The belief that a musician puts out good records simply because they are technically good on their instruments has always been a huge pet peeve of mine. I think that the overall sound, much like aesthetic in art, is more important than how it's derived. Isn't there a reason why people will be talking about Aphex Twin 'Selected Ambient Works' longer than they will be talking about ANY Yngvie Malmsteen album?? If technical skills were more important, wouldn't we all be talking about the Great Kat more?? Any thoughts??
Yngwie was both creative and technical (at least his first three albumns). Nobody has ever fused metal and classical as well as he did in that period. And what about John Coltrane? Or even Zappa? It's entirely possible to be BOTH. Just being one or the other doesn't necessarrily make you good. And for what it's worth, I've never heard of Aphex Twin...
I couldn't agree more. And I think that explains why Kat's music is basically unlistenable...it's absolutely without soul.
Haha! If I had the energy, I'd look up another thread in which we discussed this topic ad nauseum. Let's just say that Dokken has some good catchy songs that helped them to go platinum with each of their first three albums back in the 80s. They may not be aesthetically pleasing to you, but a lot of people would disagree. On top of that they can play their instruments like mofos. Also, I disagree that people will be talking about the Aphex twins for longer than Yngwie Malmsteen. Maybe the people you know will be talking about them for longer, but not the people I know. So where does that leave us?
Agreed. But only being technical and not at all creative can you make you very boring. Being very creative but not technical would be more interesting, IMO. Look at John Lennon. He played the guitar in a very plain way, his "solos" and what not are extremely simple (although his fingering and chord structuring was often strange). But the man could write a song like noone's business, because his creativity and human instinct was just through the roof. I love Coltrane. Perfect example of someone who is the master of both. I apologise for the Malmsteen comment. I should probably have used someone I know more about.
Lennon is a great example. Creative w/o much technical skills. Being simply technical usually is boring, but there are plenty of people out there who will buy into that stuff. On Coltrane: do you have the Stockholm concert when he was with the Miles Davis group? It's the one where he unleashed the "Sheets of Sound" on everyone. Not only amazing, but if you listen it sounds like he totally freaked out the band for a bit...they seem to have no idea how to accompany him and they just all lay out.
No, but it sounds rad. I have a Cotrane Quartet boot with Eric Dolphy from Europe in '61 that is just insane.