Can someone tell me what instrument this is ?

[davd_indigo]

I've recently been listening to my Carl Perkins Sun Records sessions on my phone with Bluetooth headphones. I noticed this oddball song I like, which seems to drowning in echo. But at about 9 seconds you can hear very prominently what sounds like maybe a baritone sax - I can't tell for sure. I figure maybe it is doubling the bass. I can't really tell. Thinking back, I don't remember any sax on Perkins' songs. So maybe it's an electric bass. But I don't really think so. Maybe electric guitar ?

 

Color me puzzled.

 

Any insights ? Thanks.

[video=youtube;SclQF3bs1bo]

[Notes_Norton]

Hard to tell - muddy recording. Tuba?

[Phil O'Keefe]

I agree that it sounds more like a tuba than a bari sax, but I can't say for certain it's a tuba either. Seems like the more logical instrument for that part. Are there any records of who played on the various Sun Sessions with Carl?

[davd_indigo]

I did a quick google search. All I found was some mention of an NPR interview in maybe 2003 where Sam Phillips said he played tuba in high school. So maybe it was Sam.

[1001gear]

The initial blat does sound like a sax though. Bass sax. Everything else is low and round like a tuba

[davd_indigo]

I found the following from a site about Sun Records Sessions

 

http://www.706unionavenue.nl/68811875

 

It's about Lonely Street - the writer calls it the "electric bass from hell".

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The first thing we can tell you about this song is that you can disregard all previous liner notes that talk about Carl Belew and Andy Williams. This song by Perkins shares a title with that 1959 hit by Williams and nothing more.

 

If you actually listen to the songs before writing about them, it's clear that the compositions have nothing in common musically. We truth is, the Belew/Williams song with this title is the hands down winner.

It's not clear what this recording is all about. Carl's vocal isn't that bad, although it is a bit emotionally overwrought. It's the band work that dooms these takes to their status among the worst things Carl recorded at Sun (or at ' least during the Sun years). The overall effect is about as draggy as Carl ever sounded on tape. Worse yet all versions feature the electric bass from hell.

It's hard to believe that a track sounding this bad ever emerged from 706 Union Avenue. You could have gotten a letter mix by throwing darts at the mixing board. In the unlikely event this is Clayton playing bass, we can charitably say this isn't among his finest work. It isn't just the overbearing sound of the bass in the

mix, it's the bass playing as well. Listen for some memorable clams at the end of the third take. The addition of a piano on the fourth take does little to relieve the tedium.