The challenge of listening to older music, especially music released before we were born (this one beats me by two years), is that we have a natural tendency to filter it through the prism of "now." We know all that's come afterwards, and we know how the group has weathered the passing of time.
In fact, we often know this supplementary information before we know any of the music. Here I am listening to the Rolling Stones' 1980 album Emotional Rescue, and despite my best efforts I can't help but listen to the Stones through the prism of the silly old men they have become.
I mean no disrespect—the Stones deserve everything they have earned over the past 40+ years, but I just mean it's hard to separate the institution from the music. More challenging with this album is that the Stones were already an institution when it was released. Though 30 years old now, this record was already post-heyday for the group, putting the whole listening experience into this strange liminal space for perhaps just about everybody.
Most people ignore these periods of a band's artistic output, when they're past their most popular years, but the audience that grew up with them isn't old enough to feel nostalgic. So it just kind of exists in a rock purgatory, which may be exactly where Incubus is headed with their newest release.
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My entry point to the Stones was through an article discussing the history of Exile on Main St. This was perhaps the first time a "history of" piece inspired me to buy a record, but the story was so fascinating, especially Keith Richards' account of John Lennon always trying to out-intoxicate the indestructibe one. Hilarious to read, and even more hilarious to picture an icon like Lennon sitting slumped with his head between his knees in a stairwell.
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