Day 0783 - The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails "The Downward Spiral" (1994) - got it

 

This was the first of these albums for a while that I've listened to on headphones (aside the ones I listen to while walking).  Most of them I just have going through my laptop speakers.   Trent Reznor knows his way around a studio and it seemed only right to get the full experience of his production.  He was also well ahead of the curve as far as working electronic elements into rock music.  
 

I've always thought it's a shame that more bands didn't explore that combination of hard rock and electronica.   The Spawn Soundtrack in 1997 had one or two great tracks in that vein.

Anyway, back to NIN.  This album was famously recorded in the house where Charles Manson's followers had killed Sharon Tate.   Messages in Tate's blood were still present in the house, so kind of a grim vibe to record in... this probably worked in the album's favour though as its' a confronting, angsty and grim collection of tracks.  The album was supposed to be a concept of sorts, centring around a character who has been destroyed physically and emotionally and is busy self-medicating with various substances.

The slow grooves of "Closer" and "Piggy (Nothing can stop me now)"  contrast sharply from the frantic and overwhelming full throttle of "Mr Self Destruct" and "March of the Pigs".   The whole thing wraps up with a penultimate track that slowly dissolves into the almost delicate "Hurt", later famously covered by Johnny Cash.

Day 0766 - Vauxhall and I

Morrissey "Vauxhall and I" (1994)

Morrissey's fourth album... this is another of those points where I have scratch my head at the selections on the list.   I don't really hear anything musically in this album that hasn't already been covered in Morrissey's other entries in the list so far.  There are far more musically interesting albums out there from other artists that could have been selected in place of this.

The album is pretty much Morrissey doing his thing.   It's a bit mellower than "Your Arsenal" and the lyrics seem to very much be driven by the deaths of people around Morrissey at the time, including legendary guitarist Mick Ronson (who'd produced Morrissey's previous album), his manager, and a director of some of his music videos.   With a song called "Hold onto your friends", and the line 'tell all of my friends/I don't have too many' in the song "Now my heart is full" it seemed that Mos was ruminating on mortality in general and the shrinking of one's social circle with age.   Worthy subjects, but still not really enough that the album needed to be in this list.