Day 0970 - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Arctic Monkeys “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (2006)

I remember first encountering Arctic Monkeys via their video for “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and not being impressed.  From vocalists Alex Turner’s intro “Arctic Monkeys... don’t believe the hype” (it just seemed like a humble brag, like ‘yeah there’s hype around us, but we’re like whatever’) to the throwback 1970s garage-rock style they were playing and the accompanying lo-fi late 70s/early-80s retro look to their Strokes-esque performance video.  It all smacked of effort masquerading as ‘we don’t care’.  

The songs worked their way under my skin though, and the song “Teddy Picker” from their second album really turned my opinion of them around, and I eventually embraced this album.

While it is less diverse than their later releases, and is definitely in that retro, garage-revival vein, with guitar ranging from trebly-and-jangly to distorted-and-raucous; there’s lots to recommend the album.   Whether it’s the propulsive punky energy of “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”, the lazy funky groove of “Fake Tales of San Francisco” or the speedy, tight arrangement and zingy lyrics of “You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me”.   Alex Turner would improve in leaps and bounds as a lyricist but "When the Sun Goes Down" was already a great narrative and some good word-smithing.

Day 0865 - You've Come a Long Way Baby

Fatboy Slim "You've Come a Long Way Baby" (1998) - got it

Following on from his debut "Better Living Through chemistry" (day 810) and drawing on his association with big-beat maestros the Chemical Brothers, Norman Cook pole vaulted the "difficult second album" hurdle.   He created a record that hit no.1 in his homeland of the UK, and became omnipresent worldwide via singles like "Rockafeller Skank", "Right Here, Right Now" and "Praise You".

"Rockafeller..."with its repeated vocal hook of 'the funk soul brother' kind of lays out what Cook is about here: Mixing sampled of funk and soul tracks with epic, booming beats and a whole lot of audio tweaking... dance music for the masses.

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 0810 - Better Living Through Chemistry

Fatboy Slim "Better Living Through Chemistry" (1996)

Norman Cook was the bass player for an indie rock band called the Housemartins.  Following the breakup of that band he formed the electronic group Beats International, Cook already had a few years of clubbing and DJing under his belt by then.

Cook then adopted the moniker Fatboy Slim to begin his solo career proper.    

This first Fatboy Slim album features tracks already recorded and released by Cook at different times throughout his career, but, despite this and the mix and match of sounds, it's a fairly cohesive collection of fun and funky big-beat tracks.   It already has that Fatboy Slim feeling of mixing a little bit of old with a bit of new to create something fun enough to dance to, but universal enough it its appeal that non-dance fans can get in on it too.   

Pretty sure I recognised "Going out of my head" from different tv shows and/or commercials.   I'm guessing that that commercialism may have earned Cook some criticism.   Accusations of 'selling out' and all that.  Who cares though, when the music is good.

Day 0394 - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols" (1977)

 
Well this one was really always going to show up, wasn't it. This album gets held up as one of the most influential, the one to really 'put punk on the map'.  Quite frankly though, with so many punk artists and albums around at the time, the 'revolution' would have happened whether this band released an album or not.

I can see why this one got seized on though: for a start, it was hugely publicised with the Pistols being assembled and marketed by Malcolm McLaren.  The band had gone on the Bill Grundy show and dropped the F-bomb.  But aside from all of that, where a lot of the other artists at the time, such as the Clash or Suicide or whoever were punk, mixed with other musical elements the Pistols seemed to be designed as some kind of punk shorthand.  The album has simplistic 3 chord songs played fast, noisily and with a large dose of sneery, smirking attitude.  There's not lot of variation so it almost reflects the later more "pure" underground and American hardcore punk that followed over the next decade or so.