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The low-end expertise
The Bass Player magazine reprints online a 2010 vintage interview with Glenn Hughes conducted in the wake of the first Black Country Communion album.
How did Black Country Communion come together?
Joe was a fan of my work with Trapeze. We’d been hanging out, secretively making music, knowing that one day we’d do something. Then Kevin Shirley saw us play together at the House of Blues for a Guitar Center event and suggested we get a full band together.
He recommended Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian, and so the next day we got them on the phone and agreed to meet for an exploratory session. When we got into Kevin’s studio, we crossed our fingers and counted the beat off. Four sessions later, we had an album.
Continue reading in Bass Player.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
“I’m a natural bass player – an old school, groove player, but I’m underrated because people always talk about the voice, as they might with Paul McCartney or Sting. We’re in the same category; we’re all good bass players who happen to sing well.”
You know what always strikes me? I can’t remember a single gig or album review from the 70s or 80s where ANYBODY said about Glenn: “He is a shit-hot bass player.” It drove me nuts. I know that no one listens to the bass and that DP’s sonics are dominated by the trio Blackmore, Lord & Paice, but all you ever read about him was his good looks, flamboyance, piercingly high vocals and drug consumption. It was like he played no instrument at all.
Even Roger had more of a reputation as a bass player, he had that “I’m the cool guy in DP and hold everything together”-image. Gary Thain was lauded (rightfully so) for his melodic and harmonic work in Uriah Heep though he hardly ever wrote something with them. Even Phil Lynott – hardly a natural talent on bass though he improved greatly over time – had more of a bass players’ reputation than Glenn.
Same thing in Purple fanzines and fora, it took ages until people were willing to give him credit (I have taken the cross upon me to change all that forever!). What is it with you guys and – let’s be inclusive – more recently one girl, didn’t you see and hear him play? He was certainly no shrinking violet on bass, justify yourself! He’s all over Made in Europe and Last Concert in Japan!!!
Rant over. Regarding Trapeze, I unfortunately never got to see them. I’m not even sure they ever toured in Germany, very much a band concentrating on the US and UK circuits. The best Trapeze material live rendition I ever saw was when Doug Aldrich was in Glenn’s band, he had – much to my surprise – a real feel for that Mel Galley stuff.
https://youtu.be/NjREMNYlPu8
That was some riveting hard funk rock, best Hughesy gig I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to a couple of good ones.
My favorite Trapeze tracks are these two though:
https://youtu.be/QMJCVb3LlSU
https://youtu.be/Svqr_1HEKIY
In 1972, that was astounding stuff. ALL HAIL GLENN !!!
That means you too, Gregster, give him some credit as a bass player. 🤣
September 29th, 2024 at 23:42He might be a good bass player, but as soon as he opens his mouth to scream (or what it is he’s doing), I’m off.
September 30th, 2024 at 05:46@ 1 – I don’t have to justify myself Uwe as I have always noted Glenn Hughes bass prowess & how much more interesting it was in DP. Surely I am not the only one though. Cheers.
September 30th, 2024 at 06:38You’re a good little drummer then, sit! 😀
September 30th, 2024 at 08:13But there is no screaming on either Burn, Stormbringer or Come Taste The Band, janbl? So how could anything he did vocally on those albums have put you off?
September 30th, 2024 at 08:33The man at work:
Bopping over the beat with Lady Doubledealer …
https://youtu.be/WRbT5j9OYjw
And funking on Drifter …
https://youtu.be/lDXp9OCeZYQ
With the exception of perhaps Paul Martinez of PAL, no bassist developed as intricate and lively a micro-groove with Paicey as Glenn.
September 30th, 2024 at 09:49Yo,
@2…Amen…
@1…
Herr Uwe, GH is & likely remains his own worst enemy…What you state as “GH addendum” is what far overshadows any positive input.
‘Nuff said…”Where’s the sunset” ?…
Adonai vasu.
September 30th, 2024 at 11:11Uwe, they did not (put me off). I was a great fan then (mostly because I was a big fan of Ritchie (again then)) and have listned to Burn and Stormbringer until my pickup was worn down (or something).
The first concert with Mk III was also my first concert so they sure was special to me.
Later I have tried to like him but could not get into it. The same with DC and Whitesnake.
September 30th, 2024 at 11:21Rainbow was the band I followed until I got bored of JLT.
Then Purple started again and I was happy, and still is.
Uwe @1, I concur 100%. Glenn’s bass playing is fantastic – a perfect example is the groove he creates on “You Fool No One” on the Made in Europe album. But per usual, the Purples are usually neglected in the fanzines and various hype pieces in the rock press.
September 30th, 2024 at 11:23I’m not arguing that Mk III was better than Mk II – it wasn’t. Mk III was a mighty fine blues and funk infused rock band featuring Blackmore, Lord and Paice with some great playing. Mk II featuring Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice was Deep Purple in its truest form. That is where the difference lies.
September 30th, 2024 at 13:20personally…That guy (GH) is the most irritating man in Rock&roll world history.. Not only when he screams onstage but when he opens his mouth to speak…about himself ..of course… there ought to be a law against him coming around.
September 30th, 2024 at 14:58Cheers!!
One thing in advance, I am a self-confessed MKIII and MKIV supporter and I would like to share why. MKII had its climax with “MIJ” and Ritchie had recognized this well. His statement that Big Ian lost his voice in 1973 was quite harsh, but he wasn’t completely wrong. WDYTWA was rather sobering. With Burn, the old fire was back and the combination of the singers DC and GH were the ignition for me. GH was a better fit for Little Ian for me and when I listen to the groove on “Made in Europe” and even on the live performances of the MKIV line-up, it was an increase in the interplay of bass and drums. GH is therefore the best bass player in Purple for me. With Tommy Bolin, another beautiful singing voice was added (Wild Dogs’ “Last Concert in Japan”) and I loved this variety. I would have liked to have wished for an MKIII reunion as long as it was still possible.
September 30th, 2024 at 15:18character who has become embarrassing (but perhaps he has no grandchildren so he doesn’t care about his look). I loved him until the album with J.Norun and The7th Star, then he started screaming with 50 thousand groups and it tired me..
September 30th, 2024 at 16:06The proof that’s he is a great bass player is that Joe Satriani called him to record What Happens Next.
September 30th, 2024 at 17:13Yeah, Andrés, but stuff like that is conveniently ignored here … Joe WHO let him play on an album?! 😆
In one of his Drumtribe podcasts, Little Ian once allocated the shares of his interplay with Roger at 60:40 in the drummer’s favor, meaning that Roger is fine with being led, adding: “With Glenn it was more 50:50, because he would play all these notes.” (If you actually count the mere number of tonal signals, then Glenn played LESS than Roger does with his steady bass carpet. Glenn leaves more space, but in those spaces he sometimes plays surprising, attention-attracting fills coming out of nowhere. I believe Roger’s bass backing to both Burn and Lady Double Dealer would have been denser – = more notes – than what Glenn played. And Glenn would have actually played less than what Roger played on Highway Star.)
Another way of putting it is that Roger provides (and has always provided) this rhythm bed for Little Ian to basically do what he likes on top (Paicey being a sympathetic drummer to bassists, he still doesn’t simply play over them like the here in some quarters always popular Cozy Powell did). With Glenn OTOH, Little Ian conducted this animated musical discussion back and forth, there was a lot going on between them and sometimes their drumming and bass playing even rubbed against each other a little, but it was always EXCITING! Mind you, Roger is the more accurate bassist, Glenn has that gifted, yet slightly sloppy groove thing going, but he regularly did things that would inspire Little Ian or lead him down different alleys. I honestly don’t believe that Paicey’s drumming would have peaked the way it did between Mk III and PAL (Paul Martinez had a similar style to Glenn though less ‘dirty’) if Glenn hadn’t been there playing bass the way he does. His bass playing made an already brilliant English drummer sound a bit more American, it was the best of both worlds then.
Taking away Glenn’s co-lead vocals, backing vocals + his songwriting contribution to Mk III and IV, that bass inspiration he fed to Paicey is his crowning achievement with DP. He once even said so himself in one of his interviews where he was not just talking about himself as he often does.
September 30th, 2024 at 22:49Hey Uwe his screaming back in the 70’s could get on the nerves.Dont forget Coverdale balalced that singing especially Live where Glenn could ruin the song with his wailing and high pitched indulgences
Talking about the last BCC I was very dissapointed and didnt bother.the weakest by far
October 4th, 2024 at 00:25I think the amount of screaming is being blown out of proportion in hindsight. Yes, Glenn overdid it, but it was mostly between the rendition of “real” songs, in jams connecting songs, impromptu improvisations – when performing tracks off Burn, Stormbringer or CTTB, he stayed mostly disciplined.
I doubt that if you put all of Glenn’s screams from one gig together, their aggregate duration would surpass that of Ritchie’s guitar destruction orgies or of Jon making weird noises with his synth at the same gig, yet those two never get the stick Glenn does even though their self-indulgence was similar – my God it was the 70ies and DP were a stadium and arena act with a set designed to overwhelm the masses!
Also, the screaming thing should not obscure his bass playing capabilities nor his awesome technique as a singer. It’s no coincidence that Glenn has been invited to provide backing (and often enough lead or guide ) vocals on a myriad AOR, hair metal, heavy metal and other rock albums. That is not the kind of opportunities you have if you don’t have your shit together, nobody wants to waste time on getting a backing vocal track right.
I don’t think that BCC is the best thing (or among of the best things) Glenn has ever done. I’m still in two minds whether I didn’t like his work with The Dead Daisies better, inter alia because it was interesting to hear Glenn play with a dedicated rhythm guitarist like David Lowy for the first time in his whole career. But to me the real Glenn is the one you hear on the Trapeze albums, on Play Me Out, Hughes Thrall, Feel and perhaps First Underground Nuclear Kitchen. He’s best when he does what he loves in an unadulterated fashion.
October 4th, 2024 at 12:37Here, someone has taken the time and effort to compile just some of Glenn’s many vocal contributions over the years.
https://destroyerofharmony.com/tag/when-love-finds-a-fool/
With the exception of Ritchie in his long-past session days with Joe Meek and perhaps Don Airey, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another Purple member that has been so much in demand by other people. Here at the HS, however, that somehow doesn’t seem to count at all, all those other musicians must be wrong or have something with their ears. Instead Glenn will forever be measured by a couple of coke-induced yelps he did in his early 20ies in the frenzy of live performances. 😂
October 4th, 2024 at 12:51Honorary mention: Joe Lynn Turner did a lot of sessions too, like Glenn he’s a very accurate singer.
I saw the Hughes Turner Project live. For all the derision their behavior sometimes rightfully warrants, put together the two were a vocal force to be reckoned with, their joint harmonies were soaring if that kind of AOR music is your thing. No backing tapes either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4HGc1wlJsM
October 4th, 2024 at 15:23Uwe @18, I agree wholeheartedly. To judge Glenn Hughes on his behaviour at the tender age of 22 & 23 back in the Mark III & IV days; versus all his musical output in the intervening years since, seems quite unfair. Fifty years later and looking over the vast catalogue of work Glenn has done since then – well it seems to me, he has more than redeemed himself. An immensely talented bassist, singer and songwriter, to this day.
Looking at the people who Hughes has collaborated with since the 80’s is a veritable who’s who of the guitar world: Pat Thrall, Gary Moore, Tony Iommi, John Norum, George Lynch, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani and several other top notch players. He has also sung for or collaborated with Pat Travers, Keith Emerson, Geoff Downes, and numerous other notable musicians. He’s obviously on a lot of people’s rolodexes.
Seems to me that all represents quite a ringing endorsement of Glenn Hughes’ musical prowess. But I guess his peers must really all be mistaken. Because somehow, Glenn’s occasional, over-exuberant vocal expression back in mid-70’s Purple actually still negates anything positive he has done since then. Or so one might think if one believes a lot of what one reads in various forums. Not a whole lotta love in the room for poor Glenn it seems, except for a few of us connoisseurs who keep his freak-flag flying. 😁
October 4th, 2024 at 20:29If you think about it, then Glenn’s oversinging wasn’t that much different from what Steve Marriott did with Humble Pie, that wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV0uV2XyIHw&list=PLahfy68IzuA2rVdW18WS9dcN0HEUx0cNc&index=3
(The guy in denim to the right playing the black Les Paul almost became Ritchie’s successor in DP!)
Glenn loved Steve Marriott and Humble Pie. Trapeze’s early 70ies stage act – overextended versions of their studio recordings with lots of jamming & improvisation – owed a lot to the Humble Pie recipe which was extremely successful in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTIXIGnfums
A very innocent teenage Glenn with the original Trapeze line-up (still a five-piece) provides audible telltale backing vocals and chips in the lead for the third verse at 02:04 in Wolverhampton in 1969.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYIBO1nLKi4
Trapeze when they were still very Moody Blues’ish, très cute:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8UhtQ56j0
October 11th, 2024 at 03:30Glenn is still a little upset.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9g8p0PK6nc
October 18th, 2024 at 18:01