One-man bands

threefates wrote: illustrated wrote: Another obvious one... Pnk Floyd. They just weren't the same after Roger Waters left. Albums like The Divison Bell are good, but they are nowhere near the quality of Animals, WYWH, DSOTM, Meddle, Atom Heart Mother... even The Wall. <>The only reason why I didn't mention Piper is because it was predominantly Syd Barrett. Actually I know a lot of people who would disagree with you on that.  And evidently according to sales, PF did just as well, if not better after Roger Waters was gone.  Personally I think TDB and AMLOR are just as good, if not better than the Wall, and quite a few earlier Floyd albums.

I'd be one of those people. (/steps on soapbox)

I rate The Division Bell easily as one of the Floyd's top 3 albums. It takes a LOT of effort to 'get over' the absence of Roger Waters on it, his lyrical ability is obviously missed here. But when this is finally accomplished you will find that this album is the most 'Floydian' since WYWH, and is moving musically. Roger's heavy bootprint weighed so large on everything Animals (still my favourite Floyd album) and after that Rick Wright's sound was completely absent, and even Dave's input became trivialized. Won't comment on AMLOR here now though. The Div Bell saw Rick Wright not only writing Floyd music again, but also writing lyrics AND singing, something he hadn't done with Floyd since DSOTM! Ask any hardcore Floyd fan and they will tell you just how important Rick Wright's voice and keyboard 'sound' is to the music of Floyd. (SOYCD, Us & Them, Great Gig, Echoes, Time, etc)

The Div Bell meant that Floyd was a true band again, making music TOGETHER just like ol' times.

And there was much rejoicing...


Edited by Cluster One

frenchie wrote: wasn't porcupine tree actually a one man band for one point?

Yep, Porcupine Tree was originally just Steve Wilson. And frankly, even
with the great musicians now in the band, if Wilson ever leaves PT, it will
cease to exist.

For me, "one man bands" are the "bands" which aren`t really bands, because the rest of the musicians are almost the employees of the leader. It is really a soloist working under a band`s name, IMO.

Examples: Jethro Tull; Crash Test Dummies; The Cure; Oasis;Van der Graaf Generator;The Kinks; etc.

The Doors didn`t split very soon after Jim Morrison died. They recorded two albums as a trio (with some extra musicians): "Other Voices" (1971) and "Full Circle" (1972). Their label (Elektra Records) had some confidence in them as musicians, so Elektra signed them again after Morrison died (because their contract with Elektra was finished with their last album with Morrison, "L.A. Woman", also released in 1971). They were rehearsing without Morrison, when he went to Paris. When he died there, they had doubts to carry on, but the confidence of Elektra gave them confidence in themselves. They thought a bit  about changing the name of the band, but they didn`t change it. They toured with exta musicians for those two albums, which are good albums, IMO, as the trio were themselves very good musicians. But sales of those albums were not as good as before. Krieger and Manzarek sang, doing a decent job. After their last tour, in late 1972, they went to England to look for a new lead singer. But Manzarek left Krieger and Densmore, and The Doors split then. Krieger and Densmore carried on playing together with a new band called "The Butts Band" which recorded two albums and split in 1975."Other Voices" and "Full Circle" are out of print since a long time ago. I saw in the Internet that they were relased on CD in Russia, but this release (both albums in one CD) is not legal, I think.

Some years ago, in the late 90s, The Doors appeared in a "Storytellers" TV programme with various singers, including Ian Atsbury. After that, Krieger and Manzarek wanted to continue with Atsbury on vocals. But Densmore left them, and sued them because he didn`t want them to use "The Doors" name. So, Manzarek and Krieger continued touring with Atsbury, Stewart Copeland on drums (for a short time; he was later replaced by another drummer) and a bassist, as "The Doors of the 21st Century". It seems that they also wanted to record new songs.

Guillermo...  I've been very interested in those two post-Morrison Doors albums for quite some time.  You mention that they're good albums.  Could you perhaps describe to me some more what the albums SOUND like?  I ask this since The Doors went through some obvious major changes from their debut to LA Woman...  Are these albums more in the blues-rock tradition of their last two studio albums, or does it harken back to their more psychedelic/loungy earlier material?

John Gargo wrote: Guillermo...  I've been very interested in those two post-Morrison Doors albums for quite some time.  You mention that they're good albums.  Could you perhaps describe to me some more what the albums SOUND like?  I ask this since The Doors went through some obvious major changes from their debut to LA Woman...  Are these albums more in the blues-rock tradition of their last two studio albums, or does it harken back to their more psychedelic/loungy earlier material?

I haven't hear those albums, but I heared a musical critic, which opinion I rely on, speak so bad about them that I never bother to listen to them.

mirco wrote: John Gargo wrote: Guillermo...  I've been very interested in those two post-Morrison Doors albums for quite some time.  You mention that they're good albums.  Could you perhaps describe to me some more what the albums SOUND like?  I ask this since The Doors went through some obvious major changes from their debut to LA Woman...  Are these albums more in the blues-rock tradition of their last two studio albums, or does it harken back to their more psychedelic/loungy earlier material? I haven't hear those albums, but I heared a musical critic, which opinion I rely on, speak so bad about them that I never bother to listen to them.

Mirco:

Sometimes I tend to be more against  the opinions of some of the musical critics. It seems that sometimes when they speak badly of some album, I like the album, or when they praise a lot one album, I don`t agree with them. For example, some critics say that "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" is Genesis` best album. For me, it`s not the best, I prefer "A Trick of the Tail" and others. Other critics say that without Roger Waters Pink Floyd was over. But I prefer "The Divsion Bell" much more than "The Wall". In the case of The Doors and other bands (like Genesis), I prefer to have an open mind to listen to their albums without their very  praised lead singers. Both lead singers were very important for both bands, but the sound of the bands as a whole was done by every member of the band, not only by their singers. If you have listened to a Doors`compilation album called "13" (not released on CD), you can see in the back cover of that L.P.  that the songs have individual songwriting  credits and that Morrison didn`t compose all the songs by himself. For example, "Light My Fire" was composed by Krieger. Maybe some bands don`t  sound the same without some members, but if they have talent, they can compose good music too.

Edited by Guillermo

Jethro Tull

Dixie Dregs

Genesis

Spock´s Beard

Marillion

Van Der Graaf Generator

IQ

ELP

King Crimson

Etc.............................


Edited by Velvetclown

Twelfth Night - no Geoff Mann, no Twelfth Night

Yes without Jon Anderson or Steve Howe

Naked City, Massada and Painkiller without John Zorn

Camel without Andy Latimer

Pendragon without Nick Barrett

Type O'Negative without Peter Steele

Metallica without Cliff Burton. It's been a downward spiral since "Master...".  Any of the others can be replaced, yes, even Hetfield, the singers from Threshold, Evereve or The Quiet Room being potential candidates.

Manunkind wrote: Yes without Jon Anderson or Steve Howe

 

Take a listen to Peter Banks guitarwork on the  first two Yes albums (very few effects pedals in those days!)  and then the first two studio and the live Flash albums, and the guitarist has his moments!

Manunkind wrote: Dick Heath wrote: Manunkind wrote: Yes without Jon Anderson or Steve Howe   Take a listen to Peter Banks guitarwork on the  first two Yes albums (very few effects pedals in those days!)  and then the first two studio and the live Flash albums, and the guitarist has his moments! I heard one of the Flash albums you mentioned, and Peter Banks is without a doubt a fine guitarist. Nonetheless, if he replaced Howe, Yes wouldn't be Yes anymore, although they would probably still produce good music...

I agree. Peter Banks is a very good musician. His work, particularly in YES`first album, is great. In "Time and a Word" his guitar is also good, but the mixing and the use of an orchestra made difficult to listen to his guitars. I also like the first album of "Flash". He sounds very creative there.