Michael Anthony, "the other guy"

[Panamark]

Or a Spammy shaped Bass. (To symbolize his love)
Fuck, are there enough forests left to make such an item ??

[Bob_R]

Michael Anthony is an accessory. It's nice to have but you don't really need it.

[ZahZoo]

Originally posted by Terry
MA has slung just as much shit Dave's way as the Van Halens, but you don't hear about it because he doesn't do as many interviews.

Still hard to imagine classic Van Halen without him, though.

I don't know about that... he talks pretty highly of the good times with Dave back in the days, in person. Seemed to me he didn't harbor any hard feelings toward Dave at all.

[Terry]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
I don't know about that... he talks pretty highly of the good times with Dave back in the days, in person. Seemed to me he didn't harbor any hard feelings toward Dave at all.

Read a few interviews with him in 1996 after the reunion fiasco where he was parroting the Van Halen bros line of Dave being washed up, etc.

Was interested to read some of the other posts about Ed playing bass on Fair Warning. Not that I don't think it's possible, but are these just guesses, or are they verifiable?

[Terry]

Originally posted by EVH FANATIC
Michael Anthony is an accessory. It's nice to have but you don't really need it.

Nail on the head, EVH. Nail on the head.

[DavidLeeNatra]

MA is that kind of guy you can piss in his beer and he will take a deep sip and when he realizes what he is drinking he will laugh loudest just to be among the cool guys...if I should have been replaced that often in the band I built with, I'd tell the lying dutchmen who don't pay him ANY respect at all to blow each other and leave after kicking their asses through their fucking studio...seems not to have the strongest backbone...

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by ZahZoo
I don't know about that... he talks pretty highly of the good times with Dave back in the days, in person. Seemed to me he didn't harbor any hard feelings toward Dave at all.

watch the early years dvd.....fuck ma and his effect-drowned solos.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by Terry
Read a few interviews with him in 1996 after the reunion fiasco where he was parroting the Van Halen bros line of Dave being washed up, etc.

Was interested to read some of the other posts about Ed playing bass on Fair Warning. Not that I don't think it's possible, but are these just guesses, or are they verifiable?

No proof of it besides listening to the bass on the album.

It's been documented that Ed went to the studio at night (sometimes all night) when that album was being recorded.

Did he lay down the bass tracks?

I personally think he did. When I think of Michael Anthony and his abilty on the bass guitar, I think of "Runnin' With The Devil."

The tempo and fluidity (if that's a word) of some of the basslines on that album were done by someone who knows music and tapping well.

DLR7884
The first guy that comes to mind for me, and others is EVH.

[Cathedral]

Thats all bullshit, Mike played the Bass on the early stuff. It wasn't until Balance when Ed started laying down Bass Tracks.
I have a Guitar Player Interview where all this stuff originated from.

Ed's first stab at playing Bass on a commercially released album was for Spammy's Give to Live Bullshit when they recorded that song for Over The Top starring Sly Stallone.

Those nights Edward was sneaking into the studio was at Ted's request since Alex, Mike and Dave were not real happy with Ed's initial solo tracks. Him and Ted would go to the studio and replace the tracks so when the rest of the band showed up the next day they would think they were the same tracks but had grown on them overnight.

besides, any Bass Player with any pride to his job wouldn't take that shit from anyone. Ed may have influenced the style and progression but Mike did in fact play his own parts....Only to get buried in the mix before releasing the cuts.

[Cathedral]

As a side note....Do you all notice that the first 6 albums have alot of solo overbuds in them?

That is one reason why things didn't always transfer to the live stage perfectly.
The main reason his chops were so polished from 5150 on was because the solo tracks were basically recorded live and straighforward.
He did go back and add little things to fatten up the tracks but not to the extent that Ted took it...

Just an FYI for y'all...

[DLR7884]

So why does the style of playing differ so much on FW compared to other albums?

DLR7884
The rest of the band sounds pretty much the same.

[Cathedral]

I realy don't notice a difference in style as much as a difference in gear and production quality.

In my opinion, Ed doesn't even sound the same on each consecutive album.
Which is why i like the first album best of all for it's out there haywire, on the edge of feedback freestyle whaling.

Ed's sound, hell the whole bands sound is sort of an example of musical evolution through the first 6 albums....

When i played Bass in a band that was fronted by a virtuoso very similar to Ed's. I was always being dictated to on how to play certain parts.
The things you are noticing could simply be that Mike was at one point given creative license to design his own parts without much dictation.

I mean if Ed is the one who came up with the Bass lines and relayed to Mike what he should do it stands to reason that his playing would sound Edddie-esque in nature, lol...

[ZahZoo]

Originally posted by rustoffa
watch the early years dvd.....fuck ma and his effect-drowned solos.

Explain? I watched the early years DVD a couple of times and I don't follow your reference..?

"effect-drowned solos" ??? The only artist of note that I can recall that doesn't incorporate much, if any, effects within a solo would be BB King and few other Blues stringers of any caliber. Name me someone comparible that doesn't use effects in soloing?

[Terry]

Originally posted by Cathedral
Thats all bullshit, Mike played the Bass on the early stuff. It wasn't until Balance when Ed started laying down Bass Tracks.
I have a Guitar Player Interview where all this stuff originated from.

Ed's first stab at playing Bass on a commercially released album was for Spammy's Give to Live Bullshit when they recorded that song for Over The Top starring Sly Stallone.

Those nights Edward was sneaking into the studio was at Ted's request since Alex, Mike and Dave were not real happy with Ed's initial solo tracks. Him and Ted would go to the studio and replace the tracks so when the rest of the band showed up the next day they would think they were the same tracks but had grown on them overnight.

besides, any Bass Player with any pride to his job wouldn't take that shit from anyone. Ed may have influenced the style and progression but Mike did in fact play his own parts....Only to get buried in the mix before releasing the cuts.

Wasn't Ed sneaking in there with Don Landee late at night during the Fair Warning sessions? I seem to recall that was the way Ed's mid 1980s interviews read, although Ed has a lack of consistency with what comes out of his mouth. But the line he was giving was that Ted wasn't happy with his solo stabs for Push Comes To Shove and some other tracks, so he snuck in with the engineer when after everyone else had went home.

I can see where Ed may have dictated bass parts to Mike Anthony.....like on tracks such as Meanstreet, but to have went in and recorded over what Anthony had played? Tend to doubt it. If you listen to live Fair Warning tour boots, Mike is playing Unchained, Sinner's Swing, Hear About It Later, Meanstreet and So This Is Love as well as what was on the record.

As for Anthony's live bass solos, according to Roth he designed them for Mike in terms of the rolling around onstage and the physicality of it. Yeah, musically they weren't Mozart, but in terms of showmanship, they got the job done.

Wouldn't miss it if classic Van Halen reunited and the bass and drum solos were left out altogether. Ed could still have his 15 minute Eruption/Spanish Fly/Meantsreet Intro/Cathedral/Little Guitars Intro solo spot. Would be a good opportunity to grab a beer.

[Cathedral]

Hmmmm, i don't recall it being Don Landee, but i can't say it isn't possible either.
The one thing i clearly recall is that his first solo attempts didn't impress them all that much.

Or so a majority of his interviews read.

I reckon if we read between the lines the truth is there, lol.