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Post subject: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 10:00 am
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I was just listening to "Sultans of Swing"--this time paying attention to the bass.

Man, that is some good bass playing.

I had a hard time finding out any information of John Illsley's bass, but I found a circa 79 photo of him playiing a Jazz Bass.

I don't know that he plays it on that Dire Straits album, but the dude is a seriously good bassist who plays for the song.


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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:53 pm
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I like Dire Straits. Walk of Life is one of my favorite songs...it just makes you feel good. Sultans of Swing, of course, is good too. A one, two punch.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 6:58 pm
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If you watch the official video from the song, you'll notice that John used a Precision.



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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 7:14 pm
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Walk of life is a good one,... but there's so many good Dire Straits songs like Tunnel of Love, Brothers in arms, Lady writer,
Romeo & Juliet, Telegraph Road, Love over gold, Private investigations, Ride Across the River, Your latest Trick, On every street, Calling Elvis, Heavy Fuel........there's so many.. :)
& they're timeless.


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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 7:31 pm
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Sultans of Swing remains a DS classic even after the band's split in 1996.

This song has strong Dylanesque influences! :P


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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 7:49 pm
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chromeface wrote:
Sultans of Swing remains a DS classic even after the band's split in 1996.

This song has strong Dylanesque influences! :P


I find Dylaneque influences in many Dire Straits songs,....I love Mark Knopflers slow hand Clapton/ Dave Gilmour-esque leads...


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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:44 am
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Is not at all unusual to record with a passive P-Bass but use a Jazz or something else live such as an active. Happens a lot.

Many of the bass parts on Jimi Hendrix studio tracks were cut using a first generation P-Bass with single coil pickup or a Hagstrom or an Ampeg Scroll. Yet you never saw anyone using one of those live with him.

People also think that a Fender Stratocaster was the only guitar Hendrix used and that Noel Redding always played a Fender Jazz. Wrong and wrong.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 12:08 am
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That song brings back good memories of a wonderful performance of that song that I was part of.
That song brought me my first fans.

On the downside--that may have been my peak in that way (at 18)--although I play much better now.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 7:55 am
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Quote:
People also think that a Fender Stratocaster was the only guitar Hendrix used and that Noel Redding always played a Fender Jazz. Wrong and wrong.


+1

Jimi's arsenal was not limited to Strats.

He used a variety of other guitars throughout the years, including Gibsons.

Image

This is the same case for Eric Clapton.

Though a Strat guy since late 1969, he also uses other electrics.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 6:38 pm
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You know, I actually thought about asking on the forum about anyone was a fan of Mark Knopfler and/or Dire Straights. I've never seen them mentioned on here previously. Dire Straights album "Brothers In Arms" was the very first album (well technically a cassette :P ) that I ever bought with my own money, or maybe the first one altogether, come to think about it. It was that riff to "Money For Nothing" that sucked me in when I first heard it and then I loved the whole album. For a 14 year old with no musical aspirations yet, it was probably a catalyst to becoming a musician a couple of years later. I think my older sister might have had one of their older albums (sorry brain fart on the name and I'm too lazy to look it up :P ) on 8-track, of all things. I remember seeing that in her collection when she had those waaay back in the day.

That reminds me, being a child from the 70's and having older siblings (my oldest sister is going to be 60 next year,) I've actually heard Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" on all the formats. Vinyl, cassette, 8-track, CD, and MP3. I can't think of any other album I have.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:10 pm
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A whole lot of material here.

First of all, my first 45 was Blame it on the Bossa Nova...and I bet you have no clue who recorded that. And even if I told you, I bet you still wouldn't know. Bottom line? I am getting very old. A 45 was a record that had one song per side.....I hate this. There was also reel to reel tape recording and, eventually, the magnificent 8 track tape. I still hate this. Then a cassette. Okay, now that I have totally humiliated myself....

Dark Side of the Moon is the best PF album ever. Not my opinion, the opinion of PF. A few weeks ago I watched "the making of" classic album on Netflix. Every member said that was their best effort. When I was younger, I was a fan of Atom Heart Mother...maybe being from Wisconsin it was just the cow cover. So I downloaded Dark Side again......fantastic.

But we started with DS. That, to me, is real stuff. There are few others that get there, The Traveling Wilbury's get there. Music, just for the sake of music. Not sure how to explain it. I love a whole lot of music, but some just strikes me as simple and understandable.

Okay....my ramble is over.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:12 pm
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PS. The Band was also there.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:33 am
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I love super twangy Fenders! The Ventures & Surf stuff from the early 60's. Buck Owens Bakersfield sound, and modern day Derailers. Chris Isaak. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders is super Fender twangy too. And of course Glen Campbell's super twangy Fender Bass VI lead line on Wichita Lineman is a classic.

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:25 am
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affprod wrote:
A whole lot of material here.

First of all, my first 45 was Blame it on the Bossa Nova...and I bet you have no clue who recorded that. And even if I told you, I bet you still wouldn't know. Bottom line? I am getting very old. A 45 was a record that had one song per side.....I hate this. There was also reel to reel tape recording and, eventually, the magnificent 8 track tape. I still hate this. Then a cassette. Okay, now that I have totally humiliated myself....

Dark Side of the Moon is the best PF album ever. Not my opinion, the opinion of PF. A few weeks ago I watched "the making of" classic album on Netflix. Every member said that was their best effort. When I was younger, I was a fan of Atom Heart Mother...maybe being from Wisconsin it was just the cow cover. So I downloaded Dark Side again......fantastic.

But we started with DS. That, to me, is real stuff. There are few others that get there, The Traveling Wilbury's get there. Music, just for the sake of music. Not sure how to explain it. I love a whole lot of music, but some just strikes me as simple and understandable.

Okay....my ramble is over.


I think I've heard that song. It does sound familiar to me. It did come out 8 years before I was born, so I'm not that young anymore, either. :P I remember 45s and had a couple. I'm not sure if they still make them along with new vinyl these days, though. I remember the reel to reel tapes, although I don't think anyone in my family had those. They had vinyl, mostly. Speaking of which, I inherited a bunch of odds and ends from a combination of my grandparents, parents, and siblings.

Unlike a lot of people my age group, my parents were a lot older and weren't of the 60's generation. In fact, my oldest sister (who's going to be 60) has a son that's only a year and a half younger than me. My Dad was 40 and my Mom was 38 when I was born in 1971. My Mom's Grandparents were born in 1897 and 1905 and immigrated from Russia (actually escaped the country to get away from the Stalin regime for a very good reason) around 1926 or so. Because of this, I grew up in a different environment than probably most people my age group. It's kind of like being raised by your grandparents and great grandparents instead of parents and grandparents, in a way.

So, I had all kinds of stuff from at least the 40's through the 70's. A bunch of Russian 78 RPM and later 33 1/3 RPM records from the 40's; some Mondo stuff like Doris Day and Sonny James (also my grandparents stuff;) Jazz and Country records from my parents (like Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Cannonball Adderly, some weird record with people playing bongos and screaming, cowboy western type music, etc.) mostly from the 60's, maybe late 50's; and various rock, blues, and soul stuff from my siblings, also from the 60's and 70's. I even had a couple of comedy records from Monty Python live, the original cast of Saturday Night Live, and this one called "National Lampoon's White Album."

Sadly, I no longer have any of it, although there's a chance some of it might still be around at one of my sister's house, where I once lived in Florida. If I can get down there I should try and look. I know I still have some books and comic books there from when I was a kid.

Speaking of Pink Floyd, I think my favourite thing by them is the "Live At Pompeii" film. I have that on DVD with all the extra footage. It shows them in the studio making "Dark Side Of The Moon," too. It's one of those things you can just sit back and space out to. My second favourite thing is their first album with Syd. One of my favourite all-time videos is "Arnold Layne."

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Post subject: Re: John Illsley and Sultans of Swing
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:24 am
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