Mostly Autumn @ the Cambridge Rock Festival

GDod, wait until GWDH before deciding that But I don't think so yet

It'll be two peaks - the Heather era and the Livvy era. Exciting times!

GDog wrote:

It'll be two peaks - the Heather era and the Livvy era. Exciting times!

I certainly hope so. Most bands with 15+ year careers tend to have ups and downs unless they're the sort of band who just release the same album over and over again, one thing Mostly Autumn, to their credit, have never done.

Although as said previously, I am a huge MA fan, if I'm honest, I haven't really liked an album since Storms, but live in hope that I'll enjoy the next one as much. We do still go to see them several times a year and not just locally, as they have such a huge back catalogue for us to enjoy.

H

Hels@Hippychick wrote:

Although as said previously, I am a huge MA fan, if I'm honest, I haven't really liked an album since Storms, but live in hope that I'll enjoy the next one as much. We do still go to see them several times a year and not just locally, as they have such a huge back catalogue for us to enjoy.

H

And over the past two years they've been as good live as I've ever seen then, both Heather's final year with the band, and this year with Livvy.

MikeFoley wrote:

Kalyr said:

"As for Mostly Autumn's set, all I can say is that HippyDave might be entitled to his opinion, but I think he's as wrong about them as Jerry Bloom is about Marillion on Heather's forum."

Surely not? Opinions aren't wrong, even Tim must appreciate that!

I'm actually a semi-fan of HFOS.
As Tim said, it has some great tracks on it, but I reckon the production lets it down, in comparison to Storms and Glass Shadows. It sounds a bit thin, to use Hi-Fi speak. No prescence.
It reminds of "The White Album", a collection of generally good songs, but without a coherent overall feel, or sound.
But, like "The White Album", if you asked me to edit it down to one disc, I would struggle!


To continue The Beatles analogy, if HFOS is The Wite Album, then Passengers is Revolver, Storms is Sgt. Pepper, Glass Shadows is Abbey Road. I trust the new album is not their Let it Be.

Jerry wrote:

MikeFoley wrote:

Kalyr said:

"As for Mostly Autumn's set, all I can say is that HippyDave might be entitled to his opinion, but I think he's as wrong about them as Jerry Bloom is about Marillion on Heather's forum."

Surely not? Opinions aren't wrong, even Tim must appreciate that!

Indeed - vive la difference

H

I've discovered this thread a few days late, but to offer an alternative opinion on that dead-cert in the set, Heroes Never Die, it used to bore me to tears for the first few years I went to see MA. In the last few years something hit me and I wonder why it ever bored me. It means so much to Bryan in particular so I can understand if he never wants to drop it. Pocket Watch is bad as MA songs go though, and I'm quite sure it'll always remain that way. I like some of Oasis's songs too and it'd be a weak one in their catalogue. A Different Sky especially proves MA can write great songs in a territory you wouldn't expect so I hope they continue to try different things.

Has anyone commenting on MA's stage demeanour performed in a band themselves? Especially with it being a festival; if they didn't look up for it, I wonder if it could have been something to do with the sound on stage - I find it incredibly hard to concentrate if the sound is poor for example (not that I'd even call myself a musician so I couldn't compare myself to Bryan et al) and some people have commented on how I look miserable on stage - I can't help it, I'm concentrating!

I personally don't enjoy Mostly Autumn gigs as much as I used to, but I tend to think it's because I came into the band when they'd released Catch the Spirit, so the setlists were virtually flawless, and when you added the Christmas songs and the likes of Answer the Question from Passengers to that the wow was even bigger. But since then more and more of my favourite songs have disappeared from the set...I think some people (like myself) have been spoilt by so many great songs being on one release. There were albums I hardly liked at all at first (like Storms...), but if I listen to MA albums from past to present, I think they've been pretty consistent; everyone has their favourites of course, and if they didn't, how boring would life be if everyone liked the same thing? Saying that, back in 01/02 I'd never seen a band like Mostly Autumn before, so that could be another reason I don't enjoy their gigs quite as much these days.

And another quick point about gigs in general (which again may be another reason I don't enjoy MA gigs as much as I used to - they're adding up!), the sound at venues seems to be hit and miss for me more and more these days, whether at an MA gig or not, so I don't know if that's just me?

As for the dood (HippyDave I think) who has decided he might not see MA again after the CRW, well...I too have had those doubts about a couple of my favourite bands, including MA, but each time after what I felt was a poor or average gig I've gone along to the next in my locality and been blown away again. It all depends on what commitment it takes to get there of course, but I'd say think twice about not going to that Bilston gig!

Mostly Autumn are an in incredible band, still, and I feel so lucky that I've been able to follow them in the past, and will continue to be able to in the near future at least - I might be moving overseas - and guess what one of my first thoughts when I decided that was: I won't be able to go to an MA Christmas gig!

Also, it's nice to read a detailed discussion like this on MA away from the official forum.

That's a top post there Alex - many thanks for taking time out to tell us your thoughts.

I have to be totally honest now, I'm finding it hard adjusting to MA without Heather. That's by no means a sleight on Livvy who I think is wonderful and doing a great job up front BUT for me, going to see an MA show wasn't just to hear the great songs and the grade A+ performance the band deliver... it was to see Heather.

I'm not going to write the band off now she's gone, infact I'm looking forward to the new album and the new setlist for the forthcoming tour. Will be refreshing to hear (hopefully!) a different intro song and the band will always hold enough interest for me to want to travel to see them.

I'm getting older and sometimes change takes awhile to sink in.

Why is this discussion being held on the Breathing Space Forum ?

The more appropriate home for it would be on the MA Discussion area of their
own website surely !

Adrian

Coz it's in the "other music" thread?!

I suppose I was wondering if MA fans felt that they had more freedom
in making constructive criticism and sharing views about the future
progress of the band here !

Adrian

1 have noticed that there is only one Moderator active on the MA forum.

Where have the others disappeared to ? - perhaps this is not helping the
balance of the discussions and also leading to delay in post approvals .

Adrian

As Tim says, posts can take a little while to appear, on the official M.A forum, which can slow down a discussion, and Adi has a point. There are lots of moderators listed, but only a couple that seem to regularly do any moderating.
In my opinion the moderators take a fair view of all posts, and as I see it constructive criticism is welcome on the forum, and the only threads and posts that I can recall being deleted are those that contained personal attacks, and/or ridiculously ill-informed, non-constructive comments.

The delay in topic and/or post approval is a very important matter
- because the discussions are so slow people lose interest and drift
away ! I also think that contributors who take a lot of time and care
in composing well cosidered posts with the aim of helping MA must
feel disallusioned by this situation.

Why is it not possible for thE MA Forum to be as free in this respect
as it appears to be here ?

Adrian

At the risk of being a policing moderator - we're straying from the subject of the MA set at Cambridge guys... plus I'd also be sad to see the BS forum being used for criticising someone else's forum.

I think the debate about MA's set at the CRF, and the wider debate about recent MA gigs and albums has been interesting and even those with "negative" views (note the quotes) have made them in a positive way. It's rare for anyone to like 100% of what any band does, live or recorded (there's even Renaissance and ELP albums I'm not wild about) and IF any MA band members have read any of this I'm sure they will understand that all the contributors wish the band well and will each support them in their own way. As a personal view, I think that being able to understand why people have the views they do, even if they disagree with them, makes the band (indeed anyone) stronger

But those that run the MA forum have chosen how they wish to do it and that's fine by me and I've seen some interesting discussions there too. Be assured that those that moderate the BS forum will permit, indeed partake in healthy debate with the rest of you, BUT if we think comments are unreasonable or derogatory we won't hesitate to remove them. Fortunately that has rarely been necessary!

Adi Beasley wrote:

Why is it not possible for the MA Forum to be as free in this respect as it appears to be here ?

You'll have to take that up with the MA forum team, Adi. They no doubt feel they have their reasons, though personally I think they've got it completely wrong. As Trev points out, as long as criticism is reasonable and reasoned and doesn't resort to personal insults, cheap shots or deliberate misrepresentation, I think it is if anything the most valuable thing the musicians can see (should they choose to). I feel the decision to moderate every single post on the MA board has created less of a forum and more of a glorified guestbook (not to mention the frequent over-application of the moderator's red & yellow cards - your experience of the MA forum is evidently utterly contrary to mine, Mike!). I live in hope that one day someone involved with the band realises that a forum is not worth having unless you allow people to say what they will, only stepping in to take action if things take an unpleasant/unreasonable turn. Sadly, this has yet to transpire, but - lest the MA forum slip into an outright coma - I think ultimately it will have to. I can't think of a single other online forum that moderates every single post made to it, and moreover, I can't think of a single valid reason for making that the case.

Still, the state of affairs on the MA board is made quite clear to everyone who signs up, so at least you know what to expect! As Trev says, none of us wants to turn this into a finger-pointing exercise - at least not here. I'll happily hold forth on the multitude of problems with MA's forum and indeed the MA website and a zillion other things over a pint, but I'm not sure it's particularly useful to talk about it here, where it seems unlikely anyone in a position to do anything about it will ever read it. So - let's steer the conversation back to MA and their performance at Cambridge. Kudos once again to everyone who's kept this thread so flame-free!