What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Latest FBG music countdown of >800 artists - #2 The Rolling Stones, #1 The Allman Brothers Band (1 Viewer)

The first two Ozark Mountain Daredevils albums are incredible. Tracks I love that you didn’t mention include Colorado Song, Road to Glory, Beauty in the River, Spaceship Orion and You Made It Right.

have always loved "Jackie Blue" - that's all I know ...
I'd bet you know "If You Wanna Get To Heaven".

great pick up UH, I never equated that song with them - yeah, I know TWO Ozark Mountain Daredevils songs!!
 
The first two Ozark Mountain Daredevils albums are incredible. Tracks I love that you didn’t mention include Colorado Song, Road to Glory, Beauty in the River, Spaceship Orion and You Made It Right.

have always loved "Jackie Blue" - that's all I know ...
I'd bet you know "If You Wanna Get To Heaven".

great pick up UH, I never equated that song with them - yeah, I know TWO Ozark Mountain Daredevils songs!!

I feel like @krista4. Does no one read my posts? "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" is listed right there as a 4-point songs.
 
T-145. Robin Trower (70 points)

Total number of songs: 24

Average song score: 2.83

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Too Rolling Stoned, live)

# of 4-point songs: 6 (A Little Bit of Sympathy, live; Alethea, live; Day of the Eagle, live; Daydream, live x2; Too Rolling Stoned, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Bridge of Sighs; Caledonia; Day of the Eagle, live; Long Misty Days; Too Rolling Stoned, live



I was kind of late to the game getting into Robin Trower and man did I miss out on a lot of great music for way too long. This guy can really play. That’s not to say he is Hendrix. He’s not. For those who don’t know, in his early days Trower was often compared to Jimi, which is of course silly. There are only a handful of guitarists who are in the realm of being worthy of such a comparison. Nevertheless, Trower is one of the best guitarists of his, or any, generation.



Also, for those who aren’t aware, Trower started his career as the guitarist for Procol Harum (though he did not play on “A Whiter Shade of Pale”).





T-145. Thin Lizzy (70 points)

Total number of songs: 17

Average song score: 3.65

# of 5-point songs: 4 (Baby Drives Me Crazy, live; Cowboy Song, live; Still in Love With You, live; The Boys Are Back in Town, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Dancing in the Moonlight, live; Jailbreak, live; Rosalie, live; Sha La La, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Cowboy Song, live; Don’t Believe a Word, live; Emerald; Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed; Whiskey in the Jar



We’ll keep things in the British Isles and keep things a little on the heavier side. As we go along, I will point out several groups that I think are among the most underrated in rock history. Thin Lizzy definitely is part of that list.



This is another group that had a big influence on the development of metal. Maybe not at the level of Black Sabbath, but they certainly had an importantimpact on the genre. Beyond, that, though, they were more versatile than Sabbath and played a lot of styles well.



Being such a big Allman Brothers fan, I am always partial to bands with duel lead guitars, and Thin Lizzy was one of the early bands to embrace that model. Even more notable, however, is their rhythm section. When people talk about the great drummer/bass combos of all time, I feel like Brian Downey/Phil Lynott rarely get mentioned, and for the life of me I can’t understand why. They were phenomenal.
 
T-143. Big Bill Broonzy (71 points)

Total number of songs: 51

Average song score: 1.88

# of 5-point songs: 0

# of 4-point songs: 0

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Backwater Blues; The Crawdad Song; Guitar Shuffle; John Henry; Key to the Highway



Big Bill Broonzy is another of the great early blues musicians, though probably a little more versatile that most of those that have appeared so far on the list. He is mostly associated with country blues, but through his career had periods in which he played straight country or folk, gospel, and he even dabbled in the early Chicago electric blues.



A lot of his recordings are reworkings of much older traditional folk tunes, though he wrote some original material as well. “Key to the Highway” is one of the blusiest of all blues standards and has been recorded by numerous artists. While Broonzy was not the first to record it, he is generally considered to have contributed to its development, adding some of the verses to what songwriter Chas Segar was doing and also arranging a modern version of the tune.



Broonzy also recorded versions of other songs that are featured prominently in the countdown, such as “The Midnight Special” and “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town.”





T-143. Mahavishnu Orchestra (71 points)

Total number of songs: 20

Average song score: 3.05

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Open Country Joy)

# of 4-point songs: 8 (A Lotus on Irish Streams; Birds of Fire; Dawn; Meeting of the Spirits; The Noonward Race; One Word; The Dance of Maya; Vital Transformation)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #19 guitarist John McLaughlin

Recommended listening: Eternity’s Breath, Part 1; Meeting of the Spirits; Miles Beyond; The Noonward Race; One Word; Vision is a Naked Sword



I have already spoken about the genius of John McLaughlin several times in the countdown. Here we get to the project for which he is probably best-known. Following his work on Miles Davis albums like Bitches Brew, McLaughlin formed Mahavishnu Orchestra as one of the first true jazz fusion bands. As one of Davis’s sidemen, McLaughlin had played with most of the greatest jazz musicians in the world. But he was also a fan of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and The Rolling Stones.



Bringing together all of these influences, McLaughlin created one of the most exciting and groundbreaking sounds of the 1970’s. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was equally well-known for the complex arrangements of its studio recordings as its dynamic live performances. Driving it all was amazing work by one of the greatest guitarists in the world (for which the band gets his personnel bonus).



I haven’t posted a Gov’t Mule clip in some time, so I’ll add the Mule’s tribute to this group, the Eternity’s Breath Jam.
 
Things are starting to get really good. This is the most fun post so far by far.


T-139. Boz Skaggs (72 points)

Total number of songs: 20

Average song score: 2.5

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Loan Me a Dime)

# of 4-point songs: 2 (Loan Me a Dime, live; Runnin’ Blue, live)

Top 50 track bonus: #30 Loan Me a Dime

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Ask Me ‘bout Nothing But the Blues, live; Georgia, live; I’ll Be Long Gone; Lido Shuffle, live; Loan Me a Dime; Lowdown; We Were Always Sweethearts



We have our first top 50 track! In the Fenton Robinson entry, I talked about “Loan Me a Dime” being one of the greatest blue songs of all-time. His version of the song only received 4 points, however, because another version is considered the definitive version. This is that track. Duane Allman played lead guitar on this one, and it is probably my third favorite performance by Duane (I’ll mention the other two later in the countdown).



Boz (real name William Royce Skaggs) started his career playing with the Steve Miller Band. He had a number of hits, most notably “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle.” His bluesier stuff I like, but some of his more pop sounding music I’m not as big of a fan.



Of course, the most important fact about Boz Skaggs is that his girlfriend was the inspiration for my favorite song of all-time.





T-139. The Invisible Whip and The Fourth Dimension (72 points)

Total number of songs: 7

Average song score: 4.43

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Be Happy, live; Eternity’s Breath Parts 1&2, live; Meeting of the Spirits, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (A Lotus on Irish Streams, live; Birds of Fire, live; The Dance of Maya, live; Trilogy, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #19 guitarist John McLaughlin (partial bonus); #20 guitarist Jimmy Herring (partial bonus); #14 bassist Etienne Mbappé (partial bonus); #3 drummer Jeff Sipe (partial bonus)

Recommended listening: Birds of Fire, live; Eternity’s Breath, Parts 1&2, live; Meeting of the Spirits, live; Trilogy, live



It seems appropriate to have this entry appear in the post immediately after the Mahavishnu entry.



This is probably the most interesting entry so far in the countdown, and the one that requires the most explanation. As you can see, there are only a few songs (from a single album) contributing to the score, but it has by far the highest average score of any artist thus far.



In 2017, Jimmy Herring, best known as the guitarist for Widespread Panic though also a former member of The Allman Brothers Band and The Aquarium Rescue Unit, formed a jazz fusion band which also featured one of my favorite drummers, Jeff Sipe. They came together with John McLaughlin’s Fourth Dimension (which already had its own individual entry in the countdown), for The Meeting of the Spirits Tour. During shows on that tour, both bands did their own set of 6 or 7 songs, and then the two bands came together and performed a set as one mega group.



Most of The Fourth Dimension set and the combined set featured the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra (you’ll notice that many of the songs listed above also appeared in the last post). They also did some stuff from McLaughlin’s other projects. The Invisible Whip sets featured a variety of jazz, rock, and blues songs.



I had the privilege of seeing one of the shows on this tour and it was incredible. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. The combined musical talent on the stage was amazing.



It isn’t easy to find much audio or video from the tour, but there are recordings from shows at The Warfield and at The Capitol Theatre that you can find if you look hard enough. That’s where most of the above material comes from.



Even though it is a limited amount of material, I did give partial personnel bonuses to the musicians for this entry because I was so impressed when I saw them live (though only a small fraction of their total personnel points).







T-139. The Other Ones (72 points)

Total number of songs: 11

Average song score: 4.36

# of 5-point songs: 5 (Estimated Prophet, live; I Know You Rider, live; Jack Straw, live; St. Stephen, live; The Eleven, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (China Cat Sunflower, live; Friend of the Devil, live; Playing in the Band, live; Sugaree, live; The Other One, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Estimated Prophet, live; I Know You Rider, live; Playing in the Band, live; St. Stephen, live



This is another entry in which all the songs come from a single album, The Strange Remain.



Following Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, members of the Grateful Dead have been involved in many musical projects: Furthur, RatDog, Rhythm Devils, Phil Lesh and Friends, Billy and The Kids, and many more. Maybe the most authentic of them, even more so than the current incarnation of Dead and Company, is the The Other Ones (who later changed their name to simply The Dead).



The Other Ones had several lineups which at various points featured Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, as well as long-time Dead collaborators Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti. Other members included Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco, and Susan Tedeschi.



Most of the songs, of course, were Grateful Dead songs. I’ll talk about a lot of them later so I’m not going to get into them too much right now. I’ll just say that these are really great versions of these songs that do justice to some of the best versions by The Grateful Dead themselves. One thing that makes these versions awesome is that heavy use of saxophone courtesy of Dave Ellis (Dave will also be discussed more later).



Because Bobby takes a larger role on vocals than he did with the original band, you might expect that some of their best performances are on “Bob songs.” For instance, this is one of my favorite versions of “Estimated Prophet.” This is also a really great version of “Playing in the Band,” which was never one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs but really shines here.



Since there are only 11 songs here from a single album, I didn’t give any personnel bonuses. Though, as you might expect, there was a pretty decent jam bonus here.





T-139. Rahsaan Roland Kirk (72 points)

Total number of songs: 29

Average song score: 2.14

# of 5-point songs: 1 (A Tribute to John Coltrane, live)

# of 4-point songs: 3 (Many Blessings; Pedal Up, live; Volunteered Slavery)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #19 mult-instrumentalist/saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Recommended listening: Dem Red Beans and Rice, live; Many Blessings; Pedal Up, live; A Tribute to John Coltrane, live; Volunteered Slavery



I’m really interested to see how many people are familiar with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. For those who don’t know who he is, he may be the most fascinating musician who ever lived.



Blind from an early age, Kirk immersed his entire life in music, becoming proficient in dozens of instruments. He is best known for his ability to play multiple instruments simultaneously, including his use of advanced circular breathing techniques to play multiple horns and wind instruments at the same time. This is most clearly demonstrated on his album Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata in which he basically plays every instrument except a couple tracks where someone accompanies him on drums or piano. But this isn’t Billy Corgan or Trent Reznor, recording multiple tracks to make a song. He records everything straight with no edits or overdubs. So if you listen to a song like “Island Cry,” that is one take of Kirk playing every single instrument and making every sound on that track.



Some critics have called Kirk’s music gimmicky. Those critics are idiots. If you listen to him just play straight jazz on songs like “Many Blessings” or “A Tribute to John Coltrane,” it is clear that he is one of the greatest saxophonists who ever lived. Beyond just jazz, he had an immense knowledge of many genres of music including blues, pop, and classical. And he could write great songs as well. Here is a great cover by The Derek Trucks band of his song “Volunteered Slavery.”



Among the musicians who have said they are huge fans of Rahsaan Roland Kirk are Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Derek Trucks, and Duane Allman. I think those guys know a little bit about music.
 
Last edited:
Couple things that I wanted to comment on in the last entry but forgot just because there was so much to write about for those four artists.

Regarding The Other Ones, their name comes from the epic Grateful Dead song "That's It for the Other One." The song is a suite with four parts, "Cryptical Envelopment," "Quodlibet for Tenderfeet," "The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get," and "We Leave the Castle." In concert the band frequently played only the third part, and when they played it in isolation it was renamed "The Other One." That's how it is recorded in all the tour statistics.

For Rahsaan Roland Kirk, I meant to point out that he also was the flutist on "Soul Bossa Nova" (known to many as the Austin Powers song).
 
T-137. Chick Corea (73 points)

Total number of songs: 31

Average song score: 2.23

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Blue Monk, live)

# of 4-point songs: 3 (Pastime Paradise, live; So In Love, live; Trinkle Tinkle, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Armando’s Rhumba; Blue Monk, live; Matrix; Pastime Paradise, live; Trinkle Tinkle



Chick Corea has already appeared twice on the list due to his collaboration with Herbie Hancock and as part of The Five Piece Band. Known as one of the truly great jazz pianists of the modern era, I love Chick’s versatility. He is great at many different styles of jazz, was part of the birth of jazz fusion and plays progressive rock, and is a phenomenal classical pianist.



In case anyone isn’t familiar with any of the above songs, “Blue Monk” and “Trinkle Tinkle” are both Thelonious Monk compositions. I assume everyone knows “Pastime Paradise” but if not, it will come up again later – if you survive Krista’s wrath. “So In Love” is a Cole Porter song. “Armando’s Rhumba” and “Matrix” are original Corea compositions.





T-137. David Gilmour (73 points)

Total number of songs: 21

Average song score: 3.09

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5, live)

# of 4-point songs: 7 (Comfortably Numb, live; Coming Back to Life, live; Fat Old Sun, live; In Any Tongue, live; Run Like Hell, live; Time/Breathe Reprise, live; What Do You Want From Me, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Murder; On an Island, live; Shine On You Crazy Diamond, live; There’s No Way Out of Here



Obviously David Gilmour is acclaimed for his work with Pink Floyd, but he also has had a nice solo career and put out a number of good albums. The recommended listening here, with the obvious exception of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” captures some of his best solo stuff.



Gilmour is certainly one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived and he makes my top guitarist list, but since the solo stuff in library is such a small proportion of his overall work I didn’t give the personnel bonus here. We will keep that for Pink Floyd. Still, it is worth taking time just to appreciate how amazing his tone is. Listen to that solo on “On an Island.” Incredible.



I definitely recommend checking out the Live at Pompei album. Gilmour has a great group of musicians around him including Chuck Leavell on keyboards. Chuck also does the Roger Waters vocal part on “Comfortably Numb” which is kind of fun.
 
136. Phil Lesh (74 points)

Total number of songs: 15

Average song score: 3.60

# of 5-point songs: 1 (The Wheel/Uncle John’s Band, live)

# of 4-point songs: 7 (I Know You Rider, live; Loose Lucy, live; Pride of Cucamonga, live; Shakedown Street, live; Tennessee Jed, live; The Other One, live; Turn on Your Lovelight, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Loose Lucy, live; Pride of Cucamonga, live; Shakedown Street, live; The Wheel/Uncle John’s Band, live



On the heels of the entry for The Other Ones, we have another Grateful Dead spinoff. In addition to being part of The Other Ones and Furthur, Phil Lesh has played in the bands Communion and The Terrapin Family Band. Most commonly he jams with an ensemble of guest musicians called Phil Lesh and Friends which at times has included artists like Jimmy Herring, Robben Ford, Bill Payne, Larry Campbell, Joan Osborne and Warren Haynes. Those projects are where the songs in this entry come from.



The vocals can be a little rough when Phil takes lead, but otherwise the musicianship in some of these performances is great. The above version of “The Wheel” is one of my favorites, maybe more than any version by The Dead. The sound quality in that video isn’t great, but you can hear a clean recording of the track on the Dear Jerry album. Unfortunately, sound quality is an issue with all of the linked videos above. You can hear good recordings from the band on albums like Live at the Warfield, but quality video is more difficult to come by.



As with similar entries I didn’t give a personnel bonus here, but Phil’s groups did get a fairly substantial jam bonus.
 
On a board that has a dedicated Grateful Dead thread, I would have expected more interest in the Phil Lesh entry. Interesting.

Oh, well, moving on to another jam band...


135. The String Cheese Incident (75 points)

Total number of songs: 19

Average song score: 3.31

# of 5-point songs: 2 (Black Clouds, live; Midnight Moonlight, live)

# of 4-point songs: 6 (Glory Chords Jam, live; Missin’ Me, live; The Old Home Place, live; Outside and Inside, live; Ramble On, live; Shenandoah Breakdown, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Black Clouds, live; Joyful Sound, live; Outside and Inside; Sirens; Sometimes a River, live



Honestly, I should probably explore The String Cheese Incident more. I have a couple of albums/concerts, but really haven’t spent as much time listening to them as I have some comparable jam bands. What I have heard I really like. They have elements of multiple genres including rock, jazz, country, and funk and it makes for a very interesting sound. And they do straight bluegrass than many of the other bluegrass-influenced jam bands, like here.



If anyone is more familiar with these guys than me, please post recommendations.
 
This morning we have one of only 2 entries left with more than 3 artists, and they are some heavy hitters.


T-131. Alison Krauss (76 points)

Total number of songs: 25

Average song score: 2.84

# of 5-point songs: 0

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Choctaw Hayride, live; Oh, Atlanta, live; The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn, live; We Hide and Seek, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn, live; Choctaw Hayride, live; Down to the River to Pray; Ghost in This House; The Lucky One



Allison Krauss appeared earlier for her collaboration with Robert Plant, and now she gets her own entry. If you like country and bluegrass music, it doesn’t get much better than this. The combination of Allison’s beautiful voice with the musicianship of Union Station is special. It should be noted that Allison plays a mean fiddle herself and the other members of Union Station can really sing as well.



Krauss is known by many for her contributions to the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. This includes a really interesting performance of a traditional spiritual, “Down to the River to Pray.” Their live performances are higher energy and feature some really great jams.





T-131. Beach Boys (76 points)

Total number of songs: 35

Average song score: 2.17

# of 5-point songs: 2 (God Only Knows; Good Vibrations)

# of 4-point songs: 1 (Heroes and Villains)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Cabinessence; Do You Like Worms; God Only Knows; Good Vibrations; Heroes and Villians; Pet Sounds



Certainly one of the most important groups in American music history, The Beach Boys just missed a significantly higher point total and ranking in several ways. “God Only Knows” just missed out on a Top 50 track bonus (actually, “Good Vibrations” also got consideration). Brian Wilson just missed out on a personnel bonus as a songwriter. The average score here is also pulled down by a number of demos and alternate versions that got sorted into lower playlists than their finished counterparts.



So with shuffling just a few songs a few spots this group could have probably been a top 100 entry. Though while I certainly recognize their importance and respect their musicianship, this is probably an accurate representation of where they would be in my guy rankings. They have a few great songs I really love, but I am not a big fan of their surf music and some of their bigger pop hits. Actually, outside of Pet Sounds and Smile there isn’t much in their catalog I would choose to listen to on a given day.



Importantly, The Beach Boys have two ties to The Allman Brothers. As noted earlier, Duane and Gregg’s first major concert as members of The Escorts was as an opening act for the group. Later, when the legendary Fillmore East music venue was closing, The Beach Boys and The Allman Brothers were two groups in a lineup for the final show that also included Albert King, The J. Geils Band, Edgar Winter, Country Joe McDonald, and Mountain. Promoter Bill Graham wanted the Allman Brothers to be the closing band. As they were unpacking their equipment the Beach Boys informed him they wanted to go last. Graham responded, “Well, just pack up your sh**. I have my closing band.”





T-131. Elvis Presley

Total number of songs: 58

Average song score: 1.59

# of 5-point songs: 0

# of 4-point songs: 2 (Can’t Help Falling in Love; Jailhouse Rock)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: A Mess of Blues; Can’t Help Falling in Love; Heartbreak Hotel; That’s All Right



The King is the second artist in this post that I really don’t need to say much about. I’m sure everyone knows a ton about him already. His importance cannot be overstated. We can debate whether “That’s All Right” is the first true rock song or not (it’s not), but his influence is monumental regardless.



I will say that when it comes to the top echelon of rock pioneers, I probably enjoy listening to Elvis a little less than other greats like Chuck Berry or Little Richard. Nevertheless, I do enjoy his songs a good deal more than that average score might indicate. I have way too much of his hula stuff pulling the average down, but his earlier stuff is really good, and I have a number of songs beyond those listed above in my regular rotation.





T-131. Flying Burrito Brothers

Total number of songs: 22

Average song score: 3.18

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Six Days on the Road, live)

# of 4-point songs: 6 (Dixie Breakdown, live; Hot Burrito #1; Hot Burrito #2, live; Six Days on the Road, live; White Live Fever, live; Willie and the Hand Jive, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Colorado; Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music, live; Do Right Woman; Hot Burrito #1; Hot Burrito #2; Six Days on the Road, live



In the tradition of great country rock groups, my favorite might be The Flying Burrito Brothers. Essentially a spinoff group of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers were similarly rooted in country music but pushed the boundaries into other areas of rock and even psychedelia. I might like them even a little better than The Byrds. I love the opening line in the song “Willie, Waylon, and Me” (previously mentioned in the countdown): “I heard the burritos out in California could fly higher than the birds.”



While it might not quite reach the level of “Return of the Grievous Angel,” some of the stuff Gram Parsons contribute to The Gilded Palace of Sin is still among his best work. I think “Hot Burrito #2” might be the more popular song, at least live, but I actually like the emotional power of “Hot Burrito #1” better.



Since I like to post covers from some of my favorite jam bands, The Black Crowes would sometimes cover both in concert.
 
While it might not quite reach the level of “Return of the Grievous Angel,” some of the stuff Gram Parsons contribute to The Gilded Palace of Sin is still among his best work. I think “Hot Burrito #2” might be the more popular song, at least live, but I actually like the emotional power of “Hot Burrito #1” better.
Those are 2 of the best songs he ever wrote. Too bad he did himself in at such a young age, but I guess it's not surprising given his father's alcoholism and suicide, and his mother's alcoholism, depression, and early death from cirrhosis. Good god he could write music.

Love Hurts with Emmylou Harris, best duet ever
 
Last edited:
T-128. Bob Weir (77 points)

Total number of songs: 19

Average song score: 3.63

# of 5-point songs: 4 (Desolation Row, live; Heaven Help the Fool, live; Ripple, live; Touch of Grey, live)

# of 4-point songs: 5 (Friend of the Devil, live; The Other One, live; Throwing Stones, live; Walking Blues, live; When I Paint My Masterpiece, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Desolation Row, live; Heaven Help the Fool, live; Mexicali Blues; Touch of Grey, live; Throwing Stones, live



Continuing our string of Grateful Dead side projects, vocalist/guitar player/songwriter Bob Weir gets his entry. Bobby’s non-Dead material comes in a number of forms. He actually released a solo album, Aces, during the Dead’s prime, and several songs that most think of as Grateful Dead songs were originally Weir solo songs. Post-Dead he has had a number of bands including RatDog and Wolf Brothers, and he has performed with countless artists (Warren Haynes, Grace Potter, etc.) at various festivals and tributes.



Maybe best of all, though, is a series of shows he did alongside bass legend Rob Wasserman as the opening act for The Jerry Garcia Band in the late 1980’s. These performances, which include a combination of Dead songs, Weir solo songs, and covers (including some nice Dylan covers), are top notch and really demonstrate how underrated Bob was as a guitarist.





T-128. Jaco Pastorius (77 points)

Total number of songs: 9

Average song score: 2.56

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Soul Intro/The Chicken, live)

# of 4-point songs: 1 (Bass and Drum Improvisation, live; Donna Lee)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #5 bassist Jaco Pastorius

Recommended listening: Blackbird; Donna Lee; Portrait of Tracy; Reza/Giant Steps, live; Soul Intro/The Chicken, live



The story goes that when he was trying to join Weather Report, Jaco introduced himself to Joe Zawinul by saying "I'm John Francis Pastorius III. I'm the greatest bass player in the world." He may have been right. A virtuoso performer and a huge influence on every subsequent jazz bass player, Jaco gets a big personnel bonus as #5 on my top bassist list.



He’s also another one that would be higher except a lot of points are siphoned off his solo entry and included with other artists. In addition to his solo work and his stuff with Weather Report, he played with Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny among others. He even played bass on some of Joni Mitchell’s work.





T-128. Umphrey’s McGee (77 points)

Total number of songs: 20

Average song score: 3.25

# of 5-point songs: 2 (Der Bluten Kat, live; Women, Wine, and Song, live)

# of 4-point songs: 3 (Full Frontal, live; Layla, live; Miss Tinkle’s Overture, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Booth Love, live; In the Kitchen; Intentions Clear, live; Miss Tinkle’s Overture, live; No Diablo, live; Women, Wine, and Song, live



For a long while, before I spent much time listening to either that closely, I used to get these guys and The String Cheese Incident mixed up. I have no idea why. They are both jam bands that draw on a lot of different genres, but Umphrey’s McGee are a lot more funk compared to the more country sound of String Cheese Incident.



Regardless, while I don’t share Pip’s feelings on SCI, these guys are obviously better. Probably the fact that I don’t have as much music of theirs as I should is the only thing keeping them from being higher in the rankings.



While their total volume of songs isn’t as high as it should be, Umphrey’s McGee’s score does benefit from a nice jam bonus.
 
Last edited:
I was big into UM back in the day and have no idea how anyone could confuse them with SCI.

Some of their main influences are the same as Phish — Frank Zappa, King Crimson, various jazz musicians. But they combine them differently.
 
Sorry for the delay. Busy work week and I wanted to make sure not to rush this particularly important entry.


T-126. Cheap Trick (78 points)

Total number of songs: 26

Average song score: 2.92

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Ain’t That a Shame, live; I Want You to Want Me, live; Surrender, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Auf Wiedersehen, live; Can’t Hold On, live; Need Your Love, live; Surrender)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Ain’t That a Shame, live; Auf Wiedersehen, live; If You Want My Love; Southern Girls, live; Surrender



I’m interested to hear everyone’s opinions on Cheap Trick. It seems like they got some love in Krista’s thread. Nevertheless, I could see many thinking they are (to steal a word from Pip) corny. Either way, I love them. I still think Live at Budokan is one of the best live albums ever. In fact, despite being short, this entry took me a lot longer to write than most because I just wanted to rock out to all the songs.



I think my favorite track is the Budokan cover of Fat’s Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame.” The way the drum intro builds up the song is awesome.



Interested to hear Krista’s opinion on these guys since “If You Want My Love” might be the most blatant Beatles rip off ever. Not that that’s a bad thing. I think they actually do a great job pulling it off. But I would love the opinion of someone who is much more of an expert than me.





T-126. Chuck Berry (78 points)

Total number of songs: 21

Average song score: 3.09

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Wee Wee Hours)

# of 4-point songs: 5 (Around and Around, live; Bio, live; Carol/Little Queenie, live; Johnny B. Goode; Mean Old World, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Around and Around, live; Down the Road Apiece; Let It Rock, live; Maybellene; Roll Over Beethoven; Sweet Little Sixteen, live; Wee Wee Hours; You Can’t Catch Me



Arguably the most important musician in the history of modern music, I don’t really even know what to say about Chuck Berry that could ever capture his impact. We can argue over whether “Maybellene” was the first rock and roll song (it wasn’t). But it doesn’t matter because his influence can’t be argued. There isn’t a single musician who did more to influence the sound of rock for a period of more than five decades.



Chuck was very close to a personnel bonus for songwriting, and in retrospect I regret that he isn’t higher on that list. I’m not going to post a bunch of covers of his stuff, because it is so extensive I wouldn’t even know where to start. You could make albums simply out of all the covers The Rolling Stones did of his songs.



Why isn’t he higher than this on the list? Partly because there are SO many covers of his songs, there are a lot of other versions that I like better than his originals and this bumped some of his songs down on my list. I will also admit there is probably a little bias that underrates him a little bit. I try to keep it strictly about the music and not let feelings about how much I like the artists as people influence my rankings, but I think all the accounts I have read about how musicians who worked with him had such disdain for him have probably influenced my rankings of his songs. Maybe appropriately as the songs are great, but I do feel like there are many live performances of his stuff where he sounds like he doesn’t care.



I do want to give a shoutout to those musicians who did work with him, though. He always surrounded himself with amazing talent. Maybe the most important of these is Johnnie Johnson, who is one of the truly great piano players in the history of rock. His work on “Wee Wee Hours” and many others is so good. He is also thought to have helped write some of Chuck’s biggest songs.
 
Cheap Trick is not corny, except for that power ballad they did in the 80s.

When you said “I don’t usually get my personal feelings about someone involved,” I thought you were following that with “he videotaped women on the toilet without their consent.”
 
Cheap Trick is not corny, except for that power ballad they did in the 80s.

When you said “I don’t usually get my personal feelings about someone involved,” I thought you were following that with “he videotaped women on the toilet without their consent.”

No but that of course is part of it too. He seems to have just been a bad guy all around. But with all the messed up stuff rock musicians do, the way those in his orbit pretty much universally deride him as being a terrible person just makes me wonder what stuff we don't know.
 
Ehhhh, there's a fine line between "homage" and "rip-off," I suppose, but I don't think Cheap Trick crossed it. It's not as if they ever tried to hide the huge influence of the Beatles on them - hell, they did that whole "Sgt. Pepper Live" thing in the early(?) aughts, and I think some of their covers from that record are outstanding. They feel to me underappreciated by most people at this point, including me as I really should listen to them more. Mr. krista is a HUGE fan of theirs! I believe his favorite of their songs is "Downed."
 
Ehhhh, there's a fine line between "homage" and "rip-off," I suppose, but I don't think Cheap Trick crossed it. It's not as if they ever tried to hide the huge influence of the Beatles on them - hell, they did that whole "Sgt. Pepper Live" thing in the early(?) aughts, and I think some of their covers from that record are outstanding. They feel to me underappreciated by most people at this point, including me as I really should listen to them more. Mr. krista is a HUGE fan of theirs! I believe his favorite of their songs is "Downed."

Oh! I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention Rick Nielson and Bun E. Carlos's work with John Lennon! Unfortunately, so the story goes, Yoko didn't like them so a different version without them was used on the album.
 
Cheap Trick is not corny, except for that power ballad they did in the 80s.

When you said “I don’t usually get my personal feelings about someone involved,” I thought you were following that with “he videotaped women on the toilet without their consent.”

No but that of course is part of it too. He seems to have just been a bad guy all around. But with all the messed up stuff rock musicians do, the way those in his orbit pretty much universally deride him as being a terrible person just makes me wonder what stuff we don't know.
I'm not going to defend Berry here, but you are going to have artists higher on this list that were also horrible people.

It's hard to get truly reliable biographical details about Chuck (hell, historians still can't agree on when he was born - I'm not even sure Berry knew himself), and his own accounts don't help as he was a notorious liar. As a tightwad, he'd make Ebenezer Scrooge blush - he regularly stiff bandmates to the point where he'd just pick up local musicians in whatever town he was playing in (& stiff them, too). He was also probably a pimp from early on and his famous kinks didn't just kick in later in life.

That said, I don't think the real bitterness set in until he went to jail in 1960 on a Mann charge. The first version of the trial was so blatantly racist that it was thrown out - in a still-Jim Crow America, no less. After that, I think his life was pretty miserable until he died and he took it out on everyone around him. In between were many incidents, including the famous bathroom camera weirdness Pip mentioned above.

But to not give Chuck Berry a personal bonus for songwriting is a major misstep.
 
Cheap Trick is not corny, except for that power ballad they did in the 80s.

When you said “I don’t usually get my personal feelings about someone involved,” I thought you were following that with “he videotaped women on the toilet without their consent.”

No but that of course is part of it too. He seems to have just been a bad guy all around. But with all the messed up stuff rock musicians do, the way those in his orbit pretty much universally deride him as being a terrible person just makes me wonder what stuff we don't know.
I'm not going to defend Berry here, but you are going to have artists higher on this list that were also horrible people.

It's hard to get truly reliable biographical details about Chuck (hell, historians still can't agree on when he was born - I'm not even sure Berry knew himself), and his own accounts don't help as he was a notorious liar. As a tightwad, he'd make Ebenezer Scrooge blush - he regularly stiff bandmates to the point where he'd just pick up local musicians in whatever town he was playing in (& stiff them, too). He was also probably a pimp from early on and his famous kinks didn't just kick in later in life.

That said, I don't think the real bitterness set in until he went to jail in 1960 on a Mann charge. The first version of the trial was so blatantly racist that it was thrown out - in a still-Jim Crow America, no less. After that, I think his life was pretty miserable until he died and he took it out on everyone around him. In between were many incidents, including the famous bathroom camera weirdness Pip mentioned above.

But to not give Chuck Berry a personal bonus for songwriting is a major misstep.

Fair enough. And just to be clear, I did not consciously knock Chuck down at all as any kind of judgment against him. What I was trying to convey was I have read a lot of stories about how his band mates hated him, probably more than I have for any other artist, and I am just acknowledging the potential that could have unconsciously influenced the way I sort his songs in my playlists (particularly with his live performances, which I do think sometimes sound a little lazy).
 
No 79 point entries. We will have a couple of entries early this weekend that are more niche interests of mine and won't be as widely popular (though maybe people will discover some stuff they like). Toward the end of the weekend and early this coming week we will have a few big names that should be widely popular.


T-124. Allman Betts Band (80 points)

Total number of songs: 22

Average song score: 3.45

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Autumn Breeze; Magnolia Road; Should We Ever Part)

# of 4-point songs: 8 (All Night; King Crawler; Long Gone; Melodies Are Memories; Pale Horse Rider; Rivers Run; Savannah’s Dream; Southern Rain)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Autumn Breeze; Down to the River; Long Gone, live; Magnolia Road; Pale Horse Rider; Shinin’



One of the most recent bands on the list is the offspring of my favorite band. The Allman Betts Band features three children of original Allman Brothers Band members: Gregg Allman’s son Devan, Dickey Betts’ son Duane, and Berry Oakley’s son Berry Duane. They all have had careers with other bands or doing their own solo stuff, but in 2018 they finally came together as the next generation of the ABB.



Are they as good as the original? Of course not. There is only one Duane Allman. And none of the vocalists in this group can hold a candle to Gregg. Them being rated even this high is probably the result of two biases: the bias from their relationship to one of my favorite groups and a recency bias. However, they are talented musicians. They write really good songs that sound like they could fit in the Allman Brothers catalog, yet also have their own unique sound.





T-124. Hour Glass (80 points)

Total number of songs: 9

Average song score: 2.45

# of 5-point songs: 1 (B.B. King Medley)

# of 4-point songs: 1 (Been Gone Too Long)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #4 vocalist Gregg Allman (partial bonus); #1 guitarist Duane Allman (partial bonus)

Recommended listening: B.B. King Medley; Been Gone Too Long; Down in Texas; Nothing But Tears



We just had one of the Allman Brothers’ successors, now we get one of their predecessors. Hour Glass was Duane and Gregg Allman’s band when they were living in L.A. in 1967-1968. They had moved there at the urging of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band manager Bill McEuen and signed a contract with Liberty Records.



The records labels were trying to make Gregg into a solo pop star and pushed them to record a bunch of R&B tunes and some stuff with a clear bubblegum style. They released two albums but were unable to choose which tracks were included and the albums suffered. There are still some quality recordings from the group including those above, but their studio output was overall mediocre.



The same could not be said for their live performances. Opening for bands like The Doors and Buffalo Springfield, Hour Glass played a completely different group of songs live than was on their studio albums. They quickly built a reputation as one of the best live bands in L.A. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there are no surviving live recordings of their music.



Because their material comes from two full-length albums and due to their live reputation, I did award Gregg and Duane partial personnel bonuses here. It should be noted that the rest of the band was talented as well. Peter Carr, Paul Hornsby, and Johnny Sandlin all became important musicians at FAME Studios and Sandlin went on to a successful career as a sound engineer and record producer.



Eventually Duane got fed up with the record label telling him what to play and just packed up and left, telling the label to sue him if they didn’t like it. He soon landed at FAME and started his acclaimed career as a studio musician. Gregg stayed in L.A. to finish their obligations to Liberty.
 
Just a quick word of explanation on the recency bias I mention. Typically what happens when I discover new music is my tendency is to sort tracks into higher levels than they probably deserve. This is actually intentional to some extent because I want to listen to the newer stuff more often because I don't think you can ever fully take a song in with one or two listens, and with new music I want the chance to appreciate it and fully form an opinion of it. So I tend to error towards starting songs at higher levels, and then with time many get reclassified to lower levels. That process accounts for higher point totals for The Allman Betts Band and the artist I will post tonight. I fully expect both to slowly filter down the rankings in the coming years.

Which brings up a larger point that sort of touched on but maybe didn't explain as fully at the start of the thread as I could. The library and therefore the rankings are dynamic. Things are always getting moved around. As I make these posts and listen to tracks again I am making notes, and I'm also taking notes on everyone's commentary. I plan to do a pretty substantial reshuffling of the library after the project is over, so I appreciate everyone's comments.
 
Fair enough. And just to be clear, I did not consciously knock Chuck down at all as any kind of judgment against him. What I was trying to convey was I have read a lot of stories about how his band mates hated him, probably more than I have for any other artist, and I am just acknowledging the potential that could have unconsciously influenced the way I sort his songs in my playlists (particularly with his live performances, which I do think sometimes sound a little lazy).
To the bolded, I've read the same. I had a couple of his live LPs over the years and they stink, so agreed there too.

However, what he did musically and by composition trumps his awfulness as a person - by a lot. Every guitar-based popular artist for the last 65 years based its music on Berry's - you learned "Johnny B Goode" or you went into another line of work. He remains rock's greatest mythmaker. His body of work is relatively small, but so influential that it staggers me to think what popular music would have sounded like had he not been born.
 
123. Magpie Salute (81 points)

Total number of songs: 18

Average song score: 3.55

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Goin’ Down South; War Drums; What Is Home)

# of 4-point songs: 5 (Ain’t No More Cane; Fearless; High Water; Time Will Tell; Walk on Water)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #15 guitarist Marc Ford (partial bonus)

Recommended listening: Glad and Sorry, live; High Water; Mary the Gypsy; Walk on Water; War Drums, live



I mentioned this morning that two biases that undoubtedly affect some of my rankings are having a relationship with one of my favorite groups and recency bias. These are at play to some extent here, though I still really like these guys.



Magpie Salute is a Black Crowes spinoff group featuring Rich Robinson as well as longtime Crowes guitarist Marc Ford and bassist Sven Pippien. Crowes pianist Eddie Harsch also played some live shows with them during their initial formation before his death.



There have been a number of Black Crowes spinoffs over the years including the previously discussed Trigger Hippy, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood (whom I actually saw live years ago), and one group that is still to come on our list. If I had to pick a gut ranking favorite, though, it would probably be these guys. They seem to capture the Crowes vibe the best.



A partial bonus for guitarist Marc Ford is awarded here. I’ll talk more about his playing during a later entry.



I still haven’t caught these guys live. I may haven mentioned earlier in the thread that I was supposed to go to a show featuring Magpie Salute, The Avett Brothers, and Gov’t Mule doing Dark Side of Mule a few years ago but had an emergency and ended up missing the show. Still upset about that. Despite Chris and Rich recently touring as The Black Crowes, though, I’m hopeful these guys will tour again and I’ll have the chance to catch them (I will NOT see the current incarnation of “The Black Crowes,” but that’s a discussion for a later post). From everything I have heard, Magpie Salute can really jam live, and tracks like “War Drums” seem to support that.
 
Ehhhh, there's a fine line between "homage" and "rip-off," I suppose, but I don't think Cheap Trick crossed it. It's not as if they ever tried to hide the huge influence of the Beatles on them - hell, they did that whole "Sgt. Pepper Live" thing in the early(?) aughts, and I think some of their covers from that record are outstanding. They feel to me underappreciated by most people at this point, including me as I really should listen to them more. Mr. krista is a HUGE fan of theirs! I believe his favorite of their songs is "Downed."
A lot of it is their own doing. Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos schticked it up and the band wasn’t always taken seriously. They have so many good songs and they’re all great at what they do, so yeah they’re underrated though.
 
Ehhhh, there's a fine line between "homage" and "rip-off," I suppose, but I don't think Cheap Trick crossed it. It's not as if they ever tried to hide the huge influence of the Beatles on them - hell, they did that whole "Sgt. Pepper Live" thing in the early(?) aughts, and I think some of their covers from that record are outstanding. They feel to me underappreciated by most people at this point, including me as I really should listen to them more. Mr. krista is a HUGE fan of theirs! I believe his favorite of their songs is "Downed."
A lot of it is their own doing. Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos schticked it up and the band wasn’t always taken seriously. They have so many good songs and they’re all great at what they do, so yeah they’re underrated though.
I was around and listening when Cheap Trick hit. Most of my ******* friends who were New Wavers thought the band was being ironic, when they really weren't. They didn't do "Magical Mystery Tour" as a taunt, but because they liked the song. Good band, good taste.
 
No 82 point entries. Our 83 point entry will kick off a Super Bowl Sunday full of kings. Starting with Albert, and then later today I'll have probably my favorite post so far in the countdown.


122. Albert King (83 points)

Total number of songs: 23

Average song score: 3.05

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Cold Feet; Drowning on Dry Land; Oh Pretty Woman, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Blues Jam, live; Blues Power, live; Born Under a Bad Sign, live; Can’t You See What You’re Doing to Me)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Born Under a Bad Sign; Cold Feet; Crosscut Saw; Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong, live; I’ll Play the Blues For You



“If he don't dig this, he got a hole in his soul.”



That line is awesome. That song is awesome. The Flying V guitar is awesome. Albert King is awesome.



The second of our three “Kings of the Blues” on the list (Freddie made his appearance a little while ago), Albert King might have the best nickname in the music business: “The Velvet Bulldozer.” Early in his career Albert was kind of a B.B. King rip-off. He took his last name (his real last name is Nelson), took his guitar’s last name (calling his guitar “Lucy”), and even told people he was B.B.’s little brother. While at first annoyed, B.B. came to respect Albert because of his immense talent, which has influenced countless rock and blues artists.



If you want to hear some great playing, check out this concert in which he jams with Dickey Betts.
 
Fair enough. And just to be clear, I did not consciously knock Chuck down at all as any kind of judgment against him. What I was trying to convey was I have read a lot of stories about how his band mates hated him, probably more than I have for any other artist, and I am just acknowledging the potential that could have unconsciously influenced the way I sort his songs in my playlists (particularly with his live performances, which I do think sometimes sound a little lazy).
To the bolded, I've read the same. I had a couple of his live LPs over the years and they stink, so agreed there too.

However, what he did musically and by composition trumps his awfulness as a person - by a lot. Every guitar-based popular artist for the last 65 years based its music on Berry's - you learned "Johnny B Goode" or you went into another line of work. He remains rock's greatest mythmaker. His body of work is relatively small, but so influential that it staggers me to think what popular music would have sounded like had he not been born.
Agree. This is my OJ Simpson argument. If you're ranking all time RBs, he's in the top 10. If he's not, then you're ranking more than the talent/output on the field. Which is fine to do if you admit it. Just don't take into account off the field stuff and pretend you aren't.
 
T-120. Benny Goodman (84 points)

Total number of songs: 35

Average song score: 2.4

# of 5-point songs: 1 (Sing, Sing, Sing)

# of 4-point songs: 1 (Life Goes to a Party)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Life Goes to a Party; King Porter Stomp; Let’s Dance; Roll ‘em, live; Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing); Stealin’ Apples, live



You may think that rock started in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, but Benny Goodman is proof that it has always been around in spirit. The “King of Swing” brought such energy to his arrangements and playing that nearly 100 years later it still rocks as hard as any music you will find.



In my mind, the Benny Goodman version of “Sing, Sing, Sing” ranks as the third greatest track in the history of jazz (I mentioned the two ahead of it in my Allman thread and will highlight them again later in the countdown). Listen to that percussion. That is jamming at its best right there.



Some may already know this, but for those who don’t, an interesting piece of trivia is that John Williams had Benny Goodman in mind when he wrote the cantina music for Star Wars: A New Hope. “Cantina Band #1” is heavily inspired by Goodman’s arrangement of “Love Me or Leave Me,” and “Cantina Band #2” is inspired by his version of “Oh! Baby.”





T-120. Otis Redding (84 points)

Total number of songs: 20

Average song score: 3.15

# of 5-point songs: 2 (I’ve Got Dreams to Remember; Pain in My Heart, live)

# of 4-point songs: 5 (Any Ole Way, live; I Can’t Turn You Loose, live; Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, live; These Arms of Mine; These Arms of Mine, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #15 vocalist Otis Redding

Recommended listening: Hard to Handle; I Can’t Turn You Loose, live; I’ve Been Loving You Too Long; I’ve Got Dreams to Remember; Mr. Pitiful; Try a Little Tenderness



Immediately following the “King of Swing” we have the “King of Soul.” One of the greatest singers of all-time, Otis is the second artist on the list to get a vocal personnel bonus. Such passion in his voice.



Redding was also obviously a great songwriter. Everyone knows “Respect” and “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” and of course as a Black Crowes fan I am partial to “Hard to Handle,” but songs like “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and “These Arms of Mine” are also outstanding compositions.



Pretty much the only thing keeping Otis from being higher in the countdown is that he died so young and therefore his body of work is less than most of the other artists to come. Though I still thought I had a lot more tracks by him in my library, or at least I should. He’s one of those artists that there really is no reason not to have every single thing he recorded, so I’ll have to go through my collection and see what I’m missing.
 
Benny Goodman, other swing acts, and various pop/punk/garage acts were the soundtrack to my 1995/6, which was a few years before the swing revival.

Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) is a firebomb of a song. It rocks and levels everything in its path. Quite immersive. You're there to hear the band for sure.
 
With the Super Bowl looming, I forgot my obligatory Allman Brothers commentary on the last entry. Capricorn Records founder Phil Walden made his name as Otis Redding’s manager. When he started his new label after Redding’s death, he set about making Duane Allman a superstar. Essentially The Allman Brothers were the replacement for Otis Redding in Phil Walden’s music world.
 
T-118. Harry Nilsson (85 points)

Total number of songs: 35

Average song score: 2.43

# of 5-point songs: 0

# of 4-point songs: 3 (Everybody’s Talkin’; Vine Street; Without You)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Everybody’s Talkin’; Jump into the Fire; Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song; Spaceman; Vine Street



I’m pretty sure we have some big Harry Nilsson fans on the board who know his stuff much better than me, I’m happy to have others chime in. Nilsson is a great songwriter who has a lot of great and really interesting stuff. He also is a great performer. I love when he scats in songs like “Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song.” And I like his version of “You Can’t Do That” quite a bit.



Still, this seems a little high to me from a gut ranking standpoint. Maybe because among all the great stuff, he also wrote “Coconut” which seems unforgiveable.



Since I haven’t posted a good cover in a little while, I might as well just leave one of my favorite covers ever here.





T-118. Pearl Jam (85 points)

Total number of songs: 27

Average song score: 3.05

# of 5-point songs: 2 (Black; Black, live)

# of 4-point songs: 7 (Alive; Alive, live; Better Man, live; Corduroy; I’ve Got a Feeling, live; Release, live; Yellow Ledbetter)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Alive; Daughter; Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, live; I’ve Got a Feeling, live; Last Exit, live



If you’ve been following the thread, you know that despite being ranked highest, Pearl Jam is not my favorite of the major 1990’s grunge groups. In fact, in my gut rankings they would probably be fourth behind Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. But when I was young, I bought a bunch of their albums, and as a Cubs fan I of course have their live album from Wrigley Field, so here we are in terms of a ranking.



Not that they don’t have some fine songs. They have some tunes that I think are actually really well composed. I just kind of wish they were done by another band. Mike McCready is a decent enough guitarist, but I have seen him on so many lists of the most underrated guitarists that I actually think he is quite overrated. And Eddie Vedder’s voice annoys me most of the time (though I will concede there are a few songs for which it is particularly well-suited).



I’m guessing we have some big PJ fans on the board, though, so feel free to disagree.
 
Looks like all your PJ selections are from their first three albums (or B-sides from that era). Which is probably the right call. Everything after that wasn't quite as good -- and by their sixth album, they became an average band at best (though still a great live act).
 
Looks like all your PJ selections are from their first three albums (or B-sides from that era). Which is probably the right call. Everything after that wasn't quite as good -- and by their sixth album, they became an average band at best (though still a great live act).

Yeah my interest in that type of music waned around the same time that the quality of their output dropped, so after Vitalogy it was a pretty precipitous drop in how much I listened to them. I still kind of enjoyed when No Code came out and could have included something from that but it would have been more as a token pick rather than because I actually though it deserved the mention.
 
Looks like all your PJ selections are from their first three albums (or B-sides from that era). Which is probably the right call. Everything after that wasn't quite as good -- and by their sixth album, they became an average band at best (though still a great live act).

Yeah my interest in that type of music waned around the same time that the quality of their output dropped, so after Vitalogy it was a pretty precipitous drop in how much I listened to them. I still kind of enjoyed when No Code came out and could have included something from that but it would have been more as a token pick rather than because I actually though it deserved the mention.
Red Mosquito and Present Tense are my favorites from No Code.
 
T-115. Elvin Bishop (86 points)

Total number of songs: 26

Average song score: 3.15

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Fooled Around and Fell in Love, live; Let the Good Times Roll/A Change is Gonna Come/Bring It on Home to Me, live; Little Brown Bird, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Fooled Around and Fell in Love; Travelin’ Shoes; Travelin’ Shoes, live; Midnight Hour Blues)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Give It Up, live; Juke Joint Jump, live; Stealin’ Watermelons, live; Sure Feels Good; Travelin’ Shoes, live



Although he is best known for the non-bluesy “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” at his core Elvin Bishop was a blues musician. Prior to a successful solo career, he was a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. He’s really interesting, though, because his music, while rooted in the blues, is just plain fun. The way he injects humor into his songs gives his music a unique style.



Elvin was clearly well-respected by his fellow blues and southern rock colleagues. Among the people that have contributed to his albums are B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, and George Thorogood. He has also been referenced in the songs of other artists like Charlie Daniels: “"Elvin Bishop sittin' on a bale of hay; he ain't good lookin', but he sure can play."



In 1971 Bishop played a number of shows with The Allman Brothers Band. Among these were the legendary March shows that gave birth to the At Fillmore East album. In fact, Elvin sat in with the ABB on the very last song played during that run, as the group did a jaw-dropping version of Bishop’s “Drunken Hearted Boy” (not to be confused with the Robert Johnson tune of the same name). While it was excluded from the original release, it is included as the last song in the At Fillmore East boxed set.





T-115. Fare Thee Well (86 points)

Total number of songs: 18

Average song score: 3.67

# of 5-point songs: 4 (Attics of My Life, live; Terrapin Station, live; Throwing Stones, live; Touch of Grey, live)

# of 4-point songs: 6 (China Cat Sunflower, live; Days Between, live; Estimated Prophet, live; I Know You Rider, live; Not Fade Away, live; Truckin’, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), live; Not Fade Away, live; Throwing Stones, live; Touch of Grey, live; West L.A. Fadeaway, live



Fare Thee Well was the name taken by the “Core Four” surviving members of The Grateful Dead (Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart), along with Trey Anastasio and long-time Dead collaborators Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the band. They played five shows in Santa Clara and Chicago over a period of just over a week. The concerts featured some great versions of classic Dead songs including those listed above.



Audio of the full five-show run is available as is an official concert DVD of the final show. There is also a lot of bootleg video out there which is where most of the above comes from. While not as good as the official video, some of it is decent quality.



The best part of the final show is Bob’s “Let Trey Sing” t-shirt. The other best part is the closing “Attics of My Life” with a cool slideshow of all the band members and the huge roar from the crowd when Jerry pops up. Then it gets weird with lots of backstage video of Bill Walton acting like a dork.



As with similar iterations of Dead spinoffs, I didn’t give this lineup any personnel bonus points.





T-115. Jefferson Airplane (86 points)

Total number of songs: 21

Average song score: 3.19

# of 5-point songs: 2 (Feel So Good, live; Uncle Sam Blues, live)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Come Back Baby, live; Fantastic Plastic Lover, live; Volunteers, live; You Wear Your Dresses Too Short, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: #15 bassist Jack Cassady (partial bonus)

Recommended listening: The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil, live; Crown of Creation; Feel So Good, live; Embryonic Journey; It’s No Secret, live; Volunteers, live



While best known for their songs “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” and maybe to a lesser extent for the relationship between Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, the real driving force behind the second greatest San Francisco sound group was the powerhouse duo of guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Cassady. I might as well state my position on this right now because you’ll find that Jefferson Starship isn’t part of the countdown at all, but the Airplane’s other major spinoff group is still to come. You can also see that Jack got a personnel bonus. Jorma just missed getting one.



Anyway, the full Jefferson Airplane ensemble is great. I should be clear I have nothing against either of their best-known songs. They are both great tunes. But this group was at their best when they were really jamming out, and songs like “Feel So Good” were a better vehicle for that.



I’ll touch on some individual tunes a little more in that upcoming entry.
 
Fare Thee Well was the name taken by the “Core Four” surviving members of The Grateful Dead
I kind of think it's a stretch to count this as a separate band.

I went back and forth on this but:
1) That is how I have them listed in my music library
2) On the Grateful Dead Wikipedia page they are listed in the "The Aftermath" along with RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, Dead and Company, etc.
3) Most importantly, on Jambase these shows are not listed in the the Grateful Dead setlists

So ultimately I thought they had to be separated out.
 
I didn't really mean for it to be this way, but we've had nearly a week that this thread has been all American. Kind of a nice counter to the Krista's thread so things aren't getting too British. But don't worry, for those who prefer the music across the pond, we'll have more Limeys soon.
 
T-112. Dizzy Gillespie (87 points)

Total number of songs: 38

Average song score: 2.05

# of 5-point songs: 0

# of 4-point songs: 2 (A Night in Tunisia, live; Wee, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Anthropology; Dizzy Atmosphere, live; Groovin’ High; Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac; Two Bass Hit



A pioneer of both bebop and Afro-Cuban jazz, Dizzy Gillespie is probably the second most influential trumpeter ever. His impact on all the greats who came after him (Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, etc.) was huge.



This ranking still seems just a little high to me. Dizzy was indeed a pioneer and virtuoso. His solos are amazing. But I think we only have about 7 or 8 jazz artists left on the list and I’m not sure that is where he would fall in my gut rankings of the great jazz musicians. Particularly since I attribute a fair amount of his success to his partnership with another artist who has yet to appear on the list.



That’s probably splitting hairs, though. Dizzy was an incredible talent and his body of work in multiple styles and band formats is remarkable.





T-112. Greensky Bluegrass (87 points)

Total number of songs: 24

Average song score: 3.21

# of 5-point songs: 2 (Better Off, live; Run or Die, live)

# of 4-point songs: 6 (All Four, live; Forget Everything; Kerosene; Old Barns, live; Time/Breathe, live; Worried About the Weather, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Better Off, live; A Day in the Life, live; Past My Prime; Run or Die, live; Windshield



There may be no band that better exemplifies “jamgrass” than Greensky Bluegrass. They have a good mix of songs like “Better Off” that are fairly straight bluegrass and then songs like “Run or Die” that make heavy use of electric instrumentation as they synchronize their jams with an elaborate light show. Whether you think that is a good or bad thing, there is no denying the talent. All five members can really play their instruments, and the vocals are great as well. Like any good jam band, they do a nice mix of original material and covers, often teasing songs within other songs or doing both in the same jam.



I haven’t personally seen these guys live yet but they are in my top 3 or 4 bands that I want catch.





T-112. Z.Z. Top (87 points)

Total number of songs: 24

Average song score: 3.46

# of 5-point songs: 3 (Blue Jean Blues; Jesus Just Left Chicago; Tush, live)

# of 4-point songs: 9 (Arrested for Driving While Blind, live; Dust My Broom, live; Fool For Your Stockings, live; Jesus Just Left Chicago, live x2; Just Got Paid; La Grange; La Grange, live; Waitin’ for the Bus, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers, live; Blue Jean Blues; Jesus Just Left Chicago; Just Got Paid, live; La Grange/Sloppy Drunk/Bar-B-Q, live



We have another classic powerhouse blues-rock trio. This might be a little controversial, but I am going to stir the pot a little and say Z.Z. Top is a tad overrated. Don’t get me wrong, they are a fun band and Billy Gibbons is a phenomenal guitarist. Their early stuff was amazing, and Tres Hombres is one of the great blues-rock albums ever.



But no matter how hard I try, I can’t get past the band’s synthesizer/drum machine era. Some of their songs from that period, even ones that were hits like “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” are truly cringeworthy.



There, I said it. Bring on the heat.
 
The second of our three “Kings of the Blues” on the list (Freddie made his appearance a little while ago), Albert King might have the best nickname in the music business: “The Velvet Bulldozer.” Early in his career Albert was kind of a B.B. King rip-off. He took his last name (his real last name is Nelson), took his guitar’s last name (calling his guitar “Lucy”), and even told people he was B.B.’s little brother. While at first annoyed, B.B. came to respect Albert because of his immense talent, which has influenced countless rock and blues artists.

One time on SiriusXM I heard Shemekia Copeland say "you always know when you hear an Albert King song." And that's true. And it isn't his voice, which was good, and supple, but it's hardly one of the great blues voices. it's that damned guitar, and the picks you have up there tell me I just haven't listened to enough of him. But he's really something, how great he was.
 
Updates for the rest of this week and the weekend might be a little shorter because I am going out of town, but I'll still try to post at least one a day.


111. Sam Cooke (88 points)

Total number of songs: 32

Average song score: 2.69

# of 5-point songs: 1 (A Change is Gonna Come)

# of 4-point songs: 4 (Good Times; Nobody Knows When You’re Down and Out, live; Shake; Twistin’ the Night Away, live)

Top 50 track bonus: none

Personnel bonus: none

Recommended listening: A Change is Gonna Come; Bring It on Home to Me; Frankie and Johnny, live; Having a Party; Twistin’ the Night Away, live



The King of Soul comes in at a respectable 111 in the rankings, but he very easily could have been much higher. “A Change is Gonna Come” just missed getting a bonus as one of my top 50 tracks. Sam himself received consideration for two personnel bonuses, one for vocals and one for songwriting. He’s also another who died way too young, or his catalog could have been even better.



While it can never take the place of the original, I do have to post a cover that I really love. I mean it gets about as close to being as good as the original as possible.



With Sam Cooke and Otis Redding off the board we are really getting to the cream of the crop in terms of soul artists. There are maybe around five artists left for whom I’d consider it to be their primary genre.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top