Day 0637 - Let Love Rule

Lenny Kravitz "Let Love Rule" (1989)

Lenny recorded his debut album almost single-handedly, playing all of the drums, guitars and vocals, with a few guest musicians overdubbing other instruments. 

He had slowly been building his artistic chops, learning various musical instruments, performing in the California Boys Choir,  acting in commercials, and developing music under the moniker Romeo Blue.  By the time he was ready to release the album, he had dropped his nom de plume and released the album as Lenny Kravitz. 

Kravitz had been in the news around this time for eloping with then-partner Lisa Bonet, who was well known for her role in the Cosby Show.  Not surprisingly she is the subject of songs on the album, and helped write a couple of them.

The ingredients for Kravitz's sound, though it has changed a little throughout the years, are laid out here.  Soulful rock vocals, Beatles-esque backing vocals, funky Hendrix-style guitar, Ringo-style drumming.  It's pretty well laid out in the song that I knew best here before listening through the album "I Build this Garden for us".

This album features some horns and the odd ballad to mix things up.  You could never call Kravitz the most original musician/composer ever, as his influences are worn very much on sleeve, but he still makes some enjoyable music.

Day 0636 - The Real Thing

Faith No More "The Real Thing" (1989) - got it

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a big fan of Mike Patton and of Faith No More, so I have listened to this album more times than I can remember... but as usual, for completism I listened to it again today.

It is slightly disappointing to me that this is the only FNM or Patton album in the 1001 albums, especially considering the breadth of Patton's oeuvre, and the fact that FNM's somewhat weirder "Angel Dust" album has been cited as an influence by many bands, named as album of the year by a few magazines, and was even cited as "the most influential album of all time" by Kerang magazine.   That's not to take anything away from TRT, I'm just saying that it makes me wonder what other great albums from other artists might have been omitted from the list because they weren't quite as commercially successful.

FNM had parted company with vocalist Chuck Mosley after 2 albums, due to his volatile personality, limited vocal ability and his various addictions.  They recruited fresh-faced 20 year old Mike Patton from the eclectic band Mr Bungle.  Patton came with a multi-octave vocal range, and a demented, yet somewhat literary approach to his lyric-writing.

The first two albums with Mosely had been a mix of funky post-punk, new wavey synths, metal riffs, rap, punky vocals, and pop hooks (largely thanks to keyboardist Roddy Bottum).  "The Real Thing" seemed to be a case of the band looking to redefine themselves after Mosely's departure by narrowing their focus.  The album still has its pop hooks in songs such as "Falling to Pieces" or "Underwater Love", but the album had much more of a funk/metal focus, via the collision of Bill Gould's percussive funky bass, Mike Bordin's tribal beats, and Jim Martin's chugging metal guitar riffs.

The album goes into propulsive pop-metal territory with opener "From out of nowhere", and straight-ahead metal with "Surprise! You're dead" and "The morning after".    Most of the other songs mix things up a bit more, with the title track features an almost dub-reggae drum beat interspersed with rock explosions, and "Zombie Eaters" starts with a series of very pretty acoustic guitar parts.  "Woodpecker from Mars" is a 'middle-eastern-meets-metal' instrumental track that shows that FNM could have easily been a force to be reckoned with without Patton or Mosely (or Courtney Love, who was their vocalist at some early shows).

"Epic" was the big hit from the album, with its combination of metal, funk and rap unfortunately inspiring the nu-metal craze that would follow.   The album ends with a further venture into metal territory in the shape of a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" and then the musical left turn of sleazy loungey jazz-pop track "Edge of the World".

This is probably my least favourite album that FNM did with Patton, but it's still one hell of an album.

Day 0635 - It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy "It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back" (1988)

I love so many of these early rap records.   Intelligent, socially conscious lyrics, and a magpie-like approach to assembling their sounds.  The tracks feature everything from James Brown to Slayer.  As well as the music, spoken word and 'found-sound' samples are used.   There's an odd high-pitched noise that runs throughout the different tracks that would have seemed odd at the time, but came to be used by a few 90s rap artists.  Chuck D proclaimed that if Phil Spector invented the 'wall of sound' production approach, Public Enemy's Hank Shockley invented the 'Wall of Noise'.

It's a sign of how influential the album has been that other artists have likewise pilfered sounds and lines from this record, with artists ranging from Jurassic 5 to Weezer taking bits and pieces from them. The track "Prophets of Rage" would go on to give the name to the group that Chuck D would form with ex-members of Rage Against the Machine.  That collaboration also prompted by the influence this group had on that band.

There's hardcore rap, rock/metal-rap and the brilliant subversion of the Beastie Boys hit with "Party for your right to fight".   The mix of MCs works too, with Flava Flav adding a touch of levity to the otherwise intense verbal onslaught.  

Day 0634 - Nothing's Shocking

Jane's Addiction "Nothing's Shocking" (1988) - got it

Jane's have been compared to Led Zeppelin in the past, and I can kind of see it.  Unlike bands like Wolfmother or Greta Van Fleet who emulate Zeppelin like they're a covers band, Jane's channelled the same energy into an original sound.   Four members each with masterful control over their instrument.  Pounding drums, wailing high vocals, twiddly bass-lines and guitar that melds folky-acoustic, psychedelia, stadium rock and virtuoso soloing.

The songs have an energy and danger to them, dripping with sexuality and cynicism.  This is one of those albums that laid a lot of groundwork for the 90s alt-rock movement.  In fact it was bands like Jane's with their mix of stadium rock, psychedelic pop, funk, atmospheric rock etc. that led to the 'alt-rock' label to be coined... which must have frustrated them, as the whole point for them was trying to make music that avoided labels.

Jane's have always been a bit of a fraught outfit.  During the recording of this outfit, singer Perry Farrell suddenly demanded 50% of the royalties for writing the lyrics and a percentage for writing the music.   Eventually he got his way and the rest of the band walked away with 12.5% each.  Inner conflicts eventually led to the band breaking up, with intermittent reunions in the years to follow (almost always sans original bassist Eric Avery).

Day 0633 - Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room

Dwight Yoakam "Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room" (1988)

How country can you get?   "Dwight Yoakam" is probably the answer to that one. 

It seems odd to me listening to his music now, that it was initially rejected in Nashville as it sounds like it'd be right up their alley.  He moved instead to Los Angeles and got his career on the move, including producing a couple of no.1's and making more appearances on 'the Late Show' than any other musical guest.

I guess this could be another one of those situations where the style that Dwight was playing has become common since/because of him.   His mix of honky tonk, country and pop into what he classed as 'urban cowboy' music sounds as country-as-country to me, so I find  it odd that it wasn't accepted at the time.  I find country music to be hit-and-miss, but this album is a solid collection of songs.

Day 0632 - Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes "Life's Too Good" (1988)

Members of the Icelandic post-punk scene banded together to form the Sugarcubes.   The band had apparently never intended their music to be taken seriously (meaning it to lampoon the pop music sound), but soon found themselves at the centre of a label 'bidding war'.  They ended up being the first Icelandic act to attain major international success... so I guess the joke's on them.

The music is, as to be expected, kind of jagged postpunk sounds (propulsive bass, aggressive but slightly funky guitar) but with a more playful, melodic sensibility.  It's a decent album, but the clear standout is Björk's voice, and accordingly, the album helped launch her solo career.

Day 0631 - Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation" (1988)

Sonic Youth's last release before moving across to a major label.   Friends of the band, including Henry Rollins had told them that their albums were great, but the long-form noise jam versions of the songs that would characterise their live shows had never really been captured on record.

The band took this on board, and when Thurston Moore brought in the songs for "Daydream Nation", instead of refining and condensing his ideas, the band sought to expand them out into a form more recognisable to fans of their live work.   The resulting album is viewed by many as Sonic Youth's creative peak.

Myself I probably preferred "EVOL" and "Sisters" as I enjoy that more concise approach.  However, this is still a worthwhile and interesting album.

Day 0630 - Viva Hate

Morrissey "Viva Hate" (1988)

Released a mere 6 months after the Smiths' swansong "Strangeways Here We Come", Morrissey hit the ground running assisted by Smiths (and eventually Cranberries, Blur and Kaiser Chiefs) producer Stephen Street.

Street, and guitarist/keyboardist Vini Reilly would later argue over which of them wrote the bulk of the songs on the album, but whatever the case, one of them helped Morrissey get over the potentially awkward hurdle of the first solo album.

To my mind, the tracks are a bit of a mixed bunch and stand or fall based on the backing track.  Morrissey himself mostly seems to do a similar vocal thing over each track.   There's are some sonic experiments (particularly in the first couple of tracks) mixed with more traditional arrangements, one or two even sounding a bit like the Smiths.

A couple of favourites are "Ordinary Boys" (from which the band of the same name got their moniker) and "Margaret on the Guillotine" in which Morrissey wistfully imagines Margaret Thatcher being killed... and as a result, in real life, got him questioned by the Special Branch (according to Morrissey's autobiography).

Day 0629 - California

American Music Club "California" (1988)

The book outlines this as being an 'Americana' album before that was really established as a genre.  There is certainly a very American mix of genres here, with country featuring prominently, along with alt-country, rock, and a touch of what is almost psychobilly ("Bad Liquor"). 

The band had been compared (by themselves too) to R.E.M. so they were a little surprised to see that band take off mainstream while they themselves did not.  They resolved to record in a different, more mellow style this time around.

Really quite enjoyed this album, nice mix of styles: "Western Sky" almost has a Smiths kind of thing going on.  "Jenny" (much like my wife, with the same name) is gorgeous.  A delicate, sombre acoustic ballad.  "Somewhere" has a bit of a Springsteen flavour to it... maybe Springsteen-meets-REM.

The album is mostly low-key, mellow, with production geared to create mood around the sparse arrangements.   A few livelier tracks keep things spicy.

Day 0628 - Shadowland

k.d. lang "Shadowland" (1988)

Lang's previous work with the Reclines had raised eyebrows and left a few country fans unsure of what to make of its mix of styles occasional sense of humour, and Lang's own androgynous style.  Luckily it also attracted the attention of Patsy Cline's long-time producer Owen Bradley.  Bradley came out of retirement to take Lang under his wing and help her fashion her first solo album.

The album is still not a straight country album, "Busy being blue" lives up to its name.  "Black Coffee" also has a kind of jazzy blues to it.  There's the beautiful string-laden country of "Tears don't care who cries them" which recalls Roy Orbison (who Lang has also worked with).  Tracks like "Lock, stock and teardrops", "Sugar Moon" and "(Waltz me) once again around the dancefloor" though have a pleasingly straight-ahead honky tonk country sound to them.

Day 0627 - Tank Battles

Dagmar Krause "Tank Battles" (1988)

Another really interesting find.   It's almost like a demented take on Broadway or Cabaret, which is maybe not surprising given that it featuring arrangement contributions from Greg Cohen.  Cohen had just recently worked on Tom Waits' "Frank's Wild Years" album, which mined similar musical territory.

Krause had started off in singing in clubs in the German Reeperbahn district, and had sung in a number of bands as well as working as a solo artist.   She had become interested in the music of composer Hans Eisler, whose songs focussing on the downtrodden and underground in early-mid 20th century Germany had led his works to be banned by the Nazis and forced Eisler himself into exile.

The album bursts with life, cynicism and humour.  Krause's deep Teutonic voice fits the music to a tee.  Songs like "The song of the whitewash" sound like some weird mix of Marlene Dietrich, Dresden Dolls and the more theatrical parts of Pink Floyd's "The Wall"

Day 0626 - Bug

Dinosaur Jr "Bug" (1988)

Another album of Dinosaur Jr's noisy alt-rock that I didn't really warm to.   Apparently even lead singer/guitarist Jay Mascis isn't the biggest fan of this one.

This album is another mix of noisy guitar accompanying occasionally melodic vocal.  The book makes comparisons to Neil Young, and I guess if you were being particularly imaginative you could go along with that.

It was the last album with the original line-up.   Mascis fired bassist/singer/songwriter Lou Barlow after this album and brought the band fully under his control.   Barlow went on to form the band Sebadoh where he could get his creative ideas out.

Day 0625 - …and Justice For All

Metallica “…and Justice For All” (1988) – got it

This is another album that I could expound on without listening to it.  But I will listen to it for completism, and because…. METALLICA!  Accordingly, I'll warn you that this is lengthy...

Metallica had started out playing their punky thrash on “Kill em All” and had slowly been adding layers of melodic and harmonic sophistication to their speedy thrash, reaching their peak with the album "Master of Puppets".  On the tour for that album, the band’s tour bus crashed, tragically killing bass-player Cliff Burton and leaving a fissure in the band that would take years to properly heal.  Rather than take time off to process this tragedy, the band quickly recruited a new bassist Jason Newsted, recorded an EP and hit the road again, before eventually decamping to record "...and Justice".

The band ended up taking out a lot of their unresolved issues on Newsted, with the bassist being mercilessly hazed for a long time, being given nicknames such as ‘Jason Newkid’ and ‘Carole’ (due to his supposed likeness to Carole King).  Another result of Cliff's death was a shift in the power-balance of the band.  Metallica had been becoming increasingly democratic, with all members contributing songs and arrangement ideas.  “…and Justice” saw the power swing back largely to singer/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich.  Newsted only contributed to the writing of one song on the album, "Blackened" and his bass was famously almost non-existent in the final mix of the album.  It was suggested that this was further hazing from the band, who felt that Newsted’s playing was not up to scratch compared to their fallen comrade.

The album is an odd duck, but it really is its own thing.  With speedy thrash riffs mixing with occasionally dramatic vocals (and in the case of "Frayed Ends of Sanity" with a chant nicked from the Wizard of Oz).  The lack of bass is partially compensated by some low-chugging guitars and the resulting sound is odd but distinctive.  Hetfield was moving away from his throat scraping, trebly screams and into his now trademark, deep gravelly growl.  Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett is a star here, funnelling melodic themes, spitfire runs of notes and various scrapes, squeals and other sounds through his own virtuoso style to elevate each of the songs.

The songs could be seen as overblown in places, but I view them as being akin to a weird 'metal' take on classical music, particularly on instrumental track "To live is to die" which lays out its themes and then builds on them beautifully and brutally over its nearly 10 minute duration.

I do love this album, as it is one of those formative (high school) musical discoveries for me.  But, having heard one or two versions of this album where Jason Newsted’s basslines are added back into the mix (thanks to their inclusion on the Guitar Hero video game), the album certainly would not have suffered from having that extra bit of bottom-end.

Ultimately, the band tired of the complexity and length of the songs and started dropping them from live sets when they noticed some of their fans likewise losing interest.  The band ended up moving to a more commercial and compositionally compact approach for their follow-up (1991’s “Metallica” AKA “the Black Album”).

Day 0624 - Surfer Rosa

Pixies "Surfer Rosa" (1988)

The Pixes were another band who had circulated some demos/EPs before releasing their first proper full-length album.   The band were paired with Shellac/Big Black frontman Steve Albini who had been swiftly moving more and more into his no-nonsense style of production.

The band had one meeting with Albini and were recording less than a week later.  Albini charged the band a flat fee, refusing to take a share of royalties (as was often standard practice) believing it to be an insult to a band to take a percentage for their work.  A principle he would continue to hold throughout his career.

This pragmatic approach to recording led them to spend only one day recording vocals (including recording some of bassist/vocalist Kim Deal's vocals in a bathroom for natural reverb) but a week or two on guitars.   The arresting debut is an onslaught of noisy guitars, and screamed vocals, but with this cacophony often wrapped around tight, melodic songs.   The album served as inspiration for many 90s alt-rock luminaries such as PJ Harvey, Billy Corgan and the members of Nirvana.

Day 0623 - Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine "Isn't Anything" (1988)

The band had produced a few EPs, had some line-up changes and then buckled down to produce this, their first full-length album.

The description in the book sounded really interesting.  It said that they would pile effects on the guitars, and then take the clean guitar signal out of the mix, leaving only the guitar-shaped outline of the effects.   It has its moments, but the overall effect is just of a slightly more aurally interesting take on the shoegazer sound.  Perfectly listenable, but not something I would specifically seek to revisit.

Day 0622 - Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman "Tracy Chapman" (1988)

Chapman was introduced to the media at the time when they were invited to a showcase by Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs.   Tracy also played at this showcase, and by all accounts, she impressed.   Once she had recorded this debut album, she was given a chance to play a concert for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday which further helped to get her music quickly out in the public eye/ear.

It's a pretty strong selection of songs.  To my tastes, it works best when the band/studio side of things is pared back, leaving the songs to rely more on Chapman's guitar and voice (or just her voice in the case of the effective acapella track "Behind the Wall").

The songs range from passionate folk and protests to more country sounds and just overall really good 'singer-songrwriter' stuff.

Day 0621 - The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies "The Trinity Session" (1988)

The Cowboy Junkies were something of a family affair, formed by lifelong friends Alan Anton and Michael Timmins, and eventually also featuring Michael's brother Peter on drums, and their sister Margo on vocals.

Margo was originally plagued with shyness, recording her vocals with her back to the rest of the band.

This album was recorded with the band grouped around one microphone in Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity (thus the album's title).  The result is a beautiful album of minimalistic, intimate country tracks.  A mixture of  original tracks and covers ranging from Hank Williams to Lou Reed.

Day 0620 - 16 Lovers Lane

The Go-Betweens "16 Lovers Lane" (1988)

Referred to in some quarters as 'the Indie "Rumours"' because romantic relationships within the band were ending (singer/songwriter Robert  Forster and drummer Lindy Morrison) and just taking off (singer/songwriter Grant McLennan and violinist Amanda Brown).  In amongst this changing and potentially volatile dynamic, their bass-player had also left and been replaced.

The album reflects that landscape, with a mix of upbeat pop songs and dole-drum laments.  The band broke up following this album (but reformed several years later).   The songs aren't terrible, but honestly, I listened to the album about 4 times in a row, and aside from vaguely recognising one or two songs when they came back around, it mostly just didn't feel like any of it was memorable enough to stick with me.

Day 0619 - Bummed

Happy Mondays "Bummed" (1988)

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, but bummed didn't do anything for me.  It didn't bum me out or anything, but it just passed by in a bit of a mess of sound.  I probably like the album cover more than I like the music inside it.

Apparently the band were taking a shit-ton of ecstasy during the recording process.  Producer Martin Hannett draped the resultant recordings in reverb and echo aiding to the 'audio soup' feel of it all.

Day 0618 - Green

R.E.M. "Green" (1988) - got it

The band's first major label release after parting company with I.R.S. Records.   According to interviews, the band felt that I.R.S. was putting pressure on them to sell well, while not really putting a lot of marketing or wide distribution efforts behind them.  Following the move to a major label (who guaranteed them creative freedom), the band became defensive in interviews in response to accusations of 'selling out'.

When left to their own devices, the band threw themselves more into major-key pop-rock tunes, but at the same time, Peter Buck starts spraying mandolin all over the place, laying down that sort of 'alt-folk' sound that would become prevalent on a few of their 90s releases.  The band experimented with trying to write "un-REM-ish" songs and switching instruments to change things up a bit.

There are touches of country, and the odd moodier track.  "I remember California" sounds like some effective middle-ground between gothy post-punk and grunge.

Day 0617 - Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney "Superfuzz Bigmuff" (1988)

One of the earlier grunge albums, and featuring a decent cross section of the talent/incest involved in the Seattle scene.  The drummer was in Nirvana (for all of one song), the bass-player was in the Melvins, and the other two members were in bands with future Pearl Jam Members.

This EP is named after two guitar effects pedals favoured by the band: the Univox Super-Fuzz and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff.  The record was produced by Jack Endino, who also produced SubPop releases for bands such as Soundgarden, L7 and Nirvana.  Really just adds to the grunge pedigree of it.

The music was indicative of where some of those Seattle bands were heading at the time: Punk rock rawness and energy but with a touch more melody, embracing swirling walls of psychedelic noise guitar and with more than just a touch of Black Sabbath to the whole thing.

Day 0616 - Vivid

Living Colour "Vivid" (1988) - got it

One of the first black metal bands (as opposed to black-metal), Living Colour was started by guitar maestro Vernon Reid, and originally billed as 'Vernon Reid's Living Colour'.   Vernon was originally from the UK, which I guess explains the English spelling of colour. 

The band sought to break down the idea of rock/metal being for whites and rap/RnB being for blacks.  Reid assembled a highly talented band, including bassist Muzz Skillings, drummer Will Calhoun and vocalist Corey Glover to produce this mash-up of rock, metal, funk, rap and occasional balladry.  A strong sense of melody is evident throughout in even the heavier songs.
 
Brilliant album that I haven't listened to nearly enough lately.  So again I have to thank this 1001 albums thing for (a) introducing me to new and interesting music, and (b) leading me to revisit and rediscover albums that I was already familiar with.

Day 0615 - Idlewild

Everything But the Girl "Idlewild" (1988)

Everything But the Girl named themselves after a department store advertisement that proclaimed it could provide all your bedroom needs "...everything but the girl".   Despite the skeezy origin of their name, they made beautiful, sultry and soulful music.

I was more familiar with EBtG's later more electronic-tinged music, but this was really nice.  Their soulful tunes are given a vaguely jazzy flavour due to the horn section.   Smooth as silk.

Day 0614 - Truth and Soul

Fishbone "Truth and Soul" (1988) - got it

I am a big Fishbone fan, and I think it's a pity that they've never enjoyed the same notoriety as their contemporaries in bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Primus, or bands they influenced, such as No Doubt or Sublime.   It could be because they have stayed weird and haven't made any deliberately commercial moves, or it could be (as was hinted in the excellent film "Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone") more a question of race.

Definitely, outside of one or two middling-to-good releases, the band have continued to produce interesting and quality music throughout their career.  This is their second album, and possibly my favourite of theirs (don't know, my 'favourite' changes every so often).  They'd taken their wild, madcap mix of funk, ska, reggae and rock and had added elements of metal, jazz, punk and even an acoustic ballad (album closer "Change").  It's probably too the album where they best balanced their different sounds.

The band had added a more mature and serious tone with tracks like "Change", or "One Day" (which, to my ears, almost sounds like they were borrowing the vocal harmony sound of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision" but making it funky), or the moody "Pouring Rain" which acts as a bridge between the Fusion of Miles Davis and the sound of modern dub.  The band still retain their wackiness on tracks like the jazzy stomp of "I like to hide behind my glasses" or the funky-as-all-hell "Bonin' in the Boneyard".

I could continue going track-by-track, suffice to say, it's a brilliant album.

Day 0613 - Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys "Fisherman's Blues" (1988)

I think that in my head I'd confused the Waterboys with the Newsboys and was expecting some "Take me to your leader" style pop-rock.   The Waterboys had produced some rock albums, then their new violinist Steve Wickham invited singer and songwriter Mike Scott over to Ireland to hang out.  Apparently it changed his life (or at the least his musical direction).

The band wrote and recorded screeds of material and ended up whittling it down to these 13 songs (though a less successful second volume of songs was later released from these sessions).  The songs have a definite Irish/Celtic flavour throughout, probably more in a Dexys Midnight Runners way than something like the in-your-face sound of the Pogues though.  There are hints of Bob Dylan and the Band too with folky flavours throughout.

Day 0612 - I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen "I'm Your Man" (1988) - got it

Cohen moves away from live/organic instruments in favour of synths and drum machines.  A lot of people, even now, praise it as a giant leap forward, but personally it doesn't 'do it' for me.  Don't get me wrong, the songs on "I'm Your Man" are among Leonard's best, but having heard live versions of some of them using live band instrumentation, I just feel like the songs would have been better served that way.

That gripe aside, the album does have an interesting sound.  Leonard picked it as one where he was happiest with his vocals, which is odd as he seems to sing with much less melodic range here (though his voice does sound smooth).  The lyrics here are brilliant as usual, with the title track being a personal favourite of mine.

Day 0611 - If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (1988) - got it

Good gravy, that is a whole other kettle of fish!  I enjoyed the last Pogues album in this list ("Rum, Sodomy & the Lash"), but this one takes their punk-Celtic sound and spreads it out over a range of other genres.  From the jazzy nightclub swag of "Metropolis" to the Middle-Eastern-sounding "Turkish song of the damned", the lolloping oompa of closer "Worms", and of course the slightly drunken ballad of "Fairytale of New York" that has rightfully become one of the most beloved of the modern Christmas songs.  That last song featured vocals from Kristy Macoll the wife of the band's producer Steve Lilywhite.

Their previous producer Elvis Costello had become romantically entangled with bass-player Cait O'Riordan, who ended up leaving the band, leading to a bit of a lineup shuffle prior to the recording of the album.  "Fairytale of New York" had originally been written with her in mind as the female vocalist.

Day 0610 - Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby" (1987)

Over the first couple of tracks I was a little put off by the staid, sterile 80s production sound on this one, but TTD's amazing voice and strong songwriting turned my opinion right around.

There's the minimalist funk and catchy synth line of "Wishing well", the souful doowop of "Who's Lovin' You", the beautiful acapella "As yet untitled" and plenty of other gems.

Day 0609 - The Joshua Tree

U2 "The Joshua Tree" (1987) - got it

Love or hate them, this really is U2 at the height of their powers.  They still had their earnestness and honesty, but hadn't become insufferably preachy.  They had mastered their instruments and embraced studio technology without being overly reliant on it.  With one Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois-produced album (the Unforgettable Fire) under their belt, they had found their groove with the producers and were able to trust them and take risks with their sound.

I'd obviously heard a lot of this music (even before I'd bought the album), but I was still pleasantly surprised what a strong overall 'package' the album is.  You have the awesome pop trio of "where the streets have no name" "Still haven't found what I'm looking for" and "With or without you" followed on by the atmospheric rock of "Bullet the blue sky".  The quality doesn't dip on the second side with "Red Hill mining town" and the NZ-inspired "One Tree Hill".

As someone who isn't a rabid U2 fan, but appreciates parts of their oeuvre, I would still point to this as their pinnacle.   Passion meeting studio-savvy without getting too far up their own arses in either of those aspects.

Day 0608 - Actually

Petshop Boys "Actually" (1987) - got it

Another one that my older sister used to thrash back in the 80s (though with this one I remember that I did enjoy it back then).  It's a solid pop album, somehow sounds 'of its time' but without seeming dated.  Probably due to the songs just being really strong, and of many of the synthesizer sounds used currently being back in vogue.

In some ways it's a quite a bleak album, covering ideas from consumerism, Catholic guilt, one-sided relationships, romantic paranoia.  However, these themes are couched in catchy tunes, with minimal but imaginative arrangements, which help increase their appeal.

The track "It couldn't happen here" is co-written with Ennio Morricone and with strings arranged by Angelo Badalamenti who brings in hints of his score-work on Twin Peaks.  Laying in strings that walk the line between schmaltz and darkness.

Day 0607 - Bad

Michael Jackson "Bad" (1987)

My sister used to crank this album on a regular basis shortly after its release, and I remember out-and-out hating it.  I quite like it now, and I'm not sure if my tastes have just changed over time, or if back then my 1990s contrariness was just rearing its head a little early.

Jacko, together with producer Quincy Jones, had produced 2 amazingly successful albums in 'Off the Wall' and 'Thriller'.  With Thriller having been the highest selling album of all time (still is), it was a bit of a difficult act to follow.  Despite the weight of expectation, they come out firing with what is a brilliant (if somewhat over-polished) collection of songs.

The songs continues Jacko's mix of funk-rock (Smooth Criminal), cheese-rock and weepy soul (I Just Can't Stop Loving You).  He got right into the tough guy roll hinted at by the title track, donning his leathers with more buckles and zips than had been seen on an album cover before.

Whether or not this music is up to the standard of his previous couple of releases is up for debate; either way, it's a solid collection of songs.   Certainly from this point on, success  (presumably also fuelled by his messed up childhood) started to warp him into a crazy, monkey-toting, plastic-surgery-getting weirdo, whose music could still stoke the fires every now and then; but didn't really continue to hit the same heights.