Hey Rocksmith fans!
Big news happening in the small world of Rocksmith+, Ubisoft and WMG announced a partnership and we had what was hopefully the first of many drops of some major hits from the label, and the news also broke that 2014 is unfortunately getting delisted as the licensing is expiring.
But all of that is after the second August update, so I’m gonna take you back in time. The WMG drop will get its own separate article shortly after this one, I wanted to make sure to be able to highlight gems as usual.
BASS
Honestly, most of this update was pretty solid on bass, and it covers a huge spread.
Hands Clean Live by Alanis Morissette, probably the most recognizable in this drop, is faster than you might think, with as many fills as you’d expect from the 90s alternative bassline favored in her songs.
Other enjoyable basslines by recognizable artists include Summer of Drugs by Soul Asylum is fairly simple, but has just enough variation and movement in the main riff for me to recommend, and Words by Lovin’ Spoonful has a fun repeating riff in the post-chorus.
The Clash return to bass updates this drop, with three songs in distinct styles. Spanish Bombs is the Clash at their poppiest sound, while The Magnificient Seven is a great but singular funk riff and Career Opportunities has a unique baroque influence.
Other fun offerings in R&B/Funk/Soul are Cold Bologna by the Isley Brothers which is similarly a single riff that moves up a half-step twice, but still enjoyable; and How Long by Sugardaddy which has great choruses.
In country, A Girl Who’ll Satisfy Her Man by Skeeter Davis is a slow and simple idea held together by transitionary notesSlow and simple idea held together by transitionary notes, and Christmas comes early with Christmas in My Home Town by Charley Pride, a bouncy bass part with enough variation to keep it fun for its runtime.
In what may come as a huge surprise, All I Have to Give by the Backstreet Boys is a stand-out bass song, it starts slow but builds up throwing in fills in there, there’s a lot to learn from it if you can stomach the lyrics.
Harukaze by SCANDAL is a surprise Japanese addition this patch, and it’s a great time on bass as it quickly and consistently builds on its foundation with diversity and complexity. Yakusoku no Oka by Masaharu Fukuyama has been in the library for a while, but its newly added bass is a lot of fun when it’s not stuck in gallops.
Continuing our world tour, we got El Muchacho de los Ojos Tristes by Jeanette, which is slow and simple and mostly just two rhythms, but it stays engaging thanks to moving in power chord shapes. Apoteose Ao Samba by Djavan is built around a simple concept as well, but quite a blast that moves around a lot and has some tricks in there. Pipi by Los Amigos Invisibles is bouncy, simple, and fun, Sara-Sarará by Chiclete Com Banana meanwhile, has a tons of changes and variation while being just as bouncy and fun bass part. Balada si Roy by Fiersa Besari is worth a look too, but we’ll talk more when we get to lead.
In heavier sounds, Remnants Of Withered Decay by Malevolent Creation is very chaotic and challenging death metal offering, but thankfully very few sections it gets stuck in. And in chiller vibes, Such a Shame by Uni’verss is quite fun and relatively diverse for a reggae part.
LEAD
There’s a lot of dreamier and slower rock this drop that have different flavors of fun. Hands Clean Live by Alanis Morissette has fun arpeggios and a few fills keep it fun for the majority of it, and an outro solo helps too. Summerhead by Cocteau Twins also is built around arpeggios to make a nice dreamy shoegaze lead. Parthenon Drive by Echo and the Bunnymen has an outro that goes on a bit too long for my tastes, but it’s a ton of fun mod rock lead with movement otherwise. And then Fuel’s cover of Daniel is a fun acoustic guitar arrangement.
And of course, as always, jazz. Belle and Sebastian’s cover of Crash is actually quite a fun rambling lounge jazz guitar, and on the other end of the spectrum Allan Holdworth’s House of Mirrors is a jazz fusion nightmare that is focused big stretches in chords before its inevitably wankery solo. (affectionate)
In death metal, Malevolent Creation brings a ton of fun riffs with their cover of Raining Blood and Remnants of Withered Decay, the former which has an uncharted nonsense solo and the latter which IS charted. From the Cradle to Enslave by Cradle Of Filth also has a number of fun riffs but gets a bit too stuck in them for its runtime.
SCANDAL’s Harukaze is built around fun arpeggios with great movement and variation throughout, and Yakusoku no Oka by Masaharu Fukuyama is a fun variety of lead. Heading elsewhere, Sara-Sarará by Chiclete Com Banana is also a ton of fun riffs, and Spanish Bombs by the Clash moves and changes despite its simplicity (it uses Spanglish it counts). Last but certainly not least, Balada Si Roy by Fiersa Besari spends its start in muted chords, but wait until it gets to the solo, it’s great fun, definitely a sleeper hit in the drop.
OTHER NOTABLE RELEASES AND WILDCARDS
With a small patch (and one that was particularly good on bass I feel) the miscellaneous offerings were a bit small, but it’s Rocksmith+ so of course there’s still some.
MGMT gets another bass part for I Found a Whistle, which doesn’t come in until towards the very end of the song.
Alicia Keys gets Billions (Originals), but I feel it’s not as strong an offering as some of her highlights last drop.
And then finally we have Who Do You Want to Be? by Sacred Reich, an Oingo Boingo cover. An interesting addition to the library, always hopeful these covers lead to more of the original bands and with the WMG drop we started to see that hope manifest some. But I’m getting ahead of myself, we’ll talk about that soon!
