Headliners Whose Bands Disappoint

There are some performers who are clearly great yet whose records, and often live performances, are often disappointing because their back-up bands are not at the same artistic level.

Here's a list of 10 artists whom I love, but have to admit, often disappoint:

Sonny Rollins-Jumped the shark when the electric bass came in.

B.B. King-World's greatest bluesman. Not the world's greatest band.

Johnny Winter-Perfunctory bass/drum background with his early trio. Things improve when Rick Derringer joins the band.

Girl Genius

Girl Genius

I wasted&mdash;er, enjoyably spent&mdash;the weekend reading Phil and Kaja Foglio's <I>Girl Genius</I> online. Now I've ordered the printed books, and I recommend you do the same. Here's a taste of the Oz meeets steampunk comic. Order all six volumes&mdash;or spend the next three days online. At which point, you'll order all six volumes anyway, so save a step.

Islam & Science

Islam & Science

Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy gives us a fascinating overview of Islam's long and variable engagement with science. "The question I want to pose—perhaps as much to myself as to anyone else—is this: With well over a billion Muslims and extensive material resources, why is the Islamic world disengaged from science and the process of creating new knowledge?"

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement