Wilderness years?

[leesmapman]

I don’t get the comparison between ‘Liberation’ and ‘Being Boring’, they sound nothing like each other.

Oh, I definitely get it. For me they have the both "feel" sonicly. And I also agree with the Yesterday When I Was Mad remix, that's why I didn't buy the singles (I was also tired of those soulless remixes on the previous singles). I didn't realize that single had the best b-sides ever, but luckily Alternative pointed that out for me.

[VRIDD]

I don’t get the comparison between ‘Liberation’ and ‘Being Boring’, they sound nothing like each other.

I think that this was my impression because of the drums arrangment.

[Tom Angel]

I don’t get the comparison between ‘Liberation’ and ‘Being Boring’, they sound nothing like each other.

Apart from their autumnal feel, similar drum pattern, wah wah guitar by JJ belle and similar tempo, they are nothing like one another

[telys]

The intro and part of the first verse of Liberation is great, the rest is not singleworthy, a huge mistake to release as a 7", and with lousy remixes as well. A nail in the coffin. The video was dull as well.

[Gabby]

The intro and part of the first verse of Liberation is great, the rest is not singleworthy, a huge mistake to release as a 7", and with lousy remixes as well. A nail in the coffin. The video was dull as well.

Not a huge fan of Liberation either - I see a lot of love for PSB ballads on this forum, but I'm more of a disco stomper lover to be honest. Having said that I am sure there are plenty of PSB ballads I love and tick the "balladeer" boxes so I guess it's really dependent on some other factors I can't quite put my finger on.

Also, I was thinking back to my original reason for this post. I think I was starting to fall out of love with PSB a bit before I suggested - towards the end of 1997, Somewhere had happened, and Bilingual was in the rearview mirror, and my sister bought me a curious CD for my birthday by a DJ duo called Way Out West (Jody Wisternoff and Nick Warren). I was smitten right from the start and it was on heavy rotation for a long time. It really filled a void with some slightly more edgy electronic music - less lyrical and more soundscapes. If nobody know their stuff, they should check it out - their subsequent albums have some real belters too.

[Ghost within this house]

It might be nice to have a ballads thread. For me, their ballads include some of their strongest, as well as some of their weakest, moments....

Off the top of my head, the following are all treasured, indispensable Tennant/Lowe

- Later tonight
- It couldn't happen here
- Do I have to?
- Your funny uncle
- Only the wind
- Nervously
- I made my excuses and left
- King of Rome
- Invisible

I quite like a few ballads from Very to Release, but regard none as indispensable (It always comes as a surprise is probably closest to that status) - which rather fits with the Wilderness Years idea - and there are a lot of mid-tempo songs that I don't quite class as ballads which I absolutely love (e.g. Dreaming of the Queen, Drunk, Always, Luna Park, Everything Means Something, Hoping for a Miracle, Only the dark, Burning the Heather).

[Tom Angel]

Some of my favourite bands as alternative to PSB are:

Roosevelt
Totally extinct enormous dinosaurs
Sally Shapiro
Future islands
Gents
Real lies
XPropaganda
DC Gore
Real estate
Still Corners
Poolside
Satin Jackets
CHAMPS
Blank and Jones

[Gabby]

It might be nice to have a ballads thread. For me, their ballads include some of their strongest, as well as some of their weakest, moments....

Off the top of my head, the following are all treasured, indispensable Tennant/Lowe

- Later tonight
- It couldn't happen here
- Do I have to?
- Your funny uncle
- Only the wind
- Nervously
- I made my excuses and left
- King of Rome
- Invisible

I quite like a few ballads from Very to Release, but regard none as indispensable (It always comes as a surprise is probably closest to that status) - which rather fits with the Wilderness Years idea - and there are a lot of mid-tempo songs that I don't quite class as ballads which I absolutely love (e.g. Dreaming of the Queen, Drunk, Always, Luna Park, Everything Means Something, Hoping for a Miracle, Only the dark, Burning the Heather).

Thanks for completely destroying my assertion that I don't like their ballads so much!

[CompleteWeirdo]

Snore. Wilderness years. What the devil are you ppl talking about?! Your opinion on these albums is purely that. All of those releases you suggest as 'wilderness' will differ from person to person (I rather like Elysium, Release, Super etc etc) and continue to listen to them all - arguing about which is the worst is like arguing if the colour white is 'good.' I find every one of their albums has highs and lows (with the possible exception of the godawful Disco 2), and that's how it'll likely remain. Songs like, say, Metamorphosis or Email or Monkey Business, I feel, are shocking and painful, whilst one of their most recent tracks, 'through you' is amongst the best stuff they've ever recorded along with totally different small masterpieces like King's Cross, Integral, It couldn't happen here, Willo the Wisp, I made my excuses... and Love is a b... . Some of you will agree. Some won't. Different tastes. Different feelings. Nobody is right. Or wrong. Indeed, one might say how we define the wilderness is deeply subjective.

[y3potential]

Snore. Wilderness years. What the devil are you ppl talking about?! Your opinion on these albums is purely that. All of those releases you suggest as 'wilderness' will differ from person to person (I rather like Elysium, Release, Super etc etc) and continue to listen to them all - arguing about which is the worst is like arguing if the colour white is 'good.' I find every one of their albums has highs and lows (with the possible exception of the godawful Disco 2), and that's how it'll likely remain. Songs like, say, Metamorphosis or Email or Monkey Business, I feel, are shocking and painful, whilst one of their most recent tracks, 'through you' is amongst the best stuff they've ever recorded along with totally different small masterpieces like King's Cross, Integral, It couldn't happen here, Willo the Wisp, I made my excuses... and Love is a b... . Some of you will agree. Some won't. Different tastes. Different feelings. Nobody is right. Or wrong. Indeed, one might say how we define the wilderness is deeply subjective.

I couldn't agree more

[tottenhammattspurs]

Guarantee you at least three forthcoming album reviews will say "a return to form". They've had a "return to form" every album since, and including, Fundamental.

[jyllinge]

My wilderness time is when they don't release anything, i'm not so patient person

But otherwise all albums have strength and weaknesses - so many great songs

[y3potential]

They made it through the wilderness.
Somehow they made it through...

[Gabby]

Different tastes. Different feelings. Nobody is right. Or wrong. Indeed, one might say how we define the wilderness is deeply subjective.

That was sort of the point of the original post - to find out if and when anyone had had their own wilderness period over PSB's long a lustrous career. It really didn't have anything to do with a discussion about specific albums.

✈

[Patrick Bateman]

Snore. Wilderness years. What the devil are you ppl talking about?! Your opinion on these albums is purely that. All of those releases you suggest as 'wilderness' will differ from person to person (I rather like Elysium, Release, Super etc etc) and continue to listen to them all - arguing about which is the worst is like arguing if the colour white is 'good.' I find every one of their albums has highs and lows (with the possible exception of the godawful Disco 2), and that's how it'll likely remain. Songs like, say, Metamorphosis or Email or Monkey Business, I feel, are shocking and painful, whilst one of their most recent tracks, 'through you' is amongst the best stuff they've ever recorded along with totally different small masterpieces like King's Cross, Integral, It couldn't happen here, Willo the Wisp, I made my excuses... and Love is a b... . Some of you will agree. Some won't. Different tastes. Different feelings. Nobody is right. Or wrong. Indeed, one might say how we define the wilderness is deeply subjective.

I disagree. They've talked themselves about how they thought about jacking it in at the end of the 1990s. By that stage they'd effectively already managed to hang around for a decade after their commercial peak. Nightlife would have been a fitting place to bow out, looking completely out of step with the Tweenypops culture and pastiching themselves in a kitsch, ketamine-fuelled phantasmagoria. I'm obviously pleased the Samurai in Autumn survived but wouldn't have been overly surprised if that was that. The bizarre thing is that it was effectively their live performances that kept them going.