Albums that poisoned the artist

i definitely remember the narrative around mutations (propagated by mtv and west coast djs), releasing "low key" albums on the off years. lol.

mutations is good though, i need to rebuy it.

Highway 61 Revisited is as far as dylan could go beat-psych-ward before crashing his motorcycle and Nashville Skyline

How is 40% of this very interesting thread (premise) about Beck?

I can't think of a better example of a "poisoned artist" than Beck

It's interesting trying to figure out how he was poisoned.

Midnite Vultures didn't seem like that much of a departure for Beck at the time, so I don't know if it really fits the premise of the thread

Highway 61 Revisited is as far as dylan could go beat-psych-ward before crashing his motorcycle and Nashville Skyline

Uh, Blonde on Blonde ring any bells?

― MatthewK, Tuesday, September 22, 2015 7:49 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea otm.

also the whole "motorcycle crash changed everything and dylan went soft/country" is a piece of dylan mythology that has always been a little exaggerated. basement tapes came after the crash!

I guess Beck's a decent example, I was just surprised to see so much discussion of him.

U2 feel like the biggest example, to me - I'm not a massive fan of their early stuff, but I really like Achtung Baby, quite like Zooropa, and didn't think Pop was a bad thing at all, but since then they've been awful, awful, awful, and, it seems to me, in a very deliberately safe, commercially-led way.

I don't know about Beck in relation to this thread, this is a bit of a digression. I find Mutations, Sea Change, and, I guess, Morning Phase to be be good vibes in search of good songs (with some exceptions). But y'all are being too harsh on Guero. Is it a retread? Kinda. Is it Beck trying to be BECK? maybe. But Guero is the middle-aged comfortable-in-its-skin Beck compared to Odelay Beck. I mean, sure Odelay is great, but its exhausting, and it feels like a lot of effort. That can be exhilarating, but sometimes you just wanna chill with a dude and be past all that trying to impress you bullshit that you did when you were first getting to know each other. That's Guero. it's all the things you like about Beck without all the trying to impress or make a name. It's Beck being, "Oh yeah, I'm Beck, this is what I can do."

To bring Radiohead into this discussion for no reason, Guero is like his In Rainbows and Odelay is his OK Computer. Maybe one is more impressive, but I know which one I am going to reach for when I just want to hang out and knock back a few drinks.

Well said brontosaur. I'd also rep for "Broken Drum" on Guero, it's brilliant without needing to tell you about it.

Yeah, I love "Broken Drum". It's languid in the best way.

Slow Train Coming and Trans poisoned the artists, but only temporarily. "Albums that food-poisoned the artist."

with beck i think he just accidentally ended up being at the helm of some kind of mid 90s melting-point zeitgeist. a place he possibly wouldn't have even got to had it not been for collaborating with karl stephenson with loser and then the dust brothers. i think it was just a right place right time thing (and i was/am a big beck fan)

then by the time the 90s finished, things moved on...

You know Beck won the Grammy for album of the year right? I mean it was a lesser Sea Change, but the guy has not faded away.

ha, i'm personally convinced beck does not have one of these, but "he won the grammy for album of the year" is a pretty strong argument for "from that point forward, he played it safe"

The albums are still technically good, but the feel is poisoned. I thought "Morning Phase" was a good album but some of the lyrics and arrangements were so straight, simple, and dull that if previous Beck didn't exist to put it in context I don't think I would've enjoyed it as much. The irony of the "Fume" singer doing "Morning Phase" is a large reason why it works.

Unless you just enjoy mumbly coffee shop music, which is fine.

Sgt Pepper. Only managed one 'proper' album after it (Abbey Road; White Album is a load of solo tracks mashed together without a cover or a title; Let It Be is a mess; the other two are a compilation and a soundtrack), and then they split up.

they weren't poisoned by the reaction to Sgt Pepper though. but maybe the white album, since GET BACK was an effort to, well...

I'll throw out a curveball one - Factory Showroom by They Might Be Giants, everything prior was informed by fun parts of folk, new wave, schlock, DIY/low-fi-culture jamming Devo-like reverence, and then this one seemed like a cash grab for suburban breeders.

back in black

(alcohol)

Dunno, if anything Factory Showroom was a bit of a back-to-what-we're-loved-for move after the unsatisfying 'rock' move of John Henry. I don't know if they ever really had a crisis moment... they just kind of lost their spark in waves, always with a few inspired songs per album but never as consistently as they were on the first four records. Just happens, with lots of bands I think - no poison required.

i feel like the monkees must have a record like the one this thread is alluding to, but i don't know precisely which one it is.

The answer to most Monkees-related questions is "HEAD".

Neil Young Harvest is the bizarro world inverse version of this thread topic.

Terence Trent D'Arby's Neither Fish nor Flesh was rather like this. Not sure many even remember his subsequent output particularly well at this point, but I seem to recall it was comparatively bland. Just read a few quotes where he actually confirmed that the poor reception 'killed' him.

The Monkees' initial popularity was so relatively flash in the pan (around two years of big hits while they had their own TV show, followed by a handful of much less successful singles over subsequent years) that I don't think this concept quite works for them. I guess Head sorta fits if anything does, but it was a soundtrack to an unpopular movie and their last album before they splintered.

Not sure many even remember his subsequent output particularly well at this point, but I seem to recall it was comparatively bland.

come on man, symphony or damn is his best record

David Bowie - Let's Dance ?

obviously not a failure, wasn't rejected, but because it was his biggest album, he maybe overthought a lot of what he did after, and didn't get his feet back on the ground til the 90s?