I think we can all agree that's one of the loveliest and most generous of spirit songs ever heard by sentient mammalian ears. But its implicit message raises some interesting contradictions, and that -- as you may have suspected -- leads us inexorably to the theme of the day's business.
To wit:
There are bands who fell apart, due to lack of commercial success or other factors, and thus never fulfilled their artistic potential, and there are bands who overstayed their welcome long after they had exhausted theirs. Name your favorite example in either category.Discuss.
Self-explanatory, I think, and no arbitrary rules whatsoever, so have at it.
I should add, however, that my nominee in the second category is -- and I say this with no happiness at all -- The Youngbloods.
The short version: Their first three albums on RCA, with the Lennon and McCartney-esque team of front people Jesse Colin Young and Jerry Corbitt, are masterpieces. Their later albums (on Warner Bros. and their own Raccoon label), after the departure of Corbitt, are IMHO completely unmemorable and a real slog to get through.
As for the first category, don't even get me started. 😎
Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
Do the original Modern Lovers belong in the first category? Fell apart before they even released their first album. Or the second category in that they reached their full artistic potential on that one post breakup debut?
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate example of wearing out their welcome would be the Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship permutations.
I guess we'll find out this Fall if Spinal Tap has worn out their welcome /s
I confess to optimism about Spinal Tap. 😎
DeleteThank you for the shot on Dawes! They are my favorite "modern" band. Taylor Goldsmith is the greatest lyric writer of this generation, straight from the school of Joni, Paul Simon, Coen. Dawes should be bigger but I believe they're too smart for a wide audience. Another favorite, somewhat connected to Dawes, is the Truth & Salvage Co., from L.A. They released two albums fifteen years ago and their rootsy rock and roll let you know just exactly what was in their record collections.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to think of bands that fell apart before they fulfilled their potential, since they didn't by definition make many records. Death has been a problem frequently. Morphine comes to mind. Kirsty MacColl had more great music in her. Belly should have stuck around, they were better than Tanya Donelly on her own. Moby Grape is a sad story of demise. But all four of them made records that fulfilled their potential, it's just too bad they didn't do more. In the second category, Airplane/Starship was on my short list also. I'd add Crosby Stills and Nash, Journey, and Pink Floyd.
ReplyDeleteI'll pick door #1 - bands who fell apart.
ReplyDeleteSavoy Brown - great guitarist, Kim Simmonds. One of my favorite albums when released - A Step Further/'69.
It appears to me that Simmonds was a bit of a head case. Their best lineup, Lonesome Dave, Rodger Earl, went on to achieve a success that Simmonds could only dream of...Foghat
Simmonds rotated so many musicians through S/B - every musician who played with him quit.
rob
I second the motion about the original Modern Lovers, but did the Sex Pistols have a second act in them?
ReplyDeleteThe Velvet Underground carried on without Lou, as did Mott without Ian Hunter- pointlessly.
Chicago should have hung it up after album V, not XCIV.
Alzo - The Pistols are aces with me but 2nd album - they were a mess. Regarding Mott, I knew Ian, he never missed them. Chicago, so them at Fillmore East - they took over that stage like a Panzer Division. After the first album I was gone
DeleteDare I be the one to say it?
ReplyDeleteThe current farewell this-time-we-really-mean-it tour for the Half-A-Who?
First, you should get your facts straight first and stop insinuating that the Who have made a career out of “farewell” tours. In point of fact, they’ve done exactly one farewell tour to date, in 1982. If you want to get peevish at them, the 1989 tour - which was billed as their 25th anniversary tour, NOT a farewell tour - is a legit target, because of how the 1982 tour was billed. No subsequent tour was ever billed as a farewell tour until this upcoming “final” North American tour. Sure, on all the others, they didn’t say “and we’ll be back again, promise!” but a lack of affirmative intent for a subsequent tour does not a farewell tour make.
DeleteAs far as creating new music, yeah, “It’s Hard” mostly sucked (although there are a couple of damned good songs there among the dross), but the 2006 release “Endless Wire” is a solid effort, and so is 2019’s “WHO”; the first track on the latter, “All This Music Must Fade” would have fit very nicely as a standout track on “The Who By Numbers”, and there are other good Who songs there.
And as far as playing live…forgive me for committing the sin of being too young to see the original band in concert, but I have seen them live in 1982, 1989, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022, and I have tickets for the last show on this tour. Among those six shows are some truly spectacular memories, e.g., pulling off a killer performance of Quadrophenia with a drummer (Scott Devours) who first hit the stage with the band in a runthrough three hours earlier (because Zak Starkey developed a debilitating case of tendinitis only hours before the show in San Diego, and Scott answered The Call to fill those shoes). Just amazing live performances. Maybe to you, the current lineup is akin to a Who cover band, but if so…it’s the greatest Who cover band ever, by a wide margin, and can produce plenty of sensational live music.
So for anybody who is saying “ah, they should hang it up now!” or even worse, “bah, they should have hung it up when Moon died”…I’d ask when was the last show you saw, because what I’ve been seeing over the last decade is IMO still worthy of being called the Who, and even though I never saw the “real” band live, I feel very fortunate that I was able to see these various incarnations of the band. And I’m glad I’ll get one last experience before they hang it up for good (and yeah, it’s clearly for good).
I have to say that I would have cheerfully enjoyed another couple of Buffalo Springfield albums.
ReplyDeleteDead & Company. Bob Weir now fronts his own Grateful Dead tribute band, or that's what it feels like. I don't care if they pack the Sphere, the whole thing's embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteTwo acts that failed to achieve their artistic potential:
ReplyDeleteCrash Vegas
Blood Oranges
Both bands released three wonderful albums that totally got lost in the early 1990's and unfortunately then packed it in before they were artistically done.
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Two acts that potentially long over stayed their welcome:
While The Who continued to release good (far from great albums) post Keith Moon, all these years later I feel that the post Keith Who albums are extremely spotty.
Starting after The Sleepwalker album, The Kinks did pretty much the same thing to take some of the polish off their reputation.
Neither the latter Who nor Kinks' albums were bad, just not delivering the greatness that came before.
As much as it broke our hearts, maybe The Beatles broke up at just the right time to save their legend.
Captain Al
Captain, just a bit harsh on Ray but mostly agree. Sleep Walker still gets play around here."Life Goes On" a desert Island song.
DeleteHowever - Low Budget and Misfits (CD issue) has "Father Christmas" were all released after Sleep Walker 💘
Even during their slumps, the Kinks made some immortal work. 'Low Budget' is chock full of hits. The late period brought us 'Come Dancing,' 'Better Things' and 'Scattered.' They can't all be VGPS, but they concluded their creative career without tarnishing their legacy.
DeleteAlzo - 👍
DeleteI second your thoughts about the Fabs, Capt. Al.
ReplyDeleteThe Kinks still released some amazing songs (Art Lover, Trust Your Heart, Living on a Thin Line, Father Christmas and many more) but the overall constancy just wasn't there. Waiting for years between albums didn't help either.
ReplyDeleteThe same more or less also applies for those later Who albums. Lots of greatness but lots of filler and boredom.
I see no one responded about Blood Oranges and Crash Vegas so I guess this proves my point, no one even knew of their music. So much good music can get lost every year.
Captain Al
Captain - favorites of mine that are guilty pleasures that never broke U.S charts - Be Bop Deluxe - Bill Nelson a great guitar player and songwriter. "Live in the Air Age" a must listen.
DeleteMott...their one U.S hit...All the Young Dudes, did Garner the audience they should have had. Ian was a local pub visitor 😎 Andy Powell, another local, great guy on the Flying V, never found any real following with Wishbone Ash. Argus reached #3 on the UK charts. Talking with Andy I said that I had "Locked In", his response "I F'n hate that album" - oops, what a way to start the conversation(lol)