Herbie Flowers: Requiescat In Bassland

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Well, there we are then: another good one down. Herbie Flowers: bassist, tuba-player and creator of some of the most iconic bass-lines ever to grace the airwaves; most memorable for many of my generation being the ineffable backbone to Lou Reed's 'Walk on the Wild Side', which needs no explanation, elucidation or explication, musical triumph that it was. Flowers played on so many studio sessions and supplied the groove to so many bands in his time, but to me the Wild Side bass-line was the apotheosis of cool, treading the fine line of simultaneously being both firmly in, and subtly slightly out of the pocket of the groove; a genius interplay between the double-tracked string and electric bass parts which Flowers himself penned and which elevated a good Lou Reed tune to the truly great piece of work that was released in 1972, from Reed's album of that year, 'Transformer'; produced by David Bowie, with whom Flowers also collaborated on numerous occasions. As a session musician, Flowers earned a flat fee of a few quid for the Wild Side gig, equivalent to a few hundred today; although actually double his normal expectation as he shrewdly, as at other times in his career, suggested the double-tracking of his bass parts, earning twice the day's standard fee. Compare and contrast this one-off journeyman's pay packet with the mind-boggling royalties generated by the tune since its release. Flowers, however, was totally sanguine about the disparity: it was his job and he knew the score. Still a tad unfair on the man though; Herbie's bass-line was the magic glue that made that track what it was...

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