Have You Ever Been Afraid of an Album?

A new album by a group I really like always has a moment of trepidation before I press play. What if it’s rubbish? Of course, this can be mitigated over the years if you follow a band that manages to plumb deeper depths with every album following their first two (look, even I stopped buying Oasis albums in the end), but most of the time, a new album is a slightly unnerving time.

And I don’t know why! It’s not really my fault if I don’t like a new release by a band I like! Why do I feel as if I’ve failed? And then there’s the kidding yourself part where you try to like a new album and only admit the truth a year or so later.

(Yes, Be Here Now, take a bow)

Music Complete, then. I still haven’t listened to it, mainly because Warner sent me a bunch of WAV files and I can’t be arsed to do all the metadata, so I’m waiting for the CD to turn up. But on the face of it, this is a worrying prospect. Get Ready and Waiting For The Sirens’ Call had a few good songs spread between them, but it was clear that the Imperial Phase was well and truly over. And then Hook left in acrimony.

But.

You see, while I’m saddened that the band isn’t together any more, I’ve always felt a bit…annoyed that Gillian’s absence from the band never generated as much comment in the same way as Hook’s has. This is partly because she didn’t leave in a big bust-up, but I think a lot of it has to do with “well, she’s only a woman and wasn’t even in Joy Division. What does she even bring to the band?"1 Now she’s back, and from reports, her and Stephen had a much larger hand in writing this album than the previous two.

I WANT TO BELIEVE.

But I still haven’t pressed play.


  1. I have a variation on this argument where I prove that Hole are and always were a better band than Nirvana ever were. With graphs and everything. ↩︎