Day 0393 - New Boots and Panties!!

Ian Dury "New Boots and Panties!!" (1977)

This is mentioned in the book as being part of the punk movement, and there are one or two tracks of brazen rock, one song even opens with the line "arseholes, bastards, fucking cunts and pricks" but most of this smells more of the British musichall tradition with touches of the up and coming ska/reggae movement, definitely a hint of Madness (the band).  There's a bit of cockney rhyming slang and Brit street-talk delivered with not a lot of melody, so I guess it fits in with the 'taking music back to the people' and 'anyone can do it' ideal of punk.

Totally enjoyable.

Day 0356 - Destroyer

Kiss "Destroyer" (1976)

Following on the heels of the success of "Kiss Alive!" is Kiss's 4th studio album "Destroyer". Producer Bob Ezrin (Loud Reed, Alice Cooper) encouraged the band to stretch their wings almost to the extent that they wander into the realms of caricature.

I was quite surprised to hear how much variety there was here.  I thought Kiss were much more straightforward rockers who eventually became a bit more power-ballady, but there's clearly already a bit of that and some straight up ballads.

'Great expectations' is an epic track with it's glam swagger and ethereal choir.

Fun fact, this was the first Kiss album to chart in New Zealand - so I guess it's appropriate that it's the first one that I've listened to in its entirety.