![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On the Shelf 156: Editors
Dec. 2nd, 2015 03:47 pmEditors are one of my favorite bands of the last 10 years.
Their debut The Back Room is one of the best of its time and genre. Critics will say it's influences are too obvious- Joy Division and what came after- Bunnymen, U2, etc
They did something rare in putting out a second album (in my opinion, at least, others can disagree) An End has a Start which was just as good as the debut.
Very few bands make it to album #3 and most that do are at that point irrelevant, with the 1 in a million exceptions like U2 and Radiohead, etc. In this Light and on this Evening is a good album. Not great, but pretty solid by all standards judged.
Album #4 of course is tricky for anyone, even the best bands, and so you can excuse Editors for the Weight of their Love LP. Like The Killers, the next step may have felt obvious, but never is. Editors went for a big arena sound. It's not a bad album by any means, but it is nothing to write home about either.
The band themselves will admit as much. The band also saw their lead guitarist leave and the band also move to a five piece.
In Dream is a surprise album #5. Indeed, tracks on the new album are not recognizable as Editors songs. It's not a complete makeover, as indeed many of the songs are still well in the mold of what you come to expect. However, what they have brought is a "new wave" disc. New Wave in the artistic terms as in Visage or Gary Numan, more than in the commercial terms of what many Americans think of as New Wave.
It is an interesting and altogether unexpected move. It also did something to make the music sound fresh again, which is a feat for any band.
Anyway some real good stuff to check out, and if you had given up on the band as too far down the path, you really shouldn't.
Their debut The Back Room is one of the best of its time and genre. Critics will say it's influences are too obvious- Joy Division and what came after- Bunnymen, U2, etc
They did something rare in putting out a second album (in my opinion, at least, others can disagree) An End has a Start which was just as good as the debut.
Very few bands make it to album #3 and most that do are at that point irrelevant, with the 1 in a million exceptions like U2 and Radiohead, etc. In this Light and on this Evening is a good album. Not great, but pretty solid by all standards judged.
Album #4 of course is tricky for anyone, even the best bands, and so you can excuse Editors for the Weight of their Love LP. Like The Killers, the next step may have felt obvious, but never is. Editors went for a big arena sound. It's not a bad album by any means, but it is nothing to write home about either.
The band themselves will admit as much. The band also saw their lead guitarist leave and the band also move to a five piece.
In Dream is a surprise album #5. Indeed, tracks on the new album are not recognizable as Editors songs. It's not a complete makeover, as indeed many of the songs are still well in the mold of what you come to expect. However, what they have brought is a "new wave" disc. New Wave in the artistic terms as in Visage or Gary Numan, more than in the commercial terms of what many Americans think of as New Wave.
It is an interesting and altogether unexpected move. It also did something to make the music sound fresh again, which is a feat for any band.
Anyway some real good stuff to check out, and if you had given up on the band as too far down the path, you really shouldn't.
