Day 0953 - Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand “Franz Ferdinand” (2004) – got it

I remember being into these guys from the off.  I saw their video for “Take Me Out” with its cool visuals.  The song seemed to have an interesting melody, then it suddenly started to decelerate (which I thought was awesome) and suddenly a danceable funky groove kicked off and I was totally hooked.

A danceable groove is something that ranked high on FF’s to-do list as they stated one of their goals was to “make music for girls to dance to”.   The music owes a heavy debt to Talking Heads’ mid-era material with its nerdy white-boy funk groove (especially second track “Tell Her Tonight”).  That mix of disco beats, and funky guitar harks back to a similar style popular in the 80s/late 70s and would soon become widely popular with artists such as Bloc Party and Gossip.

The band recorded with producer Tore Johansson, who had helmed the Cardigan’s brilliant “First Band on the Moon” (see day 832) which featured a similar catchy mix of dance beats and funky guitar.

The album is nice and concise coming in under the 40-minute mark.  There are bursts of punky energy on songs like “Darts of Pleasure” and “This Fire”.  “The Dark of the Matinée” (a personal favourite of mine) has almost a theatricality to it that always brings to mind early Split Enz.

Day 0861 - Live 1966

Bob Dylan "Live 1966" (1998)

Recorded during Dylan's controversial early move to electric music.  The first half of the concert/album is Dylan alone playing acoustic tracks.  For the second half, Dylan is accompanied by his excellent backing band the Hawks, who would go on to find fame themselves as "the Band" (see days 127 and 156).

The book states that Dylan and the Hawks were heckled and jeered during the electric set... maybe that was edited out of the version I listened to because it just sounds like cheers for the duration.

I like the mix of sounds between the two sets and I guess it's an important historical musical recording, but at an hour and a half, this is a touch too much Bob for my tastes.

Day 0855 - Time Out of Mind

Bob Dylan "Time Out of Mind" (1997)

Dylan had been some 6-7 years without any original material, existing instead on cover songs and revisiting his past glories.   He reunited with producer Daniel Lanois, regular producer for U2, and Peter Gabriel, and who had also produced Dylan's own "Oh Mercy" album.

By all accounts the sessions seem to have been cluttered with two drummers and  a multitude of other musicians on the sessions.... I'm sure Phil Spector would have approved.

Dylan later expressed mixed feelings about the recording, and one critic described it as Lanois' CV... well if that's the case, I'd hire him.   I really enjoyed the album.

I'm typically 50/50 on Bob Dylan as I don't focus much on lyrics and that's obviously known to be his main strength.  I'm more interested in what he's doing musically and how the words fit around that sound-wise.   From opener "Love Sick" this is a murky blues album, one of those ones that sounds like it'd make a great soundtrack for driving (maybe through a desert night).  The dense sound eases up temporarily for piano ballad "Make you feel my love" then back onto the highway for the last couple of tracks, including the epic 16+ minute closing track "Highlands".

Dylan's nasal voice had settled into a weary, gravelly drawl which suits this music nicely.

Day 0760 - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Pavement "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" (1994)

I think I preferred this one to the previous Pavement album in the list.   I've seen it referred to as a more mainstream sound than the previous album, but I dunno.  It's still quite noisy and has some unconventional compositional directions.

Though the album has some nice hummable melodies, there's still a lot of noise.   A sparse piano part will appear out of a cloud of fuzzed guitar.  A rock song will suddenly give way for an extended, repeated clean guitar section.  There's a jazzy instrumental in 5/4 time "5-4 = Unity" which is a tribute to jazz pianist Dave Brubeck but it also has elements of rock and even rockabilly on show.

The 90s are obviously well underway by now with that idea of it being cool to not care.   Singer Stephen Malkmus is just so unimpressed, and so cynical, and takes the time to make fun of several other 90s rock acts in song "Range Life".

Day 0772 - Copper Blue

Sugar "Copper Blue" (1992)

After Hüsker Dü called it a day, frontman Bob Mould released a couple of acoustic-y solo albums that didn't fare too well.   His record company released him from his contract and he set about writing the music for what would become Sugar. 

Mould returns to his favoured style of distorted guitars with melodic vocals.  I'll be honest, his stuff doesn't do much for me.   It's generally listenable enough, and I can hear his influence on a few bands I know and like, but these songs really just passed me by without leaving much of an impression.  Same with much of the Hüsker Dü I've heard.

In interviews and press, Sugar were plagued by Nirvana questions and comparisons and whether the band was doing well thanks to the grunge scene.  All this despite Mould's former band having been a probable influence on many of the grunge bands, so that can't have been easy for Mould.

Day 0699 - Foxbase Alpha

Saint-Étienne "Foxbase Alpha" (1991) - got it

This album channels 1960s sounds through a 1990s 'filter', so it's pretty much in my wheelhouse.

The group was formed by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, who had both been music writers (who says 'those who can't, write).  They'd originally planned to feature different singers across every album, but after working with Sarah Cracknell on this, their debut, they decided to invite her in as a permanent vocalist.

The album does something that I love, namely it engages in musical collage/experimentation, but uses it to create something quite accessible and poppy.   The dancey beats were akin to the sounds fermenting in the triphop scene, some of the film/dialogue samples lend things a touch of musique concrete, but the melodies and much of the arrangement hints more at summery 60s pop, with wistful female vocals and swirly psychedelic string touches.

Oddly, I've never got around to checking out the rest of their albums.  Might have to put it on the musical to-do list once I've finished the 1001.

Day 0596 - Warehouse: Songs and Stories

Hüsker Dü "Warehouse: Songs and Stories"

Another album born from a tumultuous, confrontational creative relationship.  Songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart were at loggerheads and  the band disbanded during the tour for this album. The break was partly due to their animosity, and partly over drummer Hart's drug use.

Mould had reportedly told Hart that he'd never have more than half the songs on a Hüsker Dü album, and with neither writer wanting to back down, this ended up being a double album.  Mould contributed 11 songs and Hart 9.

While there are some good tracks on here ("She Floated Away" being one that particularly caught my ear); their sound of melodic vocals over distorted guitar and rattling, pounding drums does tire out over the space of 20 songs.  You find yourself yearning for an acoustic or clean guitar, or for them to go further into realms of heaviness.  Faint criticism though, as any of these songs taken on its own would be perfectly listenable.

Day 0539 - Let it Be (no, not that one)

The Replacements "Let it Be" (1984)

 
This is another one that sounds good on the tin: "punk band that added in elements of melody and helped define the college rock sound".  I can certainly hear the sound of what had just come before (the  leftover classic punk sounds), and the more contemporary sounds (hints of hardcore and the raw stripped-down emotional rock of some of the post-punk set). 

All in all I liked it okay, but it don't feel a need to rush back to check it out again.  It falls into the "if someone puts it on at a party/bar I'll listen to it happily enough" category

Day 0418 - Are we not Men? A" We are Devo!

Devo "Q: Are we not Men? A" We are Devo!" (1978)

Devo mix a vaguely punk sound with sparing use of synthesisers that's not a million miles from the more frantic moments of early Talking Heads (possibly not surprising then that Brian Eno, having finished work on the second TH album, produced this one) mixed with a touch of Blondie's gloss.

I'd listened to one or two Devo songs, and knew of their influence on a number of other artists, but was mostly familiar with the big hit 'whip it'. I liked that song (with even more synthesiser than is on show here) and I like this album.

Intellectual electro-punk; what's not to like?

Day 0372 - Exodus

Bob Marley and the Wailers "Exodus" (1977) - got it

A bit of a change from my usual "all reggae sounds the same" spiel.  Though there are a few familiar reggae musical devices here; there is also a healthy dose of variety, with everything from scratchy organic reggae through to soul, pop and proto-disco elements finding their way into the mix.

While songs like "One love", "Jamming" and "Three little birds" are definitely reggae, they are also pretty solid pop songs.  Bob does a good job of balancing his political messages with some more universal messages.

It's a surprisingly upbeat record considering that Marley had recently relocated to England after a gunman injured him and his wife in their home during a murder attempt.

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.