OK, I’m on a Paul Simonon binge right now. I think he’s my favorite bass player. I can’t stop listening to The Good The Bad and The Queen. It’s a really great artist collaboration record. DangerMouse is the producer. He never over does it. The songs are all there, bare elements and bits of sound and beats that sit perfectly. The guys playing are really showcased. You can hear where they put beats how they phrase and what notes they choose… It’s a total Paul album. His bass lines are right there in the front of every song and they are stark and beautiful. Also his illustrations are very very cool. I just read an interview with him in bass player (www.bassplayer.com/article/paul-simonon/Aug-03/784). In it he reveals a lot about his relationship to music through the Clash and the reggae he was always drawn towards. Listening to this reminds me of talking to my buddy Lonnie Marshall who played bass with Joe Strummer on the album “Earthquake Weather” after the Clash officially dissolved. He said that when they played in London on that tour, people would yell at him on stage and yell “Where’s Paul??!!!”. He said that later when they were playing in Japan, he finally ran into him at a show and that Paul was a really nice sweet guy.