drakula63 wrote:...yes and for a few minutes (before looking more closely) I thought it was Hank playing his white Marvin! I'll assume that it was a Shadows/Rostill bass? If so, I wonder who was playing it? Not John, of course
Although you can't see his face in the film it's almost certainly Dee Murray, judging from the correct playing of the fretboard and also the hugely flared trousers. An interesting story here, that despite being a hugely talented bass player, he and Nigel Ollsen (drummer) were only allowed to play on one track of each of the previous albums (except the live one where the touring band played), the rest being done by studio staff like Herbie Flowers and Brian Odgers, apparently at the insistence of management or producer (the latter seems odd as Gus Dudgeon produced albums by famous bands which they clearly played on). Maybe it was linked to the fact that Elton John was himself a studio musician - it seems likely their appearance on one track of each of the previous albums was a requirement of Elton John.
Dee Murray and Nigel Olssen were part of Elton John's 'touring band'. Under pressure from Elton John (so the story goes), from this album onwards Elton John's band played on the studio recordings. If you listen to the standard of the bass arrangements and playing, you can see why Elton John insisted.
Dee Murray usually played a Precision bass.