Wednesday, October 08, 2008

"She's breaking up...."caught on tape

Of course, for many of us in this sector of cyberspace, The Prayer Chain's "Mercury" is the definitive delightful/painful "band breaking-up" record. Everything about this disc screams the script of the "Six Million Dollar Man" intro: "She's breaking up, she's breaking up..."
(you can actually watch that scene from your..uh, my...childhood on my "St.Guinness Defies Death to Preach in SexShop in Peru" post).

Even Wikipedia (not quite omniscient) knows this:

This album, which engineer Chris Colbert has described by saying, "you can hear the band break up on the record, you can see them extend a warm and heartfelt middle finger to the industry"[3] was their last CD...link

One remembers actually watching The Beatles break up on film-- "Let it Be---and therefore inevitably on the record of the same name.

What others stand out? Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is at heart two sides of the band building a wall and breaking up . On a lesser note, CCR's "Mardi Gras",was memorable not for the music, but for Fogerty's last ditch at saving the dictatorship he had created by sharing lead vocals among the band. Nice idea; didn't work too well (though the other two members each had a fairly strong song apiece, here and here).............except for the two songs Fogerty sang, including this ultimately prophetic one!

"Kingdom of Comfort" is perhaps the sound of Delirious breaking up, though no one in the band knew it. Or did they? Anyone who caught the interview with drummer Stew Smith might have prophesied as imminent a breakup as the Beatles (but amicable) when they tried to "let it be." Yoko might as well have screeched....and the fat lady sung ...a swan, too...then and there.

What albums stand out to you (besides every 2nd U2 album...and don't worry, their new one is due soon) as having a veritable " breaking-up"
warning sticker on the disc (or cassette or record) cover...

I knew someone online had made their list, so of course i googled it....and found a related (?) topic: Ten Classic Breakup Albums
What would also be a good but bittersweet list: Albums by artists breaking up with Christianity...or at least the Christian music scene (Sarcastic Lutheran calls it "the Christian industrial complex"). Thank God Steve Taylor came back with "Squint" after his swansong "I Predict 1990." Otherwise we'd have no "Cash Cow"!!

What's on your list of band breaking up records?

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