Great Artists Lacking Great Albums

[Wombi]

[SquishypuffDave]

[Wombi]

That picture...is broken!

[Facetious]

[Wombi]

Not all people who like Avant-Garde music (I like quite a bit of avant-garde music) but the people who tend to have charts that focus on it...yeah, I do. Purely based on the way a hairymarx or even how Yourselfisntsteam (Who I have great respect for, I might add) just argued music making - it seems fairly evident.

[gussteivi]

I have little to spare for the Scaruffian approach, I think you know that by now.

But Yourselfisntsteam wasn't talking about avant-garde or experimentality, but complexity, which is something else.

So on the topic of Andrew Bird I agree with him, that his intricate arrangements and occasional really cool chord progressions are what makes him stand out from the myriads of generic indie artists.

Without that he's just plain boring, because the man couldn't write a good melody to save his life.

Edit: those things are very much compatible with the "pop-song format" though, so I'm not sure if I agree with mr Steam on that.

[Yourselfisntsteam]

Yeah, Gussteivi's on the right track, I'm not asking for experimental music at all, neither of the songs I mentioned originally are experimental, just creative, interestingly structured, and more complex. If I like it when Andrew Bird does that, whats wrong with wishing he would break out of his formula and do it more often? In a sense what I am talking about are still pop songs, just with some more unique additions make his music stand out. Is not part of writing good music (pop songs included) doing something which will stand out? Does not a more complex well arranged song with all the things I mentioned before stand out more than Andrew making a verse chorus song with a melody that rips of the Shins? Anyways, I don't mean to deny talent in writing pop music! If I thought that I wouldn't have eels, TVOTR, the clash, Low, Nick Drake or anyone else on my chart, just free jazz and sound collages everywhere!

The point is he's doing the same thing over again when he clearly has shown the ability to make something different, a different which I think is really cool. I just think he seems to timid to try and achieve that different, and only lets it show occasionally.

[Wombi]

Okay, I get you now. Though I still don't think Complexity > Simplicity as a rule. As Tchaikovsky's work would attest.

[monosyllables]

Another lovely Mountain Goats album, not that it's at all relevant to the conversation anymore, can be found on my chart, "Full Force Galesburg." In fact, it may just be because in my formative music years, I happened upon a massive torrent of MG albums, but it seems to me like John Darnielle is actually fairly adept at putting together an album. Despite the insanely simple format of his band, they never lack variety.
And anyone who doesn't think that "You're Living All over Me" is a great album can just jump off a cliff.
Also, since I just spent most of this post in a thread about good artists with no great albums defending great artists with great albums, I will, in the vein of titans from the singles era of the early 60's, throw in my... whatever people throw in, for Aretha Franklin. A fan of non-comp. studio albums myself, I have listened to many Aretha Franklin albums only to come away with the conclusion that she probably should have made fewer of them. Luckily, I can hold her largely blameless for this, because it just seems that the studios couldn't go very long without giving her a real dud of a song to sing.

[CellarDoor]