Play has resumed in our tournament to determine—once and for all—rock’s greatest backing band ever.
The first two rounds have been completed. The attached grid shows where we stand as the Regionals round is played out: backingband-tournament-64_REGIONALS
Feel free to think ahead to coming Regional battles as you begin work on the present conference match up. Meanwhile, tournament play for the Expansion Conference has begun. Four backing bands remain: The TCB Band vs The Family Stone and The JBs vs The Buckaroos.
Expansion Conference Regionals
Because the selections from this point forward are so crucial to future generations’ understanding of rock history, play will follow a different course of action in this round. Before any voting can take place, Townspeople are encouraged to post comments and YouTube clips of the backing bands you support in this round. You may begin launching your campaigns now. After a day or two of lobbying and counter-lobbying the polls for this conference’s regional round will open. We don’t want any rash votes on Day 1 that you may regret on Day 3 of discussion. Dig?
UPDATED WITH POLLS (open through 11:59 pm on January 15, 2012)!
Regionals, Expansion Conference: The TCB Band vs The Family Stone
- The Family Stone (79%, 19 Votes)
- The TCB Band (21%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 24
Loading ...Regionals, Expansion Conference: The JBs vs The Buckaroos
- The JBs (76%, 25 Votes)
- The Buckaroos (24%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 33
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My vote on this one is very persuadable–and I’ll point out that late breaking support for The Texas Playboys led them to a close win. So speak up.
The Family Stone should blow out the fine TCB Band. You may find their music poppy, mwall, but they had the goods.
I know I set up all sorts of hurdles regarding the JBs and inclusion of only records made under that name. Something they did with a sub-James Brown must blow away the best of the Buckaroos. Where’s dbuskirk when we need him?
Which band is “their” in your comment? I’m a big Family Stone fan, but I don’t know the TCB Band.
Sorry, I was referring to the Family Stone. I thought you might feel the urge to turn you nose up at the early hits. The TCB Band was Last-Gasp Elvis’ backing band. I don’t know if they really should have qualified for the tournament, but it seemed funny to let them in. I mean, how could I let my silly rules get in the way of a gem like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOetEhiYLDQ
OK, I’m searching for some clips of the J.B.’s backing other artists while billed as “The J.B.’s.” This track alone raises the bar for the Buckaroos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKpQwQ4ZGQ
This Marva Whitney may run the table in some other tournament that’s yet to be defined:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpJpiwvlQzs
Try pulling off any of these moves to the music of the Buckaroos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5e3lbAIn34
Not that these guys don’t look awesome with their matching silver Fender axes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1opMM7tifws
The Family Stone have to get through – it didn’t take long for Sly to descend into a complete mess, without them he would have been just another unemployable addict, and wouldn’t have been able to function in their absence. Thinking back to “Elvis That’s The Way It Is”, the band were good, but any group of decent session musicians could have done that.
I’ve watched Mr Mod’s clips of the Buckaroos and the JBs and read their entries on Wikipedia, my first impressions are that the Buckaroos were a real band while the JBs were thrown together when James Brown threw one of his periodic hissy fits and his previous outfit told him where he could poke it. The JBs were certainly awesomely tight, but most of James Brown’s music (and the JBs clip above) sounds like a tape loop to me and – even though I respect the history behind it – no matter how much I feel I ought to like it I get bored with it about a minute into every song, and my completely non-researched and (musically) prejudiced impression is that most of them seem to go on for five or six minutes at least.
If anyone can persuade me on an intellectual level why the JBs should go through I’m open to persuasion, even though the very thought of listening to an entire James Brown album is my idea of Hell – I didn’t even go to see him when he played Glastonbury.
that was meant to be posted below..
You raise good questions that i hope someone can answer. When I hear the JBs’ repetitive grooves I want to dance – and kick some ass. I don’t care much for country music, but I must say the Buckaroos have a similar effect. Their rhythms are really strong.
I’ll speak in more direct terms if things remain close or people need more incentive, but I feel strongly that the Family Stone vs. The JBs is a match-up that must happen (and, brackets aside, could be the real championship match), to the point that disagreement over a potential JBs/Family Stone match up led to a heated, booze fueled debate between myself and Oats recently that could have gotten ugly.
In my opinion, no backing band in the tourney has more individual Rock Superpowers going for them than the Family Stone. Sly had enough confidence and pride in them that you can name them all and say what they do thanks to “Dance To The Music”, but none of that turned into ego, as they all knew the game well enough to refer to him as “Mr. Stewart” when it came time to acknowledge Sly in return.
I’d be willing to vote for the TCB Band in a different match-up for reasons I’ve said previously about their ability to singlehandedly give Elvis his cool back long after he’d lost it for good, but the Family Stone had that kind of positive interaction with their frontman every time out.
Re: The JBs, someone is going to have to make an amazing case for me to ever vote against them. Consider that they are both the Soviet Red Army of this tournament – thanks to the incredible skill and discipline demanded of them by a taskmaster like James Brown – and its ’27 Yankees, in that their various rosters give you a murderers row of talent including the Collins brothers, Fred Wesley, Jabo Starks (and is there a more RTH friendly name than JaBo?), Maceo Parker and Bobby Byrd. They were capable of going out and having hits on their own as a unit and becoming key parts of other successful bands, and even though James Brown himself would always be Soul Brother Number One, he was never afraid to call out to Bobby and Maceo or to give a direct order of “BLOW, ROBERT!” because he knew they would respond.
This is not intended as a criticism, but it might have been interesting for the JBs to go up against the Family Stone and the TCB band to go up against the Buckaroos. Funk against funk and country against country(rock). As it is, it’s hard to keep from letting your preference for one style over the other determine your vote. If Stan’s idea of Hell is listening to a whole album of James brown, I don’t see how he can vote for the JBs. This is a good example of the JBs in their prime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eoSXpNZD9o
But whenever I watch this it’s almost like the band is no more than an extension of the Godfather’s voice and body. There was a lot of turnover in the band even in the years when they were called the JBs, and he was still able to put out brilliant records with whoever he had. I’ve been working my way through the twelve volumes of James Brown singles, and there’s an amazing amount of great stuff.
Whenever I watch the Buckaroos, it always seems like they’re having an great time. It never looks forced. Guitarist Don Rich must have been fun to be around. Owens never recovered from Rich’s death in a motorcycle accident. Here’s a clip of him leading the band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Z-Ucy4e9E
Buck comes out at the end and introduces the band.members.
BigSteve,I can only assume that when Happiness Stan said “listening to an entire James Brown album is my idea of Hell” he must have been referring to the James Brown lp “Hell.” Otherwise, that is just crazy talk. But I’m with you on the insanity of the JBs vs. the Buckaroos. Or, actually, against almost anybody.
There’s a reason the NCAA hoops tournament is known as “March Madness.” I feel everyone’s pain in making these tough choices, but as the tournament progresses you’re eventually going to have to make a touch choice. Embrace the insanity!
BTW, the Hell album – on 8-track – was a favorite of mine during my childhood listening sessions in my uncle’s room. I hadn’t thought of that album in years. The album cover was up there with Joe Cocker, the Mad Dogs & the Englishmen, the first Santana album, and Steppenwolf Live in terms of Rock Superpowers!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ySLxMWsdeXc/TbzFUCmBy_I/AAAAAAAAA3o/hXroGsXLQq4/s1600/R-719881-1304088655.jpeg
Tough choices indeed. All worthy contestants. However, as much as I like the Buckaroos and the TCB Band (in fact, I think I was the one who nominated the TCB band), the Family Stone and the JB’s seemed to have more personality, musically speaking.
Part of the problem with these funk vs. country rock and roll comparisons is that the purposes of the backing bands are so different. The rhythm/section beat is the backbone of the song in country rock, but with the funk bands, it’s much more the foreground. Being in the foreground, they have more room to stretch out.
The Family Stone is highly original even in their context, and that’s why the get the nod for me over the TCB band, although I love that late Presley material.
With the JBs vs. the Buckaroos, it’s hard to give a nod to one or the other in terms of the role they play in the song. They’re both highly functional, but don’t have the same level of personality as The Family Stone.
I’m going with the JBs, but ONLY because the style of music they play is designed to give the rhythm section more room at the front, and so they’re asked to carry more.
I love both the Buckaroos and the JBs, but after watching this I’m loving the Buckaroos just a little bit more at the present time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXHbNmHhEoI&feature=related