Stardust by Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson is probably best known for his authentic style of outlaw country music, so it was something of a surprise when he teamed up with Booker T Jones to record an album of great American songbook classics from Hoagy Carmichael to Irving Berlin to George Gershwin. The result is really rather affecting, with Nelson’s slightly quavery voice adding emotion to well worn songs with music from Jones on organ and piano complementing him perfectly. Just goes to show that you should never pigeonhole people into single genres.

https://album.link/gb/i/886949216

Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes

I have nothing against folk music, per se, but I think it’s best experienced in the snug of a traditional pub, whilst drinking a pint of real ale, and played by women with long hair and floaty dresses, or men with straggly beards and chunky jumpers. Needless to say, fingers should be jammed firmly in lugholes.

This album is in the American west coast folk tradition of the 60s, but it sounds too clean and overproduced, lacking in any sense of authentic lived experiences. The general effect of it was to wash over me, and not have any impact. I suspect that they might be better live.

https://album.link/gb/i/1211881401

 

The New Tango by Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton

This is album features an unusual combination of instruments - a piano, a violin, a vibraphone and a bandoneón (a sort of accordion) - playing avant garde tango music that crosses over into jazz and classical minimalism with repeating patterns and themes. There’s a playful air to this as the violin and bandoneón bounce off each other, picking up on the rhythms established on the vibraphone. Perfect for a sunny day with a cool breeze blowing through the windows.

https://album.link/gb/i/73246132

 

Tragic Songs of Life by The Louvin Brothers

This is an album that does exactly what it says on the tin. Songs of heartache, sorrow, loneliness, doom, disaster and tragedy, and one song about how great it is to live in Kentucky. The Louvin Brothers sing in glorious close harmony, accompanying some fine music, mostly in a bluegrass style, although there are also a couple of gospel songs added to this album in case y’all could use some churchin’ up. 

However, it turns out that real life was to tragically imitate the art. Of the brothers, Charlie was the sensible one but apparently Ira was the bad seed, prone to drinking and fits of temper, and after they parted ways in 1963 he died in a car crash a few years later. Sad.

https://album.link/gb/i/1615489964

Achtung Baby by U2

As previously mentioned, I have a complicated relationship with U2. I liked their early songs, full of righteous anger from four young men growing up in the middle of the troubles. However, their songs quickly became preachy and pompous, and they lost their edge (but not their Edge). 

The mega successful Joshua Tree had its moments, but as with this album the good bits are entirely down to the production work of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. The high points are the singles ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’ and ‘The Fly’, but there’s still a lot of tedious filler on here (I’m looking at you, ‘One’).

Pay your taxes Bono.

https://album.link/gb/i/1443063058

Palo Congo by Sabu

Luis ‘Sabu’ Martinez was a regular on the New York Jazz scene in the 50s, playing conga with greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. For his debut album as band leader on Blue Note he focused on music from his Cuban/Spanish heritage with a mix of rumba rhythms and traditional son styles. 

As might be expected drums are foremost on this album, with complex, hypnotic poly rhythms and some harsh percussion that sounds like someone banging a tin can, interspersed with yelps and some unusual call and response bits. Also making an appearance is the distinctive tres guitar of Arsenio Rodriguez. Fabulous, life affirming music to brighten your day.

https://album.link/gb/i/724750084

Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos

Up until today, I think that Tori Amos occupied the same mental pigeon hole as Alannis Morrisette in my head. However, as seems to be a regular occurrence with this list I was pleasantly surprised again. I found out that she started out in a short lived and not very successful 80’s electro pop band before pivoting into being a singer/songwriter in the vein of Joni Mitchell with a large helping of Kate Bush. 

The crucial aspect for this album is that the songs are really rather good, ranging from the confessional to strong messages about the empowerment of women in the face of oppression, set to a mostly piano led accompaniment. I hesitate to call it a highlight, but the song Me and a Gun about her experience of being raped is utterly devastating. 

https://album.link/gb/i/981370459

Only by the Night by Kings of Leon

This album has so little impact on me that I almost forgot to write a review of it! It’s very much in the BBC Six Music / Glastonbury indie stage on a Saturday afternoon vein of middle of the road mid 2000s rock music. The only bit that made me wince was when these 30 something rockers started singing about a girl being “only 17”. Yikes.

https://album.link/gb/i/290286432

Blood On the Tracks by Bob Dylan

Ten years on from the seismic shock of appearing on stage at the Newport Folk Festival playing an electric guitar (gasp!) Bob returned to playing mostly acoustic for this album. This is the classic Dylan sound of guitar, harmonica and those familiar vocals, plus a comparatively restrained backing band. 

Dylan always denied that any of the lyrics were autobiographical but given that he was in the middle of a marriage breakdown at the time it’s hard not to speculate about some of them. As always, they are complex with multiple layers of meaning and literary allusions, especially on Tangled Up In Blue that explores different interpretations of the title phrase and casually name drops “some poet from the 13th century” set on top of a simple repeated guitar riff.

I wonder if those outraged folkies ever returned to this album and asked themselves what they were so upset about back in 65?

Bob-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/158320766

Seventeen Seconds by The Cure

This album establishes its mood straight from the first track. We are very much in gothic gloomscape territory here, with resonant bass lines and sparse keyboards, before the tempo picks up for the second track and we hear Robert Smith’s plaintive, wailing vocals. The lyrical themes are also very much towards the darker end of the spectrum, especially on the spooky hit single A Forest. The definitive proto-goth album!

Goth-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/1440648678

Live At The Apollo by James Brown

In contrast to yesterday’s live album, this one feels much more like being at an actual performance. There’s a fantastic opening introduction by Fats Gonder to get you hyped up, before James Brown himself comes on stage at his swaggering, sweaty, sex machine best.  He has a fantastic natural rapport with the crowd, leading them in a call and response, feeling very much like the evangelical preacher he would go on to play in the Blues Brothers movie. Just an all round great live performance captured on vinyl!

https://album.link/gb/i/1445669062

No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith by Motörhead

Motörhead were famously one of the hardest working heavy metal bands of all time, touring relentlessly with a dressing room booze rider of heroic proportions. Traditionally the Hammersmith Odeon would be the last gig on the tour, but ironically on this 1981 outing they didn’t play there, so presumably they were very tired by the end.

Anyhoo, this album does what it says on the tin. An absolutely blistering live set, starting with the iconic Ace of Spades and ending with Motörhead. There’s minimal banter between the tracks - just the name of the song and a quick dedication, and any crowd noise is not audible during the music. If you want live heavy metal, then this is the album for you.

https://album.link/gb/i/1572238970

Haunted Dancehall by The Sabres of Paradise

I don’t normally pay much attention to record labels, but I will make an exception for anything from Warp Records from Sheffield who specialise in electronica and dance music. This record certainly lived up to my expectations, falling into three sections. 

The opening tracks are all fairly sparse techno with minimalist beats but laying down some interesting patterns that build on each other. The record then moves into some heavier dub step with Middle Eastern flourishes and a richer soundscape to play with. The final tracks then come in with more of an ambient, modular synth feel with echoes of 70s bands like Tangerine Dream.

My personal highlight for this is the track Theme which sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a classic heist movie with bold, brass stabs and a god like bass line underpinning it. Absolutely epic stuff. 

https://album.link/gb/i/288660696

The Next Day by David Bowie

When David Bowie had a minor heart attack towards the end of the Reality tour in 2004 and more or less disappeared from public view, we all assumed that he’d retired. What we didn’t know was that he’d re-united with long time producer Tony Visconti, patching up their differences and working on this album in secret almost ten years later, releasing the first track as a total surprise.

The title track (and the cheeky cover) made it seem like he’d never been away, riffing on his classic Berlin era sound whilst bringing it up to date and throwing in some experimental flourishes. It certainly doesn’t sound like someone who is ready to throw the towel in or be content with playing a greatest hits tour for the money. I’m not sure I’d pick this over Blackstar, but it’s certainly one of the better modern era Bowie albums.

https://album.link/gb/i/1676277418

Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Ever wondered what grizzled old hippy Neil Young was getting up to at the height of punk in 1978? Turns out he was recording this mostly live album with a mix of acoustic and electric tracks, reuniting with Crazy Horse for a series of gigs. Musically it’s pretty much by the numbers folk-rock with no real surprises.

However, the lyrics read like something that someone who’d taken bad acid in 1970 might write. He starts by name checking Johnny Rotten, then on the next track he asks what happened to his old friends (presumably referring to Crosby, Stills and Nash) then remembers that he got bored of them and abandoned them because they were just dead weight to him. Ouch.

There are then couple of tracks that give the impression that he got stoned and fell asleep watching westerns on TV and somehow started dreaming about a man from Mars too. Very weird.

Cowboy-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/1015767135

Talking with the Taxman About Poetry by Billy Bragg

In the early 80s Billy Bragg built a reputation as a fiery socialist troubadour, just one man and his guitar, recording two critically acclaimed albums and playing benefit gigs for striking miners and supporting the Red Wedge tour during the ‘83 elections. For this difficult third album (which was the working title for a while) he moved away from his earlier raw sound, bringing in other musicians and backing singers, with fuller production. Would this be his ‘Dylan Goes Electric’ moment?

Well, it actually works! He still has the same vocal style, ranging from plaintive wails to strident anger (which is fair to say is an acquired taste), but the extra elements really add to and complement his songs. The first single Levi Stubbs’ Tears from this album marks the transition in style, with a powerful song about domestic violence that is heightened by a single trumpet picking up the melody at the end. 

Other songs cover familiar topics for Bragg - the humdrum reality of life in 80s Tory Britain, forthright political commentary and wistful songs of love and romance and marriage. To be honest, I still just about prefer Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy but this album can stand alongside the earlier work as a solid start to a discography.

https://album.link/gb/i/1169782262

Black Monk Time by The Monks

Definitely one of the stranger and more obscure bands on this list, The Monks were five American GIs stationed in West Germany who started a band because they were bored. They performed on stage dressed in monk’s costumes with shaved heads, the music featured pounding drums and a heavily distorted banjo and the lyrics were equally wild, attacking the war in Vietnam amongst other things.

Nervous record companies refused to release their album in the United States because it was considered too experimental and controversial. In retrospect this can be seen as possible proto-punk record, crossed with weird art-rock and even a bit of skiffle.

Monk-tastic!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG-InimcgCwNGG0oAikxTR2l2monMeM0r&si=0kMhyuHU8iyUeM3Z

Back to Basics by Christina Aguilera

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this album, but it turned out to be an interesting mix of styles. Aguilera obviously knows her musical heritage and name checks artists from Billie Holliday to Etta James to make it clear where she is coming from.

This is a double album, with the first disc riffing on classic R&B sounds but I think that I preferred the second disc which goes further back bringing in jazz influences and even a 1940’s number in the style of the Andrew’s Sisters which she pulls off with considerable panache.

It’s probably not the sort of thing I’d listen to regularly, but I now have a lot of respect for Ms Aguilera for her depth of talent.

https://album.link/gb/i/402298887

White Blood Cells by The White Stripes

White Blood Cells by The White Stripes (https://album.link/gb/i/1533513361)

You might think that cutting back a band to just guitar, drums and vocals (and a smidge of piano) would be limiting, but The White Stripes demonstrate a variety of different styles and sounds on this album, starting with mostly grungy garage rock and touching on acoustic folk, country and punk to various degrees. I think I might have avoided this at the time, thinking it was style over substance (and the pretence of being siblings was a bit creepy), but this is solid stuff. 

The only thing I’d take issue with is the lyrical content of some of Jack White’s lyrics which come over as a bit whiney and ‘but I’m a nice guy, why don’t women like me?’. I’m giving it another listen though, which should tell you something.

https://album.link/gb/i/1533513361

We Are Family by Sister Sledge

Some albums suffer from being too familiar with the well known hits overshadowing the other tracks. This is not the case here and the music flows seamlessly from the floor fillers to the more soulful numbers.

This album combines the legendary disco beats of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards from Chic with four amazing vocalists, who are actually all sisters with the surname of Sledge. The result is one of the greatest disco records of all time with the highlight being the anthemic We Are Family. 

The only quibble that I have with this is the selection of unnecessary remixes tacked on the end of this edition that add nothing of any note to the original versions. These can be skipped without missing anything.

https://album.link/gb/i/333589490