Just to keep on my current contrary trajectory... Dave wrote:
Well my own view on this is probably out of step with most people but I don't think we should be in the least bit interested in the personalities of people who happen to be in the spotlight.
and
I am also dubious of trying to gauge what someone is like in the flesh from the way they have been portrayed in print.
I generally agree with you on this. But when someone like Robert Fripp (OK, Robert Fripp!) has control over reams and reams of sleeve notes where we learn in intimate detail about *his* side of the struggles with EG and the economic facts of a Soundscapes CD being tens of times more profitable for him than a new KC album (and are then deluged with said Soundscapes CDs), my opinion of him as a person is lowered and I find it difficult to give any of his new albums even a cursory listening-post listen. He is virtually saying "you lot will buy anything, so I'll put as many cheap-to-produce CDs out as I can". He closed down (maybe permanently) the KC Collectors Club because there were "only" a core of 3,000 members! Most artists we discuss on this list would be ecstatic to know that whatever old bootlegs/soundboard tapes etc they put out had a ready paying public of 3,000. I'm sure a couple of days of David Singleton's time cleaning up the tapes doesn't cost much more than editing a Soundscapes performance so, as Americans apparently say, you do the math. Sounds like greed to me, and it affects my perception of the music. And yes, I bought some of the KCCC releases when they were released to the general public. But the 72-74 Crimson are my weak spot. Nobody's perfect. Dave also said:
a) I'm finding increasingly that "personalities" dominate issues.
Sometimes, as in the example above, the personalities start to shout louder than the music, even within music that we like.
b) The received wisdom in the British music press is that Prog Rock was universally crap and was successfully killed off by Punk, as though it was some kind of cancerous growth.
And then they say how great Radiohead and Muse are, who owe far more to Prog than Punk. I think the British music press isn't taken seriously by anyone except themselves, and their readership is dwindling. I don't count the Wire in this (although I don't know about their circulation!). Alastair -- Personalised email by http://another.com