Day 0621 - The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies "The Trinity Session" (1988)

The Cowboy Junkies were something of a family affair, formed by lifelong friends Alan Anton and Michael Timmins, and eventually also featuring Michael's brother Peter on drums, and their sister Margo on vocals.

Margo was originally plagued with shyness, recording her vocals with her back to the rest of the band.

This album was recorded with the band grouped around one microphone in Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity (thus the album's title).  The result is a beautiful album of minimalistic, intimate country tracks.  A mixture of  original tracks and covers ranging from Hank Williams to Lou Reed.

Day 0576 - Reign in Blood

Slayer "Reign in Blood" (1986) - got it

 
An album that kicks off with a punishing blizzard of guitars and cymbals, and (after an unsettling high-pitched yell) leads off with the lyrics:

"Auschwitz, the meaning of death, the way that I want you to die"

certainly made it difficult to ignore Slayer.  Though that opening track "Angel of Death" would lead them to have to continually reiterate in interviews that they did not support nazi ideals.

The album combines the stripped-down, unrelenting aggression of hardcore punk with the musicality and 'menace' of the nascent 'heavy metal' to create one of the early cornerstones of thrash metal.

Tom Araya's aggressive and fairly tuneless vocal yell means that the riffs can go where they want without clashing too much with his voice.  Though it has to be said that the little melody that is in the guitar parts is pulverised by speed and distortion with the focus being more on the rhythm than melody.

Some flashy lead guitar work on show, but the real (background) star of the album is Dave Lombardo who, with his inventive, unrelenting drumming can (even now) outplay most other drummers in his genre.  His playing has elements of jazz, punk, metal and more.

Day 0447 - Tusk

Fleetwood Mac "Tusk" (1979)

Following on from the gargantuan success of "Rumours", Fleetwood Mac were able to spend a whopping $1 million making this one. Not surprisingly, given the sales of Rumours and the fact that this was a double album, "Tusk" did not fare as well as its predecessor.

It's a pity, because Tusk is far more diverse than Rumours.  Mixing the smooth accessible pop of that album with some even more mellow, laidback tracks, raucous almost honky-tonk rock music, and of course the urgent angular percussive drive of the title track.

The book describes them as drawing on the two Brians (Eno and Wilson) and that doesn't feel too far from the truth, given the harmonic and production boundaries the band play with and push against here.