Day 0675 - Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1

George Michael "Listen Without Prejudice  Vol.1" (1990)

Another excellent solo album from GM.  He was clearly still looking to show that he was more than a pretty face and a pair of short-shorts in Wham!

The album mixes jazz, gospel and West Indian influences, with a range of sonic textures and GM's strong voice soaring over it all.

Amazing voice, and his rendition of Stevie Wonder's "They won't go when I go" is a new favourite.

Unfortunately, the record did not sell as well as it's predecessor "Faith" ...though 8 million in sales sounds pretty damned good to me.  GM quarrelled with his record label, accusing them of not supporting his career.  Everyone just needs to calm the heck down!

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 0595 - Faith

George Michael "Faith" (1987)

 
Wham! played their last show, then George Michael immediately got to work on his first solo album.  Given that he had been the producer and main songwriter in the band, and had an easily marketable image (i.e. he was a pretty face); the move to a solo career wasn't exactly a shock. 

He probably could have coasted for his first solo outing, producing Wham!-lite; instead he delivers a stonking pop and RnB album that perfectly showcases his strong, clear voice.

Possibly a controversial take but I feel like George Michael would have made a great replacement for Freddie Mercury in Queen.  Obviously nobody can live up to Freddie, but GM has a kind of similar tone to his voice, he can sing it hard or delicate, and his rendition of "Somebody to Love" at the Freddie tribute concert was fantastic.   I kind of feel like his pop and soul vibe would nicely offset the rock of Brian and Roger to produce the variety that Queen always had. 

In case you didn't get the message, this is me giving GM high praise.  Normally, the idea of Queen playing with anyone else on vocals leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Day 0543 - Double Nickels on the Dime

Minutemen "Double Nickels on the Dime" (1984)

This album is all kinds of brilliant!  I had already listened to it a number of times in past years, and I can't remember if I found it through the 1001 Albums book or if it was recommended to me by a friend.  Whatever the case, while ostensibly a 'punk' album, it covers elements of post-punk, a whole lotta funk, sonically experimental 'alt rock', blues, flamenco guitar, and various other styles.  The tracks are largely under two-minutes, so if you're not entirely sold on what you're listening to... don't worry, it'll change in a moment.

Just the sheer scope of effortless musical exploration and the "throwing it at the wall and seeing what sticks" approach is admirable.  I could see a number of later bands (including the early music from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) being heavily influenced by this band and this album.

Minutemen made an impressive amount of sound for just 3 people.  The precise and funky bass of Mike Watt is brilliant.  Sadly, singer/guitarist D Boon died a year later, and the Minutemen died with him.  Mike Watt went on to have a varied and interesting musical career off and on over the following decades.

Day 0531 - Colour By Numbers

Culture Club "Colour By Numbers" (1983)

CC built on the success of their debut album "Kissing to be Clever" with another hit.  This album leads off with "Karma Chameleon" which would go on to be the band's signature song.

It'd be easy enough to just classify them as "80s pop", but they're actually a ridiculously diverse band for the time, with the reggae vibe of the previous album's hit "do you really want to hurt me" to the mix of RnB, pop, and even full-headed soul on show here.

Day 0410 - One Nation Under a Groove

Funkadelic "One Nation Under a Groove" (1978)

 
I love George Clinton's funk bands (Funkadelic, Parliament, Brides of Funkenstein etc.) and I definitely dig the guitar-heavy, tight funk sound being rocked here by Funkadelic in one of their most popular (though I don't actually own... yet) and commercially successful albums. 

The first couple of tracks are tight, yet smooth grooves.  There are a couple of distorted guitar-backed funk-rock tracks, and amongst all of this there is still the space for looser extended jams like "PE Squad/Doo doo chasers".

Interesting fact that I did not know: Funkadelic bassist and solo artist in his own right, Bootsy Collins was originally a member of James Brown's backing band, the JBs. Not such a crazy idea I guess, Hendrix used to be in the backing band for the Isley Bros before he did his own thing.

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 0196 - All Things Must Pass

George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" (1970) - got it

 
George Harrison must have had the worst case of musical blue balls working under Lennon/McCartney, because he shot forth a triple album!

I was always a fan of George's Beatles songs, and similarly his solo work doesn't disappoint.  Even across 3 LPs there is pleasingly little (to my ears) that seems like filler, with a range of sounds being explored, all with the help of Clapton and his 'Derek and the Dominoes' band.  The album also features Billy Preston, the Organ maestro from the Let it Be/Get Back sessions.

Day 0060 - Revolver

The Beatles "Revolver" (1966) - got it

According to the 1001 Albums book, this album had working titles including "Abracadabra" "Magic Circles" (sounds like an indie band name) and "Beatles on Safari".  All in all, I think they made the right choice with "Revolver".

I find it funny that Rubber Soul and Revolver are so often grouped together; in some ways the two albums are polar opposites. where RS has a kind of diverse uniformity to it (yes I know it's an oxymoron, but then that's the nature of the Beatles) Revolver is all over the place.

There's the brassy Motown of "Got to get you into my life", the 'George-4-India-4-eva' vibe of "Love you to", and, though John is generally my favourite songwriter in the band, I have to admit that Paul's beautiful pop of "For no one" and "Here, there and everywhere" gives him a run for his money.  John counters with 'Dr Robert', 'I'm only sleeping' (a personal favourite of mine) and 'Tomorrow never knows', which the 1001 albums book jokes, with its sound collage approach and eastern flavour has pretty much been the basis for the Chemical Brothers' entire career.

Day 055 - Rubber Soul

The Beatles "Rubber Soul" (1965) - got it

Wow, 1965 was obviously a decent year for music (not like smelly old 1961), including as it does, this... contender for best Beatles album?

It manages somehow to be hugely varied, yet it still feels like it has a kind of uniform sound.  Possibly the only weak song is the country cover with Ringo on vocals.  Even that's not 'bad', and kind of makes a nice counterpoint to the baroque pop and increasingly psychedelic mod rock that makes up much of the rest of the album.  So many brilliant songs, I was going to list the great ones but it's pretty much all of them.  My one gripe (and it's only a small one) is around sequencing: "In my life" would have made a great album closer, rather than being jammed in the middle of the second side.

Apparently this was one of the first albums released in the US to not feature the artist's name on the cover... I guess at this point, they didn't have to.  It also adds to the enigmatic vibe of the album.