Having read some of the author's comments here: -
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-creationists/creating-trouser-press-with-0SF2pJ7rGLB/
Steve Waxman: Well, it's interesting, because in issue 34, there's an intro from you, where you sort of talk about how the bands that you were championing before they were popular in America have now become popular, and they're not really your bag anymore.
Ira Robbins: Right, right. Yeah, I've always, always had that kind of dog in the manger instinct about once the band that I discovered becomes popular. It's like my enthusiasm wanes a little bit. It's not a good thing. And I have fought it myself at times. But at the same time, bands change. I've given this a lot of thought. I wrote a whole article once about Be Bop Deluxe, who I discovered in England 1974. I was on a trip there, and somebody at Harvest (Records) gave me their album and when I got home, I loved it and ended up following and interviewing Bill Nelson a bunch of times and saw the band play a bunch of times and got a little friendly with them and was really enthusiastic. And then they made a record that I didn't really care for. Clearly, if you know anything about Nelson's career, you know that, over time, he was on a hugely different trajectory than what you might have guessed from a Bowie-esque glam band, that Be Bop Deluxe started as. I mean, his solo records are entirely something else. And he just kind of moved very far away from what I had initially liked about them. I had a kind of critical crisis of l 'Can I rip a band that I really like, because they made a record that I don't like, or do I have an obligation to keep liking them and kind of wait until they get back on track?' And the conclusion I came to was 'No, I've got to say what I think.'
.....personally, I think I'll give his book(s) a miss. I expect the record he's referring to is 'Drastic Plastic', so heaven knows what he made of 'Sound On Sound' when it was released; not to mention all the amazing solo albums that came after that?
I do agree with a couple of his comments though; that approach to following bands / artists is "not a good thing" and Bill's solo albums are "entirely something else". They certainly are something else - in an entirely positive way!