Synergy 2 (musician synergy)
Was listening to late 70s Fleetwood Mac today.
Really enjoyed it.
But also it reminded me of an interview I saw with Lindsey Buckingham in which he said that he is more proud of his creative work on the songs of others in the band (i.e. his harmonies, ideas for arrangements, solos, etc.,.. on the songs of Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks) than he is of his own compositions in Fleetwood Mac.
And in my mind, this tied in with farout's recent thread on synergy within hifi systems.
My initial headline thought was that great bands are almost defined by the fact that the excellence they produce is a consequence of the remarkable synergy of their various creative tallents. I think Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie are a good example of this, but possibly even better examples are Lenon - McCartney (and arguably George Martin) in The Beatles, or Squire - Brown (and arguably John Leckie) in The Stone Roses to name but 2.
I own solo albums by Buckingham, McCartney, Lenon and Ian Brown. All have very good moments from which I draw considerable enjoyment, but none come close to the qualities that they achieved with their most effective team mates. It's sum of the parts stuff again...
And I then I thought that creative synergy is really what the purpose of any band is, musically and creatively. Quite profound and joyful and affirming and humbing to be part of actually, even if one is not working with The Beatles in Abbey Road studios.
And then I worried I was stating the obvious.
But, I'm wondering what examples there are of musicians who have produced music with specific other musicians that has been obviously signifincantly better than their work with any other musicians...?
Examples of musician synergy please (Davis - Coltrane...?)!
Really enjoyed it.
But also it reminded me of an interview I saw with Lindsey Buckingham in which he said that he is more proud of his creative work on the songs of others in the band (i.e. his harmonies, ideas for arrangements, solos, etc.,.. on the songs of Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks) than he is of his own compositions in Fleetwood Mac.
And in my mind, this tied in with farout's recent thread on synergy within hifi systems.
My initial headline thought was that great bands are almost defined by the fact that the excellence they produce is a consequence of the remarkable synergy of their various creative tallents. I think Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie are a good example of this, but possibly even better examples are Lenon - McCartney (and arguably George Martin) in The Beatles, or Squire - Brown (and arguably John Leckie) in The Stone Roses to name but 2.
I own solo albums by Buckingham, McCartney, Lenon and Ian Brown. All have very good moments from which I draw considerable enjoyment, but none come close to the qualities that they achieved with their most effective team mates. It's sum of the parts stuff again...
And I then I thought that creative synergy is really what the purpose of any band is, musically and creatively. Quite profound and joyful and affirming and humbing to be part of actually, even if one is not working with The Beatles in Abbey Road studios.
And then I worried I was stating the obvious.
But, I'm wondering what examples there are of musicians who have produced music with specific other musicians that has been obviously signifincantly better than their work with any other musicians...?
Examples of musician synergy please (Davis - Coltrane...?)!
Comments
...If I'd got my turn with John Lennon, I'd have revolutionised popular music!