Communication Breakdown
Send your letters to Communication Breakdown, Classic Rock, Future, 1-10 Praed Mews, Paddington, London W2 1QY or email them to classicrock@futurenet.com. For more comment visit www.classicrockmagazine.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
“Modern albums just don’t sound as good or make the same impression…”
LET(TER) THERE BE ROCK!
Really love the magazine. I pay for a subscription for my brother-in-law for years now and he loves it as well. Keeps us in touch with all things rock both new and old. Communication Breakdown was a good segment and I would like to see its return.
James Gillespie, via email
DISAPPEARING ACT
Hello! I’ve been a purchaser of/subscriber to Classic Rock magazine for over a decade now, and I really appreciate the dedication and insight you put into the magazine, and I look forward to every issue.
However, of late I have noticed that more frequently you aren’t including the Buyer’s Guide feature. That’s a bummer. That feature is my favourite. It’s the first thing I turn to when I get my copy. It has helped me discover some artists I didn’t know much about, and I also look forward to seeing which band gets ‘canonised’ next. I hope you keep this feature in the magazine regularly. There are still quite a few artists and genres you haven’t done Buyer’s Guides for, so don’t let this feature fade!
Conor, via email
It’s a fair cop, Conor. But don’t worry, Buyer’s Guide isn’t going anywhere any time soon. This month it’s Blondie’s turn (p86). I’m afraid it has taken the occasional hiatus of late, though – it usually disappears when we’ve had to accommodate some late-breaking news.
As a reader/subscriber since virtually the start of the magazine, I look forward to getting the magazine for my fix on things rock every month. The disappearance of the letters page many moons ago was pretty disappointing, as it offered the fans an opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences and the like with likeminded fellow readers. This could be gigs, new/old music or anything. Please bring it back! It’s been sadly missed.
A feature that would also be welcomed, and in conjunction with the return of the letters page, would be a ‘Where are they now?’ section. This could invite readers to suggest bands that flickered briefly or never quite hit the mainstream, and provide a brief synopsis on them then and whatever they are up to now. I’ll even provide one for starters – Runestaff. A Norfolk band my mates and I used to follow for years at most gigs in and around the local area in the 80s. They cut one self-titled album and were great live before disbanding. Great times, getting your lager and black in proper pubs on a Friday night with your leather and cut-off on, and meeting like-minded rockers, supporting your local band.
Mark Day, 53 years (and 47 of them a rocker – since my dad started buying me a record every Friday in early 70s)
Funnily enough, Mark, we used to have a Where Are They Now? feature in the mag about a million years ago. Perhaps that’s something else we ought to look into bringing back. Anyone else got any candidates for rediscovery?
JET-SETTER
I’ve bought most issues of Classic Rock, starting with issue 1. Every issue has a feature that I’m really excited to read, but nothing has surprised more than seeing the feature on The Screaming Jets in the new issue! A vastly underrated band that really should have had a bigger level of success. I can’t thank you enough for this feature!
Keep up the good work. There is no other music magazine in the English-speaking world that is as good as Classic Rock.
James, via email
MAIDEN MISSTEP?
Hi guys. Love the magazine. Think I have a rare medical condition. Am I the only person not impressed with Maiden’s new CD? The first CD contains the shorter material but nothing near the quality of, say, Can I Play With Madness or Wrathchild. As for the second CD, it all sounds so samey – a quiet intro, a few riffs, a bit of Brucie (good game, or nothing for a pair in this game – showing my age now!) and then a very long instrumental passage. But as far as I am concerned the quality is not present. Dare I say is the “writing on the wall” for them?
I live in hope that a few more listens will do the trick and bring me round to everyone else’s viewpoint.
Rob Small, via email
IF IT’S TOO LOUD…
I’m not sure if this is for ‘Communication Breakdown’ or a possible feature, but I’d like to stir up some debate on modern music production. In particular the ‘Loudness War’. I’ve read a lot about listening fatigue induced by everything being compressed to the max, and everything on a track is at the same loudness, and I have to agree with the sentiment that everything sounds the same. Even worse, I’ve read that because the ear/ brain isn’t detecting the subtle changes in the music and can’t pick out the separate instruments/tracks, songs are not memorable, they don’t make an impression that sticks.
Maybe I’m just too old, but modern albums just don’t sound as good or make the same impression as albums from the
70s and 80s. Is it down to modern digital production, or just my ears? I have to agree with Geoff Barton’s review of the NWOCR CD. A great deal of it all sounds the same. There’s plenty of information out there about albums that sound poor due to being too loud. Death Magnetic by Metallica and Vapour Trails by Rush are two good examples. I believe that the production of these albums led to ‘clipping’. And Vapour Trails
was even remixed and reissued. I know the first version is a hard listen. Anyway, just a suggestion.
In general, any features about production and engineering of albums would be good. What do all the buttons do? What does the producer do and what does the engineer do? Analogue versus digital. What is mastering? Why do some albums sound great and some not so?
Hope this is helpful, and keep up the good work.
Chris Binns, subscriber since #2
Cheers, Chris. Some great points there. What do others think? Keep those letters coming, and thanks for the support.