Day 0667 - The La's

The La's "The La's" (1990)

 
There must be something about Liverpool.  This is a strong and competent pop album that reflects the passion for 1960s retro prevalent in the 90s.... actually, technically most of these songs were written in the 80s. 

The band had been trying to record the album for 3-4 years with 3-4 different producers and were never quite happy with any of these attempts.  The record company finally pushed for it to be released and the band (or at least songwriter Lee Mavers) was dissatisfied with the results, and didn't mind telling people.

Not sure what Mayers' problem was; it's great collection of concise pop songs.  The main frame of reference is early-to-mid-era Beatles played through a 1990s filter.  The most instantly recognisable song is "There she goes", and surely there can't be too many people in the western world who haven't heard it, due to its radio play and extensive use in film and tv.  The rest of the album is hardly filler though, with memorable upbeat pop tracks, the vaguely musichall "Freedom song" and the glorious "Looking glass" that starts off simple but builds to noisy-yet-melodic crescendo.  

Day 0666 - World Clique

Dee-Lite "World Clique" (1990) - got it

More than just "Groove is in the Heart".  This is an album that features guest spots from such luminaries as Bootsy Collins, Herbie Hancock and Maceo Parker.  But it is more than those guest spots too.  This is an album that grooves from start to finish.  Some of the big rollicking beats and jagged piano date the music slightly, but aside from that, it's a great mix of techno, funk and pop.

Different styles and sounds are on display, mixing live instruments and samples.  Lady Miss Kier's voice provides enough variety that I didn't grow weary of hearing the same singer throughout.

Day 0665 - En-tact

The Shamen "En-tact" (1990)

The Shamen started life as "Alone Again, Or" (named after the song by Love) recording psychedelic music.  They started to gravitate more towards the acid house movement as the dance scene rose in prominence.

This is the first Shamen album to feature vocalist/keyboardist Mr C and it picked out a clear path of danceable, but listenable electronica.  Founding member Will Synott died shortly after the release of the album, but his family encouraged the group to carry on making music after his death.

Day 0664 - Heaven or Las Vegas

So we enter the 1990s.  I expect I'll get through this decade a little quicker, as I'll possibly own a few more of these releases.   The 1960s and 1990s have always been prominent decades in my music collection for some reason.  I guess in the cyclical nature of music, the 90s were trying to revisit the psychedelia (though with a lot more distortion) of the 60s, with a lot of even the heavier bands citing the Beatles as an influence.  The fluidity of genres as displayed by the Beatles and even more straight-ahead acts like Zeppelin, the Stones and the Beach Boys was also drawn upon with aplomb.  

Anywhoo....



Cocteau Twins "Heaven or Las Vegas" (1990)

Really loved the last Cocteau Twins' album on the list "Treasures".   The dreamy, ethereal pop with stark desaturated album cover seemed to be the modus operandi for their first few albums.   With "Heaven or Vegas" they change things up.   From the bright, colourful neon album cover to the slightly more polished pop within.   The vocals are much clearer and more prominent than on previous releases.   The balance had definitely shifted more towards perky pop with propulsive bass.  Robin Guthrie's guitar continues to be a shimmering clean presence.

Guthrie was dealing with a heavy drug problem, on top of that, he and singer Elizabeth Fraser had their first child (the album was released on her first birthday) and they had had issues with their management.   Maybe the Vegas reference is hinting towards the more faded, jaded neon side of Vegas rather than the glitz and glamour.

Day 0663 - Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" (1989)

We wrap up the 1980s with another classic rap release.   Oddly, this album was funded via a canny marketing move from Priority Records, who licensed and released an album by the fictional group 'The California Raisins' who had hit it big with their cover of 'Heard it on the Grapevine'.



Eazy E assembled the group of DJs and MCs, and put together an undeniable slice of gangster rap.   Whereas Public Enemy brought their 'wall of noise' and De La Soul, their pop-leaning sample-based tracks, N.W.A. just lay down sparse rhythms with some scratches and a few well-placed sounds and beats-by-Dre (and Yella) to create the backing for Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Mc Ren to rhyme over. 

The tracks are famously aggressive, packed with violence, which the group were accused of glorifying, but as they pointed out, they were just reporting on what life was actually like in their neighbourhood.  The opening salvo of "Straight outta Compton" "Fuck Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" set the scene, but the album holds its own throughout the duration.

The mix of the three MCs works really well and adds variety enough to keep things spicey across the album's runtime.  

Day 0662 - Done by the Forces of Nature

The Jungle Brothers "Done by the Forces of Nature" (1989)

 
The Brothers beefed up their classic rap sound with elements of jazz, world music, house, funk and Afrobeat.  According to the book, the group were accused of selling out, but history appears to have vindicated the them, with the album being pegged quite high on several ranked lists, not to mention retrospective reviews generally lauding the album.

Day 0661 - Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation 1814" (1989)

JJ had had success with her third album "Control".   Predictably, her record label suggested producing a follow-up that reproduced that album as closely as possible.   Janet, instead opted to craft an album with a sense of social consciousness.   She commented on various issues she'd encountered either herself or in the news, issues such as school shootings, and racial dis/harmony. 

While working on the album, Janet had commented to her producers that it would be great if they could just create their own peaceful nation of music... leading to the album title and title track.

The music mines similar territory to her brother's 1980s output, the funk and RnB mixed with a touch of rock (particularly the track "Black Cat").  There's more of a focus on danceable beats on memorable singles like "Miss You Much" and "Rhythm Nation".   The Jackson family could do no wrong (musically) around this time.

Day 0660 - 3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul "3 Feet High and Rising" (1989)

 
For a time De La Soul were labelled as rap's hippies.  This album is a startlingly more colourful, sunshiney and less aggressive release than those from other prominent hiphop artists at the time such as Public Enemy and NWA.

One critic called them the new-wave to Public Enemy's punk, and I guess it's as good a comparison as any.   A sample-heavy record, the group had borrowed from artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Hall & Oates, and the Turtles.   The latter of these would lead to the former members of the Turtles suing the band for samples of their music featured in the track "Transmitting from Mars".  That lawsuit took a lot of air out of the sampling movement, with artists coming to fear the exorbitant legal costs that could result.

I don't usually take much interest in lyrics, but as one of the songs features the name of my wife I decided to read the lyrics.  This is some top shelf wordplay: interesting, narrative and creative usage.

Day 0659 - Club Classics Vol. One

Soul II Soul "Club Classics Vol. One" (1989)

The group started off playing house parties and street parties.   It's apt then that the album is set out like a DJ's club mix with some long drawn-out beat loops and some catchy hooks.   There are touches of jazz, funk, disco and the titular soul, all brewed into a dancey stew.  Probably not my cup of tea overall, but it's listenable.

They released this album before the line-up started to change, with member Jazzie B eventually being the only original member left.

Day 0658 - Repeater

Fugazi "Repeater" (1989)

 
After the dissolution of Minor Threat, Ian MacKaye had played in a few other bands but was a bit burnt out from it.  He decided to focus less on 'being in a band' and more in just finding people he could play with.   He also wanted to combine his punk background with a reggae sound.  Both of these goals eventually led to the formation of Fugazi, though I'll be damned if I can hear a lot of reggae in it.

There's some crystal clear bass and drums, with the repetitive hypnotic approach to basslines being something that Joe Lally would go on to revisit in John Frusciante's band Ataxia.   The guitar is occasionally tight and concise, and at other times is a diffuse wall of noise.   MacKaye and guitarist/vocalist Guy Picciotto provide punky vocals that at times find points of harmony... almost pointing to the catchy pop-punk popularised in the 90s to early 00s (though you couldn't really call Fugazi 'pop').

Day 0657 - Nick of Time

Bonnie Raitt "Nick of Time" (1989)

To say that Bonnie had had a hard time of it, would be understating things slightly.  Her record company dropped her due to low sales, and (after a two year gap) released the album she'd been working on prior to being dropped, but under a completely different title.  This left Bonnie to promote an album of 2 year old material that she was no longer particularly connected to.
Her romantic relationship ended, she had to disband her backing band as she couldn't afford to pay them, and she fell into a slump of addiction and depression.

After a brief attempt to work with Prince (seems that everyone was doing that in the late 80s/early 90s) Bonnie was put together with Don Was from the group Was (Not Was) of "Walk the Dinosaur" fame.  It ended up being one of those fruitful artist/producer match-ups.  Was matched Raitt's bluesy rock and country-tinged balladry with a little pop sensibility and studio sparkle to create "Nick of Time" and its follow-up "Luck of the Draw", both of which successfully revived Bonnie's career.

Bonnie Raitt is another of those artists where I'd heard her name but had never heard any of her songs... unlike other artists on the list though, her music sounded pretty much exactly as I'd expected it would.

Day 0656 - Doolittle

Pixies "Doolittle" (1989)

The Pixies switched up producers with a noticeable change in sound.  Where "Surfer Rosa" producer Steve Albini favoured dirty, punky production with unconventional techniques; "Doolittle" producer Gil Norton favoured more of a conventional studio sheen.   Given that the Pixies were a band who mixed pleasant melody with abrasive noise, they were clearly amenable to either approach.  

Norton's production sees clean, prominent bass-lines and drums with a noisy squall of guitar over the top.  Black Francis' vocals alternately scream, or sink into melodic harmony with bassist Kim Deal's voice.   The album is a great cohesive mix of styles that lays further groundwork for the wave of Grunge (Cobain was a vocal fan of the Pixies) and the noisier areas of 90s indie-rock and indie-pop alike.

Day 0655 - Pump

Aerosmith "Pump" (1989)

Aerosmith feel like they combine the riffs of Zeppelin and the backing/harmony vocals of the Beatles, but with a little slease and 80s production shine.   Going further on the Zeppelin thing, Aerosmith are such a quintessentially American band that it's almost like one of those things where someone puts English text through an online translator then translates it back into English.  You get Zeppelin taking American blues and doing their own thing with it, then Aerosmith bringing it back to America but funnelling it through their own unique filter.

The album is reflective of the band's late 80s/early 90s output with some stomping hook-filled rockers and some power ballads that could power half of Massachusetts.  Some interludes break things up interestingly ticking along and the odd, confronting "Janie's got a gun" keeps the listener from getting too complacent.

Aerosmith's creative and commercial slump was well and truly over.  For this album they decided to eschew outside help and assembled at a secluded studio to work on songs, coming up with 19 tracks that they divided into the 'A' and 'B' material.

Day 0654 - Moss Side Story

Barry Adamson "Moss Side Story" (1989)

Barry had amassed a pretty impressive portfolio prior to this album.  He'd played in Magazine, the Buzzcocks, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and a couple of other acts.   Adamson cast this, his first solo album as the soundtrack to a non-existent film noir.   In part it was a reflection of Adamson's love of film soundtrack music (the influences of composers such as Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone and even Angelo Badalamenti are never far away), and in part he set it as a sort of musical CV with which to try and rope in some actual film scoring work.   That did eventually bear fruit and Adamson would go on to contribute scores for films including "Natural Born Killers"  "The Beach" and "Lost Highway".

The album is a masterpiece, mixing noirish jazz, frantic rock interludes, smouldering piano, nightmarish ambience, and even a cheeky wee cover of the theme to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"  Adamson throws everything he has at the album.  Judging from the album cover (never judge by the cover!) and his connection with the Bad Seeds, I had thought this might be a bit of a crooning record with a touch of murder-blues, but it ended up being so much more.

Day 0653 - What’s That Noise?

Coldcut "What's That Noise?" (1989)

"What do you get when you combine an art teacher and a computer programmer?"  Sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but the answer is actually 'Coldcut'.   The two had started off DJing individually and eventually made contact and started working together.

Much like the previous entry from 808 State, this is an interesting electronic album, built mainly from samples.  Unlike the 808 State album though, this one does have a few featured vocal turns including Mark E Smith from the Fall (“I’m in deep”), and Lisa Stansfield (“People hold on”).

Day 0652 - 90

808 State "90" (1989)

Another album that the book refers to as "Manchester/Madchester" and "Acid House", even though it sounds completely different from the other two on the list that classed under that heading.  I guess it's similar to Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden all being labelled as 'grunge' in the 90s, even though they were playing fairly different styles of music (with one or two common factors).

This to me is early electronic/EDM: thumping beats, interesting synth sounds.  There are minimal vocals, and when they are there, they seem more like a looped instrument rather than the central 'feature' of the tracks.   Great album, really interesting stuff.

Day 0651 - Disintegration

The Cure "Disintegration" (1989) 

Robert Smith plumbed the depths again, facing the realisation that he was growing old because he was turning 30...  my near-40-year-old heart bleeds for him.

Smith felt pressured to follow up on the Cure's prior successes.  They had initially had a Gothic vibe to them, but once people came to expect that, he switched to a more accessible pop vein, but disliked the increased popularity so returned again to the goth fold.

This album certainly doesn't appear to court MTV or commercial radio, with the songs being lengthy morose grooves that take their time creating an atmosphere (though still with a keen sense of melody on display).  Whatever Smith's intentions, the album did reasonably well commercially.

Day 0650 -The Sensual World

Kate Bush "The Sensual World" (1989)

I preferred Bush's earlier, weirder, more eclectic offering "The Dreaming", but this is still a strong collection of songs.  Kate creates mature pop without losing all of her adventurousness of sound.

The songs manage to work in elements of world music in an unobtrusive way.   Including a lot of backing vocals from Trio Bulgarka, a Bulgarian vocal ensemble and the inclusion of some Celtic folk instruments.  These elements are used to serve the songs rather than dominate them.

Day 0649 - Djam Leelii

Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck "Djam Leelii" (1989)

An album that is somehow sparse, yets feels cinematic.  The album largely consists of an acoustic guitar and the voices of Maal and Sek, with just a few touches of electric guitar, and the odd bit of percussion to change the sound, yet it all sounds so much bigger than that.

The two musicians were born in Senegal but left their restrictive home country after Maal, via a scholarship, moved to study in France.  He invited his lifelong friend, the blind guitarist Mansour Seck to join him, and the two recorded this album.

The duo were championed by legendary and eclectic DJ John Peel, and as is often the case, the man's taste is spot on.  This is a brilliant and eminently listenable album.

Day 0648 - Raw Like Sushii

Neneh Cherry "Raw Like Sushi" (1989)

It was almost a foregone conclusion that Neneh Cherry would become an artist of some description.  She was born to a painter mother and a musician father.  After parting with Neneh's father, her mother would go on to marry jazz trumpeter Don Cherry (who famously worked with Ornette Coleman, mentioned two posts earlier).  Neneh travelled the world, played in a number of bands (including punkers the Slits), and she deejayed, exploring rap and reggae among other genres.

Her husband was a producer for the first Massive Attack album (on which Neneh would also worked).  The album has hints of that sound, of looped beats and soundscapes that feel like they have a foot in the club and a foot on the street, but with a bit more of a pop and rap slant.

Neneh promoted the strength of women, and the power of motherhood, having done tv performances heavily pregnant or carrying her infant child.  Definitely some of the songs here touch on the topic of motherhood with "Inna City Mamma" and "The Next Generation".

Day 0647 - Stone Roses

Stone Roses "Stone Roses" (1989)

When I lived in the UK, the music fans whom I knew seemed to rave about the Stone Roses.  I've never been quite able to understand the appeal based on the songs of theirs that I'd heard.   Oddly (given that they appear to only have 2 full-length albums) I had never heard much of the material on this album before.   

I was much more used to their sound being a stripped down almost funky dancy take on rock; but this album seems to have its roots more in 60 pop-rock and folk (even featuring a reworked version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair").   There is a good deal more melody than I was expecting, and some sonic experimentalism with track "Don't Stop" seeming to be the music for previous track "Waterfall" played backwards with different lyrics.    

As a fan of reversed music, I wholeheartedly support this approach.  Reversing a piece of music really does produce an entirely different sound, often with a different mood to it.   When I was younger, I had a Beatles cassette that got twisted.  Once I rolled the tape back in, half of the album played backwards.  It honestly cracked my mind wide open, and I loved it.

Day 0646 - Spy vs Spy

John Zorn "Spy vs Spy" (1989) - got it

It's a shame to see some artists get almost their entire discography included in this book, while someone with as varied an oeuvre as John Zorn only gets this one.   

In some ways its an appropriate enough album, a bit of a microcosm for what Zorn is about: it takes familiar elements (the free-jazz compositions of Ornette Coleman, elements of hardcore, hints of Carl Stalling's cartoon music, and metal grind) and mixes it together to form something original.  Dishing out short bursts of sound.
On the other hand, it's not the most diverse or representative of Zorn's albums (not reflecting the more melodic sides of his sound, the breadth of his soundtrack work, or his passion for traditional Jewish music), it doesn’t feature any original compositions from the prolific Zorn, and the unrelenting sonic pummelling does risk becoming a bit samey by the end.

Zorn's goal here had been to try and reimagine Coleman's compositions while reinvigorating the shock factor they would have had when they were first unveiled.   Zorn and the other sax player Tim Berne are panned either side and improvving over an amazing rhythm section.  They're like "you want some hard bop rhythm?  Not a problem.   What's that?  Blast beats... yeah, sure thing". 

Free free jazz.

Day 0645 -L’eau Rouge

The Young Gods "L'eau Rouge" (1989)

The meeting place of the industrial rock of Ministry and NIN, and the cabaret of Kurt Weill (Young Gods would go on to cover some fo Weill's material) and Tom Waits.  With its pounding drums and deep guttural vocals, this is likely to have also been  listening material for artists such as Rammsteinn and Mike Patton.

The Young Gods had named themselves after a track by the experimental band Swans, and managed to get that band's Roli Mosimann to produce this album.   The album veers between ferocious guitar assault, mechanical beats, and orchestral flourishes, showing that this is not your average industrial album.   Case in point, the first track is in waltz time!

Day 0644 - Paul’s Boutique

Beastie Boys "Paul's Boutique" (1989)

The Beasties had parted company with Rick Rubin and Def Jam records, and were being written off in some corners as a bit of a one-hit wonder.

Rather than just repeat their 'bratty frat-rap over rock' approach, the Beasties enlisted the help of sampling and sonic-weaving extraordinaires: the Dust Brothers.  A good deal of the music for the album had already been completed by the DBs with the intention of it being released to clubs as an instrumental album.  The Beasties convinced them to make it the basis for their album.  The Dust Bros suggested that they could strip it back to just the beats, but the Beasties wanted the density of the sound.

There is still a bit of the smartass party rap present but the Beasties do branch out.  The interesting production acts as an a bridge to their later more serious work.  Apart from the vocals, the rest of the album is almost entirely composed of samples, and is viewed by some as one of the last big 'sample albums' before the copyright laws really started to clamp down (though the claim that the samples were never cleared has been contradicted by one of the album's engineers).

Day 0643 - fROMOHIO

fIREHOSE "fROMOHIO" (1989)

Following the death of their guitarist/singer D. Boon, the band the Minutemen broke up.   Singer/Bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurely had considered quitting music altogether, but after Sonic Youth invited Watt to collaborate with them it made him realise he wasn't done with music yet.   

Minutemen fan Ed Crawford tracked down Watt in the mistaken belief that he was auditioning guitarists for a new band.  The move paid off as Crawford's passion and enthusiasm impressed Watt and Hurley, and convinced them to try forming a band with the less road-tested Crawford, thus fIREHOSE was born.

"fROMOHIO" is their third studio album and mixes their sound of post-punk, funk, folky acoustic guitar and restrained but pleasant melody.   A sound not dissimilar from the Minutemen, but maybe more stylistically focussed and with less punk rock.

Day 0642 - Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3 "Playing With Fire" (1989)

I honestly don't have much to report on this one.   A band folding in the aural assault of the Stooges with psychedelia, drone, and the harsh industrial machine-rock of Suicide.  The music is largely abrasive ambience and swirly shoe-gazey psychedelia, with some beefy fuzzed out guitars making an occasional appearance.

I didn't hate it, but won't be rushing to revisit it.   A couple of the members went on to form the band Spiritualized, whom I've heard of, but haven't heard.  I notice that 2 or 3 of their albums are in the list, so I'll get to them.

Day 0641 - All Hail the Queen

Queen Latifah "All Hail the Queen" (1989)

I must say, I have a bit more respect for Queen Latifah after a bit of reading up about her.  Previously, I just knew her as being in one or two lacklustre films and was aware that she'd started off in music.

QL co-wrote and co-produced this, her first album, and has apparently had a similarly DIY approach to much of her career.  A career that has led to a raft of awards and nominations, including an Emmy, a Grammy, Golden Globe, and a nomination for an Oscar.

This feels like it samples less existing material than a lot of other hip hop albums at the time (not that there's anything wrong with interesting use of samples) and builds original arrangements, drawing on funk, dance and reggae. 

A few highlights for myself: "The Pros" is one of those epic tracks that is just a constant stream of lyrics, barely broken up with its catchy reggae-ish chorus.  "Ladies First"makes you sit up and take notice with its quickfire, forceful rhymes.

The Queen laid the groundwork for other female hip hop artists such as TLC, Salt-n-Peppa and and Beyoncé to break out in the typically male-dominated genre.

Day 0640 - Like a Prayer

Madonna "Like a Prayer" (1989)

Madonna moved away from her dancey pop music into a more artistically daring form of pop, one that led critics to label it "as close to art as pop gets"

An album born from turmoil, Madonna was dealing with the Catholic guilt bred into her through her upbringing, coming close to the age her mother had been when she died, and having her tumultuous marriage to Sean Penn come to an end.

Madonna funnelled all of this into her work, with an album steeped in sex and God.  As such, it wasn't exactly welcomed by the church.  The Vatican condemned one of her music videos and Pepsi pulled out of promotional deal with her (apparently controversial religious overtones are not welcome, but shallow Kardashian trivialisation of important social movements is fine). 

She had been working to develop a musical with Prince, that didn't end up eventuating, but the collaboration did result in him dueting with her on the song "Love Song" and contributed some guitar and production elsewhere on the album.

The album cemented Madonna's place as pop royalty and seemed to be her working out some residual catholic guilt, opening her up to more confronting projects such as her album "Erotica" and her book "Sex".

Day 0639 - Technique

New Order "Technique" (1989)

So the book lines this up as one of the founding pillars of the acid house movement... now if I knew anything much about that movement, it might help me assess or have a deeper understanding of the album.   As it is, I don't know much about the genre/movement, but I still enjoyed this as a workable blend of dance music elements, with new-wavey synth pop.

The band went to work on this, their 5th album, in Ibiza and ended up having an extended holiday, taking in the local dance culture.  According to the book they came home with 12 rhythm tracks and a guitar solo rather than an entire album, but had successfully managed to filter the Ibiza feel into their music.  

This would be New Order's second-to-last album before a nearly-decade long break.

Day 0638 - The Healer

John Lee Hooker "The Healer" (1989)

John Lee had been active since the late 1940s, but had been pretty quiet over the bulk of the 70s and 80s.   He came bounding back with 'the Healer', helped by collaborators such as Los Lobos, Canned Heat (which whom he'd recorded an album "Hooker n Heat" some years earlier), Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana, among others.

I quite like it.  The first half of the album has a number of boogie-rocking blues tracks, even a little Latin flavour on the opening (title) track.  The second half of the album lends itself more to stripped-down, low-key, mostly acoustic tracks.