Day 0929 - White Blood Cells

The White Stripes “White Blood Cells” (2001)

For some reason I’ve always kicked against the White Stripes.  I think in part it was that they were so hyped when they first came over here, like some kind of ‘second coming of rock’.  Partly too it was this vibe I got that Jack White was trying just a bit too hard to be this “back to basics no frills rock dude who eschews bass (how dare he) to have his two-piece rock band”.   The cynical 90s teen in me balked at these things.

On reflection though, and setting aside all of that, they are just a good band.   White’s high strong voice is distinctive and the music (though borrowing very heavily from blues and 70s garage rock) is catchy yet punchy.

The album is a nice concise 40-odd minutes despite being 16 tracks long.  That’s also something that I usually like, an album that doesn’t muck around and with songs that don’t overstay their welcome, so again it was a bit foolish of me to cut off my nose to spite my ears (so to speak).  Opener “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” is propelled by Meg’s simple but effective drumming in a nice slow lope which is contrasted with the following track “Hotel Yorba” with its speedy acoustic guitar and almost rockabilly feel.

“Fell in Love with a Girl” is the obvious catchy rock hit that everyone knows, and I certainly don’t dislike it, even after the saturation play it got back in the day.   “We’re Going to be Friends” has a kind of naïve cuteness to it which the band were presumably courting with their peppermint stripe motif and story that they were brother and sister (they were actually husband and wife with Jack Gillis having taken his wife Meg White’s surname).

Rock, blues and country mix in a catchy package.  I’m still not convinced at the band’s divinity, but I can admit that they’ve made some pretty good music over their career.

Day 0919 - Music

Madonna "Music" (2000)

I've already gushed on about Madonna's virtues as a chameleonic creative force in my entry about "Ray of Light" (day 869) so here I'll just focus on this album itself.

Following the critical success of "Ray of Light", Madonna had been keeping busy.  She'd done some more acting and released a couple of songs for movies soundtracks ("Beautiful Stranger" for 'Austin Powers' and a cover of "American Pie" for the film 'the Next Best Thing' which she had starred in).   Looking to get started on her new album she teamed up with producer William Orbit again but also brought in French electronic artist Mirwais who had attracted her attention when he submitted a demo to her record label.

The two producers definitely put this release in the electronic zone but their differing styles help set it apart from her previous release and keep things interesting.

The opening, self-titled track has a (for the time) contemporary sound to compete with all the Britneys and Christinas of the time.  

The sort of 'digital cowgirl' vibe of the album (personified by the cover photo with Madonna in a stylish Stetson) is showcased on peppy single "Don't Tell Me" and the sombre alt-country-with-a-beat of "I Deserve it".   "Nobody's Perfect" shows the other side of the album's sound, all slinky groove, synths and auto-tune vocals... it doesn't feel cold though, despite the technology.  It has heart.            

The album closes off with the cover of "American Pie" a cover that feels somehow ill-judged and yet hearing the lyrics from Madonna's mouth, it almost feels like it could have been written for her.

Day 0869 - Ray of Light

Madonna “Ray of Light”

When a long-standing popular artist starts dabbling in the musical fashion of the day, it can often be an embarrassing and ineffective attempt to stay relevant.  I think that Madonna is different in this respect because (a) she works with good people, like producer/remixer extraordinaire William Orbit, and (b) she commits to the new direction.  She doesn’t try and just do what she was doing before but adopting affectations of the genre she’s working with, she fully ‘leans in’ to it and changes her vocal style to suit.

Mads had recently become a mother and embraced Kabballah, which led to a more reflective approach to her songwriting.

There’s the moody, electronic minimalism of album opener “Drowned World” and closer “Mer Girl”.  Lead single “Frozen” is similarly restrained and moody but bursts forth into a beautiful string arrangement.

The euphoric poppy title track almost feels out of place among the other material, but does link into the more middle-eastern sound that is being explored elsewhere on the album.  "Candy Perfume Girl" has a nice funky, loping groove, and there’s a song in Sanskrit "Shanti/Ashtangi".

Though I’m less of a fan of some of her more recent work, with Madonna’ s mixing of genres, her acting work and releasing books ranging from children’s books to books of erotica, I hope that when she does depart the mortal coil that she’s remembered alongside other multi-faceted artistic chameleons like say ,Bowie.

Day 0835 - 1977

Ash "1977" (1996)

Not the first band to name an album or a song for the year they were born, and certainly not the last.   1977 also being the year Star Wars was released, the album opens with the sound of a TIE-fighter and ends with the clear Star Wars reference of track "Darkside Lightside" (the band also recorded a cover of "the Cantina Song" from Star Wars as a b-side for single "Girl From Mars").

The band were still teenagers when they entered the studio to work on the album, stating that they became nocturnal creatures, being introduced fairly rapidly to drugs by their producer.   

Despite all of this, and having put aside some freakout noise tracks they'd worked on in their murky studio state, the album is a gorgeous slice of pop-rock, with catchy singles like "Girl From Mars" and "Goldfinger" showing the young band's already mature songsmithing.  The opening and closing tracks show the band displaying some blistering pop-punk with emphasis on the punk.

Day 0827 - Walking Wounded

Everything But the Girl "Walking Wounded"

Following Tracey Thorn's guest spot on Massive Attack's "Protection" (see day 776) and the popular remix of EBtG's track "Missing", the group decided to delve into more of an electronic sound.

The sound is only cosmetically differently from where the band was at for previous releases.   Sure there are loops, and beats echoing a range of dance genres; but the songs are still based around sparse orchestration and Tracey Thorn's haunting voice.  

"Single" is a mournful tale of hurt at lost love, "the Heart Remains a Child" almost sounds upbeat with it's major chord melody and peppy beat.   "Mirrorball" with its heartfelt acoustic guitar, laidback beat and lovely melody make it sound like a blueprint for a lot of modern pop.

An updated but familiar sound for the band that placed them more in the triphop camp, and it fits them like a glove.

Day 0819 - Tidal

Fiona Apple "Tidal" (1996) - got it

It is my opinion that Fiona Apple improved with each of her releases, peaking with "Extraordinary Machine".   I mean all of her albums are brilliant, but that one just hits the right songwriting and production sweet-spot for me.

Apple was classically trained on the piano and had been writing songs since she was 8 years old.   Apple got some of her compositions in front of Sony records thanks to a friend who babysat for a music publicist ('who you know' and all that).

This is Apple's debut, and she comes with her sound pretty well formed (I guess working on songwriting from childhood gets you good and ready).   Apple's love of jazz, particularly artists like Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald translates into beautiful, jazzy, moody piano with her voice that ranges from a gentle croon through to almost a passionate roar.

Right from opener "Sleep to Dream" she comes out shooting (featuring the brilliantly caustic line "you say love is a hell you cannot bear, and I say give me mine back and then go there for all I care"), raging over its jittery percussion and its string-like oblique background sounds.  "Criminal" also feels vaguely unsettled and dangerous.   But there are moments of serene beauty too with "Slow like Honey" and "Pale like September".

Day 0737 - New Wave

The Auteurs “New Wave” (1993)

The Auteurs were started by then couple Luke Haines and Alice Redman with former classmate Glenn Collins.  They put together a demo and were quickly signed to Hut Records.  “New Wave” was their first full-length release.

The entry in the book talks about them being progenitors of ‘Britpop’… but then, as frequently happens with genres or musical movements, several albums in the book have been given this honour.   I do find it interesting that so many of these musical movements can spring up like this, with multiple different bands all relatively independently arriving at similar musical destinations.

While I was living in the UK there seemed to be this trend towards artists who ruminated on everyday things (the Streets, Arctic Monkeys) whereas I’ve always preferred more obscure lyrics that maybe use a bit of clever or creative wordplay.   This band seems to have a more cinematic/theatrical vibe, such as on opening track "Show Girl" with the crashing, flashy intro suddenly vanishing into a quietly subdued verse.  The arrangements are bit more interesting than straight-ahead ‘rawk n roll’ and I could certainly hear similarities between this band and artists like Blur or Suede (Supergrass at a stretch).

While I won’t say they’re my new favourite band, I do think they are an artist that requires further investigation.  

Day 0679 - Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990)

LL's brand of brag-rap had been starting to wane in the face of socially conscious rap and the violent, occasionally misogynistic gangsta rap styles.  LL's 1989 album "Walking With a Panther" had attempted to change things up stylistically, and was a commercial success, but led to some derision from the rap community.

LL swung back into action, helped by producer Marley Marl, as the title suggests, he was ready for a fight.  Sparse beats and booming bass dominate with occasional samples adding a nice bit of flavour.   LL is a skilled wordsmith, agile, powerful and interesting.

Day 0657 - Nick of Time

Bonnie Raitt "Nick of Time" (1989)

To say that Bonnie had had a hard time of it, would be understating things slightly.  Her record company dropped her due to low sales, and (after a two year gap) released the album she'd been working on prior to being dropped, but under a completely different title.  This left Bonnie to promote an album of 2 year old material that she was no longer particularly connected to.
Her romantic relationship ended, she had to disband her backing band as she couldn't afford to pay them, and she fell into a slump of addiction and depression.

After a brief attempt to work with Prince (seems that everyone was doing that in the late 80s/early 90s) Bonnie was put together with Don Was from the group Was (Not Was) of "Walk the Dinosaur" fame.  It ended up being one of those fruitful artist/producer match-ups.  Was matched Raitt's bluesy rock and country-tinged balladry with a little pop sensibility and studio sparkle to create "Nick of Time" and its follow-up "Luck of the Draw", both of which successfully revived Bonnie's career.

Bonnie Raitt is another of those artists where I'd heard her name but had never heard any of her songs... unlike other artists on the list though, her music sounded pretty much exactly as I'd expected it would.

Day 0615 - Idlewild

Everything But the Girl "Idlewild" (1988)

Everything But the Girl named themselves after a department store advertisement that proclaimed it could provide all your bedroom needs "...everything but the girl".   Despite the skeezy origin of their name, they made beautiful, sultry and soulful music.

I was more familiar with EBtG's later more electronic-tinged music, but this was really nice.  Their soulful tunes are given a vaguely jazzy flavour due to the horn section.   Smooth as silk.

Day 0570 - The Last of the True Believers

Nanci Griffith "The Last of the True Believers" (1986)

I was not familiar with Nanci before this list.  She doles out a style of alt-country and folk that largely still sounds contemporary, due to artists such as Wilco and Beck continuing to tap into the same vein. 

A couple of these songs were covered (with slightly more commercial success) by singer Kathy Mattea, but these original versions are great, as is the whole album.  If you're into interesting country, this is as good a place as any to start.

Day 0564 - Cupid & Psyche 85

Scritti Politti "Cupid & Psyche 85" (1985)

I was quite looking forward to this based on the description: a loose musical collective who had been noodling around in post-punk experimentalism, but (having heard Quincy Jones' production on Michael Jackson's albums) decided to delve into the world of pop.  I ended up feeling slightly underwhelmed by it.

The band had enlisted some seasoned session players and sprinkled everything with some studio gloss, but the songs just feel like they're not memorable enough, and the gloss is a little thick so the songs seem to lose their 'oomph' a bit.  Possibly it's just that this sound is, 'aesthetically', not in line with my tastes.

Day 0508 - Thriller

Michael Jackson "Thriller" (1982)

The highest selling album of all time, sold a million copies per month for its first year of release, 6 of its 10 songs were hit singles.

What more could you really want from an album: it was produced by Quincy Jones with a seasoned collection of studio players (check out the videos of Michael's drummer playing some of the hits from this era, the groove is tight like you wouldn't believe), a guest vocal by Paul McCartney, a guitar solo by Eddie van Halen and even some backing vocals from his sister Janet.

I won't say that it doesn't sound dated, there are some production and instrument sounds here that are unmistakably 80s.  That being said, there are other sounds on here that have aged nicely and wouldn't be out of place in contemporary pop, particularly given the number of artists who Jacko has influenced directly or indirectly.

Day 0472 - Heartattack and Vine

Tom Waits "Heatattack and Vine" (1980)

 
After 5 or 6 albums leaning on his downtrodden barfly troubadour persona, Waits started changing it up here. There are one or two songs where he still slur-croons clever couplets over a loungey jazz piano, but the guitar starts to play a much bigger role in his compositions, and Waits starts exploring his bluesy yell-mixed-with-Cookie Monster vocal that would come out full force in later albums.

For a guy who used to put out albums every year or so in the 70s; the 80s onwards have been increasingly sparse as far as his musical output goes (with the exception of his dual releases 'blood money' and 'Alice' in 2002).  Maybe that's due to an increase in acting roles and soundtrack music... or maybe he's just been enjoying life outside of the 'business.

Day 0400 - The Only Ones

The Only Ones "The Only Ones" (1978)

A band who were getting started just before punk took off in the UK, but managed to hitch a ride on that wave, angling their power-pop, rock, and occasionally slightly psychedelic sound to be a near enough fit for the genre. The band broke up in the early 80s due to inner turmoil, drugs and all the usual stuff. They reunited in 2006 after one of their songs was used in a vodafone ad which brought them back into the public consciousness.

I hadn't heard of them (and didn't mind them particularly earthshaking), but their songs have been covered by REM and the Libertines, so it's not a stretch to think that they probably influenced those bands.

Day 0387 - The Idiot

Iggy Pop "the Idiot" (1977)

 
Have been wanting to dig into Iggy's solo stuff a bit more. I've really enjoyed the Stooges albums on this list, Iggy's album with Josh Homme, and the other bits and pieces I've heard from him over the years.

Iggy had checked into a mental institution to help himself clean up.  He just wanted a second chance, but nobody in the industry wanted to give it to him... until David Bowie (who had produced/remixed the Stooges' "Raw Power") came along and whisked him off to Berlin to record music and lived life to the full.

This is a great collection of songs; Bowie's influence can definitely be heard on the album, in fact it almost feels like he has overridden Iggy's own sound (though he later suggested that Iggy was a willing guinea pig for his experiments), with less of the punkish abrasiveness of Iggy's earlier work and more of a cerebral arty sound in a not dissimilar vein to what Bowie was doing at the time. The album includes the original version of the song "China Girl", which Bowie obviously also released later on the 'Let's dance' album.

The album was named after Dostoyevsky's novel of the same name.

Day 0380 - Pink Flag

Wire "Pink Flag" (1977)

This one sounded cool on paper: "Slightly older punks who squeezed 21 songs onto a 35 minute album.  Not always sticking to a verses-choruses structure, and occasionally just stopping songs when they felt they had run their course... or they were bored.  Intellectual lyrics that sound like mathematical equations or surrealist poetry."  On a less musical front, I really liked the album cover too. 

Unfortunately, the reality of the album wasn't something that appealed to me.

I listened to this 10 or so years ago when I made a small list from the '1001' albums book, and it didn't do much for me then either.  I've tried to give it a chance and listened to it 2 or 3 times, and it has grown on me a little, but much of the album just dissolves into aural wallpaper after a while.  Sometimes that can be a good thing, but not so much with an 'in-your-face' punk album.