Bass Themes

Personnel: Mo Foster (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, keyboards, bass guitar, fretless bass, electronic percussion); Ray Russell (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards); Greg Knowles (hammer dulcimer, keyboards, percussion); Neil Sidwell (bass trombone); Stephen Wick (tuba); Tony Hymas (grand piano, keyboards); Mark Isham, Simon Chamberlain (keyboards); Ralph Salmins (drums, percussion); Harold Fisher, Ian Thomas , Neal Wilkinson (drums); Frank Ricotti (percussion); Peter Van Hooke (electronic percussion).
Recording information: Funnell's Barn, Sussex; Landsowne, London; Lark Rise, Sussex; Last Chance, London; Northpond, London; The Bunker, Welwyn.
Photographers: James Cumpsty; Christina Jansen; Kay Foster .
Arranger: Mo Foster.
Less an album and more a plethora of snapshots, Bass Themes is a 30-track collection of...indeed, bass themes...that the former Fancy bassist has cut over the past almost 30 years, for a variety of production music projects. Aimed at music libraries and the like, from whence they could be licensed out to television, movie, and other similar projects, the point of such pieces was to conjure moods and moments that could simply be slotted into place. And, as such, they would seem to have been successful. Whether it works as a stand-alone listening experience, on the other hand, is another matter. There is no questioning the strength of the playing or the composing, but there's little here that is truly memorable, and nothing that you will wake up needing to hear before breakfast. One for the completists, then -- and for students of great bass guitar. ~ Dave Thompson