Day 0954 - College Dropout

Kanye West “College Dropout” (2004)

Remember those days when Kanye wasn’t a Kardashian side-piece and a walking conversation-starter around the danger of not managing mental health issues.  When we hadn’t even had the “whoa that was a bit crazy” moment of him interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMAs.

Before all of that, and before Kanye even known as a rapper, he was a producer who was building a reputation for himself.  He specialised in a sound where he manipulated old soul samples and arranged beats behind them.  

West struggled to be taken seriously as a rapper and had a potential major label deal shot down before it could even happen.   He was eventually signed to Roc-a-Fella Records and set about recording his debut.

The production sounds good.  From the beats and gospel choir of “Jesus Walks” to the seamless blending of an RnB/soul vocal with West’s raps in "All Falls Down".  I can understand the reticence about signing West for his lyrics though.  He grew up the son of an English professor who, for a time relocated to China to teach there, taking Kanye with her. She helped pay for his first recording efforts.  Not the standard gangsta/street résumé often associated with the genre.  

To my mind, that life could still have thrown up some interesting stories/lyrics but instead Kanye often seems to rap about expensive possessions, lash out at those he perceives as having wronged him, and even falling back on the old standard ‘braggadocio’ track (“Breathe in, Breathe out”).

If anything, I found the most interesting, endearing and honest track to be the album-closer “Last Call” where Kanye spends 12+ minutes geeking out about his process, his history, recounting (sometimes in excruciating detail) his path to getting signed and making his record and generally just talking in a direct and honest way.   It's almost like an unannotated twitter feed.

Day 0926 - Is This It

 The Strokes "Is This It" (2001)

One of the wave of garage rock revival bands (also known as the 'the' bands, e.g. the Strokes, the Datsuns, the Hives, the White Stripes etc.) and another of those bands given the plaudit of "Saving rock n roll".  I don't know about that, rock just seems to naturally ebb and flow rather than "die" or need "Saving".   

This is an enjoyable album though.  It's compact (under 40 minutes) and gives definite nods to its influences, Velvet Underground, and the first wave of bands influenced by them.   Definitely Julian Casablancas' vocals owe a debt to Lou Reed.   I detect a bit of 'Lust for Life' era Iggy Pop too, particularly in the rhythms of "Someday".   "Hard to Explain"  is a bit of a favourite of mine and always kind of brings Weezer (of all things) to mind.

Most of the songs have a propulsive rhythm to them, even something like "Alone, Together" which is a slower tempo track has an unrelenting beat behind it and the guitars keep pace.   The twisty turny interplay between the two guitars does offer a bit of a point of difference between the Strokes and some of their more rhythmically straight-ahead Rawk contemporaries. 

Day 0881 - Apple Venus vol.1

XTC "Apple Venus vol.1" (1999) - got it

It had been 7 years since the previous XTC album.  The band had been arguing with their record label Virgin and essentially went on strike until they were allowed the freedom to do things their way.   Eventually the band left the label and were able to move forward with their music.  

Songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding had amassed over 40 songs and at first had planned to release a double album, but changed this to release two volumes.   The second Apple Venus volume "Wasp Star" would consist of more straight ahead rock/guitar songs.    Volume one though is a masterpiece of baroque pop mostly consisting of orchestral instruments and acoustic guitars.   Due to budgetary restrictions the album's orchestral parts were all recorded in one day.

From the opening pizzicato strings and dripping sounds of "River of Orchids" that build to a swirl of strings and layered vocals, the album is a gorgeous journey with hints of Beatles, Bacharach and Beach Boys while still being totally XTC.   

 

There are a couple of more light-hearted tracks ("Frivolous Tonight" and "Fruit Nut") courtesy of Moulding, but the bulk of the album is Partridge's with a McCartney-eqsue upbeat acoustic track "I'd like that".  A bitter reflection on the end of his marriage with "Your Dictionary".   Album-closer "The Last Balloon" is an appropriately elegant melodic journey with its slow keys and strings with choirs building to booming percussive accents and sailing the album away on a mournful lilting trumpet solo.

XTC are one of those musical oversights for me.   I liked and bought this album when I first skimmed through the 1001 albums book and have since bought two other of their albums... but given they have 14, I could probably delve deeper.

Day 0780 - Grace

Jeff Buckley "Grace" (1994) - got it

Buckley seems to have been a hard worker and another musical 'lifer'.   The son of 60s folk star Tim Buckley, he could easily have leant on his famous name to fast-track his music career.  Instead Jeff first put in years playing guitar and/or performing backing vocals in bands ranging from jazz, reggae, blues and metal.    He eventually started working on more and more of his own music.   Taking the time to get that musical education and putting in the work helped Buckley form a musical identity that wasn't just a rehash of his dad's sound.

Though there is a posthumous release of Buckley's incomplete second album, "Grace" is the only album he released during his lifetime, drowning while night-swimming at the age of 27.

It would be an amazing album in any situation... that it's Buckley's debut is testament to the work that he put in beforehand.   There is a bit of a mix of styles, but it gels well into a cohesive whole, mostly driven by clean guitars and Buckley's soaring voice that hits high notes that can send shivers down your spine.   I could imagine a live rendition of his cover of "Corpus Christie Carol" being something that could bring tears to the eyes... there's just a hint of Freddie Mercury to it too (but in a subtle way).  

 

The most famous cover on here of course being Leonard Cohen's "Halellujah" which has been used in more films and tv shows then I'm aware of, and is probably better known than the original.

That's not to downplay Jeff's own songs though, the title track is a swirling beautiful wave of melodic alt-rock, again with Buckley's voice taking the whole thing higher.  His voice can be plaintive and begging through to aggressive and decisive and occasionally treads a line of drama that would seem overblown in the wrong hands (or with the wrong voice) but that Jeff nails.   

His potential career will remain one of the great 'what ifs' of music.

Day 0628 - Shadowland

k.d. lang "Shadowland" (1988)

Lang's previous work with the Reclines had raised eyebrows and left a few country fans unsure of what to make of its mix of styles occasional sense of humour, and Lang's own androgynous style.  Luckily it also attracted the attention of Patsy Cline's long-time producer Owen Bradley.  Bradley came out of retirement to take Lang under his wing and help her fashion her first solo album.

The album is still not a straight country album, "Busy being blue" lives up to its name.  "Black Coffee" also has a kind of jazzy blues to it.  There's the beautiful string-laden country of "Tears don't care who cries them" which recalls Roy Orbison (who Lang has also worked with).  Tracks like "Lock, stock and teardrops", "Sugar Moon" and "(Waltz me) once again around the dancefloor" though have a pleasingly straight-ahead honky tonk country sound to them.

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.