Mark's lack of guitar driven songs

[JF]

What I find remarkable is that Mark's song writing continues to evolve and is better than ever, as is his singing.

I have to disagree, on both counts.  He is no doubt more prolific in his writing, in that he is churning out more songs  but I don't think the songs are as good.  Quantity does not equal quality.  Also, as time goes by, he seems to be writing more of what I would call impressionistic lyrics, where you don't really know what the song is about.

I don't agree his singing is better though.  True, it is less rough sounding but is that a good thing?  It has less character now.  He also now sings with a lot less emotion than he used to;  just listen to earlier versions of R&J or SoS.  The more emotional vocal clearly lifts the song and makes the current versions sound dull by comparison. 

Agree with this completely.

+10

[vgonis]

+10000000000

[goon525]

You mean he used to could? Oh, well!

[MusicGirl1]

Playing the guitar is something you really need to keep doing in order for your abilities not to fade away. I don't think that has anything to do with age, I realize Mark is 63 years old, but when I look at those clips from the Guitar Stories program, he still seems very much able to play as well as he did in the past. To see him play along with the Sultans of swing demo proves he can still manage that. When John Ilsley asks him if he can still play along to the demo, Mark answers something along the lines of "You bet I stil can."

I do'n't think it's a matter of Mark not being able to play like he used to, but it seems to be more a matter of him actually wanting to.
Plus, he may not always come up with great fast paced licks and riffs and all that these days, but he is still more than able to come up with beautiful guitar work.
His guitar skills did not fade away, he simply uses those skills in a different way.

Maaike

[Jules]

I

[vgonis]

Yes, he is going through a prolonged  Ca Ira phase. I wonder when he will goon producing some guitar driven songs, again. Oh, as you said jbaent, I don't mind as long as he is alive and well and creating good music. I miss the guitar really bad, though. I am listening to "then play on" by Fleetwood mac, and I miss guitar even more. 

[Jules]

Ca Ira was the Roger Waters opera, wasnt it?

[dmg]

Ca Ira was the Roger Waters opera, wasnt it?

Yes.  In French it means "there's hope!"  I'll cling onto whatever hope's going!

[communique]

There's no doubt in my mind that Mark can still play fast, I know he still can. I just think that playing night after night on tour he may now be at the point in his life where he has to limit the amount of fast, demanding guitar solos. I agree that when is comes to his new studio songs that long, fast solos isn't typically what his songs are about anyhow. As for Mark's singing and songwriting getting better, well there seems to be some debate about that, so I guess is just comes down to personal taste.

[ingridswing]

As far as I heard and read the interviews: he sees himself as a songwriter more than a guitarist.
So he writes songs he wants to write now and he plays songs he wants to play now. Those new written songs and the songs he wants to play will be in a similar range of music logically, so more melodies, less guitar.

[tunnel85]

As far as I heard and read the interviews: he sees himself as a songwriter more than a guitarist.
So he writes songs he wants to write now and he plays songs he wants to play now. Those new written songs and the songs he wants to play will be in a similar range of music logically, so more melodies, less guitar.

He also sees himself as the weakest link in his band.
Regarding guitar vs melody, I think his melodies used to be much better.   

[vgonis]

Yes, they used to be better because they were guitar driven.
Really now, it is all personal taste and it is hard to keep up with all these changes if you were a DS fan. We are growing older too, and we nag about things to fellow fans. 

[tunnel85]

Good point vgonis. Regarding changes, I could adapt. I don't care a lot about albums, only live stuff.
Blues turn ? Why not ? We want Silvertown blues and Millionaire blues

[MusicGirl1]

As far as I heard and read the interviews: he sees himself as a songwriter more than a guitarist.
So he writes songs he wants to write now and he plays songs he wants to play now. Those new written songs and the songs he wants to play will be in a similar range of music logically, so more melodies, less guitar.

Mmmmmm......., let's see now. I know in interviews and such Mark says he sees himself more as a songwriter than a guitarist.
Regarding that, this is what I would say to him: "Dear Mark, I think your songwriting skills and your guitar skills go hand in hand. One simply complements the other."

Maaike

[twm]

Maybe I'm not the right person in this forum to comment on Mark's guitar playing but I'll have a shot at it. It seems to me that the music has to complement the song - but as that song is pereived by the person who wrote it. The way a song is seen by its author is not set in aspic but will change over time.

Maybe Mark felt that the sort of guitar playing that many here seem to miss better fitted the songs back then and what he was trying to put across at that time. He has moved on.  The way he envisages and presents his new songs will affect the way he presents (or re-presents, perhaps) his older material when he performs it nowadays. This sort of development is not only all but inevitable, it is a necessary part of that development.

For the true artist, simply recreating the past is the road to atrophy. The original artistic spark will simply fade away. The longer that degeneration goes on, the harder it will be to get it back.

For a popular artist, the trick is to move forward in a way that does not alienate fans too much. You may lose some of the old fans but you hope to gain more new ones.  In the end, though, the true artist has to make that change, has to break out from the past and has to start anew. He or she will have no choice. It is part of the artistic sensibility.

And the guitar playing style will follow wherever the song-writing muse takes it.