Song 663: This week the playlist comes around to Hotel California by Charles Berthoud, written by Don Felder, Don Henley and Glen Frey, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When, a few weeks ago, I discovered on a FaceBook post this remarkable FRETLESS BASS version of The Eagles' hit that I featured here last week, I realized that I hadn't yet added the original to the collection, so last Sunday I set the stage for this UNREAL-sounding followup. As someone who has routinely played a fretted bass, both onstage and in a studio, but has rarely had hands on a fretless one, I can truly appreciate the soaring directions that the player takes the song's melody in here. When the first rendition of the west coast resort anthem arrived, I had plans to head that way, but could not do so for about a year and a half, due to unresolved dental problems. Soon after I did get to the East Bay in 1978, I met a singer/songwriter colleague named Bob Nichols who would become a close friend. Then, three years later I would get to move into the Berkeley home that he managed, and I resided there for the remaining seven years of my CA decade. Bob played bass for his band, and spending as much time around him as I did, I soon learned THE BASSICS myself. I would figure out the bass parts for my own songs, and I would also have a unique experience as a bass player in a country band during my final CA year - a tale which I plan to at some point share in amusing short-story form. Having played plenty of bass myself, I know just how UNREAL this recording sounds - this could be Heaven as well.
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