Day 0907 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind

U2 “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (2000)

It’d be easy enough to write this one up as “Famous rock band finally stop faffing about with pop/dance music and gets back to rocking” but that would sell short the band's growth.

As outlined in my write-up for “Achtung Baby” (day 702) the band had moved away from their more ‘meat n potatoes’ melodic-rock sound and experimented with dance, funk, and alt-rock, culminating in their album “Pop” where they fully embraced the dance and pop scene.  That album was not a favourite among fans and the band felt that it was rushed and not their best work.   I personally think it’s one of their better ones, but there we go.  One person’s trash…. and all that.

So the band decided to get back to their roots of “band playing together in a room”.  They reunited with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois who had helmed their biggest 1980s albums.

The sound is fairly straightforward, with guitarist the Edge mostly sticking to clean tones with less sonic experimentation than he’d previously indulged in.  That’s not to say the album is a straight reversion to their “Joshua Tree” sound though.  They seem to have retained some of their more European melodic ideas.  Single “Elevation” sounds like it could be the younger cousin of “Mysterious Ways” from the Achtung Baby album with its effect-laden guitar, dance elements and slightly sexual lyrics.  There are still some dance beats to be had elsewhere too.

I was interested to see what the album as a whole would be like as the first 3-4 songs are its singles (Beautiful Day, Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out of, Elevation and Walk On), so I wondered if they’d front-loaded the album in the hopes that side A would sell side B.   That kind of is the case too.  

There are some other good songs besides the singles, “In a little while” is a nice simple pop song, and “Grace” lives up to its name. But, much of the second half of the album is a bit forgettable, or self-important (“Peace on Earth”).

Day 0853 - Butterfly

Mariah Carey "Butterfly" (1997)

For album number 6, Mariah dialled back her usual vocal acrobatics and explored some other genres outside of her pop ballad sound with the help of a bevvy of collaborators, including Puff Daddy, Missy Elliott and Q-Tip.   Those names don't diminish Mariah's own role in her creative path though.  She had been slowly pulling away from the influence of her controlling husband, Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola (who she broke up with around this time) to take a few creative risks and court the hip-hop/RnB market a bit more.

There is still straight ahead-diva pop like the choir-backed title track, but there's also the RnB of "The Roof (back in time)" and "Baby Doll", the collaboration with the brilliant Bone Thugs-n-Harmony "Breakdown" and even a stonking rendition of "The Beautiful Ones" from Prince's "Purple Rain" album.

Mariah's not an artist that I spent a lot of time investigating in the 90s, and this is still not my favourite style of music, but this is a strong album, and obviously she has an incredible voice.

Day 0833 - Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson "Antichrist Superstar" (1996) - got it

I actually found it a little difficult to revisit this one.   I picked it up when I was a teenager, and as with a lot of this sort of angry, nihilistic, twisted music it was a good release for me when I was going through a whole lot of my own stuff.   The off-shoot of that is that this music is now largely tied to some pretty uncomfortable memories.

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor had taken the band under his wing and produced their first couple of releases.   He initially helmed the sessions for Antichrist Superstar too, but was around less in the second half of the process due to his commitments working on David Lynch's "Lost Highway" soundtrack.

The album still has a NIN 'Downward Spiral' vibe to it though with crunchy guitar riffs, roomy drums, bleakness and a touch of ambient treatment to some of the arrangements.   The album starts full pelt with propulsive metal of "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" before seguing into the successful single "The Beautiful People" with its industrial-meets-tribal drumming and simple but effective guitar riffs.

Much of the album has a beaten, feral intensity to it, but the brakes are applied in a couple of places, most noticeably the melodic "Cryptorchid" with its squelchy beats and creepy synths, and album closer (save for the 80+ tracks of silence and the hidden track at the end) "Man that you fear" which almost has a creepy post-apocalyptic triphop vibe to it, like someone trying to emulate Portishead except that person is a crazed serial killer and is unable to hide that in the music.

Musically it is as strong a rock album as you could hope (though trimming a track or two wouldn't harm it).   Apparently there's some lyrical chain throughout the album so that it's kind of a concept album/rock opera, but I never really paid too much attention to that.  All I know is that at a certain time in my life it was the right album for where I was at, but I don't give it many listens these days.

Day 0689 - Peggy Suicide

Julian Cope "Peggy Suicide" (1991) 

  An album from Cope's band Teardrop Explodes features earlier in this list and I did quite enjoy it; likewise, the double-album "Peggy Suicide" is a goodie.  It does suffer from that old double-album affliction of 'track fatigue', and not every song is memorable, but the sheer breadth of musical ground covered is impressive.  

I love artists who (particularly when they go solo) take the approach of just throwing everything at the wall, rather than limiting themselves musically, particularly if they have the ability to do so.

I'll say what I said with Teardrop Explodes: if another album by Cope pops up on the list, I won't be unhappy.

Day 0602 - Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo "Shaka Zulu" (1987)

Having gained some international notoriety backing Paul Simon on his Graceland album, LBM made use of this attention and released "Shaka Zulu" and won further hearts and minds.

Nice to see that less obvious 'hit' albums were still selling well in the 80s, with the Astor Piazzola instrumental/jazz/tango album earlier in the list, and now this dose of 'World Music' or African folk music (depending on your choice of label).

Love the timbre of their voices, and the huge swells of harmony that occur.  An acapella album that feels uplifting and exciting.