2. Serge GainsbourgHistoire De Melody Nelson
For years, Andy Votel and I had been trying to find out who played bass on this album. Herbie Flowers thought it might have been him, but couldn’t be sure, because these fellas were doing like 10 sessions a day. Then, KPM made a film about library music, which featured Andy and myself as talking heads. We went to the premiere, and Dave Richmond, the session bass player was there, and Andy was like, ‘I think he did it!’ We approached him, and he said, ‘Yeah, that was me.’ He kind of acted like no one had asked him that before and that no one would give a shit, even though that’s one of the most sampled bass licks ever and what he did that day was pretty special. I love the production of this album, the fact the bass is right up there. I would guess that the direction was just ‘keep it simple, and I’ll just talk over the top.’ What you get is the most sparse, clear idea. It’s perfect in its simplicity.
