MichaelK
Member
- Messages
- 6,476
I've been listening to three 80s CDs in my car this past couple of days, all very different musically:
Roxy Music, Avalon, remastered 1999
The Smithereens, Green Thoughts
Roger McGuinn, Back From Rio
What I love about these CDs (and what I loved about the Avalon LP when I had that), is that you can crank these guys up LOUD and they sound spectacular from beginning to end (try cranking My Chemical Romance up loud, see how you feel after 30 seconds). The highs shimmer like no CD you hear today, while the lows still grab you by the cohones and don't let go. The mixes have sonic depth and fullness. They are such a pleasure to listen to, effortlessly delicious to my ears.
I miss that. I haven't heard a rock album in years about which I felt that way. I've heard some Americana, acoustic and classical albums that I love from start to finish, but not rock. Rock albums now, overcompression issues aside, are too perfect, repetitive and lifeless for my tastes. There's no "juice" in the arrangements. I love M.C.R., Green Day and all that, but their CDs sound flat as a board to me. THAT's a real crime: that instead of being outraged by what guys half my age are doing, I'm f*cking bored as hell, numb, yawning at the radio. One exception: XTC. But they're my age, not young, and they haven't made a new CD in what, five years...?
I won't even go into what a musical masterpiece Avalon is that's for another thread.
Just venting. I'm done. Fire away!
Roxy Music, Avalon, remastered 1999
The Smithereens, Green Thoughts
Roger McGuinn, Back From Rio
What I love about these CDs (and what I loved about the Avalon LP when I had that), is that you can crank these guys up LOUD and they sound spectacular from beginning to end (try cranking My Chemical Romance up loud, see how you feel after 30 seconds). The highs shimmer like no CD you hear today, while the lows still grab you by the cohones and don't let go. The mixes have sonic depth and fullness. They are such a pleasure to listen to, effortlessly delicious to my ears.
I miss that. I haven't heard a rock album in years about which I felt that way. I've heard some Americana, acoustic and classical albums that I love from start to finish, but not rock. Rock albums now, overcompression issues aside, are too perfect, repetitive and lifeless for my tastes. There's no "juice" in the arrangements. I love M.C.R., Green Day and all that, but their CDs sound flat as a board to me. THAT's a real crime: that instead of being outraged by what guys half my age are doing, I'm f*cking bored as hell, numb, yawning at the radio. One exception: XTC. But they're my age, not young, and they haven't made a new CD in what, five years...?
I won't even go into what a musical masterpiece Avalon is that's for another thread.
Just venting. I'm done. Fire away!