Supergroup

It seems as though a lull has fallen over the blog circles, probably in light of the fact that it is somehow potentially more worthwhile to be outside, ruining one's eyes in the sunlight, than it is to be inside, ruining one's eyes in front of the computer screen. I know that I've been making a concerted effort to not spend too much time on the computer each day; this became a particularly important factor once the Internet hours started running down. There was also the issue to contemplate that sometimes, when I get off the computer, I really do feel as if I've achieved nothing within my several hours of browsing. The case of information overload contributes especially to this feeling. It all has it's upsides sometimes though. Time spent online can be rewarding, I admit.

I've been thinking about this on and off for a few months after seeing a thread about it on the message boards at Prog Archives -- if you ever were to conceive of what you personally would believe to be the ultimate band, who do you think the members would be? It's a surprisingly hard question, I believe, having thought about it for a significant amount of time and still not yet come to a positively definitive conclusion. The difficulty of the task is accentuated by the Prog Archives regular's insistence at the time that no two band members that you select may originate from the same band. For me, this meant that I had to write out a lot of my favourite musicians, albeit I accept it at the same time because if the restriction were not in place, people would undoubtedly simply be doing things such as merging their two favourite bands together.

There are a number of factors that it would pay for one to take into account when arranging their ultimate band, but probably the first thing that should be considered is what not to take into account. The most important aspect of the latter action is that one should not even bother to consider one's various chosen artists' social compatibility. Compatibility is, to put it simply, a practically incomprehensible part of the structure of a band, at least from the lowly fan's point of view, especially given all of the arrogant posturing that tends to go on. However, factors that one might want to consider include how the musicians' respective styles would complement each other in performance, and who would be the provider or providers of showpersonship on-stage.

After much deliberation this is the "ultimate band" that I have come up with myself, however, as I said earlier on in the piece it is not any sort of official arrangement. Some very difficult decisions had to be made in selecting which members were going to be lined up, and which were not. Individual bands that are great appropriately have the tendency to contain several great musicians. In an advancement from what was done on Prog Archives I've listed the musicians with their name and original band (primary band if they have been members of multiple), which roles they will play in this particular band, and a song that I believe to effectively showcase the skills that I would wish them to put to use in my ultimate band. I'd be interested to see what line-ups other people come up with and hear what you think of mine.

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals
Echoes

Christopher Squire of Yes
Electric Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocal Harmonies
Yours Is No Disgrace

Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós
Bowed Electric Guitar, Alternative Lead Vocals
Viðrar vel til loftárása (Tk. 7 on Ágætis byrjun)

Phil Selway of Radiohead
Drums, Percussion
Paranoid Android

Tony Banks of Genesis
Piano, Keyboards, Hammond Organ, Mellotron
The Cinema Show

John Helliwell of Supertramp
Saxophone
Crime Of The Century