I must say, I'm slightly disappointed that you only chose to mention five tracks and not ten... which I think he deserved. Anyway, check out the way he plays the double stops in the video clip - totally unique. I was fifteen (early 1980) when I first heard the track & album 'Quiet Life'. I was gripped by the unusual yet fluid & melodic bass playing - a seed was sown and I thank you for that Mr Karn.
