Have you seen that video of his 1980 or 1979 (don't recall which) Montreux show with members of the band that was on "It's Too Late to Turn Back Now" plus the great Peewee Ellis ? It's on YouTube and can be bought on DVD. Prime Van!
Can we make major musical discoveries at age 50, 65, or 80?
Most if not all of us remember our early formative musical experiences vividly. Maybe it was a first live performance, maybe some new band an uncle played on his stereo, or maybe a staticky pirate radio broadcast of a brand new British song for those who grew up across the pond.
I first heard Abbey Road in my single-digit years. Come Together probably rewired my brains right then and there, for better or for worse. My parents liked classical, and I developed a long-lasting fondness for Brahms.
Later in life, more pressing priorities take over. Careers, raising families, spouses who consider music and the gear it plays on a waste of time and money.
And later, we often gravitate back towards music.
I could have been happy listening to glam-rock and prog-rock forever, but I was always curious about new music and regularly got infatuated with new genres and groups and artists. Some of these infatuations fizzled, like with black metal and post-rock. Some, like Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux, ignited a taste for Latino music and Spanish-language hip-hop that lasts to this day. Then, random encounters with the music of Floyd Lee and Junior Kimbrough reignited a long-dormant love for the blues, for good this time.
And (very) few other artists like F ck Buttons, though discovered well into middle age, had the same transformational effect on me that Eno, Roxy Music, Kevin Ayers and David Bowie had when I was 12 years old. Sadly F ck Buttons is no more, having disbanded after just three towering, monumental albums. To this day I listen to them almost daily, and I will only consider audio equipment that satisfactorily passes the F ck Buttons audition test.
Then just recently, an Audiogon member recommended German band Bohren und der Club of Gore as a gateway to Jazz for folks who don't like Jazz. Since I don't like a lot of Jazz, I figured I'd take a quick listen and not only I loved it, it immediately attached itself to empty receptors in my brains somewhere between ambient / drone / industrial and downtempo Jazz / Classical. The band immediately went into heavy rotation here in my humble abode. It is perfect focus music, too.
Which brings me to this thread. Have you experienced musical revelations later in life that equaled or bettered those from your childhood and teenage years? What were they, and when and how did they manifest?
Thanks and Happy Listening!
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Yes, but don't only consider current Pop/HipHop or EDM it's not the key to unlock the "Fountain Of Youth". There is this genre of music called Classical that seems to evade many so called music lovers and even Audiophiles. Pianist Carol Rosenberger and Soprano Edith Mathis are recent discoveries of mine despite being familiar with many of the the major Classical works since my mid-twenties. Nothing against current Pop/HipHop or Electronic music. Maggie Rogers is the current Queen of Pop singer/songwriters Drake/Kendrick Lamar have worthy recordings and Kygo is at the top of the EDM heap but the talent pool IMO is not as deep as "Classical" music/musicians. |
At age 70 I'm still searching for the next "discovery". At the click of the touchpad I can access music from WAY before I was born to music released yesterday. For me personally as my stereo has improved I'm listening to a much more diverse catalog. I don't rock n roll much anymore and while I still enjoy The Who, Steely Dan and The Beatles my focus has taken a fundamental change and is still evolving. I've discovered Latin and European jazz artists, American singer songwriters and music that was produced in and before my youth. We live in such a miraculous time and I'm so glad I'm able to explore music past my 40 year old album collection. |
@stuartk I have not, thanks for the tip! He is an incredible performer, he gives it all... |
There have been several studies that show, the vast majority of people stop searching out new music when they reach the age of 30, some studies show 33. Their tastes become set at that point. Here's one: This may not be as true for many here, since people that post on audio and music forums are not a typical sample of the vast majority of music listeners. It seems that nostalgia becomes a big part of this, and people want to listen to the music that was the "soundtrack of their youth". For me, I have almost no feelings of nostalgia associated with music, so when I listen to music, I listen based entirely on the attributes I love in music. Those attributes hold true for new music, as well as older music. Those attributes are, in no particular order: very high levels of musicianship, complexity, (usually) long form songs, deep and broad emotional and/or intellectual content conveyed, avoidance of verse>chorus>bridge song format, no need for a hook. The genres that most often meet most or all of those attributes, are: Prog, Jazz, Classical I discovered prog in my early 20's (King Crimson, Yes, Univers Zero, PFM, Genesis, Anglagard, Henry Cow, Magma, Eskaton, etc) I got into jazz in my late 20's, early 30's (Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Keith Jarratt, Oregon, Anthony Braxton, Coltrane, Steve Coleman, Allan Holdsworth, etc). And finally, I didn't get into classical music until my late 50's. But the classical I am into is almost all from post 1950 up through the current era. Atonal, serial, avant-garde, Spectralism, New Complexity, etc. So, I got one of the most "challenging", complex, thorny sounding forms of music at the ripe old age of 57-58. And within all 3 of those genres I mentioned, I am in a constant search for new music, bands, musicians, composers. I get almost as much of a rush at discovering new music at the age of 65, as I did when I was in my 20's.
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