The songs don't all sound the same
Posted by Chimney Singing Crow on 9 June 2008 - 9:21am.
A common criticism of many acts is that the songs all sound the same, from the Ramones to Oasis (which isn't even true - ha ha), which made me think - who are the acts who have a hugely varied sound, to the extent where sometimes it's only the singer's voice that identifies who you're listening to? Is it a good thing?
Here's some I thought of:
Primal Scream
The Beatles
The Charlatans (seriously)
Any more?
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Elvis...
yup, Elvis.
The Changing Man
to be fair
there that was that period from 97 to er, the latest album where the odd single aside it was all pretty samey.
This does not necessarily mean I like 'em (all)
U2, Byrds, Bee Gees, even the Stones....
How about those where the singer changes too. Fairport live (the 1975 one, aka "A Moveable Feast") could be several different bands at the same time, depending on whether Sandy, Swarb or Trevor Lucas is singing, as styles switch from Trad arr to Dylan arr to angsty minor key balladry.
Cracking good stuff!
(BTW, who saw the saturday Times: enormous spread on the Dylan Project in their listings mag, with a big picture of Dave Pegg and Steve Gibbons looking, um , old. Quite put Mrs Path off her porridge as she has a thing about Peggy. A bad thing.)
I was going to say
The Stones actually - good shout
Blur...
to be fair... they went through so many stylistic changes.
Super Furry Animals
That's what I always liked about them
Agreed on Elvis...
...blasted by some for moving away from rock and roll but I'd rather that than the rehashes most of his contemporaries were knocking out. That means there's a lot of dross to plough through though, especially the soundtrack cuts!
He was nominated on that other thread, but I think Bowie's stuff is very diverse too. Scott Walker's another one...
I think Paul Weller was quite samey from the mid-90s onwards but apparently his latest album is different. I liked that weird mellotron piece called 'Pan' on his last album 'As Is Now' too...
Neil Young's gone through some drastic stylistic changes, culminating in those bizarre 80s albums where he was sued for making 'unrepresentative' music!
'Strike another match go start anew'
Shouldn't forget Dylan - surely one of those who has had most changes of style. He was there at the centre of it when music changed most radically - both creating change and being changed by others also.
Steve Earle!
What do you want?....country/rock/bluegrass/Irish/folk/reggae/grunge/spoken/blues/hip hop(well, almost).
I always seem to play the Joe Jackson card but,,
he's hardly sat down
New wave, reggae, Jive Jazz, latin pop, a grammy award winning Symphony, uncatagorisable concept albums just about get us started.
Sparks
Compare "This Town..." with "Looks Looks Looks", "The Number One Song In Heaven", "When I Kiss You..." and "Dick Around".
A few songwriting traits recur (the wide-ranging quasi-operatic melodies, the "quirky" lyrical subjects) but that aside the sheer variety of styles they've covered is enormous.