In many ways I am quite a dull man. I do not partake of the alcohol, the nicotine, the meat and the drugs. However, that doesn't mean that I want my artists holding back in a similar style. I would be particularly disappointed to discover that Josh Homme didn't indulge himself in all four, for example. Sometimes the absence of a vice, normally drugs, can remove the essential ingredient of what made a band interesting in the first place. The best example of this that I know is Mercury Rev. Originally they were a mess of smack addled freaks who made two genius albums of psychedelic pop. Then they kicked out the most messed up member, singer David Baker, cleaned up and became increasingly dull over the years. Now while I understand why for personal reasons they wanted to clean up (they wanted to live rather than die, which is fair enough I suppose) but part of me wishes they pick up the phone to give Baker a ring, and pick up the needle to go back to the days when they were actually good. Is that wrong?
Mercury Rev - Chasing A Bee
Mercury Rev - Bronx Cheer
As this is unlikely to happen, I have to comfort myself by listening to those two old albums, and to their closest contemporary musical equivalent, Animal Collective, whose Panda Bear released the very fine Person Pitch album a couple of months ago:
Panda Bear - Comfy In Nauticaa
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