Day 0859 - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

Spiritualized "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" (1997)

To my tastes this is an improvement on the previous Spiritualized album in this list (entry 721).   They'd taken that sound that I'd classed as "digital shoegazer and ramped up the pop aspect of it.   The opening title-track has an almost 60s folk-pop sound while still being drenched in synths, guitar and spacey production.  

The tracks move between melodic aural overloads, and dreamier, more stripped down tracks like "Stay With Me".

Would happily listen to it again.

Day 0785 - Dookie

Green Day "Dookie" (1994) - got it

 

The band signed to a major label after their second album “Kerplunk” attracted attention from a number of labels and put the group at the centre of a minor bidding war.   This move away from independent release led to some of their punk fans labelling them “sellouts”.  I find that a bit odd really because I don’t entirely view Green Day as a pure punk band to begin with.   It’s kind of like, if punk is a shot of espresso, Green Day are a cappuccino.  You get a taste and a bit of a zing, but not the full hit.

The group produce pop-punk, in places it delves into jazzy territory, with the bass-driven "Longview"; there's more 'pure' punk with "In the End"; and an almost early-Beatles vibe (but with more distortion) in "Pulling Teeth".   Loud guitars and vocal harmonies abound throughout, with singer Billie Joe Armstrong affecting a sneery vocal that almost sounds like he's doing a British accent to give it a bit more of a Sex Pistols vibe or something.

While the band would arguably go through a period of being more focussed around Armstrong, this sounds like a band effort, with Mike Dirnt's bass often being boosted in the mix to shove it in your face.   Even hit "When I come around", Dirnt isn't just following the guitar line, he's weaving in and out of it with busy basslines.   

Drummer Tre Cool is also given plenty of space to shine, whether it's his jazzy shuffle on Longview, his speedy snare rolls and flanges on album opener "Burnout" or his bouncing, almost Cuban interlude in the middle of "In the End" (the album also closes with a secret track penned and performed by Cool).

It's not 'really' punk, but I like it.

Day 0770 - Smash

 The Offspring "Smash" (1994) - got it

 

One of a group of more polished, catchy “pop punk” bands to emerge in the mid 90s (along with bands such as Green Day and Rancid).  

The band had signed to Epitaph records and were recording this, their third album on a tight budget.  Money was so tight that they had to constantly call the studio to utilise downtime between other bands' sessions in order to get a discounted rate of their studio time.  Several of the songs were worked out in the space of a couple of nights to make economical use of the time they had.

The band’s previous album had only sold around 15,000 copies, so they were under no illusions of their music finding a place on mainstream radio or MTV.   Lead single “Come Out and Play” changed all that, becoming a hit.  The album sold millions of copies, effectively setting up Epitaph and the Offspring (though they would soon depart for a major label) for the next few  years.  Guitarist Noodles was working as a school janitor and promised his boss not to quit until the end of the year.  He said that kids who had seen him on MTV would be surprised to see him cleaning.

When the band first started, singer Dexter Holland was on drums... which I find odd, because his high-pitched yell is so distinctive, it makes sense to have him on vocals.

The first track proper "Nitro (Youth Energy)" starts with a surf-rock style drum intro but then kicks into fast punk rock with mildly nihilistic lyrics.  Tracks like "Bad Habit" and "Self Esteem" show the band's humorous, slightly puerile side.   Track "Genocide" has a chord sequence that they seem to have reused on at least the subsequent couple of albums, so I'm not sure if that was an intentional through-line for their albums, or just plagiarising themselves.

While the band would come to be known for a string of novelty pop-punk hits (Pretty Fly for a White Guy, Original Prankster, Hit That), on Smash they were still pretty serious, if catchy, punk business.  

Day 0759 - The Sun Rises in the East

Jeru the Damaja  "The Sun Rises in the East" (1994)

Jeru had worked with Gang Starr, and that group's DJ Premier produced this, Jeru's first solo album.  

The production and beats are probably the most interesting part of this album for me.   It almost seems to lean into trip-hop territory with moody instrumental samples backed with drum-machine loops.

The book talks about how Jeru calls out various other rap artists of the time for various perceived offences, but then I don't generally pay attention to lyrics.   Whatever is pissing off Jeru it goes past me, and musically the album doesn't really stand out for me above and beyond other albums or even other hip hop albums of the time.

Day 0705 - Screamadelica

Primal Scream "Screamadelica"

Primal Scream started as a duo of Jim Beatty and Bobby Gillespie.  As they developed their music and started playing live, they expanded their line-up.   Their flavour of jangly pop-rock did not go over well with punters or critics, with the band being accused of being unoriginal and bland.

The band started to get into the acid house scene and asked DJ Andrew Weatherall to remix one of their tracks.  The resulting remix of "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have" (repurposed as "Loaded") was a success and the band delved deeper into this mix of rock and dance, already being explored by bands such as the Happy Mondays and New Order.

Screamadelica actually lives up to some of the hype laid on it by the book.  It has heart, it has musical exploration, it has some catchy bits, some interesting bits and a wide range of sounds.  If it has any weaknesses for my tastes, it's maybe that some of the more electronic/remixy tracks don't necessarily sit coherently alongside the more "voice and guitar" kind of tracks.  They aren't really completely incompatible or anything though, so it just adds a little extra variety to spice up the lengthy runtime of the album.

The album wasn't a commercial or critical runaway success, but it was certainly a step up for the group, making it to number 8 in the UK charts and gaining a few accolades including the inaugural Mercury Prize.   Speaking of the Mercury Prize, looking at the calibre of the winning albums that I am familiar with I feel like I should put the other winners on my musical 'to-do' list for future investigation.  

Day 0686 - Nevermind

Nirvana "Nevermind" (1991) - got it

One of those albums where so much has been said about it, every song has been picked over musically and lyrically like a day-old carcass in the Serengeti.

It was certainly an early discovery for me.  My brother had a copy on cassette, and while I wasn't really a fan of "loud music" at that point, this one had enough melody and I found Kurt's voice interesting enough that it won me over.  I listened to it quite a bit and rewinding it to listen again and again... then one day I was doubly rewarded when I actually bothered to turn the tape over and listen to the second side too!

It's an album (and band) of contrasts and contradictions.  From the loud/quiet/loud formula that the band specialised in, to Cobain wanting to revel in punk rock, even as he wrote snappy pop songs.  Producer Butch Vig takes the songs from close, tight intimate sounds to booming, stadium-ready thump, often within the same song (such as on ‘Drain You’).

Dave Grohl is now 'the nicest guy in rock' or 'an embarrassing twat' depending who you ask, but as a new addition to the band, he really helps anchor this album.  With his able backing vocals adding a little something extra to the mix, and of course his bombastic drumming.  A drummer friend of mine once pointed out that Grohl is a great songwriting drummer.  He doesn't play a million fills and hugely intricate parts, but what he plays locks into and complements the songs.  A lot of his parts for this album if you heard them in isolation you'd likely still be able to pick the song it came from.

The single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” launched the album, band and the newish ‘grunge’ genre into the commercial stratosphere. Arguably, here Cobain achieved his goal of mixing the Pixies, the Melvins and the Beatles, but his punk guilt was triggered by a feeling that the album was too polished and almost too successful.  More successful  than many of his influences (which is possibly one reason why he devoted a decent portion of Nirvana's high-profile MTV Unplugged show to covering other artists).    With the next studio album 'In Utero' he would try and bring a bit more noisy punky squalor to proceedings.

Day 0626 - Bug

Dinosaur Jr "Bug" (1988)

Another album of Dinosaur Jr's noisy alt-rock that I didn't really warm to.   Apparently even lead singer/guitarist Jay Mascis isn't the biggest fan of this one.

This album is another mix of noisy guitar accompanying occasionally melodic vocal.  The book makes comparisons to Neil Young, and I guess if you were being particularly imaginative you could go along with that.

It was the last album with the original line-up.   Mascis fired bassist/singer/songwriter Lou Barlow after this album and brought the band fully under his control.   Barlow went on to form the band Sebadoh where he could get his creative ideas out.

Day 0623 - Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine "Isn't Anything" (1988)

The band had produced a few EPs, had some line-up changes and then buckled down to produce this, their first full-length album.

The description in the book sounded really interesting.  It said that they would pile effects on the guitars, and then take the clean guitar signal out of the mix, leaving only the guitar-shaped outline of the effects.   It has its moments, but the overall effect is just of a slightly more aurally interesting take on the shoegazer sound.  Perfectly listenable, but not something I would specifically seek to revisit.

Day 0501 - Too-Rye-Ay

Well that brings me officially over the halfway mark so...

Dexys Midnight Runners "Too-Rye-Ay" (1982) - got it

Following the relative success of "Searching for the Young Soul Rebels" subsequent singles failed to landand, and several of the band members left.  Kevin Rowland responded by taking on 3 violinists who specialised in Irish folk music and getting the horn section who were formerly his bandmates in as hired-hands.

The gutsy northern soul sound of the first album is still present to a certain extent, but with strings, folksy Celtic elements, the odd ballad, and even a sudden explosion of jazz in the middle of "Until I believe in my soul".

The album wasn't faring particularly well until the single "Come on Eileen" suddenly picked up steam and went on to be (deservingly) the biggest selling single of 1982 in the UK, even making headway on the US charts.