Day 0779 - Ready to Die

The Notorious B.I.G. "Ready to Die" (1994)

 
Biggie was signed to Uptown Records by Sean 'Puffy' Coombes (who was working as an A&R guy) and started recording his album.   When Coombes/Puffy/Daddy/Diddy was fired by Uptown, Biggie was left in limbo.  Pufferino set up his own 'Bad Boy Records' label and a year later work resumed on Biggie's debut.    Big had spent part of the interim dealing drugs, which I guess adds to the 'street' credibility and authenticity of his lyrics.

The production has a touch of G-funk, with extra funk.  The occasional female backing-singers are reminiscent of Diddy's own Daddy-era recordings.   The beats can get a bit samey throughout, but Biggie's rhymes carry things along nicely.   Do have to say though, that at around 70 minutes, the album is probably a bit too B.I.G. for me.

Day 0476 - Arc of Diver

Steve Winwood "Arc of a Diver" (1980)

Steve Winwood had previously tried to release a solo album and had somehow accidentally wound up reforming his band Traffic and releasing the album with them instead. Winwood then got out a self-titled solo album but it sank link a stone commercially. This one fared much better with the record-buying public. I'd certainly heard opener "while you see a chance" on the radio a bit in the past.

Winwood crafted his catchy, somewhat funky tracks, more or less entirely by himself... which was no mean feat taking into account the late 70s/early 80s study technology.