Day 0843 - Shleep

Robert Wyatt "Shleep" (1997)

If you were giving points just for longevity, Wyatt would be doing well.  His last entry in this list "Rock Bottom" (day 325) was released in 1974.  If you were just going based on fun song titles he'd be doing well with doozies like "Free Will and Testament" and "the Whole Point of No Return".   If you were going based on the respect of other musicians, he'd be doing well as Brian Eno helps produce and guitars are provided by Paul Weller and Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera.

The fact is that, beside all of the above, the music is damned good too.  From the naive 60s-esque pop of "Heaps of Sheep" and "Maryan" to the jazzy experimentation of "the Duchess", the extended fusiony jam of "Alien" to the jazzy beat poetry homage to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" this is just a great collection of songs.   The music brings to mind everything from the Kinks, early Pink Floyd, and Frank Zappa to later interesting and inventive bands like Ween and XTC.

Day 0369 - Before and After Science

Brian Eno "Before and After Science" (1977)

Eno collaborates with a catalogue of artists including Robert Fripp and even Phil Collins. As with his other solo albums that I've listened to so far, he manages to incorporate interesting audio textures, avant garde techniques and, here, some occasionally virtuosic performances into a cohesive and often quite 'pop' sounding whole.

This album doesn't stand out above the other two of his that I've heard on this list, but that says more about the consistency of quality of Eno's solo output than any particular shortcoming of this album.

Fun fact, Eno would go on to produce the second Talking Heads album, and this record features a track "King's Lead Hat" which is an anagram of that band's name.

Day 0264 - Roxy Music

Roxy Music "Roxy Music" (1972) - got it

 
Roxy Music are almost textbook case of the "strong personalities making interesting music until some of those personalities departs and the other/s take over" thing.

The clash of 50s-style rock n roll mixed with glam, a little punk, a smattering of horns, and Brian Eno's space-aged synth noises is an exciting musical smack in the face!  Eno left early on (I think after the first or second album) and by the time they released "Avalon" half the band had left and Bryan Ferry ruled the roost.  Avalon didn't really match the early material (though having said that 'More than this' is a brilliant tune).

Back to the debut though: it is a bold, brash musical statement which is the opposite of that "Oh I don't want to stand out, I just want to 'serve the song'" idea that mediocres so much music.  The first track even makes space for each member to show off with a bar or two of solo.  The music twists and turns, with Ferry still learning his craft as a singer and lyricist, seeming to have a unique, more defined vocal delivery than in later albums (the reverse of what normally happens).

Oddly my relationship with this band/album started somewhat indirectly when I read about them as an influence on one of my favourite NZ bands Split Enz (who, like RM started in an art rock sort of vein and moved to a slightly poppier sound later on), and when I saw a cover of the song 'Virginia Plain' on the British sketch show "Big Train" (an early break for Simon Pegg, Catherine Tate and Mark Heap) I was hooked in.