Day 0365 (year one!) - Zombie

Fela Kuti and the Afrika 70 "Zombie" (1976)

One of 17 albums that Fela and his band released between 1976 and 1977; this album consists of 2 tracks, mixing funk, jazz and afro-beat sounds. The first track is a 12 minute epic with some funky-ass riffs and a 5 minute sax solo from Fela, followed by an almost mantra like chant of 'zombie o zombie' with Fela railing against the corrupt military:
"Zombie no go, unless you tell am to go.
Zombie no think, unless you tell am to think"

This isn't like western protest bands where artists rage against the machine with relative impunity. Horrifically, following the album's release Fela's commune was attacked by the authorities, buildings were burnt, Kuti was severely beaten and his mother was thrown from a window causing her death.

Day 0364 - Ramones

Ramones "Ramones" (1976)

One of the original punk albums that totally lives up to its hype.  Right out of the gate, it's a blistering stampede of raw rock.  Stripped of grandiosity complex virtuosity that had become prevalent in certain areas of rock, to present an "anyone can play" style of music.

There are so many great tracks here, 'Blitzkrieg bop', 'Beat on the brat', 'Today your love, tomorrow the world', 'Havana affair', and the surprisingly dark '53rd and 3rd' written about a street hustler taking violent action... legend/rumour suggested that Dee-Dee Ramone was writing in a somewhat autobiographical frame.

Surprisingly for an early punk album, it was fairly well received critically on its release, though not with the sales to match.

Day 0363 - Oxygene

Jean Michel Jarre "Oxygene" (1976)

Hadn't heard this one before; I don't have much to say about it either.  Similar sort of sounds to 'Equinoxe', enjoyable synthy soundscapes; sometimes trippy and spacey, sometimes ethereal and bloopy, and sometimes just quite clean and businesslike.

Day 0362 - Music from the Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra "Music from the Penguin Cafe" (1976)

I can see this album being a huge influence on Tyondai Braxton for his "Central Market" album (which I love).  There's the mix of orchestral/classical and pop elements, the sense of fun and humour, the mix of catchy melodies with atonal modern classical sensibilities.

I remember listening to a track from this album when I first browsed the 1001 albums list 7 or 8 years ago and being kind of underwhelmed.  Either I was just in the wrong head-space for it, or listening to that one track out of context didn't quite work for me, because this was great!

Day 0361 - Mothership Connection

Parliament "Mothership Connection" (got it) - 1971

Starts off with some nice roomy, minimalist funk, with the instruments creating tons of space that George Clinton drawls over... kind of reminiscent of Clinton's other band at the time Funkadelic. From there the album launches into a cathartic explosion of horns, bubbly bass lines and vocal ensembles.

Despite its political name, the songs seem keeps away from the socially conscious lyrics of some funk bands (and some of Parliament's own other albums), opting instead for a heady mix of sex, fun, and weird.

The sheer amount of talent Clinton had assembled in the band is made apparent by the fact that half of the members eventually left and started their own bands/solo projects.

Day 0360 - Rocks

Aerosmith "Rocks" (1976)

A quick follow-up to the successful 'Toys' album.  With lyrics about sex, drugs, rock and the music industry.

I would say that it has less obvious 'hits' than 'Toys' but I really enjoyed the riffage across it. "Lick and a promise" has an especially enjoyable, heavy groove.

Day 0359 - Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading "Joan Armatrading" (1976) - got it

The book says that Joan is notable as one of the first black 'singer/songwriters', and I guess a lot of black female artists were working producing pop hits for 'hit-manufacturers' like Phil Spector or Berry Gordy, certainly not many were working in the folk sphere (sounds like a title for a not particularly interesting sci-fi film "the folk sphere).  Whatever the case, this is a fantastic album. It moves between folky pop and funky soul with guitar styles and vocals to match; sometimes mixing both approaches in a single song.

Armatrading's voice moves from low and sedate in best Nina Simone style , to a higher plaintive wail. The album is drenched with feeling while not sacrificing virtuosity in her guitar or vocals.

0358 - Africa/Brasil

Jorge Ben "Africa/Brasil" (1976)

 
Jorge started out as a bossa nova artist, and even scored minor hit in the genre.  By the time of this album he'd released over a dozen albums already. Though not recognised as a 'player' in the tropicalia movement Jorge was just as adept at mixing bossa with modern styles, as anyone in that scene.  Here he moved to more of a funk idiom... and he nailed it!

The album is a great mix of funk riffs, with hints of tropicalia and fusion.  The album is also fairly recognisable, with a number of the tracks having been sampled and copied elsewhere.  Possibly the most prominent example of this is his song 'Taj Mahal', which was nicked by Rod Stewart for his track "Do ya think I'm sexy" which was, in turn, later revived by N-Trance who had a hit with their 1990s remix.

Day 0357 - 2112

Rush "2112" (1976)

"We can't stop here; this is PROG country!"

Rush's 4th album (their first on this list) was an important one for the band. They had been languishing somewhat, with the record-buying public and the critics dismissing them and numbers declining at their shows. Their record company considered dropping them but decided to give them one more chance...

The album opens with an audacious 20+ minute musical odyssey, informed by both rock and classical compositional styles that takes up an entire side of the record. The other side consist of 5 songs ranging from virtuosic proggy rock, to balladry and some almost pop moments. The album was a success... by Rush's modest standards up to that point, and so the band played on.

Day 0356 - Destroyer

Kiss "Destroyer" (1976)

Following on the heels of the success of "Kiss Alive!" is Kiss's 4th studio album "Destroyer". Producer Bob Ezrin (Loud Reed, Alice Cooper) encouraged the band to stretch their wings almost to the extent that they wander into the realms of caricature.

I was quite surprised to hear how much variety there was here.  I thought Kiss were much more straightforward rockers who eventually became a bit more power-ballady, but there's clearly already a bit of that and some straight up ballads.

'Great expectations' is an epic track with it's glam swagger and ethereal choir.

Fun fact, this was the first Kiss album to chart in New Zealand - so I guess it's appropriate that it's the first one that I've listened to in its entirety.
 

Day 0355 - Hotel California

Eagles "Hotel California" (1976)

One of the last big immaculately produced west coast pop/country albums, before punk started tearing everything down.
It's like the Eagles knew it was the end of an era too, with tales of burnt out celebrity and wasted lives... but it all sounds so pretty. 

Day 0354 - Arrival

ABBA "Arrival" (1976) - got it

My mum had this album on vinyl when I was growing up and, being an ABBA fan from a young age, I listened to it fairly religiously.  Benny and Bjorn were just such skilled songsmiths.  They could come up with tricky little ideas, but they mostly just favoured strong and simple songs.  It’s not on this album, but I saw an interview with them where they singled out “ the winner takes it all” as one of their stronger compositions exactly because it is a song built more or less around just one repeating melodic motif.

Obviously the ’hits’ from this album are all good.  “Knowing me and Knowing you”, “Money Money Money” “Dancing Queen” and gently anthemic album closer “Fernando” are all memorable earworms that are possibly even popping back into your head just from reading the song titles.  Outside of the hits though, the other tracks are just as enjoyable.  Whether it’s the playful “When I kissed the teacher”, the slightly cheesy “Dum dum diddle” or my personal favourite “Tiger” which switches from poppy glam rock to the subdued, almost childlike melodic bridge sections.

The tracks with Benny and/or Bjorn singing are enjoyable too, but the group really shines when Agnetha and Frida are on the mics, creating the classic ABBA sound.

Day 0353 - Boston

Boston "Boston" (1976)

I started listening to this thinking "I wonder if I know any songs by Boston? I mean, the name is kind of omnipresent, so they seem like they'd be one of those well known radio-friendly bands."

The first track is "More than a feeling"...  ..."Oh, THAT'S a Boston song?!"

This album is pretty much pop-rock perfection.  There are a couple of little dallinces into blues and tripped out jamming, but it's mostly just upbeat hooky guitars and big vocal harmonies. Every second song seems to sound familiar.

Apparently the music was leader Tom Scholz's take on Cream and Led Zeppelin. His music was much less raw and rocking than theirs but, I guess, acted as a precursor to a lot of the big melodic rock bands of the 80s.

Day 0352 - Hejira

Joni Mitchell "Hejira" (1976)

 
I respect the hell out of Mitchell.  Aside from being a brilliant songwriter, she could have easily followed her success as a folky singer/songwriter and stayed in that idiom.  Instead, she explored jazz and world music and made her music so much richer because of it.

Here she teams up with bass-maestro Jaco Pastorius, and he brings beautifully virtuosic, but (for him) restrained playing that complements the songs.

Also, love the album cover.  It almost feels vaguely Lynchian.

Day 0351 - Station to Station

David Bowie "Station to Station" (1976) - got it

 
Originally planned to be titled "the White Duke" in a continuation of Bowie's character pieces such as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane.  However, in the midst of Bowie's personal (relationship breakup, battle with drugs) and musical uncertainty, he cast aside all of that to just deliver a "soul record, devoid of soul".

I’m not really one for choosing favourites, but this would sit fairly high in my ranking of Bowie albums. In some ways it’s neither fish nor fowl, having touches of his glam pop sound, his recent dalliance with danceable soul, and even hints of future directions, all with its own internal musical logic. Bowie breaks further away from the 3 minute pop/rock song formula in places to explore longer-form songs.

The title track, starts musically with the glam swagger of some of Bowie’s Aladdin Sane or Ziggy Stardust tracks (or Marc Bolan, of whom he was a fan) but the vocal melody has a much looser ‘jazz’ feel, weaving in and out of the grinding riffs.

“Golden Years” picks up on the funk/soul flavour of his previous ‘Young Americans’ album. It’s a brilliant song, a successful single… and yet not (IMO) even the best thing on here.

“TVC15” hints a little at the coming Berlin trilogy while still sounding a bit brit-poppy... a foot each in the past and the future.

"Word on a wing" has lyricism to its melody and Bowie’s delivery that is hard to quantify. The whole thing rounds off with 'Wild is the Wind' a vulnerable sounding Bowie vocal over a song that almost sounds like it could be an old Nancy Sinatra pop track.

Day 0350 - The Modern Lovers

The Modern Lovers "The Modern Lovers" (1976)

I was kind of interested in this one from reading a Talking Heads biography a while back.  The band features Jerry Harrison (from the Heads), and a member of the Cars, However, it's a totally different beast to either of those bands.  The band/album wears its Velvet Underground heart on its sleeve with lo-fi jangly rock.  The first track, (covered by both the Sex Pistols and Bowie) pretty much just moves back and forth between two chords.

The lyrics are street poetry delivered in a Lou Reed-esque drawl with a lot of focus on women and 'modern love', while also still loving the old ways.

Day 0349 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" (1976)

 
Another of those 'famous' artists that everyone knows of, but whom I hadn't really heard much of (or at least not that I was aware of, because I recognised a couple of these tracks but hadn't known they were TP&tH songs).

The band sound a bit more 'British' in places than I thought they would.  Apparently 8/10 of the songs were written in a single afternoon and then recorded that evening... which is pretty impressive considering it's a pretty solid (if short n sweet) album.

Day 0348 - There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield "There's No Place Like America Today" (1975)

Curtis had struck it big with the 'Superfly' soundtrack. Here he lays down some more funky soul grooves with a nice edge to them.

The lyrics (and album cover) address the hardships of being black in America, though with a modicum of hope and positivity included in the mix. Not surprisingly, the album was a hit with black audiences but was often ignored by the white 'market'.

This album features the track "hard times" which was covered by a the Roots and John Legend on their collaborative album "Wake up!" 

Day 0347 - That's the Way of the World

Earth Wind and Fire "That's the Way of the World" (1975)

The soundtrack for a film about a record producer (played by Harvey Keitel) who is desperate to break a hot young band (music, not surprisingly supplied by EW&F) but who is being ordered to continue producing bland pop records. The film was a flop, but the soundtrack was a boon for band. They were not novices either, having already released 5 or 6 albums previously.

Their mix of soul, funk and proto-disco feels pretty fresh here.  I know that a few people find them a touch cheesy, but I have a bit of a soft spot for them myself.

Day 0346 - Red Headed Stranger

Willie Nelson "Red Headed Stranger" (1975)

Willie had done fairly well writing songs for other country artists, but it was with Red Headed Stranger that he decisively made his own mark.

Many popular country albums of the day were laden with strings and vocal harmonies, but Willie went for a more stripped-down sound. His slightly gravelly, fragile, yet clear voice suited the simpler arrangements. His record company were less sure though, and they were also unsure about his idea of making the lyrics a sort of a concept album about a lovesick murderer's journey.

I enjoyed this, it was a simple yet beautiful album.  A bit of a palate-cleanser after the prog double-header of Floyd and Queen!

Day 0345 - A Night at the Opera

Queen "A Night at the Opera" (1975) - got it

Although I did listen to the album again for the 1001 albums (twice in fact) I'm mostly just going to plagiarise another review I wrote when I was re-listening to all of the Queen albums a few years back. ~apologies, this will be a long one~

Queen started with a fairly cohesive 'band' sound over their first couple of albums, but the work of the individual songwriters (mostly) became easier and easier to pick.

On night at the opera they're kind of in a middle ground, you can pick the different songwriters but this is still such a cohesive 'album', right from the opening piano flourishes through to the big finale of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "God save the Queen".

"Death on two legs" is such a great opener, Freddie belting it out with real venom before the wall of voices comes crashing in to back him up.  Mercury then performs a compositional 180 with the light and cheery 'Lazing on a Sunday afternoon'.

Roger Taylor's "I'm in love with my car" is such a musically strong slice of rock (some great lead guitar) that I'm actually able to ignore the fact that he used the lines:

"Told my girl I just had to forget her, Rather buy me a new carburettor

So she made tracks sayin' ths is the end now 

Cars don't talk back they're just four wheeled friends now"

The rock calms down into John Deacon's much lauded 'You're my best friend'.  It's not my favourite of his ("spread your wings" holds that spot) but I have succumbed to its charms over the years.

Brian May's '39' is an odd mix of old and new.  It kind of has an olde timey folk feel, yet lyrically it is a sci-fi story.  Roger Taylor's eerie falsetto in the middle section is particularly stunning. "Sweet lady" is one that I never really used to like, but listening to it now, I'm not sure why as the verses sound kind of like David Bowie rock tracks or maybe the rolling stones, while the chorus riff... it's like part funk, part metal ...like extra heavy Hendrix (makes sense as Roger, Brian and Freddie were all big fans of Jimi, with Freddie in particular following him around on tour in the UK)!

Side a is rounded out with another jaunty little music-hall number , complete with a kazoo horn section and Freddie and Roger doing a tap dance routine by wearing thimbles and drumming on the recording console!

Side B kicks off with 'The Prophet's song' (the longest song Queen released while Freddie was alive) which has always been a favourite of mine.  I would be surprised if some 90s alt-rock bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains haven't heard this song, the riffs and vocal harmonies are very ahead of their time.  The vocal/delay section in the middle is still mind-blowing... almost literally, I was listening to the album while walking home from the gym and I just fell over, I was getting so disorientated trying to follow the different parts as they flicked from one ear to the other.
"Love of my life"... I really kind of prefer the live version of this song, just acoustic guitar with the power of Freddie's voice and the quality of the songwriting brought to the fore, but this song is beautiful in any form.

"Good company"; I'm guessing it was Brian aiming for a George Formby sound, but to me it kind of comes off sounding more Paul McCartney and not necessarily in a good way. "Bohemian Rhapsody"... this song is still amazing no matter how many times I've heard it, seen the video, sung it at karaoke, or watched it in Wayne's world. The album's outro of 'God save the Queen' is a brilliant cheeky little touch and really does make it feel like you've reached the end of a journey or sorts with the album.

Day 0344 - Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" (1975) - got it

PF had planned a wildly experimental album called "Household Objects" recorded entirely with... well, household objects. After touring exhaustively for Dark Side of the Moon, this idea was scrapped to instead record this album, reflecting on the isolation of fame, and kicking against the industry that had put them there.  "Shine on you crazy diamond" was, as most people know, written for ex-Floyd guitarist/singer/songwriter Syd Barrett. He came by to visit them while they were recording and none of them recognised the fat, bald, wrecked man before them.

I've seen interviews where Waters has slammed people's perception of Syd as this romantic figure.  The musical genius lost in a haze of drugs.  He pointed out that Barrett's experience was a negative one not one to be glorified and romanticised.

Musically it's the mix that Floyd albums seemed to be at this time, long form musical experimentation (the opening and closing of '...Diamond') mixed with some concise rock songs like 'Have a cigar' or the title track... the segue-way between the two is ingenious, with 'Cigar' disappearing into a tinny little rattle of muzak, from which (after some channel/station surfing) appears the opening of 'Wish you were here'. The elevator music sound a further reference to the perceived commercialisation of the band's music.

Day 0343 - Horses

Patti Smith "Horses" (1975)

Holy shit! How have I never got around to listening to this album?! Still sounds as vital and relevant as it must surely have done back then.

Mixing punky Loud Reed snarl, and the laid back storytelling of the beat poets.  Backed by music that is, in places, punky goodness, and in others majestic piano, building to frantic skittish rock.

An influence on many female musicians including Chrissie Hynde and Courtney Love, but also on plenty of male-fronted bands such as Talking Heads and (early) REM.

Day 0342 - Blood on the Tracks

Bob Dylan "Blood on the Tracks" (1975)

I've always been 50/50 on Dylan.  Some of his albums are good, but others just kind of pass me by. I think that part of it is that I've never been too worried about lyrics (with the exception of one or two writers) and that is certainly part of the appeal of Bob for a lot of people.

Musically this one is good though.  It bounces around between genres with much more variety than the average Bob album. Some typical harmonica-heavy folk, but also some more 'smooth' moments that (the book suggests) could have been an early influence on Dire Straits.  My favourite parts of this one though were where Dylan goes a bit country... suits his voice nicely.

Day 0341 - Tonight's the Night

Neil Young "Tonight's the Night" (1975)

Following the success of "Harvest", Neil Young should have been on top of the world.  However, two of his friends had died from heroin overdoses, he was depressed, and felt isolated by his fame. In an effort to escape the fame and formula of Harvest he assembled a band and curated tequila soaked sessions where his lyrics kicked against drug addiction, his celebrity and the world at large.

Young's record company were not happy with the result and held it aside in the hopes that Young would come up with something more palatable for the mainstream... Young released 'On the beach' which I guess caused them to throw their hands in the air and say "fine Neil, be a miserable bastard" and release it.

Day 0340 - Shalimar

R.D. Burman "Shalimar" (1975)

This is the soundtrack to the film "Shalimar".  Like many Bollywood soundtracks, as well as traditional Indian music forms, it borrows from a range of genres including , bossa nova, tango, jazz and rock.

Burman, it seems was one of the better musical 'borrowers' and has in turn been sampled himself on numerous occasions.  He was able to come to the newer, more contemporary/youth plots of some of the Bollywood films of the time with a bag of psychedelic and Morricone-esque tricks and bursts of wah-wah guitar.

This one was bloody damned near impossible to find! Possibly more of a mission than the Keith Jarrett album. I managed to piece it together via youtube with a mix of individual song videos and scenes from the film... totally worth the effort though.  This is a beautiful soundtrack, and I can hear the very clear influence this has had on several contemporary artists whose music I enjoy. It leaps about musically in a way reminiscent of Carl Stalling (another musical genius).

Day 0339 - Nighthawks at the Diner

Tom Waits "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)

 
For Waits' third album, his producers wanted to bring out the jazz side of him in a more pronounced way  To do this, they set up the studio like a piano bar and sold/gave away tickets to the performance.

They performed 2 shows a night for 2 nights with a stripper opening on each occasion. Waits' band for the recordings were experienced jazz session musicians, and they lay down a perfect canvas for Waits to paint over with his banter and beat poetry-style lyrics.  Stories of downtrodden but happy drinkers, and even a matter-of-fact story about taking his hand to bed.

Waits is in his element and it allows his sense of humour to come out a lot more than it did in his later music (not that that is a major criticism because his later music is still brilliant). His timing is impeccable as he jokes with the audience and spins his yarns.

Day 0338 - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Joni Mitchell "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" (1975)

A bit of brilliance from Joni. After solid folky, singer-songwriter albums, Joni throws some jazz and 'world music' flavours into the mix.  She folds the sounds flawlessly into her usual sound.

Yet again, a Joni Mitchell album that I enjoyed, but don't really have much to say about (the music speaks for itself I guess).

Day 0337 - Born to be With You

Dion "Born to be With You" (1975)

 
Dion had had his first hit in the 50s, but over the course of the 60s his star had faded somewhat. He teamed up with Phil Spector, who was also facing (despite his Lennon affiliation) a bit of a downturn in popularity from his 50s-60s teen pop days.

For the recording, Spector used 3 drummers, 3 bassists and multiple guitarists... in typical Spector style.

For the title track, Spector used Dion's first vocal take, lending it a relaxed, easy delivery. The track "Make the woman love me" was released as a single but was banned by the BBC for mentioning Levis jeans .  I've also read that they also banned the Beatles' "Come Together" due to it mentioning the brand Coca-Cola.  I guess it's something to do with the BBC being a public/non-profit broadcaster.

The album was dismissed by critics (and Dion) at the time, but has gone on to garner several famous musician fans and a cult following besides.

Day 0336 - Pieces of the Sky

Emmylou Harris "Pieces of the Sky" (1975)

Reeling from the death of her collaborator and mentor Gram Parsons,;Emmylou was taken in hand by Brian Ahern who had also worked with Anne Murray.  There are hints of both Parsons and Murray here, with some straight ahead, upbeat country tracks with gorgeous vocal harmonies on the one hand; and lushly orchestrated, somewhat middle-of-the-road, but pretty songs on the other.

Elvis' Vegas band, featured in Parsons' last album are also involved in these recordings, as are (on two songs) the bar band that Harris had been fronting when Parsons "discovered" her.

Day 0335 - Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen "Born to Run" (1975)

 
So I'm ridiculously uneducated about Springsteen.  I have friends who are huge fans and have seen him live a few times.  Whereas I'm the guy sitting there listening and saying "oh I've heard this on the radio... is this a Springsteen song?"

This was good, a competent rocking soul album that occasionally steps up to levels of brilliance, particularly the title track and "Backstreets"

"Born to run" "Born in the USA", the man is born quite a bit. Apparently he had aimed for this to be his 'Phil Spector album' a chance to push the limits of what the studio could do, rather than just recreating the sound of the band playing live... which is odd, because everything I've heard suggests that live is where Springsteen shines.

*Note: my listening is a bit ahead of where I'm up to with my posting.  I have since been getting into Springsteen and have picked up one or two albums.