The fallen idol thread

VimFuego

CHRISB50 said:

Peter Green. I hate to say it as he is my guitar hero, but since the very early 70s his voice and playing went south.

Obviously this happens with age anyway but he has had more than enough shit occur in his life that has probably contributed as well.

Such a shame as in his prime he was just ridiculously good.

in the same vein, Davey Graham.

ICBM

Similarly I saw one of my favourite ever acoustic guitarists and a big influence on my playing at a small festival a couple of years back. He really wasn't very good at all, he looked old and tired, didn't seem to have his heart in it and might have had a drink too many. The majority of the crowd probably didn't really know who he was and didn't seem very interested. Disappointing and saddening really.

I'm not going to say who it was in case he was just having a bad day or something - and I still respect him, so if you were there too, please keep it to yourself!

richardhomer

CHRISB50;500265" said:

Peter Green. I hate to say it as he is my guitar hero, but since the very early 70s his voice and playing went south.

Obviously this happens with age anyway but he has had more than enough shit occur in his life that has probably contributed as well.

Such a shame as in his prime he was just ridiculously good.

I watched the documentary charting his comeback in the 90s, where he played the Buxton Opera House.

Rather than feel joy at seeing him play again, I literally sobbed in mourning for his lost talent. One of the most heart-breaking things I've ever seen....

thermionic

I like the fact that there are 7 Marshall stacks... that's 56 12" speakers, but only 2 of them are miked.

Seriously though, what do you expect 30 years after they were a bit of a joke in their heyday of the 80s?

monquixote

I think it's inconceivable that he would be able to sing his old material these days. 

I learned "Here I Go Again" at my singing lessons a while ago and the older bluesy version has a note in it that's so high it's just insane. I have a fairly high voice, but I just couldn't get anywhere near it. Even the 1987 redo doesn't have it. 

At about 3:00

He's now firmly a candidate for this site:

http://menwholooklikeoldlesbians.blogspot.co.uk/

Grumpyrocker

Very sad stuff really. In his pomp Coverdale had one of my favourite voices in rock. I think he could probably still do some good work if he chose material that suited what power his pipes had left, but trying to do the old stuff clearly doesn't work.

A couple of years ago I bought a Deep Purple blu-ray, it was a relatively recent gig 2006 - and the band was very tight (Morse era), but Gillan's voice was pretty shot, though not to the extent of Coverdale.

It's age. Happens to us all. Sad to see, especially as there are no proper rock stars anymore and the ones we had are leaving us.

CHRISB50

richardhomer said:

CHRISB50;500265" said:

Peter Green. I hate to say it as he is my guitar hero, but since the very early 70s his voice and playing went south.

Obviously this happens with age anyway but he has had more than enough shit occur in his life that has probably contributed as well.

Such a shame as in his prime he was just ridiculously good.

I watched the documentary charting his comeback in the 90s, where he played the Buxton Opera House.

Rather than feel joy at seeing him play again, I literally sobbed in mourning for his lost talent. One of the most heart-breaking things I've ever seen....

I haven't seen that, although I've heard the performance, and I know exactly what you mean.

 

End of the Game was the start of the slide, but his playing was still up to scratch. Pretty much everything that came after is awful, which is a real shame. I really wanted to like the Splinter Group stuff but it's just not very good. Coupled with the rumours of what was going on behind the scenes regarding people trying to make a quick living out of his popularity, it's just very very sad.

At least the man has a great legacy that is still available for us all to enjoy.

Samgb

CHRISB50 said:

richardhomer said:

CHRISB50;500265" said:

Peter Green. I hate to say it as he is my guitar hero, but since the very early 70s his voice and playing went south.

Obviously this happens with age anyway but he has had more than enough shit occur in his life that has probably contributed as well.

Such a shame as in his prime he was just ridiculously good.

I watched the documentary charting his comeback in the 90s, where he played the Buxton Opera House.

Rather than feel joy at seeing him play again, I literally sobbed in mourning for his lost talent. One of the most heart-breaking things I've ever seen....

I haven't seen that, although I've heard the performance, and I know exactly what you mean.

 

End of the Game was the start of the slide, but his playing was still up to scratch. Pretty much everything that came after is awful, which is a real shame. I really wanted to like the Splinter Group stuff but it's just not very good. Coupled with the rumours of what was going on behind the scenes regarding people trying to make a quick living out of his popularity, it's just very very sad.

At least the man has a great leagacy that is still available for us all to enjoy.

Theres some footage out there on Youtube of him showing someone round his guitars which are all in this lockup. Im in work so i cant post the link. The guy is trying to get him to show off some of the nice ones but hes just not there. I think he was always a pretty self effacing personality and then the acid and mental illness and theres not much left. Its very sad indeed and the modern stuff is utterly unlistenable.

xSkarloey

As far as DC goes, on reflection maybe that was an off day. 

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt anyway, because vocally he's up to par (IMO) on the track 'Trouble' from the latest Bernie Marsden album. 

Philly_Q

Quite about from the sad decline in his music, I just can't get used to the physical transformation of Peter Green.

I know a lot of years have passed and he was AWOL for quite a few of them, but he looks like a completely different person.

richardhomer

Philly_Q;504412" said:

Quite about from the sad decline in his music, I just can't get used to the physical transformation of Peter Green.I know a lot of years have passed and he was AWOL for quite a few of them, but he looks like a completely different person.

I agree - though in fairness I've seen Peter Gabriel live on a couple of occassions in the last 18 months and he doesn't look much like he did on the cover of 'So'.

Age can be very unkind....

HAL9000

Saw PG a few years back at what I believe was one of his last ever gigs. He just looked very vulnerable and like he didn't want to really be there. However, he did play an acoustic version of Albatross which was one of those hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments. Pitch-perfect bends and immaculate phrasing. Glad I saw that but TBH the rest of the gig was upsetting to watch.

blueskunk

Bucket;488411" said:

I think Ian Watkins probably counts as a fallen idol, doesn't he.

- total devil id say

english_bob

not_the_dj said:

However Robert Plant's mature voice sounds fantastic, and he's doing material that suits it (possibly a reason he continually turns down the offers of trotting out the old songs with Page). 

 

RP's last few solo albums and the Raising Sand album with Alison Krauss have been really good. Last year's album in particular is fantastic. If I was making that music I wouldn't want to go back to trotting out tunes from 40 years ago even if they were Led Zeppelin songs. I remember hearing the Unledded album 20 years ago (oh wow. Feels old) and thinking RP couldn't hit the same high notes he could on the first few LZ albums. Maybe he knows what nobody wants to tell Coverdale.

not_the_dj

english_bob said:

not_the_dj said:

However Robert Plant's mature voice sounds fantastic, and he's doing material that suits it (possibly a reason he continually turns down the offers of trotting out the old songs with Page). 

 

RP's last few solo albums and the Raising Sand album with Alison Krauss have been really good. Last year's album in particular is fantastic. If I was making that music I wouldn't want to go back to trotting out tunes from 40 years ago even if they were Led Zeppelin songs. I remember hearing the Unledded album 20 years ago (oh wow. Feels old) and thinking RP couldn't hit the same high notes he could on the first few LZ albums. Maybe he knows what nobody wants to tell Coverdale.

Totally agree. Plant has worked out how to have an ongoing career without just being a tribute act to his younger self. 

scrumhalf

Plant also still has the urge to go out and discover new music, watching an interview with him recently on telly he comes across as almost John Peel-like in his urge to explore.

I can understand his wish to not re-hash his Zeppelin stuff' I've read/heard that he found it too painful to sing those songs without Bonxo behind him on drums.

He's paid his dues, he's been part of some tremendous music. If his next album consosts solely of armpit farting noises, good luck to him.

english_bob

scrumhalf said:

Plant also still has the urge to go out and discover new music, watching an interview with him recently on telly he comes across as almost John Peel-like in his urge to explore.

Yes. I heard him interviewed recently and got the same impression. Some rock musicians come across like total wankers- utterly full of themselves and detached from the rest of the world. RP came across as very grounded, and as a massive music fan. He may not always have been that way (if the apocryphal "Golden God" story is true...), but I got the distinct impression that nowadays he works hard to keep his head out of his own arse.

Philly_Q

I'm not really a big fan of Robert Plant's recent musical output but I applaud his ever-evolving approach.  And there is much to be said for growing old gracefully.

Danny1969

What about a bit of EVH

If your gonna play wasted then lets hope no ones filming it

TheOtherDennis

not_the_dj said:

english_bob said:

not_the_dj said:

However Robert Plant's mature voice sounds fantastic, and he's doing material that suits it (possibly a reason he continually turns down the offers of trotting out the old songs with Page). 

 

RP's last few solo albums and the Raising Sand album with Alison Krauss have been really good. Last year's album in particular is fantastic. If I was making that music I wouldn't want to go back to trotting out tunes from 40 years ago even if they were Led Zeppelin songs. I remember hearing the Unledded album 20 years ago (oh wow. Feels old) and thinking RP couldn't hit the same high notes he could on the first few LZ albums. Maybe he knows what nobody wants to tell Coverdale.

Totally agree. Plant has worked out how to have an ongoing career without just being a tribute act to his younger self. 

I read an interview with him where he said something pretty close to exactly that. Along the lines of "The secret is to not get bored. All these bands reforming are because they're bored, not because they need the money. I'm not bored, I've got lots of things to do, and I don't want to go back to the old stuff. There's nothing wrong with it, I just prefer doing something new that I haven't done before. If you're not careful at my age you can end up sounding like a tribute band."