Tobilius
Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Aug. 2003 |
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Posted: Aug. 16 2003, 09:50 |
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So he actually recorded a fourth version of Tubular Bells? How many times can he plagiarize himself? "Man in the rain" was already a blatant copy of Moonlight Shadow. Plus, his most recent stuff his terrible. Voyager sucked, TBIII was horrible, Guitars wasn't great, Millenium Bell was a godawful shame. I lost interest and didn't listen much to Tr3s Lunas, I was too afraid to hear a schmalzty newagey uninspired synthathon like Millenium Bell.
That, from a guy that when he was twenty and so, was a grade-A modern composer (not classical tho), and put to shame Pink Floyd and all other 70s prog artists? This from the guy who wrote Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn? And who evolved in the 80s with brilliant albums like QE2, Platinum, Five Miles Out, Islands? I've listened to those hundreds and hundreds of times, when I was younger. It was really so different from anything else, yet so beautiful and diverse. I loved Islands too, and even Earth Moving, because it was unlike what he did before,and sounded more fm than fm bands! quite a feat, and the songs are good. The fact that Adrian Belew plays on this album is a hint too (some people hate Belew for his fm pop too, yet it's far out in a way, just like Earth Moving)
So the guy can evolve musically, and record radically different kinds of music: Amarok comes after Earth Moving, and it's frickin brilliant. Huge record.
Then it goes downhill: Heaven's Open not too bad, but... sounds as another Earth Moving, only without the ultra naive touch of it that makes EM enjoyable for those who can stand it.
SODT is great. We have a pattern here. "bad album", "great album". EM, Amarok, HO, SOTD
What happened then? All albums after that are absolute crap, imho; I felt ashamed for him when I listened to them. I felt angry, I wanted to cry (Millenium Bell, oh the horror). How can a genius like he was stoop so low? How can he betray himself and the music in such a way? Did he indulge too much in chemical drugs in Ibiza? was he lured into constant repetition by stupid friends, spiritual practices going haywire (hardening the ego process, like in new-age), record company? How could he become this sloppy, this uncaring, this much self-satisfied?
He was a great guitarist, with lots of inspiration, great and orginal tone, feel He came up with really awesome ideas that were in a genre nobody played. The solo on Shine is a good example. It's hugely original, it doesn't sound like anything else. But now now can't play shit. (his vibrato was always somewhat unprecise tho, and has grown worse - a bad gimmick becoming a trademark).
What's happened to the man? The music is not the problem, it's elsewhere, something went very wrong in his life, and maybe it's one of those things mentioned before.
I really feel terrible for him. I hope he gets his act together in the future, and I hope one day he'll make great music again.
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