Day 0949 - Elephant

I was saying earlier that I didn't know how this decade of the book would play out and how they'd choose entries without the proof of longevity or influence on other artists to recommend them.   Well I've noticed they do seem to be working through the years quicker, with maybe less than 10 entries for some years whereas the 60s-90s' years tended to have a lot more albums represented. 

0949

The White Stripes “Elephant” (2003)

Another reasonably tight, concise bit of rock from the White Stripes.

Following on from the mainstream success of “White Blood Cells” (see day 929) the Stripes buckled down to work on their fourth album.   They used only old analogue recording equipment because that was Jack White’s whole anti-technology obsession at the time.

The album starts off strong with the big single “Seven Nation Army” which has an economical but effective arrangement, paring a memorable octaved-down single-string guitar line with a thumping tom drum, breaking out into trebly distorted guitar with splashy cymbals for the vocal-less chorus.   The second track “Black Math” almost has a bit of a punky bent to it (as does later track “Girl you Have no Faith in Medicine”).  

While the other songs are good, I do feel like the album/band start to lose their punch.  The third track “There’s no Home for You Here” sounds like a re-tread of “Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground” from the previous album, but with the raucous choruses replaced with vocal harmonies.  I also notice that a lot of the songs seem to start in a similar key or even with a same chord leading me to think that White’s voice, though distinctive and strong may not have the broadest range.

As I say though, still a strong album.  Some other highlights include “In the Cold Cold Night” which is a nice bluesy ballad with Meg on vocals; “I want to be the boy to warm your mother’s heart” which is a piano-based track with a country-sounding lead break; and the other big single from the album “Hardest Button to Button”.

Day 0636 - The Real Thing

Faith No More "The Real Thing" (1989) - got it

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a big fan of Mike Patton and of Faith No More, so I have listened to this album more times than I can remember... but as usual, for completism I listened to it again today.

It is slightly disappointing to me that this is the only FNM or Patton album in the 1001 albums, especially considering the breadth of Patton's oeuvre, and the fact that FNM's somewhat weirder "Angel Dust" album has been cited as an influence by many bands, named as album of the year by a few magazines, and was even cited as "the most influential album of all time" by Kerang magazine.   That's not to take anything away from TRT, I'm just saying that it makes me wonder what other great albums from other artists might have been omitted from the list because they weren't quite as commercially successful.

FNM had parted company with vocalist Chuck Mosley after 2 albums, due to his volatile personality, limited vocal ability and his various addictions.  They recruited fresh-faced 20 year old Mike Patton from the eclectic band Mr Bungle.  Patton came with a multi-octave vocal range, and a demented, yet somewhat literary approach to his lyric-writing.

The first two albums with Mosely had been a mix of funky post-punk, new wavey synths, metal riffs, rap, punky vocals, and pop hooks (largely thanks to keyboardist Roddy Bottum).  "The Real Thing" seemed to be a case of the band looking to redefine themselves after Mosely's departure by narrowing their focus.  The album still has its pop hooks in songs such as "Falling to Pieces" or "Underwater Love", but the album had much more of a funk/metal focus, via the collision of Bill Gould's percussive funky bass, Mike Bordin's tribal beats, and Jim Martin's chugging metal guitar riffs.

The album goes into propulsive pop-metal territory with opener "From out of nowhere", and straight-ahead metal with "Surprise! You're dead" and "The morning after".    Most of the other songs mix things up a bit more, with the title track features an almost dub-reggae drum beat interspersed with rock explosions, and "Zombie Eaters" starts with a series of very pretty acoustic guitar parts.  "Woodpecker from Mars" is a 'middle-eastern-meets-metal' instrumental track that shows that FNM could have easily been a force to be reckoned with without Patton or Mosely (or Courtney Love, who was their vocalist at some early shows).

"Epic" was the big hit from the album, with its combination of metal, funk and rap unfortunately inspiring the nu-metal craze that would follow.   The album ends with a further venture into metal territory in the shape of a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" and then the musical left turn of sleazy loungey jazz-pop track "Edge of the World".

This is probably my least favourite album that FNM did with Patton, but it's still one hell of an album.