The bass work on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds
I keep going back time and time again to this album. Not least because some of my favourite guitar sounds are on this album. But the bass work just blows my mind again and again.
The bassist is Herbie Flowers. Legend in his own right, of course, but then you realise that the entire score, every part, strings, you name it, was written by Jeff Wayne. Herbie would have been reading nearly all of it.
I'm constantly surprised by where the bass line goes, considering the vocal melody line at the time and the strings and keys melody lines at the time etc. Instead of the standard rock / pop lines it is written in a more classical music vein, like where the double bass section would sit in orchestral music, Jeff Wayne being an accomplished classical composer (as well as stand up comedian and Wimbledon champion!). It often doesn't just support everything else but manages to contrast against everything else at the same time.
Released in 1978, I still go back to it often, all these years later, and still, every now and again, find a little surprise in there.