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my suspicion is that they got trapped by their own commodity-self.
it happens to alot of bands--their earlier stuff tends to be better because they had more time to work on it, in conditions that are not determined by having a particular demographic they are playing to. a smart band has lots of backstock before they get a deal---they can then mix stuff from before they were big with newer things, so the pressure is less in producing what would appear to be a new album for the public. consistent sound is simple--remix the older tracks.
fact is that when you buy an album, you have no idea when or in what sequences the pieces were written.
problems start to arise for many bands when they run out of this backstock of material and have to produce new things for each record from scratch. particularly if there are contractual obligations that need to be met. and if livelihoods of alot of people are at stake in meeting them.
also i think that doing shows that require you to copy your records for long enough will suck the life out of almost anyone.
i do not understand why audiences go to shows to hear what they already know.
it reduces the musicians to copies of themselves.
i do not understand why seeing that is interesting.
particularly if the form is a rigid as that which metallica has worked for years.
what do you do in that case?
what do you do if you made metal and get tired of the form?
stop altogether?
go through a period of slow decline?
what would you do?
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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