Day 0467 - Remain in Light

Talking Heads "Remain in Light" (1980) - got it

David Byrne was suffering a case of writers block so looked to build up some minimalist jams, often around just one or two chords. The band brought in influences from funk, to afro-beat, to electronica and Byrne helped craft the jams into functional songs.

Following the 'Fear of music' tour, the band had taken time off to pursue other interests. Byrne and 'Remain in light' producer Brian Eno recorded the "My life in the bush of ghosts" album.  Jerry Harrison produced an album for a soul singer.  The married rhythm section of Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz headed to the Caribbean to hang out with famed reggae rhythm section Sly and Robbie. The two mulled over the idea of leaving Talking Heads due to Byrne's controlling nature.

Eno too had questioned coming back as producer after his previous two albums with the Heads... so it wasn't really a happy working environment.   As it was, Eno didn't produce the next album ("Speaking in tongues") and a few year's later the band's inner turmoil became insurmountable and they broke up. It's probably telling that while many acrimoniously split groups have reformed throughout the years, the Heads (aside from a Rock n Roll Hall of Fame appearance) have avoided reuniting.

For all the friction in its making, the album produced some great songs, including one of TH's most known tracks "Once in a lifetime".

Day 0435 - Fear of Music

Talking Heads "Fear of Music" (1979)

Hmm, another Talking Heads album that I don't own. This one is really interesting, Eno's influence seems to be creeping in even more than on 'More songs about buildings and food' with additional sonic trickery.

David Byrne took the nervous energy and anxiety that popped up in places on the first two albums and just smeared it all over the songs here. Even the serene 'Heaven' (rendered as an ethereal ballad by Icehouse) has a slightly cynical and bleak feel to it.

Eno tweaks the sounds made by the band as well as increasing the nervous energy by throwing plenty of extra little unsettling bleeps and bloops into the mix.

Day 0413 - More Songs About Buildings and Food

Talking Heads "More Songs About Buildings and Food" 1978 - got it

Brian Eno joins the Heads in the studio, bringing his gift of mixing pop with new and interesting production ideas, starting a creative partnership that would help produce some great TH albums, but would also see fractures appear in the group.

The band mixes its skittish brand of art-rock with touches of scratchy funk and danceable disco beats, creating a sound that would be ripped off wholesale (though done very well) by Franz Ferdinand some 25-30 years later.

Byrne sounds like he's recording some of his vocals after drinking several pots of coffee, just a nervous gangly energy to what he's doing.

The husband-and-wife rhythm section of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth lay down some tight grooves over a mix of styles.

The second-to-last track is a cool-down.  A fairly sedate reading of Al Green's "Take me to the river" that has become a bit of a classic rock radio staple (or at least it has over here).

Day 0397 - Parallel Lines

Blondie "Parallel Lines" (1978)

I have a greatest hits by Blondie, which I enjoy... but ye gods, this album has so much more variety and interest than the hits package!

Blondie had started to develop their punky sound into more of a new-wave direction and producer Mike Chapman gave their sound more polished sheen.  Chapman took what was to be a James Brown-esque hard-funker "Heart of Glass" and giving it a disco groove.

The album has a kind of fun playfulness throughout, occasionally verging on the childish. Even the slightly menacing "one way or another" sounds like a playground threat with its "I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha".

Day 0382 - Talking Heads: 77

Talking Heads "Talking Heads: 77" (1977... rather obviously, I guess)

 
The Heads were formed by David Byrne and Chris Frantz, with Frantz's girlfriend Tina Weymouth joining on bass and played their first gig opening for the Ramones.  After the band were signed, Byrne (showing that talent doesn't always come with charm) then demanded that Weymouth audition to keep her role in the band.   Guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison (formerly of the Modern Lvoers) joined shortly before they recorded their debut album, with Jon Bon Jovi's cousin Tony Bongiovi, handling production duties.

I really enjoy the Talking Heads and have a few of their albums, yet I've never really got around to properly checking out this one.  There are some great tracks here ("Happy day", "Don't worry about the government", "First week/last week...carefree", and of course "Psycho Killer"), it's a good album, and a clear influence on later bands with their mix of intellectualism and danceability, skittish postpunk and neurotic funk.

If I'm honest, I probably prefer their later albums' variety to the more uniform approach on this one, but it's still good.

Day 0196 - All Things Must Pass

George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" (1970) - got it

 
George Harrison must have had the worst case of musical blue balls working under Lennon/McCartney, because he shot forth a triple album!

I was always a fan of George's Beatles songs, and similarly his solo work doesn't disappoint.  Even across 3 LPs there is pleasingly little (to my ears) that seems like filler, with a range of sounds being explored, all with the help of Clapton and his 'Derek and the Dominoes' band.  The album also features Billy Preston, the Organ maestro from the Let it Be/Get Back sessions.

Day 0134 - The Beatles (AKA 'The White Album')

The Beatles "The Beatles" (AKA 'The White Album") (1968) - got it

The band were not on best terms by this point, and were clearly heading off more and more in their own creative directions here.  They still had enough input on each other's music that it still sounds like a band.

Lennon and McCartney deliver some great cuts between them such as "Julia", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Helter Skelter", "Back in the USSR" etc etc, with "Sexy Sadie" being shameless ripped off by Radiohead a few years later for 'Karma Police'.
Ringo contributed a song too, but the real star songwriting-wise is George with the beautiful 'while my guitar gently weeps' and 'long long long' that really sounds like it could have been released last week... possibly because a few bands are still copying/being influenced by that sound at the moment.

The band mostly eschew their former psychedelic and baroque pop sensibilities (outside of a few tracks) for a more stripped down blues and rock sound.

Basically you know it's a good collection of songs when everyone is trying to use/copy/reference them; the most famous example probably being Danger Mouse's "the Grey Album" which combines this album with Jay-Z's "Black Album".

Day 0060 - Revolver

The Beatles "Revolver" (1966) - got it

According to the 1001 Albums book, this album had working titles including "Abracadabra" "Magic Circles" (sounds like an indie band name) and "Beatles on Safari".  All in all, I think they made the right choice with "Revolver".

I find it funny that Rubber Soul and Revolver are so often grouped together; in some ways the two albums are polar opposites. where RS has a kind of diverse uniformity to it (yes I know it's an oxymoron, but then that's the nature of the Beatles) Revolver is all over the place.

There's the brassy Motown of "Got to get you into my life", the 'George-4-India-4-eva' vibe of "Love you to", and, though John is generally my favourite songwriter in the band, I have to admit that Paul's beautiful pop of "For no one" and "Here, there and everywhere" gives him a run for his money.  John counters with 'Dr Robert', 'I'm only sleeping' (a personal favourite of mine) and 'Tomorrow never knows', which the 1001 albums book jokes, with its sound collage approach and eastern flavour has pretty much been the basis for the Chemical Brothers' entire career.

Day 055 - Rubber Soul

The Beatles "Rubber Soul" (1965) - got it

Wow, 1965 was obviously a decent year for music (not like smelly old 1961), including as it does, this... contender for best Beatles album?

It manages somehow to be hugely varied, yet it still feels like it has a kind of uniform sound.  Possibly the only weak song is the country cover with Ringo on vocals.  Even that's not 'bad', and kind of makes a nice counterpoint to the baroque pop and increasingly psychedelic mod rock that makes up much of the rest of the album.  So many brilliant songs, I was going to list the great ones but it's pretty much all of them.  My one gripe (and it's only a small one) is around sequencing: "In my life" would have made a great album closer, rather than being jammed in the middle of the second side.

Apparently this was one of the first albums released in the US to not feature the artist's name on the cover... I guess at this point, they didn't have to.  It also adds to the enigmatic vibe of the album.