Musicians Who REALLY Improved

Exactly. Paul never developed into a great bass player.

 

Blondie. The change from 1975 to the debut album was pretty amazing.

 

I would say Coltrane, whose development was astounding. And John McLaughlin, following Trane's example. My fave Mac records are from the late 60s/early 70s, but his constant, humble quest for learning is awe-inspiring.

I think "improve" is way too subjective a term though. Is active artistic development the same as improvement? That's up to the listener. Coltrane played skronky free jazz when he died, but that's not my favorite music of his.

 

Over the course of their first 10-15 years, the Meat Puppets' Kirkwood brothers gradually learned how to sing in tune. At least, so it seems from the albums I have. Or maybe it's just that the larger recording budgets for their post-SST albums allowed them to redo their vocals until they got 'em right? I haven't heard their last few records, and I've never seen them live, so I don't have a definitive sense of whether their singing truly did improve...

 

That's a great point. Along the same lines, there are plenty of artists and bands whose inspiration was at its highest when their technical abilities were not fully developed, and the improvements in their instrumental or vocal ability do not compensate for the loss of creativity, passion and so forth.

 

Art Pepper was great to begin with and was superior in his final years on Galaxy.

 

He played it live and it's damn faster.



And whoever played it in the studio, Simonon was overall a much better bass player from 79 onwards than in 77 anyway.

 

Yes exactly, thanks for expanding.

 

Cecil Taylor. His earliest recordings are merely quirky now. From Unit Structures onwards he became the tonality devouring piano monster we all know and love

 

I saw Neil Young play Cow Palace in '87 (I think it was '87--could have been late '86) and was mostly familiar with his early '70s output where his guitar solos were a bit lacking (e.g., hammering the same note in Cowgirl in the Sand for an extended time). You could really hear his evolution from those early solo albums to Zuma, where Cortez the Killer and other tunes show clear progression, but it did not prepare me for what I heard at Cow Palace that night. He was just on fire. His phrasing, speed and musical ideas in the soloing was to my ears better than Clapton and more creative. I've said that before and been heavily criticized but I stand by it.

 

I thought Stanley sounded much better in the 80s, even though the material wasn't always as good. The high points may have been better for early Kiss, but I think the consistency is better on their 80s albums. I may actually prefer the 80s Kiss albums.

 

Joni Mitchell became a much stronger rhythm guitarist as her career progressed.

 

I don't think Iommi has ever been an interesting soloist, on any record. His quality (and there's a lot) has much more to do with the riffs and songs themselves.

 

It helped a lot that they got a much better drummer.

 

There was only one way to go . . .

 

Beck's surviving session work from '64 shows him 'streets ahead' of most other players on the scene, including the use
of early fuzztone/distortion with Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages. He started way above the pack and has only gotten
better with time.

 

Also, improvements in editing capability and new developments in digital software didn't hurt!

 

I actually liked some of her early single-string leads. Those were the days...

 

Agreed.
But I think the first real development was in the late 70s as heard on Live Rust.
Then further enhanced in the late 80s/early 90s. Since then no improvement really.

Mind you, Neil is still pretty terrible jamming on a simple blues. His playing is only great for his own music.

 

Casady seems pretty much there on the first Airplane album already.

 

Ok, another one.
Simple Minds - their first album Life In A Day contains some excellent material, but is quite derivative of their influences.
Starting with the experimental second album they came up with an original sound, and the vocals and the arrangements really improved.

 

Sting and Stewart Copeland (Any Summers was already pretty good).

Dave Davies

 

Which RCHP drummer?

Jack Irons went on to drum for Pearl Jam; The Wallflowers & Mark Lanegan Band so hardly Pete Best/Tony McCarroll syndrome;
His replacement Cliff Martinez came from the post punk background of drumming for Captain Beefheart; The Dickies & Lydia Lunch before leaving due to depression/frustration over Anthony Kiedis & Hillel Slovak escalating drug problems .... before they lucked out getting Chad Smith as a drummer whom was a perfect fit for the band's sonic template.

And you did not go for the more obvious target of their changing guitarists but John Frusciante was unquestionably their best.

But I was thinking more in terms of how their core mainstay members Kiedis & Flea improved both individually and in relation to the dynamics with the other changing members of their group.

 

Rich Robinson-he went from a young rhythm guitar player to become the open tuning/alternate tuning riff master. And you could add tone master to that also.

Phil Collins- as a vocalist he started out a bit reedy and reticent... we all know what happened a few years after he started fronting Genesis. Compare his vocal power from More Fool Me to Abacab.

Alia O’Brien (Blood Ceremony)- she’s really developed her vocal sound and delivery. Their debut has her a little more restrained compared to the most recent lp Lord of Misrule. Also, her flute and keyboard work is outstanding and she rips on those flute fills and solos. They get stronger with every record.