[kj] Your TOP TEN FAVORITE JOKE Blunders!

[Alexander Smith]

All very succinctly put.

Alex in NYC




On Mar 25, 2006, at 10:55 AM, jpwhkj at aol.com wrote:

> I'm going to leave out individual tracks.  There have been some  
> shockers, but that's true of any band.  The real blunders have been  
> wider.
>
> 1. The long gap between Fire Dances and Night Time. They wrote some  
> great music in that period (Blue Feather, etc) but missed the  
> chance to make the logical progression...
>
> 2. The loss of "total anonymity" in the mid-eighties: the photos,  
> the bouffant hair, the sense that they were trying to have chart  
> success for its own sake.  I think Jaz coming out from behind te  
> keyboards was part of this...
>
> 3. The disintregration of band during OTG.
>
> 4. Atkins. Supposedly a good drummer (though I'm not qualified to  
> judge, technically) but his involvement appears to have been  
> negative in the long run.
>
> 5. The gradual decrease in distinctiveness of Geordie's guitar.   
> The man is extraordinarily talented, and probably has contributed  
> more to the uniqueness of the Joke sound than anyone else.  If, as  
> Todd reckons, some of the decline was simply lack of available  
> equipment, Jaz should have coughed to buy some new stuff.  If KJ is  
> really such a dominant aspect of Jaz's life, then spend some of the  
> readies from classical success etc on decent kit.  It's all  
> deductible, right?
>
> 6. Fucking up on tours: Democracy and now the 2006 one.
>
> 7. Broken promises generally.  Actually, it's more a case of Jaz's  
> predictions not coming true, be they Joke-related or end-of-world- 
> related.
>
> 8. Allowing ideas and theories to rule your music.  Geomancy is  
> going to make you successful?  Uh... I don't think so.  OTG - I  
> rest my case.  The Joke were at their best when they were doing it  
> by instinct - in the early days.
>
> 9. Lyrical decline.  The lyrics have become longer and increasingly  
> straightforward.  Less is more, as far as I'm concerned.  By '86 it  
> was teenage poetry level, and it's gradually become worse.  Jaz  
> swearing.  Jaz shouting rather than singing or chanting.
>
> 10.  Losing Big Paul.  So much of the previous 9 items is related  
> to this.  Killing Joke was originally a piece of creative tension.   
> With Big Paul gone I don't feel there was anyone who could stand up  
> to Jaz's attempts to steer the band in whatever direction was  
> currently in favour.
>
>
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