I just relistened to 1999 and realized that Prince put together his band with no bass player. Either it was on purpose, or he was too stoned and forgot that a band is supposed to have a bass.
If it was on purpose, maybe he was aiming at a distinctive sound so that as soon as anyone heard one of his songs come on the radio, they would kiss their fingers and murmur, “What can anyone say… but ‘Prince!’?”.
This was also noticeably true of “When Doves Cry” from Purple Rain as well as 1999. A sound that has a lot of open space where you wouldn’t expect to find it. A sound that’s light and snappy. Oddly, since it was funk and usually funk is very heavily bass-driven.
But listening closely, I noticed that the bass drum was prominently brought forward in the mix. The bass drum was given a great depth and resonance, so in effect it occupied the space that took the place of the missing bass. It only had one note, but there are some styles of funk where the bass essentially plays one note through the whole song, so that’s OK. Has anybody else deleted the bass? If so, did the engineer mix the bass drum to make up for it?
Interview with Prince where he explains why “When Doves Cry” has no bass.
http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com/simon.q/bass.htm
no diggity by blackstreet is another tune without bass. its all done with piano, or rather thats the substitute for it. i recall them saying it was the first big hit or no 1 since doves cry without an actual bass guitar on it, if thats any good to you.
prince is bonkers anyway, hence his commercial and musical suicide over the last 10 years or so
both good tunes though
SO I was right about the drum filling in for the low tones in the mix—
Another (much older track) with no actual bass guitar is “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Jerry Lee Lewis. It’s just his piano and the drums.
John Lennon would play that record over to work up the nerve to make “Mother” a really devastating piano number, but he did have a bass player (Klaus Vormann).
The Doors didn’t have a bass player listed. But there is bass guitar on some of the singles. On other records, Ray Manzarek is playing the bass lines on keyboards. Did one of them pick up a bass in the studio or for live bass playing?
According to AMG, the only studio album (with Jim) without a session bassist was their debut album, The Doors.
The basslines by Manzarek were played on this gem, a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass.