Day 0954 - College Dropout

Kanye West “College Dropout” (2004)

Remember those days when Kanye wasn’t a Kardashian side-piece and a walking conversation-starter around the danger of not managing mental health issues.  When we hadn’t even had the “whoa that was a bit crazy” moment of him interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMAs.

Before all of that, and before Kanye even known as a rapper, he was a producer who was building a reputation for himself.  He specialised in a sound where he manipulated old soul samples and arranged beats behind them.  

West struggled to be taken seriously as a rapper and had a potential major label deal shot down before it could even happen.   He was eventually signed to Roc-a-Fella Records and set about recording his debut.

The production sounds good.  From the beats and gospel choir of “Jesus Walks” to the seamless blending of an RnB/soul vocal with West’s raps in "All Falls Down".  I can understand the reticence about signing West for his lyrics though.  He grew up the son of an English professor who, for a time relocated to China to teach there, taking Kanye with her. She helped pay for his first recording efforts.  Not the standard gangsta/street résumé often associated with the genre.  

To my mind, that life could still have thrown up some interesting stories/lyrics but instead Kanye often seems to rap about expensive possessions, lash out at those he perceives as having wronged him, and even falling back on the old standard ‘braggadocio’ track (“Breathe in, Breathe out”).

If anything, I found the most interesting, endearing and honest track to be the album-closer “Last Call” where Kanye spends 12+ minutes geeking out about his process, his history, recounting (sometimes in excruciating detail) his path to getting signed and making his record and generally just talking in a direct and honest way.   It's almost like an unannotated twitter feed.

Day 0862 - Clandestino

Manu Chao "Clandestino" (1998)

This is one that sounded good on paper, but didn't necessarily pan out to my tastes. 

 

After the breakup of his punk-influenced band (Manu Negra), multilingual singer/songwriter Chao travelled around with a multi-track recorder.  Influenced by different street music, but flirting subtly with a range of other genres, he recorded his first solo album.

I'd heard Chao's name around the place and was keen to find out what he was about, but I'm reasonably apathetic with the actual record.

There's a bit of an overuse of syncopated reggae-style guitar, and I'm not really a fan of Chao's voice.  The music isn't bad, but I also don't think it's as diverse as advertised.   "Bongo Bong" is a quirky little pop song, and I quite like the bleeps and bloops of "Je ne t'aime plus", but in general the album didn't really excite me.

Day 0578 - Graceland

Paul Simon "Graceland" (1986)

Described by the book as Paul Simon's midlife crisis - which seems somehow appropriate as, when I was growing up it was that album that everyone's middle-aged parents seemed to own.  My own parents had the concert on VHS.

PS had briefly reunited with Art Garfunkel, only for it to end acrimoniously.  His marriage had likewise ended, and his previous solo album had flopped.  A depressed PS found himself listening to bootleg recordings of South African township music.  Inspired by the sounds, he and his producer visited South Africa to record with musicians there, this despite a cultural boycott against South Africa due to the existence of Apartheid

PS stated that on previous albums he'd written the songs then brought them into the studio to teach them to his band, but for this album he tried to work the other way: jam out ideas with his musicians and then write a song around them.  The public were ready to slate the album for its perceived breach of the cultural boycott, but instead it became one of the biggest releases of the year and certainly of Paul Simon's career.

I enjoyed this a lot... it is possible that I am middle-aged now.

Day 0577 - Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses "Throwing Muses" (1986)

Another one of those bands where I knew the name but had no real idea what they sounded like.  I was expecting something a lot more new-wavey pop; but ended up with a blistering, yet melodic rock album that would not feel out of place in the early-mid 1990s rock scene.

The book labels this as the missing link between Siouxsie and the Banshees and PJ Harvey; I'd add to that it's likely an early blueprint for Hole and Veruca Salt.   Christine Hersh and Tanya Donelly rock like mofos, moving from beatific vocal harmonies to raspy yells.

Good stuff.