Which bands have kept up a consistently high standard throughout a long career?

darthed1981

euan said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

Bollocks

darthed1981

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:
EDIT: would also add Suede on the back of their excellent recent album, though they did disappear for quite a while before that.

Their recent album is their fourth since reforming a decade ago.

There was a hiatus, but not as long as that.

RocknRollDave

darthed1981 said:

euan said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

Bollocks


Edit: comment deleted.

RustySpanner

Completely agree about Lou Reed.

Love the Velvets, but Coney Island Baby and New York are just wonderful. 

darthed1981

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

euan said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

Bollocks

They’ve gone from my favourite band ever to ‘I wouldn’t even bother to open the curtains if they were playing in my back garden’ status.

Good for you.  Means less than nothing to me though doesn't it?  Admittedly, screaming ones opinions at the ether is pretty much the internet, you can't be blamed for that

I normally avoid these threads for this exact reason, you can have two exactly opposite opinions and we could both re-phrase "I think you're wrong" all night!

Vintage65

Nick Cave has been fairly consistent with or without the Bad Seeds.

RocknRollDave

darthed1981 said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

euan said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

Bollocks

They’ve gone from my favourite band ever to ‘I wouldn’t even bother to open the curtains if they were playing in my back garden’ status.

Good for you.  Means less than nothing to me though doesn't it?  Admittedly, screaming ones opinions at the ether is pretty much the internet, you can't be blamed for that

I normally avoid these threads for this exact reason, you can have two exactly opposite opinions and we could both re-phrase "I think you're wrong" all night!

Of course. I’m not trying to convince you. I’m expressing my own opinion, simple as.
 I’m not screaming at anyone.

EricTheWeary

Los Lobos.

I don't know everything in their back catalogue but there's a lot of class in there. The song that most people know them for actually one of their poorer moments. Certainly have longevity and were prepared to go in diverse directions. 

mrkb

darthed1981 said:

euan said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

Bollocks

If the Manics still showed that sort of spirit, I'd still be into them

CharlieShaw

darthed1981 said:

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:
EDIT: would also add Suede on the back of their excellent recent album, though they did disappear for quite a while before that.

Their recent album is their fourth since reforming a decade ago.

There was a hiatus, but not as long as that.

Their previous album was pretty good too.

darthed1981

mrkb said:

darthed1981 said:

euan said:

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

Bollocks

If the Manics still showed that sort of spirit, I'd still be into them

They can't still be angry punks in their 50s - if they were they really would be a parody of themselves.  I can't think of any group of humans who haven't changed as they got older.  If anything they were at their MOST passionate on the album that got people bitching the most, "This is my Truth" but about things closer to their hearts as older people than the naive sloganeering that they did as teenagers.  They probably never topped the Holy Bible, but it would have been daft to try.

Wales is a stunningly beautiful but melancholy country, they went musically more down that road.  I'd never be as close to a big a fan of them if they just kept doing the same thing over and over and over.  I saw them live on the TIMT 20th anniversary tour and JDB did a totally solo version of "Born a Girl" off that album, if it didn't mean something to him, he hid it bluddy well.

It's inevitable some of us change with them and some change differently of course, but they were always more than barre-chord-thrash punks.  JDB musically, particularly, has always been about more than being Slash, as he proved on Holy Bible, there are huge influences on them of new wave, prog, and yeah soft rock. 

Being despondent with the world to the point of writing a whole album about the Holocaust, Anorexia, Hillsborough and other terrible things cost one of them their life, they were right to move past that.

This is of course pretty personal to me as honestly if I were in a band making music for decades, I'd go through every genre there was, and if people didn't like my album that talks about how great the EU is, they could come back to me when I did my album that sounds a bit like ABBA, or when I pulled out my bandmates old lyrics and did a heavy punk album again one year.

Obviously, YMMV,

thumpingrug

Marillion.  40 years, 20 studio albums, countless live albums.  Difficult to pin down as they try not to repeat themselves. If anything the last 3 albums have been the best they have ever done.  Consummate musicians still at the very top of their game.

Stuckfast

EricTheWeary said:

Los Lobos.

I don't know everything in their back catalogue but there's a lot of class in there. The song that most people know them for actually one of their poorer moments. Certainly have longevity and were prepared to go in diverse directions. 

Ooh, good shout.

steven70

Vic Godard/Subway Sect

Philly_Q

Winny_Pooh said:

ACDC I'm slightly serious too

They fall into the category of bands whose albums I still buy, because they're still... OK, although they'll never again release anything even close to the standards of their best work - see also Wishbone Ash, Robin Trower, Scorpions.

(I wouldn't be upset if any of them decided to call it a day.)

richardhomer

Neither are bands:

John Martyn up to (and including) Cooltide

Richard Thompson

DiscoStu

Radiohead

Biffy Clyro

Elbow

Devil#20

Gone but never forgotten (at least not by me)

THE DOORS

ToneControl

why just bands?

dindude

REM, a slight tail off in quality for the last 2 or 3 albums but even they have merit. What a catalog of incredible albums they’ve done.