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

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