famous bands (or significant portions thereof) who backed up a solo artist or were absorbed into an existing band for a single album: the thread

Like this:

The Buggles on Yes's 90125
Pearl Jam on Neil Young's Mirrorball
The Dirty Two-Thirds on Cat Power's Moon Pix
Clover (aka most of the News, of 'Huey Lewis and the' fame) on Elvis Costello's My Aim is True

GO!

Okkervil River were Roky Erickson's backing band on True Love Cast Out All Evil.

The Band obv

Most of Slint backed up Will Oldham early on

A side-project, but REM backing Warren Zevon

I guess single songs might be acceptable here as well (eg REM on Liz Phair's 'Fantasize'). Although that might make things unwieldy mighty quick.

little feat on john cale's paris 1919

Grateful Dead on David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name
Dungen on Melody's Echo Chamber's Bon Voyage
Lots of Tropicalia/MPB, e.g. Os Mutantes on Gilberto Gil's 1968 self-titled ablum, and Marcos Valle's respective albums backed by O Terço and Azimuth

too bad no other VU members ever did an album with a famous band

I think Drama is the Yes album that was more Buggles-absorbent. 90125 had but one Buggle, Trevor Horn (as producer, not as a band member).

xpost also Little Feat on Akiko Yano's Japanese Girl

i see you president keyes

The Dirty Three have been a backing band for Nick Cave and Bonnie Prince Billy, among others

non-Stipe REM backed up Zevon iirc.

I think Drama is the Yes album that was more Buggles-absorbent. 90125 had but one Buggle, Trevor Horn (as producer, not as a band member).

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, June 5, 2019 11:00 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thank you. Just wanted to throw some half-remembered examples out there to get this thing rolling, secure in the knowledge that y'all would eventually correct my wild + irresponsible misstatements.

Speaking of Bonnie Prince Billy, The Brave and the Bold with Tortoise.

Labelle backing Laura Nyro

Jerry Lee Lewis backed by the Nashville Teens, Live at the Star Club Hamburg

Wonder if Nick Lowe and those masked surf rockers count.

I’m guessing President Keyes was referring to Loutallica, but didn’t the Blue Orchids play on a Nico album?

YMO all played on Akiko Yano's ごはんができたよ (Gohan ga Dekitayo) LP in 1980, I have the feeling there's several hundred more examples of them doing something like this but I'm not trawling all the way through Discogs to find out.

The whole soulquarians era has a whole bunch of The Roots on albums by D’Angelo, Badu, Common, etc

Toto on about half of Thriller

The Small Faces as the backing band for P.P. Arnold on "If You Think You're Groovy":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMuE5hAADRs

Dunno how/if this would count, but the then-Who (Townshend, Entwistle, Kenney Jones) as backing band for Roger Daltrey on most of the McVicar soundtrack, billed as a Daltrey solo album.

Linda Ronstadt backed by the Eagles on her 3rd album

Three Beatles backing up Jackie Lomax on "Sour Milk Sea."

Dunno how/if this would count, but the then-Who (Townshend, Entwistle, Kenney Jones) as backing band for Roger Daltrey on most of the McVicar soundtrack, billed as a Daltrey solo album.

Kinda similar to the Dead backing Bob Weir on his first solo alb?

Alternatively, all of Led Zeppelin before they became Led Zeppelin playing on PJ Proby's Three Week Hero?

Sleater-Kinney backing the Go-Betweens on The Friends of Rachel Worth.

Midlake on John Grant's solo debut.

Rockpile on that Charlene Carter album and Mickey Jupp's Juppanese.

The Heartbreakers w/Johnny Cash.

The Meters AND Little Feat on the first three Robert Palmer lps.

Nucleus graduually became the Soft machine

Soft machine backed Syd Barret on solo stuff

Gun Club/Fur Bible backed Legendary Stardust cowboy on a tour in the uk in 1985, sans jeffrey lee pierce of course.

I think the band on the live Foetus lp Rife was the band touring as the Swans at about the same time.

Kaleidoscope (US) back Leonard cohen on several tracks on his first lp

band backing Gordon Jackson on Thinking Back is a mix of all of Traffic and several of Family

The Heartbreakers on Roger McGuinn's Back From Rio.

P-Funk did this multiple times obviously -U.S. Soul, the JBs, Madhouse

Funkadelic backed the Temptations and Chairmen of the Board etc

I guess Henry Cow and Slapp Happy belong here, but I don't know the exact nature of how they crossed over.

Wilco backing Scott McCaughey on the Minus 5 Down with Wilco album, and backing Billy Bragg on many tracks of Mermaid Avenue (though sort of credited as the title artist)

Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit were on the first Eurythmics album plus some other records, although by that point Can were finished and they were kind of the Sly n' Robbie of Krautrock anyway.

Faust on Tony Conrad's Outside The Dream Syndicate

Can on the debut album by Alex (Wiska) - Czukay/Liebezeit, to be exact, with Karoli on one track.

... 1973?

Kaleidoscope (US) back Leonard cohen on several tracks on his first lp

!! I did not know this

Idiot Flesh/Sleepytime Gorilla Museum nucleus is also the backing band on early Charming Hostess material (which rules btw)

Love And Rockets as backup band for The Jazz Butcher

I guess since I started the thread I'm at liberty to broaden the purview and will do so now to include famous bands which morphed, in a more permanent way, into other famous bands (eg Joy Division > New Order, The Ants > Bow Wow Wow) if only because I know you boffins will come up with more archaic examples that will blow my mind.

Drive-By Truckers were the band for Bettye LaVette album The Scene of the Crime

Spoon backed up Sally Crewe on Drive it Like You Stole It.

I guess since I started the thread I'm at liberty to broaden the purview and will do so now to include famous bands which morphed, in a more permanent way, into other famous bands (eg Joy Division > New Order, The Ants > Bow Wow Wow)

Related: Bands sucking other entire bands into themselves

Cobra Verde on GBV's Mag Earwhig

Thanks, morrisp. TBRR, I'd be shocked if there isn't already an extant thread devoted to this topic in general.

famous bands which morphed, in a more permanent way, into other famous bands

The Hawks becoming the Band = I guess an example of this (and also sort of an example of the "famous backing band" scenario, although they became more famous after they struck out on their own?)

The Band backed Dylan again on Planet Waves and Before The Flood.

Which reminds me: The Band on the self-titled Bobby Charles album.

'Japanese Girl' by Akiko Yano had Litle Feat appear on it for most of the record.

too bad no other VU members ever did an album with a famous band

i see you president keyes

Paul Cook and Steve Jones on Johnny Thunders’ So Alone.

Although they didn’t play on the whole album so doesn’t seem to count.

So Alone is an allstar session innit. Phil Lynnott and members of the oNly Ones and people too aren't there.

CTI Allstars got around a lot and were Allstars too weren't they?

Who is band on Love , Devotion, Surrender. THat's half of 2 groups or something innit?

a way more fun example of Yes is on that Frankie Goes to Hollywood record, though it probably doesn't count since it's just Trevor Horn & Steve Howe

I think the first few records by The Tangent were just Andy Tillison + The Flower Kings

Teddy Lasry's Univeria Zekt basically was Magma

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band made not one but two albums as the backup band (although supplemented with Asbury Jukes members and others) for Gary U.S. Bonds.

Faust's rhythm section plays on Slapp Happy's Acnalbasac Noom

Frankie Ford’s “Sea Cruise” vocal was superimposed over a backing track recorded by Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns but not sure about who played on the album.

Two members of Darker My Love (Tim Presley and Rob Barbato) were drafted into The Fall for Reformation Post TLC, though I dunno how famous they were.

not very I don't think, but I was aware of them (and saw them live once) because my brother-in-law was a fan. Tim Presley might be better known for White Fence now

Bunch of Triffids on Bill Drummond's The Man LP

That Ellen Foley record with The Clash on it

Durutti Column people on the Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls LP

Booker T & The MGs (w/Stephen Still subbing for Steve Cropper) are the backing band on Bill Withers' Just As I Am.

Also on Neil Young’s Are you Passionate

Little Feat on Paris 1919

That was already mentioned upthread

There's an Arthur Lee live album with Shack as the backing band.

Ian Hunter's LP "You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic" has the E-Street rhythm section (Garry Tallent- bass
Max Weinberg - drums & Roy Bittan- keyboards) with Mick Ronson producing and playing lead guitar. It even has John Cale playing on one track too. Good record.

Faust's rhythm section plays on Slapp Happy's Acnalbasac Noom

― Ambient Police (sleeve)

Goddamn it, way to steal my answer ;_;

How about Dolly Mixture backing Captain Sensible, then?

There's an Arthur Lee live album with Shack as the backing band.

― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 10:45 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I saw 2 nights of that tour. London and Liverpool. Arthur Lee even paid me back after i'd had to pay in in Liverpool when he'd said he'd put me on the guestlist. Quite amazing.

xp emil.y I didn't know that one either!

Ian Hunter's LP "You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic" has the E-Street rhythm section (Garry Tallent- bass
Max Weinberg - drums & Roy Bittan- keyboards) with Mick Ronson producing and playing lead guitar. It even has John Cale playing on one track too. Good record.

Buncha E Street guys on Bat Out of Hell too.

The Hollies and some British session dudes (including Jimmy Page) provide most of the backing on Two Yanks In England by The Everly Bros.

The Weirdos backing Lydia Lunch on 13.13

Honeymoon in Red is her with the birthday party.
Some Velvet morning is her with the future These Immortal Souls
& the collaboration with Rowland S Howard as Shotgun Wedding is pretty great too

I believe all of Pere Ubu appeared on the Red Crayola's Soldier-Talk (...plus Lora Logic, as well!)

good call! also on Kangaroo?

and the amazing 'Born In Flames' single

Those have different personnel -- Epic Soundtracks, Gina Birch, Lora Logic, Ben Annesley... plus Allen Ravenstine from Pere Ubu played on Kangaroo?, not sure about the amazing "Born in Flames" single

(jammin' "Born in Flames" now; I don't hear Ravenstine's synth)

oh yeah you're right, even Ravenstine isn't on the single, my bad

your *good*; got me listening to Red C.... :)

Todd Rundgren & Utopia on Shaun Cassidy's Wasp.

Sunn O))) and Scott Walker

^^ thought of that one, too, but it seems more of a collaboration instead of one band acting as a backing band tbh

The Dap-Kings on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, at least quite a lot of it

the olivia tremor control back up kahimi karie on her "once upon a time" ep

oh, how about cheap trick backing up john lennon on one song?

also this is stretching the definition of "famous" but giles, giles, & fripp backed up al stewart on a bbc session for "my kind of folk" in late '68

i've heard the session, ggf sound fucking awful

Liza Minnelli's Results: produced by Pet Shop Boys, 7 out of 10 songs written for the album by Tennant / Lowe (plus three covers), played on by both Boys and sung on by Neil, plus regular PSB guitarist J.J. Belle, and frequent collaborators Anne Dudley and Julian Mendelsohn. (with bonus Angelo Badalementi!)

Dunno how/if this would count, but the then-Who (Townshend, Entwistle, Kenney Jones) as backing band for Roger Daltrey on most of the McVicar soundtrack, billed as a Daltrey solo album.

Kinda similar to the Dead backing Bob Weir on his first solo alb?

Morrissey's third solo single features four members of The Smiths on both sides. (Craig Gannon, not Johnny Marr, on guitar.)


Sleater-Kinney backing the Go-Betweens on The Friends of Rachel Worth.

Only on one song ftr.


Bunch of Triffids on Bill Drummond's The Man LP

All the Triffids bar singer David McComb, plus Kid Chaos from Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction, and "Voices Of The Beehive" on backing vox iirc.


That Ellen Foley record with The Clash on it

Spirit Of St Louis - this is straight-up a fourth disc of Sandinista!, right down to the lineup including Mickey Gallagher on keyboards, Norman Watt-Roy on bass, and Tymon Dogg on violin. Half the songs are written by Strummer / Jones, Tymon Dogg wrote a few, Bill Price engineered and "My Boyfriend" produced (ie Mick).

Bonus points to Ian Hunter's Short Back & Sides, 8/10 of which is produced / sung on / guitared by Mick Jones & Mick Ronson, with Bill Price engineering, plus Topper on drums, Tymon on violin and Ellen singing.

Sub Quasi for S-K on Rachel Worth then.

Spirit Of St Louis - this is straight-up a fourth disc of Sandinista!

OK I gotta hear this, always passed it over

Sub Quasi for S-K on Rachel Worth then.

It’s not good! But it’s a curiosity.

xpost

jeez, way to kill my enthusiasm there :)

I think a couple of PAVEMENT guys were on the first Silver Jews.

Jim O'Rourke and Sonic Youth.

Malk & Nasty were in the Joos before both were in Pavement

jeez, way to kill my enthusiasm there :)

just didn't want to get your hopes unnecessarily raised! I'm totally down with all of Sandinista itself as a coherent listen, no make-a great-single-album fantasy games, but the songwriting well was getting dry by the time they got to Side H.

I had it on 2nd-hand LP in the early '00s, should give it another ear myself in case I'm being mean

ooh there's an "expanded edition" on Spotify, bring it on

The Rolling Stones on John Phillips' Pay, Pack, and Follow/Pussycat.

The Lilys were basically Kurt Heasley backed by The Beachwood Sparks circa 2001-2.

Another Booker T & The MGs one: The Detroit-Memphis Experiment w/Mitch Ryder.

Dungen on Melody's Echo Chamber's Bon Voyage

I've listened to this album tons of times and never knew this. Makes total sense though.

Not a full album, but Earth Wind & Fire were the backing band for half of Ramsey Lewis's Sun Goddess.

Chic became the backing band

Chic became the backing band for several already-established artists for an album or two, such as Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, and Debbie Harry.

Ornette Coleman's group => Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell and Charlie Haden backing John Coltrane on The Avant Garde

The Ruts were the backing band for the first half of Kevin Coyne's "Sanity Stomp" double album (Robert Wyatt et al on the second half).

An early version of Earth Wind and Fire are the band on Melvin Van peebles Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song which includes vocals by him.

Don't think I've seen a listing for who the backing players on the 3 solo lps by him are but they're also pretty great. Don't think there are credits for them on the solo lps and definitely aren't on the Rated X By An All White Jury set I have them as.

Eno backed by The Winkies for a Peel session and tour, if that qualifies?

There’s a song on Kelis’s Wanderland where the three instrumentalists from No Doubt are her backing band.

another Meters example, they all played on Dr. John's In the Right Place and Desitively Bonnaroo
albums.

Beak> produced and played on Anika's (now Exploded View) debut album.

Ah shit, that's a good one that I should've thought of.

Devo backed Toni Basil on her debut album, Word Of Mouth

!!!

The Cars backed Bebe Buell on an EP.

The Sadies became Neko Case's backing band for a little while.

You guys, the Meters and Booker T & the MG s don't count, they were essentially session units that happened to release instrumental records too. They backed up everyone.

The Wondermints were Brian Wilson's band for a while.

The Sadies did an album with John Doe too.

Three-quarters of Talking Heads recorded an entire album in this vein:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Talking,_Just_Head

(...wow, I didn’t know that Byrne sued them over it)

8. "Indie Hair" (Kowalczyk)
Vocals and lyrics by Ed Kowalczyk – 3:49

I liked the album, but the Kowalczyk track really sucks. Shaun Ryder one is p bad too, really recapturing that Yes Please! magic.

(they toured with Johnette as lead singer & were planning a second album with her until Byrne sued)

Wondermints are one for the other thread. Two of ‘em have stayed in Wilson’s band for two decades, the third has been in & out for years at a time, and Darian has been his main arranger on some projects, but they’re sidemeeces playing in a bigger band. Brian’s onstage and ontour right-hand-man redefected to the Beach Boys a few years ago, incidentally.

^ doesn’t fit the thread but felt on-topic!

Yo La Tengo were Ray Davies's backing band for a few shows in 2000

Big Mama Thornton has an album called “With the Muddy Waters Blues Band”. That ones self explanatory.

Kaleidoscope (US) back Leonard cohen on several tracks on his first lp

^also backed larry williams & johnny guitar watson on a single release in '68

there's at least a couple of byrds on david hemmings' happens

two thirds of the cake were in ginger baker's airforce

arbete och fritid on margareta soderberg's sole album

elephant's memory on ono's approximately infinite universe

& the holy modal rounders became fugs for the duration of their first lp

(stretching the famous qualifier on some of these, maybe)

the holy modal rounders became fugs for the duration of their first lp

I knew there was some crossover like this, but couldn’t remember the details...

Dr. John's band backing up James Booker on the Lost Paramount Tapes.

another esp-disk crossover: erica pomerance's you used to think features all the members of octopus

One of my favorite shows ever was Elliott Smith with Quasi. I want to say ...Quasi played first, as the usual duo, then he joined them on bass, then they backed him for his set?

only ever heard one track off this on the epitaph for a legend comp but 13th floor elevators/lightnin' hopkins!

or, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Form_Patterns

^^Just the rhythm section. Stacy Sutherland wasn't able to make the session, and was mad about that for a long time afterwards.

ctrl + f "Metallica"

it goes w/o saying

You talking about when Lou Reed backed them up?

Oh, have we mentioned David Bowie in Iggy's band?

The Band on Clapton's No Reason To Cry

Rhythm section from Big Country became Pete Townshend's band, iirc.

Los Lobos backing Paul Simon (who was frontin').

should give it another ear myself in case I'm being mean

I wasn’t

Rhythm section from Big Country became Pete Townshend's band, iirc.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, June 7, 2019 8:32 AM (one minute ago)

SDRE's rhythm section became Foo Fighters'.

Astrobal is the band for Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble.

xxp yeah I burned out somewhere during side 2 as you noted, still a neat curio and it's cool to hear Strummer on vocals

Badfinger on All Things Must Pass

Rhythm section from Big Country became Pete Townshend's band, iirc.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, June 7, 2019 11:32 AM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Tony Butler (bass) and Mark Brzezicki (drums) only played together on one of the Empty Glass tracks ("A Little Is Enough"), though Tony played on the whole album. They may have played together on some tracks on All The Best Cowboys and White City, but I don't know which ones -- there are multiple drummers and bassists listed for each of those albums, but no track-by-track breakdown.

JSBX on RL Burnside's "A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey"

members of the Posies joining reunited Big Star

The dB's (well, minus Chris Stamey and plus Mitch Easter) backed up Kimberley Rew for a single, collected on The Bible of Bop

This thread

One of my favorite shows ever was Elliott Smith with Quasi. I want to say ...Quasi played first, as the usual duo, then he joined them on bass, then they backed him for his set?

Tony Levin wouldn't actually join King Crimson until 1981 or so, but both him and Fripp are on the Roches 1979 debut.

The Fripp/Levin connection probably started in 1978 on Peter Gabriel's 2nd album.

The Jayhawks back Joe Henry on 'Short Man's Room', also there's Vic Chestnutt's 'Salesman and Bernadette' where he's backed by Lambchop.

Thank you! I knew Lambchop did this but had totally forgotten about that (great) album. Yesterday I spend some time googling "did Lambchop back Yo La Tengo on tour" and "lambchop east river pipe" and other plausible combinations.

isn't there a david kilgour album with lambchop backing him? (have a vague memory from seeing them in the early 2000s with an encore consisting of tally ho! with kilgour taking the vocals)

Some of Lambchop appear on David Kilgour's Frozen Orange - both acts would have been on Merge at the time?

Coldcut were in contractual disguise as The Plastic Population on Yazz's The Only Way Is Up.

2/3s of Gone became half of the Rollins Band before one of them was replaced by Melvin Gibbs who is famous in his own right.

^ that Rollins Band lineup was later replaced wholesale by the young members of non-famous metal band Mother Superior

(before a brief and aggravating reunion tour of the prior lineup, that proved to be the end of his musical career, Rollins reissued all the albums by the third lineup, now on his own label, as Henry Rollins & Mother Superior)

all half

Speaking of half, can someone sort out the Moe Tucker Half Japanese thing for me? Sorry, it’s been a while.

I saw them in 88 or 89 . I think it was Moe, thae current line up of half japanese plus a guitarist who was putting things out through 50 Skidillion Watts which was the half japanese label. Charlie something I think. I'm picturing him as having a haircut like the guy in Lexx the sci fi show.

xpost There was once a Yo La Tengo tour with Lambchop opening, where Yo La Tengo featured Mac from Superchunk and David Kilgour as auxiliary members. I seem to recall seeing them here in 2000 or so and most of everyone encoring with Tally-ho!.

xp Thinking of Moe Tucker, I heard she was the original drummer for the band that became Sun City Girls back when the Bishop brothers were working under the name Paris 1942

Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are, oddly enough, the rhythm section on some of Nanci Griffith's "Flyer." And all of U2 play on the first Robbie Robertson album, though that makes a little more sense.

Todd Rundgren & Utopia on Shaun Cassidy's Wasp.

The Cure backing up their postman (?) for the "I'm A Cult Hero/I Dig You" single.

This happened a fair bit in the '60s for British blues bands. Most of Fleetwood Mac backed up Otis Spann (Mick Fleetwood wasn't involved) on the fantastic "The Biggest Thing Since Colossus" LP. The Yardbirds backed up Sonny Boy Williamson II in '63. Along the same "British Invasion band backing up Americans", the Hollies backed up the Everly Brothers - and wrote most of the songs - on "Two Yanks in England" (also a fantastic record)

The Animals backed up Sonny Boy II, uh, too.

Clover & Elvis Costello

Believe that was mentioned upthread, as was Two Yanks in England.

can someone sort out the Moe Tucker Half Japanese thing for me? Sorry, it’s been a while.

they toured together with HJ as the backing band for Moe, also I think HJ is the band on Life In Exile?

The Cure backing up their postman (?)

Obscured by subsequent lineup changes in and famousness of the Cure, but this was a Crawley supergroup of various non-famous people, including Robert on guitar and Lol on drums. Bassist Michael Dempsey is relegated to keyboards, the keyboardist for the Magazine Spys also plays keyboards, the bassist for the Mag Spys plays bass, Robert’s sister’s boyfriend plays second guitar, Robert’s sister and Robert’s other sister and another local band are on backing vocals. It was, yes, a local postman on lead vocals.

Having checked that they could be drunk all night in a studio together, Robert fired Dempsey & hired the Mag Spys bassist, whose keyboardist pal came along for a six month stint. The bassist has spent most of the next forty years in The Cure, quitting for a year or three here and there. Smith’s sister’s boyfriend did some art and played some sax for the band five years later, then did two 6+ year stints on guitar, 13 years apart.

So while there are a lot of eventual Cure members on the single, it’s more of an audition for them to be in this indie band from the local town with one half-promising album, than global superstars The Cure backing someone.

(Most of the people involved were teenagers at the time; Robert & Lol were 20.)

(Details supplied as a curiosity, not a corrective.)

In the late 90s I saw Tom Ze with Tortoise as his backing band (not this show but a similar one):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYs2J_YHrik

i dig you was played a shit ton on lir 82-85 and always described then as by "cult hero" feat some cure folk

Another REM one: Backing the Troggs on Athens Andover

another one for the uk blues groups backing touring americans trend: a nascent groundhogs & john lee hooker

on lir 82-85 and always described then as by

yah by ‘85 the ppl involved were nearly 50% Cure members! but in ‘79 it was just some kids who’d booked a cheap night session in a studio

Sleater-Kinney backing the Go-Betweens on The Friends of Rachel Worth.

Orange Juice's rhythm section backed the Go-Betweens on "I Need Two Heads" I think.

Has the Smiths backing Sandie Shaw been mentioned?

Heh, Pet Shop Boys backing Dusty Springfield, Liza Minnelli ...

^^

Sandie Shaw did a 12" of three Smiths covers, backed by the Smiths in 1984

Pet Shop Boys wrote and produced Nothing Has Been Proved as a theme song for the 1989 Whalley / Hurt Profumo affair biopic Scandal; sung by & credited to Dusty.

(If we're going to count that, there's also them backing and producing Boy George on the cover of The Crying Game that was the theme to the 1993 Neil Jordan film. But if we're going to count that, then there's also the Carroll Thompson cover of Let The Music Play on the same soundtrack album (which PSB released on their own imprint). And if we're counting that, then the three versions of the Cicero song they produced on the album lead to the other singles and half an album that they produced for Cicero, their singles with Eighth Wonder and Sam Taylor-Wood and Robbie Williams and Absolutely Fabulous and cetera & cetera...)

The Liza album is this one.

ah Sandie Shaw is a good one !

The Monochrome Set on The Camera Loves Me (1988) by Would-Be-Goods.

The Gourds on Get A Life by Doug Sahm/Sir Douglas Quintet.

on the new strand of oaks album, lead singer Tim Showalter is backed by My Morning Jacket (minus Jim James)

I think a couple of PAVEMENT guys were on the first Silver Jews.

Jim O'Rourke and Sonic Youth.

― nicky lo-fi, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 7:56 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Malk & Nasty were in the Joos before both were in Pavement

― Theodor Adorno, perhaps the greatest philosopher alive today (morrisp), Wednesday, June 5, 2019 8:09 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

related, apparently the band Woods is the backing band for the new David Berman band Purple Mountains

Mae Moore & Margot Smith (RIP) each had albums produced by Steve Kilbey - so most/all of The Church show up.

The Smithereens have been Dave Davies’ backing band every so often.

Curve were part of Eurythmics’ touring band (it was how Toni & Dean Met)

Jason poached Julian Cope’s band for a Spiritualized line up.

Jason had already poached half his previous lineup from a previous Cope band too!

Curve were part of Eurythmics’ touring band (it was how Toni & Dean Met)

Garcia was a studio "member" of Eurythmics too, but I'm pretty sure Halliday didn't sing with them - they did meet through Dave Stewart though, and formed their first band in 1985 (also including the Eurythmics' long-time drummer Olle Romo), who flopped, split, and formed Curve a few years later after Halliday had another solo flop on Stewart's label. Eurythmics no longer existed by then, incidentally.

but! Feargal Sharkey's debut solo (the one with A Good Heart and You Little Thief as b2b openers) was produced by Stewart with himself on guitar and BVs, Garcia on bass, Romo on drums and a keyboard player who went on to be on various Eurythmics (after Garcia left) and DAS records in the following years. so not an actual lineup of Eurythmics that existed at any time, but close enough to note.

(Future hubby) Alan Moulder and Flood are all over the first Toni album, too, which further helps tie the story together.

Gawd... I forgot about that State Of Play album. Thanks for the details.

The Smithereens have been Dave Davies’ backing band every so often.

On occasion in the 80s, the Smithereens acted as the Beau Brummels, backing Sal Valentino and Ron Elliott.

The first Rainbow album was basically Elf w/Ritchie Blackmore.

R.E.M. sans Stipe throughout Zevon's "Sentimental Hygiene." Dylan and Neil Young on that record for a sec, too. Guess this was what gave us Hindu Love Gods.

Yup. Hindu Love Gods was stuff recorded during level checks and downtime during the SH sessions.

I guess in jazz it's more fungible but Norman Connors' 'Dance of Magic' is essentially all of Pharoah Sanders' band at the time minus Pharaoh but including most of the Headhunters

The Fabulous Thunderbirds are the backing band for most of Carlos Santana's Havana Moon.

Just picked up Legacy's old Major Lance 2-discer, and it never before dawned on me that his first few years on OKeh he was doing secret Impressions recordings, with the group providing backing vocals, many of the same session players providing instrumental backing, and Curtis Mayfield writing, playing guitar, and sometimes producing.

Alice Cooper used Lou Reed’s Rock’n’Roll Animal band on Welcome to My Nightmare

Most or all of Pere Ubu (Thomas-Herman-Krauss-Ravenstine-Maimone) were in The Red Crayola for 1979's Soldier-Talk.

(To the extent that both Grubbs and O'Rourke appeared on later Red Krayola releases, I guess you could say that Gastr del Sol was similarly "absorbed"; but it doesn't quite seem like the same thing, as lots of others played on those albums as well.)

Oh shit, I missed expanding a batch of posts in the middle of the thread... I already said the Soldier-Talk thing! Sorry 'bout that

Franz Ferdinand and Sparks absorbed each other for the FFS album

shoutout/xpost grisso-
mj's is the definitive "gypsy woman" imo. all that stuff is great! curtis' behind the board stuff is just as solid as his own records.

*mj=ml=major lance

sry got excited. major lance mention, not an every day thing, y'know.

Curtis did it a lot. He wrote and his band did Aretha Franklin - Spakle, The Staple Singers - Let’s Do it Again, and Gladys Knight and the Pips - Claudine.

Nikki Sudden & the Chamber Strings

Spiritualized back-up Dr. John on a couple of tracks on his Anutha Zone album from 1998

Kraftwerk + Manuel Göttsching on that Die Dominas 10"