For the older guys....

guitars4you · January 2018

There are many albums, artists from the past that I can still play - Rory Gallagher - Ten Years After - Fleetwood Mac - Kossoff/Free - Wish You Were Here - Early Queen etc that I still like and enjoy - Even still find songs, artist/albums from the past that maybe I've only pick up on in more recent years - Allman Bros for instance

Yet certain other albums and I haven't got a clue in what I saw in it - Brand X - Mahavishnu Orchestra and worse of all that album Carlos did with John - For years I liked Yes and had many on vinyl but few on CD - A couple of years ago I was in HMV and spotted The Yes Album for £2.99 on CD - No brainer I though until I played it in the car on the way home - What did I ever see in it I don't know

So a mixed bag rarely - Slade and T-Rex were teh 2 bands via Top Of The Pops that got me in to playing the guitar at 14 and when I here the single on the radio I still enjoy them and they sure take me back

JezWynd · January 2018

The thing I miss most about the old records (for me that's early Bowie, tyrannosaurus Rex, Dylan (lots of Dylan), Roxy's first lp's, CSNY, Incredible String Band, Exile etc.- late 60's early 70's) is the sound of those records. The production has a sound that I never hear reproduced today, even when they make a song and dance about using the old gear and the old producers. When I heard Visconti was working with Bowie again I got quite excited to hear the results, imagining the sound of Hunky Dory or TMWSTW, but no, it was the same modern sound that moves me not one iota. Perhaps you can't recreate the sound of youth, you just have to replunder the past to get a whiff of those longer, hotter summers and girls who smelt of patchouli. I rarely listen to any music these days, I still play daily but it's more likely to be Bach than Dylan and is a technical exercise in trying to master a piece.

boogieman · January 2018

guitars4you said:

There are many albums, artists from the past that I can still play - Rory Gallagher - Ten Years After - Fleetwood Mac - Kossoff/Free - Wish You Were Here - Early Queen etc that I still like and enjoy - Even still find songs, artist/albums from the past that maybe I've only pick up on in more recent years - Allman Bros for instance

Yet certain other albums and I haven't got a clue in what I saw in it - Brand X - Mahavishnu Orchestra and worse of all that album Carlos did with John - For years I liked Yes and had many on vinyl but few on CD - A couple of years ago I was in HMV and spotted The Yes Album for £2.99 on CD - No brainer I though until I played it in the car on the way home - What did I ever see in it I don't know

So a mixed bag rarely - Slade and T-Rex were teh 2 bands via Top Of The Pops that got me in to playing the guitar at 14 and when I here the single on the radio I still enjoy them and they sure take me back

Weird how everyone’s tastes vary. I still love Mahavishnu Orchestra stuff from the 70s and prefer it to John Mac’s later material tbh. ( but yeah I’ll give you the Santana/JMac album... I’ve got it because I’m a completist but what the hell were they thinking?

) Same with King Crimson.

Other 70s stuff hasn’t survived so well, agreed. Like you I bought an album from my youth recently, Genesis’s Nursery Cryme. Oh dear, it sounds really dated and nothing like my memories of how great it was. On the other hand Free Live still sounds as good as it ever did, in fact it’s even better in the remixed version where they sorted the mix out properly.

JezWynd · January 2018

I did get Dory Previn's Mythical Kings lp recently and it sounded even better than I remembered it...

AlexC · January 2018

I was a teen in the 80s and (thankfully) I detested most of the contemporary music of that decade. This gave me an opportunity to go through my parents collection and discover classic rock and the 60s stuff for myself. Having said that - I still play and love Blondie, Bowie, Kate Bush, Pretenders, Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Police, a lot of the ‘new wave’ stuff. But when I occasionally put on Adam And The Ants I can only justify it to myself by thinking I liked the videos at the time. Same with Toyah. Can only listen to her for about 5 minutes now... but at the time I was completely in love with her. Well, she wasn’t like any women round our street!

ICBM · January 2018

AlexC said:

I was a teen in the 80s and (thankfully) I detested most of the contemporary music of that decade. This gave me an opportunity to go through my parents collection and discover classic rock and the 60s stuff for myself. Having said that - I still play and love Blondie, Bowie, Kate Bush, Pretenders, Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Police, a lot of the ‘new wave’ stuff. But when I occasionally put on Adam And The Ants I can only justify it to myself by thinking I liked the videos at the time. Same with Toyah. Can only listen to her for about 5 minutes now... but at the time I was completely in love with her. Well, she wasn’t like any women round our street!

I got a Best Of Toyah recently and there was really only one good song on it - It's A Mystery.

I loved a lot of the music of the early 80s though - Adam & The Ants, Hazel O'Connor, Japan, Joy Division, Kate Bush, Madness, Martha & The Muffins, OMD, Siouxsie & The Banshees, U2, Ultravox, Duran Duran, The Durutti Column, Echo & The Bunnymen, Gary Numan, The Go-Gos, Grace Jones, Heaven 17, The Human League, Simple Minds, Soft Cell, The Specials, Spandau Ballet (first album only), ABC, Blancmange, Fun Boy Three, Icehouse, REM, Talk Talk, Yazoo, Art Of Noise, Aztec Camera, Big Country, The Blue Nile, Cyndi Lauper, Eurythmics, New Order, The Style Council, Tears For Fears, The The, Wham!...

...and that's just a quick scan up to 1983 though my iTunes library! So much good music from that time. I'm pretty sure it didn't suddenly stop there either.

AlexC · January 2018

@ICBM I agree with the majority of your list there, but I find that many of my favourite 80s acts were releasing their first stuff in the late 70s. Not that it matters. Just an observation. Right.. where’s my white socks and slip on shoes...

koneguitarist · January 2018

Mainly new nowadays as I am constantly searching for new material for my radio show, though I have been revisiting some of my earlier Elvis albums recently.

Jez6345789 · January 2018

I was a teen in the mid 70's and that stuff still gets an outing and some stays on high rotation some of it I can't stand, for a while but in general, I seem to find stuff I like in most generations. So my playlist range from old to new but probably less of the new if it is generic grime and what passes as talent these days.

KKJale · January 2018

Any excuse to post this

FelineGuitars · January 2018

I listen to a lot of the 70s and 80s bands i loved and I will get into modern bands too but all too often it's the poor singing that puts me off. Not a fan of a cookie monster type vocals no matter how good the guitars.
Also too much down-tuning gets tiresome.
I want a good riff and great vocals

But i have found a few bands that were good at the Winterstorm Festival in Troon, so maybe I just need to keep more of an eye out

Skipped · January 2018

I think there is only one problem with older music.....60s and 70s.
When I had vinyl albums I could return to an old album at any time and it would immediately be familiar. A known quantity.
I ditched vinyl a long time ago.
That means that when I revisit an old favourite it is a lottery. At best it will sound great and at worst it will be unlistenable.
And that is annoying.
I guess it depends who was responsible for the transfer.

I don't regret not having a turntable. I think the swings just about outweigh the roundabouts. Steely Dan/Donlald Fagen is excellent on both CD and 24bit Flac. As is almost 100% of 50's Jazz recordings......I find that hard to explain but it seems that simple "in the room" recording transfers really well to high quality digital media.

Snap · January 2018

ICBM said:

I got a Best Of Toyah recently and there was really only one good song on it - It's A Mystery.

I loved a lot of the music of the early 80s though - Adam & The Ants, Hazel O'Connor, Japan, Joy Division, Kate Bush, Madness, Martha & The Muffins, OMD, Siouxsie & The Banshees, U2, Ultravox, Duran Duran, The Durutti Column, Echo & The Bunnymen, Gary Numan, The Go-Gos, Grace Jones, Heaven 17, The Human League, Simple Minds, Soft Cell, The Specials, Spandau Ballet (first album only), ABC, Blancmange, Fun Boy Three, Icehouse, REM, Talk Talk, Yazoo, Art Of Noise, Aztec Camera, Big Country, The Blue Nile, Cyndi Lauper, Eurythmics, New Order, The Style Council, Tears For Fears, The The, Wham!...

...and that's just a quick scan up to 1983 though my iTunes library! So much good music from that time. I'm pretty sure it didn't suddenly stop there either.

Wow, I could have written this!! Funny,,

Good thread, yes.

I can split out my interest in music into distinct phases really. And I still like and listen to all of it.

A significant period was when I got into guitar, and joined my first band. This would be around 83-86. Then, it was all about The Cult, Numan, Talking Heads, goth. I would obsessively learn as many tracks as I could, rote, so we could play them in the band. Keyboards and guitar, sometimes bass.

After that is was house music, steered by regular nigths at the Hacienda, and other clubs around the N West. Anything that bleeped, fizzed or throbbed, I'd have it.

Then anything and everything acid house/madchester, university in late 80s, early 90s.

After that came a late liking for classic rock and all things rock. Oddly, I didnt get into what you'd call trad guitar music until maybe the mid to late 90s.

These days, the last 5 years or so have seen me get right back into electronic stuff so I listen to as much new electronica as I can find.

For me, you can't listen to enough wide and varied music, its possibly (outside of my family), the most important thing in my life.

The most exciting thing about being into music today is that through technology we have access to almost every piece of recorded music there is, both past and present. You just have to know where to find it. That's pretty exciting to me.

Fretwired · January 2018

Both; there's some great stuff from the 60s and 70s and stuff that hasn't aged well IMHO. I also listen to new music. although by most people's standards I have odd taste .. I listen to a lot of Nordic jazz and electronic music these days .. most guitar music bores me to death .. ;-)

EricTheWeary · January 2018

Fretwired said:

Both; there's some great stuff from the 60s and 70s and stuff that hasn't aged well IMHO. I also listen to new music. although by most people's standards I have odd taste .. I listen to a lot of Nordic jazz and electronic music these days .. most guitar music literally bores me to death .. ;-)

I'm very disappointed it didn't say that.

Philly_Q · January 2018

I still love the stuff I got into when I was 15 - Rainbow, Scorpions, Robin Trower, Mountain, Rush, Wishbone Ash, Black Sabbath, Y&T, bits of the NWOBHM etc. But nowadays I mostly listen to new things.

Most, but not all, of the stuff I liked in between - thrash, glam/hair metal, shred albums, some blues, grunge, nu metal (cough), etc - very rarely gets an airing and it'll probably stay that way.

I've never strayed far from heavy(ish) guitar-based rock music, though, although there was a period when I was well into Frank Zappa.

Sometimes you can go back and realise with the benefit of hindsight that a band had a period, or maybe just an album, when they were really good, and the rest doesn't quite hold up even though you liked it at the time.

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For the older guys....

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