Biggest Decline In a Career?

[MBE]

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

He continued to record some good music and do some good shows, but after 1972 he wasn't as consistant. I would argue that most of his soundtrack work from 1962-67 is far worse then his later stuff.  He still was a huge concert attraction, but yes personally and musically there was a decline.
As far as the weight 1975 was when it really became a problem though he had struggled with it since his early thirties.

[MBE]

Prince did make a good album in Musicology if nothing else past the eighties. As far as Floyd More is terrific, Ummagumma half great half garbage. Kinks Everybody's in Showbiz is the last one I like. It's not as good as the ones before but I like much better than any of the stuff I have heard from 1973 on.

[Moon Dawg]

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

poor elvis :/ when did that fat elvis era began?

 He was husky in some of his movies (see PARADISE;HAWAIIAN STYLE 1966) but the real fat years began after the 1973 ALOHA special. Seems Elvis lost about 25 pounds while preparing for the event (late 1972) then immediately after gained it all back, plus more.

 Despite some decent to good singles ("Steamroller Blues", "If You Talk in Your Sleep", "Promised Land", "Hurt", "Moody Blue') and continuing to sell out concerts, Elvis spent the rest of his life and career in a  rut.

 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton, easily.

Glad to see someone else agreed with me about Rod, although I need to add that he was MUCH better in concert than on radio, up until about 1996.

I...don't really rate Clapton. He was great in the 60s, but his solo work never did anything for me. To be honest, I find him quite boring at times.

[Moon Dawg]

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

He continued to record some good music and do some good shows, but after 1972 he wasn't as consistant. I would argue that most of his soundtrack work from 1962-67 is far worse then his later stuff.  He still was a huge concert attraction, but yes personally and musically there was a decline.
As far as the weight 1975 was when it really became a problem though he had struggled with it since his early thirties.

 Yeah, the seventies studio work is generally far better than the 62-67 movie soundtrack stuff.

[Newguy562]

I will defend latter day Kinks to my dying day, but if someone wants to pick apart the solo careers of the Davies brothers, go right ahead. It's mostly been Ray and Dave offering different ways of remaking the old stuff. Storyteller, Kinks Khoral Kollection, See My Friends duets from Ray,  and endless live discs from Dave. It's like they couldn't stand to be together, but being together is what brought out their creativity.

The Kinks started to go downhill after 'Muswell Hillbillies'....A long, hard, decline IMHO.

the album after muswell is awesome it has celluoid heroes which is one of the best songs they've ever made.

[Newguy562]

Yep...The Lady in My Life is my favorite cut on the album, and one of my favorite Michael Jackson recordings.

I personally like Dark Side the best, but really all of their albums pre-Wall were great pieces of work, possibly aside from Atom Heart Mother.

atom heart mother has fat old sun and summer 68 which are beautiful tracks
i say the weakest from pink has to be ..Soundtrack from the Film More...Ummagumma...The Final Cut..

'More' has some great songs on it - 'Ummagumma' is the nadir, although the live stuff is superb.

'The Final Cut' is a masterpiece IMHO.

all 3 of those are weak albums especially the final cut :/

[Newguy562]

Prince did make a good album in Musicology if nothing else past the eighties. As far as Floyd More is terrific, Ummagumma half great half garbage. Kinks Everybody's in Showbiz is the last one I like. It's not as good as the ones before but I like much better than any of the stuff I have heard from 1973 on.

musicology was a bullshit attempt to win over his african american fans and it failed plus it had some of the worst music he ever realeased no matter what decade it was.

[Newguy562]

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

poor elvis :/ when did that fat elvis era began?

 He was husky in some of his movies (see PARADISE;HAWAIIAN STYLE 1966) but the real fat years began after the 1973 ALOHA special. Seems Elvis lost about 25 pounds while preparing for the event (late 1972) then immediately after gained it all back, plus more.

 Despite some decent to good singles ("Steamroller Blues", "If You Talk in Your Sleep", "Promised Land", "Hurt", "Moody Blue') and continuing to sell out concerts, Elvis spent the rest of his life and career in a  rut.

 

he was loaded with money idk why he kept on trying smh :/

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Fairport Convention for me!

Their first album was a delight and they just got better and better (even through harrowing personal tragedy) and were forward thinking and traditional at the same time. Then Sandy Denny quit, then Richard Thompson (after they made a great album without Denny) and they soon became basically a generic folk/rock band, though there was some good stuff here and there and Dave Swarbrick kicks ass. They just seemed to get more and more indistinct as the years went by.

In contrast, I think Richard Thompson solo (and with Linda Thompson) has been one of the most consistently great artists ever.

Newguy: I'm with you on Everybody's In Showbiz! Great album! Celluloid Heroes! Sitting In My Hotel! Supersonic Rocket Ship! Hot Potatoes! Plus, a fun live album! Fantastic stuff!!!

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

poor elvis :/ when did that fat elvis era began?

 He was husky in some of his movies (see PARADISE;HAWAIIAN STYLE 1966) but the real fat years began after the 1973 ALOHA special. Seems Elvis lost about 25 pounds while preparing for the event (late 1972) then immediately after gained it all back, plus more.

 Despite some decent to good singles ("Steamroller Blues", "If You Talk in Your Sleep", "Promised Land", "Hurt", "Moody Blue') and continuing to sell out concerts, Elvis spent the rest of his life and career in a  rut.

 

he was loaded with money idk why he kept on trying smh :/

Didn't it have something to do with The Colonel having to pay off increasingly huge personal debts?

[Mikie]

Moon Dawg, are you still an Elvis fanatic?  What's come out since the last time we talked on Cabinessence?  Anything essential?  I think all of the 50's/60's/70's Sun/RCA studio and live material and the Hawaii and Vegas shows have been done to death with all the various reissuing/remastering/remixing/reformatting releases. Any new revelations or new suff that's surfaced recently?

[OGoldin]

Fairport Convention for me!

Their first album was a delight and they just got better and better (even through harrowing personal tragedy) and were forward thinking and traditional at the same time. Then Sandy Denny quit, then Richard Thompson (after they made a great album without Denny) and they soon became basically a generic folk/rock band, though there was some good stuff here and there and Dave Swarbrick kicks ass. They just seemed to get more and more indistinct as the years went by.

They are still a great band but the material has often been thin and none of the current blokes has much presence as a front man.  But at Cropredy when they are backing up Richard or when they have a sense of direction (as in the Liege and Lief reunion) they are still a great great band.  Those recordings need seeking out but they are well worth it.  I consider all their studio recordings -- even as Fairport Convention -- as side projects, and basically tell myself that the band is together once a year.

[Newguy562]

Fairport Convention for me!

Their first album was a delight and they just got better and better (even through harrowing personal tragedy) and were forward thinking and traditional at the same time. Then Sandy Denny quit, then Richard Thompson (after they made a great album without Denny) and they soon became basically a generic folk/rock band, though there was some good stuff here and there and Dave Swarbrick kicks ass. They just seemed to get more and more indistinct as the years went by.

In contrast, I think Richard Thompson solo (and with Linda Thompson) has been one of the most consistently great artists ever.

Newguy: I'm with you on Everybody's In Showbiz! Great album! Celluloid Heroes! Sitting In My Hotel! Supersonic Rocket Ship! Hot Potatoes! Plus, a fun live album! Fantastic stuff!!!

That whole album is fun and it has some beautiful yet dark moments like celluoid/hotel in there ..it's the most slept on album of their catalog.
As far as good music goes the kinks were straight until after " Everybody's in Show-Biz". Once they stepped into the theatrical realm that's when they hit rock bottom lol..Don't get me wrong i think it was a fascinating time in their career (soap opera..sleepwalker) the music wasnt great by any means it so horrid.

[Newguy562]

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

poor elvis :/ when did that fat elvis era began?

 He was husky in some of his movies (see PARADISE;HAWAIIAN STYLE 1966) but the real fat years began after the 1973 ALOHA special. Seems Elvis lost about 25 pounds while preparing for the event (late 1972) then immediately after gained it all back, plus more.

 Despite some decent to good singles ("Steamroller Blues", "If You Talk in Your Sleep", "Promised Land", "Hurt", "Moody Blue') and continuing to sell out concerts, Elvis spent the rest of his life and career in a  rut.

 

he was loaded with money idk why he kept on trying smh :/

Didn't it have something to do with The Colonel having to pay off increasingly huge personal debts?

WOW!! really? that would explain a lot

[SBonilla]

Stevie Wonder lost it, big time. And unfortunately, his inability to finish his production projects kept some folks in recording limbo for years.

Lucky for him, he had a Genius lifesaver buoy, just like Brian.

He is still a great great vocalist, musician and entertainer. Up to a certain point, the man was on fire as a recording artist.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Does Black Sabbath count?

Of course the first 6 Ozzy albums are hardcore classics as are the first 2 Dio albums! But then there's Born Again (pretty damn good but not great) then another Dio record (Dehumanizer) and then after that it basically becomes "Tony Iommi's Black Sabbath" with an endless succession of faceless guys....

[Newguy562]

Stevie Wonder lost it, big time. And unfortunately, his inability to finish his production projects kept some folks in recording limbo for years.

Lucky for him, he had a Genius lifesaver buoy, just like Brian.

He is still a great great vocalist, musician and entertainer. Up to a certain point, the man was on fire as a recording artist.

what album was it that it started going downhill?

[SBonilla]

Stevie Wonder lost it, big time. And unfortunately, his inability to finish his production projects kept some folks in recording limbo for years.

Lucky for him, he had a Genius lifesaver buoy, just like Brian.

He is still a great great vocalist, musician and entertainer. Up to a certain point, the man was on fire as a recording artist.

what album was it that it started going downhill?

I don't know. I no longer follow his recording career. But, I was very much into his recordings from about 1972 to 1976.

[MBE]

Secret Life Of Plants from 1979 or so was pretty average.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Calling it 'average' may be rather generous of you, Mike. I think that was pretty much the line in the sand, as he went downhill after that. He still did some decent albums in the 80s, but he was never again a dynamic creative force. Once the 90s started, though, he couldn't even top *that*.

[pixletwin]

Yep...The Lady in My Life is my favorite cut on the album, and one of my favorite Michael Jackson recordings.

I personally like Dark Side the best, but really all of their albums pre-Wall were great pieces of work, possibly aside from Atom Heart Mother.

atom heart mother has fat old sun and summer 68 which are beautiful tracks
i say the weakest from pink has to be ..Soundtrack from the Film More...Ummagumma...The Final Cut..

'More' has some great songs on it - 'Ummagumma' is the nadir, although the live stuff is superb.

'The Final Cut' is a masterpiece IMHO.

all 3 of those are weak albums especially the final cut :/

In your very limited opinion. :/

[Newguy562]

Yep...The Lady in My Life is my favorite cut on the album, and one of my favorite Michael Jackson recordings.

I personally like Dark Side the best, but really all of their albums pre-Wall were great pieces of work, possibly aside from Atom Heart Mother.

atom heart mother has fat old sun and summer 68 which are beautiful tracks
i say the weakest from pink has to be ..Soundtrack from the Film More...Ummagumma...The Final Cut..

'More' has some great songs on it - 'Ummagumma' is the nadir, although the live stuff is superb.

'The Final Cut' is a masterpiece IMHO.

all 3 of those are weak albums especially the final cut :/

In your very limited opinion. :/

the final cut seemed so depressing :/..the first side of ummagumma doesnt sit well with me...something from the film more is the best out the three

[MBE]

Calling it 'average' may be rather generous of you, Mike. I think that was pretty much the line in the sand, as he went downhill after that. He still did some decent albums in the 80s, but he was never again a dynamic creative force. Once the 90s started, though, he couldn't even top *that*.

I suppose I am being nice. Wonder from 1962-77 was a great artist but after that you have to be very choosy.

[OGoldin]

Calling it 'average' may be rather generous of you, Mike. I think that was pretty much the line in the sand, as he went downhill after that. He still did some decent albums in the 80s, but he was never again a dynamic creative force. Once the 90s started, though, he couldn't even top *that*.

I suppose I am being nice. Wonder from 1962-77 was a great artist but after that you have to be very choosy.

I never "got" Stevie, even during his glory years when my friends loved his stuff.  But my wife had me go with her a couple of years ago, just as she's going to hear the Beach Boys with me.  He had a very big band with a lot of drummers and they were are doing complex, interesting things.  There was a real sonic clarity behind all the dazzling rhythms and it sounded real nice.  And everyone was happy when he sang the good old songs.  So maybe it's his songwriting skills, and not his general musicmaking, that took a dive.