Longevity

monquixote

stratman3142 said:

I'll vote for Jeff Beck, Robben Ford, David Gilmour and Nile Rodgers, as they are among my favourite guitarists and have been around for a long time. Am I allowed Guthrie Govan, because he's been around for quite a while now?

Steve Wilson continues to produce good and interesting material.

I was impressed by that Mastodon clip posted earlier. I've have to go back and listen to more of their stuff.

Actually I can't believe I missed Nile.

He had a bit of a flat spot in the late 90's / early 2000's (that said has had a number 1 from a sample just about every year for the last 30 years), but recently he's been absolutely on fire especially when working with Daft Punk.

octatonic

ICBM said:

Neil Young

He's 70 now and has made more than forty albums over about the same number of years. Certainly some of the ones along the way have been a bit up and down, but I think overall his quality hasn't declined at all.

I lolled you- not because you aren't right but just because I knew you were going to post this.

BloodEagle

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

Bucket said:

@octatonic beat me to the punch but I was gonna say Mastodon.

It seems to be the done thing to slate their newer material (which is more melodic and accessible) and fawn over their much harder-edged older material. But I've never really been able to get into their first couple of albums and feel like they've really hit their stride with their newer direction, which has a very distinctive sound that's all theirs, is full of great playing and singing and also has some great hooks.

I totally agree, I think Mastodon just keep getting better.

There is a rather lame trend towards hipsterism in metal where anything that trends towards being more commercial must be instantly dismissed.

Agree.

I like melody, I'm not talking about sing song corny cheeseball stuff, but songs need melodic content.
I don't enjoy listening to bands that sound like a cutlery drawer going down a kitchen waste disposal.

I really really dont like the newer Mastodon stuff, nothing to do with 'hipsterism' its all to do with taste. The most recent wlbum is terrible, not a patch on Leviathan or Remission - its just middle of the road rock music. I disagree entirely that songs 'need melodic content' as well - 90% of my music collection has none whatsoever and personally I love it. 

SidNewton

Pearl Jam. Last 3 albums in particular have been excellent. Always superb live as well.
I also agree with the guys who suggested Robben Ford. His solo output has been really consistent over the years.

koneguitarist

Neil Young certainly did a lot of crap albums in the 80's. And this is from someone who has Harvest Gold as my alarm to wake up every morning. The sample led albums did not work for him at all. 
But same as what can be levelled at me or anyone else, if you are a huge fan, you tend to ignore the mediocre stuff. 
My favourite artist is John Hiatt, but there are albums that have some good songs on and some amazing albums. Hard pushed to think of a shit album by him, only some I play less than others. 

Hoof

BloodEagle said:

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

Bucket said:

@octatonic beat me to the punch but I was gonna say Mastodon.

It seems to be the done thing to slate their newer material (which is more melodic and accessible) and fawn over their much harder-edged older material. But I've never really been able to get into their first couple of albums and feel like they've really hit their stride with their newer direction, which has a very distinctive sound that's all theirs, is full of great playing and singing and also has some great hooks.

I totally agree, I think Mastodon just keep getting better.

There is a rather lame trend towards hipsterism in metal where anything that trends towards being more commercial must be instantly dismissed.

Agree.

I like melody, I'm not talking about sing song corny cheeseball stuff, but songs need melodic content.
I don't enjoy listening to bands that sound like a cutlery drawer going down a kitchen waste disposal.

I really really dont like the newer Mastodon stuff, nothing to do with 'hipsterism' its all to do with taste. The most recent wlbum is terrible, not a patch on Leviathan or Remission - its just middle of the road rock music. I disagree entirely that songs 'need melodic content' as well - 90% of my music collection has none whatsoever and personally I love it. 

I don't hate the new stuff but it doesn't excite me like the older stuff did. The production of the newer stuff is rather inorganic too.

Personally, I thing their peak was the Blood Mountain/Crack The Skye era. It seemed musically ambitious and the album concepts were killer. The Hunter was great but I missed the concept and Once More Around The Sun just seems a bit uninspired. There are some great songs on there but I do wish the drummer would take more of a back seat, vocally speaking.

ToneControl

King Crimson, Roy Harper, Pat Metheny, Burning Spear, most of the old jazz guys

BloodEagle

Agreed, I dont like the drummers vocals at all. Crack the Skye and Blood mountain were both phenomenal in my opinion, The Hunter had a few good tracks, but you could see the direction that they were headed. Once More... lacks any of the meat I liked in their older stuff and does seem a bit lazy with regurgitated guitar parts and vocal hooks. I saw them live a few times in the Leviathan and Blood Mountain era and they were some of the best gigs i'd been to at the time

scrumhalf

There are a lot of bands and musicians who were around 40-50 years ago and who, whilst not playihng at huge venues or selling bucketloads of records, still attract a decent crowd on the small venue/pub circuit.

cj73

Bucket said:

Also, SikTh.

The day they release something bad is the day that, to quote Eminem, "Aquaman drowns and the human torch starts swimming".

Bit different though because they were SO ahead of the curve, and the only reason their stuff sounds less out-there now is because everyone else is only just starting to catch up, ten years later.

How out-of-this-world this opening track must have sounded coming through one's boombox in 2003...



A groovier version of Atheist... crashing into a much, much madder version of System of a Down... fronted by what sounds like a duo of deranged clowns? You'd never think it would catch on, but then Misha from Periphery was inspired by it, and everyone else was inspired by Periphery and before you knew it, the newly-minted "djent" craze was becoming the main driving force in the wider modern metal scene. And all because of six slightly mad blokes from Watford.

Woah, never listened to them before but they tick a lot of my boxes.  Embarking on a listening odyssey right now

ICBM

koneguitarist said:

Neil Young certainly did a lot of crap albums in the 80's. And this is from someone who has Harvest Gold as my alarm to wake up every morning. The sample led albums did not work for him at all. 
But same as what can be levelled at me or anyone else, if you are a huge fan, you tend to ignore the mediocre stuff.

I totally agree - although possibly not for the same albums . I actually think Landing On Water is maybe the worst. He has consistently tried new things too, so it's not surprising if there have been misses as well as hits... but I still think he's kept the quality up on average. Psychedelic Pill in particular is a great album, from only three years ago. He's managed to remain as questionably political as ever too, with his latest one.

I also lol'ed octatonic for lol'ing me, because he is of course right .

Bucket

cj73 said:

Woah, never listened to them before but they tick a lot of my boxes.  Embarking on a listening odyssey right now

@cj73 ;;It actually took me a long time to get into their stuff... what hooked me was the second album. I think the track was "Summer Rain". Then they came out with the Opacities EP last year, which is stunning too. I actually got into the first album last, it's my most recent discovery but it's probably my favourite album by them. The second album is probably more cohesive and polished, but the first one is where the ground was broken... and it speaks to me in a way few metal albums ever have.

Their cover of "Tupelo" by Nick Cave makes my hair stand on end every time I hear it. One of my favourite tracks for driving late at night.

Have it:



Mikee's vocals on it are just something else. And I know people complain about modern metal being overproduced, but the production here just serves to make it sound enormous, forbidding and at times, fucking terrifying. Like the end of the world set to music.

axisus

thumpingrug said:

Marillion - if anything the quality gets better.   

Nope. Peaked with the first 4. On a lower shelf ever since.

Dopesick

Enslaved have to be one of the most prolific and consistent bands in metal. They've never released anything below average and they've put out over a dozen albums. Same with Dillinger Escape Plan (although the new one is 'only' their sixth). Opeth were well on their way to winning this thread up until they released Heritage. Zzzzzzz.

I would include Devin Townsend as his recorded output is absolutely gigantic, but he has released a couple of stinkers between outstanding albums.

cj73

Bucket said:

cj73 said:

Woah, never listened to them before but they tick a lot of my boxes.  Embarking on a listening odyssey right now

@cj73 ;;It actually took me a long time to get into their stuff... what hooked me was the second album. I think the track was "Summer Rain". Then they came out with the Opacities EP last year, which is stunning too. I actually got into the first album last, it's my most recent discovery but it's probably my favourite album by them. The second album is probably more cohesive and polished, but the first one is where the ground was broken... and it speaks to me in a way few metal albums ever have.

Their cover of "Tupelo" by Nick Cave makes my hair stand on end every time I hear it. One of my favourite tracks for driving late at night.

Have it:



Mikee's vocals on it are just something else. And I know people complain about modern metal being overproduced, but the production here just serves to make it sound enormous, forbidding and at times, fucking terrifying. Like the end of the world set to music.

@bucket   I can't believe those first two albums are that old...wow


Tupelo is well good, the singer's intensity reminds me of his namesake from Suicidal tendencies but better