Greatest Albums failures of "Self Indulgence" .
I first nominate the triple album Godley & Creme's LP Consequences. The story of how it was made is as interesting as the indulgence itself.
http://www.othermachines.org/blint/
'In nature, there are
neither rewards nor punishments -
there are Consequences.'
R.G.Ingersoll, 1833-1899 - quoted in the sleevenotes
What were your feelings when it became clear that the industry were going to be puzzled, the media generally hostile and the public indifferent?
LOL: Kevin was heartbroken, I don't think he's got over it yet. He was really, really upset about the way it was received, like a big turkey, really. I didn't take it the way Kevin did, to be honest, because I loved doing it so much and I learned so much, got so much out of it, a totally selfish thing, I didn't give a ****, I really didn't. And I never have, to me it's the doing of something that's the vibe, it's not necessarily the result. It's always a bonus if what you do does well, but it's not that precious, you know. I've always thought like that. And I could see why it was laughed at, it does look like a pretentious pile of old stuff. We were self-indulgent pop stars, there's no question about it.
How do you remember it developing into the gargantuan project it became?
KEV: I remember it as heaven to make and hell to release. In all probability it disappeared up it's own, very stoned, arse. When we actually got down to the nuts and bolts of making it, the balloon had burst. There were so many ideas waiting to come out, they came out indiscriminately. The demo of the gizmo had a focus to it but it became this overblown monster that became too much, too late. I hate to sound so negative but it's hard not to be when 'Consequences' was such an artistic and commercial failure. I think there was possibly 20% that, in my terms, was successful and 80% padding. I no longer think that the dialogue/play section was any good. You have to understand, this is the work of two very stoned people who's eyes were on the details, not on the big picture, and trying to create something from a mass of details, hoping that the whole would be worth more than the sum of its parts.
It was the work of two very stoned people.
Smoking a lot of dope?
KEV: A hell of a lot of dope.
This sounds wonderful. How many records do you know that take the trouble to do that?
KEV: I can't think of any. But you're talking about the process of making the record, the experimental side. You see, there are two sides to every experiment; there's the excitement in the experiment itself and there's the result of the experiment (laughs)... Now, when we were making it, and probably even now, the result wasn't really the point, it was two people allowed to spend fourteen months in a womb of darkness and sound, bringing their wildest dreams to bear. And I suppose that was the excitement, that was the thrill. But whether we came up with something worthwhile, I'm not convinced that we did.
