Preferred Eras of Musical Artists/Bands

[WhoTom]

42 minutes ago, Rico said:

AC/DC: Back In Black is a great album, but in general, no Bon Scott, no sale.

 

Every album after Back in Black sounds just like Back In Black. They're the world's most environmentally-friendly band: they've been recycling the same material for 42 years.

 

“I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same.” - Angus Young

 

But the Bon Scott era was their prime, in my opinion.

[T&C]

3 hours ago, Logic said:

Totally different band!



 

 

 

Totally agree... back then it was Savoy Brown, John Mayall, Butterfield Blues Band, etc... and Fleetwood Mac.

 

 

[Rico]

56 minutes ago, muppy said:

 

I'll write about one of my favorite artists Neil Young. Muppy is a huge fan and has seen him in various genres of his career beginning at Rich Stadium for the CSN&Y tour back in the 70's

 

Clearly a huge talent that included his solo stuff after departing the Buffalo Springfield in 1968 then fast forward to 1979 when he makes "Rust Never Sleeps" Huge Album hugely influential to what was to follow coming out of Seattle.

 

But  then he  began a musical odyssey that was very hard for fans of his earlier mentioned stuff to really grasp. I'm talking abut albums like Re-ac-tor, Trans, Everybodys Rocking, This Note's for You to a lesser extent

 

each were distinctly different musically. Not the kind of music you would expect of him. Especially Re-ac-tor and Trans. I was frankly appalled at the time lol What the heck Neil? But that is just who he was and is.......a Busy head to say the least. And knowing he is on the autistic spectrum makes a lot of how he has behaved  make perfect sense. He and his current wife both (Darryl Hannah) Maybe being aspy can be a super power 

 

🙂

 

EDIT:  I wrote above before I read @Rico's post regarding Neil. We were definitely on the same wavelength regarding Neils musical choices. I remember he was having serious beef with his record label. They wanted more of what sold not this new progressive stuff. Not his first time and certainly not the last of he rocking the establishments desire vs what HE wanted to do.

Yes, Neil has never gived 2 f###s, he does what he wants to do.

 

I do like Reactor though, it rocks pretty hard, though I did like it a lot more back when it came out. I saw him on the solo Trans tour, that was something.

[Rico]

9 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

I was waiting for someone to bring up the Beatles!  I actually think that Rubber Soul was the beginning of what was the best to come from them.

 

As a child, I learned about the Beatles through sharing a room with my older brother.  The only Beatles albums he had were the red and blue compilation albums.  I was probably 8 or 9 when I started listening to them (around 1979).  I totally gravitated toward the Rubber Soul/Revolver tunes on the red album and LOVED everything on the blue album.

 

The earlier stuff was great in its own way, but I am with you that the later recordings take the cake and those represent a solid 95% of what I listen to when I listen to the Beatles.

 

 

I tend to agree now about the Beatles later stuff, but I was 4 when they first broke and just loved them. Later when I was 7, I was like what the hell is this weird sh##? What happened to my band?  That only lasted a couple years though, I got a little older and saw the light.

[LewPort71]

Genesis.  My preferred era includes the Peter Gabriel era.  The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Selling England by the Pound are A+ imho.

The post Gabriel music is very good, but geared more for radio play.

 

YES. The problem with Yes is their ever changing line up.  I thoroughly enjoy the albums that preceded Tales From Topographic Oceans.

After that ..meh..

 

ELP is my favorite band  and will remain so even though they recorded .. ( ugh)  Love Beach. 

Black Moon was Ok..  In the Hot Seat was dreck

[Gugny]

One of the posts in the "one song" thread specifically fueled me to start this thread.  It was a U2 song.

 

I became a U2 fan in 1983 when I got the "War," album as a gift from my grandmother.  She went into Record Town and told the person working that she had no idea what kids were listening to and asked for his guidance.  Well, luckily for me, he had great taste.  I'd never heard, nor heard OF U2 before getting that album.

 

I immediately fell in love with it and quickly went on to buy their earlier albums, which I also loved.

 

Unforgettable Fire came out a year later and I consider that to be the last great U2 album.  It was a significant change in direction from their previous albums, but it didn't bother me at all.  I think some of the best songs they ever recorded were on this album.  Some powerful, moving songs.

 

I think Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum were good albums; not great.

 

Achtung Baby was, to me, very "meh."  There were songs that I liked (One, Mysterious Ways), but they just weren't "U2 songs," to me.

 

Everything after that has been 100%, pure crap, in my opinion.

[US Egg]

The ‘70’s pop music scene was fantastic.

Putting a cassette player and Jensen speakers in one’s car was euphoric. 
 

Especially with a car load partying away.

 

 

[Nextmanup]

I love all iterations of Pink Floyd and don't care about the loss of Roger Waters at all.

 

Also, the really early Syd stuff is a bit out there.  Definitely not the best work.

The magic man who makes the whole thing "go" IMO is David Gilmour.

 

I was just watching several good documentaries on Youtube last night, talking with people who lived with and knew Syd really well around the time he went crazy.  Really interesting stuff.

 

This is like 1966, 1967, 1968.

 

The only other performer who I feel strongly about in terms of "Era" is Miles Davis.

 

I ADORE his bebop era type stuff in the '50s, when he was like a trumpet playing god.

 

As time went on, and we got to like the early '70s and "***** Brew" he basically went insane and I couldn't stand the ***** he was putting out.

 

 

 

 

[Rico]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

One of the posts in the "one song" thread specifically fueled me to start this thread.  It was a U2 song.

 

I became a U2 fan in 1983 when I got the "War," album as a gift from my grandmother.  She went into Record Town and told the person working that she had no idea what kids were listening to and asked for his guidance.  Well, luckily for me, he had great taste.  I'd never heard, nor heard OF U2 before getting that album.

 

I immediately fell in love with it and quickly went on to buy their earlier albums, which I also loved.

 

Unforgettable Fire came out a year later and I consider that to be the last great U2 album.  It was a significant change in direction from their previous albums, but it didn't bother me at all.  I think some of the best songs they ever recorded were on this album.  Some powerful, moving songs.

 

I think Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum were good albums; not great.

 

Achtung Baby was, to me, very "meh."  There were songs that I liked (One, Mysterious Ways), but they just weren't "U2 songs," to me.

 

Everything after that has been 100%, pure crap, in my opinion.

Yeah, Joshua Tree really turned me off to them, very overrated with tons of filler and I didn’t care for the hits either. After that, I’ve only liked some songs. First time I saw them was the War tour in Shea’s Buffalo, incredible show, I was under the balcony and thought it was going to crash from people jumping up and down. Achtung Baby in retrospect was pretty good, but I had stopped following them by then, band full of t* ats.

[Nextmanup]

Back with another thought: it just occurred to me that Zeppelin is really about Albums I-IV.

There is some listenable stuff on House of the Holy, and then after that, it kind of went downhill in a big way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greg S]

12 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

I love all iterations of Pink Floyd and don't care about the loss of Roger Waters at all.

 

Also, the really early Syd stuff is a bit out there.  Definitely not the best work.

The magic man who makes the whole thing "go" IMO is David Gilmour.

 

I was just watching several good documentaries on Youtube last night, talking with people who lived with and knew Syd really well around the time he went crazy.  Really interesting stuff.

 

This is like 1966, 1967, 1968.

 

The only other performer who I feel strongly about in terms of "Era" is Miles Davis.

 

I ADORE his bebop era type stuff in the '50s, when he was like a trumpet playing god.

 

As time went on, and we got to like the early '70s and "***** Brew" he basically went insane and I couldn't stand the ***** he was putting out.

 

 

 

 

 

Pink Floyd is one of the best bands ever, but I do prefer them with RW. My favorite Pink Floyd song is SOYCD.

[US Egg]

13 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Back with another thought: it just occurred to me that Zeppelin is really about Albums I-IV.

There is some listenable stuff on House of the Holy, and then after that, it kind of went downhill in a big way.

Physical Graffiti is excellent, imo.

 

‘Kashmir’ is uphill.

[Ned Flanders]

23 hours ago, Logic said:

One more I wanted to mention. 

Fleetwood Mac from 1967-1970 was an elite electric blues band.

Then they had a several years long weird transitional period, and they came out on the other side of it a completely different band.

When you think of Fleetwood Mac -- that sound you hear in your head, Stevie Nicks, all of it -- it really bares no resemblance at all to the original Fleetwood Mac, who played brilliant music in my opinion.

I am NOT such a fan of the latter day, well known, platinum records selling version of Fleetwood Mac (except for Landslide, which is dope). But the original Fleetwood Mac, the REAL Fleetwood Mac....holy *****, man. Good stuff.

There was a great documentary on Amazon Prime a while ago on Peter Green and that era of Fleetwood Mac.  Cost $1.99 to watch now, but well worth it.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Green-Peter-Story-Man-World/dp/B01KI263NW

 

The Peter Green era, then the Bob Welch Mac, produced some fine music.

[Rico]

13 minutes ago, I am the egg man said:

Physical Graffiti is excellent, imo.

 

‘Kashmir’ is uphill.

Physical Graffiti is my fav LZ…. high school years, good times.

[Rico]

27 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

Pink Floyd is one of the best bands ever, but I do prefer them with RW. My favorite Pink Floyd song is SOYCD.

Wish You Were Here is a top 10 album for me, in large part due to being a tribute to Syd.

 

As for Syd, I will take Barrett and especially The Madcap Laughs over most early Floyd albums.

[BuffaloBill]

5 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

The ‘70’s pop music scene was fantastic.

Putting a cassette player and Jensen speakers in one’s car was euphoric. 
 

Especially with a car load partying away.

 

 

 

 

This is somewhat consistent with what I was thinking.  That is somewhere in the very large 70’s into the early 80’s nearly all bands shifted to more “commercially popular music.” In that era I was a huge Genesis fan and they definitely went “poppy” once Gabriel left.  Ironically, I think Gabriel himself fell into this though his solo music was a bit more “out there.”

[rockpile]

The Who should have stopped releasing new music as The Who after Keith Moon died. 

 

I had all their vinyl releases and most of the individual's solo work, going back to the 45 rpms.

I saw them once before and once after Keith Moon died.

I cannot really compare the shows because the first was after the release of Who's Next at the Rochester War Memorial, in front of maybe 6,00 fans, about 1973.

The second time was outside in the cold autumn rain about 1984 at Rich Stadium with 80,000 fans.

 

Both performances were excellent but the first time was magical.

 

[WhoTom]

12 minutes ago, rockpile said:

The second time was outside in the cold autumn rain about 1984 at Rich Stadium with 80,000 fans.

 

 

1982. I was there too. They made it rain. 🙂

 

[rockpile]

 

Forgive me for snipping this liberally to address only some the bands or artists with my personal comments!

 

17 hours ago, Rico said:

 

The Band: only when they're backing Dylan.

 

I really liked The Band's work with Dylan, and loved their first two studio albums. I have even driven up the hilly roads in Saugerties, NY to stop at Big Pink two times. Their third album was a bit of a dark foreshadowing of the end for me, except for some brilliant selections from that and later albums. Drugs, alcohol, and credits for who wrote the songs (and the money attached to that) destroyed them. They had a short lived resurgence with "Jericho" in the 1990's, and the Americana genre is their greatest achievement. 

 

17 hours ago, Rico said:

 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: only when they're backing Dylan.

 

I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers about six months before Petty died and it was one of the best concerts I ever attended.

 

17 hours ago, Rico said:

 

LZ: love everything studio, live stuff best when Plant could still wail.

 

I loved Led Zeppelin's first two studio albums the best, played loud enough to vibrate the windows

 

17 hours ago, Rico said:

 

Talking Heads: everything until Little Creatures.

 

Stop Making Sense was their peak for me.

 

 

17 hours ago, Rico said:

 

Dylan: early folk era = zzzzzzzz, 65-66 incredible, 74-78 next best.

 

Before The Flood - live with The Band  and the compilation The Essential Bob Dylan are favorites along, with the studio albums Blood on the Tracks and John Wesley Harding. 

His current tour is getting rave reviews. 

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

 

1982. I was there too. They made it rain. 🙂

 

 

Yes, the rain started when they played Love, Reign O'er Me! 

 

[WhoTom]

9 minutes ago, rockpile said:

Yes, the rain started when they played Love, Reign O'er Me! 

 

And the rain ended when the song ended. Daltrey's comment afterward: "I'll bet The Stones can't do that."