| The
Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
takes it's name from the fact that this band self
destructed midway through the European leg of
their tour. According
to an interview with Frank, a campaign was
instigated by a couple of the horn players to rid
the band of Scott Thunes on the grounds that he
is a terrible bass player. After several displays
of a complete lack of maturity on the part of the
accusing musicians (culminating in someone
scraping Scott's name off of a cake that was
presented to the band by a promoter in Germany),
Frank asked the offending players if they
couldn't try to get along until the end of the
summer leg of the tour. They said, "No
way." So, Frank canceled the rest of the
tour and returned home to Los Angeles, never to
tour again.
I
have these assholes to thank for the fact that I
never got the chance to see Frank in concert.
Anyway,
This album is mostly re-workings of previously
released material, some good, some not. The
exception is the inclusion of several "cover
tunes" that by themself, make this offering
worth it's cover price.
Check
out the cool reggae version of
Stairway to Heaven,
where the horn section reproduces Jimmy Page's
solo practically note for note.
It's
too bad that Johnny Cash bagged out of performing
with the band on Ring
Of Fire. Frank says, in
the intro, "His wife got sick," but I
get the feeling that Johnny went home and thought
better of the idea.
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