Day 0917 - Felt Mountain

Goldfrapp "Felt Mountain" (2000)

This one was a bit of a surprise.   I'd thought of Goldfrapp as being more electro-pop (actually I'm pretty sure their later work is), and Alison Goldfrapp had done some work with Orbital, and on Tricky's trip-hop magnum opus "Maxinquaye", but this definitely doesn't sound like electronica.

Alison was introduced to Will Gregory and the two hit it off and started collaborating, deciding to form a band under Goldfrapp's distinctive surname.

As above, the album does not really sound electronic, it's more of a theatrical record with lush strings and a definite cinematic feel.   The opening track "Lovely Head" is interesting, sound effects and a lonesome whistle backed with strings the combination of which just screams Ennio Morricone, then it gives way to what sounds like a John Barry James Bond orchestration.   The title track has a definite Bond/Barry vibe to it too, this impression is heightened by Golfrapp's (the person) occasionally Shirley Bassey-esque tone such as on track "Human".   Her voice moves from hushed whispers to low croons to big belting notes.

I definitely dug this one and should probably seek out a bit more Goldfrapp (hopefully there'll be some more on the list).

Day 0367 - Songs in the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life" (1976) - got it

Stevie had parted company with synthesizer wizards Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil who had left him with a stockpile of some 250 songs (of which only a handful have since been released).  Rather than fall back on those tracks, Stevie set about recording new songs.  Now, this is where the role of a producer can show its merit.  When RM and MC were on board with Stevie they'd give him the tools to explore his ideas, but they would also make sure he finished songs and got albums out into the world, instead of constantly starting new things and not seeing them through.

"Songs.." took 2 years of Stevie constantly telling Motown that he was ready to deliver the album (at one point they even put up huge billboards advertising its release... a year or so before it finally got delivered). He recorded a further 200 songs with various guests, involved including Herbie Hancock, George Benson, and one or two of Stevie's exes on vocals. I feel as though after his death there will be a giant stockpile of songs that could be released if he hasn't destroyed them or they don't get stymied in a legal quagmire (at the time of writing, that's what seems to have happened to most of Prince's unreleased stuff.)

When the album finally came out, a few songs followed soon after release on an EP.  It suggests to me that Stevie, left to his own devices, just couldn't bring himself to 'close the loop' on the album.  In that respect, he'd probably fare quite well in the current music world where he could just drip out tracks via bandcamp or iTunes or something.

There are tons of brilliant tracks here ('Sir Duke', 'I Wish', 'Pastime Paradise', 'As') and of course there are.  This is 1970s Stevie: he was untouchable at this point.  That said, the album does suffer from the same 'track exhaustion' found in a lot of double albums.  I couldn't pick any 'bad' tracks per se, it just feels like a lot of work listening to the whole thing and could have been better presented or experienced as 2 or 3 separate albums.