Ever feel like you were the last person to get into an artist? About 2 years ago, Townsman Kpdexter burned me a CD with about 25 albums on it, most of which I’d never heard. In short time, Stephen Malkmus‘ Face the Truth moved to the top of my playlist. I went out and bought the album, and it’s held onto the top spot as my favorite album of the 21st century ever since.
Similarly, after years of resisting overtures from lovers of the band, including one who dumped a copy of the sacred Bee Thousand on my lap, I used a gift certificate to buy that 30-track Guided By Voices “best of” collection, and what do you know? Suddenly, I was the last person past the age of being able to know better to get into the band.
Lately, a good 30+ years since first rejecting Heart up and down, I’m thinking I need to revisit their classic works and see if it’s not too late to sign on as a fan. I must say, Malkmus and GBV were very forgiving, even allowing me to dip into their back catalogs without mockery.
Do you recall ever having been late for the party?
the thing about Heart is, their classic stuff sounds great still, but their Greatest Hits album also is chock full of their mid 80’s to early 90’s schlock hits.
the production on that stuff is so dated that it’s an absolute riot. I’ve often been curious about their stripped down Lovemongers project.
Heart and Aerosmith: Two bands whose Look mirrors their albums’ production at any given point in their careers?
You gotta be real careful with Heart. You might hurt yourself bad. A few years back I was giving into this idea that they deserved a critical upgrade of some sort and purchased the greatest hits thru BMG and while although the early hits are still cool, and probably deserving of an upgrade, kpdexter is right on about the other shit. It is so bad, not just production but complete lack of… anything really, that they drag the good stuff down, bad!
They also commit a Rock Crime twofer on the compilation- Released post-demise they record and include a new song: Crime #1, (assuming all band members were alive and participated this is perhaps only a misdemeanor but)… And then Crime #2- they put this new song on as the FIRST track, felony for sure. And I don’t even think they wrote it, which although probably not a crime in and of itself is surely not going to please the judge.
The Rock Crimes Commission has been duly noted. Thanks.
That is indeed a significant crime on that Greatest Hits 76-85 collection, which I also have. But if you skip that first song, the rest of that particular Greatest Hits collection is pretty strong, although it peters out towards the end. Still, it doesn’t contain any other of their latter day embarrassments. One could do worse than have that CD in their collection. I find it can be a fun listen on the way home from work. But that first song is oh-my-god awful.
i still haven’t even attended the party for the cure (having “boys don’t cry” isn’t enough), though i’m sure once i visit, i’ll realize i missed a pretty great bash.
I’ve been catching up with Pavement through the expanded reissues. I bought Slanted & Enchanted when it came out based on the critical buzz, and I just did not get get it. I couldn’t hear anything happening there at all at the time, and I eventually sold it back. When I heard the reissue I couldn’t believe it, but my ears were now ready for them. After I work my way through their catalog, I may follow Mr. Mod to the Jicks, especially now that they have a new drummer.
I had a somewhat similar experience with GBV, buying Bee Thousand and then selling it back. Years later I fell in love with Isolation Drills. I haven’t liked any of Pollard’s other stuff quite as much as that. I’d prefer that he always used a producer/editor and polished up his material as he did on Isolation Drills. I know he won’t, but I did learn to respect his talent.
And I still can’t deal with the fragmentary stuff on Bee Thousand.
The Cure’s greatest hits album is one of those albums I need to have a friend buy for me and deliver privately. As I’ve shared in the past, I actually had a friend buy me the Grateful Dead’s greatest hits collection without anyone knowing. Sometimes you’re not only late for the party, but you’d been trashing it for so many years that you’ve got to arrive undercover.
A few years ago I bought The Cure’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me on vinyl at a Goodwill but all I’ve ever really needed are Disintegration and Staring At The Sea to relive those years;) I was super late to the “power pop” party if we could talk broad genres here… My friend Paul’s favourite genre – he and his brother have the hugest record collection of power pop on vinyl, and I feel so dumb some times because I had no clue how much some of the songs or bands would mean to me, he was always lending us these crazy mix tapes – and we asked him to define himself for our first ep and we’d take a photo – he laid out two of his favourite albums for us to take a photo of. Paul is kind of an iconic guy – the other photo was of him and his wife and some elvis sunglasses from their trip to memphis. I can really appreciate some Dwight Twilley, Paul Collins [The Beat] and know that I’m just missing so much more than The Only Ones, Rockpile, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, the dBs, The Undertones, The Records, The Raspberries, and well – I mean, just so much more! I love it though because it’s a complete universe unto itself. It’s so easy to miss so many great bands that have a broad/great back catalogue without even blinking let alone bands that are currently making music!! I feel like I’m always playing catch up and that doesn’t end, and not that I want it to.
re. GBV, I’m a fan of their early stuff, and even I think “bee thousand” is more than a little tedious.
try “Alien Lanes”. though it’s fragmentary, it’s masterfully sequenced and is filled to the brim with memorable tunes. as the last album before “Under the Bushes”, it’s lo-fi’s last stand, and quite an eloquent defense of that aeshtetic, much moreso than “bee” to my ears.