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

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"