Day 0960 - Funeral

Arcade Fire “Funeral” (2004)

Arcade Fire seem to have had 'fiery' beginnings, with most of the band other than founder Win Butler and Régine Chassagne quitting and/or being replaced in the journey from formation to this, their debut album.

I remember seeing Aracde Fire on the televised footage of either Reading or Leeds fest when I was living in the UK.  A friend opined that they seemed like enthusiastic amateurs.  Playing pretty basic music, but with so much gusto and so many people on stage that it kind of carried things along.  Possibly a harsh assessment given that this album topped a lot of end of decade top ten lists (just behind Radiohead’s “Kid A”).

Myself, I don’t know that it’s worthy of those plaudits.  I feel as though it’s a competent enough indie-rock album with a few extra embellishments from strings, accordion and additional percussion touches; but it’s not necessarily better than a lot of the other albums on this list so far.

The gusto/bombast mentioned above is definitely on show with a song like “Wake Up” which seems to have been designed for a big audience sing-along.  Huge but simple group vocals that are pretty much a chant.

Songs like “Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles)” and “Crown of Love” offer up subtler moments, whereas a song like “In the backseat” starts small and builds.

I wasn’t really an Arcade Fire fan going into this, and that hasn’t really changed.  It’s not bad music, but it’s also not something I feel compelled to revisit or investigate further.

Day 0953 - Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand “Franz Ferdinand” (2004) – got it

I remember being into these guys from the off.  I saw their video for “Take Me Out” with its cool visuals.  The song seemed to have an interesting melody, then it suddenly started to decelerate (which I thought was awesome) and suddenly a danceable funky groove kicked off and I was totally hooked.

A danceable groove is something that ranked high on FF’s to-do list as they stated one of their goals was to “make music for girls to dance to”.   The music owes a heavy debt to Talking Heads’ mid-era material with its nerdy white-boy funk groove (especially second track “Tell Her Tonight”).  That mix of disco beats, and funky guitar harks back to a similar style popular in the 80s/late 70s and would soon become widely popular with artists such as Bloc Party and Gossip.

The band recorded with producer Tore Johansson, who had helmed the Cardigan’s brilliant “First Band on the Moon” (see day 832) which featured a similar catchy mix of dance beats and funky guitar.

The album is nice and concise coming in under the 40-minute mark.  There are bursts of punky energy on songs like “Darts of Pleasure” and “This Fire”.  “The Dark of the Matinée” (a personal favourite of mine) has almost a theatricality to it that always brings to mind early Split Enz.

Day 0782 - MTV Unplugged in New York

Nirvana "MTV Unplugged in New York" (1994) - got it

 
The write-up in the book seems to express surprise at the idea that acoustic grunge could work... which is odd as Pearl Jam had already done a session for MTV's (at the time) popular unplugged segment a couple of years earlier.

Regardless, Nirvana were approached to do an unplugged show.  Their show was unconventional in that the band weren't just trotting out their hits on acoustic guitar.  In amongst a selection of Nirvana tracks were covers of songs by the Vaselines, David Bowie and 3 songs by the Meat Puppets.  Two members of the Meat Puppets joined the band on stage to play and Mark Lanegan was invited but declined, which lends credence to the suggestion that Kurt wanted to use Nirvana's celebrity to help gain exposure for his friends and artists he enjoyed.

The set closes with a bleeding-throated rendition of bluesman Lead Belly's take on the traditional track "Where did you sleep last night".   That seems an appropriate choice because the acoustic approach to Nirvana's sound mixed with Krist Novoselic's heavy bass gives everything a kind of heavy, rootsy blues sound.

Perhaps Kurt's voice had always been this raw, ragged (yet strong) and emotive, but recast without loud distorted guitars to hide behind, it is quite striking.

While the posthumous track "You know you're right" suggested that they probably would have continued with their loud-quiet-loud approach to songwriting, it's great that this album exists and it's nice to think that it could have led to a new direction for the band.

Day 0776 - Protection

Massive Attack "Protection" (1994)

 

Things had not been running smoothly for Massive Attack, their tour in the US had not fared well, they had briefly tried shortening their name to ‘Massive’ in order to not ruffle feathers during the first Iraq war, and had parted ways with their main singer Shara Nelson.

Despite these setbacks the group put together a strong sophomore release, with guest spots from 'Everything But the Girl' singer Tracey Thorn, and rapper Tricky.  Tricky had featured on the first Massive Attack album but had since started his solo career, and after “Protection” would not record with the group again for around another 10 years.

It strikes me how simple some of these songs are, the first few tracks (even the sublime and moody title track) are mostly just the same piece of music looped around with the vocals adding points of difference.   There’s sounds ranging from the deep muddy dub of "Spying Glass", through to "Sly" with its strings-and-beat combo, a sound that would become synonymous with trip-hop.

The whole thing is rounded off with a funky, sound-effect laden cover of the Doors' "Light my Fire"

Day 0753 - Bubble & Scrape

 Sebadoh “Bubble & Scrape” (1993)

 

Sebadoh was formed by Eric Gaffney and Dinosaur Jr. bassist/vocalist Lou Barlow.  Originally it acted as a creative outlet and side project for Barlow, who was being somewhat shut out of the songwriting process of Dinosaur Jr by his bandmate J Mascis.  Eventually Barlow was fired from Dinosaur Jr and made Sebadoh his full-time priority.

Possibly due to Mascis’ overbearing nature, some of Barlow’s songs ruminated on the subject of control.  In contrast to that band, Sebadoh seems much more democratic, with all three band members contributing songs to the album.

The band had built itself up on lo-fi indie recordings, but this was the first album that they recorded entirely in a professional studio, and the last album with founding member Gaffney, who went on to pursue a prodigious DIY solo career.

'Bubble and Scrape' benefits from the mix of writers with a range of sounds, from noisy fuzzed out lo-fi punk, to washy alt-rock and some almost 1960s pop moments (but sifted through a grimy 90s filter).

Day 0735 - Wild Wood

Paul Weller "Wild Wood" (1993)

Weller had already made a decent contribution to the British music world, having been part of the Jam and the Style Council.  That latter band's star began to wane, until their record label refused to release their last album and the band disbanded.

After taking a year or so off music, Weller toured for a while as 'the Paul Weller Movement' which allowed him to revisit some of the catalogue of his two bands as well as showcasing some new music.  This tour was followed by a self-titled solo album.

With his solo career up and running, Paul released his second album 'Wild Wood.  It almost feels like a compendium of late 60s/early 70s sounds, with hints of Beatles-esque pop, Neil Young rock, Bowie glam and even a touch of Hendrix funk with a few bits of electronic/studio trickery thrown in on occasion to give the music that point of difference from its influences.

It's another one of those albums where I think any one of these songs in isolation would be an enjoyable listen, but for some reason, each time I listened through the album (4 or so times) my interest would wane by the last quarter.

Day 0670 - Bossanova

Pixies "Bossanova" (1990)

 
To be honest, to my 'non-Pixies-fan' ears, this sounds like a similar flavour to its (in my opinion) far superior predecessor "Doolittle".

There is an added touch of surf music with the reverb drenched opener "Cecilia Ann" and the far-out theremin of "Velouria".  The Pixies' more abrasive side is still very much on display with "Rock Music".

Bassist/vocalist Kim Deal had stayed in the UK to record the debut album by her band the Breeders.  She eventually joined the other members of the Pixies back in the US, but her songwriting is absent from the album with all songs (other than the opening cover) being written by Black Francis.

The Pixies' more melodic side is still present, but again, to me the melodies just feel like 'more of the same' after "Doolittle".

Day 0546 - Born in the USA

Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA" (1984) - got it

Following the moody and downbeat "Nebraska", the record company were putting pressure on Bruce to produce something a bit more commercial.   An expectation that he lashed out at lyrically in "Dancing in the Dark" but at the same time, one that he ended up meeting in crafting one of the biggest hits of his career.

Even as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was dropping off the number 1 spot in the charts, Bruce took over that position for the next stretch of time.  As both artists were signed to CBS subsidiaries, that label must have been popping champagne... and probably some cocaine, being the 80s and all.  Like that other album, this one is almost entirely populated with hit singles, making it seem as much a greatest hits as stand-alone album.

"Dancing in the Dark" wasn't the only song with hidden undertones.  The title track seems like a cry of patriotism, but was actually a criticism of the Vietnam war and how America had gone on to treat veterans of that conflict.

This album is a monster.  I was not a rabid Springsteen fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy every song on this album, including the few songs that haven't been thrashed on the radio!  Ended up picking up copies of this album and Nebraska as a result of doing this list.

Day 0530 - Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets "Meat Puppets II" (1983)

 
I actually saw the Meat Puppets live a few years ago at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK.  I enjoyed them, but I don't think I really appreciated it as much as I might have if I'd heard this album first.

The album was discovered by a raft of music fans in the 90s after Nirvana covered 3 tracks from it (Plateau, Oh me, and Lake of Fire) on their MTV unplugged set.  That representation didn't really do justice to the pure sprawling collection of rockabilly, psychedelia, folksy ramblings and 'alt-rock on show here.  I can also see why the music might have appealed to a 90s crowd, as they were operating on similar musical lines to Neil Young, "the Godfather of Grunge" and kind of predicting the whole grunge movement.

Day 0415 - Van Halen

Van Halen "Van Halen" (1978)

This album is the business!  I listened to it a year or two ago out of curiosity (everyone knows the name Van Halen) and was wowed by the raw energy and relative musical inventiveness - within the rock idiom.  The sudden burst of doowop vocals gave me a pleasant surprise back then, and again now. Eddie Van Halen is a guitar legend, even if 'Eruption' didn't prove it (it does), he kills on every other track with his riffs and lead breaks.

Apparently the band had been scooped up by Kiss' Gene Simmons who, seeing their potential, put them to work writing demos for both themselves and for Kiss.  He even tried to recruit Eddie VH for his band!

Van Halen could easily be accused of helping to start the whole 80s hair-metal thing, but as is often the case with the progenitors of various styles, they're so much better than much of the rest of it.
 

Day 0409 - Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (1978)

Legal, record label issues prevented Bruce from recording a follow-up to "Born to run" for a few years. When he finally came back, Springsteen was somewhat jaded by fame and had been spending time in between tours on a farm that he'd purchased, revisiting his small-town upbringing.

This album is a different beast from 'born to run', often quite stripped down, the musical equivalent to a gravelly country road. Arguably this is where Springsteen's gravelly voiced, small-town rocker sound reached maturity

The album didn't produce any 'hits' but has apparently maintained its popularity with Springsteen fans. "Adam raised a Cain" and "Streets of fire" are blisteringly good tracks with pounding vocals.