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 0804 - Brown Sugar

D'Angelo "Brown Sugar" (1995)

D'Angelo is another musical lifer, getting into music as a child, taking part in amateur nights at the Apollo Theatre, and eventually dropping out of school to pursue a music career.

D'Angelo handled most of the production and vocals on "Brown Sugar" himself, crafting a sound that was like a modernised Marvin Gaye.   Similar to (and probably a source of) a lot of current modern RnB but without the now seemingly obligatory rap guest spot.

The sound was dubbed 'neo-soul' and, slowly but surely worked D'Angelo into the public consciousnes.   Love his take on "Cruisin" and his own eloquent "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf**ker".

Day 0666 - World Clique

Dee-Lite "World Clique" (1990) - got it

More than just "Groove is in the Heart".  This is an album that features guest spots from such luminaries as Bootsy Collins, Herbie Hancock and Maceo Parker.  But it is more than those guest spots too.  This is an album that grooves from start to finish.  Some of the big rollicking beats and jagged piano date the music slightly, but aside from that, it's a great mix of techno, funk and pop.

Different styles and sounds are on display, mixing live instruments and samples.  Lady Miss Kier's voice provides enough variety that I didn't grow weary of hearing the same singer throughout.

Day 0497 - 1999

Prince "1999" (1982)

Though Prince's next album "Purple Rain" would contribute to the parental advisory stickers being added to albums, this one is also pretty full-on (in typical Prince fashion).  It includes the ad-libbed line "I sincerely want to fuck the taste out of your mouth".

Barry White, Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye may have been masters of the bedroom groove that gave you the aural equivalent of being laid down on satin sheets, but I daresay Prince was king of the 'fuck-groove'.  The pull your panties down in the backseat and get buck-wild vibe.  "Lady Cab Driver" and "International lover" are pretty overt with this with Prince's ecstatic squeals and hard funk grooves, but the whole album has touches of the erotic.

Combining the warm grooves of Funkadelic with the machine-like rhythms of Kraftwerk, Prince was the future.

Day 0429 - Street Life

Crusaders "Street Life" (1979)

 
Another album featuring a dose of light funk.  Though, that is just one side to their sound, which is more of a jazzy smooth pop-fusion kind of thing. The band used to be called 'the Jazz Crusaders', and though they dropped 'jazz' from their name, the sound stayed very firmly in the music.

These songs sound like they'd work just fine in either a disco/dance club or in a smokey jazz lounge. The pop flavour does dull the jazz edge a little, but it's still spicy enough.

Day 0411 - D.O.A.: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle

Throbbing Gristle "D.O.A.: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle" (1978)

 
So I'd heard the name throbbing gristle, but had always assumed that they were a punk band... I was not prepared for the world of weird, electronic, often loop-based music I encountered.

The band make imaginative use of field recording equipment, early sampling techniques and sonic manipulation. Some of the tracks are just a stream of barely coherent sound, other sections are a mix of drone and electronic sounds and drifting vocals that create a sound somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram with the velvet underground, Kraftwerk and the Residents. This is certainly nobody's idea of "easy listening"!

The bad went on to become an influence on sonic experimenters such as Depeche Mode and Trent Reznor.

Day 0273 - Aladdin Sane

David Bowie "Aladdin Sane" (1973)

 
There are not a lot of ch-ch-changes here, with what seems like a rare case of Bowie (either due to record company pressure or his own urge) re-treading familiar territory.

He follows the success of the Ziggy Stardust album with an offering that is in a similar androgynous glam-rock-alien, semi-concept album vein.  Two points of difference present themselves: one is an increased theatricality to the music, with none of the songs matching the more low-key moments of something like 'Rock n roll suicide', parts of 'Starman' or others... I think that is partly due to the increased presence of the piano, it just makes the songs feel a bit more grand and elegant. The other point of difference is a bit more space provided in the arrangements for his musicians (especially Mick Ronson) to shine.

There are some interesting things going on here; 'Time' and 'Lady Grinning Soul' sound to me like Bowie's Scott Walker fandom coming to the fore. The book describes the Rolling Stones cover 'Let's spend the night together' as a musical misstep, but to me it seems in a similar musical vein to 'Sufragette city', particularly with a little Bowie 'sparkle' infused in the riffs and could almost act as a musical 'sequel' to that track.

All in all, I feel as though it's not up to the standard of the previous Bowie album, but still enjoyable with some truly top-shelf moments, such as the title track, 'Time' and "Lady Grinning Soul".

Day 0016 "Lady in Satin"

Billie Holiday "Lady in Satin" (1958)

Exquisite! This was designed to be a comeback album of sorts for Lady Day; it was her first and only (during her lifetime) release on Columbia Records.  After a career steeped in hard swinging jazz, and having heard Ray Ellis' lush arrangements on his "Ellis in Wonderland" album she decided that she wanted to sing over more of an easy-listening sound (she'd also considered recording with Nelson Riddle after hearing his work with Sinatra).

Ellis wanted to put some seriously dense string arrangements behind the singer to compensate for her weathered voice.  She'd been struggling with alcohol and heroin addiction, so sounded more like she was in her 80s than in her 40s.

Holiday had never had a huge vocal range; she's always been more known for her tone and her sense of rhythm.  Even in its worn down state, her voice sounds so pure, so strong and dripping with feeling it manages to work with and against the syrupy sweet arrangements to keep things from getting too maudlin.

The very first cut "I'm a fool to want you" really sets the tone for the rest of the album.