Day 0932 - Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers "Southern Rock Opera"

Pretty much what it says on the tin.   A rock opera utilising and talking about Southern Rock, with special focus given to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young, and very much (musically) in their style.

From what I've read, the story is supposed to chart the progress of a group of youngsters from their Southern upbringing longing after fame and fortune, to finally getting what they want but with all the eventual pitfalls of fame.

I would say that I enjoyed one or two of the sounds on here, particularly on the second disc which has lots of nice guitar harmony bits going on and there is solid riffage throughout. "Angels and Fuselage" is a yearning epic rock ballad in the vein of Skynyrd's best.

The problem then is the 90-minute runtime.   I didn't really pay much attention to the 'narrative' and there's not enough variety to maintain interest across that duration of music (for my tastes anyway).   As is the case with many double albums, I feel that this could have been shorn down to an arresting single album.   

Day 0738 - Exile in Guyville

Liz Phair "Exile in Guyville" (1993)

Phair started off with a collection of demos under the moniker 'Girly Sounds'.  After asking acquaintances who the 'coolest indie label' in town was, she approached the co-president of Matador Records.  As luck would have it, he had just been reading a review of her demo and asked her to send in a tape.   The tapes met with a good deal of enthusiasm and Phair was signed up.

The music is largely stripped down guitar and vocal.  It's melodic alt-rock with a little rawness to it, though this is interrupted somewhat by the almost perfect pop-rock song "Never Said" and the dreamy piano of "Canary" with Phair's slightly snarling vocals over the top.

She doesn't tread lightly lyrically, with songs such as "Divorce" and "Fuck and run" or "dance of the seven veils" in which she states "I'm a real c*nt in spring".  

Day 0715 - Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine "Rage Against the Machine" (1992) - got it

Many bands are described as "exploding onto the music scene", but I'd say that RATM are actually deserving of that phrase.   Of all the bands branded with the often maligned label 'rap-metal', RATM managed to tap into the anger and aggression of both genres without really de-clawing either of them.

Rhythm section Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford lay down a funky and hardhitting base for vocalist Zack de la Rocha (once described, not inaccurately, by Tom Morello as the "punk-rock James Brown") to belt his raw-throated screams, raps and political protests over.  But the band-member name-checked most frequently is guitarist Tom Morello.  His guitar spits out thrash riffs, fiddly solos rhythmic grooves, and riffs... oh so many riffs.  Beyond that though, he engages in musical experimentation that sees him all but make his guitar moo like a cow.  His collection of squeals, stutters and scratches borrows from both metal and rap and elevates the band, giving them that point of difference.

The first song "Bombtrack" starts with a tantalising build-up before exploding all in your ears.  Single "Killing in the name" (whose riff Morello came up with while giving guitar lessons) is barely contained rock rage.   A little variety is provided by a guest spot by TOOL's Maynard James Keenan on "Know your enemy" and a moodier, more subdued approach to "Settle for Nothing" (though that also turns into a rager too on the choruses).

The band couldn't maintain this level of fire and originality, with their following two albums being a case of diminishing returns.  They rounded out their recorded career with the brilliant covers album "Renegades".  The band, freed from the requirement to come up with material, were able to just 'rage-ify' some existing songs.

Day 0655 - Pump

Aerosmith "Pump" (1989)

Aerosmith feel like they combine the riffs of Zeppelin and the backing/harmony vocals of the Beatles, but with a little slease and 80s production shine.   Going further on the Zeppelin thing, Aerosmith are such a quintessentially American band that it's almost like one of those things where someone puts English text through an online translator then translates it back into English.  You get Zeppelin taking American blues and doing their own thing with it, then Aerosmith bringing it back to America but funnelling it through their own unique filter.

The album is reflective of the band's late 80s/early 90s output with some stomping hook-filled rockers and some power ballads that could power half of Massachusetts.  Some interludes break things up interestingly ticking along and the odd, confronting "Janie's got a gun" keeps the listener from getting too complacent.

Aerosmith's creative and commercial slump was well and truly over.  For this album they decided to eschew outside help and assembled at a secluded studio to work on songs, coming up with 19 tracks that they divided into the 'A' and 'B' material.