Musicians Who REALLY Improved

And his singing improved tremendously as well

 

I'm a HUGE Dylan fan, but I've always been perplexed by the decrease in quality of his guitar playing. I think his acoustic playing on his first albums is pretty decent...and there's some good finger-picking stuff in there (e.g. Don't Think Twice It's Alright). But he kind of lost me in the '90s and '00s with his electric guitar style and those bizarre single-note solos. I actually think the shows have improved a bit since he moved over to piano and left the stringed instruments to the other fellas.

 

I think when he was solo he had to do some fancy stuff on the guitar. His playing on Good As I've Been To You and World Gone Wrong is pretty good.

 

Real decline began in 1978.

 

I love those early albums as well. I took the OP's question to refer to musicians who, over the course of their careers, became more skilled at their instruments, and more ambitious in their musical arrangements. On a technical level, the four musicians who recorded Murmur couldn't have pulled off "Near Wild Heaven" in 1981, I'm pretty sure. That might not always be a good thing, of course, though I personally love both the early jangly R.E.M. and the ornate orchestral incarnation from the late 80s and early 90s.

 

I actually like Street Legal (despite the religious crap).. Nothing really since.

John Lennon said it real well in his diary, "You gotta serve somebody? Dylan wants to be a waiter. A waiter for christ....."

 

I don’t know. I actually think he’s pretty good, I was just pointing out he didn’t play on that recording.

 

He went from being a great singer because of his voice to being a great singer in spite of his voice.

 

I’ll go with John Mellencamp whose early work (while sometimes enjoyable) was often a bit schlocky. Starting with Lonesome Jubilee and Human Wheels his records became consistently interesting.

 

Street Legal was the last 'secular' album for three years. The 'Jesus Trilogy' began in 1979.

I think Dylan peaked as a singer around the time of Desire. By that point, his voice was a very expressive instrument and he was working with a smaller band who didn't overwhelm him vocally.

On Street Legal, he is competing for attention with a 'big band' - horns, backing singers, etc. - and he sets himself targets he can't reach. Ditto, on that year's world tour. Yet he still manages to come up with some moving moments, often due to his vocal inadequacies.

 

JCM was my first thought. He went from "Johnny Cougar" to "Scarecrow" in less than 5 years.

For my money, "Scarecrow" is an infinitely better album top to bottom than you-know-who's "Born In the USA". Not only better music. Better lyrics.

Compare JCM's "Minutes to Memories" to "Glory Days". Same message, but JCM's song is simply superior.

 

Disagree. Try playing his parts to "Police & Thieves", for starters.

 

I realize they all have a pedigree, but the best RHCP drummer was/is Chad Smith. He clearly provides and energy and spark that helped Flea and really made helped the guitar players.

 

Agree. And even he made tremendous strides in the Californication/By the Way era. I heard him as a MUCH better musician by that time than he was on Mother's Milk.

 

"Scoop da poop.
Poop da scoop.
Poop da scoop di whoop."
-Allegedly one of the greatest artists of all time

 

That “poopy di scoop” song called “Lift Yourself” was meant to troll a NYC radio personality. It’s actually brilliant in that sense. Best troll song of all time - I’ve probably listened to it willingly over 30 times.

 

What about live?

I mean, look at "Circle Sky" (the live version) - Micky is ALL OVER the place. His playing is more random than the Pete Best version of "Love Me Do."

Nowadays, he jumps smoothly between multiple instruments in concert, and aces all of them.

 

Proving my point once again, Kanye could put out a CD of his own farts and someone would go "HIS NEW ALBUM IS FIRE." XD

 

The Doors definitely qualify - including Jim's vocals. Listen to the massive leap between the 1965 demo and the debut LP... it's a whole different band.

 

Marshall Crenshaw was the first one I thought of - he's really upgraded his guitar skills over his early years.

 

He was an "Allstar" too.

 

Yes—the real uptick comes with Scarecrow. I wouldn’t quite put it up there with Born in the USA—Downbound Train is too good a song-but Mellencamp’s positive-1990 work give Bruce a run for his money.

 

I think his singing in 1978 and 1979 was just incredible.
I have to disagree.

 

I like the leads he played, esp. back in '78 but much later too, much more than Nils' own fantastic playing; Bruce's playing on something like Prove It All Night or Streets Of Fire just burned with passion and anger.
Or Adam Raised A Cain from most any year, etc.

 

If Kanye put out a 40 minute CD of his farts, that’d be so brilliant in so many different ways. I’d buy it, listen to it, and praise it. The brilliance would be beyond what 99% of this forum can comprehend however.