Showing posts with label jane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jane. Show all posts

Thursday, May 28, 2020

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).

Friday, May 15, 2020

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.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Day 0481 - Beauty and the Beat

The Go-Gos "Beauty and the Beat" (1981)


Originally started in LA 1978 as a punk rock band (their singer had even been in the Germs for a while). The band claimed that they could barely play their instruments when they started, but that they seemed propelled towards success, with this, their first album spending 6 weeks in the Billboard chart.

By the time this album came out, much of the band's punkiness had been airbrushed with a gloss of a new-wavey take on the old-school girl group pop sound.  It actually works really well, like, catchy songs but with some guts and a bit of rock to them. Not a million miles from something like Letters to Cleo with their cover of "I want you to want me" in "10 things I hate about you".