Blur's second album marked a turning point. After Leisure some things became clear: America didn't much like Blur, Blur didn't much like America, and Blur was decidedly out of step what even good old England was into. So this self-acknowledged Kinks-inspired proto-britpop album came along and changed everything, setting the stage for much of what Blur would do afterwards.
The Kinks and Bowie influences are obvious, the album kicking off with an aparent nod to 20th Century Man coming within the first line of the first song before trotting out a roster of character-driven minibalads (which would also would populate The Great Escape years later).
Unlike the comparatively homogenous Leisure, the beats, tempos and tones are varied across the album's running time, and the delivery escapes the depression with flashes of defiance and wit. Heck, there's even a hint of concept albumry in the instrumental interlude that ends track 7, cleaving the compact disc into two decidedly vinyl-era 'sides', and the freakout at the end of the last track is straight off of the meltdowns that helped define Blur's last few albums.
It's still a pale imitation of the band's best stuff, but a compelling piece of rock and roll that I've still got a need to explore. All the pieces are here, all the things you love no matter which era of Blur you love, the start of all those threads that would warp and woof together a decade of the most quietly clever British music around 4/5
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
#569 Blur - Leisure
At first blush, Blur's first album is a pastiche of styles, full of lumbering shoegaze pacing and buzz, leftover Madchester twitch, and plenty of boom boom bum bumpidumpitdump bum skitters in place of legitimate energy. There's plenty of copping from the Beatles (esp Bad Day) and American proto-alternative (Fool) and a half dozen styles in between.
But looking closer, there's more to recommend here than you might think. For one, don't lose sight of the fact that while this sounds very 90's,this came out in 1991, preceding Nevermind by a month, Definitely Maybe by 3 years, and I Should Coco by 4. While it has little of the punch of the Britpop-era blur, the themes of disillusion and hopelessness are in place, as Albarn groans against the crush of his endless numbered days, occasionally reaching that woredown catharsis that later-era Blur minded into gold.
It's Blur's shoegaze era, almost entirely overlooked, unexciting and comparatively uninspired, but its no Pablo Honey (itself still two years away, while we're on the subject). Decidedly worth a listen if you have interest in how 90's rock took shape in England 3.5/5
But looking closer, there's more to recommend here than you might think. For one, don't lose sight of the fact that while this sounds very 90's,this came out in 1991, preceding Nevermind by a month, Definitely Maybe by 3 years, and I Should Coco by 4. While it has little of the punch of the Britpop-era blur, the themes of disillusion and hopelessness are in place, as Albarn groans against the crush of his endless numbered days, occasionally reaching that woredown catharsis that later-era Blur minded into gold.
It's Blur's shoegaze era, almost entirely overlooked, unexciting and comparatively uninspired, but its no Pablo Honey (itself still two years away, while we're on the subject). Decidedly worth a listen if you have interest in how 90's rock took shape in England 3.5/5
#568 Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Nineteen sixty motherfucking nine. So many albums out of that year. Goddamn.
It's a pair of sidelong epics from Miles Davis, the breadth of whose innovations I'm still getting my head around. Minimal, repetitive, everything slinks and creeps around, with some obscure purpose that prevents the tempting "meandering" from being the right word for it. Trumpet and organ licks drift in and out of cool empty halls like noisy ghosts and are blown out by unseen breezes. On side B's In a Silent Way / It's About that Time, jazzy guitar walks through memories of discordant organ turns, and by the end things have gotten downright post-rock, as the house itself blows away and organs sketch reeds blowing over misty predawn marshes.
A jazz-not-jazz outing that is downright listenable for being so strange, soothing and agitating in all the right balances 4/5
It's a pair of sidelong epics from Miles Davis, the breadth of whose innovations I'm still getting my head around. Minimal, repetitive, everything slinks and creeps around, with some obscure purpose that prevents the tempting "meandering" from being the right word for it. Trumpet and organ licks drift in and out of cool empty halls like noisy ghosts and are blown out by unseen breezes. On side B's In a Silent Way / It's About that Time, jazzy guitar walks through memories of discordant organ turns, and by the end things have gotten downright post-rock, as the house itself blows away and organs sketch reeds blowing over misty predawn marshes.
A jazz-not-jazz outing that is downright listenable for being so strange, soothing and agitating in all the right balances 4/5
Monday, August 27, 2012
#567 The Impressions - The Young Mod's Forgotten Story
A soul album full of shuffled beats, full-bodied horn pulses, and a dollop of strings, pianos, chimes and other orchestral flourishes.
Three real problems here:
1) the orchestral flourishes are cloying, undermining the sentiments.
2) the songs are too slow, and too predictable. By the first 8 bars of a song you've more or less heard what its going to be up to, and by the first few songs you're more or less heard what the album is up to, the only exceptions being the surging My Deceiving Heart, the swaying Seven Years, and the funky Mighty Mighty.
3) I've never much liked Curtis Mayfield's voice, and this seals it. I don't know why this guy is considered a good singer: he sounds like a man trying to sing beyond what he's capable of, and not in a way that lends immediacy or otherwise makes that a good thing.
The whole thing is unexciting most of the time and grating more often than it's soothing. Just don't get it. The three aforementioned tracks and a decent title track provide some good moments, but it's borderline unlistenable as an album 2.5/5
Three real problems here:
1) the orchestral flourishes are cloying, undermining the sentiments.
2) the songs are too slow, and too predictable. By the first 8 bars of a song you've more or less heard what its going to be up to, and by the first few songs you're more or less heard what the album is up to, the only exceptions being the surging My Deceiving Heart, the swaying Seven Years, and the funky Mighty Mighty.
3) I've never much liked Curtis Mayfield's voice, and this seals it. I don't know why this guy is considered a good singer: he sounds like a man trying to sing beyond what he's capable of, and not in a way that lends immediacy or otherwise makes that a good thing.
The whole thing is unexciting most of the time and grating more often than it's soothing. Just don't get it. The three aforementioned tracks and a decent title track provide some good moments, but it's borderline unlistenable as an album 2.5/5
Thursday, August 23, 2012
#566 Debo Band - Debo Band
Local (Boston) world music band, riding deep instrumental funk grooves through various influences, pulling in instrumentation, rhythms, lyrics, scales and track titles from a variety of sources, smelling a bit Jazz / Asian Psychadelic / Klezmer / African and more, sometimes all at once (I'm told the core inspiration is Ethiopian, though I won't claim for a second to have recognized anything that specific on my own).
This is a lot heavier, a lot head-bobbinger, a lot more pop, even, than you might expect from a label like "world music", but I can't help but use it: it seems more appropriate here than on most of the things you'd find in the world-music-labeled bin at the record store (remember those?).
Call me closed-minded, but I can't quite listen to a lot of these non-Western structures and sounds without being put a bit on edge though. Its a failing. Working on it. Probably a pretty good album, if you're better at listening to music than I, hit it up. Fans of comparatively-thinly ethnic, danceable music like Gogol Bordello might even like it 3/5
This is a lot heavier, a lot head-bobbinger, a lot more pop, even, than you might expect from a label like "world music", but I can't help but use it: it seems more appropriate here than on most of the things you'd find in the world-music-labeled bin at the record store (remember those?).
Call me closed-minded, but I can't quite listen to a lot of these non-Western structures and sounds without being put a bit on edge though. Its a failing. Working on it. Probably a pretty good album, if you're better at listening to music than I, hit it up. Fans of comparatively-thinly ethnic, danceable music like Gogol Bordello might even like it 3/5
#565 The Nice - Nice
Another organ-heavy piece of complexity from these prog progenitors, sounding like a more-psychadelic take on their previous album. The songs are more tightly structures and less heavy, sounding downright Zombies-esque on a couple of tracks, but don't be fooled: this is still some pretty knotty, intense stuff, full of abrupt changes, extended solos, and complex melodic moves. In fact, this was about as close as prog and psychadelia ever got, before each careened off to blow minds by thundering down from the sky and misting up from the ground, respectively.
This is a good, solid prog album and an interesting hybrid, but the whole-hearted excess of Ars Longa Vita Brevis would probably give you a better representation of the burgeoning scene and a better overall listening experience 3.5/5
This is a good, solid prog album and an interesting hybrid, but the whole-hearted excess of Ars Longa Vita Brevis would probably give you a better representation of the burgeoning scene and a better overall listening experience 3.5/5
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
#564 Radio Control - Hot Audio
Find it here!
The White Stripes comparisons are impossible to avoid, so I'll get them out of the way early: girl drummer, boy guitar player, garagey sound, furious delivery, wicked distortion, all delivered from a solid rock-historical point of view. But where the White Stripes cast their ramshackle noise with a certain tradition-buttressed dignity, Radio Control takes a head-on, sincere punk tack, sounding legitimately bratty and defiant and noisy and ferocious, willing to let go, damn tomorrow.
Some of the songs overstay themselves a repetition or two, and the whole thing isn't quite as trim as you'd like a punk album to be, but for every meandering track like Radio Control there's the terrifying rush of Riding Bikes or Tavern at the End of the World.
I'll confess a bias: love these guys live, totally dig them as people to the extent that we've talked, cute couple, Somerville locals singing about the town, biases galore. But I dig it, we need more fearless music like this 4.5/5
The White Stripes comparisons are impossible to avoid, so I'll get them out of the way early: girl drummer, boy guitar player, garagey sound, furious delivery, wicked distortion, all delivered from a solid rock-historical point of view. But where the White Stripes cast their ramshackle noise with a certain tradition-buttressed dignity, Radio Control takes a head-on, sincere punk tack, sounding legitimately bratty and defiant and noisy and ferocious, willing to let go, damn tomorrow.
Some of the songs overstay themselves a repetition or two, and the whole thing isn't quite as trim as you'd like a punk album to be, but for every meandering track like Radio Control there's the terrifying rush of Riding Bikes or Tavern at the End of the World.
I'll confess a bias: love these guys live, totally dig them as people to the extent that we've talked, cute couple, Somerville locals singing about the town, biases galore. But I dig it, we need more fearless music like this 4.5/5
#563 Swearin' - Swearin'
Check it out here!
Fun, trashy, chord-driven, too-fast punk on the order of the Thermals, everything tripping over itself in unison, with exciting little flourishes like the metal-flipout Kill Em' with Kindness and the soaring lady-vocals on Shrinking Violet, just a touch of an emotional core to each song. Nothing strikingly new here, but Swearin' seems like a band that'd be fun to see live, always a good sign 4/5
Fun, trashy, chord-driven, too-fast punk on the order of the Thermals, everything tripping over itself in unison, with exciting little flourishes like the metal-flipout Kill Em' with Kindness and the soaring lady-vocals on Shrinking Violet, just a touch of an emotional core to each song. Nothing strikingly new here, but Swearin' seems like a band that'd be fun to see live, always a good sign 4/5
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
#562 Django Reinhardt - Djangology
Old timey music at its finest, sounding a bit like something you listen to while you make your Mii (remember those? simpler times), full of jaunty piano, trotting bass, sprightly violin and of course that irascible, nuanced, beastly guitar, played by Django himself.
The songs follow a pretty familiar formula, changing little in pace or overall tone, but the guitar playing is just a thing of its own, and this is must hear at least once to get a taste of the best plucking you're liable to hear from anyone (let alone a man with two paralyzed fingers) 3.5/5
The songs follow a pretty familiar formula, changing little in pace or overall tone, but the guitar playing is just a thing of its own, and this is must hear at least once to get a taste of the best plucking you're liable to hear from anyone (let alone a man with two paralyzed fingers) 3.5/5
#561 Ride - Going Blank Again
Followup from shoegaze second-wavers Ride, this has all of the big heaping guitars that you'd expect from the style, delivered in a highly accessible package. There's plenty of hooks and melodies, sounding more like later acts like Silversun Pickups, Kulashaker and Swervedriver than the noisy crush of My Bloody Valentine.
Some works better than others: the pop bounce of Twisterella and Mouse Trap have good driving energy, the gloomy New Order moaning of Chrome Waves, not so much.
It all sounds a bit samey by the end, but I guess that goes with the territory when you're playing ever note at once 3.5/5
Some works better than others: the pop bounce of Twisterella and Mouse Trap have good driving energy, the gloomy New Order moaning of Chrome Waves, not so much.
It all sounds a bit samey by the end, but I guess that goes with the territory when you're playing ever note at once 3.5/5
Sunday, August 19, 2012
#560 The Temptations - On Cloud Nine
I mostly know these guys as My Girl sweetiepie crooners, but the front side of this totally blew away my expectations: its packed to the brim with Sly-style dark, swirly funk. The title track in particular pulses like hot coals, and their version of I Heard it through the Grapefine is sharp and on point, punching with every beat, swaying with every pain and judoing it back into thinly veiled spite, all delivered poison needle smooth.
The back side is more typical sweetness, which is well performed, full of graceful harmonies, but nothing nearly so earth moving. Based on that first side alone (with a fractional demerit for the earcrushing, groovestopping crying noise on Runaway Child) 4/5
The back side is more typical sweetness, which is well performed, full of graceful harmonies, but nothing nearly so earth moving. Based on that first side alone (with a fractional demerit for the earcrushing, groovestopping crying noise on Runaway Child) 4/5
Thursday, August 16, 2012
#559 The Nice - Ars Longa Vita Brevis
Forgotten prog forefathers, featuring ELP's Keith Emerson. You can certainly see the influence others would pull from this: Genesis's punchy melodies, King Crimson's herky jerky time signatures, Yes's approach to organ sounds; all have their roots on display here. You can read a nice little prog history that focuses on their contributions here
As for the actual music, it actually is more batshit zappa than tightly structured prog during its shorter tracks, full of bizarre outbursts, themes and musical flourishes. The sidelong centerpiece title track is the main draw, it is pure indulgence, kicking off an angular extended drum solo before its even really gotten started. Then the organ runs go on and on, running mostly instrumental for 17 minutes. Its impressive and punishing both, pure jamming, with none of the narrative or architecture that would later help make Genesis and Jethro Tull's epics more manageable.
One of those things you ought to hear, its a singular, visionary work, full of the exhilaration and boredom that comes from a total lack or restraint 4/5
As for the actual music, it actually is more batshit zappa than tightly structured prog during its shorter tracks, full of bizarre outbursts, themes and musical flourishes. The sidelong centerpiece title track is the main draw, it is pure indulgence, kicking off an angular extended drum solo before its even really gotten started. Then the organ runs go on and on, running mostly instrumental for 17 minutes. Its impressive and punishing both, pure jamming, with none of the narrative or architecture that would later help make Genesis and Jethro Tull's epics more manageable.
One of those things you ought to hear, its a singular, visionary work, full of the exhilaration and boredom that comes from a total lack or restraint 4/5
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
#558 The Afghan Whigs - Congregation
Sub Pop, 1992, the stage seems set for a particular kind of album.
This album has some of the hallmarks of the age, but is an altogether more wild beast, full of dissonant, angular guitars, hitched rhythms, and a sound that is somehow simultaneously nastier and dancier. The main reference points are The Dismemberment Plan, Modest Mouse and Le Savy Fav, bands that all came later, as well as contemporaries Pavement and Fugazi.
In short, it's an album on the vanguard of its time, if not ahead of its time, full of harsh, inventive moments, compelling and unfriendly and difficult, all mired in a certain early 90's sound that muddies its impact and keeps it from being as good as its imitators. The vocals in particular lack that detached element that made later bands work, still having that strained self-importance that you associate with second-tier alternative bands.
Important but not wholly enjoyable, its one of those I'll wheel back around someday I'm sure 3.5/5
This album has some of the hallmarks of the age, but is an altogether more wild beast, full of dissonant, angular guitars, hitched rhythms, and a sound that is somehow simultaneously nastier and dancier. The main reference points are The Dismemberment Plan, Modest Mouse and Le Savy Fav, bands that all came later, as well as contemporaries Pavement and Fugazi.
In short, it's an album on the vanguard of its time, if not ahead of its time, full of harsh, inventive moments, compelling and unfriendly and difficult, all mired in a certain early 90's sound that muddies its impact and keeps it from being as good as its imitators. The vocals in particular lack that detached element that made later bands work, still having that strained self-importance that you associate with second-tier alternative bands.
Important but not wholly enjoyable, its one of those I'll wheel back around someday I'm sure 3.5/5
#557 Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Here's the first Fleetwood Mac album with Stevie Nicks on it, the tenth overall for the band. Tenth! You could probably win some money off somebody knowing that.
Finding out how straight-up bluesey Fleetwood Mac started out was a fun surprise, and there are the barest vestiges of that sound here (most obviously on the crunchy World Turning). Yes, this is the kind of comparatively poppy crooning you associate with Fleetwood Mac, but put all together it works, tilting with more soul, more desperation and longing than you might guess. The lush production providing what the songs need, the singing is actually perfectly good, and some of the songs (most notably Crystal) are actually pretty haunting.
When you think about it, the combination of pathos, production, boy/girl singing; it sounds like a bit like a 00's indie rock album. As turns towards pop go, this one seems justified, perfectly satisfying for what it is. Not quite my thing, but I could see it growing on me 3.5/5
Finding out how straight-up bluesey Fleetwood Mac started out was a fun surprise, and there are the barest vestiges of that sound here (most obviously on the crunchy World Turning). Yes, this is the kind of comparatively poppy crooning you associate with Fleetwood Mac, but put all together it works, tilting with more soul, more desperation and longing than you might guess. The lush production providing what the songs need, the singing is actually perfectly good, and some of the songs (most notably Crystal) are actually pretty haunting.
When you think about it, the combination of pathos, production, boy/girl singing; it sounds like a bit like a 00's indie rock album. As turns towards pop go, this one seems justified, perfectly satisfying for what it is. Not quite my thing, but I could see it growing on me 3.5/5
Monday, August 13, 2012
#556 Potty Mouth - Sun Damage EP
Listen here! http://pottymouth.bandcamp.com/album/sun-damage-12-ep
Radio Control's one of my favorite local bands these days and they linked these loosely similar-sounding guys, though this lacks RC's particular magic. It's all chordy, shouty, repetitive punk, sounding a bit like X-Ray Specs or a less-visceral Dead Kennedys, making some interesting structural choices here and there, but mostly playing it straight.
It's tough to stand out as a punk band when your genre/scene doesn't always value innovation or cleverness highly. This is a perfectly decent local-sized punk album that doesn't manage to distinguish itself overmuch through energy or newness, though it does make a case for pretty good live show potential, and maybe that's all an EP like this needs to aspire to 3/5
Radio Control's one of my favorite local bands these days and they linked these loosely similar-sounding guys, though this lacks RC's particular magic. It's all chordy, shouty, repetitive punk, sounding a bit like X-Ray Specs or a less-visceral Dead Kennedys, making some interesting structural choices here and there, but mostly playing it straight.
It's tough to stand out as a punk band when your genre/scene doesn't always value innovation or cleverness highly. This is a perfectly decent local-sized punk album that doesn't manage to distinguish itself overmuch through energy or newness, though it does make a case for pretty good live show potential, and maybe that's all an EP like this needs to aspire to 3/5
Sunday, August 12, 2012
#555 Ghostface Killah - More Fish
When Ghostface comes out swinging he's tough to beat, all tension, energy, immediacy and power. Previous albums only had a couple of highlights apiece where full-strength Ghost came out to play, but here the whole album works, especially the assault of the first 5 tracks that bring beats, hooks, the effortless complexity at the heart of my favorite rap albums, and intricate dashes of harrowing narrative. As with so many rap albums, it runs overlong, but it delivers remarkably consistently. Exciting stuff, probably a grower, but for now landing at the high end of 4/5
Thursday, August 9, 2012
#554 Earth Wind and Fire - Earth Wind and Fire
More funk, but from a much more pop-influenced standpoint than its predecesors. This is funk made into concert-ready party music, every chant and horn riff is there to make you smile. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it just lacks some of the personality and edge that Parliament/Funkadelic and Sly had. Sly and the Family Stone sing "Into My Own Thing" and you believe them, this is just the music that pours out of them. Earth, Wind and Fire sounds like it has been designed to move you. If Funkadelic was The Grateful Dead, this is Dave Mathews Band. It's good listening, full of great horn runs and sharp (oft-sampled) beats, but lacking a certain energy that makes me love the really good stuff 3.5/5
#553 The Band - The Band
1969!
There's the seeds of a lot of roots rock sounds here, evoking Neil Young and a kind of proto-skynyrd, mixed with a trippy element (tell me Whispering Pines doesn't sound like a Flaming Lips b-side).
The sound is bouncy and southern-fried (though The Band was, contrarily, from Canada), with honky-tonk and blues elements to spare, lending the album the lazy, feel-good vibe you'd expect.
There's something clumsy about this though: some awkward fadeouts, some uneven mixing, the vocals sounding beyond-Neil-Young strained. It doesn't quite work. Maybe that's part of its charm, but it doesn't wholly work for me, surely not competing the other great, similar albums of the era 3/5
There's the seeds of a lot of roots rock sounds here, evoking Neil Young and a kind of proto-skynyrd, mixed with a trippy element (tell me Whispering Pines doesn't sound like a Flaming Lips b-side).
The sound is bouncy and southern-fried (though The Band was, contrarily, from Canada), with honky-tonk and blues elements to spare, lending the album the lazy, feel-good vibe you'd expect.
There's something clumsy about this though: some awkward fadeouts, some uneven mixing, the vocals sounding beyond-Neil-Young strained. It doesn't quite work. Maybe that's part of its charm, but it doesn't wholly work for me, surely not competing the other great, similar albums of the era 3/5
#552 Sly and the Family Stone - Life
Working back through the catalog, this was Stand!'s precursor and in a similar vein, with similar cmon vcals and skittery beats. The main difference is that this is more overtly psychedelic, more straightforward rock in terms of its guitar sound, with less of the funk jangle that would come up later and less of the extravagant, adventurous spirit (though Jane's a Groupie hints at some of the darker sides to come).
Things are a bit more frivolous, as the band finds the groove they would ride for a remarkably solid 4-album run. Many of the more upbeat songs have a sameyness not normally associated with the band: Chicken and I'm an Animal in particular tread to much of the same (mostly annoying) territory.
Still, its a bizarre, rollicking hybrid of an album and a worthy entry into the Sly and the Family Stone legacy 4/5
Things are a bit more frivolous, as the band finds the groove they would ride for a remarkably solid 4-album run. Many of the more upbeat songs have a sameyness not normally associated with the band: Chicken and I'm an Animal in particular tread to much of the same (mostly annoying) territory.
Still, its a bizarre, rollicking hybrid of an album and a worthy entry into the Sly and the Family Stone legacy 4/5
#551 Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction
I know! My latest "most famous album I've never heard" tick. The king is dead! In my youth, carrying over into my adulthood, I have kind of just assumed this sucked, but I kept running across people acknowledging, if belatedly, its greatness. Maybe enough time has passed that I can see it for the music instead of what gnr represented to me when this came out (they always struck me as kinda douchey and attention hungry, as was the fashion thenabouts before grunge came along).
Fact is, this does kind of shred. It's overblown, ridiculous and unsubtle, but mostly just pulls it off. The pacing is mostly excellent, the production unstoppable, and the actual riffs, solos, and melodies about the best you'll find for the genre. Unless you've just steeled yourself against the possibility, heads will bob, toes will tap.
Rose's shrieking, crooning, and moaning is the real test here: his voice has its share of unique tricks and tics, and he can't be acused of phoning in a single sylable, but even my most heartfelt attempts to be open-minded weren't proof against the occasional cringe or eye roll.
For every track that doesn't quite get off the ground (the over-repetitive Out to Get Me or Anything Goes) there's two that legitimately tear off into the sky (especially Sweet Child of Mine, which is a much more complex song than I ever gave credit).
This isn't the kind of metal I have much patience for, but it does what it does solidly enough, with enough panache, that I was mostly won over. Probably not as classic as its made out to be, but given the era, the context, the style, and the how badly those things have tended to age, it holds up remarkably well 4/5
Fact is, this does kind of shred. It's overblown, ridiculous and unsubtle, but mostly just pulls it off. The pacing is mostly excellent, the production unstoppable, and the actual riffs, solos, and melodies about the best you'll find for the genre. Unless you've just steeled yourself against the possibility, heads will bob, toes will tap.
Rose's shrieking, crooning, and moaning is the real test here: his voice has its share of unique tricks and tics, and he can't be acused of phoning in a single sylable, but even my most heartfelt attempts to be open-minded weren't proof against the occasional cringe or eye roll.
For every track that doesn't quite get off the ground (the over-repetitive Out to Get Me or Anything Goes) there's two that legitimately tear off into the sky (especially Sweet Child of Mine, which is a much more complex song than I ever gave credit).
This isn't the kind of metal I have much patience for, but it does what it does solidly enough, with enough panache, that I was mostly won over. Probably not as classic as its made out to be, but given the era, the context, the style, and the how badly those things have tended to age, it holds up remarkably well 4/5
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
#550 Neil Young - On the Beach
Another rocking, soulful, nuanced album from Neil Young, languidly paced, but not overly tortured, flecked with equal parts resignation and hope. The guitar is once again the star, powerful when electric, bristling with personality when acoustic, full of character at all times. The other key is Young's voice: I know some who can't abide his reedy near-dylanism, and if that's you, you'll get no reprieve. Otherwise, enjoy the groove 4.5/5
#549 Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!
Another of the seemingly endless supply of must-hear 1969 albums.
Upbeat funk sounding roughly like Fresh and the great P-Funk albums, with an anthemic raveup streak on tracks like I Want to Take You Higher and Stand, irrepressible grooves like the Meters-covered Sing a Simple Song, uplifters like Everyday People and You Can Make it if you Try, and a legitimate 13+ minute jam in the form of Sex Machine. Pretty much everything you'd hope for from a funk album.
The organ is a real star here too, punching out slightly sloppy, wiry grooves.
Waaaaay back in the day I wondered why There's a Riot Goin' On, the album that followed this, was considered so dark. Didn't sound that dark to me then, but compared to this ray of sunshine its release must have been a sobering blow, with only the sneering, snaking Don't Call me Nigger, Whitey as a hint at what depths were to come 4/5
Upbeat funk sounding roughly like Fresh and the great P-Funk albums, with an anthemic raveup streak on tracks like I Want to Take You Higher and Stand, irrepressible grooves like the Meters-covered Sing a Simple Song, uplifters like Everyday People and You Can Make it if you Try, and a legitimate 13+ minute jam in the form of Sex Machine. Pretty much everything you'd hope for from a funk album.
The organ is a real star here too, punching out slightly sloppy, wiry grooves.
Waaaaay back in the day I wondered why There's a Riot Goin' On, the album that followed this, was considered so dark. Didn't sound that dark to me then, but compared to this ray of sunshine its release must have been a sobering blow, with only the sneering, snaking Don't Call me Nigger, Whitey as a hint at what depths were to come 4/5
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
#548 Urban Tribe - The Collapse Of Modern Culture
In 1998, this kind of downtempo, bassy, dubby techno was pretty ahead of its time: by now its pretty standard.
Everything is in molasses, bass sounds willing themselves into existence through rubber membranes, beats skittering into place like falling stars on inky seas, gated noise and noises wandering blackout hallways.
I don't know when you listen to this album. It evokes claustrophobia and oppression, only occasionally rising to tunefulness or anything that would make you move your body, other than to stroke your beard maybe. Admirable maybe, not anything I'll put on just about ever again 2.5/5
Everything is in molasses, bass sounds willing themselves into existence through rubber membranes, beats skittering into place like falling stars on inky seas, gated noise and noises wandering blackout hallways.
I don't know when you listen to this album. It evokes claustrophobia and oppression, only occasionally rising to tunefulness or anything that would make you move your body, other than to stroke your beard maybe. Admirable maybe, not anything I'll put on just about ever again 2.5/5
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
#547 The Unicorns - Unicorns are People Too
I loved Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone, but missed this pseudo-album of early tracks and alternate versions until now somehow.
If you're a hardcore Unicorns fan you'll find plenty to like here: the songs are even more frail, more glitchy, more weird, more square, all across the board. None of the versions of the WWCOHWWG tracks will make you miss their sister versions, but they provide a look into the creative process of one of the most quietly inventive bands of the 00's. They vary pretty greatly in relative quality: I Was Born A Unicorn is a sprightlier, wilder beast than the final version that's worth hearing in its own right, but Child Star is just a messier, mopier version of the album's messiest mopiest track.
Among the originals, I Do It is the frantic, nervous, brokedown highlight.
If you're not into The Unicorns, this is some tiny, skeletal batshit pop, music for toy robots to slit their wrists to, but just about the catchiest shit you'll ever hear that even remotely fits that category. Think Ween meets Guided By Voices and you've more or less got it 4/5
If you're a hardcore Unicorns fan you'll find plenty to like here: the songs are even more frail, more glitchy, more weird, more square, all across the board. None of the versions of the WWCOHWWG tracks will make you miss their sister versions, but they provide a look into the creative process of one of the most quietly inventive bands of the 00's. They vary pretty greatly in relative quality: I Was Born A Unicorn is a sprightlier, wilder beast than the final version that's worth hearing in its own right, but Child Star is just a messier, mopier version of the album's messiest mopiest track.
Among the originals, I Do It is the frantic, nervous, brokedown highlight.
If you're not into The Unicorns, this is some tiny, skeletal batshit pop, music for toy robots to slit their wrists to, but just about the catchiest shit you'll ever hear that even remotely fits that category. Think Ween meets Guided By Voices and you've more or less got it 4/5
#546 X - Wild Gift
Usually punks are angry: these punks are frustrated: full of pain and regret and love, adding a certain timelessness to its standard dose of punk immediacy.
Usually punk is fast: this simmers more than it flares, sounding patient and accordingly more akin to post-punk than punk-proper.
This is punk in the Clash vein, with melodic flourishes and a legitimate interest in being tuneful instead of just abrasive.
In short, this is a punk album, but a particular kind of punk album, and probably not the one you're expecting from a band called, simply, X.
The real problem is the dissonant sound of the actual songs, with the vocals reedy, detuned and way up in the mix. Both singers are unlistenable, sounding thin and reedy when the songs demand something a bit more surefooted. The actual music itself isn't overly imaginative, with some fun basslines and a Clash-worthy kaleidoscope of guitar sounds, but lost in the mix under Doe and Exene's keening. For me, it's a deal-breaker 2/5
Usually punk is fast: this simmers more than it flares, sounding patient and accordingly more akin to post-punk than punk-proper.
This is punk in the Clash vein, with melodic flourishes and a legitimate interest in being tuneful instead of just abrasive.
In short, this is a punk album, but a particular kind of punk album, and probably not the one you're expecting from a band called, simply, X.
The real problem is the dissonant sound of the actual songs, with the vocals reedy, detuned and way up in the mix. Both singers are unlistenable, sounding thin and reedy when the songs demand something a bit more surefooted. The actual music itself isn't overly imaginative, with some fun basslines and a Clash-worthy kaleidoscope of guitar sounds, but lost in the mix under Doe and Exene's keening. For me, it's a deal-breaker 2/5
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