Day 0853 - Butterfly

Mariah Carey "Butterfly" (1997)

For album number 6, Mariah dialled back her usual vocal acrobatics and explored some other genres outside of her pop ballad sound with the help of a bevvy of collaborators, including Puff Daddy, Missy Elliott and Q-Tip.   Those names don't diminish Mariah's own role in her creative path though.  She had been slowly pulling away from the influence of her controlling husband, Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola (who she broke up with around this time) to take a few creative risks and court the hip-hop/RnB market a bit more.

There is still straight ahead-diva pop like the choir-backed title track, but there's also the RnB of "The Roof (back in time)" and "Baby Doll", the collaboration with the brilliant Bone Thugs-n-Harmony "Breakdown" and even a stonking rendition of "The Beautiful Ones" from Prince's "Purple Rain" album.

Mariah's not an artist that I spent a lot of time investigating in the 90s, and this is still not my favourite style of music, but this is a strong album, and obviously she has an incredible voice.

Day 0624 - Surfer Rosa

Pixies "Surfer Rosa" (1988)

The Pixes were another band who had circulated some demos/EPs before releasing their first proper full-length album.   The band were paired with Shellac/Big Black frontman Steve Albini who had been swiftly moving more and more into his no-nonsense style of production.

The band had one meeting with Albini and were recording less than a week later.  Albini charged the band a flat fee, refusing to take a share of royalties (as was often standard practice) believing it to be an insult to a band to take a percentage for their work.  A principle he would continue to hold throughout his career.

This pragmatic approach to recording led them to spend only one day recording vocals (including recording some of bassist/vocalist Kim Deal's vocals in a bathroom for natural reverb) but a week or two on guitars.   The arresting debut is an onslaught of noisy guitars, and screamed vocals, but with this cacophony often wrapped around tight, melodic songs.   The album served as inspiration for many 90s alt-rock luminaries such as PJ Harvey, Billy Corgan and the members of Nirvana.