Day 0978 - All Hope is Gone

Slipknot "All Hope is Gone" (2008)

I’m kind of surprised to see more than one Slipknot album on this list (their self-titled debut was day 885).  More surprising is that the second selection is not their excellent third album “Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses”.  With that album they expanded their sound to include some more melodic tracks and different musical ideas, while presenting a cohesive sound that utilised all members.   Lots of memorable music there.

Apparently “All Hope is Gone” sold better, so maybe that’s why it’s here.   It opens (as many of the Slipknot albums do) with a creepy ambient track that’s not really a song as such.  The first couple of songs passed me by without really making much of an impact.

For my tastes, the album doesn’t really get going till you reach single “Psychosocial” which has a nice pulsing chug of an intro/verse and a catchy melodic chorus that keeps the momentum going.   This is followed by the melodically interesting “Dead Memories” and the crazy drum intro of thrasher “Vendetta”.   Elsewhere, “Gehenna” is a creepy horror movie piece that moves into melodic almost grungey territory in places.

After a couple more metal tracks they drop in "Snuff" which, with its emotive melodic vocal, acoustic guitar and dramatic production brings singer Corey Taylor's other band Stonesour to mind.   

 

The album closes out with the title track that is pretty unrelenting with speedy percussion, yelled vocals and speedy metal guitar.   

As suggested, I prefer "Vol.3" but this one has enough to recommend it.

Day 0741 - Fuzzy

Grant Lee Buffalo "Fuzzy" (1993)

The members of Grant Lee Buffalo originally operated under the name Shiva Burlesque, but then reformed in the 90s under their new name.

The album has a definite feel of Americana to it.   Tales from the dusty US back-roads, rendered in a mix of acoustic and over-driven guitars.  My favourite is probably "Dixie Drug Store" the falsetto chorus of which, kind of reminds me favourably of U2's track "Numb".

There's a nice mix of raucous and rocking through to more mellow and meditative tracks.

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 0656 - Doolittle

Pixies "Doolittle" (1989)

The Pixies switched up producers with a noticeable change in sound.  Where "Surfer Rosa" producer Steve Albini favoured dirty, punky production with unconventional techniques; "Doolittle" producer Gil Norton favoured more of a conventional studio sheen.   Given that the Pixies were a band who mixed pleasant melody with abrasive noise, they were clearly amenable to either approach.  

Norton's production sees clean, prominent bass-lines and drums with a noisy squall of guitar over the top.  Black Francis' vocals alternately scream, or sink into melodic harmony with bassist Kim Deal's voice.   The album is a great cohesive mix of styles that lays further groundwork for the wave of Grunge (Cobain was a vocal fan of the Pixies) and the noisier areas of 90s indie-rock and indie-pop alike.

Day 0655 - Pump

Aerosmith "Pump" (1989)

Aerosmith feel like they combine the riffs of Zeppelin and the backing/harmony vocals of the Beatles, but with a little slease and 80s production shine.   Going further on the Zeppelin thing, Aerosmith are such a quintessentially American band that it's almost like one of those things where someone puts English text through an online translator then translates it back into English.  You get Zeppelin taking American blues and doing their own thing with it, then Aerosmith bringing it back to America but funnelling it through their own unique filter.

The album is reflective of the band's late 80s/early 90s output with some stomping hook-filled rockers and some power ballads that could power half of Massachusetts.  Some interludes break things up interestingly ticking along and the odd, confronting "Janie's got a gun" keeps the listener from getting too complacent.

Aerosmith's creative and commercial slump was well and truly over.  For this album they decided to eschew outside help and assembled at a secluded studio to work on songs, coming up with 19 tracks that they divided into the 'A' and 'B' material.

Day 0646 - Spy vs Spy

John Zorn "Spy vs Spy" (1989) - got it

It's a shame to see some artists get almost their entire discography included in this book, while someone with as varied an oeuvre as John Zorn only gets this one.   

In some ways its an appropriate enough album, a bit of a microcosm for what Zorn is about: it takes familiar elements (the free-jazz compositions of Ornette Coleman, elements of hardcore, hints of Carl Stalling's cartoon music, and metal grind) and mixes it together to form something original.  Dishing out short bursts of sound.
On the other hand, it's not the most diverse or representative of Zorn's albums (not reflecting the more melodic sides of his sound, the breadth of his soundtrack work, or his passion for traditional Jewish music), it doesn’t feature any original compositions from the prolific Zorn, and the unrelenting sonic pummelling does risk becoming a bit samey by the end.

Zorn's goal here had been to try and reimagine Coleman's compositions while reinvigorating the shock factor they would have had when they were first unveiled.   Zorn and the other sax player Tim Berne are panned either side and improvving over an amazing rhythm section.  They're like "you want some hard bop rhythm?  Not a problem.   What's that?  Blast beats... yeah, sure thing". 

Free free jazz.

Day 0624 - Surfer Rosa

Pixies "Surfer Rosa" (1988)

The Pixes were another band who had circulated some demos/EPs before releasing their first proper full-length album.   The band were paired with Shellac/Big Black frontman Steve Albini who had been swiftly moving more and more into his no-nonsense style of production.

The band had one meeting with Albini and were recording less than a week later.  Albini charged the band a flat fee, refusing to take a share of royalties (as was often standard practice) believing it to be an insult to a band to take a percentage for their work.  A principle he would continue to hold throughout his career.

This pragmatic approach to recording led them to spend only one day recording vocals (including recording some of bassist/vocalist Kim Deal's vocals in a bathroom for natural reverb) but a week or two on guitars.   The arresting debut is an onslaught of noisy guitars, and screamed vocals, but with this cacophony often wrapped around tight, melodic songs.   The album served as inspiration for many 90s alt-rock luminaries such as PJ Harvey, Billy Corgan and the members of Nirvana.

Day 0586 - Among the Living

Anthrax "Among the Living" (1987)

Of the 'Big 4' of Thrash (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax), Anthrax were the ones I knew the least about, so was quite interested to see how this panned out.  Not bad, as it turns out.

To my mind, the star here is Scott Ian with his cutting, thrashy rhythm guitar.  Drummer Charlie Benante's pounding, speedy-yet-tight beats are also noteworthy.  I found the vocals to be a bit close to the glam style, which sort of clashed a bit with the more punky, angry music.  A few of the lyrics were a touch cringe-worthy too with the benefit of hindsight, such as "Indians", or "I am the Law", which, though it's actually about Judge Dredd, comes off sounding a bit pro-police-brutality.

Solid enough metal album.  Another one of those "if someone puts it on at a party, I'd listen; but I most likely won't buy a copy" albums.

Day 0364 - Ramones

Ramones "Ramones" (1976)

One of the original punk albums that totally lives up to its hype.  Right out of the gate, it's a blistering stampede of raw rock.  Stripped of grandiosity complex virtuosity that had become prevalent in certain areas of rock, to present an "anyone can play" style of music.

There are so many great tracks here, 'Blitzkrieg bop', 'Beat on the brat', 'Today your love, tomorrow the world', 'Havana affair', and the surprisingly dark '53rd and 3rd' written about a street hustler taking violent action... legend/rumour suggested that Dee-Dee Ramone was writing in a somewhat autobiographical frame.

Surprisingly for an early punk album, it was fairly well received critically on its release, though not with the sales to match.