Fantasy Bands
Posted by Patrick Crowther on 20 January 2008 - 7:18pm.
OK, if you could assemble a fantasy band made up of any musicians you like, alive or dead, who would you pick?
Don't worry about conflicting egos and whether it would work... just go on the sound you think they'd create...
One of mine would be...
Vocals - Bobby 'Blue' Bland
Guitar - Wayne Bennett
Guitar - Steve Cropper
Piano - Horace Silver
Bass / Backing Vocals - Rick Danko
Drums - Steve Gadd
Trumpet - Miles Davis
Saxophone - Michael Brecker
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I was tempted to say...
Lead Guitar/Vocals: George Harrison
Rhythm Guitar/Vocals: John Lennon
Bass/Vocals: Paul McCartney
Drums: Ringo Starr
But that would be ridiculous. So I won't.
So keeping away from the more obvious picks and trying for something a tad contemporary, I'd like to hear this lot:
Vocals: Billy McKenzie
Guitar: Johnny Marr
Bass: Peter Hook
Drums: Matt Helders
Ahem... EXCUSE ME!
Drums / Vocals: Ringo Starr
Credit where credit's due!
I refer the honourable gentleman...
...to the Ringo/Ross thread above.
He can play drums in my band but I'm buggered if he's going anywhere near the mike.
Ahhh, but I liked...
his singing when he was in The Beatles! His singing now, however, is like listening to your pissed up grandad doing one of the old songs at Christmas...
ummm....
I'd have:
Vocals - Shane Macgowan
Lead Guitar - Johnny Greenwood
Bass - Mani
Drums - John Bonham
Could be interesting
Spot the odd one out...
There are four chairs round the table in the pub. One is unoccupied. Can we guess which member of this frankly bizarre line up would not be part of the Black Russian downing contest?
Why not have Ollie Reed on guitar and have done with it?!
Superbad supergroup
(Let's introduce them properly...)
[Expectant crowd noise]
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have something very special for you this evening... can we start with a funky beat? Let's get us a funky beat! That's it! Ladies and gentlemen, will you please show your appreciation for the original funky drummer, Mr CLYDE STUBBLEFIELD! Man, that beat feels good.
Now, what about some bass? We want some cool, cool bass. Ah, there it is - please welcome, le freak from Chic, Mr BERNARD EDWARDS! Alright!
Let's add some guitar, some keyboards and some all-round genius - ladies and gentlemen, we're honoured to present to you tonight... Mr STEVIE WONDER and Mr CURTIS MAYFIELD! Yeah! Give it up!
And on vocals, prepare to be dazzled... ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for the King and Queen of Soul, Mr SAM COOKE and Miss ARETHA FRANKLIN!! Let's hear it! Alright!! C'mon!"
[Wild crowd noise and the sound of unsurpassable soul music]
Then I usually wake up.
Shure sahnds...
fonky.
If only ...
Vocals - Van Morrison
Backing vocals - Crosby & Nash
Guitar - Nils Lofgren
Bass - Rick Danko (agreed - good choice!)
Keyboards - Herbie Hancock
Drums - Charlie Watts
Ahem...
Vocals / Greased Gobiron - Van Morrison
OK, here's mine...
OK, here's mine...
Vocals and Hammond Organ/Keys - Steve Winwood
Electric Guitar - Iain Bairnson (obscure, I know but a really tasteful sesion guitar player with a great sound - check out Pilot, Beverley Craven and, heaven help me, the Alan Parsons Project)
Acoustic Guitar - Gordon Giltrap
Bass - Herbie Flowers or Mo Foster (hmmmmm... star session player time again, I guess)
Drums - Bernard "Pretty Boy" Purdie
Backing vocals - Michael McDonald and Beth Rowley
Saxophone - Bob Holness (after all, he played a blinding sax on Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" ;-D ) no, seriously it'd have to be a Brecker brother...
Bernard Purdie...
was my other possible choice on drums. What a player...
Did you see the Aja Classic Albums doc?
Where BP demonstrates the Purdie Shuffle and tells an anecdote whereby, apparently, in the '60s when hired for a session he would put up two big signs either side of his drum kit in the studio reading 'YOU DONE IT! You done hired the "hit maker" - Bernard "Pretty Boy" Purdie'.
Class!
I certainly did...
but I'd forgotten about that! Class, indeed. "Aja" is one of my all-time favourite records. Steely Dan... what a brilliant 'band'. My favourite album, though, is "Gaucho". A somewhat unusual choice, perhaps, but I love the seediness of it... "6.05, outside the stadium... special delivery for Hoops McCann" - genius!
Game, Set & Match
Please, Patrick's nailed it. Beginning and end of story.
(However, thinking about it, what about;
Vocals - Kathy Kirby
Backing vocals - Clodagh Rodgers & Tommy Quickly
Bass - it's completely irrelevant. Or Reg Presley.
Lead Guitar - Ron Wood
Drums - The gorilla from that TV ad).
Now, let's think of the tracklist, cover and concept.
I reckon EMI is first port of call for a substantial advance. We just need to get Kathy & Clodagh up close to Guy Hands. (Do they still have Harvest? It would be perfect)
Gorilla on drums...
good shout.
Bobby Bland
Would probably be my choice for singer too. But since he's already taken, I'll go for:
Vocals: Otis Redding
Guitar: Bob Mould
Bass: Chris Squire
Drums: Dave Grohl
All the songs would be written by Jimmy Webb.
Hmmm. I imagine this would actually amount to much less than the sum of its parts.
Chris Squire...
Fraser, have you bought "Chris Squire's Swiss Choir" by any chance?!
Maximum racket
Vocals: Rod Stewart (early 1970s version obviously)
Guitar: Jack White
Guitar: Ronnie Wood
Bass: John Entwistle
Drums: John Bonham
That would swing in a tight but loose sort of way...
To anyone who thinks the bass is irrelevant watch this
The word...
'virtuoso' springs to mind. That was incredible. He was the master of rock bass playing.
Amazing, amazing, amazing.
And there's a great little moment...
at 1.26 when he fluffs a note and grimaces! "What? I, the Ox, make a mistake?"
And here's why:
Drums: Dave Mattacks ("It'll be me"/Richard and Linda Thompson, version off "Guitar/vocal")
Bass: Carl Radle ("Let it Rain"/Eric Clapton)
Rhythm Guitar: Neal Hubbard (Grease band/Kokomo/Roxy, reliably solid all round)
Lead Guitar: Albert Lee (His Emmylou work)
Pedal Steel: BJ Cole ("Country Feedback"/R.E.M. live on telly years ago)
Organ: Garth Hudson ("Stage Fright", live on "Down in the Flood", Dylan/Band)
Piano: Roy Bittan ("The River" Springsteen)
Sax: Richie Buckley (Any Mary Coughlan)
Trumpet: Wayne Jackson (Work with Robert Cray)
Trombone: Rico Rodrigues (Siding with the Specials)
Vocals: Jim Morrison (Sheer bloody mindedness here, but he was a damn fine singer: contrast "Hyacinth House" and "Crawling King Snake" from "L.A. Woman" and tell me otherwise.
B.vocals: Christine Collister (Cos she can!)
Alternatively.......
Fiddle: John McCusker ("Lament to Ravenscraig"/Battlefield Band or Fiddlers Five)
Guitar: Martn Simpson (All his new LP!!!)
Melodeon: John Kirkpatrick ("Oakham Poachers")
Dble bass: Danny Thompson (On the last Paul Brady LP)
Vocals: John Tams ("Gresford Disaster", end verses or "The Partys Over"/Albion Band
That would be...
fingerintheeartastic.
Only joking... I used to work at Topic Records, so folk music for me is a fine thing.
May I introduce to the stage... "Big Bottom"
Bass / Vocals - Derek Smalls
Bass - Paul McCartney
Bass - John Entwistle
Bass - Jack Bruce
Bass - Donald 'Duck' Dunn
Drums - Gene Krupa
Or.....
Banjo : Gene Parsons ("Banjo Dog"/Kindling)
Fiddle : Vassar Clements ("Will the Circle be Unbroken, Vol 1"/Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
Mandolin : Chris Thile (New LP)
Guitar : Clarence White (Any! Be great to see him re-united with Gene Parsons)
Dobro: Norman Blake ("Nashville Skyline")
(Enough already, back to work......)
is it 1975?
Looking at the majority of these 'supergroups' it seems as though most bloggers are sat at home wearing kaftans, cheesecloth shirts and flared jeans, doused in patchouli oil, smoking rollies and reading back copies of Melody Maker whilst feverishly waiting for Whistle Test to start.
It's like Punk never happened...
Personally...
I wish punk hadn't happened. Or at least that people would stop banging on about a scene that had about 3 genuinely great groups.
Is it 1975?
No, Mr Drayton, but i fear that the clean slate of '75 may have been a tad short of the instrumentalists we are looking for......
but
for you and all the youngsters
Drums: Clem Burke (most of his output)
Bass: J.J. Burnel (pt 3 endpiece of "Down in the Sewer"/Stranglers)
Keys: Steve Nieve (most of his output)
Guitar: John Ellis ("Baby,Baby"/Vibrators)
Vocals : Siouxsie ("Hong Kong Garden")
Of course all these punk rockers (sic) are now my age or more
A punk/ postpunk supergroup
Maybe its because the whole idea of supergroups was supposedly anathema to punk? Anyway, here's my suggestion:
Singer: Polly Styrene
Guitar: John McKay (early Banshees)
Bass: Jah Wobble
Drums: Rat Scabies
And then...
Guitar - Richard Thompson
Second guitar - Ry Cooder
Drums - Pete Thomas
Double Bass - Danny Thomas
Vocals and Piano - Ed Harcourt
Backing vocals - Emmylou Harris
oops
Danny Thompson of course
Cosmidelic sex blues orchestra
The folly of supergroups should be apparent to anyone who has ever watched the opening jam on an episode of Later with Jools Holland. However…
Vocals: Bessie Smith / Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian)
Guitars: Prince
Keyboards: Sun Ra
Bass: Romi Mori (The Gun Club)
Drums: Mo Tucker (The Velvet Underground)
Periods of silence in-between songs: Mark Hollis (Talk Talk)
Bez: Bez
I think I'm starting to regret...
using the word 'supergroup' for this thread. Really all I meant was musicians who would work well together... unlike the racket that opens Later... every week.
I'd love to hear...
Vocals - Gavin Clarke (Sunhouse/Clayhill) & Robert Plant & Jeff Buclkey (give me a break, how can I chose between those three!)
Bass -John Entwhistle
Rhythm guitar - Keef
Lead guitar - Johnny Greenwood
Drums - Zak Starkey
I'd pay hundresd to see that!! Why not, it cost me £326 for two Stones tickets!
Introducing...
Steve Morris on drums
Kim Deal on bass
Keith Levene on guitar
Alexis Taylor on vocals and Casiotone MT-70
Count Basie Orchestra on triangle
LOL!
Does each member of the Count Basie Orchestra get a triangle, or do they take it in turns to use it?
The triangle... should have been the instrument of punk, as not even Sid Vicious could mess that up.
Kim Deal
Kim Deal on bass and BACKING VOCALS. All the great Pixies songs have her singing on them, then she stopped and the last two albums suffer massively from the loss.
er,guess who...
....is in work & didn't check her spelling 'cos he boss was coming...Jeff Buclkey - who's he?!
Not sure...
but he sounds good though!
Sussed you out!
Patrick - you are Tommy Saxondale. I demand my ten pounds.
I am not concerned with being cool.
That is something I gave up on a long, long time ago.
I celebrate the ludicrous excesses of rock n' roll...
Metal meets folk-rock
Vocals - Van Morrison (greatest singer of any genre) and Shirley Manson from Garbage so they can do that Pixies thing with the boy-girl vocals complimenting each other
Guitar - Jimmy Page (probably the most imaginative of the classic 70's guitar heroes)
Bass - Roger Waters (just for the songwriting, I have no strong opinion on his bass playing one way or the other) (the best bass I've heard is on a song called "The Collector" by Nine Inch Nails. It sounds like an elephant)
Drums - Danny Carey (From the prog-metal band Tool where he is pretty much the lead instrument)
Of course successful musicians getting together late in their careers will never have a spark of "it" so they'd probably recorded an overlong, self-indulgent piece of crap.