OFF: The Weller/Kilmister controversy

[David Kuznick]

Quoting Tim Hall <tim at KALYR.COM>:

> Stephen Swann wrote:
>
> >>Whatever Paul Wellers faults, dismissing his work out
> >>of hand is just crass.  The best of The Jam stands up
> >>well against anything else of its era, and as for the
> >>current crop of guitar bands, more of them sound like
> >>XTC wannabes or bad Joy Division copyists than sound
> >>like Jam tribute acts.
>
> XTC are another one of those critic-friendly bands that I've never
> really 'got'. But as a fan of old-school prog rock and metal, I've never
> liked cared for most of the 80s new-wave scene, much of which sounds
> rather musically shallow to my ears. (I'm on this list as a BOC fan
> rather than an HW fan)

You definitely have to "pick your battles" with XTC.  Chips from the Chocolate
Fireball released under the fake group name of the Dukes of Stratosphere is a
really good psych-rock album.  Prog fans might like Apple Venus Volume 1; some
really nice string-laden pop on it; there are other prog-friendly ones as well.
 But some of their stuff definitely suffers from over-silliness IMO.

There is a decent amount of good 80's new-wave stuff that was definitely
prog-influenced, but there was a lot of utter crap as well.

--
David Kuznick   dkuznickATalumni.brandeis.edu
"I am the storm that won't be calmed, I am the calm that follows.
I'm in the stars that fill your sky and when I choose,
I'll be in your thoughts, I'll be in your dreams,
all the light you see, all the air you breathe."
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