Day 0581 - Guitar Town

Steve Earle "Guitar Town" (1986)

Another album being given the "birth of alternative-country" badge.  The book outlines Earle's country credentials by pointing out that he was a rebel who ran away from school, struggled with addiction and was married 7 times (including twice to the same woman)... that's enough material for 10 country albums right there.  Certainly he also addressed the nature of addiction when guesting on the tv series 'The Wire' as an addicts-anonymous facilitator and former addict.

I'm not sure that the album earns its alt-country credentials.  To my ears it sounds like a pretty straightforward country album, but then maybe compared to what had come before it, it was a bit of a minor left-hand turn.  There is a little touch of 'rock' going on in places. 

Not a bad album, mind, just not as interesting or good (in my mind) as something like Nanci Griffith's "Last of the True Believers" or the Mekons' "Fear and Whiskey".

Day 0540 - Cafe Bleu

The Style Council "Cafe Bleu" (1984)

Style Council is another band that I knew by name, but didn't really know much of anything about their music.  In my mind, I think I'd frequently confuse them with Culture Club (who can keep all these clubs and councils separate?).

The Style Council though are a completely different ticket.  With a fairly diverse sound that dips into pop and soul, but mostly hangs around the jazz scene.  Whether it's the almost stride sound of "Mick's blessings", the latin jazz of "the Whole Point of no Return" or the beautiful guest spot from Everything But the Girl's Tracey Thorn on "The Paris Match".

There are some nice instrumentals on the album along with the great songs.  The only real misstep is the attempt at rap in "a gospel", and even that could've been worse than it is.

Day 0524 - Hearts and Bones

Paul Simon "Hearts and Bones" (1983)

Following a decline in his popularity as a solo artist, Simon reunited with Garfunkel for some successful shows.  The two of them started working on a new S&G album, but all the old arguments flared up and they broke up again.  Paul chucked Art's songs and worked some of his into a new solo album.

At the time of its release, this album didn't fare much better commercially than his recent releases, though it seems to have been reassessed with hindsight.  To me it shows hints of his next (much more successful) solo album Graceland, in that it has a good bit of groove to it and the quite '80s' sounding production.  In places, the synth laden grooves even sound a bit like that good 70s era Stevie Wonder.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, and I'd argue that the more straight-ahead mellow tracks are still his strength, such as the sombre "the late great Johnny Ace", his tribute to John Lennon.  That being said, the peppy "Cars are cars" is a fun little song, regardless of its slightly so-so lyrics.

Day 0492 - The Poet

Bobby Womack "The Poet" (1981)

This is so funky it is painful!  According to the book, Bobby had had a bit of a decline in his popularity towards the later 70s and needed a win (seems to be a recurring theme for a lot of the albums here..  'one last roll of the dice that ends up paying off').  Towards the end of the 70s he had wound up on a much smaller record label, he had suffered issues with drugs, he had even tragically lost his infant son.

Bobby comes on strong with this album; the first track "So many sides of you" has an almost reggae feel but with a solid funk base.  The rest of the tracks move between hard funk grooves and Barry White-esque bedroom vibes.... plus, can this man rock a lavender suit, or what!

Day 0070 - Aftermath

The Rolling Stones "Aftermath" (1966)

The first RS album where they wrote all of the songs themselves... and it benefits from this, with a nice variety of strong songs.

Brian Jones (who was apparently a bit bored by this point) stretches out beyond his guitar duties to add some sitar, marimba and a variety of other instruments.
Several tracks were omitted for the US edition of the album; but they got 'Paint it Black' instead, which is pretty sweet compensation!