Poll: Who Do You Think Played The Bass Guitar On The Doors 'Light My Fire'

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by porpoise mouth, Nov 16, 2015.

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  1. segue

    segue Psychoacoustic Member

    Location:
    Hawai'i
    Notable that in the documentary "The Wrecking Crew," "Light My Fire" bass seems to be credited to Carol Kaye, as pictured here from the movie.
    [​IMG]

    ??
     
  2. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Carol takes credit for lots of things she didn't actually do.
     
  3. segue

    segue Psychoacoustic Member

    Location:
    Hawai'i
    One could reasonably assume a documentary maker, especially one aligned with the recording business as in this case, would do fact-checking before releasing a major documentary.
    That "Light My Fire" photo doesn't appear to be a legit picture sleeve.
     
  4. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    Duh! Off course there was bass played on light my fire. What was missing was organ, guitar, drums and vocals!
     
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  5. segue

    segue Psychoacoustic Member

    Location:
    Hawai'i

    just re-visited Soft Parade vinyl...still sounds pretty awesome!
    *bass by Harvey Brooks and Doug Lubahn
     
    Myke likes this.
  6. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    i say "no bass", but can't remember well. although i was able to go to some of their rehearsals in venice before they were even signed to elektra and paul began producing them. sunset sound is where the first stuff was cut. strange days too, as i recall? and certainly waiting for the sun.

    my pop also got ray the vox continental as part of the initial "demo" deal in 65 when he signed them to columbia. trivia, but it did help to significantly "shape" their sound i'd say lol.

    i still say "no bass" on "light my fire". all ray, but hey. i'm only "marching" on the "unknown solider", so what do i know... ha
     
    DTK, JuanTCB and john lennonist like this.
  7. teag

    teag Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
    It just had to be Paul......

    :laugh:
     
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  8. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    ha. i never once saw paul touch an instrument. really. he did however have the very first sony home movie betacam or whatever it was called in 67? and playboy centerfolds for girlfriends. he was my mentor. :)
     
  9. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I'm going with Larry K...
     
  10. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    -has- LOL...
     
  11. John DeAngelis

    John DeAngelis Senior Member

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I just wanted to mention Kerry Magness, who played electric bass on "The Unknown Soldier". Before that Kerry was a member of the Kingsmen.
     
    steviebee likes this.
  12. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    im with a couple of the guys on that track "marching" on a slab of plywood paul setup. was at sunset sound. HA!
     
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  13. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Catherwood.
     
  14. Jon H.

    Jon H. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC USA
    Oh my. Misinformation, conjecture, humor, and a lack of perception to detect Fender Bass with flat wound strings vs. Ray's piano bass abounds here!

    Frustrating thread. I believe it's the great Larry Knechtel here on Light My Fire, as there exists a photograph of him that I assumed dated from this session exists out there. The idea of bass players "following" Ray's piano bass continued from the debut album, as this was an approach the band had to suggest for live performances, but each bass player that played in the studio with the Doors had a distinct sound. Larry seems to be playing a Fender P-bass (pictured in the photo) with a pick, but doesn't have as much of a "clacky" pick attack as Carol, who seems to remember playing on more sessions (in general!) than she is actually on. Is Carol on "20th Century Fox"? That "clack" sounds like her...

    And Douglas Lubahn didn't join the team until the Strange Days album. He seems to have used one of those Ampeg fretless "scroll" basses that were fretless - I think that several songs on Strange Days (including the title track) exemplify a fretless sound...

    Anyway, Mr. Hoffman and of course Mr. Botnick know more than us. I'd love to know for sure, as I regard the Doors' output highly and enjoy the bass playing on the recordings DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF A BASS PLAYER IN THE BAND.

    Sorry - I play bass and don't like the underestimated role of the instrument. :)

    Carry on folks.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2019
  15. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    I suspect Keyboard Bass aka Kee Bass was played. I remember the Doors being users of this approach. I could be wrong. I also know it was almost impossible to record well. So, suspect a session bass player was called in to augment (fill in) the bass line for the purposes of recording.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2019
  16. Jon H.

    Jon H. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC USA
    To clarify: Ray is on Fender piano bass on Light My Fire, with an additional 4-string Fender P-bass with flat wound strings additionally added to the track. Listen to the separate left and right channels to be sure!

    I've been listening to different channels since the '60's - wide stereo and all of that. Great way to detect isolated instruments before today's isolated tracks.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2019
  17. revolution_vanderbilt

    revolution_vanderbilt Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    And in this instance, we have the isolated tracks available thanks to Rock Band or Guitar Hero. That definitely confirms the presence of a bass (on a track with some light accompaniment on acoustic guitar.) The fact that there is some guitar presumably played by Robby then makes it pretty clear that whoever is playing the bass must be a known associate, rather than Kaye.
     
    Jon H. likes this.
  18. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Phil Collins?
     
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  19. jwjeffrey

    jwjeffrey Hard working and Honest!

    The late great Chuck Rainey played on the majority of Rascals stuff,other Bass Players included Gerry Germont,Richard Davis but mainly Chuck.When they play live Felix use his Bass Pedals
     
    Hamhead likes this.
  20. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    entirely plausible. also not buying the "kaye" participation angle. basics would've been ray alone. of that i'm *nearly* certain. not a lot of overdubs back then, and i cannot recall whether or not sunset sound had yet ( 66? ) been upgraded from 4 trk to 8 track console. i'd love to be able to iso that stuff, to know what you're hearing.
     
  21. Hamhead

    Hamhead The Bear From Delaware

    It's hard to believe someone who claims to played bass on Detroit Motown tracks like "Reach Out" and "I Was Made To Love Her" when everyone knows it's James Jamerson.
    I respect her and but playing but she's pulling a Bernard Purdie taking credit for someone else's work.

    True story
    Richard "Pistol" Allen (Motown drummer) came into the store several times time to consign 45 singles he was producing in Homestead..
    We were talking about Motown sessions and who played on what and what was used during the sessions down to the Heinz 57 drum set then the subject of Carol Kaye popped up, one of my co-workers pulled out a issue of Guitar Player with a add for Carol Kaye and her books that mentions her playing on "I Was Made To Love Her", ''Baby Love'', "Reach Out" and 'You Can't Hurry Love''. He laughed hard and said "if a white woman were to walk into Hitsville with a guitar case, she would have been laughed out of the building" and mentioned that it was probably late 60's tracks that were cut in the west coast that she played on. After that, I couldn't take her seriously.
    Vinnie Bell claims he played the guitar on "Happy Together" but we all know it was Turtles guitarist Al Nichols who played the part.
    I'm guessing that session guys are like piranhas when it comes to taking credits for songs.
     
  22. Hamhead

    Hamhead The Bear From Delaware

    The first album that was recorded in the fall of 1966 was all 4-track.
    From Strange Days to L.A. Woman it was 8-track.
     
    rkt88 likes this.
  23. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    that would be my "best" guess. i was there for *some* of it. paul was my next door neighbor and let me hang around a lot. he actually put me on a track. i was wearing boots. still am.
     
  24. mando_dan

    mando_dan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Beverly, MA
    Roger Waters.
     
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  25. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    She also claims to play on "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis, when session documents and eyewitness testimony clearly establish it's Mike Leech.

    It's understandable someone who played on a lot of sessions might get confused or have errors/lapses in memory. But what's disappointing about her is that when her false claims are corrected she gets huffy/outraged and doubles down on them. Session musicians don't get the credit they deserve to begin with, and taking false credit from those who really deserve it screws her fellow musicians.
     
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