Day 0958 - A Grand Don’t Come For Free

The Streets “A Grand Don’t Come For Free” (2004)

To my mind The Streets are punk.  What I mean by that is that punk rock took music, stripped the “you need to be a trained musician” requirement, replaced it with an “anyone can do it” ethos and brought it down to the street level.   Likewise, plenty of Brits were hip-hop fans, being wowed by the vocal prowess of rappers but not necessarily feeling a connection with stories of street murders, gangstas etc.   

 

Mike Skinner’s musical project the Streets gave his listeners stories of trying to return a DVD in “It Was Supposed to be so Easy”, gambling (badly) “Not Addicted”, looking for a romantic connection at the bar “Could Well be in”, or of finding someone attractive but being put off by the fact that they are well aware of their looks “Fit But You Know it”.  

As well as the ‘real’ subject matter, Skinner's delivery is not really mile-a-minute spitting, nor does he have the smoothest flow.   He almost sounds like a quietly amused bloke who's wandered onto the stage at a karaoke bar.   I mean what other rapper could get away with a cracker of a line like "This night's not even begun, yes, yes, oh yay".  There's a narrative running through the songs which I vaguely picked up on.  

Still not always my cup of tea, I tend to prefer slightly more obscure or 'wordplay' sorts of lyrics rather than this wave of "I like it because they're talking about things we all know about" artists.   I do like some of his stuff though, and I can hear why others would too.

Day 0937 - Come Away With Me

Norah Jones “Come Away With Me” (2002) – got it 

 

Like many people I discovered Norah via the single “Don’t Know Why”.  I feel as though I heard it through an ad for her album.  Her dreamy, breathy voice, laid-back groove and beautiful melody hooked me in.

For some people it was TOO laid-back, with Norah being unfairly dubbed “Snorah Jones” by some  detractors.  While it’s true that her brand of jazz-pop-infused-with-folk lacks the pizazz of pop, and the teeth of the best jazz, there is some good songcraft and musicianship on display.  Definitely there are enough good jazz musicians involved (including John Zorn collaborators: Bill Frisell, Kenny Wolleson and Jesse Harris) to lend her some credibility amongst the genre’s purists.

It’s not as if this is a jazz aberration.  Jones taps into the light melodic jazz sounds of Bill Evans and Billie Holliday, adding in touches of country, folk and even tango (“I’ve got to see you again”).  The Hank Williams country classic “Cold Cold Heart” is given a sultry jazz reworking.  “Shoot the Moon” has a moody descending melodic pattern.

The album is an exercise in restraint, whether it’s the smouldering but understated sensuality of “I’ve Got To See You Again” and ”Turn Me On” (a nice bluesy number where Norah’s voice builds above a murmur to really get the passion across); or the sparse arrangements, which generally just consist of minimal drums, bass, a guitar and some piano with Norah’s breathy voice over top.  Sometimes she treats herself (and the listener) to a harmony or backing vocal.

Whether or not it’s jazz is in the ear of the beholder, but I like it, and it helped launch Norah’s career.   While she has experimented a little with her music she has largely continued to just move back and forth between the jazz and country idioms.

Day 0912 - Mama's Gun

Erykah Badu "Mama's Gun" (2000)

 

Badu is another artist with a long musical history, having sung from a young age and been rapping since she was a teen.   She studied performing arts, recorded a demo and this led to her recording a duet with neo-soul aritst D'Angelo.

From there Badu's deubt album "Baduizm" was a success but she then took time off to be with her newborn son to Outkast rapper Andre Benjamin.   The relationship with Benjamin broke down and both parties expressed this through their music: Outkast's "Miss Jackson" and tracks on Badu's second album "Mama's Gun".

The sound has a bit of neo-soul going on but it's a bit of an organic, live-instrument mix of funk, jazz and hip-hop too... not surprising then that one of Badu's collaborators is ?uestlove whose group the Roots mines a similar musical vein.   Badu's voice is her game changer though.  She can to do soul singing and rap, but then on a song like "Green Eyes" she can switch into a straight-up jazz singer.

The tracks "Orange Moon" and "In Love With You" sounded familiar to me.   Good album!

Day 0807 - Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette "Jagged Little Pill" (1995)

Another of those albums that was EVERYWHERE while I was in high school.

I remember being vaguely aware even at the time that Alanis had had albums before this.   Reading up on it, her self-titled album and "Now is the Time" were Canada-only releases in more of a dancey pop vein.  The release of those two records completed the two-album deal she was signed to and she was free to move to Toronto, get together with producer/writer Glen Ballard to put together "Jagged Little Pill".

A lot of people view it as her debut, and certainly it is her first international release and her first album in the more raw, alt-rock vibe.

Morissette seemed to be up for trying different things.  The single "You Oughta Know" was given to Dave Navarro and Flea (at the time both in Red Hot Chili Peppers) to essentially jam out a new arrangement over the existing beat and vocal.    

My favourite track "Head Over Feet" has fuzzy and acoustic guitars blending over a drum-machine beat that gives it almost a hint of the UK's 'baggy' scene.   Lyrically, Morissette covers topics from sexual guilt, predatory music industry types, hope, a little humour, and that lyrical stalwart: the ex-relationship. 

Yep, let's not even talk about "Ironic" and whether it's actually ironic (don't ya think?)

Day 0796 - I Should Coco

 Supergrass "I Should Coco" (1995)

The band, originally called Theodore Supergrass was formed by singer/guitarist Gaz Coombes and bassist Mickey Quinn.   They recorded "I Should Coco" at Sawmills recording studio, an old mill in Cornwall.

The band were young (late teens/early 20s) and ready to have fun.   They were trying different things with the upbeat and fun "Alright" or the rocking-yet-melodic opener "I'd like to know" which itself was created by playing their song "the Strange Ones" backwards on cassette and writing a new song around that sound.

The album is bursting with youthful energy and little cheekiness and actually led to Steven Spielberg approaching the band about making a Monkees-style tv show; they declined.

I prefer their second album "In it for the Money" but this a fun and varied record.

Day 0740 - Whatever

Aimee Mann "Whatever" (1993)

Aimee had been bassist and vocalist for the band Til Tuesday, who had a successful Mann-penned single "Voices Carry".   The band broke up and Mann pursued her solo career.

This is Aimee's first solo album and it's brilliant for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, Mann is an amazing songwriter.  She's another of those rare songwriters whose lyrics actually made me stop and take notice, she has real way with words.  The ballad "I know there's a word" is brilliant and affecting while still being tastefully opaque.

The other reason is that Mann enlisted the help of Til Tuesday touring member and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, who would go on to produce my favourite Fiona Apple album as well as albums by such adventurous souls as the Eels, David Byrne, and Rufus Wainright.

The music has a bit of a country lilt to it, maybe a hint of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, and then (possibly courtesy of Brion) a subtle theatricality in places.

I thoroughly enjoyed this.  It's almost the opposite to a lot of albums, in that rather than being a bit front-loaded, it gets better the further into the tracklist you go so that you end on a high note, ready to revisit the songs.

Day 0626 - Bug

Dinosaur Jr "Bug" (1988)

Another album of Dinosaur Jr's noisy alt-rock that I didn't really warm to.   Apparently even lead singer/guitarist Jay Mascis isn't the biggest fan of this one.

This album is another mix of noisy guitar accompanying occasionally melodic vocal.  The book makes comparisons to Neil Young, and I guess if you were being particularly imaginative you could go along with that.

It was the last album with the original line-up.   Mascis fired bassist/singer/songwriter Lou Barlow after this album and brought the band fully under his control.   Barlow went on to form the band Sebadoh where he could get his creative ideas out.

Day 0588 - Trio

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris "Trio" (1987) - got it

The three country stars were fans of each other and had been trying to get this collaboration together for a while.  Schedules and the fact that they were all signed to different labels interfered with these plans and early efforts generally fell by the wayside.

Some of these early attempts at collaboration leached into their respective solo releases in the following years, and they continued to cover each other's songs.  Finally they were able to make it happen and "Trio" the album was born.

Their three voices join together in beautiful harmonies on the country hymns, while making space for some strong spotlight performances.  It was a bit of a return to more straight-ahead country for at least a couple of the members who had been wandering into more novelty pop-country territory.

"Wildflowers" is a personal favourite of mine.

Day 0582 - I Against I

Bad Brains "I Against I" (1986)

I'm kind of surprised that the first (self titled) Bad Brains album isn't on this list.  Its sound - blistering onslaught of fast thrashy hardcore punk that could change speed or rhythm on a dime - is breathtaking.

That's not to take anything away from this album though as it is an amazing collection of tracks.  There's the groovy "Sacred Love" with its dreamy vocals which were recorded over the phone from the jail by singer HR where he was being held on charges of marijuana possession.  There's the face-melting opening of "House of Suffering" or the catchy Neanderthal groove of the title track.

The mix of groove with thrashy guitars and sneery punky spat-out lyrics brings to mind the Chuck Mosley iteration of Faith No More (seem to remember reading that Chuck briefly joined Bad Brains) or Fishbone.  Great album!