Day 0981 - Oracular Spectacular

MGMT "Oracular Spectacular" (2008)

On a couple of occasions over the years, I'd hear my friend playing these guys when I was at his house.  Each time I'd be like "oh this is cool, what is it?" Then I'd hear them the next time and be like "oh this is cool, what is it".   This shows that (a) they must be good and (b) I'm a slow learner sometimes.

The duo met at university and formed the band as a natural evolution of just hanging out talking about music.   Originally they performed and released some songs under the name Management, until they were made aware that another act was using that name, so shortened theirs to MGMT.

The band recorded their debut (as MGMT) with Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann, which probably goes some way towards explaining the dreamy psychedelic pop I find myself listening to.

"Weekend Wars" is a glorious slice of 3rd-wave psychedelic pop.   "The Youth" follows in this vein and is kind of familiar to me on this listen so was maybe one of the ones I'd heard before.  "Electric Feel" I've heard plenty of times either in commercials or just through the usual channels.   "Electric Feel" has a weird 'if disco had still been going strong in the 80s' kind of sound to it.   You could dance to it, but it's a bit lighter and synthier.     Ditto (both on the sound, and me recognising it) with the track "Kids".

"4th Dimensional Transition" takes you into more electronic, yet still psychedelic territory.   Album closer "Future Reflections" bares a slight resemblance to the Dandy Warhols' "Welcome to the Monkey House" album, though possibly that's just because they're both channelling an 80s sound through a 00s indie-pop sensibility.

Day 0889 - Play

Moby "Play" (1999) - got it

Fun fact that I did not previously know: Moby chose his stage name because he's a descendant of Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick (at least according to Moby himself).

Moby did some DJing, played in alt-rock and hardcore bands and started to build up a reputation via his electronic music and remixes for other artists.   Then he put his musical foot in it by releasing a guitar-heavy, hard-core-style record called "Animal Rights".  the creative left-turn was not well received which left Moby mopey.  Following this setback, Moby convinced himself to carry on making music and produced Play. 

Initially not that successful, Moby and his team, as a last resort, licensed out all of the tracks for use in advertising and television which helped familiarise the public with the album.

Moby's approach is generally similar to that of Fatboy Slim, to take samples of older music (generally soul/blues/rock) and combine that with some beats and interesting arrangements to take the samples to new places.  Opener "Honey" more or less builds an entire song around one line from a Bessie Jones track.  Single "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" likewise uses a couple of lines of lyrics combined with piano, strings and a gospel choir to create something different from its constituent pieces.

The album was eventually huge, spawning 8 singles.   Probably one problem with it (even for those of us who like a bit of Moby) is that it is huge track-wise too.   There are 18 tracks, over an hour of music and it's a bit much for a single listen.   There are a couple of more straight-ahead electro tracks and I almost feel like he should have made it two albums or a double album, split into more sample-based pop tracks, and some more electronic/dancey tracks.

Day 0855 - Time Out of Mind

Bob Dylan "Time Out of Mind" (1997)

Dylan had been some 6-7 years without any original material, existing instead on cover songs and revisiting his past glories.   He reunited with producer Daniel Lanois, regular producer for U2, and Peter Gabriel, and who had also produced Dylan's own "Oh Mercy" album.

By all accounts the sessions seem to have been cluttered with two drummers and  a multitude of other musicians on the sessions.... I'm sure Phil Spector would have approved.

Dylan later expressed mixed feelings about the recording, and one critic described it as Lanois' CV... well if that's the case, I'd hire him.   I really enjoyed the album.

I'm typically 50/50 on Bob Dylan as I don't focus much on lyrics and that's obviously known to be his main strength.  I'm more interested in what he's doing musically and how the words fit around that sound-wise.   From opener "Love Sick" this is a murky blues album, one of those ones that sounds like it'd make a great soundtrack for driving (maybe through a desert night).  The dense sound eases up temporarily for piano ballad "Make you feel my love" then back onto the highway for the last couple of tracks, including the epic 16+ minute closing track "Highlands".

Dylan's nasal voice had settled into a weary, gravelly drawl which suits this music nicely.

Day 0368 - Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton "Frampton Comes Alive" (1976)

Frampton's live set that (much like Kiss Alive!) elevated him from a relatively successful artist to a huge worldwide success.  I'm not sure that there's been a live album in recent times that has really changed the fortunes of an artist like the aforementioned did.

It's a good clean set of accessible sunny pop and rock with some longer instrumental jam sections thrown in.  The obvious hits are "Baby, I love your ways" "Show me the way" and the epic "Do you feel like we do".

Day 0007 - Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra "Songs For Swingin' Lovers!" (1956) got it

Something of a companion piece to "In the wee small hours".  Where that was the breakup album you play at night and cry bitter tears into your scotch; this is the bright sunny flipside, as you revel in joys and wonders of love!

Frank has never been in better voice, and Nelson Riddle's arrangements are once again top-notch with brilliant little jabs of horns or pa-pows of drum fills that catch you unawares and put a smile on your face. Apparently after the band had run through Riddle's arrangement of "I've got you under my skin" they gave him a round of applause.

The book points out that the album's 45 minute runtime over 15 tracks shows that the 3 minute pop song was already well established here.

See this is where I'm glad for this listening 'quest' because I love this album but it seems there are always so many things I want to listen to , that it's easy enough for great albums like this to slip my net for a while.