Day 0388 - Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel "Peter Gabriel" (1977)

 
Gabriel's first release following his release from the perceived creative shackles of Genesis (and the first of FOUR albums simply titled "Peter Gabriel"); and he hit the ground running.  Crafting 9 diverse musical tracks, starting with a fairly theatrical piece "Moribund the Burgermeister" where he swings from his natural singing voice to a deep gravelly 'character' delivery. "Waiting on the big one" and "Here comes the flood" are deliciously epic in feel, and "Excuse me" seems stylistically like it could have been a Randy Newman-penned novelty hit.

As I've said before, this is the kind of solo album I enjoy, where the artist is willing to explore various musical terrains with only themselves to please and (in the case of a solo artist from a band) do something other than what his/her band would normally be doing.

For such an immensely talented and creative guy, he didn't come up with the most imaginative album title... though maybe he just wanted to take 'ownership' of the music that little bit more by slapping his name on it.

Day 0362 - Music from the Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra "Music from the Penguin Cafe" (1976)

I can see this album being a huge influence on Tyondai Braxton for his "Central Market" album (which I love).  There's the mix of orchestral/classical and pop elements, the sense of fun and humour, the mix of catchy melodies with atonal modern classical sensibilities.

I remember listening to a track from this album when I first browsed the 1001 albums list 7 or 8 years ago and being kind of underwhelmed.  Either I was just in the wrong head-space for it, or listening to that one track out of context didn't quite work for me, because this was great!

Day 0130 - Scott 2

Scott Walker "Scott 2" (1968) - got it

I've made no secret in the past for my love of Scott Walker.  His luscious, lush arrangements, his brilliant croon, his quirky sense of humour... this is possibly the peak of his early work (to my tastes).
This set is somewhat typical of the 'Scott' albums: some translated Jacques Brel covers with an added swagger, some syruppy easy listening ballads and some other grandiose galloping arrangements.  Ranging from the trumpeting upbeat 'Jackie' the almost Bond-esque epic sound of 'best of both worlds' (a great near-breakup song).  The elephantine Eastern swagger of 'the girls from the street' slips into a nimble European bounce without a thought spared!

Day 0016 "Lady in Satin"

Billie Holiday "Lady in Satin" (1958)

Exquisite! This was designed to be a comeback album of sorts for Lady Day; it was her first and only (during her lifetime) release on Columbia Records.  After a career steeped in hard swinging jazz, and having heard Ray Ellis' lush arrangements on his "Ellis in Wonderland" album she decided that she wanted to sing over more of an easy-listening sound (she'd also considered recording with Nelson Riddle after hearing his work with Sinatra).

Ellis wanted to put some seriously dense string arrangements behind the singer to compensate for her weathered voice.  She'd been struggling with alcohol and heroin addiction, so sounded more like she was in her 80s than in her 40s.

Holiday had never had a huge vocal range; she's always been more known for her tone and her sense of rhythm.  Even in its worn down state, her voice sounds so pure, so strong and dripping with feeling it manages to work with and against the syrupy sweet arrangements to keep things from getting too maudlin.

The very first cut "I'm a fool to want you" really sets the tone for the rest of the album.