SickthingsUK

Ignoring WTMN does anyone else think The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet are both his strongest solo albums lyrically and musically? They seem to have the clearest influence from his personal beliefs and are both solid albums...I know Dragon town was the BP follow up but imo it is just not a worthy sequel...i'd love to see Alice return to that influence and leave us with an unofficial trilogy....I know Alice likes to have fun wi music but those 2 albums he took a more serious tone and it worked....A nice detroit rock album in the vein of the EP followed by a serious toned album again would be magic in my eyes

rgallie wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 12:37 am

Ignoring WTMN does anyone else think The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet are both his strongest solo albums lyrically and musically?

I think they are certainly his strongest post-Warner Brothers albums. But, for me, after Alice 'cleaned up', and left WB, he lost the magical x factor. Obviously, for health & sanity reasons, a very clear demarcation line between himself and the character was necessary. However that resulted in him becoming his own 'defanged' pastiche.

TLT & BP (plus DT, to a lesser extent), temporarily circumvented that pastiche label, because his re-embracement of Christianity kickstarted a creatively personal response. The 'morality' trio were the embodiment of Alice the man, rather than the character. Thus, they are imbued with the kind of authenticity that the post WB albums before, and after, lack.

TLT is probably one of the best things he has done full stop. Brutal plant is likewise up there. However i love so much of his post sober stuff - Raise your fist and yell, Trash, Hey stoopid, TLT, brutal planet, W2MN, Paranormal - i love all these albums.
But TLT is top 5 in his career definitely. BP is easy top 10

I really like TLT but I was never that keen on Brutal Planet (a bit too Metal for me). To be honest I’ve never been that taken with WTMN but I love the black out period stuff. TLT definitely gets plenty of spins in our house.

I am a bigger solo Alice fan than the original band (though I like the original band music too). The Last Temptation is my favorite Alice album ever and Brutal Planet would make my Top 5. I really like heavier Alice and would like to see him go back into a heavier direction.

rgallie wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 12:37 am

I know Dragon town was the BP follow up but imo it is just not a worthy sequel...

I completely agree.

I think The Last Temptation is his best solo album, and behind only School's Out in the overall canon. I love that sinister, creepy undercurrent it has. Very strong both musically and lyrically.

Brutal Planet I'm less keen on. I do like a lot of the songs, but I'm not a big fan of how stiff and mechanical it all sounds (particularly the bass drums).