h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just watched a Climax Blues Band video:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRVSSwJYqh0

The band still exists but none of the players in the video are currently in the band, so legally, they may still be The CBB but...... well, it just doesn't seem right.

The same state of affairs exists in many bands of course.

And as an AFC Wimbledon fan I'm in no doubt whatsoever where our heritage and spirit lies despite all of the changes that we've undergone.

And Marks and Spencer is still M&S.

And so on.

PP.

I saw the original band at the Reading Festival in 1975, they were good but slightly overshadowed by Robin Trower, John McLaughlin, Wishbone Ash and Caravan.

Actually Caravan are one of those bands that went through several lie-ups but always managed to be Caravan. I think Soft Machine, on the other hand, went through such drastic changes of musicians that they ceased to be Soft Machine.

I didn’t know whether this site still existed:

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/reading-75-vftmud.html

with a photo I took that day using my trusty old £35 500mm telephoto lens resting on my knees.

I think It depends, an aweful lot, on both the band concerned, and how pivital a given band member was to the band, and how quickly all/some of the members change... = if its a more slow, organic change in members, it can kinda work, if the one and onely real* star of the band dies, or leaves, then... its kinda differnt... some bands just *are* asingle member, and just losing them basicaly means the band doesn't exist anymore, in any meaningful way..

Tim Hauser was the only person who was part of both editions of the Manhattan Transfer, but he has since died. But then, 48 years is a long time.

They heyday of rock/pop was the 1950s through to the 1980s. If we want the music to still be performed, we have to embrace the fact that they will recruit younger band members (sometimes even next-generation family members). It's a good thing, even when the original line-up is gone - the spirit of the band can live on in the continuing performance, and can keep it alive with a new generation of fans.

I ssaw Fairport Convention earlier this year, on their 50th anniversary tour. They have one original band member, Simon Nicol, although the others have been there for decades, and are veterans with other band of that era. It still 'felt' like the original band (although I didn't see them in their youth). The music and loyal fan support are what makes it so.

For examples of 'Trigger's broom' bands (to coin a phrase), I thought vocal soul groups like the Temptations and Four Tops continue to perform with all-new line-ups, but googling tells me they each still have an original founder member.

I saw on the news the other day that The Three Degrees are in the Guinness Book of Records for being the longest continually-together female group, having been performing since 1963 even though they've changed members dozens of times since then.

I suppose it is a bit like a football team – Notts County formed in 1862 and they're still going, but not with the same players.

<BB<

Football's an interesting analogy, but not quite the same. They have a geographic fan base, who will support anyone who wears the shirt.

Yet some clubs appear to have a style of play which transcends the generations. I'd argue that Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham in the UK play with quite different styles which you can identify in teams of decades ago. I suspect Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona have enduring styles too.

I didn't know the Temptations and Four Tops still performed, but it's good news. .

So, besides the Ship of Theseus paradox, (I still have my grandfather's axe. I've had to replace the handle a few times... and the head twice, but I still have my grandfather's axe.) it doesn't take much for a band to not be the band it once was for me.


I still refer to Van Hagar, for example.


I think we can all agree pre and post Peter Gabriel's departure Genesis were two completely different bands.

And even when all the members remain, sometimes bands change so drastically they're barely recognizable.

Think about the Beatles. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't believe that the same band that sang "Love, Love me Do" also did "Why Don't We Do It In The Road".

The Beatles grew so much in less than a decade that they might well have been different bands.

I listen to Elvis's hits in chronological order, and detect a huge and durable improvement in his singing about a third of the way through.

So much for the two performing entities that sold a billion albums or more.

No one else came close, though Michael Jackson tried. He, too, went through growth and change. If you're an artist, you aren't going to want to stay pigeonholed. If you're gracious, like Barry Manilow or Louis Armstrong, you'll say publicly that you're happy to reprise your earlier hits because you enjoy it, or because you're an entertainer and that's what entertainers do.

I have 39 Fairport albums (I had to count them). Lord knows (if you include the Cropredy CDs) how many line-ups there are in there.

PP.

Apparently Pete Frame refused to do their rock family tree.

I have the book somewhere. It's fascinating but madly out of date.

PP.

When I saw them in Sydney in 1973, they called themselves Fotheringport Confusion

Fairport?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairport_Convention

Popular music is bewilderingly vast on a national basis, and when you go global it would become a full-time job just to figure out who's who.

Lanzababy once told me that she regularly listens to music from many different countries. I collected CDs for about 35 countries, but I keep forgetting to listen to them.