Muse. They were amazing, absolutely loved them and then they released The Resistance in 09 and it was the start of the decline, the stuff they're releasing now is like a parody of themselves. It's awful garbage
The first thing I thought of when I saw the thread. I’m actually listening to a podcast series about them at the moment which is very good.
Origin of Symmetry, Absolution and Black Holes & Revelations were strong enough to make me think that we were on the verge of having the next dominating rock band for our generation, and then it just petered out so quickly.
What happened to them? I don't follow their career but bought their first few albums many years ago and watched some of their live shows. Thought they were one of the absolutely best live bands.
They still are, saw them @ the Olympic Stadium on their most recent tour and it was one of the best gigs I've ever seen. Phenomenal show.
They just can't seem to put a whole album together like the three mentioned anymore. All since have had some absolute belters but they've also had some absolute dross.
I really like The Resistance, I think things became more patchy after that
To be fair, most bands struggle to maintain the standard after a certain point. They either start repeating themselves or try different directions which don't really work. It's pretty common for bands/artists to tour a new album, knowing full well that hardly anyone in the crowd really wants to hear the new stuff!
I like The Resistance too, so that makes 4 decent to great albums.
I think we'll see more of this in future. With the streaming model bands like Muse will earn a decent amount from their back catalogue and can just tour/do festivals each year to make a very decent living. Not many on tour wants new stuff, and nobody at festivals wants new stuff. So once a band has a big enough back catalogue to support a 1-2 hour set, if they don't enjoy being in the studio there is no actual need.
As an example, Mr Bright side has been in the top 100 for 13 of the last 17 years. It's on over 20,000 Spotify playlists and in theory The Killers may never need to release anything else. Another example is The Weekend. Blinding Lights has been in the top 40 for around 18 months at this stage and because people keep streaming it, it's not going to move out of the top 40 anytime soon.
Some artists love the creative process and being in the studio, whilst others prefer performing, or simply run out of creatives juices at some stage. The modern media landscape means they can still make a very good living if they have the back catalogue to support it.
Streaming isn't very lucrative though, not when compared to tours. Or indeed physical sales
I think artists like to bring out new music to go with their tours to show they're still "credible" and a current act, rather than a nostalgia one.
Setlists for established artists are always a compromise between playing the new album, playing the big hits and playing a few of the lesser known but great songs for the "hardcore" fans.
As a young lad he would regularly beat the likes of Jamie Cullum and Chris Martin* in young musician competitions. Ended up paying his way through uni doing paid hotel/bar gigs and is a phenomenal pianist but can play just about anything. But he couldn't sing well enough, so never got the chance to marry a supermodel or Gwenith Paltrow.
Doesn't seem to have held him back in his career as a divorce lawyer tbf - business is booming.
(*my sister in law's claim to 'fame' is she once cooked him a spag bol' before his vegan days)
I would say that Chris Martin has managed to get by without actually being able to sing in tune - certainly live and without the aid of a studio anyway!
Muse. They were amazing, absolutely loved them and then they released The Resistance in 09 and it was the start of the decline, the stuff they're releasing now is like a parody of themselves. It's awful garbage
The first thing I thought of when I saw the thread. I’m actually listening to a podcast series about them at the moment which is very good.
Origin of Symmetry, Absolution and Black Holes & Revelations were strong enough to make me think that we were on the verge of having the next dominating rock band for our generation, and then it just petered out so quickly.
What happened to them? I don't follow their career but bought their first few albums many years ago and watched some of their live shows. Thought they were one of the absolutely best live bands.
They stopped focusing on trying to be the best band in the world, and instead tried to focus on being the biggest band in the world.
Once they reached a certain size it was as if they were trying to force their sound a bit too much, whilst trying to appeal to the masses, and it just didn’t come across as natural Muse.
Their work after The Resistance still has 1-2 decent tracks per album, but so much filler.
Not really a waste because I will never know how things would have turned out. But all through school at Charlton Sec I played saxophone basically to get out of doing any other lessons. Got into london youth and nation youth jazz orchestra and had a great time. At 17 was playing in a few pubs locally like the Mitre etc to earn a bit of money. Was asked to go and rehearse with a new local band starting up but couldn't be arsed so didnt go after being asked 2 or 3 times they stopped asking me. The band was Squeeze lol
Michael Grant, was the lead singer and lead guitarist of Enderverafter. Their sole album is a masterpiece, since then he's played guitar in about the 80th version of LA Guns and now he is trying to get a new band (Michael Grant and the Assassins) going, they are OK but that's all.
Like Andyg I attended Charlton sec.I was there in 55-60 when it was Charlton Central.I had friends who had guitars and who played in groups,I could not wait to leave school and buy my first guitar which I did for £7.50 at a second hand shop in moorgate.I practised day and night,learning Shadows and Duane eddy numbers,but of course other things come into your life,I loved Football and all sports and then around 19 years old i met the mrs.and the guitar took a back seat.I still had an ocassional strum,and then around 30 years later I decided to have another go,I went through a couple of strats,a Gibson Chet Atkins,and finally the guitar I now have and love a Martin 00028.I have also learned other instruments in the last 5 years.Sorry to bore you with my life story,but the relevance to this thread is I just wonder how good i could have been if i had had the dedication.
Like Andyg I attended Charlton sec.I was there in 55-60 when it was Charlton Central.I had friends who had guitars and who played in groups,I could not wait to leave school and buy my first guitar which I did for £7.50 at a second hand shop in moorgate.I practised day and night,learning Shadows and Duane eddy numbers,but of course other things come into your life,I loved Football and all sports and then around 19 years old i met the mrs.and the guitar took a back seat.I still had an ocassional strum,and then around 30 years later I decided to have another go,I went through a couple of strats,a Gibson Chet Atkins,and finally the guitar I now have and love a Martin 00028.I have also learned other instruments in the last 5 years.Sorry to bore you with my life story,but the relevance to this thread is I just wonder how good i could have been if i had had the dedication.
The most dazzlingly talented musician, whose first two albums (Lewis Taylor and Lewis II) are just stunning pieces of work.
He was the muso’s muso. Basically what you’d get if you put Marvin Gaye, Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Radiohead, a bit of Barry Gibb and sone Hendrix with his wahwah into a blender. I remember Elton John raving about him in a TV interview, D’Angelo flying him to the US to collaborate, MDing Gnarls Barkley, him doing a cracking 18 with a Bullet with Carleen Anderson for Lock Stock. But he basically hated the business of music.
So he vanished, and removed every last shred of himself and his stuff from the internet, and changed his name. Still on Spotify but I guess only reluctantly.
Don’t get me started on Lewis Taylor. I’m a massive fan. Got some real rarities too. I went to an Ash Soan drum clinic. He was Lewis Taylor’s drummer and was so chuffed that I asked him about Lewis that he put on a version of Stoned Pt 1 recorded especially for him by Taylor for use in Ash’s clinics. Ash drummed along to it and it sounded great. The funny thing about this exclusive version, during one of the stops in the song, Taylor shouts to his girlfriend, ‘I’M IN THE KITCHEN!’ and he left it on the recording. It just so happened I had a bootleg recording of Lewis Taylor live at the Jazz Cafe on my phone and I played Ash his version of the Funkadelic tune Hit It And Quit It, and he was like, ‘God, I haven’t heard this since the day we played it.’ I sent the whole show to him.
My hero. As someone who attempts to play the guitar a bit I'd love to be able to play with the feel and passion he had. Drugs really did for him. Oh what could have been.
The most dazzlingly talented musician, whose first two albums (Lewis Taylor and Lewis II) are just stunning pieces of work.
He was the muso’s muso. Basically what you’d get if you put Marvin Gaye, Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Radiohead, a bit of Barry Gibb and sone Hendrix with his wahwah into a blender. I remember Elton John raving about him in a TV interview, D’Angelo flying him to the US to collaborate, MDing Gnarls Barkley, him doing a cracking 18 with a Bullet with Carleen Anderson for Lock Stock. But he basically hated the business of music.
So he vanished, and removed every last shred of himself and his stuff from the internet, and changed his name. Still on Spotify but I guess only reluctantly.
Don’t get me started on Lewis Taylor. I’m a massive fan. Got some real rarities too. I went to an Ash Soan drum clinic. He was Lewis Taylor’s drummer and was so chuffed that I asked him about Lewis that he put on a version of Stoned Pt 1 recorded especially for him by Taylor for use in Ash’s clinics. Ash drummed along to it and it sounded great. The funny thing about this exclusive version, during one of the stops in the song, Taylor shouts to his girlfriend, ‘I’M IN THE KITCHEN!’ and he left it on the recording. It just so happened I had a bootleg recording of Lewis Taylor live at the Jazz Cafe on my phone and I played Ash his version of the Funkadelic tune Hit It And Quit It, and he was like, ‘God, I haven’t heard this since the day we played it.’ I sent the whole show to him.
I was at three of the four Jazz Cafe shows. God they were good. I don’t suppose you still have the recording...? (He asked hopefully)
I’ve been lucky (see what I did there) enough to play bass on gigs with Ash several times over the past few years, I think he’s the best groove drummer there is in the UK today. Used to live in Blackheath, now has his own studio in a windmill in Norfolk.
Lewis was one of the finest bassists I’ve ever heard, and it was his fourth or fifth instrument! Bit like Jacob Collier now. Some people have way more than their fair share of talent.
The other thing, for those that don't know Lewis Taylor, as JVL was saying, he was a multi-instrumentalist, who did all his own backing vocals, like a latter day Todd Rundgren, and in fact, on that Jazz Cafe recording he does a cover of Rundgren's Everybody's Going To Heaven, which is the least likely Todd cover ever. But then that was Lewis Taylor. When he was on Gilles Peterson's show, Peterson said afterwards, 'That boy loves a guitar.'
You could sense on Lewis II that there was an attempt to kind of market him as a neo soul singer, then you go back and listen to his versions of Heart Of The Sunrise and Black Dog and all of The Lost Album with its West Coast harmonies, as well as the Beefheart tribute, and you realise why it was daft to try and pigeonhole him. I'm waiting for the double album vinyl special edition of the debut album to arrive. It'll be the first LT recording I'll have on vinyl.
I remember Ash ushered me over in a conspiratorial manner and said, 'Lewis would kill me if he know I had these', and then showed me loads of live clips on his laptop. Most of its on YouTube now. Gone are the days when Lewis would threaten to sue anyone who uploaded clips or songs.
Have you heard the post-retirement track he did with Deborah Bond? She said it was like getting blood from a stone to get his vocal track. And then there are the two tracks on The Vicar project which hinted at the direction he may have gone in.
The short time he was performing and the influence he had on changing music and on future artists I’d say I’m most disappointed Buddy Holly wasn’t about for longer. Can’t say his talent was wasted though as mentioned, many artists cite him as influential.
Brilliant young French guitarist who could can cover the most technically demanding metal solos. Hearing her shred Vivaldi is really something. Started her Youtube channel in 2007 aged 8 and packed up in 2016. She has amassed over 160 million views, but has now just given it all up, or so it seems.
My brother served his apprenticeship at Parsons in Erith. One of his workmates was a drummer who told him one day that he had an audition that evening.
Next day, on reporting how it went, he told my brother that he didn’t think they’d get anywhere and that he turned down the offer to join. Apparently they were all drunk and the singer/guitarist just screamed down the mic.
My brother him asked the name of the band to which he replied ‘The Small Faces’
My Jeff Buckley story is on another thread somewhere. The short version is I was buying Tim Buckley albums from a shop in Soho where the absolutely stunning girl who served me mentioned his son was playing tonight and did I want to go. Do you know what I said? ‘Why would I go and see Tim Buckley’s son?’ That reply has haunted me for years? Mostly because the girl looked like a model, to be fair.
An outside shout for Dan Treacy of Television Personalities. I think the thing that unites all these people is they all have/had their demons.
I used to know Dan Treacy quite well, back in the mid to late 80s. At the time he was quite stable, had a good relationship and while not making a good living was making enough from touring and releasing records (and promoting other bands via his label and gigs, like the Mighty Lemon Drops, One Thousand Violins, Hangmans Beautiful Daughters). It was all on the cheap though and I think he could have done a lot better than he did but he was brilliant at self sabotage: like when the TVPs supported Pink Floyd and he started to read out Syd Barrett's address and they got chucked off. Pretty sure he did something to mess up the Nirvana support slots as well. But not sure he fits this category - he made records up until his health deteriorated to the point that he couldn't, except for the spell in prison. Some of them are quite good, some of them aren't. On one song he sings "I should've signed for Creation" - but of course, if he had, there's no guarantee it would have worked out.
He was asked to join Led Zeppelin before Robert Plant, but turned them down. What a waste...
Just booked tickets to see Terry at Jazz Cafe on 26Jul. He's still great live and I don't think he would have survived the fame and fortune being in zep would have brought. I give you David McComb of The Triffids. Crashed and burnt out at the height of his musical vision The Triffids split and he died in 1999.
Comments
I think artists like to bring out new music to go with their tours to show they're still "credible" and a current act, rather than a nostalgia one.
Setlists for established artists are always a compromise between playing the new album, playing the big hits and playing a few of the lesser known but great songs for the "hardcore" fans.
Don't think his time with us was wasted though.
Baffling.
I’ve been lucky (see what I did there) enough to play bass on gigs with Ash several times over the past few years, I think he’s the best groove drummer there is in the UK today. Used to live in Blackheath, now has his own studio in a windmill in Norfolk.
Lewis was one of the finest bassists I’ve ever heard, and it was his fourth or fifth instrument! Bit like Jacob Collier now. Some people have way more than their fair share of talent.
You could sense on Lewis II that there was an attempt to kind of market him as a neo soul singer, then you go back and listen to his versions of Heart Of The Sunrise and Black Dog and all of The Lost Album with its West Coast harmonies, as well as the Beefheart tribute, and you realise why it was daft to try and pigeonhole him. I'm waiting for the double album vinyl special edition of the debut album to arrive. It'll be the first LT recording I'll have on vinyl.
I remember Ash ushered me over in a conspiratorial manner and said, 'Lewis would kill me if he know I had these', and then showed me loads of live clips on his laptop. Most of its on YouTube now. Gone are the days when Lewis would threaten to sue anyone who uploaded clips or songs.
Have you heard the post-retirement track he did with Deborah Bond? She said it was like getting blood from a stone to get his vocal track. And then there are the two tracks on The Vicar project which hinted at the direction he may have gone in.
Can’t say his talent was wasted though as mentioned, many artists cite him as influential.
An outside shout for Dan Treacy of Television Personalities. I think the thing that unites all these people is they all have/had their demons.
I give you David McComb of The Triffids. Crashed and burnt out at the height of his musical vision The Triffids split and he died in 1999.