The Bass Remains the Same

Martin Simpson

by Kai Horsthemke

Martin Simpson, prior to becoming the prime mover and shaper behind the South African Bass Collective, produced and self-financed several albums, each of which contains some duds but also some truly enjoyable cuts. This particular CD is no exception: it is not so much an ‘album’ as it is a set of variations on a theme. The limitation of the project is acknowledged by Martin in his informative liner notes: little variation in the bass and drum departments. Indeed, the CD could have done with judicious editing – in terms of jettisoning four of the tracks, to be precise, and additional work on two others. Martin’s image of the identical housing estate flats is a superb illustration. But why did this not translate into any of the tune titles and, especially, into the cover artwork? Instead, we get rather corny titles and overblown graphics that bear little relation to the notes or the album content.

Just Jazz, the first track, is not jazz, by any definition. It veers towards progressive rock, featuring Dave Sharp on a variety of keyboards. My criticism here would be that Dave doesn’t quite adhere to the harmonic progressions suggested by Martin’s bass. Or is it the bass that plays minor-thirds and flattened-sevenths against plain major chords? A similar criticism concerns Blow by Blow, featuring Annerine Tomlinson on flute, with strings by John Paul Destefani. No such quibbles pertain to Keys to Ascension, although by this time the listener’s patience with Andy Thomas’s relentlessly unvarying drum tempo and patterns is severely stretched. Martin is also responsible for the happening keyboard parts on this, in itself the most successful variation thus far. Almost Unplugged is a great cut that features Mauritz Lotz on acoustic and slide guitars. A half-tempo rhythm section track would have lifted this piece even higher. Hamm(ond)ing it up, with Dave on organ, again, is harmonically unsound, apart from being a rehash of stuff we’ve heard before on this CD, namely the prog moves on track 1. Sax Appeal, frankly, is dreadful: not only harmonically dodgy (John Paul and Martin are in different chordal realms here), but Heinz Schrader’s well-intentioned sax is slightly out of tune. Worth skipping. Bass to Bass is the only bass feature here, a piece that – to these ears – would have worked better without the drum track. Martin’s 4- and 5-string excursions are enjoyable and rhythmically strong enough to anchor the piece. Mauritz is featured again on Axe Attack, this time on electric guitars. No problems here – a good prog track.

My suggestion, then, would be to take tracks 3, 4, 7 and 8, to record a new rhythm section track for 4, to lose the drums on 7 entirely, and to put these on an album with the gems from Martin’s other recordings, i.e. Space Rock (with real drums and without Judy Marshall’s perfunctory interjections), The Quarterican (or The Quinterican, for that matter), Get Lost (again, without Judy’s voice) and Orbit – and Mart would have a great prog rock album.

Kai Horsthemke/ May 2006