We Knew them When...

[whitefang]

I am not the oldest member on this forum(60). Nor am I all that young. But forum members who are about my age(or older), who were avid music listeners and LP buyers in the far removed pre-CD era can fondly recall the pleasant pastime of hurrying home after buying a new album, ripping off the plastic wrap, placing said LP on the "record player"(I'm sure most in their early teens back then didn't own any state-of-the-art sound), then flopping on their bed to read the liner notes. In doing this, we not only learned the names of all the musicians on a certain recording, but also came to recognize their names on other LPs and followed the progression of their careers.

 

While subsequently other guys never heard of Eric Clapton until he became a guitar "god" with Cream, many of us knew of him long before he was even with John Mayall. We were familiar with Neil Schon from Santana. We recall the early days of Neil Young and Steve Stills with Buffalo Springfield. Boz Scaggs was already a well known name to many of us before he became plastic. Blood, Sweat and Tears? Most of those guys were from Blues Project, weren't they? And I wish I bet real money when I claimed that guy singing with Jeff Beck(who we already knew from the Yardbirds)would go further than Beck himself(of course, Rod Stewart).

 

We became pretty good at "six degrees" games concerning some of these guys. One example; Johnny Winter who gave us Edgar Winter, who gave us Ronnie Montrose, who gave us Sammy Hagar, who went on to Van Halen. etc., etc.

 

It can be fun to play. But if you want to, I have rules...no Wikipedia searches. Memory only. Which is why in my case, I'm limiting my input...

Whitefang

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hey, I'm 44 and I share much of that experience with you, WF.

 

I could- and sometimes still do- trace some guys' membership through King Crimson, Emerson/Lake/Palmer, Yes, Talking Heads, The Buggles, Bears, Asia, and so forth. Or the Deep Purple, Rainbow, Elf, Planet P Project, Black Sabbath, Queen, Bad Company, Dio, Black Label Society, Dragonforce, etc. family tree. GnR is a mess, too, with connections to Blind Melon, Velvet Revolver, STP, and a host of other bands due to its lead guitar revolving door.

 

It's a great way to find new music.

 

Others I've found have prolific "trees" include David Bowie, Bill Laswell, Jonas Hellborg, YJM, and Frank Zappa.

 

Take Zappa, for instance: the entire lineup for Missing Persons worked on his Joe's Garage album.

 

These days, though...so many solo side projects and supergroups and one-shots... Just off the top of my head, we've had a slew of them: Santana and Iommi both released multiple albums with different lineups on each song; Chickenfoot, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, Mr. Bungle, Street Sweeper Social Club, Superheavy, Probot, Poundhouse, the Judgement Night soundtrack...

 

Then you get guys like Kip Winger who mess things up- before he formed his own band, he was a studio musician in LA during the glam-metal boom.

[Sharkman]

Kip Winger played bass for Alice Cooper on the 1986 The Nightmare Returns tour, which was video-recorded in Detroit on October 30th, 1986, and shown the next night on MTV. I just so happened to be at that concert, and videotaped it the next night when it was shown on MTV. And speaking of Alice Cooper, he had a guitarist named Dick Wagner on a couple tours and a few albums. Dick Wagner also played for Lou Reed, and played in place of Joe Perry on some early Aerosmith albums.

[whitefang]

Shark, Dick Wagner was a local Detroit "guitar hero" since '69 with his tenure in FROST("Mystery Man"). See how this works?

Whitefang

[Dr. Ellwood]

But then, inspired by a chance meeting with Dick Wagner and another great guitar player named Joe Sladitch (Flaming Embers)and a unnamed cousin,a very young boy named Fred decided to get some Jams, and, kick em out.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Anybody really want to take a stab at one of the bigger bands? You know, with a long history and a few notable changes, like the aforementioned Yes or Black Sabbath?

 

'Cause those trees will hit 60+ bands easily.

[Griffinator]

Anybody really want to take a stab at one of the bigger bands? You know, with a long history and a few notable changes, like the aforementioned Yes or Black Sabbath?

 

'Cause those trees will hit 60+ bands easily.

 

Sabbath no doubt will hit triple digits, just on the strength of the Dio and Gillan connections, never mind Iommi's brief stint with Tull...

[Dannyalcatraz]

Anybody really want to take a stab at one of the bigger bands? You know, with a long history and a few notable changes, like the aforementioned Yes or Black Sabbath?

 

'Cause those trees will hit 60+ bands easily.

 

Sabbath no doubt will hit triple digits, just on the strength of the Dio and Gillan connections, never mind Iommi's brief stint with Tull...

 

...and Brian May's appearance on Sab's Seventh Star.

 

Heh...and of course, Hear 'n' Aid!

 

[whitefang]

But, haven't we covered something like this in the forum before? About changes in a band's line-up that essentially changes the whole vibe of the band? Yes is a good example. There are those who prefer the "pre-Alan White" Yes. Then there's the "Trevor Rabin" period. Some like it better, some don't like it at all. Still others don't mind it, but notice the vast difference in vibe. That sort of thing worked OK for a group like King Crimson, whose line-up routinely changed, but as they didn't have any particular "sound" you could pidgeonhole, it all worked out great. As we knew where some of them went( ELP, Foriegner, etc.), and where some of them came from (Yes again, for example), they made liner note reading interesting.

Whitefang

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yes is a good example. There are those who prefer the "pre-Alan White" Yes. Then there's the "Trevor Rabin" period. Some like it better, some don't like it at all.

 

And now we're formally into the "David Benoit" period. I have to say, he sounds an awful lot like Jon Anderson, and the new album sounds quite a bit like the classic Yes albums of the 1970s.

[Griffinator]

Yes is a good example. There are those who prefer the "pre-Alan White" Yes. Then there's the "Trevor Rabin" period. Some like it better, some don't like it at all.

 

And now we're formally into the "David Benoit" period. I have to say, he sounds an awful lot like Jon Anderson, and the new album sounds quite a bit like the classic Yes albums of the 1970s.

 

I agree that Benoit is trying really hard to sound like Jon Anderson, but the album is like Yes-gone-adult-contempo to my ears...

[Scott Fraser]

About changes in a band's line-up that essentially changes the whole vibe of the band?

Whitefang

 

Substituting David Gilmour for Syd Barrett could be the ultimate example of that effect.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yes is a good example. There are those who prefer the "pre-Alan White" Yes. Then there's the "Trevor Rabin" period. Some like it better, some don't like it at all.

 

And now we're formally into the "David Benoit" period. I have to say, he sounds an awful lot like Jon Anderson, and the new album sounds quite a bit like the classic Yes albums of the 1970s.

 

I agree that Benoit is trying really hard to sound like Jon Anderson, but the album is like Yes-gone-adult-contempo to my ears...

 

I know what you mean and I know why that is: unlike the classic 70s Yes albums, all of the new album's songs feature Yes' softer side- there are no "harder" passages where they really rock out.

 

But considering that Benoit is the youngest member of the lineup by a bit over a decade, and it's no surprise, really. I suspect it's not that the guys can't rock hard anymore, just that they've mellowed with time...and may not feel the need to do so.

 

Edit: apologies, in case he or his bandmates are reading this thread, but I got his name wrong- its Benoit David.

[Sharkman]

Bringing in Mick Taylor after Brian Jones got the boot really changed the Rolling Stones, for the better.

[whitefang]

Personally, I think Jones got a raw deal. But I can't really disagree with you on this one.

Whitefang

[desertbluesman]

But forum members who are about my age(or older), who were avid music listeners and LP buyers in the far removed pre-CD era can fondly recall the pleasant pastime of hurrying home after buying a new album, ripping off the plastic wrap, placing said LP on the "record player"

 

I remember coming home with the Beatles Sgt Pepper and the Jimi Hendrix Experience album from Atlantic City on the same day, in our town we had to drive 30 miles to AC to get records, which we did every other week. By the way Fang I hit 69 years old last month.

 

And by the way we always bought the 8 track tape of each LP so we could listen on the way home and in the car. Oh yeah those were the days.

[02R96]

Not that I want to turn this into a Yes thread but...

 

I think one of the most striking changes was when Rick Wakeman quit (the first time) and Patrick Moraz joined. Relayer stands alone as a body of work that sounds like nothing else they've ever done. Gone was the Hammond and Mini Moog sound RW favored. Steve how also switched from his Gibson to a Tele.

 

When Rick returned on Going for the One, the Hammond and piano returned also (for the better IMHO).

[GuitarPlayerFL]

Sabbath no doubt will hit triple digits, just on the strength of the Dio and Gillan connections, never mind Iommi's brief stint with Tull...

 

Deep Purple, Rainbow, Sabbath all cross pollinated quite a bit.

 

I always noticed, Yngwie, would try and get singers who worked with Blackmore (Turner, White) Yngwie should have named his band Blackmore's Leftovers instead of Rising Force.