Inspired by the New Order thread, and I hope I’m not being too rude or treading on anyone’s toes here, as this idea was suggested to someone else, but I’d be fascinated to see a thread on this so I hope no-one minds! I too am very keen to know if there are any “older” bands still making interesting music out there. When I say older, I guess I am referring to any band or artist who has been releasing stuff for 30 years or over. That only takes us to 1990, which to me still feels pretty recent. I can think of a few… Sparks, A Certain Ratio, Wire and The Monochrome Set spring to mind, but they are very much within my comfort zone. They don’t have to be selling thousands either, the scale of it doesn’t matter, they just have to be writing new music that still sees them developing and striving to be a properly functioning outfit and not just taking the money. Anyone have any others to suggest?
Older bands still doing interesting stuff
I refer the right honourable gentleman to By Order of Mayor Pawlicki by Pere Ubu.
Seconded!
And thirded!
Jeff Tweedy/Wilco. His previous band Uncle Tupelo released their first album in 1990…
Yebbut Pere Ubu and Tweedy Wilco are both new bands.
Dutch band The Nits are from 1974, the core founder members are still touring. They haven’t stopped releasing new albums and each one is slightly different (in a good way) – and they treat their back catalog in a way Nick Mason’s covering the old Floyd stuff: playing it with renewed enthusiasm and inspiration. In 2017 they released their 22nd album »Angst« which was one of their top 5 best. Last year’s »Knot« isn’t bad either.
I have In The Dutch Mountains (on cassette!), Urk and Giant Normal Dwarf. What else would you recommend?
»Angst« and »Les Nuits« are great albums, mixing concepts, pop songs and instrumental byways to great effect. »Ting« is more chamber pop (still with a nice single in »Soap Bubble Box«), »Wool« is their Cohen/chanson album (with strings and brass section), and »Hotel Europe« is a live double wrapping up the last decades.
Thanks @fatima-Xberg I have a Nits itch that needs scratching.
I bought ITDM on the back of a great Q review back in the day, and instantly warmed to them. I picked up one or two subsequent releases, but then drifted away. They don’t seem to have made much of a dent on the UK music scene, but I’ve seen you mention them a number of times on the blog. Are they popular in The Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe?
Nits received the Dutch equivalent of a knighthood two years ago (first pop artists to get that), and their tours in Germany, France and Switzerland are always sold out. And they are big in Finland they tell me.
As for the UK, they played WOMAD in 1996 and the Jazz Café in 2014. And I flew to London to watch their concert at the Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush on the Les Nuits Tour in 2005. Ian Peel of Classic Pop magazine and Chris Evans are said to be big fans.
United DJs radio have started doing a heritage chart, for acts that are still producing new music but have no outlet for it. Its a simple idea to get airplay for “heritage” artists. Nice to see Ex Stiffs front man Phil Hendriks is still knocking them out. Worth a peep at least https://www.uniteddj.com/heritage-chart/
Tom Waits was releasing new and interesting stuff right up to his last album in 2011 (Bad As Me, which I think is up there with his best), and he has been going since the mid 70s. He’s gone a bit quiet since then, though, but he has never officially retired as far as I know, and I think he still has the chops for a couple more albums. I think he generally got better as he got older.
His 2018 version of Bella Ciao, with Mark Ribot, is jolly spiffing.
Oh what?? I missed that!
I love Marc Ribot – if this is the same guy, I will check that out. He’s been with Tom Waits since Rain Dogs, I think. I was listening to his Prosthetic Cubans album this week – only 22 years old… The first song is just blissful.
Thanks for starting the thread, @NickL. It was a spontaneous idea, but your actualizing of it seems to be generating lots of content.
No problem @salwarpe it was a great idea of yours and I was just impatient to see people’s views on it! I particularly liked your phrase “heritage kills music, provocation and variation keeps it alive.” Couldn’t agree more.
This is from 2018 and it tickles my ivories
Ribot plays electric, acoustic and slide on one of my favourite albums, David Sylvian’s ‘Dead Bees On A Cake’. At times he makes Sylvian’s music sound like the missing link between Waits and Bowie.
I’m pleased you had ACR in your list. I have been seeing them live since ~1984 until now, on and off, and they are definitely better live now than ever before. And their latest record is the best they’ve done for 30 (arguably 34) years.
I love ACR, not just for their music, but there’s just something I really admire the way they conduct themselves as to what they stand for. Martin Moscrop is particular is a great torch bearer for the band. Not afraid to collaborate with younger or even unexpected people.
The stuff I’ve heard from their new album does indeed sound very promising indeed. Blokes of around 60 sounding relevant, up to date and well, just damn danceable…what’s not to like?
The notion of “heritage” is an interesting one. Some artists just play the bigger venues and are content to hoover up the profits from expensive ticket sales, and I suppose there’s nothing really wrong with that. The Stones for example are probably even now on many people’s bucket list of acts to see just the once. But I don’t think the word has to be linked with just those artists who tour in this way. Heritage doesn’t just have to apply to the larger scale. Wire, for example, have never been huge but (despite a shortish spell apart) have ploughed a fruitful furrow for decades now, pushing to keep things interesting for themselves on an artistic level. Their longer term followers stay interested because of this I think.
The Rolling Stones’ last album is really good.
Do ‘solo’ artists count? If so, look no further than Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan. Prince might be dead but is still releasing interesting stuff.
Also Paul Simon and, until he carked it, Laughing Len.
Dear me. I overlooked Paul Simon. Again. But, don’t we all at some point?
A dead people list cold easily get very long, starting with Bowie and Cash.
Back to the OP. I have high hopes for Public Enemy’s forthcoming album.
I don’t – the last one was bobbins. Too much G’n’R for one thing (which is to say, some)
Good God! If there is any kind of G’n’R presence, I won’t be touching it with an ear-lobe.
Bowie’s current phase is his most challenging and esoteric yet, I must say.
Yeah, everything on bloody coloured vinyl. Triffic.
Surely there’s loads. Off the top of my head:
Michael Rother
Marianne Faithfull
Hans Joachim Roedelius
Lloyd Cole
Steve Hackett
Anthony Phillips
Bill Fay
John Foxx
If you have Foxx, and you should, also have Sylvian.
I’ll see your Sylvian and raise you Fripp.
Presumably a reference to the two of them discussing whippets…
I think Sylvian has retired.
What! Musicians don’t retire, they go on forever, even after death (eg Billy Fury)
Really liked what I’ve heard of the latest John Foxx album.
Link me up.
Macca!
He’s an interesting one actually. To be devil’s advocate here. does he continue making albums because he wants to be SEEN to be current and relevant and he thinks it sells a tour, or is it a genuine drive to produce something new?
All of these. But the last most. He just loves making music. Bless him.
He has made plenty of good material this century, see my Spotify playlist.
Think his last one (Egypt Station) is pretty uneven, but maintains the occasional glimpse of genius even at 76 (which was his age when it came out).
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6SziVDh3nYlySNlQCmyemU?si=cTniW05XTeu_vRbUt6DzWg
Will give that a listen Dai, many thanks.
No prob. Something I prepared for @Junior-Wells
I had a good listen to the lot too @Dai .
My conclusion is that his sort of songs are really not my cup of tea. Not my cup of tea being a very Macca sort of term. However, I was impressed by the breadth of songs and the mix of instrumentation and his bass playing which could be higher up in the mix. But he is too musically egalitarian for that.
Fair enough @Junior-Wells. Good for you that you gave it a go. How do you feel about Dylan’s latest after a few months?
@Dai I ordered the vinlys and they took so long I cancelled the order as I had thrashed it. Since that initial thrashing I don’t stream it much though when I do I like two thirds of it I like a lot.
The ones I play most are
Street Legal
Planet Waves
TOOM
Modern Times
Infidels
JWH
His last two decades were massively better than the previous two.
I had to count out what decades you were talking about there. I thought for a moment you were saying he is better now than he was in the sixties! And then I remembered it’s 2020….
If we do it like this …
1962-1979
1980-1999
2000-2019
… then I would agree the middle period is probably his weakest, although not without some great stuff.
Totally agree. The Frog Chorus was superb.
Don’t know if you are being facetious, but The Frog Chorus was indeed superb. McCartney II is patchy, Tug of War, Flowers in the Dirt and Flaming Pie are at least good. (Mainly covers album) Run Devil Run is great, the rest are pretty poor.
I was being facetious. But you know what? I felt bad as soon as I posted that. The Frog Chorus is actually a top class childrens’ song, excellently crafted and with a great George Martin orchestral arrangement. I also like Give My Regards to Broad St.
Correct about We All Stand Together. Wonderful!
The film? that’s going too far!
Flaming Pie for one. And I love McCartney II, particularly the expanded edition.
It’s not the kind of thing I’d shout from the rooftops, but I have to admit to Kisses on the Bottom as being something of a guilty pleasure.
The album of the same name, however, not so much.
Boom, and indeed, boom!
I think there are loads of old(er) bands plugging in and away with good effect. The summer festival circuit is normally full of them, sometimes their continuing existence a shock and a pleasant surprise. Maybe smaller audiences and less frequent product but of persisting appeal to age appropriate audiences. Young bands can slay the world, but, as their audience and they age, so they shrink their appeal. Many fans “grow out” of records, concerts etc, a funny idea for us here to understand, leaving a harder core base.
The recent first new music from the Levellers in eight years is just that. Peace, it’s called. They have been re-cycling and treading water for years and have disappointed me at recent shows. But this is a great return to form, as the cliche goes. OK, if you don’t like ’em, you won’t like this, but I do and I did.
Glad you liked it! Their best since at least Mouth To Mouth I reckon, ie almost quarter of a century.
I’d add their former touring partners New Model Army. They should have been playing a fortieth anniversary tour round about now. I’d be lying if I said last year’s album was their best, but it’s definitely in the top half of the catalogue and they were blazing on the gigs supporting it.
Marillion’s recent oeuvre has been far better than any symphonic prog band has managed 40 years after then started. I’ll get me coat.
…is the correct answer. Thanks for representing.
Robert Forster has been making records since 1978.
His album from last year, Inferno, is one of his very best.
James – the new stuff is very good and, live, they give splendid gig.
I really enjoyed James from about 1987-1990 at the time, will give them a listen, thanks.
They do indeed give splendid live gig – particularly now that they have realised that their position is headling minor festivals. I saw them down the bill at Latitude and they looked miserable. (They were followed by Mumford &Sons, so then everyone was misearable)
Michael Chapman is 79, and has been making albums since 1969.
The music that he’s released in the past few years has been superb.
Seconded….and to prove it….
Nice guitar playing…but the lyrics are truly awful and cliched.
Harsh: given the title and nature of the song, maybe it is deliberately playing on the cliche. He has a very dry take on the world. Plus, who cares: that clip is unusual in the clarity of his enunciation, his voice more often an atonal counterpoint growl to complement his guitar play.
Nick Lowe
Beat me to it! Bout time old Basher stopped counting the royalties from What’s So Funny’s micro-second appearance in The Bodyguard and started working on a new album!
I’ve been listening to a great podcast with Mr Lowe:
https://brokenrecordpodcast.com/episode-48-nick-lowe/
Where he talks about the windfall from the Bodyguard OST. He reckons it gave him the freedom to continue making the slower, more grown-up records he wanted – he’d been pretty much broke and had made The Impossible Bird on a shoestring, calling in favours. The first thing he did with a big royalty cheque was pay the people who played on TIB a proper wage, as they’d done it for mate’s rates. He is a class act.
I think it’s reasonable with a category like this that we allow the last album to be a couple of years old because, unless your name’s Willie Nelson, you’re unlikely to be releasing a new album a year.
With that caveat, I’d include The Rubinoos whose From Home was probably my favourite of last year.
Wreckless Eric had lost none of his bite, the new single, with Amy Rigby, weeks after his heart attack is bile fuelled.
Completely agree @johnw Wreckless Eric has enjoyed a great run of albums in the last 10 years or so. And I might well check out that Rubinoos album so thanks for the tip.
Robert Plant?
I’m not a LZ fan, but loved Raising Sand and Band of Joy.
My Dad (77) absolutely detested LZ but loved both of those and I eventually persuaded him to give Zep a go.
He introduced me to a shitload of ace music from the 60s and 70s, nice to repay it a bit.
Van der Graaf Generator fit nicely in this thread – comeback album with the classic line-up in 2005 (only 27 years after breaking up)…then Jaxon leaves again and they carry on as a three piece, releasing a further four albums, every one looking forward rather than back…plus the joy of seeing them gig, rearranging old material for the trio…including an heroic version of “…lighthouse keepers” during the most recent tour….astonishing!
You beat me to it! Totally agree, and Hammill continuing to restlessly explore new territory with every release, refusing to slip complacently into the musical equivalent of a comfortable old chair, pipe and slippers.
I saw Hammill at the Bloomsbury Theatre around And Close As This, so 1986 or thereabouts. It was just Hammill and a piano on a bare stage. I wasn’t a fan, or particularly knowledegable, but I remember the experience as stark and intense.
Bruce Springsteen.
Let’s face it, most artists or bands that were genuinely great at one point are still producing decent material even now.
I’m still enjoying Wishbone Ash, it may be pretty standard blues rock but Andy Powell is still putting out new material that’s well worth a listen.
The Nightingales. Long history (second only to The Fall in number of Peel sessions), but reinvigorated in their current incarnation with Robert Lloyd’s lyrics as acidly topical as ever, ably supported by former members of Faust and the mighty Fliss Kitson on drums (and mistress of the band’s online presence). Their new “Four Against Fate” album is terrific.
Ooh, I didn’t know about that. I used to love The Nightingales.
I confess, they only really came onto my radar when my wife’s best friend from school days married Rob Lloyd (a good few years ago, now). Caught up with their later stuff pretty sharpish after that.
Stewart Lee film about them coming out this year
https://kingrockerfilm.com/
These days if you say you like The Nightingales, they arrest you and put you in prison.
Let me crowbar in my usual Half Man Half Biscuit reference here… Always different, always the same.
How about Jah Wobble? Very extensive back catalogue involving numerous bands and collaborations, and still extremely prolific.
Oh yes, good call.
I was going to suggest Gong….but I suppose they’re a bit like Trigger’s broom in terms of personnel….maybe they don’t fit the premise of the OP….
Tigger’s broom – you have to replace the handle and the head six times before you really get the full experience.
Oh I say
I see Boris has implemented a rule of six. He hasn’t given me any credit.
For a second in Updates I thought this was from the Yello thread.
Wrong Boris. In every sense.
All this way down and no mention of Richard Thompson? Most of his albums this century have been very good, with a few great songs on each. They could be said to be by-the-numbers, though by-the-numbers Thommo is still better than many’s peak. For my money though, 13 Rivers, his most recent, was his best since Mick Tudor.
You beat me to it. He’s playing better and rocking harder then ever, whilst respecting his legacy.
Surely the answer is Wire. Amongst others. Mind Hive got some of the best reviews of their career. Saw them in Jan and they were ace.
Dan Penn
Good call. New record is great.
Paul Weller.
A liitle turn here, a little twist there. Each album seems to be a summary of what he has been recently listening to, and then Weller-ised
If he did a cover of Summer Nights, could it be said that he Weller, Weller-ised it?
If he covered the 8th track on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band it would be Well Well Well Wellerised.
(Actually I’d like to hear that)
Prefab Sprout (or Paddy McAloon as it really is these days). Crimson/Red from 2013 was superb. Sadly his new album, promised for September 2019, still hasn’t materialised.
Mike Scott/Waterboys.
A bit of filler here and there in the last couple of albums but always a few great tracks to keep the fire burning.
His solo albums from the late 1990s when he dropped the Waterboys name are undiscovered classics.
Especially this:
And this with Ian McNabb as a guest video contributor and Nass player in the band at the time.
And here he talks about his new album as an expression of new music.
All these posts and no ones mentioned Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
One of the few artists playing bigger venues the more experimental he gets.
Not sure why people need to say that a certain somebody has not been mentioned and then mention them. Just mention them instead of chiding everybody!
OK, if you insist… Lucinda Williams.
A lot of the bands mentioned here are older bands who are still producing good records, and that’s all fine and dandy and adds to the gaiety of life.
Sparks, mentioned in the OP are an older band (first album release in 1971) who have released their best material this century. Li’l Beethoven, from 2002, is their best album and their recent release from this year is in their Top 5.
That’s the difference. Sparks are the only artist from the 60s or 70s I can think of who have produced their best material this century.
Interesting turn of phrase there, Hawkfall..
I was going to mention Field Music, who continue to get weirder and (arguably) better with each album.
Funk-Trump album? Concept album about trickle-down military technology? Herring fleet film soundtrack? Why not!
They’re also workaholics who run thier own studio, production and label. But it turns out they started in 2004 so don’t qualify for this thread.
I do keep meaning to check out Field Music…the stuff I’ve read about them suggests they might be my kind of thing. Lots of references to XTC (the band, not the drug) abound. but apparently the band deny much influence from them.
Ah, yes…but also lots of references to Gentle Giant, HaTN and Caravan…Field Music are where fentonsteve and I meet on the Afterword Venn diagram….
What might be the best album to start with for the newcomer?
Field Music (Measure) is the most XTC-like. Commontime is the most funky.
First two are more ‘indie’. Last one, Making a New World, is not the best place to start.
Field Music in funk mode…it’s reported that Prince liked this one enough to include a link in a tweet….
Commontime is a thing of beauty and a joy….
10 Million Aliens did a funk-Trump album. It’s basically a bloke out of the Red Guitars.
Sparks, Wire agreed plus Dylan, Bowie (yeah I know but, you know….). PIL when Johnny can be arsed. Magazine (been a while but their last album was ace). Grandaddy/Jason Lytle – are they counted? Pixies. Pet Shop Boys. Leonard Cohen produced some of his best work in his final years. The last couple of Tangerine Dream albums have been pretty good.
I’ve lost track of Magazine. I’ll chase that up. Thanks.
OK, so he’s not a band, but : Martin Simpson. First solo outing in ’76. Legendary collaboration with June Tabor in ’80. Remarkably productive throughout the 2010s, with a great run of solo albums, some outstanding songwriting and he seems to have become the go-to man for collaboration. The Simpson Cutting Kerr album from 2015 being a standout, yet he still found time the same year for the show he did with Dom Flemons . It does seem to help in the folk world if you live in Sheffield.
Talking of A Certain Ratio, new video out today and tour dates announced for November 2021:
https://www.acrmcr.com/new-single-berlin-2021-uk-tour/
Noticed that earlier @fentonsteve I’ll be buying the album and going to one of the southern gigs. It’s a while away but I’m looking forward to it already.
26 years on and Gov’t Mule still make a decent racket. Walter Trout just released “Ordinary Madness”, every bit as good as his releases oevr the preceeding 31 years. And my personal fav, Blue Öyster Cult are about to release a new album, 48 years after their first. Advance tracks sound great.
Even Deep Purple can still hack it, based on their most recent album.
26 years? 1994? That’s like… last Friday, isn’t it?
That’s the trouble with old people these days – they’re too bloody young.
I’m going to add the Pretenders to the list, albeit aided by the writing chops and guitar of the boy Walbourne. Latest record, Hate for Sale, is as good as their first two.
Seconded. Great, and short (at 30 minutes). It has been a long time since I thought “that album is not long enough”.
Steven Wilson. From No Man and Porcupine Tree in the 80s to his recent solo albums, he just gets better and better.
I’ve only recently explored Wilson’s music, having previously only known him as the guy who did the excellent 5:1 remixes of the XTC albums. I’d read good things about In Absentia, so bought the CD on a whim and really enjoyed it. After then picking up Fear of a Blank Planet and Hand. Cannot. Erase. and enjoying those two just as much I decided, as I tend to do, to track down and download all his music, an undertaking I began to regret as it became apparent just how much there is.
And I cannot think of anybody whose music covers as many styles/genres. As I went through his different guises/collaborations I really didn’t know what to expect next, although Bass Communion and Incredible Expanding Mindfuck sounded pretty close to how I imagined they would. Some of the albums are a tough listen though and aren’t albums I could ever see myself playing twice.
Try Porcupine Tree’s The Sky Moves Sideways. I heard it as interval music at a gig and went to ask the soundman what it was. None of the other PT stuff clicked with me, nor did I enjoy the two gigs I saw.
I’ve downloaded just about everything. I think there’s only one obscurity I couldn’t find in full. Haven’t got round to listening to that one yet though.
I’m listening in to the “Up the downstair/Staircase Infinities” playlist I made on Spotify a lot. It’s early PT and was going to be a double album but the second but didn’t get finished in time so he put out UTD then the rest as an EP later. It’s really great post Floyd prog.
That whole early era is revisited on the upcoming box set – have a look on burning shed for details.
It’s eyewateringly expensive though I think.
Some more that, I think, have gone unmentioned. As we’ve discussed a few times on here before, Elton John has produced an excellent run of albums this century. Marc Almond has just released what I think is the best album of his career, even better than his 2015 album The Velvet Trail, which he did with the same producer. Gary Numan’s last few albums have got better and better and are completely different from the kind of music that made him famous 40 years ago. Pet Shop Boys have also constantly, if not always successfully, tried to remain fresh, by working with different producers and collaborators.
Other artists of 20+ years standing who have released some of their best work in recent years – Nick Heyward, Bill Pritchard and Damien Jurado. And the great Joe Brown, who is one of the only performers from the 50s rock and roll era who has always remained contemporary, rather than relying on the oldies circuit, has released some excellent records over the past decade or so. I’ll add my voice to Nick Cave and Marianne Faithfull too, as I think their most recent records are the best of their careers.
And Joe Jackson, of course.
He’s 66 years old, and has been making records since 1979.
His last three albums have all been right on the money.
There are a few 80’s electro bands still producing new music regularly: Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and Erasure obviously, but also Blancmange who reformed about 10 years ago and have since produced a lot more than they did the first time round, and OMD who also reformed. Add to that Yello whose new album is lovely.
Surprised no mention of Van Morrison who bunged out three new albums last year, but even he looks lazy compared to some reggae artists. like Lee “Scratch” Perry who just will not slow down, also Sly & Robbie.
Best of all though: Chaka Khan. Her Hello Happiness album last year is right up there with her best stuff.