Day 0983 - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective “Merriweather Post Pavilion” (2009)

Animal Collective are nothing if not prolific.  Along with releasing either an album or EP for every year they’ve been in existence, the individual members have released a slew of solo albums between them.  Whether or not that’s a good thing obviously depends on your opinion of the quality of their output.

My limited experience of their work (from memory, this one, previous release “Strawberry Jam”, “Centipede Hz” and Avey Tare’s’ solo album “Down There”) leads me to believe it’s not a terrible thing.   I’m not a rabid fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve never heard anything that puts me off them either.   What I find with them is something similar to some other bands from that era: that I quite enjoy it on first listen but (a) I don't retain too much memory of the songs after the fact and (b) the initial enthusiasm vanishes on re-listens.

The band had briefly parted company with their guitarist so were writing songs based more around samples and keys.   Some comparisons are made to Flaming Lips, which I could kind of hear in that it's spacey, swirling, layered psychedelic pop.  “My Girls” and “No More Runnin’”  have kind of a Beach Boys vibe to them, both in the vocal harmonies, the production, and even the timbre of the lead vocal.  “Lion in a Coma” reeks of  India-influenced Beatles.  

Again, overall there were a lot of interesting sounds, and I'd be willing to check out their other albums that come 'into my orbit' but they're not a band that are on my mind much (cool album cover though).

 

Day 0930 - The Blueprint

Jay Z "The Blueprint" (2001)

It could almost be seen as overcoming adversity, Jay Z had court cases pending against him (though when has that harmed a rappers rep?), he had several high profile beefs underway (though, again....) and his album was released on September 11th 2001, leading to some of his earlier shows needing to be rescheduled.

That aside, this album helped launch the career of producers Kanye West (for better or worse) and was critically lauded.

While I enjoyed some of Jay's rhymes and I could hear the influence of this album on the next decade or so of mainstream hip-hop albums, I don't think it's really converted me into a Jay Z 'fan' as such (apologies if this is hip-hop heresy).

Day 0771 - Parklife

Blur “Parklife” (1994) – got it

Blur were feeling reinvigorated following the release of their second album “Modern Life is Rubbish”.  It hadn’t broken records with its sale figures, but was critically well received and the band felt they were on the right track.  As soon as they’d finished that record, singer Damon Albarn started writing a large number of songs and the band worked at demoing them.  They got back in the studio with producer Stephen Street as soon as they could, and most of the album was recorded fairly quickly.

Aside from the opening track “Girls and Boys” which has a bit of a European dance/disco vibe to it, and one or two of the more grand tracks like “To the End”, this album is British through and through.  In fact even "Girls and Boys starts" with a line about “following the herd to Greece on holiday”, sounding like the start of episode of “Boozed up Brits Abroad”.   

The Britishness continues with the “oi oi oi” punky rock of “Bank Holiday”, the brass band waltz of instrumental “the Debt Collector” (as well as brassy bass embellishments on the title track and rocking "Jubilee"), the pastoral harpsicord of “Clover over Dover” and of course Albarn’s almost aggressively cockney/mockney accent pushing into the songs.  Even bassist Alex James' composition "Far Out" sounds like it would be at home in a 1960s Pink Floyd club gig in swinging London.

It's a brilliant album (if maybe a track or so too long).  They do copy Modern Life a bit with the overall sound and having a couple of fun instrumental 'interludes', but with "Girls and Boys" and the loungey stylings of "To the end" they were definitely forging new ground.

Day 0758 - Venus Luxure No.1 Baby

Girls Against Boys "Venus Luxure No.1 Baby" (1994)

The band utilise synthesisers and dual bass guitars... I have to admit that I did not notice these things on first listen, it was only when I went back and gave it a second listen that could hear the two different basslines going on.

The music is largely grungey rock but it feels like it touches on the sounds of bands as diverse and Mazzy Star and Clutch.  There is some stonking, riff-heavy rock but there are also some moodier moments.  They play around with distorted piano lines in "Billy's One Stop", a hypnotic almost sensuous groove on "Get Down" and a slow groove-metal feel to "Rockets are Red".

Day 0738 - Exile in Guyville

Liz Phair "Exile in Guyville" (1993)

Phair started off with a collection of demos under the moniker 'Girly Sounds'.  After asking acquaintances who the 'coolest indie label' in town was, she approached the co-president of Matador Records.  As luck would have it, he had just been reading a review of her demo and asked her to send in a tape.   The tapes met with a good deal of enthusiasm and Phair was signed up.

The music is largely stripped down guitar and vocal.  It's melodic alt-rock with a little rawness to it, though this is interrupted somewhat by the almost perfect pop-rock song "Never Said" and the dreamy piano of "Canary" with Phair's slightly snarling vocals over the top.

She doesn't tread lightly lyrically, with songs such as "Divorce" and "Fuck and run" or "dance of the seven veils" in which she states "I'm a real c*nt in spring".  

Day 0644 - Paul’s Boutique

Beastie Boys "Paul's Boutique" (1989)

The Beasties had parted company with Rick Rubin and Def Jam records, and were being written off in some corners as a bit of a one-hit wonder.

Rather than just repeat their 'bratty frat-rap over rock' approach, the Beasties enlisted the help of sampling and sonic-weaving extraordinaires: the Dust Brothers.  A good deal of the music for the album had already been completed by the DBs with the intention of it being released to clubs as an instrumental album.  The Beasties convinced them to make it the basis for their album.  The Dust Bros suggested that they could strip it back to just the beats, but the Beasties wanted the density of the sound.

There is still a bit of the smartass party rap present but the Beasties do branch out.  The interesting production acts as an a bridge to their later more serious work.  Apart from the vocals, the rest of the album is almost entirely composed of samples, and is viewed by some as one of the last big 'sample albums' before the copyright laws really started to clamp down (though the claim that the samples were never cleared has been contradicted by one of the album's engineers).

Day 0584 - The Queen is Dead

The Smiths "The Queen is Dead" (1986)

Seems I kind of have this thing with the Smiths, whereby I like their music, but I can't really tell their albums apart.  It all just sounds kind of... Smithy.

This is an enjoyable album though.  Johnny Marr paints the songs with a range of guitar tones from swirling and dreamy to vigorous folk, to country twang and everything in between.  Morrissey's lyrics continue to be intelligent and with a touch of humour.

This was the band's 3rd album in 4 years, and after one more album the band broke up.  Unlike most bands that go through the whole break up thing, they seem to have resisted the urge to reunite, even to revisit their back-catalog for a quick buck.

Day 0567 - Licensed to Ill

Beastie Boys "Licensed to Ill" (1986)

The Beasties started off as an obnoxious, 'in your face' hardcore punk band, but tired of the limitations imposed by the expectations of fans of that genre.  The boys dropped a couple of members and gained another to slowly evolve into an obnoxious, 'in your face' hip hop group.

The Beasties kept the party vibe and anarchic spirit of punk while stretching their musical wings a bit more; mixing punk and metal riffs with turntables and rap.   The more serious political sound that the band would move towards later on is not really here, but the sonic experimentalism is.

This went on to become one of the most commercially successful hip hop albums... I wish it could be said that it had nothing to do with a passively (or even actively) racist recording industry, but it's unlikely.  To be fair though, this is a musically interesting album that is not undeserving of some success.

Day 0523 - She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper "She's so Unusual" (1983)

Lauper's band Blue Angel had been signed, flopped, dropped their manager and were then sued by him.  Lauper was forced into bankruptcy.  From there she set about singing in clubs in New York and essentially restarting her career.   She was spotted by a manager who took her on and got her signed to a label as a solo artist.

The resulting 'debut' album is "She's so unusual" which boasted 7 singles including hits like "Time after Time" and "Girls just want to have fun" saw Lauper for a while in close competition with Madonna for the "Queen of Pop" moniker.

Day 0470 - Hypnotised

The Undertones "Hypnotised" (1980)

I wasn't really too fussed on the previous Undertones album on this list; it was kind of fairly nondescript punk with a little extra melody thrown in.

This one is more of the same but with the punk dialled down a little and the pop/melody turned up slightly, and yet it seems so much better (to my ears). Maybe they reached the punk/melody 'bliss point' or were on a bit of a roll songwriting-wise... who knows?

Again it's not one that I'm really planning on revisiting, but it's more enjoyable and a lot of the songs just seem 'familiar'. I kind of feel like they could potentially have been an early influence on Blur (of whom I am a fan), going by the similarities in sound.

Day 0427 - Highway to Hell

AC/DC "Highway to Hell" (1979)

Apparently this was Acca Dacca's 5th album. The title had come from Angus Young being asked to describe their drunken bus tours, he responded with "like a highway to hell" and it just kind of stuck.

I've obviously heard plenty of AC/DC before, but have never really sat down and listened to an entire album in one sitting before.  All in all they make pretty solid rock n roll (though I guess that should go without saying).  There's just not quite enough variety for my tastes. Looking forward to 'back in black' presumably coming up on this list though.

This was Bon Scott's last album with the band before his alcohol-related death.