Hi Jamie

Nice post.

The problem paddy seems to have over the past ten years, maybe longer, is
this need to compile an album rather than record it. He always has old
material that he has stock piled. Which is great that the material is there
but it's not as if he's releasing anything. The comparison I could use is
Prince. OK you have exceptionally brilliant albums like Sign O The Times,
but half was actually written/recorded anything upto five years before it
was released in 1987. Actually, some of the material pre-dates Purple
Rain. Even his latest one, Planet Earth, has one or two songs that are
around ten years old (so I'm led to believe). But where Prince is 'at' is
spontaneity. You can be as original and creative all you want, but if you
labour over things too much time goes by very slowly.

I believe that Paddy has the kind of talent that could do a David
Bowie-Elvis Costello-Prince: i.e. write and record and album in less than a
week, and then spend time mixing it. Do additional recording if need be.

The only criticism I have of the Prefab 'cannon' is Andromeda Heights, which
I know both he and fans love. There are some brilliant songs on
there (Prisoner of the Past, Electric Guitars) but it does sound produced.
Gunman I liked because it was something different, I loved Megahertz. I
know they kept recording costs down to £25k (according to one interview I
read at the time), but if he'd recorded the whole thing with an orchestra
rather than programming it, wow. But, as they say, hindsight (and money) is
a wonderful commodity (if only I'd thought of it first).

If he used a couple of old songs and wrote new ones in the studio, got at
least some of the band in to help out, and didn't labour over it and trust
his instincts for inspiration, we may have one or two more albums out of him
before he's old enough to draw his pension!
On 7/25/07, jamie hills <jamesmichael21@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Paddy seems like such a wise soul, but it is undeniable he has been
> distracted by a need for commerical success, the anithesis of his persona
> -
> i imagine he has fought these feelings [or demons ?] throughout his entire
>
> career - just who or what is his "audience"?
>
> If you take a band like scritti politti, similar in a few ways - ie era -
> and good pop for 80s [ im no fan of scritti incidently], they disappeared,
>
> yet released a cd last year to huge critical acclaim because they catered
> for a specific audience, rather than a scritti politti audience.
>
> Another disparate artist that somehow reminds me of paddy mcaloon, in that
>
> he touches on genius, and dabbles in pop - is robert wyatt - now i know he
>
> has been around a lot longer and done a lot more etc - but he is always in
>
> the music press and this is probably because he doesnt care for chart
> success and [serendiptitiously ?], he garners new fans whilst keeping old
> ones happy as a result.
>
> I seriously think that paddy still dreams that there are a "loyal 70s type
>
> music consumer", like fans of the Beach Boys or Van Morrison who would
> wait
> eagerly for each LP and put it at the top of the charts with each new
> release, but music fans are fickle creatures, particularly these days.
> Andromeda and Gunman I saw as an attempt to keep existing fans happy, but
> of
> course, comparing hese Cds to Steve / Protest / Jordan / Langley etc would
>
> always end in tears....
>
> I think after Langly park which is a fantastic item i felt should have
> signified a change - yes, Jordan was a superb follow up, but something
> very
> different should have followed then, something more angular and
> experimental, jordan material really should have been put on hold, and a
> return to form article to release in his hey day - which is hopefully
> still
> years down the line..., is there another jordon type masterpiece shelved
> for
> future release, fingers crossed!
>
> I do hope Paddy is working on something , it really does feel that there
> is
> something missing in music, and im talking about music as a whole and
> throughout the last 5 decades - i could easily envisage in any music
> overview that paddy is crowned the greatest ever british songwriter, but
> he
> needs to produce a couple of great lps and consolidate - there are some
> loose ends that really need tidying, paddy knows it im sure, he also knows
>
> what he is capable of which i find totally refreshing, not at all arrogant
> -
> i just wish i knew what the hold up was - some sort of writers block?
>
> - guess the music industry, with all the pirating etc is just too
> difficult
> to crack, perhaps a paddy website that offers his next release, a release
> that is as good as his best ever work, for free and subsequent articles in
>
> the broadsheets about the novelty aspect of a masterpiece being offered
> for
> free would be original and perhaps capture the nations imagination once
> again and position him better for future works...........
>
> ahh, fuck it, all i want is more good music - its easy for me to sit hear
> and go on about it - i remember ricky gervais asking bowie, for the serial
>
> Extra"s, to compose a song, he put it to Bowie that he wanted a "Life on
> Mars type melody - with which Bowie replied, "oh right, ill just knock up
> another life on mars for you, shall i....??
>
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