by bob_32_116 » Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:40 pm
I was a teenager in the 60s, and like many others on this board I don't think there was a better time for music than the late 60s. However don't neglect later eras, because no matter what decade you pick, there is great music to be found if you can find it.
I recently bought Roy Orbison's final album, Mystery Girl, recorded just before his death in the late 80s. It's an excellent album, showing off his trademark style but with some modern (1980s) touches, with songs written by people like Elvis Costello, The Edge and Bono (of U2) and Tom Petty, as well as compositions by the man himself.
Also for listening over Christmas, I borrowed the album Intriguer, by Crowded House, from the local library.The band has been around a while, of course, but this is a fairly recent album. If anyone here is not familiar with this band (I can't believe that's possible), then you darn well should be. Even if you are, this album might surprise you, it has a few musical twists and turns that are different from anything they have done before.
Right up to the minute, my latest acquisition is Grace For Drowning, the 2011 solo album for Steven Wilson, lead singer and frontman for Porcupine Tree, who I have mentioned a few times here. Some of it is rather challenging listening, but some of the songs are just incredibly beautiful.
And then on the other hand... I entered a newspaper competition and won a copy of the Beach Boys Smile sessions (2-CD set). I'm sure you all know the history of this: recorded during 1966-67, but never signed off because of Brian's deteriorating mental state and the disputes between the different members of the band, the songs reworked and released by Brian in 2004, and now here are the originals, 44 years after their creation, and one just has to marvel at the sound quality they achieved back in 1967, and the sheer brilliance of the songs themselves. How does anyone write a song like Surf's Up?
It's been said many times before, but it's worth repeating: good music is timeless. The date of release should not enter into the discussion of the music's quality.
I was a teenager in the 60s, and like many others on this board I don't think there was a better time for music than the late 60s. However don't neglect later eras, because no matter what decade you pick, there is great music to be found if you can find it.
I recently bought Roy Orbison's final album, Mystery Girl, recorded just before his death in the late 80s. It's an excellent album, showing off his trademark style but with some modern (1980s) touches, with songs written by people like Elvis Costello, The Edge and Bono (of U2) and Tom Petty, as well as compositions by the man himself.
Also for listening over Christmas, I borrowed the album Intriguer, by Crowded House, from the local library.The band has been around a while, of course, but this is a fairly recent album. If anyone here is not familiar with this band (I can't believe that's possible), then you darn well should be. Even if you are, this album might surprise you, it has a few musical twists and turns that are different from anything they have done before.
Right up to the minute, my latest acquisition is Grace For Drowning, the 2011 solo album for Steven Wilson, lead singer and frontman for Porcupine Tree, who I have mentioned a few times here. Some of it is rather challenging listening, but some of the songs are just incredibly beautiful.
And then on the other hand... I entered a newspaper competition and won a copy of the Beach Boys Smile sessions (2-CD set). I'm sure you all know the history of this: recorded during 1966-67, but never signed off because of Brian's deteriorating mental state and the disputes between the different members of the band, the songs reworked and released by Brian in 2004, and now here are the originals, 44 years after their creation, and one just has to marvel at the sound quality they achieved back in 1967, and the sheer brilliance of the songs themselves. How does anyone write a song like Surf's Up?
It's been said many times before, but it's worth repeating: good music is timeless. The date of release should not enter into the discussion of the music's quality.