Paul Barker *Appreciation Thread*

Discussion
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I don’t think I have the album artwork here in NYC. It’s probably back at my mom’s house in CT. But it was just a single tray sheet and incredibly dull anyway. I can at least scan the CD itself and upload the tracks.

Do you guys have a good site you would suggest to host as high quality as possible? I’m looking for something as quick as possible because I’ll need to do it from work and I don’t want to be downloading Soulseek or whatever on their computers.

I am interested to see your reactions.

Oh, and also I plan to message Max Brody to get the ok on this. The thing is he hasn’t been getting back to me via Myspace for a good year now (I sent him some stuff in the mail…never heard back) so I don’t know if he’ll even respond. I’ll give him a week. If I don’t hear I’ll upload this.

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Use http://www.sendspace.com

I upload pics and stuff from my phone. I think you can upload mp3 as well

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If you plan on converting it to FLAC or something (woot Lossless [laugh]) probably use Megaupload or Rapidshare… think megaupload has a few hundred megs you can use for free… rapidshare is 100-200mg for free as well. I usually get stuff from the above zipped up in parts if it’s over the delegated amount.

I am not sure, sendspace probably has a big limit too, I’m just not familiar with it.

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Props, void.

Gimme another day, and someone with a digital camera, and I’ll show you all just how much I’ve been appreciating Paul Barker this past week.

114

I’m the opposite, when I started playing bass in my 20s I started to realize that the bass does a lot more by not really being heard than when it is heard. I’m not saying that a bass line that really stands out in a song is bad thing at all. But, take away the bass from songs where you don’t really notice it so much and the song will really become less interesting.

I agree with you. The thing with a lot of bass parts in pop, rock, metal, whatever, is they just stick to the root notes the guitar is playing, and you wouldn’t really notice if it was gone. Good bassists know how to walk around the frets, chuck in a few extra notes here and there, and add something to the song. It’s a strangely subconscious thing… those bass parts make a difference, and if they were gone, you’d notice… but when they are there, they don’t immediately or consciously stick out. They do make all the difference tho.

I generally hate show off bassists, ‘look how many notes I can slap in a second’. Primus and Mr Bungle are the exceptions… but clowns like Vic Wooten, for all their talent, don’t have an ounce of discretion or taste in their bodies.

The only show off bassist who could ever get away with it was Jaco Pastorius. Check out ‘Portrait of Tracy’ to see what I mean. I had never heard the bass played like that, or that beautifully, up until then.

But anyway, I always thought that the bass lines in a lot of Ministry songs were repetitive and monotonous, so to speak. That is not a bad thing, but it always seems like it would be difficult to keep playing that over and over for 5 or 6 minutes. I guess after years of doing it, it’s no big deal, but I played bass for awhile and my fingers would start doing their own thing after awhile of something like that. So, I give Barker props for being able to do that. Doesn’t make him a musical genius or anything but it is something I could never do so it is what it is.

Strangely, all the basslines he used for Ministry and RevCo, and I mean, EVERY one was oddly hypnotic. I remember listening to No Devotion with my sister in the car and she goes ‘It goes on a bit, but… you want more of it, it’s sort of mesmerising’. She hit the nail on the head with that one.

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I agree about the “No Devotion” bassline though Paul actually didn’t write that one.

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My favorite Paul bassline is Stainless Steel Providers.
Just two notes, but it grooves like a motherfucker.

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My favorite Paul bassline is Stainless Steel Providers.
Just two notes, but it grooves like a motherfucker.

+1

Also like the bass on NWO which is best heard at the start. Again limited notes but it sounds great.

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yeah most of ministry/revco basslines are like that. one of most “note-rich” one is probably “Step”. they are groovy, yes. but alas they become boring to play very quickly.

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they’re not so boring, though, if you’re high out of yer mind on something… and given ministry’s reputation… [laugh]

step is fucking great! when i was yung and stoopid, i used to think Paul wasn’t much of a bassist (which was really dumb, because you get older and realise how a lot musicians are actually holding back and doing tricky complex shit usually doesn’t mean/prove anything). then i heard step, and thought he was a gun… and the bass in the unreleased/extended version of step is even better, rips into a full on bass solo towards the end…

kinda wish i heard more of that side of ministry… [:)]

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Even though it’s by no means my favorite song in the man’s catalogue, my favorite Barker bassline is “Sergio.” Talk about hypnotic, funky, and devastating. This is Paul to me. Repetitive? Yes. Generic? No way in hell. Tasty as fuck? Yes, ma’am, may I have another.