From: Doug Foster, dugster@fozzie73.freeserve.co.uk
Subject: Stuff - since Heyday/AAE/etc
Date: 2/25/2002 3:37:50 AM
To: Seance, seance@lists.no-fi.com


Hey again!

Just wanted to reply to the guy who wrote a couple of days (weeks?) ago that
AENT can't compare with stuff like Heyday and that Heyday was the last good
album they released (although he liked Starfish & HOB....???). Far be it for
me to flame, and I'm not going to, but if a band I liked last released a
good album 17 years ago (!) then I would probably not be on their mailing
list. I'm not saying the guy (sorry, deleted post but have been dwelling on
it since!) is wrong to say what he said but I'm sure most people on the
list, despite loving Heyday & BC (if anyone can point me to a better song
than Roman or An Interlude I'd love to hear it!), have accepted that the
band has a differeent sound now. Was the sound on AENT that much of a
surprise? To me it seems like a natural progression. Maybe if the last album
I bought was Heyday and I saw AENT in a shop I would be surprised by the
change in style but, hey, its 17 years! As far as I'm concerned teh band
really does split into decades. Phase one definately ended at GAF for me. I
don't know how much that is to do with me - I was 16 at college when GAF was
out and 18 and working when P=A was released, ie my whole life changed. But
I can easily see the progression since GAF and the obvious step away from
what was going on before. I tend to listen to the later stuff more now. But
I dragged out a lot of the early stuff recently and got blown away again!
How great is that! From my point of view no-one else has done it for me so
consistantly. And I love AENT! But if you don't then so be it.
I'd be interested to know how sales are going of the new album in UK, US,
Oz, etc, compared with the last few releases. I get a feeling that its doing
better but I don't know!

And one last thing - maybe Derek can help? - are AAE writing/recording new
stff at all? If not, why not? They've been touring 2 years solid now with
more to come. I'd love to hear some new stuff but when I saw them in
November it was the same old stuff again.

Oh, and the second *last thing* - if you haven't picked up TYG then do so at
the gigs! I'm on the 3rd listen now and its a LOT better than I expected.

Ah.... the 3rd last thing. The guy I wentr with to both Church gigs at the
weekend (and isn't a HUGE Church fan like me) was absolutely blown away by
MWPs guitar playing. He plays a little and normally thinks that with a
little practice he could play as well as most guitarists he sees (I don't
believe him! ;)) but thinks MWP is the best he's ever seen and totally out
of reach. Which I thought was pretty cool. I think its the confidence MWP
has that makes him stand out. He plays such intricate stuff and makes it
look easy - ie not milking it but just playing with the swagger of a man who
knows he's the best and doesn't care what anyone thinks! Good lad.