Gorillaz by Gorillaz 2001 *** 01/07/2024
Many bands adopt stage personas, hiding behind elaborate makeup or costumes. Gorrillaz go one step further, being an entirely virtual band with cartoon avatars drawn in Jamie Hewlett’s distinctive style. Gimmicks aside, this is pretty good stuff - lo fi beats and samples, with a bit of rap thrown in, although I wonder how successful it would have been if it hadn’t been obvious from the start that Damon Albarn was behind it all.
Cloud Nine by The Temptations 1969 **** 02/07/2024
This was an unexpected treat for a Monday morning! This was the album that saw the Temptations add a psychedelic twist to the Motown funk sound, played with impeccable swagger. The highlight is the 9 minute epic Runaway Child, Running Wild which features Hammond organ and plenty of wah wah guitar riffs. Groovy!
Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones 1971 ** 03/07/2024
Let’s talk about the good stuff first. This album came out the year before Exiles on Main Street and is musically much superior. There are some really nice (but not exactly original) blues riffs on here
However, it’s impossible to review this without addressing the steaming great racist, misogynist elephant in the room. Brown Sugar is the most gratuitously offensive song to ever hit the charts, and how it still gets played is beyond me.
Arular by M.I.A. 2005 ***** 04/07/2024
It’s rare to get an album that is completely new to me that I listen to twice in a row, but this is one of these. This debut from M.I.A takes glitchy, catchy dance beats and layers on lyrics that range from cheeky to sharply political. Maya Arulpragasam experienced life as a refugee from the violence in Sri Lanka when she was just 11 and this plays out in her music, but it’s done with irrepressible charm and wit. I absolutely love this!
Who's Next by The Who 1971 **** 05/07/2024
After the sprawling rock opera double album Tommy, Pete Townshend came up with an even more ambitious project - Lifehouse, a dystopian sci fi concept album with a movie and an interactive live show. For various reasons, the project foundered but The Who rescued some of the songs for this album. The highlights are the first and last tracks - Baba O’Reilly and Won’t Get Fooled Again, both featuring epic modular synth riffs that elevate them to classic status.
Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake 1969 *** 08/07/2024
Nick Drake is another artist like Leonard Cohen with an intimidating reputation. Unlike Cohen, he died at the tragically young age of 26 only having sold 4000 copies in total of his albums. This debut album is simply produced folk, focusing on guitar and vocals with some restrained strings and percussion on some of the tracks. Lyrically, there are no prizes for guessing what the track ‘Memories of Mary Jane’ is about. Highpoint is a song about sheds!
Bat Out Of Hell by Meat Loaf 1977 **** 09/07/2024
I was today years old when I discovered that Bat Out of Hell is based on a sci-fi rock opera version of Peter Pan, albeit with more songs about sex and motorbikes, and not so many about one handed pirates and crocodiles with alarm clocks. This album is a blast though, with Meat Loafs reliably humongous operatic vocals and Jim Steinman’s over the top score. Highlight is surprisingly filthy song using baseball as a metaphor for risky teenage sex in a car.
The Poet by Bobby Womack 1981 ** 10/07/2024
This is a big old slice of funktastic 80’s cheese with a side of soul from one of the great soul voices that sounds like it would be great for a romantic night in. Sadly though, the songs don’t quite measure up to the singer. On “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” our hero whines about “his woman” complaining that he’s never there and is broke all the time, so he does the passive aggressive thing of threatening to leave her. Lovely.
Vauxhall And I by Morrissey 1994 did-not-listen 11/07/2024
Surfer Rosa by Pixies 1988 **** 12/07/2024
This is a great debut album and an economical 34 minutes in length. Post punk, alt-rock with a raw edge perfectly captured by the late Steve Albini’s production. There was evidently a bit of tension between the band and the producer, shown through some of the studio chatter that’s included here, but it seems to have pushed them to greater heights. Highlight is the track Vamos (Surfer Rosa) which is sung half in Spanish. Great stuff.
L.A. Woman by The Doors 1971 **** 15/07/2024
By the early 70s, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle had taken its toll on Jim Morrison, leaving him looking and sound considerably older than his 28 years. His voice had deepened to a husky burr, which suited the blues stompers that the rest of the band gravitated to. This is probably the best of the Doors albums, with the highlights being Riders on the Storm and the spoken poetry of WASP. Jim passed away in Paris just over two months after the album was released.
Beauty And The Beat by The Go-Go's 1981 **** 16/07/2024
In the late 1970s, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, and Margot Olavarria were at the infamous last gig by the Sex Pistols and realised that they could do a lot better than the shambolic mess on stage. They played gigs for a couple of years, tweaking their sound to pop punk (with a hint of surf guitar) before releasing this phenomenal debut album in 1981. We Got The Beat is the ultimate new wave banger and is guaranteed to get you moving!
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts by Brian Eno 1981 **** 17/07/2024
This album pioneered sampling techniques, making found sounds like radio announcers and ranting preachers the lead vocal on top of a mix of Afrobeats and Middle Eastern rhythms. Eno and Byrne did take the time to clear the samples that were used, although a recording of part of the Qu’ran on the original release was removed from later pressings on grounds of religious sensitivity. This still sounds startlingly contemporary, despite coming out 40+ years ago
Lust For Life by Iggy Pop 1977 **** 18/07/2024
All too frequently with these albums we see someone producing an amazing album before succumbing to the rock n roll lifestyle. Iggy Pop did it the other way round, battling a heroin addiction with the help of his pal David Bowie who not only helped him get clean and collaborated on a couple of albums but paid for some expensive dental work, hence the goofy smile on the cover! The highlight is the thrilling title track, forever linked with Trainspotting.
Beyond Skin by Nitin Sawhney 1999 **** 19/07/2024
This was a completely new one to me! The album starts with the series of nuclear weapons tests carried out by India and explores issues of identity and religion against a backdrop of international tension. Musically, it’s a mix of trip hop electronica and traditional Indian instrumentation and voices, and is an enchanting listen, despite the grim and thought provoking subject matter. It finishes with Oppenheimer’s infamous quote from the Bhagavad Gita.
Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem 2007 **** 22/07/2024
I was introduced to LCD Soundsystem via the video game GTA IV, which made good use of the track Get Innocuous! mixing the in game gunfire to the staccato drums. The album matches quirky, danceable beats with a flat vocal style that shares a lot of DNA with New York acts like Talking Heads. Apparently, James Murphy hated recording his vocals so covered the studio with tin foil because reasons, hence the album name
So hipster. Much New York. Very Dance.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West 2010 did-not-listen 23/07/2024
Not listening to the American Morrissey. K thx bai.
Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of Canada 1998 **** 24/07/2024
Fun fact! Boards of Canada aren’t from Canada, but are actually a pair of brothers from Scotland producing a great mix of warm 70s modular synth sounds with samples and glitchy beats layered on top. I always make the mistake of thinking this is an ambient album but the beats creep up on me and I get sucked into the rhythm. Great stuff. Highlight is Aquarius which samples counting and giggles from Sesame Street in an enchanting way.
Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder 1976 ***** 25/07/2024
Sometime around 1976 my Dad bought home a proper music centre with two cassette tapes - a “super sounds of stereo” sampler and Stevie Wonder. I can still remember the experience of hearing the room filled with this marvellous music, hearing each instrument in its own place on the sound stage. The highlight on this for me is Sir Duke, paying tribute to Duke Ellington and other jazz greats.
Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel 1968 ** 26/07/2024
This is an oddity and an album that I have never heard before. It has three classics (America, Mrs Robinson and Hazy Shade of Winter), quirky songs about zoo animals and extended sound clips of old people talking. Not what I would pick for a great album, especially one less than half an hour in length.
Frank by Amy Winehouse 2003 **** 29/07/2024
This is almost unbearably sad.
Amy Winehouse released her debut album when she was just 19, singing about her life where the men that she craved love from were all weak, manipulative or needy. She sounds tired, cynical and world weary, and in retrospect it’s easy to see the path that she was already heading down. Nobody should be singing lines like “I’ve forgotten all of young love’s joy” when they’re not even in their twenties.
Rest in peace Amy.
Is This It by The Strokes 2001 *** 30/07/2024
I missed this album at the time - I think there must have been other stuff going on in September of 2001. First impressions are of a Britpop band trying to sound American. Second impressions came during the track New York City cops (understandably dropped from later re-releases) when it turned out to be an American band doing Britpop about five years late. Not bad though, with some Stooges style vibes. Minus points for a truly awful album cover though.
Trafalgar by Bee Gees 1971 ** 31/07/2024
This is an oddity. Like everyone else, I know all of the Bee Gees late 70s disco classics but I was completely unaware of this album from 1971 which for some reason seems to be themed around famous battles of the Napoleonic era. There are some reasonably enjoyable tracks here (and the odd clunker) but nothing essential. Even their voices don’t sound quite as falsetto as they would go on to be. Great cover though!
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