I am in love... I am a fool...

[heidi]

Further to my last post, I decided when I got in the car to go to the bank that I should bite the bullet and listen to my newly downloaded from itunes Finn Bros songs from the Everyone Is Here EP...

I've had then for a bit of time, now, but I haven't played them because I've been terrified. I've lost faith in bands before - everything but the girl broke my heart in 1998 when they went techno and abandoned the acousitcs and orchestrals I fell in love with, and I admit that I did not love Neil Finn's last album, One Nil.

But I am in love, again. In love with it all and crying stupidly and desperately with love for their voices and their music and their wonderfulness, and my God it's been 22 years since I fell for Neil Finn and he still makes my head spin.

---

So that's the question of the moment. Has a band ever broken your heart by not living up to their prior brilliance? Have you fallen out of love with a musician or even been too afraid to listen to something new? What did you do? And when you listened, did you swoon? Did you cry out of love or misery?

Comments

[sugarbasil.livejournal.com]

LOL. Yeah, NSYNC does that to you. :P

*is very ashamed for ever liking them when I was 12* *is very pathetic*

[malacite.livejournal.com]

Definitely Garbage - their first two albums version 1.0 and version 2.0 were brilliant. Their latest one, I don't even remember the name, was just so BAD. It was way too pop like. version 1.0 and 2.0 were gritty, real, and with just the right amount of angst to keep you interested, but not to scare you away. The writing was just so good in those two albums. Their newest one is just so predictable. The look is all "life is gooood!" instead of "we're not hiding anything". The only really good track would have to be 'Androgyny', because that is original. But the instruments used made me cringe.

Tori Amos did something similar to Garbage too. My favourite album was 'Boys for Pele'. It's not the easiest album to listen to, but it is (in my opinion) her most brilliant. I was a bit disappointed with 'Scarlet's Walk' because it was just too coherent and not quite revealing and mind boggling like her other albums. But some tracks stand out - I just can't seem to listen to the CD in it's entirety.

And here ends my rant. :D

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

Definitely Garbage - their first two albums version 1.0 and version 2.0 were brilliant. Their latest one, I don't even remember the name, was just so BAD. It was way too pop like. version 1.0 and 2.0 were gritty, real, and with just the right amount of angst to keep you interested, but not to scare you away. The writing was just so good in those two albums. Their newest one is just so predictable. The look is all "life is gooood!" instead of "we're not hiding anything". The only really good track would have to be 'Androgyny', because that is original. But the instruments used made me cringe.

Oh wow, I cannot tell you how much I disagree. I LOVE Beautiful Garbage just as much as the other 2 CDs. I've seen them in concert 3 times. And if you really think the message on it is "life is gooood!" I think we were listening to different CDs. ;) Obviously this is a great example of how people's musical tastes differ. >:D<

In terms of an artist that broke my heart, George Michael is my answer. I LOVED Wham!, I LOVED George's first solo CD, and then... guh, everything since then has been crap IMO, and I can't even listen to the stuff off the Faith CD anymore - the later junk has tainted any love I had of that CD. I can still listen to Wham! songs, although I strongly dislike a few of those, too.

[malacite.livejournal.com]

Maybe saying 'Beautiful Garbage' was just so BAD was a little much. It did have its moments, I have to say. When I said that it's more "life is goood!" I meant it was much more upbeat than version 1.0 and 2.0. It was just such a transition from basically one mood to another. I didn't find it as smooth as I had hoped it would be. I love Shirley Manson to bits, but I really don't know where she's coming from anymore. But yes, interesting how people see things differently! :))

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

Well, I still listen to Liz Phair's 'Exile in Guyville,' her next two albums got progressively less interesting and I will not buy her current poptart album. She was a lot sexier when she didn't try so hard.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Not an answer to your question but I think I'm having the opposite reaction. I did fall in love with One Nil, and I was underwhelmed with the Finn Bros stuff that they played at the concert last week, so I'm not that hot on getting that record.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Hm. The three 'pre-release' songs are on itunes, and they're about 2.97 for the three, so it might be worth just getting those three and seeing where they take you.

[no-remorse.livejournal.com]

I love Bjork, but she makes it progressively harder to enjoy her music. (And that's a total understatement.) On the other hand it's fun to cheer on an artist who tours with an Inuit choir and makes a whole album with nothing but vocal-based sounds, and I am not buying records for easy listening purposes anyway, so that is not really the same thing.

But yes, there are artists who make albums that you can totally connect with and then the next album... nothing, no connection at all. I loved the second Foo Fighters album, but the rest... I loved what Courtney Love did with Hole, but what I heard of her solo album wasn't really all that and a bag of chips. I didn't like Beautiful Garbage much either. Some stuff on Tori Amos' records is always good, but not every song works for me. Well, I am admittedly a song person, not an album person. If an album is really good, then I will like ninety percent of it enough to actually listen to it, but otherwise I am itunes ideal customer, because I hate buying records for just that one song I actually like. It's not like I perceive the rest as utter crap... but it often doesn't interest me enough to listen to it. If I buy records for one or two songs I rarely (if ever) actually end up loving other songs on the record. So artists can rarely disappoint me, because I never expect more than one or two good songs out of their albums. (But these one or two songs... I tend to love excessively.) And if I like an artist enough to listen to whole record despite being in love with that one track, which I always am, when I buy an album, then I will give them... okay, there is only one musical artist I love enough to do that and I mentioned her in my first paragraph.

So to answer your question: no, I never fell out of love with a musical artist. I wasn't afraid of listening to the new stuff either. That's a terrible amount of trust in an artist, who will release the aforementioned vocal-based sounds album in three weeks. What I heard of it so far, is very unsettling, but there is a track I am already in love with since I heard it performed live a year ago, so maybe it's me, maybe it's the artist, maybe it's my belief that the artist's progress is real progress and as such is always good.

I had a very disenchanting experience with watching "The Song Remains The Same" today though. I feel really bad about not liking most of the film and the music. I like the idea of Led Zeppelin. To find out that I just like a few songs, the idea and not much more about them, is a real downer.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I really loved Sarah McLachlan...her first three CDs are terrific. After that she lost me. I am not a ballad person, and after the Ballad Extravaganza that her next albums became I found I wasn't interested anymore. Too bad, because I really love her voice.

[lena-pink.livejournal.com]

Really? I love all of her albums. Somehow, all of her songs seem to touch me in some level. Admittedly, my favourite is Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, but I love anything by her. Her weakest yet has been Surface, in my opinion.
I'm very much a lyrics person...I may like a lot of bands, but my favourites are only three or so. None of my real favourites (Goo Goo Dolls, Sarah Mclachlan and Coldplay) have voices that I particularly like, but their lyrics and melodies just do it for me. They totally own me :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

My favorite is also "Fumbling"...wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. And wonderful.

I have to agree with you, sometimes it really is the lyrics...Kate Bush has to be my favorite lyricist, sometimes her voice rubs me the wrong way.

[lena-pink.livejournal.com]

My favorite is also "Fumbling"...wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. And wonderful.

Couldn't agree more :) My favourite from it is Plenty, but the whole thing just blows me away.

I love songs that are only melodies, but sometimes there just seems to be something missing...and, mostly, if the lyrics suck, I just can't bring myself to listen to it. Chris Martin's (Coldplay) voice can irritate me (though it's sort of rare), but I just love their songs.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I thought I would really like Coldplay, but they're a bit too...ballady for me. The only song that I really like by them is "The Scientist", which is fab. Other than that I haven't really liked anything on the radio.

[lena-pink.livejournal.com]

My favourite song by Coldplay is Amsterdam...I don't know if you'd classify it as a ballad, but I think it's just brilliant. A Rush of Blood to the Head comes a close second. Neither of them were played on the radio, as far as I know...though I don't listen much, so I might be wrong.
And yes, The Scientist is wonderful :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check them out further. Thanks!

[lena-pink.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! *feels guilty for flooding Heidi's LJ with comments unrelated to her entry*

[lena-pink.livejournal.com]

Oops, I meant Surfacing :D

[bibliophile81.livejournal.com]

Wha???? You had the tunes and didn't listen to them right away?

True, "One Nil/One All" wasn't as brilliant as anything by Crowded House, but I still adore it. It's a grower of an album.

But I'd listen to Neil even if he sang the phone directory.

Hrmmmm ... maybe I'm a little too obsessed.

But that's beside the point.

In response to your question: The Moody Blues have been extremely disappointing for a long time, now. Their early stuff is very cool and pyschedelic if you're in the mood for hippy groovy lovey stuff, but some of the later albums are just sad. Justin Hayward on his own, though, is still pretty good.

[lore]

It took forever for Try Whistling This to grow on me. Now, it hardly ever strays far from the player. I think we have the same love affair going on, Heidi. Am I going to have to duel you for them? ;)

So that's the question of the moment. Has a band ever broken your heart by not living up to their prior brilliance?

All the time. But the bands that last...they usually come back around again, which is probably why they last. Sometimes, I wonder if it's me and lack of time to pour over albums the way I used to, but I don't think it's entirely true, because truly brilliant albums find a market and crap just doesn't no matter how badly long-time fans want it to be.

You know who bothers me? Chris Whitley. Living with the Law is one of the most brilliant, most sexy albums ever made. I keep buying his new stuff, and it never seems to get there, to that level of LwtL. HE breaks my heart.

Have you fallen out of love with a musician or even been too afraid to listen to something new?

Duran Duran. Rush. I am literally afraid to hear Paula Cole's next album after Amen.

What did you do? And when you listened, did you swoon? Did you cry out of love or misery?

I just felt sad. Bad music from good musicians make me sad. But it's the same for bad movies and bad books...bad TV shows. It's always sad when someone isn't living up to their potential.

love, lore

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I won't duel for him; he and Sharon are so cute I'm happy to see them happily ever after. Plus, if they did ever break up, anyone who snagged him next would have to know that he wrote Message to My Girl for her.

I loved King Tide, last One Standing and Faster Than Light from the first, but I've never loved other songs on that album, so it's a mixed one for me - but the songs I love, I just breathe them. Sighswoon.

[miafitz.livejournal.com]

Well I just heard a band I've loved for quite a while now for their exceptional garage-rock music just signed one with Sony, there is nothing wrong with that, I'm not indie snob, but then agreed to work with The Matrix. Yes, they who gave us Avril Lavigne and went on to ruin Liz Phair. I am heartbroken. I still want to get their new CD, but I'm afraid of what I might hear. I hope it's a good sign that their lead singer vowed to never work with them ever and how it took them a long time to agree on a song. Still, quite afraid of what I'll hear, I don't want to be disappointed.

[viridescence13]

Oh yes. Indigo Girls used to be my most favorite band ever. But since Swamp Ophelia I've liked their music less and less. I've barely listened to their latest album. The lyrics are so uninspiring. It breaks my heart...

[melodylemming.livejournal.com]

Every time I get a new Magnetic Fields album--and I've only got about half their albums so far--It sits around my house for weeks, or even months, before I listen to it because I'm terrified I won't like it. I went to see them in concert a few months ago, and because so much of their stuff is done with synths, I was scared that they wouldn't be any good live, but they were wonderful. I don't cry easily, but tears came to my eyes.