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"a band that makes a perfect album has no further room to move"

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I think Mohammad's got a point. They started very free and gradually became very tightly controlled. I like Trans Europe and (especially) the Man: Machine as a very agreeable midpoint between free play and tightness. After that, things do get increasingly perfect. Computer World is a perfect album - and I've always said a band that makes a perfect album has no further room to move, and Kraftwerk are, to me, a pretty good example of that argument.

-- moley, Saturday, April 9, 2005 8:41 AM (2 years ago)

― lfam, Sunday, 29 April 2007 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

i think this is true and i think that derrick may suffered perfection with his "the beginning" record. and even by the end of that, with salsa life, he begins to look back when writing his songs. it's the first point where he stopped sounding new.

― lfam, Sunday, 29 April 2007 03:43 (eighteen years ago)

See Also: The Strokes: Is This It

― jizzcannon, Sunday, 29 April 2007 03:45 (eighteen years ago)

"... except down."

― ian, Sunday, 29 April 2007 04:48 (eighteen years ago)

this is fairly obvious though, right? if you make something perfect you can't make something "more perfect".

― akm, Sunday, 29 April 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

i find the idea of anyone making something perfect (albums, novels, sculptures, etc) MUCH more controversial and interesting than whether artistic progression is possible once some perceived pinnacle is reached. has ANYONE made a perfect album?

― ian, Sunday, 29 April 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

I think there's perfect albums for certain moods. There are a lot of albums where every single note sounds excelent to me regardless of how I'm feeling, but none that feel *perfect*.

I realise this is 100% reception-based, but I don't really know how else you could tackle this question.

― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 29 April 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

I mean, certainly there are albums/sculptures/novels that can be seen as the pinnacle of a certain aesthetic/movement/genre, but I dunno if that implies perfection, cuz mostly those will carry over the flaws of those movements as well.

― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 29 April 2007 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

"See Also: The Strokes: Is This It

-- jizzcannon, Sunday, April 29, 2007 6:45 AM (11 hours ago)"

A+++++ sarcasm, would rofl again

― That one guy that quit, Sunday, 29 April 2007 15:30 (eighteen years ago)

See also "OK Computer".

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 29 April 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

oh shutup about OK Computer, it's 2007

― the table is the table, Sunday, 29 April 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

See:
Cyndi Lauper, Prince, the Cars, and a boatload of other groups from that era.

― the table is the table, Sunday, 29 April 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

Shutup about 2007. Good music is timeless.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 29 April 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

Btw. There's also ABC and Aztec Camera. Both did everything on the debut, and had nothing more to prove.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 29 April 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

The first name that popped into my mind when I saw the thread title was 'Portishead'.

― chap, Sunday, 29 April 2007 16:38 (eighteen years ago)

I say this, Rumours = perfect album

Tusk = anything but perfect

Tusk is much much better.

(Rumours was my favourite album as a kid due to it being my Dad's favourite album, so I do not say this lightly)

― I know, right?, Sunday, 29 April 2007 17:10 (eighteen years ago)

i think the perfection is perceived by the artist in relation to some musical ideal they've set up. kraftwerk's ideal was pretty obvious. derrick may's was a little less so but it's still there.

― lfam, Sunday, 29 April 2007 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

the icon record from 1996 is amazing and yet it still feels like a step back to me. it's like derrick may trying to do red planet (and succeeding).

― lfam, Sunday, 29 April 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

It's interesting how far Computer World come in terms of critical assessment -- it was not always so highly regarded. Didn't make the top 40 album list in Pazz & Jop.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Sunday, 29 April 2007 21:53 (eighteen years ago)

oh my goodness, this thread makes me want to take a nap

― Dimension 5ive, Sunday, 29 April 2007 21:55 (eighteen years ago)

unwound are the exception to this rule

― creme1, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:02 (eighteen years ago)

In that nobody gives a fuck about them to begin with, yes.

― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:04 (eighteen years ago)

keep it up man, you'll get to write for stylus one day

― creme1, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:06 (eighteen years ago)

chap OTM

the exception to the rule is actually Blue Lines vs. Mezzanine. "Room to move" simply means you've perfectet that one formula. A good band should be able to move into new musical territory after a "perfect" album. (although it took its time for MA, and only happened once, or arguably twice)

― the Dirt, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:20 (eighteen years ago)

A good band should be able to move into new musical territory after a "perfect" album.

They do have that right. But in most cases, they will not succeed. Radiohead, for instance..

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

A good band should be able to lie there whilst Geir nails out their corpse.

― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:25 (eighteen years ago)

This is why Neutral Milk Hotel had to break up. And why weezer should've broken up in 97.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:26 (eighteen years ago)

A good band should be able to lie there whilst Geir some talentless wanker nails out their corpse.

― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:28 (eighteen years ago)

A good band should be able to move into new musical territory after a "perfect" album.

They do have that right. But in most cases, they will not succeed.


Or you just wait 30 years and hope people forget that you're repeating yourself, like Brian Wilson.

― the Dirt, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:29 (eighteen years ago)

nah, can't really defend myself there. Smile is good

― the Dirt, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

Or you just wait 30 years and hope people forget that you're repeating yourself, like Brian Wilson.

Well, if the songs he write now had been as catchy and wonderful as the ones he wrote in 1966, I would see no problem about that.

What has worked once works forever.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:34 (eighteen years ago)

to quote Richard Heydrich.

― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:36 (eighteen years ago)


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