Greatest Guitar Band


I thought just before Christmas I'd get a good thread going. IMHO,the greatest guitar band was the Yardbirds, not because E Clapton,or J Beck, or J Page was in it but because Chris Deja, and Paul Samwell-Smith were great rhythm and bass guitarists that could rock and keep up with the above. Plus Jim McCarty the drummer could keep the group in line and fine harmonica work from Keith Relf(ok not the greatest vocalist, more of a finesse singer).They had it all, I cannot think of another band that had three great guitarists in the band at one time(J Beck, C Deja, P Samwell-Smith). In 1967, when J Beck and J Page were in the band togther as co-lead guitars, they were the lead in band for the rolling stones, they just blow them away,ok, that is not a fair comparison considering the rolling stones still cannot play their instruments very well. But in comparison to say Led Zepplin, LZ did not have a rhthym guitarist(except J Page would overdub that part on recordings). That made them sound not as well rounded live as far as guitar work is concerned. I am not saying LZ was a bad band on the contrary,they put on probably the best show ever, but I do not consider them a guitar band per se. Besides, J Page stole vitually from his former band anyway. Remember "How Many More Times" is a repackaged version of the YBs "Smokestack Lightning", a Howlin Wolf tune. YBs version is in my mind the best rock song ever. So what do you think????
shubertmaniac

Showing 2 responses by duanegoosen

Cornfed is on the mark. Great guitar bands (and guitarists) with a wide range of attributes are still coming out of the woodwork. Using one yardstick to measure who is the greatest is.... Anyway, here a few I haven't seen listed yet:
Arcana (1st w/ Derek Bailey, 2nd w/Buckethead)
Attention Deficit
Automatic Fine Tuning (if you have this please email me)
Be Bop Deluxe
Alex Candeleria Trio
Nels Cline
Coeure Magique
Miles Davis (Agharta band)
Dysrhythmia
Fermata
Fire Merchants
Gambale/Smith/Hamm (Jeff Beck could have made a record like their 1st one if he'd have kept growing and worked his ass off)
Garybaldi
Groon
Groundhogs
Guru Guru (Dance of the Flames/Kanguru)
Harriet Tubman (Prototype)
Judas Priest (Saw them clobber the piss out of anything they've done on record).
Kraan (Live 74)
T.J.Kirk (3 guitars 1 drummer)
Loch Ness (Mexican Sabbath/Crimson instumental, crude but very effective)
Fiuczynski's Headless Torsos
Melvins
Mermen
Nekropsi (brilliant Turkish instrumental dual guitar smokers)
New Trolls(UT/Concerto Grosso pt.1)
Nova (Blink)
Osanna
Patto
P.O.N.
Rinneysa
Shylock
Thin Lizzy
Trettioariga Kriget (a catalog described their 1st as "astoundingly complex guitar dominated rock) that was a big understatment.
There are lots of great 80s/90's hair farmers left out that desreve mention too.
Hey Piezo, maybe I shouldn't have ditched those Hellecasters discs so soon (seemed way too ordinary, kinda like Chet Atkins meets the Ventures). Anyway, it wouldn't be the first time I screwed up on a discard. Was lucky enough to have caught the Charlie Hunter Trio once at the Music recital hall (CSUS). You almost never see a working electric band in that kind of environment. Also saw TJ Kirk live a couple of times. I agree w/ Piezo's assessment of Hunter, but C.H. often assumes a bass player or keyboard role (w/ his guitar). John Schott and especially Will Bernard administered most of the flamethrowing fretboard attack in T.J. Kirk.
After Shylock split up their guitarist formed Philharmonie. Some of their stuff is pretty good, sort of like the Crafty League of Guitarists but less robotic.
Has anyone who mentioned Coryell been able to find a cd version of the live Fairyland record?