I listened to Bryan Ferry's 1977 release "In Your Mind" this weekend. Wonderful. Probably the last Ferry solo record I really loved before the release of the brilliant "Jazz Age" last year. "In Your Mind" still had that sound of post-Roxy, post-Glam and new wave before his follow-up "The Bride Stripped Bare" served up a more lush and percussive collection of tunes. It felt less organic, as if suddenly, Bryan Ferry became more concerned with Bryan Ferry and less about the band on his albums.
This is not to say I didn't like "The Bride Stripped Bare." (I didn't, but that's not what I'm saying.) Since then, Bryan Ferry has released some great records. 1987's "Bete Noire" and 2002's "Frantic" specifically float my boat. But something did happen with the release of "The Bride Stripped Bare." Bryan Ferry's sound changed and he never looked back. Occasionally, a taste of Roxy or a Chris Spedding-inspired guitar riff will pop up on a solo record, but mostly, those days were over post-"The Bride Stripped Bare."
This got me thinking of other artists who had turning point records. The first that came to mind was Joe Jackson's "Jumpin' Jive." Fun now, but in retrospect, not really what JJ fans were hoping for. And yes, the follow-up "Night & Day" is still a classic and 1986's "Big World" remains my favorite of Joe's output, big and sprawling and absolutely musical. But it's not difficult to see. The change, though more gradual than Bryan Ferry, began with 1981's "Jumpin' Jive."
A more drastic transformation came on the heels of Queen's huge disco hit, "Another One Bites The Dust." Fan or not, the difference between pre-"The Game" and post-"The Game" is like the difference between shooting a bullet or throwing one, as the saying goes.
So I ask of you, dear Woodies, for other records that drew the line between what was and what is. The idea could also work the opposite way, if you'd like, like say John Hiatt's "Bring The Family," bridging Hiatt's uneven 70s and early 80s' material with the records that put him on the map as one of America's greatest singer-songwriters.
11 comments:
"Rubber Soul."
Rock as art, as opposed to rock as just great fun, pretty much dates from that album, both for the Beatles and the music itself.
Albums that come to mind for me are ones like: The Turning Point - John Mayall; Tonight's The Night - Neil Young; and Goats Head Soup. The first was more successful than its predecessors, but led the artist off course, ultimately. Neil's was a clear, personal statement and the first time he fully realized that he didn't have to care about what people thought of his work - for better and definitely for worse. The Stones made their turn on the heels of Exile and took its weakest elements to heart - for better (occasionally) and definitely for worse.
Unfortunately, Jackson Browne's output following Running On Empty. He never found his muse, at least on record. Rush's Grace Under Pressure marked the band's venture into a synth-driven 80s era (and it's different than Signals), greatly different than the 70s. Of course, Achtung Baby was the game-changer for U2.
This has to do more sonically than anything else - the sound of Who's Next compared to The Who's previous studio album, Tommy, was an extremely significant turning point. That album just exploded out of your speakers. Randy
Bob's 'John Wesley Harding'. Every album before that had raised the stakes (musically, lyrically, ambition, etc), but JWH seemed a deliberate step back, lowering expectations, opting out of the 'can you top this?' mindset. It not only freed him, but everyone else in the business too.
I'm going with Imperial Bedroom, the start of the Elvis-as-artiste era.
funny, the first album that came to mind other than rubber soul and pet sounds was "cloud nine" by the temps.
I lost Elvis after Get Happy and Almost Blue.
I'd think of it more as albums where it all came togehter, all those influences, production values, leanings in the right direction, hit their mark. Clash - London Calling. Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight. Pixies - Doolittle. Bowie - Ziggy Stardust. There are a lot, where you can hear the artist lock in on a sound or concept and drive it home. And every artist "loses it" at some point, assuming his recording career is more than album or two.
Elvis Costello, I don't know what to say. Fans tend to bunch Aim Is True through Armed Forces together ... but each of those albums has its own personality and sound, all of them great. Get Happy felt a bit like treading water, Almost Blue a failed experiment, and then I recall Imperial Bedroom being heralded as a breakthrough, but not so sure about that with Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World following. Have to give him credit -- every album sounds and feels different, which was how I was raised to view the great rock bands of the 60s and 70s, and something I see a lot less of now.
I loved, "In Your Mind", and loathed "The Bride Stripped Bare".
Here goes:
King Crimson: "Discipline", Genesis: "Trick Of The Tale", Yes: "Tales From Topographic Oceans", Steeleye Span: "Rocket Cottage", Richard And Linda Thompson: "First Light", David Bowie: "Young Americans"(I pretended not to hear "David Live"), Pink Floyd: "Animals", Roxy Music: "Manifesto", The Who: "Quadrophenia", The Kinks: "Preservation", Joni Mitchell: "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter", Little Feat: "Feats Don't Fail Me Now", Radiohead: "Kid A", Cheap Trick: "In Color", Rod Stewart: "Atlantic Crossing", The Replacements: "Don't Tell A Soul", The Rolling Stones: "Goats Head Soup", The Grateful Dead: "Blues For Allah", Lou Reed: "Sally Can't Dance", Pavement: "Wowee Zowee", and Ry Cooder: "Jazz".
Whew
Yeh THE JAZZ AGE has Ferry's best singing in years!
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