Day 0946 - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Outkast “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (2003) – got it

This is a lot!   

• Two discs
• Over two hours of music 
• Multiple guest collaborators 
• Covering a range of styles and genres.

Following the success of “Stankonia” (see day 921) and a follow-up single “The Whole World” to help promote their greatest hits collection, the duo started working on new music.   Initially they worked separately with plans towards maybe doing a solo album each, but then they came together in the studio and further developed the album as a split/double Outkast album.   Though the two releases largely each the work of an individual member, 3000 and Big Boi still contributed to and influenced each other’s music.

It would be easy enough to just write off this album (and maybe the group as a whole) as “Andre 3000 is the quirky flamboyant one and Big Boi is the straight-up hip hop guy” but that’s not really being fair to either of them.

True, Big Boi’s “Speakerboxxx” is more centred on hip-hop but there is still a range of styles packed in there.   The first track proper “Ghetto Musick” explodes with a heart-pumping, almost techno beat, wild synth sounds and speedy raps.  Breaks for soulful gospel vocals and organ keep you guessing.   “Bowtie” has a horn backed swagger.

There’s a strong P-Funk vibe to proceedings, both with the music, vocal harmonies and even via the high-pitch pitch-shifted vocal that pops up across several tracks.

The Love Below has more of a pop and psychedelic vibe (some comparisons to made with Prince).  There's the innocent alien pop of "Protoype" the jazz-meets-dance interpretation of "My Favourite Things" and of course the propulsive funky pop of singles "Roses" and "Hey Ya".

It's hard to know what to make of this all in all.  It could just have easily been two solo albums instead of an Outkast album.   Taking it as one thing, it is cumbersome.  But, unlike a lot of double albums, this one doesn't feel like it could easily be trimmed down to a single cohesive album, it's not laden with filler.   

 

I used to prefer the Love Below for its melody and musical diversity but I've since come to appreciate Speakerboxxx for its conciseness, and that it manages to exhibit great diversity with a little more internal cohesion.

Day 0921 - Stankonia

Outkast "Stankonia" (2000)

 
Following the good reception of their album "Aquemini", Outkast drew attention to Southern hip-hop and found themselves in a position to purchase a studio in which they could work on the follow-up.   By all accounts this gave the group the freedom to work on ideas at their leisure without being 'on the clock'.

The result is some space-aged hip-hop, with interesting production throughout, good beats, and a mix of genres.   Andre 3000 had taken to singing more than rapping which gave the group another string to their bow.  The album opens on an explosive note with "Gasoline Dreams" it moves through slinky and soulful singles "So Fresh, So Clean" and "Miss Jackson" before hitting you with "B.O.B".   That last song more than anything sums up what Outkast were capable of, with drum'n'bass, gospel, rap, and psychedelic rock all smashing together in a track that feels like it shouldn't work, but it does, and obliterates the planet!

The group would start to drift a little with their next (still brilliant) release, being put forward as a double-album that, though each disc featured collaboration from both members, was sounding more and more like two solo albums rather than a unified band release.

 

Day 0911 - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

PJ Harvey “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” (2000) got it

 

PJ had been based in New York to do some acting work, wrote some songs and decided to live there for a time.   She was insistent that this was not her “New York album” but there is certainly a bit of a musical link to American alt-rock and punk.  In opening track “Big Exit” her vocal delivery sounds not unlike favourite NY son Lou Reed (though the drawl-meets-snarl vocal may just be Harvey’s own developing vocal style).  

Some of the lyrical content is definitely more American with “Something you Said’ listing off places and events in NY, and “Big Exit’s” gun fixation certainly sounds a lot more American than British.

The album has an overall more melodic and polished sound than PJ’s previous albums, though “This is Love” is still a fairly noisy rawk song that places swagger over sophistication.  Each verse consisting of a couple of repeated lines e.g.
“I can't believe that life's so complex
When I just want to sit here and watch you undress”.

Single “Good Fortune” has a nice folk-rock vibe to it and I think it was actually the first PJ Harvey song that I ever heard…. Well it was either that or “One time too many” from the (surprisingly good) “Batman Forever” soundtrack.

PJ continues to be an interesting musical force.  I’m slightly disappointed that the list doesn’t feature her “White Chalk” album where she challenged herself by switching to composing and recording on piano and singing in the upper reaches of her register.  The result was a beautiful yet uncomfortable listen.   She is well represented on the list though, so I can’t really complain.

Day 0905 - Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris "Red Dirt Girl" (2000)

The third entry here featuring Emmylou (her 1975 album "Pieces of the Sky" was day 336 and the "Trio" album with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt was day 588).   Emmylou had gone from releasing an album every year or two in the 1980s to a much slower/lower output in the 90s.   Her 1995 album "Wrecking Ball" with regular U2 producer Daniel Lanois added a little extra atmosphere to her sound and was critically lauded.  

It took her a solid 4-5 years to follow it up with this album, which was different from her usual releases in that she wrote or co-wrote nearly every song.   It's not like she'd been slacking in the meantime though, with live albums and collaborations (including a second 'Trio' album) in the meantime.

The music is nice enough.  Kind of a folky alt-country vibe.   "Tragedy" has atmospheric looprf beats not dissimilar to "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks.   "My Baby Needs a Shephard" has lovely waves of vocal harmonies rising up on its folky arrangements.   

I don't really have too much more to say about this one.   Perfectly listenable, but not one I'll rush to revisit.

Day 0857 - Either/Or

Elliott Smith "Either/Or" (1997)

Well I'm an idiot.  I had Elliott Smith totally confused with pop singer Sam Smith (I mean Smith isn't really a common name, right?).   I'd seen this CD in my wife's music collection and I was like "kind of surprised she's into that Sam Smith guy".   When this came up on the list and I actually listened to the album I realised that it was awesome and nothing like Sam Smith.

Smith's (Elliott's) sound here is a really stripped-down singer-songwriter vibe.  His voice is light and gentle over tracks that are often just acoustic guitar, with drums and bass only occasionally coming into the picture.

"Angeles" is largely just acoustic guitar and voice with some subtle keyboard in places.  "No Name No.5" with its droney sitar-esque acoustic guitar and big thumping bass drums in places remind me of a mellower take on the classic Soundgarden sound.   "Cupid's Trick" adds a little more texture and even some rock to it.

The music seems somehow really familiar to me but I can't really place it.  Like I feel that maybe it has hints of Chris Cornell, Jeff Buckley and Eleven (it does have that descending melodic patterns and contrasting descending/ascending vocal/guitar thing going on in places) but it's much quieter and more intimate than that.  Maybe I'm just picking up on that '60s sounds through a cynical 90s filter' thing that some of those other artists also employed.   The songs also bring to mind Ween's folkier moments and Liam Finn's solo material.

A few songs from the album were featured in the film "Good Will Hunting" which brought Smith a bit more recognition.   Sadly, he died 5 or 6 years later after being stabbed twice in the chest.  The coroner could not confirm if it was suicide or homicide

Day 0786 - The Foo Fighters

The Foo Fighters "The Foo Fighters" (1995) - got it

Dave Grohl had been writing songs and recording demos during his time in Nirvana, having released the relatively varied demo "Pocketwatch" under the name 'Late'.   After Kurt Cobain's suicide, Grohl took his songs and really started to get things going.

Dave recorded this album entirely by himself and then slapped the name 'Foo Fighters' on it to make it seem less like a solo release.  The demo/album ended up garnering industry interest and Grohl was stuck with the name, which he later opined was the stupidest band name in history.

I quite like this album, the Foos hadn't yet fully found their identity as a dad-rock band  with output that (to my ears) moves between good albums, and mediocre (but occasionally listenable) albums.  This albums is kind of a poppier less abrasive take on the grunge sound that Grohl's other band were known for.    "Good Grief" almost sounds like new-wave filtered through punk, "Weenie Beenie" is one of the lo-fi shout-rock tracks Grohl would occasionally indulge in (e.g. "White Limo" and "the Color and the Shape").   Elsewhere there's the poppy 'Big Me', the jazzy "For all the Cows" and the washy, almost droney tracks "X-static" and "Exhausted".   

Good selection of rock tracks, and it's impressive that Grohl did the whole thing himself.

Day 0779 - Ready to Die

The Notorious B.I.G. "Ready to Die" (1994)

 
Biggie was signed to Uptown Records by Sean 'Puffy' Coombes (who was working as an A&R guy) and started recording his album.   When Coombes/Puffy/Daddy/Diddy was fired by Uptown, Biggie was left in limbo.  Pufferino set up his own 'Bad Boy Records' label and a year later work resumed on Biggie's debut.    Big had spent part of the interim dealing drugs, which I guess adds to the 'street' credibility and authenticity of his lyrics.

The production has a touch of G-funk, with extra funk.  The occasional female backing-singers are reminiscent of Diddy's own Daddy-era recordings.   The beats can get a bit samey throughout, but Biggie's rhymes carry things along nicely.   Do have to say though, that at around 70 minutes, the album is probably a bit too B.I.G. for me.

Day 0750 - Debut

 Björk "Debut" (1993) 

 

Björk is another musical 'lifer'.   She studied piano, released her first (self-titled) album at the age of 11, played in fusion bands, punk bands and achieved a degree of fame fronting the band Sugarcubes.  Even around those bands though she was recording with various other musicians in a variety of styles.

Björk moved to London to really get her solo career going.  She teamed up with producer Nellee Hooper (Massive Attack, Soul II Soul) and, grooving on the club culture, produced this album of largely dance/triphop-based tracks.  You couldn't really pigeonhole it to that one area though, with jazzy horn sections, sweet pop and weird 'Björky' idiosyncrasies.   

All across the album,  Björk's voice is on full display.  Ranging from whispered child-like melody to full-throated ecstatic yell-singing.   Bjork is a true original, to the extent that I've found myself referring to some artists as "like a French Björk" (Camille) or "like a less 'out there' Björk" (Emiliana Torrini).   She is pretty much her own genre.

The album was well received, and as a cherry on top, it was the beginning of Björk's visual creative partnership with Michel Gondry, whose quirky music videos were the perfect match for Björk's music.

Day 0654 - Moss Side Story

Barry Adamson "Moss Side Story" (1989)

Barry had amassed a pretty impressive portfolio prior to this album.  He'd played in Magazine, the Buzzcocks, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and a couple of other acts.   Adamson cast this, his first solo album as the soundtrack to a non-existent film noir.   In part it was a reflection of Adamson's love of film soundtrack music (the influences of composers such as Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone and even Angelo Badalamenti are never far away), and in part he set it as a sort of musical CV with which to try and rope in some actual film scoring work.   That did eventually bear fruit and Adamson would go on to contribute scores for films including "Natural Born Killers"  "The Beach" and "Lost Highway".

The album is a masterpiece, mixing noirish jazz, frantic rock interludes, smouldering piano, nightmarish ambience, and even a cheeky wee cover of the theme to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"  Adamson throws everything he has at the album.  Judging from the album cover (never judge by the cover!) and his connection with the Bad Seeds, I had thought this might be a bit of a crooning record with a touch of murder-blues, but it ended up being so much more.

Day 0585 - So

Peter Gabriel "So" (1986)

Huge success for Peter, helped along by high rotation of the unusual and entertaining video for the funky single "Sledgehammer", not to mention the fact that PG's handsome mug was displayed unadorned on the album cover for once.

While there are some familiar 80s sounds here with synths and stabs of brass and some synthy slap bass, Gabriel manages to add his own touches to the songs.  Whether it's his solid songcraft, including elements of world music (including a guest spot by Youssou N'Dour), elements of experimentation (including a poppy duet with wild-card Kate Bush), or just his own strong and versatile voice.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, and could see why the blurb it the book holds it up as a good starting point for getting into his work.

Day 0557 - Hounds of Love

Kate Bush "Hounds of Love" (1985)

 Following the relatively poor sales of her previous album "the Dreaming" Kate holed up her studio to work on this critically acclaimed album... that seems somewhat bass ackwards to me as I loved 'the Dreaming' but found this one to be only half as interesting.

Both albums are batshit crazy in their mixing and matching of different genres and sounds.  This one possibly mixes even more sounds with synths, choirs, folky celtic percussion, genteel strings, vaguely tribal tones.  I find the variety enjoyable, but I just think that the songs on "the Dreaming" are the stronger compositions.

Day 0554 - Atomiser

Big Black "Atomiser" (1985)

I had heard of Big Black (especially their provocatively titled second full-length album "Songs about Fucking") but had never actually heard a note of the music.  I was also very uninformed, in that I had heard of Steve Albini but knew him solely as a producer/engineer.  I didn't realise that he was musician in bands like Big Black and Shellac (he'd also... carrying on his role as provocateur, had a band called Rapeman).

The music here is essentially proto-industrial.  It's just "three men and a drum machine".  The tinny drum machine, aggressive guitars and barked vocals could be seen as an early guidebook for acts like Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and even early Shihad.  

Day 0433 - Regatta De Blanc

The Police "Regatta De Blanc" (got it)

The second album from The Police. After the moderate success of "Outlandos D'Amore" the band's label wanted to set them up in a flash studio with a high profile producer, but the band chose instead to stick with the same recording setup as their first album, the used the profits of the first album to pay for the recording of this one, whichj meant that the label had less control over what the band recorded.

The album that resulted was regarded by Stewart Copeland as the best that the Police ever made. It was the album where they fully embraced reggae to supplement and even supplant their post-punk pop sound of the first album. The influence of reggae also helped shape Copeland's drumming style significantly with his floating backbeats.

Regatta (the album title is pidgin for 'white reggae') was also a relatively even spread songwriting-wise. Sting wasn't lord and master, with Copeland contributing just as many songs, and Andy Summers putting in some too.

"Message in a bottle" is a brilliant track. The Police always had an ear for a pop hit - even their heady concept album 'Ghost in the Machine' features the light and poppy (slightly out of place) "Everything little thing she does is magic".

Day 0405 - Third/Sister Lovers

Big Star "Third/Sister Lovers" (1978)

 
I listened to Big Star's album "Number one star" earlier in this list, and I have to say that this is a different kettle of fish altogether. Whereas that was an interesting upbeat pop-rock record with some nice vocal arrangements, this is a stripped down, gloomy AF dirge of an album (with occasional moments of lightness)... and I've gotta say; I prefer this.

The music kind of reminds me a bit of 'the Dunedin sound' in NZ, which was a similarly downbeat, stripped back, droney garage pop/rock... almost shoegazer stuff but without quite as much of the washy guitar usually associated with that genre.

I really dig it. Unfortunately the band broke up around this time.  Oddly, the album was recorded in 1974 but didn't manage to get released until a few years later. A while later, REM and a few others cited them as an influence, and they were inevitably received a bit more attention.