From the band’s classic lineup, fronted by Peter Gabriel. Progressive rock truly enjoyed a golden age in the late 60’s/early 70’s, when bands were for the first time discovering nearly limitless freedoms in both lyrical subject matter and song length.
But it wasn’t always about complexity and dazzling virtuosity. Sometimes Prog was just about creating a thing of beauty, like this relatively overlooked gem from the Trespass album.
Sometimes we miss out on some great music because of our tendency to relegate an artist to a particular era in our minds.
If you think of Donovan, for example, as an artist of the 60’s–since he last hit the top 40 in 1969–you might not realize he recorded some great live albums, most of which he delivered in the 1970’s and later.
If you only think of the late 70’s when you think of great Warren Zevon music, you probably missed a career highlight when the sobered-up Zevon released the cracking Sentimental Hygiene album of 1987.
If you thought the only work of Graham Parker’s that mattered was his early albums with the Rumour, you’d find 1988’s The Mona Lisa’s Sister an unexpected treat.
If you lost track of Asia when the 80’s ended, you won’t be aware that they may have turned in their finest album ever when the original lineup reconvened for 2008’s Phoenix. And if you think Prince hasn’t released anything good since the late 90’s…actually, you’re spot on in that case–but I digress.
Pet Shop Boys’ run of US top twenty singles began in 1986 and was over by ’88–a short peak era for a fairly iconic act. So to many (myself included) they existed mostly in a small 80’s dance-pop box. They do have their loyal fans though; they’ve continued releasing albums every few years and in the UK none has charted lower than #7.
But to the mainstream American record-buying public, they’re an act from another era; they may as well be Culture Club.
But some bands continue releasing quality material, or even release their best material, long after their fifteen minutes of limelight is over–making all the impact of the proverbial tree falling in the forest. And Yes is, to my ears, the best album Pet Shop Boys have ever made. Had it come around in, say, 1989 it would have been all over American radio and had the audience it deserves.
Any band that’s been around for decades is subject, on the release of something new, to the scrutiny of whether it “stands up” to their older material. Not only does this stand up, but in some ways it is superior. Pet Shop Boys have never employed a lot of harmony vocals; here, ecstatic choruses unfold in full color as never before.
Whereas for most artists the peak of sales coincides with a peak of artistic vision and creativity, followed by a long slow decline into mediocrity, in the case of PSB it’s more like they’ve only refined their songcraft over the years. And now, rather unexpectedly, 20 years on from their peak of record sales, they’ve reached the height of their record-making skill.
Even someone who never cared particularly for their old stuff could appreciate this album. If you’ve never been a fan of Pet Shop Boys, give Yes a chance to turn you into one.
In a new interview conducted for an upcoming documentary chronicling the Rolling Stones’ 50-year career, Keith Richards addresses the derogatory comments he made about Mick Jagger in his 2010 memoir Life. Here is the exchange:
How have you both found surveying a journey that has already lasted 50 years? It must have been difficult at times, bearing in mind the nature of your relationship and especially the stories we have all heard about the tensions that resulted from the publication of Life.
Mick: Well, I’m glad you said 50 years as that sounds so much less than half a century (laughs).
Looking back at any career you are bound to recall both the highs and the lows.
In the 1980s for instance Keith and I were not communicating very well. I got very involved with the business side of the Stones, mainly because I felt no one else was interested, but it’s plain now from the book that Keith felt excluded, which is a pity. Time I reckon to move on.
Keith: Mick’s right. He and I have had conversations over the last year of a kind we have not had for an extremely long time and that has been incredibly important to me.
As far as the book goes, it was my story and it was very raw, as I meant it to be, but I know that some parts of it and some of the publicity really offended Mick and I regret that.
The above interview excerpt felt to me like a breath of fresh air–two old rockers actually putting ego aside to consider the feelings of the other party–almost like grown men. As fans we don’t often get to see the kind of camaraderie we prefer to imagine is there between our musical heroes. Rock history is littered with stories to the contrary: The Beatles, Beach Boys, Kinks, CSNY, Yes, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Van Halen/Hagar, Oasis…petulant infighting is such a common chapter in the story of a band that This is Spinal Tap would have felt incomplete without touching on it. If rock music were an institute of higher learning, it certainly wouldn’t be the place to pursue a major in diplomacy.
It’s too often that when we read about the personal lives of pop music figures, it’s only the negative–just as the sports page is filled with stories of contract disputes, failed drug tests and legal problems among our athlete “heroes”. In a landscape littered with tales of embittered band mates, breakups, lawsuits and the like, I salute Mick and Keith for acting like there’s something to consider other than their egos and the money. I realize the Rollings Stones’ story too has had its dark chapters. In that way it’s simply a mirror, on a stadium-size scale, of the stories of each of us. Since part of fandom is the inclination to look for things we can relate to in the people who create the most relate-able forms of art, somehow it matters to see these legendary figures handling themselves with a very human dignity as their story enters its final chapters (although it does at times seem like these guys will go on forever). I find it as inspiring in its way as one of the many classic pieces of music history these two have created together.
Every Moment Has A Song 