MusicRadar

Cream - the first supergroup?

View in gallery

The Highwaymen

After they scored a hit with Jimmy Webb's song Highwayman, country outlaws Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson decided to form a band and record an entire album, which promptly shot to No. 1 on the US country chart. Here was the world's first authentic country supergroup, whose members had influenced one another greatly throughout the years (Cash jump-started Kristofferson's career in the early '70s with his cover of Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down). The band recorded two more cracklin' albums before Jennings' death in 2002.
MusicRadar rating 4/5

The Traveling Wilburys

Lineups don't get any better than this: George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. Do we have to mention their credits? Of course not. Each 'Wilbury' assumed his own nom de plume (Harrison was Nelson Wilbury, Orbison was Lefty Wilbury and so on), and the music they made was pure heaven. Their first album contained hits like Handle With Care, End Of The Line and Last Night. Tragically, Orbison died just as the record was taking off (and before his fine solo album Mystery Girl could be released). The Wilburys recorded one more disc as a foursome, but the absence of ol' Lefty was sorely felt.
MusicRadar rating 5/5

Damn Yankees

Americana bombast at its most bombastic. Loincloth enthusiast Ted Nugent alongside Tommy Shaw from Styx, Jack Blades from Night Ranger and Michael Cartellone from we-have-no-idea…even on paper, this sounds bad! The band scored a big cheese ball hit with the power ballad High Enough, and sure enough, this is where their sights were set: at the lowest common denominator. Don't Tread, a follow-up to their self-titled debut, finished them off, mercifully.
MusicRadar rating 1/5

Around the web: