Entertainment For Lively Minds
Better Than Their "Old"?
I was quite bemused by all the hand-wringing about the new R.E.M. album even before it was released - "They were never the same since Bill Berry Left", "The new album is going to be rubbish", "it's going to be the same old thing" etc.
But as Vorgongod posted on so well recently, the new album is actually rather good. Their last one "Accelerate" was pretty damn good too so why was there such doom and gloom surrounding their new album?
It is actually their 15th album and I can't think of many bands who are still producing good, strong albums that far into their careers.
Wire have just released an album "Red Barked Tree" that I can honestly say I think it is the best album they have done, yes even better than "Pink Flag"!
I was wondering if you can think of any other bands or artists that are still making music that matters after say 30 years and over 10 albums into their careers.
- More from Retro Man.
- Login or register to post comments
-
*takes deep breath*
the Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window hitmaker, the Rubberband Girl hitmaker, the So long Marianne hitmaker,the There Goes Geordie hitmaker and the Harvest Moon hitmaker.
Yes, and what about the
I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass hitmaker?
Yikes...
I only know Neil Young from that list...!
Tsk
...to be fair There Goes Geordie was never a hit.
Who's on bongos?
Mark E. Smith
& Morrissey.
Two aged artists with 30 year-ish careers whose music is still on the contemporary map rather than just Mojo / Classic Rock nostalgia fodder.
Dinosaur Jr.
"Beyond" and "Farm" are better than anything they did in their (marginally more) commercially successful pomp. Great records.
Like him or not...
...Paul Weller's current critical standing is as high as it's ever been. Top performer from the class of'77 by some way, I think.
Wake Up The Nation/22 Dreams
feature some of my favourite Weller songs in 20 years; he hit a low point for me late 90s through until the middle of the last decade; he's more than making up for it now.
Tom Waits
(As usual)
"Real Gone" was fantastic, "Orphans" is still bearing its fruits, and apparently there is more new music this year. And between albums he's been in 3 movies (The Book of Eli, Doctor Parnassus and Wristcutters - all fantastic) The man's more involved artistically than he's ever been.
For jazz fans...
At the age of 80 (next week!), and after 57 years as a professional musician, Paul Motian is still making fine, vital, top-drawer music for ECM records. Well done, sir.
Hear..
hear!
Maybe not a popular band with the Massive
But Depeche Mode are still producing music of the highest quality, and selling out enormodomes worldwide, whilst their 'contemporaries' are, by and large, doing the 'I Love 1983' nostalgia circuit at the local variety club...
Agreed
And they're a fantastic live band too. It's pretty scandalous that they never seem to get the recognition for being around for so long and doing so well.
I saw them on the last tour
I don't find the rockier direction they've taken over the years particularly interesting and I was a bit dismayed to see a drum kit and guitars on stage when really what DM do best is use electronic drums and synths but play them like a rock band. But I have to admire their lack of pandering to nostalgia when they could easily make a mint doing a 'classic album' in full or just playing all the hits.
It clearly works, and they've done an incredible job of transforming their image from what initially looked like a cute teeny-pop boyband into stadium straddling rock behemoths. A lot of the snobbery about ver Mode comes from those early clips of them bopping away on Swap Shop but I presume a lot of people outside of the UK only really know them as the band you see on '101'. Comes at a price though that transformation, seems it nearly killed at least one of them and severely damaged the rest.
I saw them first on the Black Celebration tour
and I still think it was their best. I prefered the synth days but I agree that they hAve guts to move on and do what they want.
I was there too
MEN Arena, December '09?
Have to say I quite like the rockier direction, but enjoy the older stuff too.
From memory, didn't they open with three songs in a row from the new album? How many bands of any stripe would be that brave - especially with the back catalogue they've got to choose from?
It was the NEC in Brum
You are spot on, they did open with 3 new ones. I've never liked arena venues but I'm glad I made the exception for these.
the liberty of norton folgate
Saw madness reach a new peak for me.
Agree with that...
I grew up with Madness and loved their great singles and videos but could never take them seriously as a band as I did with say, The Specials or The Beat. However, the Liberty album was superb and the first time I actually thought of them as a "real" band rather than a cartoon.
Sparks
Still making fabulous albums (although the Swedish version of the most recent one - album number 22 - is quite hard work!) 40 years since the first.
Well...
...You could always download the English version from iTunes.
It's their only album
I haven't bothered with, haven't even heard it yet. I was confused by all the various formats and deluxe editions, let alone different languages - is it worth getting?
Worth hearing at least
The download comes in as a single track (plus a PDF of the inlay) which is about an hour long, and it really should be listened to in a single go. It's good in the car. The whole thing is clearly a musical / opera of sorts, with repeating themes throughout, and lots of characters such as a hotel receptionist (played by Katie Puckrick!) and Ron plays a chauffeur - he also sings. There are some absolutely excellent bits, and some of it is actually very heavy with more guitars etc. than Sparks normally use.
Well worth a download, and if it ever comes out on CD in English I'll buy it - after all, I've got all 21 of their other albums - but if I'm honest it's not one I listen to a lot, just if I'm doing a long drive and it comes up on shuffle.
Yes
If you, like me, have got and enjoy the previous 21 albums then you'll enjoy a lot of this one. There are even some bits with Ron singing! There's not a lot of point in going for the Swedish version because you won't know what's going on. There are quite big chunks of dialogue that better understood in English. Other than that, a lot of it could easily have been written and recorded at the same time as Exotic
Creatures of the DeepIf anyone is about to get their first Sparks album then thus isn't the one I would recommend!
Thanks for the comments...
some friends in Sweden saw them do it live for a radio broadcast over there and said it was really suited to that sort of performance.
I was waiting for a CD issue but never saw anything released so it's good news about the download.
The great thing about Sparks is that, unlike say R.E.M. you really don't know what they are going to do next and I think that takes the pressure off them somewhat. They have also kept up with (if not ahead of) technical innovations in music which means their albums always sound fresh and vital and occasionally they can sidestep every trend and expectation and release something totally original such as "L'il Beethoven" where you just cannot pin-point any influence whatsoever.
A very rare example of a band being totally in control of their image and music, they really do remain an enigma and the music press have never seemed to have got a hande on them.
Better than Radiohead
Think it sounds great
That's
damning it with faint praise, in my book :-)
Streaming losers
I think REM may lose out due to making the album available for streaming. I've listened to it casually a couple if times while I've been wandering round the house doing other things and it does seem very good but ultimately I don't think I'll bother buying it because I know that in a years time its very unlikely that I'll want to play it whenever its time for a bit if REM.
Tons..
Steve Earle
Tom Waits
John Hiatt
Lyle Lovett
Steve Forbert
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
Ry Cooder
Loudon Wainwright III
Bob Dylan
Richard Thompson
Lucinda Williams
Tom Petty
BB King
Elvis Costello
Joe Jackson
Randy Newman
Listening to Rides Again
by John Fogerty and the Blue Ridge Rangers I think you could add him to the list.
Have you been..
...looking at my CD collection Bigstevie?
David Byrne (arguably)
Rush (not really Word friendly but still very relevant to lots of people)
The Stranglers (last couple of albums have been stonkers)
Blue.
They've done the Eurovision entry this year for the UK. It's just as bad as the stuff they were making ten years ago. Now that's consistency.
Ian Hunter
72 years old this year, I think, and still going strong. His last 3 studio albums (Rant, Shrunken Heads & Man Overboard) have been the most consistently good of his solo career.
Should have also mentioned Chris Difford
Another one going through a purple patch.
He's never going to do
anything as good as Summer Holiday again though let's face it.
Surely...
... Half Man Half Biscuit are the ones that stick out like a sore thumb. A far better band now then they were 20 years ago, if you ask me.
I've touched on this before
but I really do think that Echo and the Bunnymen's recent albums are their best. The same goes for their live performances, Mac's voice is meatier than before.
Dylan
Obvious one...but Time Out of Mind and Modern Times stand up there with his best work...
And....at the risk of irking the wrath of the anti-Bonoists, some of the more recent U2 stuff knocks their early stuff into a cocked hat. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is a high water mark.
but seriously folks..
nothing that The Fall have recorded in 25 years even comes close to the bizarre genius of the first 4 long-players. Grotesque and Slates especially tower over anything released on the alternative scene at the time.