Day 0705 - Screamadelica

Primal Scream "Screamadelica"

Primal Scream started as a duo of Jim Beatty and Bobby Gillespie.  As they developed their music and started playing live, they expanded their line-up.   Their flavour of jangly pop-rock did not go over well with punters or critics, with the band being accused of being unoriginal and bland.

The band started to get into the acid house scene and asked DJ Andrew Weatherall to remix one of their tracks.  The resulting remix of "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have" (repurposed as "Loaded") was a success and the band delved deeper into this mix of rock and dance, already being explored by bands such as the Happy Mondays and New Order.

Screamadelica actually lives up to some of the hype laid on it by the book.  It has heart, it has musical exploration, it has some catchy bits, some interesting bits and a wide range of sounds.  If it has any weaknesses for my tastes, it's maybe that some of the more electronic/remixy tracks don't necessarily sit coherently alongside the more "voice and guitar" kind of tracks.  They aren't really completely incompatible or anything though, so it just adds a little extra variety to spice up the lengthy runtime of the album.

The album wasn't a commercial or critical runaway success, but it was certainly a step up for the group, making it to number 8 in the UK charts and gaining a few accolades including the inaugural Mercury Prize.   Speaking of the Mercury Prize, looking at the calibre of the winning albums that I am familiar with I feel like I should put the other winners on my musical 'to-do' list for future investigation.  

Day 0614 - Truth and Soul

Fishbone "Truth and Soul" (1988) - got it

I am a big Fishbone fan, and I think it's a pity that they've never enjoyed the same notoriety as their contemporaries in bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Primus, or bands they influenced, such as No Doubt or Sublime.   It could be because they have stayed weird and haven't made any deliberately commercial moves, or it could be (as was hinted in the excellent film "Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone") more a question of race.

Definitely, outside of one or two middling-to-good releases, the band have continued to produce interesting and quality music throughout their career.  This is their second album, and possibly my favourite of theirs (don't know, my 'favourite' changes every so often).  They'd taken their wild, madcap mix of funk, ska, reggae and rock and had added elements of metal, jazz, punk and even an acoustic ballad (album closer "Change").  It's probably too the album where they best balanced their different sounds.

The band had added a more mature and serious tone with tracks like "Change", or "One Day" (which, to my ears, almost sounds like they were borrowing the vocal harmony sound of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision" but making it funky), or the moody "Pouring Rain" which acts as a bridge between the Fusion of Miles Davis and the sound of modern dub.  The band still retain their wackiness on tracks like the jazzy stomp of "I like to hide behind my glasses" or the funky-as-all-hell "Bonin' in the Boneyard".

I could continue going track-by-track, suffice to say, it's a brilliant album.

Day 0556 - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash

The Pogues "Rum, Sodomy & the Lash" (1985)

Produced by Elvis Costello and titled with a quote attributed to Winston Churchill (said to be his take on naval tradition), this album is like shot of whiskey snorted straight to the brain.

Costello avoided studio polish, stating that it was his job to just get out of the way and capture them in all of their "dilapidated glory".  The result is a blistering mix of celtic folk, punk energy, and MacGowan's 'gutter hymns'.  This is a brilliant album, it has heart, it has spit and snarl, it has misery, humour.  You couldn't ask for a better album for drinking, dancing and just straight-up listening.

Day 0489 - Dare

The Human League "Dare" (19881) - got it

The Human League had lost two of its founding members Maryn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh who were busy getting Heaven 17 up and running.

Lead singer Philip Oakley recruited two teenage girls as dancers/backing vocalists and set about making the 80s-est 80s album to ever 80s.  The band's previous, more experimental sound is given the odd nod, particularly in selected tracks on side B, but mostly this album is stripped-down, catchy synth-pop finery.

Track "Don't you want me" is one of those big 80s hits that most people know.