SMOOTH PROGRESS

Pete Green's Fleetwood Mac, Eno's Roxy Music, Peter Gabriel's Genesis, they all metamorphosised into smooth pop acts. That's the general consensus, that their creative juices dried up when pivotal members of the band were no longer there, but I beg to differ when it comes to Roxy Music and Fleetwod Mac. I actually prefer their later incarnations.

Stalwart Prog rocker's could argue  a decline in the case of Genesis and it would be a good argument (unless your'e Patrick Bateman) as they reached their post Gabriel peak immediately with  the excellent Trick Of The Tail. Phil Collins' solo output has been consigned to the bargain bin of naffness and certainly you could argue that his songwriting erred on the side of Chris DeBurgh.

So let's look at Roxy Music and Fleetwood Mac as purveyors of smooth smart popular music.

Stranded was the first post Eno Roxy Music album and it is a triumph kicking off with the anthemic Street Life and featuring the melancholic masterpiece A Song For Europe the following albums all hinted at the Era defining Avalon and showed a great deal of finesse as opposed to the sometimes jarring earlier material. Some say bland but I say smooth and alluring. A fitting swan song for this most interesting of bands.

As for Fleetwood Mac, the 60's and early 70's saw them cement their reputation but it wasn't until Rumours that they had a huge mainstream hit which must have allowed for the experimentation of Tusk, but its Tango In The Night that is their peak with such immaculately delivered tracks as Big Love and Sara. This sound was being listened to by those who had invested in decent Hi Fi and the production stands the test of time.

Of course I'm not dismissing The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) or Virginia Plain I'm just saying that Bands can develop both ways. A band can start out with simpler arrangements and become more complex so why not start of with complexity and streamline your art? Besides which, when has popularity when it comes to popular music been a bad thing?