Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1985 - (page 203)

GoatersLeftShin said:
What a year 1972 was - plenty of variety, but across it all is something I keep coming back to. It's melodic. I do think that we've lost that emphasis on melody at some point and it will be interesting as we go down the years to see where that changes, but all I hear in these songs - regardless of genre - it melody through everything. It's all catchy. Some is straight up rock'n'roll or jazz infused or whatever, but it's catchy.
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That's an interesting observation, and no doubt something that we all feel to a certain extent as the years go by.
It definitely needs discussion as this thread progresses.

Is music getting less melodious as the years pass?

There's a certain earworm that my daughter predicted would be big across Europe this year - "APT" by Rose and Bruno Mars, and it does seem to get played everywhere (including in our house). It's certainly catchy, has a great melody but no doubt most on here would frown on it - as I did the first few times I heard it, but it's grown on me :)

So what's missing from this song or any of the 1000s like it down the years? I know what my answer is but I'll leave it a while and come back to it at the appropriate point.
 
OB1 said:
Gonna have to add Cities on Flame with Rock N Roll by Blue Oyster Cult too cos they finished their encore with it last night at the London Palladium, which I went straight from Craven cottage to .Almost 50 years since I first saw them and they are still a really good live band.
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I must have spoken to you at Fulham then.
 
RobMCFC said:
That's an interesting observation, and no doubt something that we all feel to a certain extent as the years go by.
It definitely needs discussion as this thread progresses.

Is music getting less melodious as the years pass?

There's a certain earworm that my daughter predicted would be big across Europe this year - "APT" by Rose and Bruno Mars, and it does seem to get played everywhere (including in our house). It's certainly catchy, has a great melody but no doubt most on here would frown on it - as I did the first few times I heard it, but it's grown on me :)

So what's missing from this song or any of the 1000s like it down the years? I know what my answer is but I'll leave it a while and come back to it at the appropriate point.
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It's pretty much provable that pop music has become less harmonically complex in recent years and there are a number of reasons for this; but this doesn't really kick in I think till the 90s so one for later discussion maybe.

Melodically it's interesting, it's arguable that the worlds current biggest artist puts zero effort into their chord progressions to the point they might as well have been chosen randomly chosen by the DAW but they can actually write a pretty interesting vocal melody.
 
RobMCFC said:
I agree, and apologies.

I've made the point before that we are supposed to be looking at the significant songs from any given year. Yes, there is always room for personal favourites or a hidden gem that you think others may be missing, but a bit of context rather than a huge list of songs is what I'm looking for.

However, this thread will go where it goes and dictated by the people who post on it. I have managed to listen to every playlist in full but sometimes it is a grind to get through it just to hear one or two good tracks in every 10.
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I’m raging, I thought of another band that should have been in 1971 and also 1972.

I came across them playing my own playlist called ‘Shut up and play your guitar’ and thought……. Jeeeez, how did I leave them out.

Everyone else did too though.
 
Keith Moon said:
Status Quo released Piledriver in 1972, the first in a series of impeccable albums they put out up to Live in 1977. Even though the band eventually became something of a joke, it’s worth remembering that for a few years in the '70s, they were the dog's bollocks.
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I just bought the 8 cd edition of the ‘77 Live album, the original album plus the three full gigs. An indulgence but my goodness they were a great live band at that point. You can touch the atmosphere on some songs.

I did see them around that time and saw the Frantic Four when they did a tour more recently, which was good. They did end up doing some naff stuff but at their peak…
 
BimboBob said:
Even in the rough guide/ ground rules it says...4 songs. Not 20. Or 30.

I get that this is your era, but bloody hell mate, it's a pain for the person collating them and a pain to listen to. Skip, skip, skip...as all the stuff I listen to regularly is passed by...skip, skip, skip...oh, a nugget...skip, skip, skip...

Or maybe that's just me...and when I hit 1976 onwards I do the same as you. Who can tell.
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You’re gonna hate 1973 and 5 cos I’m curating those.

Rools are for Skools.
 
threespires said:
It's pretty much provable that pop music has become less harmonically complex in recent years and there are a number of reasons for this; but this doesn't really kick in I think till the 90s so one for later discussion maybe.

Melodically it's interesting, it's arguable that the worlds current biggest artist puts zero effort into their chord progressions to the point they might as well have been chosen randomly chosen by the DAW but they can actually write a pretty interesting vocal melody.
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I largely loathe modern pop music. All sounds like it was produced by machines (computers).
 
Blumooniac said:
The 70's are a goldmine, whatever the genre. The peak, imo. 80's onwards, technology takes over. (Engineering and production especially.)
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True, but there are some albums from the 80s onwards where the advanced engineering and production provided us with albums that sounded much better than before with the band playing as well as ever. Which we will see/hear in due course.
 
RobMCFC said:
True, but there are some albums from the 80s onwards where the advanced engineering and production provided us with albums that sounded much better than before with the band playing as well as ever. Which we will see/hear in due course.
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I was thinking yesterday, when did production and recording peak in terms of capturing the sound of an artist accurately and allowing for multi-tracking? Has it even peaked? Technology will always advance but when it comes to capturing a group of musicians playing their instruments, can you beat the sound of, say, ah we’ll fill that blank in next year ;-).
 
OB1 said:
I was thinking yesterday, when did production and recording peak in terms of capturing the sound of an artist accurately and allowing for multi-tracking? Has it even peaked? Technology will always advance but when it comes to capturing a group of musicians playing their instruments, can you beat the sound of, say, ah we’ll fill that blank in next year ;-).
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In the initial introductions we talked about the technology changes that had significant impact but as we've got into the individual years much less so.

It's an interesting question, especially as production technology impact has now gone well beyond being about capturing the sound and right to the heart of what it means to create music. When we get to the later part of the 70s and hit the dawn of the Synclavier and the Fairlight and then in the mid 90s the rise of the DAW I think we'll be discussing watershed moments.

My personal view on your question in the way I think you mean it would be the late 70's / early 80s. Analogue recording technology was at it's peak, mixing desks were very sophisticated, mic technology top notch; but as importantly the album budgets were often big and there were very well established studios with highly experienced sound engineers who really knew their stuff. But you've obviously got next year in mind as the Zenith so I look forward to that.

As we move through the 80s digitisation changes things. Not necessarily worse, just different. Another watershed technology was my beloved Atari ST with it's 16/32 bit Motorola 68000 processor and crucially a MIDI interface. Whilst it allowed me to lord it over my 8-bit numpty 6502 mates, much more importantly it presaged what was to come for music creation and recording but that's for another day :-)
 
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threespires said:
In the initial introductions we talked about the technology changes that had significant impact but as we've got into the individual years much less so.

It's an interesting question, especially as production technology impact has now gone well beyond being about capturing the sound and right to the heart of what it means to create music. When we get to the later part of the 70s and hit the dawn of the Synclavier and the Fairlight and then in the mid 90s the rise of the DAW I think we'll be discussing watershed moments.

My personal view on your question in the way I think you mean it would be the late 70's / early 80s. Analogue recording technology was at it's peak, mixing desks were very sophisticated, mic technology top notch; but as importantly the album budgets were often big and there were very well established studios with highly experienced sound engineers who really knew their stuff. But you've obviously got next year in mind as the Zenith so I look forward to that.

As we move through the 80s digitisation changes things. Not necessarily worse, just different. Another watershed technology was my beloved Atari ST with it's 16/32 bit Motorola 68000 processor and crucially a MIDI interface. Whilst it allowed me to lord it over my 8-bit numpty 6502 mates, much more importantly it presaged what was to come for music creation and recording but that's for another day :-)
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Atari was a huge part of my childhood. Not the ST, but the original 2600 console followed by the amazing Atari 800 home computer (plus the arcade machines as well).
 
threespires said:
In the initial introductions we talked about the technology changes that had significant impact but as we've got into the individual years much less so.

It's an interesting question, especially as production technology impact has now gone well beyond being about capturing the sound and right to the heart of what it means to create music. When we get to the later part of the 70s and hit the dawn of the Synclavier and the Fairlight and then in the mid 90s the rise of the DAW I think we'll be discussing watershed moments.

My personal view on your question in the way I think you mean it would be the late 70's / early 80s. Analogue recording technology was at it's peak, mixing desks were very sophisticated, mic technology top notch; but as importantly the album budgets were often big and there were very well established studios with highly experienced sound engineers who really knew their stuff. But you've obviously got next year in mind as the Zenith so I look forward to that.

As we move through the 80s digitisation changes things. Not necessarily worse, just different. Another watershed technology was my beloved Atari ST with it's 16/32 bit Motorola 68000 processor and crucially a MIDI interface. Whilst it allowed me to lord it over my 8-bit numpty 6502 mates, much more importantly it presaged what was to come for music creation and recording but that's for another day :-)
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I don’t specifically have 1973 in mind as the zenith - I don’t know the answer and I am not well up on the technology involved; although I’ve been in one or two recording studios but not the big boys. My best friends recorded an album with a name US producer in Macclesfield!

However, there is an album from 1973 that I find it hard to imagine could have been recorded any better (which is not to say it couldn’t have been but…). Anyway, the one I am talking about should be apparent from my 1973 review. It’s not hard to guess but please don’t (guess out loud).
 
OB1 said:
However, there is an album from 1973 that I find it hard to imagine could have been recorded any better (which is not to say it couldn’t have been but…). Anyway, the one I am talking about should be apparent from my 1973 review. It’s not hard to guess but please don’t (guess out loud).
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I'm looking forward to all that's to come.
 
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