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 0482 - No Sleep 'til Hammersmith

Motörhead "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith" (1981)

A pretty solid live album.  I've said it before, I'm not the biggest fan of live albums.  This one works though, given that their albums are pretty down and dirty and lacking studio 'sheen' so this is just a raw representation of what they do, with the extra sweat and intensity of it being laid out live, and maybe a little faster.

The Motörhead ethos is clearly spelt out with the liner notes which include the dedication

"Thanks to Smirnoff and Carlsberg without whom lots of this would have been coherent."

Day 0356 - Destroyer

Kiss "Destroyer" (1976)

Following on the heels of the success of "Kiss Alive!" is Kiss's 4th studio album "Destroyer". Producer Bob Ezrin (Loud Reed, Alice Cooper) encouraged the band to stretch their wings almost to the extent that they wander into the realms of caricature.

I was quite surprised to hear how much variety there was here.  I thought Kiss were much more straightforward rockers who eventually became a bit more power-ballady, but there's clearly already a bit of that and some straight up ballads.

'Great expectations' is an epic track with it's glam swagger and ethereal choir.

Fun fact, this was the first Kiss album to chart in New Zealand - so I guess it's appropriate that it's the first one that I've listened to in its entirety.