Music bands with every member being "all-star" talent

im a drummer myself and ringo is my #1. creativity, feel, musicality, playing what the song needs...he is one of the best and there are plenty of top-tier drummers who will say the same thing. he would not have worked with every band, but he was perfect for the beatles and those songs. he was absolutely essential to the beatles and again, many of the greatest and most famous drummers in the world sing ringos praises.

the four dudes in zeppelin were all of "all-star" talent.

miles davis two quintets in the 50's and 60's.
miles/coltrane/red garland/philly joe/paul chambers
miles/wayne shorter/herbie hancock/ron carter/tony williams

joni mitchells live band in the late 70's/early 80's was insane. pat metheny, jaco pastorious, don alias, michael brecker

 

The Police

Sting.

Andy Sommers.

Stewart Copeland

incredible talent

 

The Who.

Definitely the best rock bassist and arguably the best rock drummer who is certainly the archetype.

Excellent and iconic singer.

Absolutely top tier songwriter/guitar player, who, while not Hendrix-level, is not out of place on any stage.

All excellent at their craft and helped define rock. Plus, they were an absolutely killer live show and they smashed stuff.

 

I second this--and it was going to be my second post. Copeland is an incredible drummer, Sommers is a criminally underrated guitarist, and Sting was great until he started trying to write every song into a pop hit.

 

Rush

 

Phish

 

Several trios are that level with Rush, Cream and The Police. Another would be Emerson, Lake and Palmer who each had impressive musical careers.

I would put Primus up there too.

The Red Hot Chill Peppers I would also say is an all star lineup.

In Prog Rock the original lineup for Asia was a supergroup of musicians that were members of other successful bands

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is also a band formed of members of other successful punk bands.

The Traveling Willburies is another supergroup where every member was a legend.

 

Rush is definitely the first band that comes to my mind - Peart was probably the greatest drummer of all-time and Geddy Lee was a monster on the bass plus an outstanding singer. This leaves Alex Lifeson who seemed to be the weak link but he is a highly underrated guitarist. Cream, obviously was another one as they were all considered the "cream" of the musicians in England with regards to their specific instruments.

The first version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra was pretty damn good - John McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, Rick Laird, Jan Hammer, and Billy Cobham.

Also the version of Yes that performed on The Fragile and Close to the Edge - Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, and Bill Bruford - all of those guys were all-time greats on their instruments/vocals.

 

The Traveling Wilbury's...if that counts. Can't get more All-Starish than Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne

 

I might be alone in this. I'd nominate U2.

Bono, of course, as singer and main songwriter.
The Edge. That chiming ring is very distinctive.
Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr are the least famous of the four, but if you have any doubt on their abilities, listen again to "Achtung Baby". That beat. That phat-ass bass. Got-damn.

 

Dave Matthews band - only exception might be the bassist Stefan Lessard, but the grooves on Rapunzel and Dreaming Tree are all-star level.

Bela Fleck and the flecktones

Strength in Numbers - everyone there is MVP level

Monte Montgomery - obviously Monte is the headliner , bul Phil on the drums is sick and he's had Chris Maresh and David Piggot on Bass , both guys are awesome.

 

The Beach Boys would be this except Mike Love is a no talent assclown.

The three Wilson brothers were/are each creative, musical and harmonic geniuses. Al Jardine could've made it as a successful folk singer by himself. Mike Love however sucks at life.

 

Interesting pick - Bono can be pretentious but he is a great frontman and the Edge is a very good guitarist (although he owes a lot to Keith Levene of PiL fame) and I feel that Adam Clayton is a hugely underrated bassist but Mullen is the weak link there. He struggled mightily in the beginning with some of the drumming in the early albums (according to their producers) but he has made himself into an above average drummer (although I think he is still their weakest member).

 

even the non-famous guy was "all-star" talent! jim keltner on drums. possibly the most recorded musician ever.

people dont realize how often session musicians are used in place of actual band members and then dont get credited on album liner notes.

the singer in my band used to be in a band on capitol records and they were recording an album and the producer wasnt happy with their drummer (who is actually an awesome drummer) so he called jim keltner at midnight to come out. keltner shows up 20 minutes later in his lamborgini, wearing a kimono and house slippers. he proceeds to record the entire albums worth of drums for songs he had never heard before in under 2 hours, nailing every take. on his way out he could see that the bands drummer was pissed off and he goes over to him and says "dont worry about any of this, some drummers are just too good for the studio". i thought that was pretty cool of him. keltner wasnt credited on the album...the bands drummer was, even though he didnt play...that happens all the time.

generally speaking, its the session musicians who are the best players and true all-stars.

wrecking crew played on a ridiculous amount of massive hits in the 60's including most of the beach boys greatest hits. check this playlist out...insane!

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-wrecking-crew-essentials/pl.f4565fe43d844c18bfea9853c9bbf30c

 

im with you brah! bono gets alot of crap and its not all undeserved, but hes a great singer, frontman and lyricist. the edge is one of my favorite guitar players ever too.

U2's rhythm section is great. theyre not doing anything flashy or super technical, but they play what the song needs. im a big fan of both those dudes, especially larry. he is a powerhouse, propulsive drummer...highly underrated IMO. neil peart is a fan and brian eno loved working with him. alice cooper too!

https://www.thatericalper.com/2015/...musician-ive-ever-heard-as-told-by-brian-eno/
“I was working with Larry Mullen, Jr., on one of the U2 albums,” Eno told me. “ ‘All That You Don’t Leave Behind,’ or whatever it’s called.” Mullen was playing drums over a recording of the band and a click track—a computer-generated beat that was meant to keep all the overdubbed parts in synch. In this case, however, Mullen thought that the click track was slightly off: it was a fraction of a beat behind the rest of the band. “I said, ‘No, that can’t be so, Larry,’ ” Eno recalled. “ ‘We’ve all worked to that track, so it must be right.’ But he said, ‘Sorry, I just can’t play to it.’ ”

Eno eventually adjusted the click to Mullen’s satisfaction, but he was just humoring him. It was only later, after the drummer had left, that Eno checked the original track again and realized that Mullen was right: the click was off by six milliseconds. “The thing is,” Eno told me, “when we were adjusting it I once had it two milliseconds to the wrong side of the beat, and he said, ‘No, you’ve got to come back a bit.’ Which I think is absolutely staggering.”

 

I need to listen to a U2 song at some point in my life.