ScienceGuy wrote:This "less than 4 years" thing confuses me. It was 3 years, 10 months between MHTRTC and Geogaddi, and it was 3 years, 8 months between Geogaddi and TCH. So unless you think those extra 2 months make some critical difference (FWIW I don't at all; whether I prefer Geo or TCH changes quite often, though right now it's TCH), then this argument doesn't really make sense, especially when you consider there were two EPs (Peel Session and IABPOITC) between MHTRTC and Geo but nothing between Geo and TCH.
Great artists always have a period of their career where the output flows and almost everything is gold, and it seems effortless (even though we know it isn't!) I think they were in that type of zone from 1995-2002 and all of that material feels like it belongs together, always building on what came before. It's all of one universe, if that makes sense. You reach a point where creating becomes more challenging as time goes on, expectations in the back of your mind and not wanting to repeat yourself.
IABPOITC is cut from the same material they wrote and recorded for Geogaddi. It was interesting to see that they were audacious enough to pull a 180 midway through, working on things that had a sound like Spiro and XYZ closer to the time of MHTRTC and then completely abandoning that approach midway. They've talked about how some aspects of their sound from 1995-1998 were a compromise of sorts, and it seemed like they were initially moving even further in that "compromise" direction at first.
With TCH, they went out of their way to break away from the corner they (and we) had put them in. Geogaddi was the summation of this period of creativity and then they decided to figure out a way to make a BoC album without many of the tropes that they'd come to rely on. I think TCH sounds both over and under produced, I think the success of Geogaddi got to them and it just sounds like they tried too hard. I'm glad that they challenged themselves, they had to really.
I'm glad that some people enjoy it, it's really a testament to the quality of their work that different people can have clear favorites or least favorites. It's still better than 95% of the stuff out there. I'd just like them to shelve the idea of having to patiently wait until an hour or so of material comes together that seems to belong together in their minds. I just want more instincts, no fear of slapping together something like a MHTRTC or an OT tape that plays well but isn't necessarily beholden to a particular set of rules. I think they would be more prolific if they weren't perfectionists on that front, my favorites of theirs tend to be a mishmash of moods and sounds that isn't taking itself too seriously.
tl;dr, it might be a 2 month difference, but Geogaddi just felt like it had way more time to develop, probably because they weren't trying to reinvent themselves, it was a natural progression from MHTRTC, some of which we can only hear on live tapes.