Day 0622 - Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman "Tracy Chapman" (1988)

Chapman was introduced to the media at the time when they were invited to a showcase by Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs.   Tracy also played at this showcase, and by all accounts, she impressed.   Once she had recorded this debut album, she was given a chance to play a concert for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday which further helped to get her music quickly out in the public eye/ear.

It's a pretty strong selection of songs.  To my tastes, it works best when the band/studio side of things is pared back, leaving the songs to rely more on Chapman's guitar and voice (or just her voice in the case of the effective acapella track "Behind the Wall").

The songs range from passionate folk and protests to more country sounds and just overall really good 'singer-songrwriter' stuff.

Day 0482 - No Sleep 'til Hammersmith

Motörhead "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith" (1981)

A pretty solid live album.  I've said it before, I'm not the biggest fan of live albums.  This one works though, given that their albums are pretty down and dirty and lacking studio 'sheen' so this is just a raw representation of what they do, with the extra sweat and intensity of it being laid out live, and maybe a little faster.

The Motörhead ethos is clearly spelt out with the liner notes which include the dedication

"Thanks to Smirnoff and Carlsberg without whom lots of this would have been coherent."

Day 0463 - Ace of Spades

Motörhead "Ace of Spades" (1980)

Lemmy, having been kicked out of Hawkwind for taking too much speed, went on to start a band that seems like the musical equivalent of that drug.

I quite enjoyed the band's slightly less intense self-titled debut album, but it's hard to deny the power and immediacy of the lightning fast riffage, crazed intensity and throat tearing yells of these tracks. One of the initial building blocks of metal, but also beloved by punks at the time.

Day 0425 - Ambient 1: Music For Airports

Brian Eno "Ambient 1: Music For Airports" (1978)

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Eno, having produced some great pop-rock records and Bowie's adventurous Berlin trilogy, as well as his own solo albums that mixed traditional song structures with interesting production techniques and background sonic experiments took a few steps further here.

Eno had been moving in more and more ambient directions, here he fully takes the plunge with relatively formless, sparse soundscapes. Eno stated that the music "...must be as ignorable as it is interesting", music designed to have on in the background and drift in and out of, rather than concentrate on intently, and in that, it succeeds beautifully.