Supergroups often come and go, and many of them tend to just be friends and contemporaries in the same musical circles who get together to make music for fun. Other supergroups, like Cream and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, were more serious ventures that yielded really great music.
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Speaking of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Keith Emerson was actually part of another supergroup. And that particular band was packed with some of the biggest rock musicians and rock band members who made waves in the 80s. That supergroup was aptly known as The Best, and not many people outside of classic rock diehards even know it existed.
Short-Lived Supergroup The Best Did One Tour and Disappeared
The Best was an English-American supergroup. The band formed in 1990, and the members were all quite well-known musicians in the rock world. Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer played the keyboard, and John Entwistle of The Who played bass. Joe Walsh of Eagles offered his guitar talents and vocals, Jeff Baxter of Steely Dan played the guitar, and Simon Phillips of The Jeff Beck Group (and later worked in Toto) played the drums. A more or less unknown musician named Rick Livingstone sang lead and also played the flute. Backing vocals were contributed by Hamish, Fergus, and Angus Richardson of Brother. Zak Starkey also allegedly worked with the band, too.
That’s a lot of talent. So, what happened? Why is there so little information out there about this short-lived supergroup?
The Best released very little material. They only lasted for about four years before breaking up in 1990. The only real, tangible evidence of them existing comes from a video clip of them performing in Japan in the early 1990s. Entwistle said that The Best did indeed tour Japan, and even had planned an American tour. That, sadly, never happened.
In a 1994 interview with Entwistle, he noted that The Best was “never supposed to be a set band.”
“There were supposed to be a couple of set members and then the rest would change,” said Entwistle. “We had another tour planned of America, had lots of dates lined up, but we just couldn’t get the people we wanted at the right time. So it kind of fell through for that one year, and now I’m onto this thing. There’s a possibility it could come back again.”
The Best, sadly, never came back. One can’t help but wonder what could have been.
Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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