28-410: The Sky Kings was an American country music supergroup formed in 1991 as Four Wheel Drive . The band consisted of John Cowan , Bill Lloyd , Patrick Simmons and Rusty Young . They were signed to a recording deal with RCA Nashville and completed an album which for the label was never released. Warner Bros. Records signed the group in 1993. Threatened with lawsuits from bands who had copyrighted
56-453: A side project for a single recording project or other ad hoc purposes, with no intention that the group will remain together afterwards. In other instances, the group may become the primary focus of the members' career. Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner credited British rock band Cream , which came together in 1966, as the first supergroup. Eric Clapton , formerly of rock band The Yardbirds and blues rock band John Mayall &
84-461: A supergroup hinges on the members already having been "successful". This itself is a subjective term, though metrics such as career earnings, records sold, number of commercial hit songs written and musician longevity can all be used to establish the objective success of a musical band and its individual members. Tyler Golsen in Far Out writes that "Today, the term “supergroup” has something of
112-512: A chart topper, the LP was recorded hurriedly and side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". Nevertheless, the band produced two hits, Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's "Presence of the Lord". The cover was a photo by Bob Seidemann of a topless 11-year-old girl, Mariora Goschen, holding a silver-painted model of an aircraft, sculpted for
140-508: A negative connotation. It usually signifies a short-term vanity project that attempts to profit off members’ reputations with their past works". In 1974, a Time magazine article titled "Return of a Supergroup" quipped that the supergroup was a "potent but short-lived rock phenomenon" which was an "amalgam formed by the talented malcontents of other bands". The article acknowledged that groups such as Cream and Blind Faith "played enormous arenas and made megabucks, and sometimes megamusic", with
168-559: A year after formation. Also in 1968 Jack Bruce joined the Tony Williams Lifetime , composed of bassist and vocalist Bruce, and three famous Miles Davis alumni: drummer Tony Williams , guitarist John McLaughlin, and keyboardist Khalid Yasin (né Larry Young ). The term may have come from the 1968 album Super Session with Al Kooper , Mike Bloomfield , and Stephen Stills . The coalition of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (formerly Crosby, Stills & Nash) in 1969
196-415: Is a musical group formed of members who are already successful as solo artists or as members of other successful groups. The term became popular in the late 1960s when members of already successful rock groups recorded albums together , after which they normally disbanded. Charity supergroups , in which prominent musicians perform or record together in support of a particular cause, have been common since
224-516: Is a model of economy, well- thought-out and well-executed with a good deal more subtlety and feeling than we have come to expect from Clapton." Retrospective appraisals have been positive. According to Stereo Review in 1988, "for 20 years this has been a cornerstone in any basic rock library." AllMusic 's Bruce Eder regarded the album as "one of the jewels of the Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and Ginger Baker catalogs". In 2016, Blind Faith
252-536: Is a time when supergroups were experiencing a revival; established musicians looked for new platforms to express themselves, as they brought their different genres closer through collaborations that utilized their shared popularity so as to build something fresh and thrilling A contemporary example of a supergroup is FFS , a collaboration between Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand and American art rock band Sparks , Other prominent examples include Atoms for Peace and Boygenius . The very definition of
280-517: Is another early example, given the success of their prior bands ( the Byrds , Buffalo Springfield , and the Hollies respectively). While the practice had declined by the 80s, in 1985 country superstars Johnny Cash , Willie Nelson , Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings formed the first country supergroup, Highwaymen , going on to achieve three chart singles. Perhaps the most decorated line-up,
308-486: The Grateful Dead . In the mid-1990s, in an advertising circular intended to help sell lithographic reprints of the famous album cover, he explained his thinking behind the image. I could not get my hands on the image until out of the mist a concept began to emerge. To symbolize the achievement of human creativity and its expression through technology a spaceship was the material object. To carry this new spore into
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#1732794478759336-497: The 1980s. The term is most common in the context of rock and pop music , but it has occasionally been applied to other musical genres . For example, opera stars the Three Tenors ( José Carreras , Plácido Domingo , and Luciano Pavarotti ) and hip hop duos Kids See Ghosts ( Kanye West and Kid Cudi ) and Bad Meets Evil ( Eminem and Royce da 5'9" ) all have been called supergroups. A supergroup sometimes forms as
364-763: The Bluesbreakers ; Jack Bruce , formerly of jazz / rhythm and blues band the Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers; and Ginger Baker , formerly of the GBO, formed the band in 1966, recorded four albums, and disbanded in 1968. Guitarist Clapton and drummer Baker went on to form Blind Faith , another blues rock supergroup which recruited former Spencer Davis Group and Traffic singer, keyboardist, and guitarist Steve Winwood and Family bassist Ric Grech . The group recorded one studio album before disbanding less than
392-639: The Ground" and a cover of " Under My Thumb ", are also available on Winwood's four-disc retrospective The Finer Things . Commercially, Blind Faith charted at number one in both the US and the UK. The album met with a mixed response from critics. Reviewing in August 1969 for The Village Voice , Robert Christgau found none of the songs exceptional and said, "I'm almost sure that when I'm through writing this I'll put
420-424: The Ground" had previously been released on the four-disc boxed set for Clapton, Crossroads (released 1988, recorded 1963–1987, including several previously unreleased live or alternate studio recordings). The bonus disc of jams does not include bassist Grech, who had yet to join the band, but includes a guest percussionist, Guy Warner. Two live tracks from the 1969 Hyde Park concert not included here, "Sleeping in
448-424: The US. Polydor released a compact disc in 1986, adding two previously unreleased tracks, "Exchange and Mart" and "Spending All My Days", recorded by Ric Grech for an unfinished solo album, supported by George Harrison , Denny Laine , and Trevor Burton . An expanded edition of the album was released on 9 January 2001, with previously unreleased tracks and 'jams' included. The studio electric version of "Sleeping in
476-579: The album away and only play it for guests. Unless I want to hear Clapton—he is at his best here because he is kept in check by the excesses of Winwood, who is rapidly turning into the greatest wasted talent in music. There. I said it and I'm glad." In Rolling Stone , Ed Leimbacher said of the quality, "not as much as I'd hoped, yet better than I'd expected." His colleagues at the magazine— Lester Bangs and John Morthland—were more impressed, especially Bangs in his appraisal of Clapton: "[With] Blind Faith, Clapton appears to have found his groove at last. Every solo
504-765: The album charts in the UK, Canada and US , and was listed at No. 40 on the US Soul Albums chart . It has been certified platinum by the RIAA . The band contained two-thirds of the popular power trio Cream , in Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton , working in collaboration with British star Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic , along with Ric Grech of Family . They began to work out songs early in 1969, and in February and March
532-488: The album shoot by Mick Milligan. The cover was mildly controversial in the British press, with some seeing the model airplane as phallic . The American record company issued the album with an alternative cover, with a photograph of the band on the front, as well as the original cover. The cover art was created by Seidemann, a friend and former flatmate of Clapton, who is primarily known for his photos of Janis Joplin and
560-525: The group was at Morgan Studios in London, although the first few almost-finished songs did not show up until they were at Olympic Studios in April and May under the direction of producer Jimmy Miller . The recording of their album was interrupted by a tour of Scandinavia, then a US tour from 11 July (Newport) to 24 August (Hawaii), supported by Free , Taste and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends . Although
588-584: The name Four Wheel Drive, they secured the rights to the name The Sky Kings. After opening for The Doobie Brothers on their 1993 tour, Simmons left The Sky Kings to rejoin The Doobie Brothers. Now a trio, The Sky Kings released three singles on Warner Bros.: "Picture Perfect," "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" (a cover of the Elvin Bishop hit) and "That Just About Says It All." "Picture Perfect"
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#1732794478759616-412: The name of the band on the cover. The name was instead printed on the wrapper, when the wrapper came off, so did the type." That had been done previously for several other albums. In America, Atco Records used a cover based on elements from a flyer for the band's Hyde Park concert of 7 June 1969. The album was released on vinyl in 1969 on Polydor Records in the UK and Europe, and on Atco Records in
644-596: The performances "fueled by dueling egos". However, while this "musical infighting built up the excitement ... it also made breakups inevitable." Blind Faith (Blind Faith album) Blind Faith is the only studio album by the English supergroup Blind Faith , originally released in 1969 on Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Europe and on Atco Records in the United States. It topped
672-552: The supergroup Traveling Wilburys was formed in 1988, consisting of Bob Dylan , George Harrison , Jeff Lynne , Roy Orbison and Tom Petty . In the early 2000s, supergroups such as Audioslave and Velvet Revolver made their mark. Audioslave was created in 2001, composed of ex-members of Rage Against the Machine and Chris Cornell from Soundgarden . The members of Guns N’ Roses and Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots came together to form Velvet Revolver in 2002. This
700-507: The transition from girl to woman, that is what I was after. That temporal point, that singular flare of radiant innocence. Where is that girl? Seidemann wrote that he approached a girl, reported to be 14 years old, on the London Underground , asking her to model for the cover. He eventually met her parents, but she proved to be too old for the effect he wanted. Instead, the model he used was her younger sister, Mariora Goschen, who
728-489: The universe, innocence would be the ideal bearer, a young girl, a girl as young as Shakespeare's Juliet . The spaceship would be the fruit of the tree of knowledge and the girl, the fruit of the tree of life. The spaceship could be made by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art . The girl was another matter. If she were too old it would be cheesecake , too young and it would be nothing. The beginning of
756-416: Was reported to be 11 years old. Goschen recalled that she was coerced into posing for the picture. "My sister said, 'They’ll give you a young horse. Do it! ' " She was instead paid £40. The image, which Seidemann titled "Blind Faith", became the inspiration for the name of the band itself, which had been unnamed when the artwork was commissioned. According to Seidemann: "It was Eric who elected to not print
784-611: Was the only single to chart, peaking at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. An eponymous album was scheduled to be released in 1997, but eventually shelved. Rhino Handmade released From Out of the Blue , an album which collected the entire unreleased 1997 Warner Bros. album, non-album Warner Bros. singles, and recordings and demos made for a second unreleased Warner Bros. album, in 2000. Supergroup (music) A supergroup
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