h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Gary Moore! Been to a few of his more recent gigs and he just gets better and better!

Darn, that man can play guitar.

No discussion as to *why* it is, so often, people prefer the earlier stuff.

Some possible reasons would be;
To begin with, the band is young and edgy. At the first whiff of fame, they spend all their new cash on drugs and debauchery, and the music inevitably suffers, by neglect.
Or, the same scenario, this time the band still wants to make music, but the drugs have 'mellowed' them, so everything sounds lame.
Or, they were only any good to start with because of all the drugs they were taking, and you can't go on like that, so the next few albums are made while they're 'coming down'.

Or, the record-company money-men get hold of the young band, and 'broaden their appeal', by trying to maximize the number of listeners whom might buy the 'product', at the expense of the very thing that originally appealed to the original fans.
Or, the drummer explodes.

Or, a band's 1st & 2nd albums have effectively been years in the making as they played for years without being noticed. Suddenly they get a record contract and they have a catalogue of material ready to record which has been refined over the years.

But then they're catapulted into a welter of publicity shoots, headline tours, chat shows etc whilst the record company is pressurising them for more material which is, by necessity, thrown together.

Another scenario is a band forgets why the public liked their songs in the first place and go off being arty-farty - look at Blondie.

>> look at Blondie.<<


When I was younger, I often did.

Oh me too

"No discussion as to *why* it is, so often, people prefer the earlier stuff."

Another reason people sometimes say that is pure snobbery...

It's another way of saying "Yes, they're a popular band now and are selling lots of records simply because they've sold out to big business, but I knew all about them before you and 99% of the western world did because I'm cooler than you are!"


Me? A cynic? Never!

There's a lot of truth in that.

Absolutely. there's no way I'd boast about going to see bands like Ghosts or Air Traffic whilst they're still young and unsigned, before the rest of you even get to hear about them being played on mainstream radio.

Like I said, no way would I do that.

RF

YES!

(That's the rock group, btw).

The earlier stuff was rather synth led trippy wild stuff, prog rock I think they call it. Cr@p I call it.

The later stuff, okay it was more mainstream, but Owner of a Lonely Heart is a corker, as is most of that album. The album "Big Generator" also had some good rock tracks. Takes me back to my student days...

Early Beck I can do without. I think Nick Cave has evolved beautifully too, though there are some lovely bits in the old stuff.

*ignors the fact that someone had said they had become more rubbish over the years* Red Hot chilli Peppers and U2

Touring could also be a factor. I know that Bjorn (or was it Benny?) of Abba said that touring kills creativity.

Pink Floyd unlistenable with Barrett? I can't listen to anything they did after Barrett left.

'Unlistenable without Barrett'?! Wash your mouth out!

XTC (though doubtless Gosho will be banging on about that before long ) - evolved from another 'new wave' band into one of Englands most closely guarded secrets and a near perfect pop band.

Loudon Wainwright - from 'new Bob Dylan' (and Dead Skunk ) to songwriter of great talent and unique vision. The sheer brutal honesty of a song like 'Hitting You' or 'New Years Day' can *only* be written by mature songwriters.

I'd have to say that although it is a generally accepted piece of wisdom about the Chili Peppers, it's nonsense. Despite the flabbery of the last album and tour, they are clearly a much better band than they ever used to be. Granted their single best album is probably 'Blood Sugar Sex Magic' but most ofg their stuff was unlistenable before it and they've been pretty consistent since (Dave Navarro aside).

As for the suggestion of SLF - it is to . They never captured the napalm and vinegar of the first two albums and the song writing didn't improve to compensate.

Lemmy would tell you Motorhead are a much better band than they were.

Oh, I forgot - Tom Waits.

And before someone says it - no, The Manics were not better 'in the good old days'..

Dead Skunk aside, after all Loudon Wainwright's songs are suposed to be commedic at times too, if you get a chance listen to his "Album II" album, it is a 1971 album and just as insightful as anything these days, to be honest I always thought it was his finest hour. It may not be available on CD, if anyone finds out otherwise please tell me as unable to play this vinyle copy in my hands!

'Album II' has been available on CD. Try E-bay or a second hand dealer, though expect to pay full whack or more - LW's stuff is highly collectable. Try the Amazon as well, a lot of second hand dealers are now affiliating themselves and very odd stuff turns up from time to time.

Personally I'd take 'Therapy' over all his other albums.

Of course some artists have excellent brilliant middle periods after a duff and and then decline again - Richard Thompson, for example. The Damned also had that problem - two pretty bad albums followed by three excellent ones followed by mediocrity for the rest of their careers.

To clarify SLF: IMO the very early stuff was ballsy but amateurish. The introduction of the brass section in songs like "Is that what you fought the war for" made a huge improvement and that is where I make the comparison between early and late. The pub touring band they developed into and "Hope Street" are mince.

So: rough then good then awful

I'm not the biggest Radiohead fan in the world - but I think 'Pablo Honey' was fairly rubbish in comparison with later stuff. (Yeah I know it had 'Creep' on it...)

SWL - horse for courses, old mate. In terms of sheer fury and songwiting combined I think Inflammable Material is hard to beat. In fact, I'd go so far to suggest that in terms of polemic and singalonability (lie that? good, eh?), it wasn't matched until Green Day's 'American Idiot'.

Oh.

Green Day. Clearly a much better band now than they ever were.