| Author | Message | ||
     Peter_d Member Username: Peter_d Post Number: 34 Registered: 05-2005 |
There was an entertaining thread a while back ago on 'guilty secret' bands that people liked when they were younger..this thread is slightly different..I'd be interested to find out if anyone was an uber-fan of a certain band or singer for their first few albums but now couldn't care less what they are doing..for me it was the Divine Comedy - I still really love listening to 'Liberation' and 'Promenade' but I honestly couldn't tell you what Neil Hannon has done in the last 8 years.. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1734 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cosmic Rough Riders, Enjoy the melodic sunshine. That album mesmorised me, it was addictive, the most poppiest of poppiest, an unbelivable album. The rest, nah, pap! OK, the singer's solo stuff is great, Daniel has a god given voice. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 851 Registered: 08-2006 |
Good idea for a thread, Peter. And it pains me to say this - forgive me, LK - but I'm afraid Elvis Costello has slipped into this category for me. I love almost everything he did until 1987 and like very little since. I don't know if I'd say I could care less what he's doing, but, for an artist who left such a footprint on my musical consciousness, I'm not especially interested in nor do I have high hopes for what comes next. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 270 Registered: 07-2006 |
hah...nice one...i feel the same way about the divine comedy peter! placebo...glad they're still around and all but i don't care all that much either way. still think "without you..." is a good listen from time to time. the charlatans...previously, super-sexy/groovy...now, utterly forgettable. belle and sebastian. the whole thing is just tired now. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1501 Registered: 04-2005 |
This shows my age, I guess, but the Pretenders are the classic example of a band whose albums went from "eagerly anticipated" to "who cares?" for a lot of people. Others I'd put in this category: Stephen Malkmus, White Stripes, Frank Black, Stereolab, GBV, etc. Good call on B & S, Joe, and I almost agree with Rob on EC, except that he can still do it for me, most recently on "When I Was Cruel" and "The River in Reverse," so I don't dare turn a deaf ear to him. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2183 Registered: 03-2006 |
I forgive you, Rob, Elvis forgives you, but Diana Krall is really pissed! She's leaving the twins with the nanny and coming down to Chicago to pop a cap in your ass with her Prada handgun! Seriously, Mr. Kurt speak truth. Declan has come up with a few homeruns lo these many years. The ones KS mentions, as well as Brutal Youth, which I thought was totally badass..."River In Reverse" is heartily recommended - even if you were lukewarm on Costello, the great ivory tickling and great compositions of that great New Orleanian, Allen Toussaint, would make it well worth owning... I know my take on it is probably contrary to a lot of folks on this board's anyway - if it's an artist I really dig, I like seeing them take chances, explore different avenues, if those bold experiments end up in "failures"...that's way preferable to making the same f-ing record over and over again. Which come to think of, is the problem with several of the artists Kurt mentions, definitely the honorable Mr. Black, Stereolab, et al. I have to admit, somewhat reluctantly, that B&S seem a little past it... Three more that I give up, plead "no mas" to: American Music Club, Son Volt and the Afghan Whigs and, particularly, the stylings of the Twilight Singers, Dulli's current band. Too sludgy, too gloomy, too lacking in tunes, structure, songcraft. One group I used to think was the shit, but have lost interest in, despite still thinking they're excellent musicians, is the Blasters. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 95 Registered: 02-2007 |
David Bowie. Couldn't give a rats about his last 20 years. But pre 1980 I was in awe. Thought Pearl Jam's first 2 albums were pretty good, but after that aaargh! | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 271 Registered: 07-2006 |
i'm with you kurt on the pretenders too....kinda common with that vintage i suppose. even though they reformed, etc blondie would have go in there too. has anyone hear even heard any of their recent albums? apparently the first "new" one was ok, but i've not bothered with any of them. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 253 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sting - great in the Police but after...... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 621 Registered: 09-2006 |
I have to dissent on the Pretenders...I've liked some less than others, but have enjoyed just about all of their records so far, several of the more recent ones very much so. You guys nailed some good ones...I got beat to Bowie. I'm sure there are more, but only one comes to mind right now: Chrissie's former loveslave Raymond Douglas Davies. That solo record of a year or so back was interesting for a couple of listens but then progressively less so. And that's the only blip of interest since the mid-70s. Among the other oldsters, the Stones are still managing to cough out a pretty decent album or two per decade, so I can't count them out entirely. | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 139 Registered: 05-2005 |
Spence,you beat me to Cosmic Rough Riders. I could add Gomez to the list. First album I adored, and still do, but each one since, I've liked less and less. I mentioned The Thrills before - I really liked the first album when it came out, but a combination of overplay on Irish radio, and a growing annoyance with the contrived accents have me now horribly embarrassed that So Much for the City is taking up so much space on my shelf - 5mm is 5mm too much! And as for Muse! I used to like them a long time ago - Didn't buy the albums, but added them to my "eventually" list - until I realised they're basically a band for Keane fans who prefer wearing black to beige!!! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1735 Registered: 05-2005 |
Catherine yes I know what you mean with Gomez. Although, when I 1st heard them on Jools Holland, that was it, and then, it was alet down listening to that album. It was under produced, there was zero live spark on that album, tho the songs were good. Thrills 1st album is good too, but he guy is as one journo said, a one trick pony. | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 140 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thrills' latest album, what I've heard of it, is absolute dung. And definitely that journo was spot on. It's pretty much identical to everything else they've done. I see no-one has mentioned the foursome from Athens, who suck now that they're a threesome? There now, I've lit the fuse! | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 141 Registered: 05-2005 |
Now here's one that definitely comes into the category of guilty secret! Sigue Sigue Sputnik. There, I've said it. I'm not proud. In my defence, I would like to say I was a teenager, and probably got caught up in all the Ferris Bueller hype. But when Love Missile F111 was released, I thought "Great, something different, and a little bit punkish". Then the next single came out and I thought "What the hell was I thinking?!!" | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 852 Registered: 08-2006 |
Allen, I back you on the Pretenders. That "Viva El Amor" CD is one of their best evah, in my opinion. "Loose Screw" was pretty damn good, too. As far as EC goes, I can't explain why I'm so hard on him. Wait, yes I do: it's called "All This Useless Beauty." It actually made me mad when I bought it and, I swear, it's cast a pall on everything he's done since. He has done some decent stuff of late ("Brutal Youth" is indeed 3/4 of a really good record), but I just don't have the stomach to shell out for it. By the way, if Diana Krall reads this, I'm packing a Super Soaker so think before you shoot. It's well known that smooth jazzers shrink when wet. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1331 Registered: 03-2005 |
I agree on Elvis Costello and definitely on Belle & Sebastian, now great purveyors of "Name That Tune." The better they can play, the duller their music. I also got the Ray Davies record. I played it one and a half times. I doubt that Alex Chilton could do anything to perk up my interest again. I suppose Bowie can never do anything worthwhile again but his ability to reinvent himself should never be discounted. Scott Walker has gone into this category. And I WORSHIPPED him for years. I won't give up on MES yet, but while the rest of you like it, I still say Post-Reformation TLC throws up the danger signs. (But so did "Levitate" and yet he came back!) I honestly really liked the Strokes' first album. I heard it while visiting a friend in Europe and was knocked out by it. I bought it a few months later and still thought it was great. Then the second album came out. Oh, that's all they could do . . . . Dylan. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2184 Registered: 03-2006 |
Some more occur to me: Husker Du/Bob Mould - I once had every single album by 'em - traded 'em in. To paraphrase George Costanza, it's not them, it's me. New Order - that last record by them bit the big one. Ryan Adams - didn't care for the 10 or 11 records he's put out this year. Maybe his next dozen or two he'll put out this year will be better. He seems eons removed from the quality of Whiskeytown's "Strangers Almanac", one of my favorite records. M.I.A. - I thought her first record was the bee's knees - for about 3 listens. Then it started to sound fairly annoying, like the racket the truck driver makes when he empties the dumpster outside my apartment. Her new record though, according to Christgau, is supposed to be genius. Fools and their record-buying money are easily parted. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 855 Registered: 08-2006 |
Is this revenge for my EC slagging, LK? My beloved Huskers don't do it for you anymore? And MIA's a no-go? MIA I can abide - she's young, she can take it. But Mould/Hart/Norton? Understand, I'm not sticking up for Mould's solo work (unless you include Sugar), but "New Day Rising" doesn't float your boat anymore? "Candy Apple Gray"? "Love Is All Around," maybe...? | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 146 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm with you on the Husker situation, Rob. LK, take it back!! I saw my darling Bob play twice: two years ago at a festival here in Ireland, and again about 6 months later in Dublin. On both occasions, only my relative sobriety stopped me from screaming that I wanted his babies, even if it would involve a turkey baster!! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2187 Registered: 03-2006 |
Naw man, to quote Buddy Guy, I done got old. Just seems too noisy, too overwrought, too doomy and gloomy. It makes me wanna say to them, "take some Paxil and get the fuck over it". I realized, too, that I just don't care that much for Mould's singin'. I, btw, didn't realize you were such a booster of them, or MIA. Also, I'm not a big one for listening to music on headphones, so given my crowded apartment complex, listening to loud guitar-based music is pretty much not happening...MIA, bangin' on garbage can lids, is pretty much out, too. This makes me realize that in some instances - this probably definitely applies to the Pretenders - it's not the artist that changes, but rather, the listener. They're still putting out the same quality music, it's just that, in one way or another, the listener has changed. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 663 Registered: 10-2004 |
This is a difficult one as the list could go on for miles. I agree with Costello, although I think his last truly great album was "Armed Forces." His last truly great song was "Everyday I Write the Book." So, for me, his shelflife expired eons ago. I also agree about Bowie - Last truly amazing record (and for me, one of his very best) was "Scary Monsters." The last record I own is "Let's Dance." Nothing he's done since has moved me. The Fall - Nothing I've heard after "Cerebral Caustic" does anything for me. In fairness to MES, I haven't heard everything they've done since then, but what I have heard tends to sound like scrappy garage noise with no hooks. Part of what made them special to me was their ability to craft some simple but infectiously catchy hooks amid the noise and din. I just don't hear that now at all. Stereolab - "Dots and Loops" was brilliant to these ears. The best thing they'd done, an unparalleled creative peak. Everything they've done since sounds like self-parody or the Lab on auto-pilot. Had they called it a day after Dots and Loops, I'd still have enormous respect for them. Now when a new Lab album comes out, I cringe. Nick Cave - I liked "Let Love In" but everything since then is just an embarrassing exercize in self-parody. Divine Comedy - Agreed. For me, "Casanova" was his best and everything since has been pretty uninteresting. Dylan - To me, "Blood on the Tracks" was his last album worth owning. REM - "Green" is where I draw the line, though when I'm feeling less generous, it's "Fables." Belle & Sebastian - "Sinister" was their last decent album, although honestly I've never really fully understood the appeal of even their good stuff ("Tigermilk" & "Sinister"), which often veered a little too close to twee for my tastes. I'll stop now because I could go on and on and on with this... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 760 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeff, I agree with you totally on Bowie. On REM, although the last two song on AFTP, "Night Swimming" and "Find The River" are brillant in my book, they don't valut AFTP up to their 1982-87 output. Green started the plunge. Regarding EC, I'll extend out his brilliance a few years and say that King Of America and Blood and Chocolate from 1986 were still of high quality. Fall - I stopped buying anything new after Kurious. Aimee Mann - Her last two solo albums have been a big disapointment. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2193 Registered: 03-2006 |
Good one, Michael. I'm obviously a Costello fan of epic proportions and I have to say - KOA is my single favorite record by him. Songwriting simply doesn't get any better, far as I'm concerned. I like stuff that came before and stuff that came after, but that's the one that I treasure the most. It is EC's 16LL. Agree with you, too, about Aimee. What the hell happened to her? Despite their fantastic, artful packaging, those two CDs made it back to the used shop before you could say "Paul Thomas Anderson". | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 858 Registered: 08-2006 |
I suppose, given that their names have both popped up on this thread (one of them my fault, the other most certainly not my fault, you heathen), this is the place for this news item: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/ne ws/45033-bob-dylan-elvis-costello-join-f orces-for-tour | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2194 Registered: 03-2006 |
THOSE two has-beens? Puhleez - gimme a break. Hope it's a free concert or ain't nobody gonna go! | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 153 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm just thinking it's a weird combination - kinda Jam and Mashed Potato - both perfectly nice, but not on the same plate. Anyone notice the sidebar about a new live REM release? I was at the show the night before they recorded this, and it was wonderful, for an old fan like me. They played loads of the older (better) material. Now I know why.. The only thing that spoiled the show for me were the newbies around me who wondered why they were playing so much "new" material. Buy the back catalogue for Gawd Sake!!! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1339 Registered: 03-2005 |
I'm thinking "Ebony and Ivory." | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 161 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh how true!!! For both of them. Schmalz of the highest degree, so sugary, you get cavities from just one listen. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 762 Registered: 01-2005 |
LK, Aimee has lost her sense of texture and tempo, so the songs on the last few albums all sound the same and lack the variety that Everything's Different Now, Whatever and I'm With Stupid had. She also doesn't respect/play her back cat songs enough for my taste, so I haven't seen her in concert since 1999. | ||
| abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 121 Registered: 06-2005 |
i used to love american music club but can longer listen to them. After Mark Eitzel's second or third solo album I realised I just wasn't interested any more. I lstened back to the AMC albums and, Everclear aside, found them to all be much worse than I remembered. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 669 Registered: 10-2004 |
Abigail - I used to love AMC too, but like you, I just can't muster enough interest or motivation to listen to them now. I can't really pinpoint why, I mean, I don't have anything against the songs, I still like them; it's just that I don't ever feel compelled to listen to them. Maybe I can still listen to their first album, though. To their credit, I saw them live back in 1994 and loved every second of it. It was an extremely captivating and intense performance, complete with Eitzel breaking the mic stand. |