I remember the very first time I heard the David Essex song Rock On on the radio. I was completely transfixed by the beautifully desolate sound of that track — it was like listening to the spectral ghost of rock and roll.
I couldn’t get enough of it. Every time through, it just kept getting better. Especially that bass line.
It was only later that I learned that I was mainly responding to an innovative double-tracked bass guitar arrangement. The deep silences around it left that doubled bass guitar nearly all by itself — with plenty of room to create a haunted and elegiac space.
And just today, in honor of the great Herbie Flowers, who passed a just few days ago at the age of 86, I have been playing Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side on repeat.
Every time through, it just keeps getting better. Especially that bass line.
Oh, man. I haven’t listened to “Rock On” in maybe twenty years. Pulled it up today, and it’s just as “evocative” and haunting as I remember it being as a teenager. Thanks for reminding me of this.