Let’s discuss any and all music here. Got a new artist who’s rocking your boat that you want to talk about? Post a video! Found out about that unearthed Coltrane album that has the jazz freak in you losing your mind? Lay it out for us! Have a theory about what your favorite band might do for their next album? Let’s hear it! Anything and everything music-related goes here.
This week’s discussion prompt comes courtesy of The Avocado’s very own Glyph:
What is the album or point where a certain artist “leveled up”?
As Glyph explained in his original post, “(W)hat are those albums that almost seemed to come out of nowhere when compared to the artist’s prior work; before they’d been bad or mediocre (or even just very very different), but all of a sudden they’ve come into their own and released something so genius and forward-thinking it almost doesn’t seem like even the same artist. Like a record that’s not just an incremental improvement on what came before, but a paradigm shift for them and sometimes the wider culture they belong to”
While I’m sure I’m not alone here in thinking that “Weird Al” Yankovic was doing something very special from the outset of his career, personally I feel his sophomore album “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (1984) is leaps and bounds ahead of his eponymous debut from the previous year. While most of the parodies and original songs on his first album are both funny and well written, Yankovic plays his trademark accordion as musical accompaniment on every song, using it even on parodies of pop hits that didn’t originally feature accordion! However, the next year, Yankovic – along with producer Rick Derringer, drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, bassist Steve Jay and guitarist Jim West – would begin to more closely emulate the songs and artists he was parodying musically. This extra effort clearly paid off, as “Eat It” would become Yankovic’s breakthrough hit and he would soon become a household name, enjoying many more successes in the years that followed. And for the accordion lovers, In 3-D is also the album that includes his first-ever polka medley, which would quickly become a cherished staple of practically every album Yankovic released after that.
As always, any and all music-related posts are welcome. Have fun, and rock out with yr guac out!