Top Ten Favourite Band Lineups

[Thelemech]

AC/DC
Young/Young/Scott/Rudd/Williams

Black Sabbath
Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward

Deep Purple
Gillan/Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Glover

Led Zeppelin
Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham

Judas Priest
Halford/Tipton/Downing/Hill/Binks

Motörhead
Kilmister/Clarke/Taylor

Venom
Cronos/Mantas/Abaddon

Celtic Frost
Warrior/Ain/St Mark

Slayer
Hanneman/King/Araya/Lombardo

Van Halen
Van Halen/Roth/Van Halen/Anthony

Very nice Tyr 

[Charger]

I have a quibble with the DP Mk2 lineup... first 4 albums, great. Awesome work, that's how you get into the Rock and Roll Hall O' Fame.

The reunion? Wellllllll... to be honest, PS is a mixed bag and then HoBL and TBRO are definitely not up there in quality. By contrast, DP with Morse gave us 100% solid work with Purpendicular and Abandon. Only 2 albums, but 100% good. Even with Airey on keys, I'm looking at all the albums save Bananas as being highly listenable - 3 out of 4.

I have to say I struggled a bit with this one actually...

The sheer consistency of quality for the Morse-era is quite staggering...I personally love Bananas but find Rapture to be a bit lacking...so I'd say the Morse-era quality is 5 out of 6 as well...BUT the thing is as awesome as all of those albums are and as amazing tracks as they offer, they still aren't quite as incredible as the first 3 albums of the Mk2 line up...the fourth one was a huuuuge let down in comparison already...and the reunion stuff is spotty at best...although each one of those albums contain some real gems too.

Consistency wise I would have to choose the Morse-era over Blackmore era BUT the iconic nature of those 3 albums of Mk2 gives the edge to the "classic" line up...

[Zzzptm]

OK, I've got my answers. I base my choices on how likely I would be to drop everything and come running if someone uncovered some previously unreleased tracks from these guys. I'll put a timeframe on it, because there are times when the lineup may have been in a slump and I won't want to bother.

1. The Beatles 1965-1970: John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
Let's not ever lose sight of how incredible these four were together, with each other.

2. Deep Purple 1969-1973: Blackmore Gillan Glover Lord Paice
I bought all the anniversary remasters precisely because they had bonus tracks I hadn't heard before.

3. Rainbow "Rising": Blackmore Dio Bain Carey Powell
They only did one album, but what an album!

4. Black Sabbath 1970-1975: Butler Iommi Osbourne Ward
If there was just *one* more cut from SBS that didn't make it to the album, let's have it!

5. Black Sabbath 1980-1982: Butler Dio Iommi Appice
Oh for Mob Rules to have been a double album!

6. Grand Funk 1973-1976: Brewer Farner Frost Shachter
Especially if Don Brewer's singing, as I prefer his vocals to those of Mark Farner.

7. Steely Dan: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
No time period, since it was pretty much just those guys and the other musicians they'd put together for the album/tour/gig/whatever. Actually, I'll put a time period on there, anything after the first album with the vocalist they had to hire because of Fagen's stage fright.

8. Deep Purple 1975-1976: Bolin Coverdale Hughes Lord Paice
I've put my money where my vote is, multiple times. Bolin is such an amazing guitarist, and DP made for his best backing band, ever.

9. Deep Purple 1995-current: Gillan Glover Lord/Airey Paice Morse
Totally different from the Blackmore era, but just as brilliant in my reckoning, especially the first two albums, done with Lord.

10. Slade 1969-1983: Hill Holder Lea Powell
Recent discovery I made, but their songs stick with me and linger in my mind. Great work, and I'll come a-running if there's more of their 70s output suddenly uncovered and released.