Thank you for acknowledging my my dear friend & one of my favorite bassists. Don’t forget to check out his work on polytown.

Don Freeman here. Yea moved to London in 89’ and played keyboards on the Joan Armatrading record “ Hearts and Flowers”. I car pooled with two bass players Pino Palladino and Mick Karn to the studio. Mick lived close to me and his Japan bandmate Steve Jansen played drums as well. Manu Katche played the days when Pino played. Mick was a brilliant musician and played very melodic parts on the fretless and maybe a fretted. Check out the album but “ Promised Land” really features some brilliant playing by Mick Karn. Bomaye ❤

Finally Mick Karn. A bass hero. Completely unique, instantly recognisable. Challenging but not bragging, introvert but still elegant, inventive and almost bizarre bass lines that never disturbed the song.

It has been criminal that Mick Karn was not recognized for his work. Amazing bass player. My personal #1 favorite.

So pleased to see Mick Karn being recognised. Wonderful to experience him playing live twice with Japan.

FINALLY, someone talks about Mick Karn. I don't know why no one knows Japan, but getting into them in high school was the reason i started playing fretless bass, and never looked back. Definitely one of my all-time heroes.

BIG Japan fan, here. I want to thank pdbass for this posting. Mick Karn is my fretless bass hero, and ever since I found a Kramer fretless bass, I have been trying to catch his groove. When someone says, "fretless bassist", I do not immediately think of Jaco, Tony Franklin, Pino, Richard Bona, nor Andy Coughlin...much respect to all of them... I ALWAYS immediately think of Mick Karn...period.

"Swing" and "Sons of Pioneers" are two of my favourite Japan songs mainly because of Mick, The studio versions or live versions on "Oil on Canvas" are both amazing.

Absolutely wonderful you have covered Mick Karn. He is much loved by so many of us and yet rarely gets acknowledged outside his followers. This was a real treat.

Thank you so much for covering Mick Karn. Both him and Sylvian were so young when writing accomplished songs which belied their youth.

I'm amazed that there has been such a slow awakening of Mick Karn's talent. There was no one like him and I suspect there never will be.., a total one-off.. By a mile, the most original bassist of all time... I would also add that no one played a WAL like him.., the two complemented each other so well. 🙏

I can't believe you are finally covering Mick! I so f'ing excited to watch this!🤩

Mick Karn holds a special place in my heart. In the mid-80s, I was about a year into playing the bass when a high school friend introduced me to Mick's playing via "Dalis Car". My brain broke. Saying that I'd never heard anything like it kinda goes without saying. It was one of those moments that is at once inspirational, but also makes you want to give up. BTW, the friend I mentioned would go on to become a phenomenal bassist, educator, scholar, and composer himself. His name was Sean Malone, who was probably best know for his work with Cynic and Gordian Knot, but also did considerable solo work and collabs. (He's worth checking out.) Thanks for this appreciation of Mick, and for opportunity to honor my friend.

Mick Karn, was a wonderfully inventive, creative and technical genius RIP

Any mention of Mick Karn by fans, musicians and critics often makes me happy. 1. Swing 2. Life In Tokyo (‘7 remix) 3. Obscure Alternatives (Live) 4. Sons of Pioneers 5. European Son

Super cool to do a segment on Mick Karn. Although he stands on his own, the interplay between him and drummer Steve Jansen in Japan was just amazing.

Mick Karn was a brilliant and instantly recognisable bass player. I still regard Oil on Canvas to be one of the best albums of all time, ironically released after Japan broke up, but the playing on that album across several albums’ worth of material was sublime. Despite no “formal” training (whatever that means) he had a remarkable ear for both phrasing and melody. I can still remember when I heard Titles for the first time. “What the hell is this!” RIP Mick and thanks for featuring him.

The Waking Hour by Dali's Car is one of those great underappreciated albums. Just like Mick Karn is one those great underappreciated bass players.

I think a dive into Percy Jones would be a good idea..

Cantonese Boy, Swing, Still Life, Talking Drum, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Sensitive, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, European Son, Bestial Cluster, Back in The Beginning… Mick is so amazing!!! 💪🏽❤️😀. Thank you for your continued, excellent work, PD!!!

I love Mick Karn's bass on Bill Nelson's Chimera Mini-LP.

I love Mick Karn. He was such a creative player. Still, I don't understand why more people don't talk about Percy Jones, my personal favourite fretless player.

That Angie Bowie clip from The Old Grey Whistle Test was epic. Mick stole the show. Playing bass was never meant to be cool, but he nailed it.

I'd never heard of Mick Carn until RIGHT NOW. "Dali's Car" has made me a fan for life.

I put Mick Karn in the same category as Percy Jones (Brand X) and Les Claypool -- each has a unique approach with a strong flavor. I'm glad they exist, but I'm glad their styles aren't widely copied.

As a big Japan fan, I'm so pleased to see you cover Mick Karn. Can't pick a single favourite track, but the basslines on 'Methods of Dance' and 'Halloween' are a couple of favourites. He's very much missed.

Some of my favourite parts of Mick Karn that gives me goosebumps in the track "Bill Nelson - Glow World"

He's the GOAT to me. Totally unique and crooked. Amazing

The Polytown album with David Torn and Terry Bozzio changed my life!

Mick Karn was the equivalent of Magic Johnson…EVERYTHING Mick played was brilliant MAGIC..Nobody sounds like him Nobody plays like him..My personal favorite from Mick is his playing on Bill Nelson’s “Tender is the Night” and “Do You Dream in Color”

Mick Karn's bass got me interested in Japan. Without Karn, there is no Japan as far as I'm concerned. Japan's debut album had Karn playing regular bass so he was very capable of standard bass lines.

During a 3 month stay in Japan in 1981 I kept seeing ads for a band named Japan, that I immediately dismissed as a bunch of British posers. So just for sh*it's and giggles I picked up a cassette of "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" at the Tokyo Tower Records and man, I couldn't have been more wrong! 'Huge fan since that day of Mick and the band (no slouches there either - Sylvian's brother, Steve Jansen was a helluva good drummer). Big thanks for spreading the Mick Karn love. 😊

Im a big Numan fan so my first exposure to Karn's playing was with Gary. He immediately became one of my fav bass players and inspired me to get a fretless. The man was a virtuoso.

PB you’ve had my favorite bass channel for a while. This just blew my head up. I’ve been a big fan of mk since Japan. My favorite album is the one he did with Terry Bozzio and David Torn. Polytown. Thank you so much for featuring him.

Mick Karn is no joke and Sons of Pioneers is one of my favorite bass lines EVER!!

God level imagination and sublime tone. Karn is awesome.

There is also some KZfaq footage of him with David Torn, Mark Isham and Bill Bruford (replacing the unreplaceable Tony Levin). His wide-intonational offerings stretch the tonality of the songs to the breaking point.

As someone influenced by the likes of JJ Burnel and John Entwistle I always regarded Mick Karn to be a highly underated bass player and someone I would always listen to...... I even bought a Best of Japan a few years ago just to hear him play. Always made me wonder how on earth he came up with the stuff he did :-)

Mick Karn is really the only post Jaco player to have added to the language of the fretless electric. Some of the other basslines I love are JBK's "Ego Dance", Kate Bush "Heads We're Dancing", and his own tracks "Feta Funk" and "Bestial Cluster"

I remember when I came to fully realize Mick Karn’s genius and it was probably on Sons of Pioneers or Still Life in Mobile Homes. It was actually seeing the Japan Live in Concert DVD. So many sounds I had taken for Richard Barbieri’s keyboards were Mick’s wobbles and bends on the fretless. It blew my mind then and still does today. Thanks SO MUCH for doing this piece!!!

As a teenager in the early 80s I was a fan of the band he was a founding member of: Japan. His playing stood out for me it was so unique at the time and was probably the main reason why I liked their music. The news of his passing was soul crushing, although I was aware he had been ill for some time. This video is a fitting tribute to a talented musician sadly little known outside of his realm but much revered as a true pioneer of the fretless bass guitar. May his soul rest easy with the greatest of them all. Amen.

Mick, my favourite member of Japan, gear sax player and the master, the absolute master, of the fretless bass. Miss you Mick. RIP you genius.

Legendary Anglos-Cypriot bass man ❤ with Japan, Dalis Car and of course solo .. thank you for this video!!

I knew Mick from Japan, but a little ashamed to admit that despite being a massive Numan fan I didn't realise for ages that it was him on the Dance album :-O His early passing was sad, and kind of gives me the same feels as when we lost Michael Brecker, another extraordinary and original talent. RIP Mick.

@pdbass so glad you included the Gary Numan track! The bass playing on that whole album is really interesting. One of my favorite records of that period. Very cool to showcase Mick Karn, also his unique use of effects on bass, especially chorus!

Favourite Mick Karn tracks for me: "European Son", "Life In Tokyo" and "Gentlemen Take Polaroids". Thank you so much for covering Mick Karn. Hard to believe it's been 13 years since his passing.

My dear departed dad was a bass player and Mick Karn was one of his favourite players. Really great player.

I was a kid back then and my sister used to love Japan. Heard Mick Karn a lot and it was totally unique. Thanks for the reminder of how talented he was.

One of the most underrated bass players of all time.

So melodic, funky and percussive. I connected with him on socials a couple years before he passed. Super cool guy. Sadly missed.

Mick has been such an inspiration throughout my life with his music and art. Sadly left this life far too early.

I love him so much. "The Jump" from "More Better Different" is probably my favorite. Such a unique, identifiable voice.

Mick was a stupendous player, a great hero of mine, thank you for making this video highlighting his genius. He was also a sculptor. His end was so sad, crowd funding his treatment. Much missed.

I first heard MK on David Torn's tune "Lion of Boaz," and have been a fan ever since.

Oh man once again!!! This dude was from another planet!!

Couldn't get to the "like" button fast enough..! Thank you for introducing Mick Karn and his idiosyncratic bass style to (hopefully) a new group of players..!

I remember reading that he had tracked the fretless lines 2x and panned them left and right…to create a Haas effect.

So glad you did a video on one of the greatest bass players of all time. His playing was out of this world. Too bad not many people know his massive body of work.

dude, Mick Karn is one of my earliest bass idols... i am a HUGE fan of Japan, and every side project those guys were ever involved with... I started playing bass as a teen in the 80's, and he, John Taylor and Nick Beggs were the guys i tried to emulate. Mick was incredible, and i love that you go on a deep dive , talking about Dali's Car and other projects. great video... I understand his family auctioned off his basses to pay for medical bills, what i would have given to own one...

I love that Bestial Clusters line too. It was featured on a Trace Elliott bass amp promotional CD and I fell in love with it.

That was fantastic! thank you sooooooooo much!

Mick Karn is why I picked up the bass guitar in the first place!

Saday Maday is also one of my fav if not my favorite bass line from Mick. I would find myself humming that melody at work last summer a lot, great great song.

I`ve always loved Mick Karn`s bass playing. The guy was unbelievable & he played a Wal mostly. Whenever I think of his basslines I think of Vision of China.

I've NEVER heard of Mick Karn. DAMN!!! He is NICE!!! His rhythm, his groove is different.... like Nuwave meets Funk! Here we go... gotta add Mick to the playlist for sure👍🏿 That's why I love this channel!

Great to see Mick getting some love here ! Dalis Car .. , titles.. every note.

Honestly, the whole of the Tin Drum album features some of the best bass playing I've ever heard

The video that those of us who are enamored with the fretless bass were waiting form. Boom. Love your videos and your analysis. Also, the musical diversity of the artistic styles feature is phenomenal.

I LOVE MICK KARN'S PLAYING !!!!! Truly a unique voice on the bass, which is probably the hardest thing to achive since everything has been done as they say. Thank you for spotlighting him. 👍

"All tomorrows Parties" from Japans "Quiet Life" album is by far my favourite track of theirs. Brings back so many memories. RIP Mick.

Mick Karn was born in Cyprus and his playing contained a lot of Greek and Turkish music elements. He invented his own bass language with using that elements. Such a unique legend.

Never heard of this man. You've created a new rabbit hole for me to go traveling down.

Sick! Heard of Mick Karn before but never really listened to him. Imma check him out now. Thanks!

One of my all-time favourite melodically astute and virtuoso bass guitarists. Had the privilege of seeing him live on the Bestial Cluster tour back in the early 1990s. A phenomenal musician sorely missed.

Absolutely one of the most amazing, creative and original bass players of all time. Hugely influential on me, though I never tried to imitate- its way beyond the capability of my brain or fingers. Frankly, I'd pass on Jaco 8 days a week to listen to Mick. I'm now going to do a complete re-listen to all of my Japan albums as well as Mick's other works. Thanks so much for (finally) getting to Mick.

Thank you for the AWESOME!!!! video about Mick Karn.

I agree with everything you said. This is required listening for my students. This guy was a true virtuoso and way ahead of his time. I actually cried when he passed .

I am from Hong Kong. I first learnt of him because he played in my guitar hero Paul Wong's song Goodnight Hong Kong, and later on I picked up bass because of him. Saying he inspired me to play bass is absolutely an understatement.

I’m so well familiarized with Mick Karn, yet, it never registered with me that for all the years I’ve been listening to Gary Numan, as well as, Japan and Dalis Car, that Mick Karn was the collaborative base player for Gary Numan and now I can recall the obscure baselines!😅He was and still is an idol of mine ❤ as his music lives on! Everything is infinite!❤

Lost Affections In A Room was my introduction to Mick Karn. From that point onward, playing fretless went from something I really wanted to do, to something that I absolutely HAD to do. His remains one of the most unique and haunting musical voices I have ever heard. 🦁☀️

Thank you for talking about Mick Karn. I've sent a bunch of emails to Adam Neeley (when he used to focus on just bass), Mark Smith (Talking Bass), Scott Devine, etc. To ask if they could talk about Karn's playing and maybe give us an explanation of what he's playing. No one seemed to know who he was, even though there was a time when Japan did really well in Europe. There seems to be this moment in recent history where we forgot about some great players, there's no tab and no videos on how to play this stuff. It's not just bass either. Everyone knows EVH, and you can find any of his songs anywhere. However, The Cars were just as big as Van Halen in the 1980s, but you can't find any tabs or any recent articles on Elliot Easton's fantastic guitar playing.

I remember a Bass Player interview where he said he hadn't tuned his bass in years and just played it in tune, and was perfectly at home using scales with both a major and minor third in them.

In my teens I was obsessed with Japan. Mick Karn gave me the passion to learn the bass. The greatest (RIP)

Dali's Car is essential Mick Karn, brilliant and timeless. Some incredible masterpieces with Japan too. RIP

Excellent article as always. The thing that I really like is the transcriptions. Most of us wish to be at that level. Your ear is incredible.

Another great video! Quiet Life, with Japan, is one of my favorite performances of his. Complex, yet locked in.

I was a huge Japan fan as a kid in the 80s. After they broke up, Karn was the first band member to bring out a solo album that most people kinda ignored (everyone was focused on Sylvian). Titles and Dreams of Reason… are fantastic albums that I still listen to from time to time. I have the original vinyl but the CD version of Titles I got years later had an extra previously unreleased track that is simply amazing - he also played brass and woodwind on his albums so his sax on that track fits right in. I bought my first bass a week after he died… 😢

Yes. Mick!!! Thanks for giving props to this genius. He jumps your brain out of beaten paths. Such a creative spirit and bad ass bassist.

Solid Alchemy and Innovation delivering a mesmerising Phantasmagorical effect. His hands are moving with such ample agility - the hypermobility of his fingers appears so effortless for a genius in Bass mastery. As a woodwind player myself - Karns prior Bassoon playing most DEFinitly contributed to the nimble movement of his fingers - totally indelible!!! The TV clip of Mick playing bass solo on the Old Grey Whistle Test - is so absorbing - the awe and svengali style on the performance of Angies spoken word - the Bass style of Mick dominates Monumentally. What a marvellous extract - 😂 Thank you for a well overdue - overview. Larging up such excellence - 1 of Greatest Fretless Bass Players🎉

Surprised and gratified to see a piece on Mick! I'm no expert on his work, coming to him mainly from that Dalis Car record, but he is so strong, so fully developed, so individual that just that record is enough to blow your head open. I've played it for some of the best players I know and they were always baffled. His otherworldly whoops, slides, and smears only barely belong to Western tonality. Never mind his snakey funk and time feel. I guess I've always wished he didn't belong to such a glammy, new wavey era and genre, but there is certainly art in limitation. Mick made some of the most outstanding.

Huge thanks for telling us about Mick Karn. You're right : nobody plays like Mick Karn. Bought his first solo album when it was published and it changed my vision of bass playing forever. Totally original, unique tone and style. Was lucky to meet Mick a few times in the mid nineties, sharing talks and drinks with him . Very nice guy. His death devasted me, but fortunately, his music remains and should be better known.

Thank you, Paul. Mick's is my favorite by far and I really appreciate your nod to his GOAT-ness!

I knew that name was familiar! Was just listening to Kate Bush's The Sensual World, and he plays what sounds like an odd tapping groove on "Heads We're Dancing". It's fantastic!

WOW that guy was awesome, that's the first time I've ever learned of his name thanks, this gives me something too do today!!!🤯🤘🤘

I’ll alwaysI remember first time I saw Japan on Top of the Pops.Just sitting in awe watching them..me old man comes in the living room and see’s them on tele and nearly spits his tea out..”Are they lads or lasses like” 😂😂😂😂😂😂 I was a fan for life right there and then though..Mick was the best hands down

Wow, I had not heard of this bassist or his music. Thanks for the music lesson again!

At last!!!! Thank you sooo much. One of the greatest, innovative but most underrated bassists of all time. About time got some recognition. My fave bass parts….everything from Tin Drum:)

Yes!!! So damn original. RIP.

Dali's Car's Waking Hour is definitely one of my favourites. Thanks for this awesome video.

Ive been waiting for this for so long ❤❤❤