Music That Stands The Test of Time

[Geoff Grace]

What music did you like when you were younger that doesn’t hold up as much as years go by? I’m not talking about music you liked when your age was in the single digits that you simply outgrew as your tastes matured. I’m thinking about music you liked once you had developed as a musician that you feel less enthusiastic about now.

Here’s an example from my experience. While I’ve always appreciated The Beatles, I used to like The Rolling Stones much more. They had an edge, a toughness, that The Beatles lacked. The Stones at their best had a gritty blues sound that The Beatles could never approximate. While I still believe that today and enjoy listening to older Stones music from time to time, it’s The Beatles that have continued to grow on me. Their innovation in songwriting and arranging still surprises me on repeated listenings in a way The Rolling Stones can’t equal.

Another example for me is Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. It holds up really well to repeated listenings, decade after decade, because it works on so many levels, from primitive to esoteric. It's the closest that music brings me to a transcendental experience. It fires on all chakras, so to speak.

Do you have any examples of this in your experience?

Best,

Geoff

[Guy Rowland]

What a great question.

I've thought about it and have concluded I'm not sure I've matured much at all. Music to me is instinctive and emotional I guess. I have a deep love of simplicity, but there are definitely exceptions. Definitely a child of the 80s.

What I've noticed increasingly I guess is that what works for me has nothing to do with what works for anyone else or what received wisdom is. Some stuff I used to play endlessly it feels the well has run dry, but other times it still delights.

Here's some older albums that over the past few years I have re-obsessed over and thus to me have stood the test of time, however improbably:

JEAN MICHEL JARRE - Oxygene, Equinoxe, Concerts In China
KRAFTWERK - The Man Machine
YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA - Solid State Survivior, Multiplies, 1000 Knives
SIMPLE MINDS - Sons and Fascination, New Gold Dream
THE HUMAN LEAGUE - Dare
LLOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS - Rattlesnakes
THE WATERBOYS - A Pagan Place, This Is The Sea
INXS - The Swing
PROPAGANDA - A Secret Wish
PREFAB SPROUT - Steve McQueen, From Langley Park To Memphis
BRUCE COCKBURN - Stealing Fire, World Of Wonders
THOMAS DOLBY - The Flat Earth
PAULA COLE - This Fire
ALANIS MORISETTE - Jagged Little Pill
ARCADE FIRE - Funeral, Neon Bible
COLDPLAY - Parachutes
MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Everything Must Go
JOHN POWELL - United 93
METRIC - Fantasies
MY LIFE STORY - The Golden Mile
MEW - And The Glass Handed Kite
THE CIVIL WARS - Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars
NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB - The Optimist

And so many odd songs from 60s soul to 90s Britpop.

[RobS]

I still have affection for Jethro Tull, Vand Der Graaf and Genesis' production from the 70s, and they still evoke feelings the rare times I listen to them, but the quality of the songs appears to be not as shining as it felt then. Still, the amount of inventiveness those young musicians put in their songs is uncomparable, at least by today's pop standards.
Last week I went to the Isle of Elba for a little vacation and brought me the piano reduction of The Rite so I had something to read on the beach... so I absolutely share your love for that piece. Trying to find and understand the inner workings of the composition is still fascinating to me. One piece that I remember was unbearable to listen to when in my teens was Verklaerte Nacht by Schoenberg, and it's incredible how it sounds now pleasing and romantic to my ears, we really change with time...

[Geoff Grace]

THOMAS DOLBY - The Flat Earth

I love this album, Guy, and of course, most of Thomas Dolby's work. I used to sing "White City" in a cover band back then. It was a lot of fun sculpting sounds in my OB-8 to try to sound like the ones on Dolby's record.

Many of those early '80s artists are my generation; and I was an aspiring artist back then, too. As a result, I sometimes find it a little harder to judge music from that time as a fan or a bystander; but Thomas Dolby is one of the artists from that time whose output I most enjoy revisiting today.

Best,

Geoff

[Lawrence]

“we really change with time...”

…unless we’re me

I’ve never gotten over the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Steely Dan, Miles Davis/Coltrane/Sonny Rollins et al, Dylan, Springsteen, Stones, Queen, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Floyd, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, The Beach Boys, Tull, and on and on.
I’m mostly a creature of the 60s and 70s.

I’ve dialed back my enthusiasm for prog rock and fusion over the years, the bravura soloing and amazing chops those guys had lost a little sheen, though Keith Emerson will always remain Godlike.

I’ve always been of the belief that music one loved in adolescence and early 20s is inescapable and nostalgic forever. Heck, I still love the Monkees-great production, backed by the best musicians, songs written by the best writers in the business. The Mamas and the Papas too.

Ok, I’ll stop now.

[Jaap]

Great idea for a topic and I share your view on the Rolling Stones. My parents where really into the Stones camp, but for me it switched also. The Beatles grew and really stood the test of time. The Stones far less, with maybe the exception of the far new Voodoo Lounge cd.

Rob: Minstrel in the Gallery still is listened often here!

My list with albums that can stand the test of time are:

Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill (I share that one with you Guy)
Pearl Jam - Ten
Guns and Roses - Use your Illusion 1 and 2
Metallica - Black album
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
David Bowie - 1.Outside
Jethro Tull - Minstrel in the Gallery
And anything from Queen

[Geoff Grace]

I still have affection for Jethro Tull, Vand Der Graaf and Genesis' production from the 70s, and they still evoke feelings the rare times I listen to them, but the quality of the songs appears to be not as shining as it felt then. Still, the amount of inventiveness those young musicians put in their songs is uncomparable, at least by today's pop standards.
Last week I went to the Isle of Elba for a little vacation and brought me the piano reduction of The Rite so I had something to read on the beach... so I absolutely share your love for that piece. Trying to find and understand the inner workings of the composition is still fascinating to me. One piece that I remember was unbearable to listen to when in my teens was Verklaerte Nacht by Schoenberg, and it's incredible how it sounds now pleasing and romantic to my ears, we really change with time...

I'll have to give Schoenberg another try, Rob. I gravitated more toward Webern during my studies in college, but I've rarely revisited pantonal music since then. I appreciated it more intellectually than emotionally.

I still listen to Jethro Tull and Genesis, but I gravitate toward specific periods. Tull's is Benefit through Passion Play and especially Thick as a Brick. (I also like Minstrel in the Gallery, Jaap.) With Genesis, I listen to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway most often and occasionally other albums from nearby years. I was lucky enough to see them on their tour of The Lamb. It was a great concert with only 1,100 people in the audience.

Best,

Geoff

[Geoff Grace]

“we really change with time...”

…unless we’re me

I’ve never gotten over the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Steely Dan, Miles Davis/Coltrane/Sonny Rollins et al, Dylan, Springsteen, Stones, Queen, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Floyd, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, The Beach Boys, Tull, and on and on.
I’m mostly a creature of the 60s and 70s.

I’ve dialed back my enthusiasm for prog rock and fusion over the years, the bravura soloing and amazing chops those guys had lost a little sheen, though Keith Emerson will always remain Godlike.

I’ve always been of the belief that music one loved in adolescence and early 20s is inescapable and nostalgic forever. Heck, I still love the Monkees-great production, backed by the best musicians, songs written by the best writers in the business. The Mamas and the Papas too.

Ok, I’ll stop now.

I can identify with a lot of this, Larry. Steely Dan is one of those artists that has grown on me over time. I was more into progressive rock, jazz fusion, and funk back then; but I frequently listen to Steely Dan these days. I never cared much for the early 60s Beach Boys music; but "God Only Knows" gets me every time, and their lesser known Holland is one of my favorite albums. And of course, Brian Wilson's collaborations with The Wreaking Crew were genius.

As for The Monkees, I liked them at first and then became embarrassed that I liked them and gave away their albums. Then, a few years later, I grew to appreciate them on a more adult level and bought all of their albums a second time. Another case of great songwriting and studio musicianship, and The Monkees were fine singers.

Best,

Geoff