I have to agree and this is probably why I am not a huge fan of the charts today, for example though he got alot of slack Michael did write, compose and sing songs that he had written, but he managed longevity by being original and not 'following the crowd.' But that is just an example there are others who have struggled long and hard to finally get their big break yet these Simon Cowell products get their without pain, struggle or effort.
Bring back how it used to be and without the use of computers to make someone sound half decent.

I do think the lack of creativity is missing from the music industry today, it's all jump on the bandwagon to be famous then when they've had a hit half the time you never hear of them again !

To me, this sounds very much like the Pet Shop Boy's album VERY. All of the songs are brilliant on their own two feet, but lined up together they take on an entirely new and dynamic life of their own.

Certainly there are songs which stand on their own two feet on their own. but take a single song with the knowledge of all the other songs on the album and it'll take on a life that the song on it's own will never have.

That is exactly what the Very album did for me :-)
This makes it even more exciting!!!

Yes, the whole is so hugely much bigger than the sum of the parts .. and each part is increased to the power of 10 by the way it builds from and into others .. Layers of complexity that are just so different from what one expcts from concept albums. And it's not just the tracks .. but the way the whole thing takes you in one direction and then spins you round into another completely different one .. But then Meat told us to expect nothing but the totally unexpected ;)

And did he ever say a mouthful there! :-)

Caryl

And I wondered why most of my favorite albums were recorded in the 1960s and 1970s and why I have bought only a handful of new albums in recent years...

I grew up with musicians like Springsteen and I remember how eagerly I was waiting for every new album - not the next single! There's no one to grow up with anymore.

I spent my childhood in a country in which music was censored, so artists were often forced to conceal the actual message of a song. It resulted in extraordinarily interesting, intelligent lyrics and music. That's why you had to develop very good listening skills to understand what was said beween the lines and songwriters needed to be especially clever and creative. People seem to have lost those abilities. The "artists" wanna make a quick buck and the audience... They've gotten lazy, they wanna be entertained but they don't wanna explore and discover, they don't wanna think.

People don't understand music anymore. I recently heard someone say this about Billy Joel's album The Stranger: "I believe my CD is broken." The reason for that statement was the fact that the intro of the theme song was repeated at the end of the record.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a record often was regarded as a piece of art. Great albums often came along with a cool cover. You didn't just sell or buy music... I can get crazy about that Robert Crumb comic on Janis Joplin's Cheap Thrills or a Grand Funk Railroad LP that has a cover which looks like an oversized silver coin.

Right now Meat is raising my hopes that I'll be as excited about his new album as I'm about classics like Carole King's Tapestry, Springsteen's Born To Run, Bowies's Ziggy Stardust, the old Led Zep and The Who stuff, etc.

I'll take you at your word. If it's not like that, I'll get bitter and despaired and will spam this forum with "everything was better in the good ol' days" rants. :twisted:

please meat be right!!:D

You actually have to put in effort nowadays to find good 'album' bands as I like to call them but they are there. It's a shame but as Meat said people prefer to go with one or two songs as opposed to crafting an album.

The best example I can think of is my favourite band Dream Theater, they're consistently putting out great albums. They're actually a band I'd recommend to fans of Meat. They're not really similar in any way but in some ways they are, you get a lot of longer songs, a lot of emotion within them and meaning and sometimes it's a bit over the top and silly but fantastic.

Probably not to the forums tastes but Opeth are another band that have been great lately, although I'm sure Melodic Death Metal might be a bit much for some people.

Also got Transatlantic, a Progressive Rock Band which is a side project of Mike Portnoys from Dream Theater. Also features Neal Morse of Spocks Beard, Pete Trewavas and Roine Stolt. The song lengths are maybe a bit off putting for people with them often being about 20-30 mins long, and in the case of their latest album The Whirlwind, it's a song suite which lasts for 77 mins. It's amazing though and the time flies by.

For more traditional rock, there is a band who I picked up an album of called Bigelf, they've been around a while who sound like they'd fit in in the 70s, they've got a heavy Deep Purple/Zeppelin/Floydy vibe going on with their work. Their latest album 'Cheat The Gallows' is very good and a must have for any rock fan.

The problem with these bands I've recomended as some of you might know is nobody has bloody heard of them and you're never going to see them in the charts because its just not fashionable, they don't create music for the radio or think in terms of singles they put out albums they're proud of much like Meat does.

Very valid point...albeit a bit sad to admit that it is...

In other news...this is all very incredible and I am very happy for my friends to have a days like this...I know how it feels - I was there myself just a few years ago...in NYC for Bat III...very happy for all of you it is truly an unforgettable experience!

thank you!
 

A huge thank you to Monstro, Caryl and others who have commented on the London playback experience!

I am filled with anticipation for Meat's new album! ..but I'm already so thrilled about Meat's unprecedented pride and joy in it that I don't know what will happen when I finally actually hear it in April; I may just spontaneously combust :lol:

-Kathy

All so true, and perhaps the thing that stands out most is They want only to be famous anyway they can. Artist have no foundation . They don't know who they are.

All the wannabees who endlessly parade onto X-Factor, Pop Idol and the like, and are just grist to the mills of people like Cowell for one quick hit single. and who are distraught when they don't make the cut, saying this is all they ever wanted to do. Which begs the question, why don't they make a start and work their way up? Success that comes as a gameshow prize is fleeting and insubstantial for all but a very few .. and those have sufficient talent that they could have made it the traditional way imo, given they had some drive and determination.

Meat fought his way to the top the hard way, with talent, creativity and a fierce drive, not to "be famous" but to perform, to create, to make the most of the talent he was blessed with. And that continuing journey and commitment is what has developed his creative vision, which in partnership with Rob Cavallo has finally been let loose :)

My head's still buzzing with what I heard yesterday, and I realised today adventure and ride are two such relevant words to describe the experience. If I were to go on the most amazing thrill ride in an adventure park and people were to ask me what it was like, I'm not an engineer .. I can't explain the technicality of the ride itself, only describe the feeling of being on it. In the same way I can't explain how our engineer has visioned, designed and brought HCTB to a reality, I can only try and convey the thrill of the ride, the feeling of being swept this way and that as a kaleidoscope of different impressions whirled around me ..

.. and of course, instead of losing my lunch, I lost my socks :lol:

Caryl

all that aside, we shouldnt generalize that much.
There are great artists around today as well. It's not that they ALL come from idol/xfactor/whatever. It's just become a little harder to find the gems.

I have to agree with what Meat has said and several of you that the artists created in that way, through Simon Cowell and through the process of a short lived tv season do not seem, for the most part, to create material to the same standard as Pinky Floyd, Bowie, Bon Jovi, the Stones, dylan....there is no comparison whatsoever.

But I completely agree with jcmoorehead. I am pretty young, and I listen to a lot of david gilmour, meat loaf, metallica, neil young, bon jovi....Artists that are tried and true and create and evolve with time. But at the same time, I'm in on the Canadian local music scene and I can assure you that there is a lot of young talent out there that is fighting through the ranks with their own material and personality. Most of them do NOT make it to the charts, or the Grammys, or most of the comercialized systems that seem to recognize the same, limited group and style of artists each year. The local bands have their own talent, and are fighting in the same way Meat did. Their albums carry heavy meaning and do have a storyline or idea behind it. I think the problem is not that real talent doesn't exist...but that for some idiotic reason the media and television focus, for the most part on talentless well marketed musicians.

And yes, I am now opening myself up for debate here :D

Not so long ago, you could discover all kinds of cool music via MTV but look what has become of MTV... :sick: In the 1980s and 1990s there were a lot of music shows on TV on which bands could perform their songs or have their music videos presented. Where have they gone?

It is a very sad state of affairs today Meat, and all I can say is Thank God For YOU, you still have it and you still rock!!!!!!!! Your music has always had heart and soul and PASSION!!!!!!! And always will.

Carole

This is almost permanent discussion in our house...how MTV ate some good solid music video networks...and then became a network for retarded reality shows...

We also think that MTV contributed somewhat to high rate of ADD around the world...

True as well...I also have to say that these days AI is going where it never went before and promoting people who wouldn't even be selected in the first season...let's see...AI:
Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, David Cook and icing on the cake - Adam Lambert...where would they be now but for the grace of AI?

TOTALLY AGREE.

yeah music tv is commercial, like the music business.. its about making money

theres plenty of awesome musical talent out there, sometimes you just need to go out and look for it (usually theres no ego involved)

And let's not forget that before AI and X Factor there was Star Search and Ed Sullivan show before that...so the idea isn't novel - no reason to say that it is...

Once in a while a fully conceived album can make it through the net and become a big hit. 'American Idiot' by Green Day (and produced by a certain Rob Cavallo) is considered a concept album and sold 14 million copies since it was released in 2004. I think the appetite for these kind of projects is still there, even if it isn't often being fulfilled.

Hopefully HCTB can be another one of the few. Either way, it's going to be seen as an important part of Meat's legacy.

Happy Sunday meatie peeps ...
 

A little late with the thank you's to all those that posted reviews. I've been under the weather the past two days. However, the reviews were all awesome and what a golden opportunity you all had. Mind blowing is an understatement I'm sure. So 1,000 thank you's again!!!

Suzieq

David Cook and icing on the cake - Adam Lambert.

I didn't like either one of them....i was rooting for David Archuleta all the way

Well...where is he now? Never mind...Adam Lambert wasn't in that season anyway...

However you can hear both David Cook and Adam on the radio every day...what did actually happen to David Archuleta???