Had an interesting conversation in the car the other night during a road trip. When asked who I thought was the greatest band ever. Instead of blurting out my usual answer...The Band....duh... I thought it over and of course there is no right answer to greatest and it's really hard to say favorite too. So here's what I thought of and I'd be interested to know what others think about this question.

Greatest creative band....The Beatles

Live band....The Allman Brothers

Rock Band....The Rolling Stones...The Faces...CCR ????

Studio band... Stax house band

Best In Show....The Band

Pile on now...

First place, by a mile: the Beatles. Live band: Cream, virtuosity personified. House band: Motown with Jamerson and all those cats. Rock band: the Who. Honorable mention: Crosy,Still, Nash, and Young. Tough choices, except for the Beatles.

OK - the Beatles, but we knew that.
Live Band - E Street Band (very early version w/Vinnie Lopez on drums and David Sancious on keys). This was when Bruce played 3½ hours and hadn't been on the cover of Newsweek.
Rock Band - The Stones
Studio Band - The Dixie Flyers (with Bobbie Freeman on guitar). Close second - The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Best in Show - Butterfield Blues Band (with Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield). Mike was the reason I bought a guitar.

The original Butterfield lineup, with the three B's and Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay were amazing. I saw them many times. As chance would have it, Cream was opening for Paul and the boys at the Fillmore the first night they played in the US, and I was there. I spent the first set trying to figure out where the other musicians were; no way three guys could make all that music. A great, great night. Cream played "Sitting of Top of the World" for about ten minutes, and Clapton burned the place to the ground. Just jaw dropping. The next weekend, Eric and Ginger came to Berkeley to sit in with Buddy Guy, and that may have topped even the Fillmore evening. Legends everywhere you looked. As we said then, wow. Just plain wow.

Ah, the Butterfield Blues Band live....seen many great shows starting way back. But don't just limit it to the earlier lineups. The BBB lineup with Buzzy Feiten on guitar was just smokin. Buzzy made that Strat sing, and with a style all his own. Caught them in large venues, and also in a small club in Woodstock. BTW, the "Keep on Moving" album was finally released on CD not too long ago. Highly recommended.

I find it almost impossible to rate any bands as best, in any catergory, but I would like to mention a couple.

Creative - Pink Floyd
Live - Jethro Tull
Rock - Led Zep
Studio - Steely Dan, who I finally get to see when they come to Australia next month!

Many more I could mention...I had a Beatles scrap book when I was 4 yrs old.

To continue a slight bit off-thread, yes, some of the "later" lineups of Butterfield were not too shabby. Of the dozens of times I saw them, one show stands out. Princeton - Alexander Hall - the In My Own Dream album lineup with the horn section that taught The Electric Flag and Blood, Sweat and Tears how to use horns. They opened the show sitting in chairs a semi-circle and played the title track with David Sanborn ripping the sensational sax solo that almost made you forget Bloomfield wasn't there. Wow.

Randy, bringing it back on topic, but staying also on/off topic with horn sections, my vote for favorite band AND favorite horn section goes to Miles Davis' band with the "horn section" of Miles/Trumpet, John Coltrane/Tenor Sax, and Cannonball Adderly/Soprano Sax. Doesn't get any better than that IMHO BTW, Kind of Blue gets my vote for best album (jazz or otherwise) if I had to pick just one. And connecting it with guitar, did you know that Duane Allman was a huge fan of Miles and Kind of Blue (and for that matter, Tony Rice loves Coltrane)?! And finally, as for The Beatles, what can you say. Beyond band. The Holy Grail of bands. Was listening to Rubber Soul recently, and it sounds as great today as ever.

Tom
That's amusing - Miles' horn section. Never thought of it quite like that. Imagine them doing "steps" behind The Temptations.
Kind of Blue!! I think I'll have to fire up the turntable when I get home since I don't have it on CD.

The Band!!
Live, they were fantastic!
In the studio, fantastic!!

Well, my username should make it obvious who my favorite band is

Just wanted to mention that I also love the Band. Here's a cool site:

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/lwp_tour/Pink1.html

Hey Randy, I was at that show in Alexander. Wasn't that a great venue? Did you see Taj and his 4 tuba horn section there? One of my all time favorites.

I grew up in Pton, went away to hs and college, but made it back for some great shows. I remember the gold-leaf ceiling...don't ask why. Siegall-Schwall band, Seals and Crofts, James Taylor. Thanks for reminding me.