Their moniker was based on John Lennon’s “Bad Finger Boogie” working title for “With A Little Help from My Friends” – though I prefer George’s revelation that it was inspired by a stripper who worked the Hamburg music scene as Helga Fabdinger. A gifted composer/singer, the late Tom Evans anchored the brilliant yet doomed Badfinger. Originally a guitarist for The Iveys, his bass playing cemented the classic line-up with Pete Ham, Joey Molland, and Mike Gibbins.
Akin to their Apple bosses, Evans and Badfinger were exemplary song players – rendering exactly what the compositions and recordings required harmonically, rhythmically, and aesthetically.
Among the most revered and versatile British session and touring bassists, Mo Foster’s talents as a composer, musician, educator, and author were equaled by his uncanny wit, hospitality, and sidesplitting sense of humor!You know Mo the bassist from his stellar work with a wide range of artists and ensembles including Affinity, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Luka Bloom, Howard Jones, Russ Ballard, Michael Schenker, Maggie Bell, Gerry Rafferty, Joan Armatrading, Kevin Ayres, Gary Moore, Scott Walker, and the London Symphony Orchestra, among scores of others.
Tom Semioli holds Mo Foster’s first bass! Photo by Mark Preston
You’ve heard Mo’s bass artistry support James Bond in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Octopussy (1983).
As a bandleader Mr. Foster has waxed a handful of brilliant jazz/fusion/ambient albums including Bel Assis (1988) and Southern Reunion (1991) featuring guitar icon Gary Moore and drummers Gary Husband and Simon Phillips.
Bravely venturing where no voltage enhanced bassist had gone before, Mo founded the first academic course in electric bass at the Goldsmiths College, University of London in 1975.
Mo’s two terrific tomes: 17 Watts? The First 20 Years of British Rock Guitar: The Musicians and Their Stories (2000) and British Rock Guitar: The First 50 Years (2013) – the latter of which I reviewed for Huffington Post and interviewed Mo are essential for musos and fans alike.
My interview with Mo on Huffington Post for History of British Rock Guitar https://bit.ly/2QVBxwm
My interview with Mo’s Affinity bandmate Linda Hoyle on Huffington Post talkin’ Mo https://bit.ly/35A8d3M
Watch Mo Foster on Know Your Bass Player on Film Season One – 2014, from Mo’s home in London https://bit.ly/2EBNPHH
Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)
The Guv’nor!
Everything that’s been written about Sir Paul has been written, everything that’s been said, has been said…so allow me to say something new…
Of James Paul McCartney’s marvelous feats as a bassist, the two which never fail to impress me are his passages for “Do You Want to Know a Secret,” and “Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds” – especially in the chorus of the latter.
The parts are technically simple – I could teach them to an able beginner in a few lessons. However Paul’s bass playing on those songs characterizes this extraordinary man and his music. In every phase of his storied career, Macca’s bass magic springs from his exquisite voice leading.
His note choices defy custom and thus weave conventional chord changes together into a grand, multi-colored musical tapestry. And Paul renders it all by way of his splendid rhythmic intuition – played purely from the heart. I don’t know dance nor ballet from bullocks, but to my ears, the totality of Sir Paul’s bass artistry moves akin to Nureyev, Alvin Ailey, Fred & Ginger, and Gene Kelly.
My advice to pop music bassists, when you’re asked to contribute bass to a new composition, the first question you ask yourself is “what would Paul McCartney do here?”
