Day 0976 - Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow "Seldom Seen Kid" (2008) - got it

I had no real expectations coming into this one, though I later remembered that my wife owns some Elbow albums. I'm happy to say that is now another taste that we share.

Loved it! It has such a great mix of sonic experimentation, clever arrangements.  It keeps things interesting by changing the approach to best suit each song.

The album opens with "Starlings" which begins with reverbed guitars, gentle pulsing vocals and vocals, almost sonically evoking the birds themselves, before bursting into huge soundings of horns, very loud in the mix.    Guy Garvey's gentle vocals ride the winds between.   Such sonic picture painting is also used in "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver", which with its slow booming drums and slow strings underpinning a staccato guitar line seems to evoke a wide, beautiful city scape viewed from up high.

"The Bones of You" starts off much more stripped down with sparse guitar over a percussion groove, but it builds with fuzzed guitar and vocal harmonies that bring Muse to mind for me.  The middle section is wild guitar that wouldn't feel out of place on Radiohead's "The Bends".   But none of this is to suggest this band are derivative, these are just the nearest reference points I can draw.   For example, the band out-Black Keys the Black Keys with the bluesy rock of "Grounds for Divorce".   "An Audience With the Pope" has an angular piano-backed groove that hangs somewhere between Space (the band) and the Specials' "Ghost Town".

"The Fix" features guest vocals from Richard Hawley, and his deep croon nicely plays against Garvey's higher tone.   "Some Riot" has an almost Beatles-y/Lennon vibe to it.   "One Day Like This" has an uplifting choir backing.

After all the darting around and grand arrangements, the album ends on a subtle key with the subdued "We're Away".   Loved the journey and had no qualms about taking it back to the start and listening again a couple more times.

Day 0970 - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Arctic Monkeys “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (2006)

I remember first encountering Arctic Monkeys via their video for “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and not being impressed.  From vocalists Alex Turner’s intro “Arctic Monkeys... don’t believe the hype” (it just seemed like a humble brag, like ‘yeah there’s hype around us, but we’re like whatever’) to the throwback 1970s garage-rock style they were playing and the accompanying lo-fi late 70s/early-80s retro look to their Strokes-esque performance video.  It all smacked of effort masquerading as ‘we don’t care’.  

The songs worked their way under my skin though, and the song “Teddy Picker” from their second album really turned my opinion of them around, and I eventually embraced this album.

While it is less diverse than their later releases, and is definitely in that retro, garage-revival vein, with guitar ranging from trebly-and-jangly to distorted-and-raucous; there’s lots to recommend the album.   Whether it’s the propulsive punky energy of “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”, the lazy funky groove of “Fake Tales of San Francisco” or the speedy, tight arrangement and zingy lyrics of “You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me”.   Alex Turner would improve in leaps and bounds as a lyricist but "When the Sun Goes Down" was already a great narrative and some good word-smithing.

Day 0695 - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" (1991)

I'll be frank - Mudhoney don't really do it for me.  They have a lot of the hallmarks of other bands that I like from this era/movement; the loud guitars, the loud vocals.  It's just that, although there are moments on this album that I enjoyed well enough, none of it really stands out or sticks in my memory after 3 runs through.  There are moments where I think "oh that sounded kind of interesting" but no "oh wow!".

The album title comes from a memory device for teaching students the line notes on the treble clef (EGBDF... the gaps 'FACE' are easier to remember), though usually it's "Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit/Favour.

Day 0617 - Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney "Superfuzz Bigmuff" (1988)

One of the earlier grunge albums, and featuring a decent cross section of the talent/incest involved in the Seattle scene.  The drummer was in Nirvana (for all of one song), the bass-player was in the Melvins, and the other two members were in bands with future Pearl Jam Members.

This EP is named after two guitar effects pedals favoured by the band: the Univox Super-Fuzz and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff.  The record was produced by Jack Endino, who also produced SubPop releases for bands such as Soundgarden, L7 and Nirvana.  Really just adds to the grunge pedigree of it.

The music was indicative of where some of those Seattle bands were heading at the time: Punk rock rawness and energy but with a touch more melody, embracing swirling walls of psychedelic noise guitar and with more than just a touch of Black Sabbath to the whole thing.

Day 0541 - Private Dancer

Tina Turner "Private Dancer" (1984)

Having split with Ike Turner, and having been struggling to get her solo career to really take off, Tina released "Private Dancer".  The album had a number of producers, including one member of the band Heaven 17.  The machine-pop (and occasional rock) laden with synthesizers and drum machines replaces the organic RnB of Tina's music with Ike.

The album was a huge success, though I agree with the assessment that much of the music itself is kind of forgettable.  It's Turner's amazing voice that really sells this music.  I didn't even entirely recognise "What's love got to do with it" until her voice kicked in.  In some ways though, the underwhelming impact of the music does serve to spotlight Turner's vocal power all the more.  

Side note: I never thought I'd hear someone best Al Green at "Let's stick together", but wow, she gives him a run for his money.