The Best (1990-1994) Keith Emerson John Entwistle Joe Walsh Jeff "Skunk" Baxter Simon Phillips Rick Livingstone
The GTR album is excellent, and Asia's first three are very good (I prefer Alpha and Astra to the debut).
Excellent. I came in to post them also. Hey, don't forget Zak Starkey. He was also in the band for a bit. They didn't release any albums, but they did release a concert DVD. The Best / "Bodhisattva" on YouTube The Best / "Fanfare for the Common Man on YouTube The Best / "Reelin' in the Years" on YouTube The Best / John Entwistle - "Too Late the Hero" on YouTube
Many but my choice now... Return To Forever -Lemmy White -Chick Corea -Al Di Meola -Stanley Clarke Really cool sum of talents here.
More bands... ~Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ~Traveling Wilburys ~Golden Smog ~The Flatlanders ~Texas Tornadoes More one offs/one & out ~The Dirty Mac ~Dim Stars ~The Bunch ~French, Frith, Kaiser and Thompson ~Hindu Love Gods ~Blind Faith ~Little Village
Traveling Wilburys: A Beatle Dylan Cult band The Idle Race/The Move/ELO’s Jeff Lynne Roy Orbison Tom Petty. rock royalty.
No supergroup was worse than The New Barbarians (Keef, Ron Wood, Stanley Clarke and Zigaboo Modeliste). About the same as your average bar band.
There are different ways in defining ‘most super’. - Cream were one of the biggest in terms of impact and influence. - Travelling Wilburys were one of the biggest for star names. - Asia were one of the biggest for commercial success, even if only briefly. There are likely other criteria, and also better examples than the ones I have given.
But at least 3 of the 6 original members were unknown - certainly the bassist and the keyboardist were (neither one of whom AFAIK recorded an album prior to Foreigner) and Gramm had recorded 2 flop albums with his previous band (Black Sheep - were they still even together as a band when Jones heard one of those two albums and contacted Gramm to audition?). Plus he was credited by his birth name on those albums, before shortening it to Gramm when he joined Foreigner. As for the others, the drummer would have perhaps had a name in musician's circles in the UK, backing a few artists prior to Foreigner (and being a member of several bands that only lasted long enough to record a single album (if that), but I doubt he was a "name" musician (except perhaps to those who closely studied the musician credits on the back of a handful of not huge selling early 70s albums. His biggest claim to fame prior to Foreigner would probably be his appearance on Ian Hunter's first solo album, though fans of obscure British jazz-rock may have recognized him from his stint in the band IF. Mick Jones was probably best known prior to Foreigner as a member of Spooky Tooth for their last couple of albums - but at least he was a full member of the band at the time and those two albums actually sold (moderately). Then there's Ian McDonald who had a pretty impressive resume but a very questionable amount of fame/name-recognition. He had one true classic album (which he had a very large part in writing) to his name with King Crimson, an obscure duo album (comprising what would have been his writing contribution to the second Crimson album had he not quit) made with fellow ex-Crimson member, Mike Giles. After that he stuck to being a session musician for the next several years, mostly as a sax player (in fact meeting Jones when they were both doing session work on the same album). He appeared on the first three Foreigner albums, but wrote very little of the material (that was Jones's territory) and was fired by Jones (at least in part due to not being enough of a quietly obedient subordinate) and then returned to session work, only making one solo album (in the late 1990s) with appearances by several of his far more well known friends. A supergroup? Foreigner? That's what I'd call a S---T---R---E---T---C---H---!
...as in 'The Flying Burrito Brothers"? I love their debut album (it might make my top 20 albums of all time, or at least top 30) but a supergroup they were not. Hillman was the only legitimate "name" when they formed as he had been a Byrds member from the beginning (and of course their most successful era). Parsons sang IIRC three songs on the least successful Byrds album to date, after recording a total flop album with his previous band (ISB). Sneaky Pete became a "name" session musician on several 1970 S0-Cal/country rock albums, but at the time he joined the FBB, his biggest claim to fame was his work on the kids' show Gumby. Chris Etheridge became a successful/busy session musician AFTER his stint in the FBB. They had no drummer in the band on the first album, but Michael Clark of the original Byrds joined for the second album. When Etheridge quit after the first album, Hillman switched to bass and Bernie Leadon joined on lead guitar. His only "claim to fame" prior to that was his appearance on the first Dillard and Clark album (which was hardly a success at the time). His fame only came a few years AFTER leaving the FBB, and becoming an Eagle. Gram Parson's replacement in the FBB only gained his fame later, with the band Firefall.
Melody Maker's Chris Welch has suggested The Sound of '65 "may have been the greatest album of the Sixties" and "one of the most exciting and influential of its time"[3] given the respect paid by luminaries like Steve Winwood and Bill Bruford. This album and the group's second and last, There's a Bond Between Us are now considered "essential listening for anyone who is seriously interested in either British blues, The Rolling Stones' early sound, or the history of popular music, in England or America, during the late '50s and early '60s"[4] and is also known among fans of Cream, which Bond's rhythm section joined in the next year. I've seen it mentioned in a documentary that The Graham Bond Organization (the band referred to above) was to other UK musicians in their day, what the Beatles were to the general public. Bruce and Baker had already played together in another band prior to that one - Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated - in 1962. Bruce was also (for fairly short stints) a member of both 'Manfred Mann' (which IIRC was when he first started playing electric bass - as opposed to stand-up/double bass) as well as with Mayall's Bluesbreakers (which is where Clapton met him and found the musical rapport with him that led to Cream. BTW the very name Cream was not a randomly chosen accident. It came with an implied (but never denied) "...of the crop of current musicians" attached to it.
This is the first known use of the term "supergroup" of which i'm aware. term coined and put group together by my two next door neighbors of the time. paul r and barry f aka "frazier" "During the heady days of the 1960's, Elektra Records was the hub of some of the era's most respected artists. Founded by Jac Holzman in New York in 1950, initially as a specialist in folk music, Elektra's full-scale move into rock coincided with the emergence of the West Coast scene. By the end of the '60's, artists like The Doors, Love, Tim Buckley and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band were producing records, which were garnering the label considerable respect. A large part of this success was due to Holzman's skill in nurturing such talent, although it's true that he also greatly benefited from a gifted bunch of producers and engineers, including the late Paul Rothchild. Rothchild (the son of a British businessman and an East Coast opera singer) had made a name for himself as The Doors' producer and as a result was given the latitude to pursue his own projects. The most ambitious of these was undoubtedly Rhinoceros, an ad-hoc assembly of talented musicians, who Rothchild initially dubbed 'Supergroup'. Although much of the credit for 'Supergroup' has been attributed to Rothchild, the role of his musical associate, producer Barry Friedman (better known as Frazier Mohawk) was equally important during the group's early days. Mohawk was an intriguing character who'd been instrumental, among other things, in helping Steve Stills piece together The Buffalo Springfield. When Rothchild pitched the idea of forming a band (comprised of his favourite players) in the spring of 1967, Mohawk was fresh from production work on the debut album of one of LA's most promising outfits, the eclectic Kaleidoscope. Perhaps the versatility of that band and his earlier experience with The Buffalo Springfield were the underlying inspiration behind the 'Supergroup' concept. Whatever the reason, Mohawk was certainly responsible for the name and in late summer, he assisted Rothchild by approaching potential 'Supergroup' players. Both had particular musicians in mind, many of whom were invited to the "first formal assembly" at Rothchild and Mohawk's Laurel Canyon home on Ridpath sometime during September." I lived next to the guys that create the first supergroup no one ever heard of HA! however. Paul was pivotally instrumental in the formation of crosby stills an nash. also forever on our block and they could arguably be a contender for "first supergroup". ahmet ertegun stole them away from paul an paul was PISSED. but paul was a hit producer an ahmet was atlantic records. barry put together buffalo springfield and paul had dibs on C S & N first. back to rhinoceros. check this out. a favorite of mine and george thorogood's. it's super.
Yes - I'd say the bassist (Jeff Lynne) was a pretty big name. The drummer (Jim Keltner) was also a pretty big name (at least as far as studio musicians/sidemen go). He even got credited on the albums with a pseudonym (though the surname he was given was Sidebury, rather than Wilbury).
Jeff Lynne's "sound" as a producer *can* work fine - BUT its definitely a case-by-case situation. IMO on the first Wilburys album its "a bit much" while on the second (Vol 3) album its pretty terrible/distracting/ill-suited to the material. OTOH no Jeff Lynne = no vocal showcase song for Roy Orbison on the first album, as Lynne was the instigator/main writer of the song 'Not Alone Any More'.
But Lynne is not known as a bassist. That's not how he became "super." Keltner ain't exactly a household name. There's a reason he's not on the cover or in the promo pics.