Carol Kaye on WHIPPED CREAM: "I stunk, it was horrible

[Mike Blakesley]

I was paging through an old Rolling Stone and found a nice article from 1973 on Carol Kaye. It had a couple of things I didn't know...for instance Herb's WHIPPED CREAM was her first major bass recording gig. She says "The bass sound was terrible...I stunk, it was horrible, but everybody seemed to like it. They don't know any better, I guess."

It also said that she played the bass with a pick, rather than fingers, except on ballads.

 

[Marty]

I guess we all didn't know any better! Sounds great to me!!

 

[Bobbyvox]

What a pompous nut. She's clearly lost her mind. Her bass work on "Whipped Cream" is flawless...as any bass player can obviously tell. She was an astute studio session musician who got a hell of a lot of work back then and all of it is first-rate. She was well-known for reading and learning charts that were thrown in front of her and could execute her lines perfectly every time. That's what studio musicians did back then. And that's also why the record companies usually didn't want to take a chance with the "real" musicians in the band because they were inexperienced... and time was money in the studio.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

What a pompous nut. She's clearly lost her mind.

That's a little strong, isn't it? Keep in mind the article was written in 1973, less than 10 years after those sessions!

I remember when I played piano and organ as a kid...I always thought I sucked completely at recitals and such. My parents would tell me I sounded fine, but I thought they were just being nice because I knew how many mistakes I had made. It was only after hearing people like my sisters insist that THEY sucked that I realized that a performance usually seems to sound worse to the performer.

Carol probably heard things on those records that made her cringe, things which all of us would think are awesome.

 

[Captaindave]

It often is true that the performer knows things that the listener or audience does not know, does not hear, or just plain doesn't recognize for some reason.

At times, I was convinced I played poorly, but listeners responded in the opposite. I also remember times I thought I was great, and the reaction was good, but not as strong as I expected.

Who can say?

 

[audiofile]

It's subjective. I think it is outrages to call her a pompous nut. She knows what she's talking about. She's not saying Whipped Cream sucked, rather her bass sound sucked. I can hear what she's saying, although I don't think it detracts from the recording. If you listen you can hear that the bass does sound a little odd. You can definately tell she's playing with a pick.

 

[Harry]

Listen to the bass line of "A Taste Of Honey" just as the key modulates at around 2:11. There's a buzz on one of the higher bass notes - it was probably not intended that way, and it might not have been the way Ms. Kaye had planned to play it, but remember, Herb always judged recordings by the way they felt. If the groove was there and it hung together properly to his ear, then it was fine.

We've all heard that note hundreds of times - it's now iconic, and shouldn't be any other way. But to Ms. Kaye, who played it, it might be an example of why she'd think her playing was less than adequate.

Harry

 

[Dave]

My take on this is as follows:

• Whipped Cream... is not really a "bass album" and not even a strongly notable "studio musician album", other than drummer Hal Blaine leading off on "A Taste Of Honey"... And "A Taste Of Honey" was merely a "notable early-'60's Carol Kaye session", in her log of "studio work", which is merely what we refer to, in "layman's terms" as a "résumé"... As such, it does lead, then, to much better examples of her work, in what would be her's as well as perhaps most of the public's opinion...

• Carol Kaye went on to more "stronger sounds" playing on Gabor Szabo's Wind, Sky & Diamonds and Bob Thiele & His New Happy Times Orchestra's Light My Fire... You can definitely hear something more "definitive" as far as "BASS playing goes" and what Carol, herself, would be more pleased to hear, decades later, along with The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds where Ms. Kaye really came onto her own... And don't forget her "cameo" on Dusty Springfield's Cameo, where as a female session musician aiding a female singer, Carol contributed a more "personal feminine approach" to the songs on the album which she had played on, thereby achieving a "personal level" in her playing to the "personal difficulties" Dusty Springfield had been at that time experiencing...

• From my understanding, I thought a lot of the TjB recordings with studio musicians were just simply "makeshift" transitions, until The Tijuana Brass really got more of an "official" identity, which was when The TjB "as we know it" was really FORMED...! Until then "tijuana brass" was merely a "vanity group", done by the "behind-the-scenes Wrecking Crew" as far as any "musical backing" goes...

• A lot of studio musicians who were born in the Los Angeles-area, have moved w/ family to the Los Angleles-area, or have moved themselves to the Los Angeles-area (in what I have referred to as: "gotten there in an honest way") are sooooooo lucky & fortunate to have been in that are a where "music was happening" and it helps that they were there in the "hey-day" of the '60's-to-early-'70's, honing their chops, sharpening their skills & just paying their dues, & were just damn lucky that the job or career that they wanted to get into "was just conveniently down the street" and not waaaaayyyyyy 'cross country, like it is for me...! So "stinky sessions" are fairly common and a lot of musicians that were "involved" either to this day, regret, disdain, or are simply a whole helluva lot THANKFUL that they got to play on ANYTHING, (& COULD play a musical instrument!) as opposed to spending the rest of their life at their "day job", or what would've been their (& what would definitely be a NON-MUSICAL...!) "job, period"...!


Dave

(Yes, my hands are trembling & I'm shakin' all over, typing that last line...!) :bandit: :scared:

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

There are gobs of records where the bass player played with a pick. It was 'A Sound' of the time. I'm not sure what the issue is.

I loved The Ventures' Bob Bogle when he played bass with a pick.

later..........Jay