QUESTION OF THE WEEK: ARE THERE ANY BANDS WHERE YOU LIKED AN ALTERNATIVE LINEUP BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL?

Yes, the ’84 Whitesnake lineup of David Coverdale, John Sykes, Cozy Powell and Neil Murray was, in my humble opinion, hands down the best lineup, perfection.

Also, while I love High N’ Dry, I think I might be partial to the Steve Clark/Phil Collen lineup of Def Leppard.

If I can think of any other lineup, I will add it here.

27 Responses

  1. I love Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio as vocalist rather than Ozzy Osbourne. Ronnie James Dio turned Black Sabbath, a heavy blues based rock band, into a heavy metal band.

    Even though they didn’t release new music together, I love Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo playing with Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads rather than Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley. Randy Rhoads, Tommy Aldridge, and Rudy Sarzo will ALWAYS be my favorite Ozzy band. So glad I got to see that lineup once.

    1. So true! Didn’t even think about the different Ozzy solo lineups over the years. Definitely favour the same lineup as you that toured while Randy was alive. Rudy & Tommy were the ultimate rhythm section.

    2. While I think Tommy Aldridge is a great drummer, and I guess Sarzo is a decent bassist, minus his silly Whitesnake stage moves (ugh, so lame), I believe Osbourne would NOT be Ozzy without Daisley‘s and Kerslake‘s contributions to the first two records. Which, I believe, are Osbourne‘s best albums to date.

      I feel confident in writing, that Daisley‘s amazing lyrics, and other musical involvement, had led to Osbourne‘s great success, and without him, who knows?

      IMHO, while I LOVE Zakk Wylde, once Daisley ceased helping, the quality of the albums and music went down. I believe the last album Daisley worked on, one of Osbourne‘s best, was No More Tears.

      So, based on that, in my humble opinion, the original Blizzard Of Ozz lineup is the best.

    3. Dana, I agree with you that Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, as seasoned musicians, and Daisley’s songwriting, contributed significantly to Ozzy’s success on those first two records. But Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge built Ozzy’s reputation as a top live act. Sarzo and Aldridge were not songwriters, but they were excellent performers in concert.

    4. Dana, I most certainly agree with you that w/o Kerslake, Daisley and Rhoads Ozzy wouldn’t have had such a great start in his solo career. Kerslake is a great drummer with outstanding technique. Daisley seems to me to be the Geezer Butler of Ozzy solo and also a stellar arranger. Kerslake’s performance on Diary of a Madman is a testament to his great chops and dynamics. SATO is another along with Pretty Dolls.

      And those live shows with Tommy & Rudy were equally as great. I love Randy in studio and his live work is even better. Imo, of course.

  2. While I love everything the Eagles have done and enjoy each iteration. I do favour the Henley, Frey, Meisner, Walsh, and Felder years.

    I like the 2nd lineup of Metallica. By the time I started listening to Metallica Cliff had been gone for over 2 years. Jason New(kid)sted had an awesome presence on stage playing live and had great backing vocals that complemented both songs & James. He had epic energy & head-banging skills. By the early 90’s he was singing most of Seek & Destroy, and I dare say it sounded better than James. The guys were also firing on all 8 cylinders. No disrespect to the Mighty Cliff.

  3. RUSH! God bless John Rutsey, but in my opinion Rush didn’t become Rush until Neil Peart took over! Fly By Night (again, in my opinion) was really the beginning of Rush! So it’s kinda hard for me to call Lee, Lifeson and Peart the “alternative” version.

  4. How much hate will I get for saying I like Van Halen with Hagar over Roth. Dont get me wrong, I LOVE Roth era VH, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Hagar era VH more.

    I also prefer the original Maiden over the classic lineup…mainly because of CLIVE BURR. Guy gets ZERO respect…his drumming was absolutely AMAZING, but I barely hear anyone ever talk about him.

    1. Michael you’ll get no hate from me with regards to Sammy Hagar over DLR. I have the DLR fronted albums – which I only bought because I liked listening to the guitar player. I might have listened to them once or twice at most.

    2. Michael, excellent comment on Clive Burr. IMO, he is one of the primary reasons for Iron Maiden’s early rise to stardom. Clive had sort of a “punkish”style of playing on the first Iron Maiden album, and that really helped the band when it first started out. Even Eddie, the mascot, was kinda “punky” looking on the first Iron Maiden album cover. Steve Harris can keep denying that Iron Maiden was influenced by punk, which was hugely popular in England when Iron Maiden’s debut album was released, but I don’t believe it. Clive Burr’s drumming and Paul Dianno’s image and raspy voice tell otherwise…..

      And, while I love the Bruce Dickinson version of Iron Maiden, I do prefer the first two Iron Maiden albums with Clive Burr and Paul Dianno.

    1. Scott,

      I was going to include Priest, but while technically Halford was not the original singer, I would venture to guess that 99% of general metal fans, and possibly 85% of Priest fans, would have no clue .

      It is the same with AC/DC, I bet most fans have no idea that Bon Scott was not the band’s original singer, but rather he replaced Dave Evans, on vocals.

    2. Very true Dana. I was reaching a bit…

      And not knowing about AC/DC like I do about Priest, you can put me in that group of fans that had no idea that there was another vocalist before Bon Scott.
      So thank you for educating me 🙂

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