zz.Dinosaurs who could still come out with a good album
Submitted by JAMOOL on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 05:26
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- Brian Eno - It's doubtful, but Eno has always been enough of a musical genius to make himself unpredictable. I don't think he's necessarily lost it over the years, but he's certainly changed focus. We might see something interesting out of Eno yet.
- David Bowie - He's clearly behind the pack now, but his last few were all pretty decent, and he's seemed to have recovered from his 80's nadir.
- Depeche Mode - We have seen some rough times this decade for these guys but they seem to be revitalized and recovered. I'm looking forward to their next release.
- Devo - Given their last few releases were all pretty terrible, this seems surprising. However, the band's sudden interest in touring again is exciting. Gerald Casale's new solo album was a little short on new music (featuring only 8 non-Devo tracks) but it was decent, and their new song recorded for a Dell ad ("Watch Us Work It") is fantastic. A new Devo album could be on the horizon, and I'd bet on it being much better than their post-New Traditionalists work.
- Elvis Costello - Just too good of a songwriter to completely go to waste. He's written more of his share of garbage albums but seems to be on the upswing lately.
- The Fall - If only for the fact that A) they've never released a bad album, and B) Mark E. Smith seems to constantly replace the lineup, which pretty much forces some creative work to be done.
- Faust - They're just too far out to dismiss, and they seem to be still together (albeit in two incarnations). Ravvivando (1999) was an awesome album that came 25 years after the band's creative period was over, so who knows what they could come up with today?
- Gary Numan - His new, gothic image helped to revitalize his career in a time when Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson were big, and luckily his new industrial-styled music was good enough to get the critics on his side. Both Pure (2000) and Hybrid (2003) were excellent albums, so I believe he still has the spark.
- King Crimson - Again, you just never know with these guys. Their post-Discipline work has always been kind of lackluster, but their latest, The Power to Believe (2003), was their best since then.
- The Kinks/Ray Davies - The Kinks went through such a bad period and took so much time off since their last album, Phobia (1993) that it's hard to imagine Davies hasn't re-evaluated his songwriting strategy, and indeed, his recent solo album was pretty good. I doubt we'll see another Kinks proper album, but apparently Ray has another one coming out, so here's hoping...
- Nick Lowe - Just a really talented dude who's gotten old the way you always hoped your favorite rockers would.
- Peter Gabriel - He's always kept with the times and seems to refuse to release an album if he's not 100% satisfied with it, resulting in a 10 year wait for his last studio album. Hopefully the next won't take as long.
- Prince - I'm not holding my breath, but this man has constantly been working through his nearly 30-year career, and I think a man with that kind of work ethic is a lot more likely to come up with something great. His best track in YEARS was a response to internet flames. You just never know with this guy.
- Robert Wyatt - Not much explanation needed, just look at his last couple. I don't think he'll ever lose it, and if anything, will only get better with age.
- Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the rest of the Yellow Magic Orchestra - All three of these guys have been constantly working since they broke into the business in the mid-70's. They were ahead of the times then, and surprisingly still are today. I'd be pretty excited if Sakamoto did another solo album like Chasm (2005), or if Takahashi and Hosono's Sketch Show project put out another album. None of these guys are done yet.
- Sparks - After a long, nearly two-decade stretch of mediocrity, they came back with L'il Beethoven (2002), Hello Young Lovers (2006), and Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008) some of the most innovative "rock" music this decade. It took them an awful long time, but it seems as though they've finally got it back.
I'm considering any band that's been around since the 70's to be a "dinosaur". A 'good album' would be something I'd rate four stars or more.