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JumpinJimF
I played It's Hard a lot when it came out but I rarely play it now.

Listening to it recently I don't think it's such a bad album. The songs at least are pretty strong, the main problem is the 80s production and sound which ruined many an album in that decade.

Quadrophenia on the other hand is sublime...

+1

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DandelionPowderman

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JumpinJimF
I played It's Hard a lot when it came out but I rarely play it now.

Listening to it recently I don't think it's such a bad album. The songs at least are pretty strong, the main problem is the 80s production and sound which ruined many an album in that decade.

Quadrophenia on the other hand is sublime...

+1

We should make a list:

Bowie: Never Let Me Down and Tonight
Clapton: Behind The Sun
Stones: Dirty Work

etc...

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JumpinJimF

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DandelionPowderman

Quote
JumpinJimF
I played It's Hard a lot when it came out but I rarely play it now.

Listening to it recently I don't think it's such a bad album. The songs at least are pretty strong, the main problem is the 80s production and sound which ruined many an album in that decade.

Quadrophenia on the other hand is sublime...

+1

We should make a list:

Bowie: Never Let Me Down and Tonight
Clapton: Behind The Sun
Stones: Dirty Work

etc...

Eric Clapton – August
Status Quo – In The Army Now
Peter Wolf – Up To No Good
etc.

Just listened to "Who's Last", the live document of the '82 tour, and thought it had aged well. Kenney Jones plays solidly, and John Entwistle is wicked good. No Facedances or It's Hard songs, though they played The Quiet One and several of the It's Hard tunes every night of that tour.

I saw them at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland in 1982. Having just seen them this past year in Seattle, it is clear that while Pino Palladino is capable, the Ox is irreplaceable.

Surprised no one has mentioned White City yet in this discussion. Townshend and David Gilmour were a dream pairing, and that album has many good moments.

I'm hoping that Pete decides to go back to solo performance again. I'd love to see him to back to playing the smaller theaters again.

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JumpinJimF

We should make a list:

Bowie: Never Let Me Down and Tonight
Clapton: Behind The Sun
Stones: Dirty Work

etc...

Bowie´s Never Let Me Down & Tonight are great albums that can be found very often in my CD-player. NLMD has a bit too much keyboards on it, yes - but it also has Peter Frampton and a lot of very good Bowie-songs. Tonight is completely underrated, must be the fate of an album following the monster-success of Let´s Dance. But Tonight has a great variety of styles, sounds and moods. I love it. Imo, both NLMD & Tonight are much better albums than Let´s Dance.

DW? Most of it doesnt sound like 80s at all.
Clapton? Boring in the 70s, horrible in the 80s. After that I completely stopped caring about what he was relasing. I call him "master of boredom".
Out of curiosity i listened to some tracks of his latest album on spotify and stopped after 10 minutes, what a waste of time.

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HMS

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JumpinJimF

We should make a list:

Bowie: Never Let Me Down and Tonight
Clapton: Behind The Sun
Stones: Dirty Work

etc...

Bowie´s Never Let Me Down & Tonight are great albums that can be found very often in my CD-player. NLMD has a bit too much keyboards on it, yes - but it also has Peter Frampton and a lot of very good Bowie-songs. Tonight is completely underrated, must be the fate of an album following the monster-success of Let´s Dance. But Tonight has a great variety of styles, sounds and moods. I love it. Imo, both NLMD & Tonight are much better albums than Let´s Dance.

DW? Most of it doesnt sound like 80s at all.
Clapton? Boring in the 70s, horrible in the 80s. After that I completely stopped caring about what he was relasing. I call him "master of boredom".
Out of curiosity i listened to some tracks of his latest album on spotify and stopped after 10 minutes, what a waste of time.

Well we all have our own personal tastes which is fine. Like you I think the those two Bowie albums have some good songs on them (e.g. the much later live version of Loving The Alien is excellent) but for me the 80s production drowns them. I listened to them both a lot when they came out, but now hardly at all compared with earlier "classic" Bowie and the later revival (Heathen/Reality/Next Day/Blackstar) which are superb.

I used to think that one person was 99% responsible for the dire "80s sound" that infected pop and rock at that time - but in the New Year spirit of not saying negative things about individuals I won't mention any names (though I am tempted)...

<DW? Most of it doesnt sound like 80s at all.>

You better listen more closely to the drum sound...

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DandelionPowderman


You better listen more closely to the drum sound...

... and well, just about everything on it.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman


You better listen more closely to the drum sound...

... and well, just about everything on it.

Harlem Shuffle, Had It With You, Too Rude and Sleep Tonight are timeless.

I loved Harlem Shuffle when it came out, and even though it is a cover it had a very Stonesy sound.
With that said, they didn't change or add much to Bob and Earls version from '63 which will always be the superior version.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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DandelionPowderman


Harlem Shuffle, Had It With You, Too Rude and Sleep Tonight are timeless.

Not production wise.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman


Harlem Shuffle, Had It With You, Too Rude and Sleep Tonight are timeless.

Not production wise.

No 80s tricks on those tunes. The echo-effect on Too Rude was used as early as on Abbey Road + in Jamaican music in the 70s. Had It With You and Harlem Shuffle are Stripped pretty bare and all that's left is the reverb on the choir on Sleep Tonight. Not typical 80s production, imo.

They still have a distinctly 80's sound and feel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-10 00:25 by His Majesty.

You hear what you wanna hear...

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DandelionPowderman
You hear what you wanna hear...

No, the 80's sound is about more than just effects.

The gear used, the way people sing and play, the sound of recordings, the mastering etc etc.

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TheGreek
Talking about the 1982 Who tour there is an excellent official release DVD from the show at New York Shea stadium , a show which I attended .

I was at that show too. Started working in NYC in '81.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman
You hear what you wanna hear...

No, the 80's sound is about more than just effects.

The gear used, the way people sing and play, the sound of recordings, the mastering etc etc.

In general, yes, on Had It With You, no.

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DandelionPowderman

In general, yes, on Had It With You, no.

It is clearly not from the 1950's, 1960's, or early to mid 1970's.

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JumpinJimF

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HMS

Quote
JumpinJimF

We should make a list:

Bowie: Never Let Me Down and Tonight
Clapton: Behind The Sun
Stones: Dirty Work

etc...

Bowie´s Never Let Me Down & Tonight are great albums that can be found very often in my CD-player. NLMD has a bit too much keyboards on it, yes - but it also has Peter Frampton and a lot of very good Bowie-songs. Tonight is completely underrated, must be the fate of an album following the monster-success of Let´s Dance. But Tonight has a great variety of styles, sounds and moods. I love it. Imo, both NLMD & Tonight are much better albums than Let´s Dance.

DW? Most of it doesnt sound like 80s at all.
Clapton? Boring in the 70s, horrible in the 80s. After that I completely stopped caring about what he was relasing. I call him "master of boredom".
Out of curiosity i listened to some tracks of his latest album on spotify and stopped after 10 minutes, what a waste of time.

Well we all have our own personal tastes which is fine. Like you I think the those two Bowie albums have some good songs on them (e.g. the much later live version of Loving The Alien is excellent) but for me the 80s production drowns them. I listened to them both a lot when they came out, but now hardly at all compared with earlier "classic" Bowie and the later revival (Heathen/Reality/Next Day/Blackstar) which are superb.

I used to think that one person was 99% responsible for the dire "80s sound" that infected pop and rock at that time - but in the New Year spirit of not saying negative things about individuals I won't mention any names (though I am tempted)...

Phil Collins? He came up with that big boomy gated reverb snare sound for In The Air.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

In general, yes, on Had It With You, no.

It is clearly not from the 1950's, 1960's, or early to mid 1970's.

Listen to It's Hard, then put on Harlem Shuffle and Had It With You - to put this in the right perspective

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DandelionPowderman

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

In general, yes, on Had It With You, no.

It is clearly not from the 1950's, 1960's, or early to mid 1970's.

Listen to It's Hard, then put on Harlem Shuffle and Had It With You - to put this in the right perspective

Please do not make me listen to 80's Who!!!

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

In general, yes, on Had It With You, no.

It is clearly not from the 1950's, 1960's, or early to mid 1970's.

Listen to It's Hard, then put on Harlem Shuffle and Had It With You - to put this in the right perspective

Please do not make me listen to 80's Who!!!

But, but.. that was the context we started discussing DW's sound within

I'll let you off this time, he he..

There was some good '80s music, most of it done by new bands that were comfortable with the new technology.
A lot of the '60s bands, including the Stones, didn't seem comfortable with the changing technology, or put themselves into the hands of people who didn't help them.

I was a teen in the '90s, so any music from the '80s that had the big, gated reverb snare drum sound and an overload of keyboards, sequencers and synth washes was unforgivably cheesy to my ears.

However, as I've gotten older and become more nostalgic, I've developed a lot of fondness for all those new wave and synth pop tunes. Yes, a lot of music from the '80s sounds way more dated than material from the '70s or '90s - it's sort of stuck in time, but there's a charm to it if you listen to it in the right light.

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keefriff99
I was a teen in the '90s, so any music from the '80s that had the big, gated reverb snare drum sound and an overload of keyboards, sequencers and synth washes was unforgivably cheesy to my ears.

However, as I've gotten older and become more nostalgic, I've developed a lot of fondness for all those new wave and synth pop tunes. Yes, a lot of music from the '80s sounds way more dated than material from the '70s or '90s - it's sort of stuck in time, but there's a charm to it if you listen to it in the right light.

Yup.