Post by Kapitan on Nov 11, 2019 18:17:07 GMT
Today I read that the Black Crowes will reunite to tour in 2020 around the 30th anniversary of their most successful album, Shake Your Moneymaker.
A roots-rock kind of album that came in early 1990 just after the peak of glam hard rock but before grunge, I really enjoyed the album at the time. It spawned several hits, including their cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” the ballad “She Talks to Angels,” and the midtempo numbers “Jealous Again” and “Twice as Hard.” I owned a copy of the cassette, listened to it quite a bit, and learned to play several of those songs.
But until looking it up just now, I couldn’t have named any of the other songs. (In fact, I forgot the latter two until I looked it up.) And even seeing the titles, I don’t recall any of those other songs.
My point is, for at least the past 20 years, “touring the entire album” has become an overused tour gimmick. I think the first time I heard of such a thing was when Brian Wilson toured Pet Sounds in the late ‘90s. Then of course he did Smile. Love did Forever Changes and the Zombies did Odessey and Oracle. Phish and the Flaming Lips became known for doing shows of other people’s albums. And over the past five to 10 years, I can’t begin to say how many groups I’ve seen using this schtick, from really good albums to … other albums.
Frankly, I think there just aren’t that many albums that are truly good enough that they hold up to be presented in full, 20, 30, or 50 years later (to say nothing of the musicians’ ability to perform them after that time). I understand that if you’re a 50-to-70-year-old former rock star, your fans presumably have aged and built expendable income. They can pay expensive theater ticket prices, and maybe meet-and-greets besides. But most albums—even good albums—are at best half really good and half second-rate or worse. There’s nostalgia involved probably more than the actual music.
It just rubs me the wrong way. Not that it makes me MAD or anything. More a shaking of my head.
A roots-rock kind of album that came in early 1990 just after the peak of glam hard rock but before grunge, I really enjoyed the album at the time. It spawned several hits, including their cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” the ballad “She Talks to Angels,” and the midtempo numbers “Jealous Again” and “Twice as Hard.” I owned a copy of the cassette, listened to it quite a bit, and learned to play several of those songs.
But until looking it up just now, I couldn’t have named any of the other songs. (In fact, I forgot the latter two until I looked it up.) And even seeing the titles, I don’t recall any of those other songs.
My point is, for at least the past 20 years, “touring the entire album” has become an overused tour gimmick. I think the first time I heard of such a thing was when Brian Wilson toured Pet Sounds in the late ‘90s. Then of course he did Smile. Love did Forever Changes and the Zombies did Odessey and Oracle. Phish and the Flaming Lips became known for doing shows of other people’s albums. And over the past five to 10 years, I can’t begin to say how many groups I’ve seen using this schtick, from really good albums to … other albums.
Frankly, I think there just aren’t that many albums that are truly good enough that they hold up to be presented in full, 20, 30, or 50 years later (to say nothing of the musicians’ ability to perform them after that time). I understand that if you’re a 50-to-70-year-old former rock star, your fans presumably have aged and built expendable income. They can pay expensive theater ticket prices, and maybe meet-and-greets besides. But most albums—even good albums—are at best half really good and half second-rate or worse. There’s nostalgia involved probably more than the actual music.
It just rubs me the wrong way. Not that it makes me MAD or anything. More a shaking of my head.