Great Album, Then They Were Gone

[Aktivator]

Number one on my list here would be Neutral Milk Hotel. Their debut was just sort of them finding their feet, then In The Aeroplane Over the Sea was unfathomably amazing, and then they promptly quit. They're back now, which is going to be awesome since I'll get to see them live... but they'll never put out another good album. Jeff wasted the glory years, most bands suck by this point in their career anyway.

! Enjoy the live show AAG saw them two weeks ago amazing show. quite a strange group of characters they look like duck dynasty meets the hipsters. I agree I don' see them doing a new album and if they do I wouldn't expect much.

another one:

death claimed this one far to early:

 

[Musikwala]

You don't even like Pyromania?? High and Dry?

 

[Khor1255]

High and Dry is a cool album but it was already showing the signs of pop drool taking the place of kids actually reaching for really good music. It is truly sad to have witnessed this decline (from afar) while it was going down.

We all had great hopes for this band (and a few others of the NWOBHM). I know it was always a crap shoot but this band may have been something really cool if they hadn't settled for the teat of commercialism so early on.

 

[Musikwala]

I haven't listened to On Through The Night enough number of times to discuss with you satisfactorily on this topic. I do know that the song Rock Brigade kicks ass! I appreciate that they were harder with this debut album and then progressively mellowed down. But to be honest, I don't see too much of a difference, really. They were a fun rock band with a cheesy name from the get-go. It doesn't dilute my enjoyment of their music. But they are what they are. They never claimed to be high art in the first place I think. lol.

On a side note, I ****ing love that album cover for On Through The Night, one of my favourite covers ever!

 

[Riff Raff]

They started showing their most ridiculous poppish side on albums like Hysteria which to me is why that album is extremely overrated. I can see why Khor feels that way about albums after On Through The Night. High n Dry did show bits of it but it was my favourite album because it didn't overwhelm me with that poppy edge like it did on later albums. Mutt Lange tends to be one to go overboard with more polished production.

 

[Musikwala]

They started showing their most ridiculous poppish side on albums like Hysteria which to me is why that album is extremely overrated. I can see why Khor feels that way about albums after On Through The Night. High n Dry did show bits of it but it was my favourite album because it didn't overwhelm me with that poppy edge like it did on later albums. Mutt Lange tends to be one to go overboard with more polished production.

But dude... you've said in the Def Leppard thread that you like Adrenalize. And here you say that Hysteria is too pop. Does not compute.

 

[Khor1255]

I haven't listened to On Through The Night enough number of times to discuss with you satisfactorily on this topic. I do know that the song Rock Brigade kicks ass! I appreciate that they were harder with this debut album and then progressively mellowed down. But to be honest, I don't see too much of a difference, really. They were a fun rock band with a cheesy name from the get-go. It doesn't dilute my enjoyment of their music. But they are what they are. They never claimed to be high art in the first place I think. lol.

On a side note, I ****ing love that album cover for On Through The Night, one of my favourite covers ever!

It's not that they ever were high art but with Pete Willis they had an inventive and rocking lead component. It is said he was hard to get along with but the music they produced while he was a principle member of the band is in a whole other league than the pop that crept in. It always was somewhat jinglesque (at least most of it was) but that alone never stopped a song from seriously rocking.

Listening to a promoter or engineer instead of a core musician always seems to take the rock out of a band (see Accept's second album for reference).

 

[Riff Raff]

But dude... you've said in the Def Leppard thread that you like Adrenalize. And here you say that Hysteria is too pop. Does not compute.

Dude I did not say I don't like Hysteria, I just said it is a bit too pop oriented and polished compared to its counterparts before it and yes I do like Adrenalize. Just because I think something is a bit overrated does not mean I dislike it.

 

[Johnny-Too-Good]

I never disliked Def Leppard, and Joe Elliot is certainly a guy who is aware of his rock heritage, but I always thought the lyrics let them down. It was the type of stuff you could imagine 15 year old schoolboys writing. eg - 'I suppose a rock's out of the question?' - makes me cringe every time I hear it.

 

[Khor1255]

Yeah, I heard them in an interview say that they wrote lyrics that were phonetically catchy rather than putting in any thought to them. There is something to be said for this approach but it makes me wonder who wrote a few of the early songs that actually have fairly cool lyrics (Overture etc).