80s brilliance

Yes, between '79 and '83 he put out half a dozen substantial and varied albums (plus 'lives'). Nowadays that would be the time between the 1st and second "difficult" one (difficult as in nigh-on identical). It 's easier in hindsight to see there was a glut of talent at that time.

For decades it's been getting more and more homogenised and anonymous (Will Justin Ed Sam Youngerlakesheersmith etc.) I was listening to PILs 'Metal Box' yesterday and thought, "where is the talent that can put 'Albatross', 'Careering', 'Radio 4' etc on one (!) album?

Fair play to old Gazza, still upsetting the pundits and entertaing the punters...

Is there such a huge change now? I don't think so... I certainly wouldn't  call Ed, if we are referring to  Ed Sheeran, homogenised, I don't think so... no manufactured talent show stardom there... a passionate musician from his school years who left school to do his own music thing... a real talent that I am sure we will see evolve.. and perhaps in twenty or thirty years he will be doing some concerts that amaze and delight us thinking I didn't know he could make music like that.

Surely it's not too difficult to spot the difference between manufactured performer and true musical talent.... and yes in my books Gary Numan is a talent... but you look back at some Top of the Pops at the time of his hay-day .. there was a fair amount of dross cashing in on a similar  theme... though synth  and make-up manufacturers did well.

Simon

Agree that Gary Newman was a talented and innovative musician but I still wouldn't get into a 'plane with him.

BTW Dayjay you missed a great performance from the Reds last night.

Hah, no I'm not sure I would get on a plane with him either!  Simon, I agree that Ed is a talent but I'm not sure how many others there are like him.  My 12 year old son loves Ed and we often chat about which music from today we will still be listening to in 30 years time and we struggle to come with much to be honest. Having said that I'm sure my dad will have said something similar in 1985.  I was amazed by how good Gary was last night and he played guitar and keyboards and sang brilliantly.  The whole band were really really rocky and Are Friends electric is one of the best live songs I've ever watched.  My wife videoed it on her phone and I still can't believe how good it was watching it back.  Pity I can't post it on here.

sjbabbey posted:

Agree that Gary Newman was a talented and innovative musician but I still wouldn't get into a 'plane with him.

BTW Dayjay you missed a great performance from the Reds last night.

I know, my friends were texting me updates through the match!  I've got it recorded so I'll watch it later today although its not the same. That's a pretty impressive set of results so far this season and especially as we were away for most of them.

Yup, Dayjay - 2 convincing wins on the bounce. If they're not careful Liverpool are in danger of becoming inconsistently inconsistent.