Best Ever Albums

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

elparacaidas — Mon, 27 May 2013 22:12:49 GMT

Author: elparacaidas

Posted: 05/28/2013 02:12

My own and simple oppinion.

David Bowie: on many of hes ages

Radiohead: Thebends,okcomputer >> Kid A, amnesiac >> Hail to the theif >> in rainbowns >> the king of limbs

The Beatles: its strange mitosis

Luis Alberto Spinetta: are the more prodigious musician jazz, rock, folk, jazz fussion, electronic etc.

Blur: had a specialy jump off

Beck: its a camaleonic artist

Soda Stereo: A plastic new wave band evolved in a experimental, shoegazzed rock band

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Happy — Mon, 27 May 2013 21:37:45 GMT

Author: Happy

Posted: 05/28/2013 01:37

The Who went from power pop to a more classic rock style sound.
Pearl Jam started off as a classic rock inspired alt-rock band but they gradually experimented more and more with their sound.
Nirvana started off as pure grunge with few pop melodies on Bleach, then Kurt decided to show his melodic abilities on Nevermind while still keeping it somewhat heavy, then he made those melodies more low-key, but still apparent on many of his songs, for In Utero.
Led Zeppelin started off as blues rock but became more acoustic for Led Zeppelin III, then becoming more blues rock again for their fourth album.
Rush started off as a cheap knockoff of Led Zeppelin but then started to absorb influences from prog rock, then from more pop-oriented music like new wave and reggae, and they continued to change once they started using synthesizers.

edit:

another one is Queen. They started off as a hard rock band, but then they got more poppy and theatric on Sheer Heart Attack and the appropriately named Night at the Opera, and they eventually became all-out pop by the end of their careers.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

SuedeSwede — Mon, 27 May 2013 19:21:24 GMT

Author: SuedeSwede

Posted: 05/27/2013 23:21

drakonium wrote:

Actually I think anyone who says that being cool is not one of the reason listening to music is so great is being hypocritical.

I see your point here. It's "cool" to listen to the kind of music I listen to, in a different sense than it is "cool" to listen to One Direction and shit. But, my "cool" is culty cool, and it's a better cool in my opinion. And that is just a bonus. But, it's not the reason I listen to music, it just makes it better because I can connect with a few people to talk about the awesomeness of it rather than having the experience lonesomely or universally.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

SuedeSwede — Mon, 27 May 2013 19:17:20 GMT

Author: SuedeSwede

Posted: 05/27/2013 23:17

The Vaccines... they suddenly changed from really nice post-punky three-chord band to indie rocky sensation... I preferred their earlier simplistic era, but they've definitely gotten better at composing and performing.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

sulmagnificent — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:44:25 GMT

Author: sulmagnificent

Posted: 05/18/2013 01:44

The Black Keys - Because of Danger Mouse in Attack & Release turned more poppy
The Rolling Stones - Changed for blues to pop to psychedelia and back to blues again due to Satanic
The Doors - From "The Doors" to white blues because of the failure of The Soft Parade

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Necharsian — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:40:33 GMT

Author: Necharsian

Posted: 05/17/2013 21:40

AlexZangari wrote:

If you seriously think everybody listens to music in order to be edgy and cool, I really don't know what you're doing here.

How do you rate other people's charts? Or taste in music in general?

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Grzywa — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:56:38 GMT

Author: Grzywa

Posted: 05/17/2013 20:56

Few can beat The Cure following up the apocalyptic-gloomy-cold wave-gothic-or-whatever Seventeen Seconds-Faith-Pornography trilogy with a series of shameless pop singles like Let's Go to Bed, The Walk and Lovecats.

Did anyone mention David Bowie ?

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

drakonium — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:44:28 GMT

Author: drakonium

Posted: 05/17/2013 20:44

AlexZangari wrote:

If you seriously think everybody listens to music in order to be edgy and cool, I really don't know what you're doing here.

Actually I think anyone who says that being cool is not one of the reason listening to music is so great is being hypocritical.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

AlexZangari — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:37:53 GMT

Author: AlexZangari

Posted: 05/17/2013 20:37

If you seriously think everybody listens to music in order to be edgy and cool, I really don't know what you're doing here.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Necharsian — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:09:25 GMT

Author: Necharsian

Posted: 05/17/2013 19:09

IrishMusichead wrote:

only appealed to those teenage boys who thought they were "edgy" and "cool" for listening to their music.

this can literally apply to anyone who likes and listens to music ever

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Anonymous — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:22:59 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/17/2013 18:22

After promoting them in the PPNW tournament, I feel a little silly not mentioning Scritti Politti earlier in this thread. Scritti Politti have evolved from Robert Wyatt, Beefheart and Can influenced wiry post-punk, through sophisticated pop and new wave, then onto electro pop/R'n'B, through hip-hop, and now back to sophisticated pop, though somewhat more downbeat than previously. Anyway, here's the promo I posted earlier in the games forum, which should give a somewhat better idea of their how their evolution panned out:

lethalnezzle wrote:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

I genuinely believe Green Gartside, troubled mastermind behind post-punk/art-pop collective/group/moniker Scritti Politti, to be one of the post-punk era's most interesting and underappreciated artists.

When the group released their first single 'Skank Bloc Bologna' in 1978, few could've imagined the future trajectory of the band, and it is this ability to constantly surprise that is perhaps Gartside's biggest weapon. 'Skank Bloc Bologna', however, is where it all started, and it's an incredible debut single by any standards; fractured guitar lines try their best to put Gartside off his soulful, melancholic, distinctly British crooning (a not dissimilar croon to that of art-rock legend and future collaborator Robert Wyatt), while what I believe to be some sort of toy xylophone adds to the confusion of it all. Gartside sings about "rockers in town with an overestimation", a dig at the overtly macho attitude of punk bands such as The Clash, bands with "a notion, (but not a) hope". As Gartside revealed much later in his career, the Scritti Politti of 1978 were "anti-rock", a genre which he thought was "too strong, too sure, too solid". But these Gramsci reading art-school students "weren't strong, or sure, or solid", and 'Skank Bloc Bologna' is an ode to insecurity and paranoia that sounds every bit as vibrant today as it must've upon its release 35 years ago.

'Skank Bloc Bologna'

Link

However, it wasn't just the music found on their debut single that was of interest to fans, but the packaging also. Ever the anti-rock socialists, Scritti Politti used the artwork of their self-released debut 7" to demystify the rock music process, breaking down and detailing the costs of each step of the record's production - of their studio time, mastering, pressing and printing - as well as listing the addresses and phone numbers of the studios and companies they'd used for all of this. It was the biggest step towards promoting a complete DIY (do-it-yourself) ethic that any band in the punk era had taken up to that point.

The photocopied sleeve detailing the aforementioned production costs of the record.

The original 2,500 copies of 'Skank Bloc Bologna' sold out pretty rapidly, and the song eventually sold around 15,000 copies altogether. The success of this single and the quality of the songs on it convinced legendary indie label Rough Trade to sign the band. The band released a number of melodic, if jagged, singles and EPs, all underpinned by what The Fall's Mark E. Smith enviously labelled "the best rhythm section in the country". In the song 'Messthetics', which itself acts as some sort of manifesto for the band in those days, Gartside confidently assures the listener that, despite the haphazard sound of some of the band's work, there is something very deliberate about it; "we know what we're doing... we know how it sounds". Anyway, here are a few of my favourite Scritti Politti songs from those early Rough Trade singles (although my absolute favourite, the wonderful 'Hegemony', isn't available on YouTube, but I urge you to check it out if you can find it):

'Doubt Beat'

Link

'Messthetics'

Link

'Confidence'

Link

Whilst on tour with Gang of Four and Joy Division, disaster struck. Gartside, overcome by stage fright and anxiety, collapsed with what was thought to have been a heart attack (he wouldn't play live again for 26 years). He found out later that it was actually a severe panic attack, but this nonetheless lead him to retreat to his native Wales to recover. However, every cloud has a silver lining and, whilst holed up in Wales, Gartside became obsessed with the sound of soul, disco and the emerging hip-hop of New York. He recorded 'The Sweetest Girl', a seemingly saccharine sweet synthpop song, which was enhanced by Robert Wyatt on keyboards and a dizzying, disorientating, dubby abuse of various effects, which help to twist and distort a simple ode to love into something altogether more adventurous. It was released on NME's popular C81 compilation, and The New York Times actually named it one of their Top Ten songs of the year, but the label failed to capitalise on the hype and the song was a commercial failure.

'The Sweetest Girl'

Link

However, the fact that the song didn't sell as expected didn't put off major labels, who offered Gartside contracts on the strength of that single. He decided to stay with Rough Trade for the release of the group's debut album, Songs To Remember, in 1982. Full of soulful new wave, the group's debut album was a world away from their fledgling recordings as a spiky, angular post-punk band. During this transition to pop music, Gartside didn't sacrifice anything lyrically, and the album features an ode to French philosopher and father of the idea of deconstruction Jacques Derrida amongst others. It's a fantastic album, taking influence from Stevie Wonder, Prince and David Bowie, and the album became Rough Trade's biggest-selling album up to that point. Here are some of my favourite songs from the album:

'Asylums In Jerusalem'

Link

'Jacques Derrida'

Link

'Faithless'

Link

Despite the relative success of the album, Scritti Politti were still a cult group. Gartside wanted to be a popstar. This man, who had burst onto the scene singing the praises of DIY ethics and Gramsci, had decided that his ambitions couldn't possibly be matched by Rough Trade any longer, and signed for Virgin in 1983. The original lineup was disbanded, and Gartside cut all ties with his socialist, art-school past and upped and moved to New York, where he surrounded himself with musicians capable of crafting the sort of pop he wanted to. Taking influence from the NY synth-funk and electro he was seeing all around him, this new Scritti Politti set about crafting intelligent morsels of catchy R'n'B/new wave, still containing some of the strange, unpredictable melodic flourishes of early singles like 'Skank Bloc Bologna', but now beefed up by sequencers and drum machines as opposed to wiry lo-fi guitars. Cupid & Psyche '85, the band's second album, would be their most successful, thanks largely to the hits 'Wood Beez', 'Absolute' and 'The Word Girl'. Some had accused Gartside of "selling out", but it was hard to argue with the quality of his particular brand of pop music. He kept this formula for his next album too, 1988's Provision, which featured a star turn from none other than Miles Davis, who had covered Scritti's 'Perfect Way' just a couple of years earlier for his 1986 album Tutu. Provision wasn't quite as successful as Cupid & Psyche, but nonetheless went gold in the UK. Here are a selection of my favourite songs from Gartside's popstar period:

'Hypnotize'

Link

'Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)'

Link

'Boom! There She Was'

Link

Following on from Provision, Gartside took an ill-feted turn towards pop-reggae, releasing two godawful singles featuring Shabba Ranks and Sweetie Irie respectively. He planned an album of that nature, but thankfully it never arrived. In fact, Scritti Politti wouldn't put out another album until 1999's Anomie & Bonhomie, a mix of hip-hop and everything else Scritti Politti had done up to that point, using both guitar-based rock and electronic pop music to supplement these new hip-hop influences. It was cited by critics as a return to form, but I can't say I'm much of a fan. It did manage to throw up a few gems though, such as this one:

'Tinseltown to the Boogiedown' (ft. Mos Def & Lee Majors)

Link

In 2005, Rough Trade released a compilation of Scritti Politti's pre-Songs To Remember material, appropriately titled Early. In January 2006, Green Gartside performed onstage for the first time since his crippling panic attack in 1980, playing an intimate gig in Brixton under the alias "Double G & The Treacherous Three". Three months later, the new Scritti Politti released their first album of new material since re-signing to original label Rough Trade, White Bread, Black Beer. It was a real return to form, and is my second favourite Scritti album after their debut (or third favourite, if you count Early). It's far more melancholic than anything else Scritti Politti have ever released, but it's pulled off with aplomb. Here are my two favourite songs from the album, and two of my favourite Scritti songs from any era, 'The Boom Boom Bap', his stunning ode to the hip-hop that he loves so much, and 'Petrococadollar', one of the most atmospheric things he has ever recorded:

'The Boom Boom Bap'

Link

'Petrococadollar'

Link

Over the years, Green Gartside has lead Scritti Politti, in various incarnations, through wiry post-punk that was as impressive as any from the era, through to sugary new wave and straight-up bombastic pop, onto hip-hop, and now to a sound that feels entirely comfortable and is really quite impressive. He's a one-of-a-kind in pop music and, despite a flawed career, he deserves to be mentioned amongst the greats of the post-punk era.

VOTE SCRITTI POLITTI!

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

AlexZangari — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:29:50 GMT

Author: AlexZangari

Posted: 05/16/2013 23:29

The Velvet Underground went from being totally different (The Velvet Underground & Nico) to quite similar (though still good) to the other bands of the time (Loaded).

Also, being me I have to mention Blur. They started out with a bit of a Madchester thing (Leisure), with touches of shoegaze. Next came Britpop. On any of their Britpop albums (Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife, The Great Escape) you can hear the incorporation of dozens of different styles: synthpop, punk, waltz, fairground music, neo-psychedelia, etc. On their self-titled, Graham Coxon redirected the band toward an American-influenced alternative sound. This carried over to 13, only with a LOT more experimentation and electronic sound. Their last album saw the departure of Graham Coxon and left Damon Albarn to once again control the group's creative direction without challenge. Think Tank was influenced by hip-hop and African music and can be seen as an interesting middle-ground between previous Blur work and Gorillaz.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

HazeyTwilight — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:59:14 GMT

Author: HazeyTwilight

Posted: 05/16/2013 17:59

Ashamed for mentioning them but, Linkin Park changed in sound with every album they made.
Firstly, they were full on rock.
Secondly, they were a shell of their former selves.
Thirdly, they went so emo with their sound that all that was needed was some stupid haircuts.
And lastly, they are mostly electronic based now, which sucks so much.

Then again they weren't a very good band that only appealed to those teenage boys who thought they were "edgy" and "cool" for listening to their music.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Evandar — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:53:27 GMT

Author: Evandar

Posted: 05/16/2013 14:53

I guess I'll mention In Flames. They went from melodic death metal with touches of folk (bad) to more melodic melodic death metal, also called gothenburg metal by some people (awesome) to...I don't know what the hell they're trying to accomplish these days, but it's absolutely horrible, and so very different from their classic material.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Evandar — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:43:39 GMT

Author: Evandar

Posted: 05/16/2013 14:43

Jasonconfused wrote:

Metallica moved away from thrash metal after their fourth album. Their self-titled fifth album was much slower and just totally different, but still great. Then after that idk what they tried doing and everything went to shit. Listen to an early Metallica album and then listen to one from the 90s or 00s. Totally different band.

Indeed, they became a totally different band, but not with all bad results. I'd say their 90s output trounces their 00s output, so to me they didn't really lose it until they wanted to become heavier again, that's when the songwriting skills completely disappeared for some reason.

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

meccalecca — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:17:57 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 05/16/2013 14:17

SamuelPear wrote:

Spinal Tap change of sound was pretty terrible in the late 70s ...

By far the best answer on this thread!

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:00:16 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/16/2013 13:00

sethmadsen wrote:

All that you can't leave behind through No Line on the horizon (post rock).

trololololololololololololing?

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

SamuelPear — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:54:46 GMT

Author: SamuelPear

Posted: 05/16/2013 12:54

Spinal Tap change of sound was pretty terrible in the late 70s ...

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:31:10 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/16/2013 12:31

John Zorn deserves a mention

Re: Artists Who Change Their Sound (For Better of Worse?)

SingingPeasant96 — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:17:20 GMT

Author: SingingPeasant96

Posted: 05/16/2013 12:17

Radiohead(which I love that change)

Bob Dylan went to Rock long ago

White Stripes showed some cute things in Get behind me Satan(which is my favourite of them)

Pink Floyd(because of depature of Syd Barrett)

Flaming Lips was noise rock band with guitar but now they are keyboard-bass centred.

edit: I forgot Blur, they was Britpop band influenced by madchester and some british things. but they embraced Indie,garage sounds from American Bands since S/T album