Herbie Flowers, session musician and bassist, died at the weekend aged 86. In 1972 he played the bass on the sessions that would become Lou Reed's Transformer, an album produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. On Lou's most famous Herbie came up with an instantly recognisable bass part, the song's main hook in many ways, for which he was paid a session fee of £17.
In the song Lou celebrated all kinds of New York outsiders and misfits, the late 60s and early 70s demi- world around Reed, Warhol and all the rest brought to life in a few beautifully crafted lines- transgender actresses Holly from Miami FLA and Candy Darling, Little Joe, the Sugar Plum Fairy (Joe Campbell, a dealer) and Jackie (Curtis). Throw in some references to drugs and oral sex and you have the perfect slice of transgressive pop music. It's the sort of song that you can remember the first time you heard it, the door to another world opening slightly.
Herbie played loads of other sessions, over 20, 000 apparently, and created loads of other basslines including Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs for Bowie. But Walk On The Wild Side remains the one.
In 1990 New York hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest sampled the bassline for what became their best known song, the call and response sample- fest/ piece of genius that is Can I Kick It? As well as Lou/ Herbie it samples Lonnie Smith, Ian Dury and The Blockheads and Prokofiev. Lou Reed took pretty much all the profits from the sales apparently. Such is the music business.
Herbie Flowers RIP.
He was in Sky too, I think, and played on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. RIP indeed.
ReplyDeleteHe played on solo albums by 3 of the 4 Beatles and on Rock On by David Essex among others. Incredible career really.
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