I’m losing my edge
I think a lot of bands “lose their edge”, as James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem might say, as their time goes on. Some say it’s just a part of the ‘growing up’ process, or ‘maturing’, but I don’t get that. When you’re in a band potentially just starting up at the age of 23-25, you’re already pretty mature I’d say. So why do many bands, the Cribs being the ones who are in my head at the moment, lose the energy and excitement (or some other factor) that made them worth listening to in the first place?
The Cribs are a bad example really — it’s pretty obvious with their case that it’s down to the arrival of the old head of Johnny Marr, a hero to all of the brothers Jarman. I think in the presence of someone of such significane to them the Cribs were maybe a bit embarrassed to continue their, perhaps in their eyes, childish energy that made them so exciting to begin with.
A band that, in my opinion, has developed a more mature sound while keeping what made me enjoy them in the first place is The Coral. Their discography is far from perfect, but I think it’s fair to say that their finest albums so far are their first, and their most recent, Roots & Echoes. I think what makes the self-titled debut so good is its off-the-wall style, with random time changes and wild guitar interludes, being constantly grounded by the intriguing vocal harmonies and, at times, sea shanty style singing (see “Shadows Fall”).
Being five years older by the time of Roots & Echoes, it’s fair to say that their restlessness had worn off somewhat; but what remains are the wonderful harmonies, used in a different way, a more charming pop record, still strewn with Bill Ryder-Jones’s fascinating guitar work to keep things interesting and exciting.
Now, I’m not implying that the Cribs went out of their way to become boring, and that The Coral remain interesting because they calculated a way of ‘changing but staying the same’ or something. I’m just analysing why one worked, and another perhaps didn’t, for me. Both bands developed, changed — some might argue that it was for the better, some for the worse, for either band — the above is just why I enjoy and don’t enjoy the respective albums.
