Day 0965 - Back to Black

Amy Winehouse "Back to Black" (2006) - got it

It would be easy enough to go on about Amy's drug problems (and her possibly related parental problems) or her early death making her a late-era member of the famed '27 club', but I love this album and would prefer to stick to the music.

I enjoy Amy's debut "Frank" well enough, it's more of a straight-ahead jazz thing with a few reggae and pop touches, but this one is much more my cup of tea.   As Winehouse began her relationship with her eventual husband Blake Fielder-Civil they were hanging out in bars with a lot of jukebox music, lots of 60s girl groups and Motown stuff.   This soundtrack highly influenced her writing, and even after the relationship with Fielder-Civil fell apart (for a time) she carried on with the sound.

While there are one or two more straight ahead jazz ballads here like "Love is a Losing Game" and "Wake Up Alone", for the most part the songs have a bit more of a groove to them, combined with Amy's strong, controlled, distinctive voice.    

 

Whether it's my favourite, the funereal, cinematic title track (the basic track of which was thrown together overnight by producer Mark Ronson to show Winehouse that he could get with the sound she wanted); or jazzy funk of opening track "Rehab", Ronson and Winehouse bring a groove that is somehow simultaneously retro and contemporary.  "Tears Dry on Their Own" takes things a step further, isn't just influenced by Motown, it's Winehouse and Ronson pretty much building a new song over the backing track for the Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell track "Ain't no Mountain High Enough".

Mark Ronson's string and horn arrangements suit the pop/motown vibe perfectly, while Winehouse's voice still with its jazzy nod to the versatility of Sarah Vaughan and the raw emotion of Billie Holliday slinks around the tunes.   It's an album that started being written in the throes of love and was finished in the pain of breakup, it gives you the lot, and in under 40 minutes to-boot

Despite what I said about not dwelling on her death, I will say that Amy Winehouse is another of those great musical 'what ifs'.   Maybe she never would have topped this album, but I feel like she was (apologies for the cliche) just getting started.

Day 0934- Power in Numbers

Jurassic 5 “Power in Numbers” (2002) – got it

I was introduced to Jurassic 5 through the video for “What’s Golden” (a single from this album).  I was struck by the great beat, interesting production, smart lyrics and the chorus that manages to be catchy without needing rely on a sample or a guest singer.  The real clincher for me was hearing Chali 2na… this group is more than one MC but his bassy percussive rapping style was something I hadn’t really heard before.

I picked up this album not long after that, and it didn’t disappoint.  The tracks have a lot of soul and jazz that sounds like similar to what the Soulquarians’ were doing, though in this case that sound comes courtesy of DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark.   They lay a jazzy groove behind “If you only knew” and strings and melancholic guitar in the Nelly Furtado-featured “Thin Line”.

I like that while there are touches of typical hip-hop braggadocio, the group are largely humble, intelligent and kick against the misogynistic and ‘gangsta’ norms found in some areas of hip-hop.

There is some speedy, snappy rapping on track “A day at the races”, and in fact across the record the MCs seem able to speed it up or slow it down to suit.  They also have a really great style they deploy which is somehow legato and staccato at the same time… like the vocal equivalent of driving over a cattle-stop where the words flow together but each syllable is bouncing off the previous one… ah sorry, I’m dancing about architecture.

Essentially, it’s an album that is bursting with talent, from the core members (most of whom have pursued solo careers) to the guests who include Kool Keith performing the acapella track “DDT”.

J5 would go on to release one more album (2006’s “Feedback”) before splitting up.  While they have reunited for the odd show, no further material (outside of the single "Customer Service") has been released since then.

Day 0868 - This is Hardcore

Pulp "This is Hardcore" (1998) - got it

Pulp's "Different Class" album had been a success, but the band were not revelling in their new-found fame.  Facing it instead with a mix of drugs, resignations and paranoia that blighted the euphoria.   The angst all comes out on this album, with opening track "the Fear" featuring lines like "the sound of loneliness turned up to 10" and "this is the sound of someone losing the plot, making out that they're okay when they're not".

The album moves away from the bouncy, perky britpop of 'Different Class ' and into a more brooding, reflective realm.   The band's theatrical side (musically and via Cocker's low murmur-to-impassioned yell vocals) remains.   The title track has a noirish, almost cinematic bent.  Single "Help the Aged" moves from an easy-listening groove to a huge anthemic chorus.

With their propulsive grooves and Cocker's deep croon, "Party Hard" and "Glory Days" seem to nod to late 70s/early 80s Bowie.   Album odd-duck "Seductive Barry" is an atmospheric, meditative track which feels again like it owes a debt to Bowie, specifically his Berlin albums.

Day 0835 - 1977

Ash "1977" (1996)

Not the first band to name an album or a song for the year they were born, and certainly not the last.   1977 also being the year Star Wars was released, the album opens with the sound of a TIE-fighter and ends with the clear Star Wars reference of track "Darkside Lightside" (the band also recorded a cover of "the Cantina Song" from Star Wars as a b-side for single "Girl From Mars").

The band were still teenagers when they entered the studio to work on the album, stating that they became nocturnal creatures, being introduced fairly rapidly to drugs by their producer.   

Despite all of this, and having put aside some freakout noise tracks they'd worked on in their murky studio state, the album is a gorgeous slice of pop-rock, with catchy singles like "Girl From Mars" and "Goldfinger" showing the young band's already mature songsmithing.  The opening and closing tracks show the band displaying some blistering pop-punk with emphasis on the punk.

Day 0825 - Tellin' Stories

The Charlatans "Tellin' Stories" (1996)

The band had to promote themselves as the UK Charlatans when touring the US due to a band over there having prior claim to the name.   Maybe they should have called themselves 'the New Charlatans'.
 

The music is an organ-heavy rock sound, with nasally vocals... not surprising then that the band had supported Oasis for their 1996 shows at Knebworth.   Kind of like the Oasis sound but mixed with a bit of the 'Madchester' style, more dance-esque beats and swirly guitars.

Not too bad, a few catchy numbers, but not one that has really stuck with me too much after listening to it.  The track "How can you leave us" kind of reminded me in places of the equally catchy rock of "Long Grass" by the New Zealand band Pan Am.

Day 0817 - Beautiful Freak

Eels "Beautiful Freak" (1996) - got it

If the Eels' sound seems to come somewhat fully formed, perhaps that's because the band was always more or less centred around singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett.  Prior to forming the Eels with drummer Butch and bassist Tommy Walter, Everett had honed his skills across two solo albums under his moniker 'E'.  

Lately I've been more focussed on the more recent Eels albums like "Hombre Lobo" and "Wonderful Glorious" (good) and "End Times" (less great), so it's been nice revisiting this great album.

On the face of it, it's a kind of downbeat indie pop and rock album, but there's plenty more here.   Opening track and single "Novocaine for the soul" features a sample of Fats Domino, some tinkling piano, strings and looped beats.   Track "Flower" opens with what sounds like a church choir then drops in some tasteful slide guitar, giving the track a hint of country.

E and his rotating cast of musicians would go on to plumb emotional depths, investigate harder rock sounds and string-backed mellowness but this album is already just bursting with musical information.  E lays out self-analysis, observations of the world around him and his offbeat take on love songs (as on the title track).

Day 0808 - Dust

Screaming Trees "Dust" (1996)

Screaming Trees and their dust-throated vocliast Mark Lanegan have always drifted in and out of my orbit.   I first heard the Screaming Tress through their brilliant song "Nearly lost you" from the soundtrack Cameron Crowe's grunge-centric film "Singles".   Even though I loved that song I didn't really think to check out any more of their music.

A few years later a friend was well into the Mark Lanegan band and I listened to a couple of their albums but left it at that again.   Then a few years later, I saw Lanegan perform with the band the Soulsavers and a friend who is very much a Lanegan afficiando helped me discover a lot more of his work (solo, with Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell, with Duke Garwood, Gutter Twins, Twilight Singers...).   Basically, sometimes I'm a slow learner.

Anyway, back to "Dust".   The basic foundation of this album seems to be the Beatles' Revolver and Rubber Soul albums, it has that mix of hard rock with middle-eastern sounds and a wash of psychedelia.   I guess those sounds, mixed with a little more distortion and with Lanegan's gravelly voice somehow manages to sound rock hard, the album is too good to fob off as "just another grunge record".

Great songs with occasional touches of gospel backing vocals that seem to signpost what was to come as far as Lanegan's work with the Soulsavers goes.

Day 0802 - Different Class

Pulp "Different Class" (1995) - got it

If Blur were drawing on the Kinks, and Oasis on the Beatles, Pulp is like some weird smash together of the Pet Shop Boys and Scott Walker (would later produce their final album "We Love Life").   There are some minimalist keyboardy pop tracks and then some more cinematic mixes of acoustic guitar backed with strings, occasional jabs of rock guitar.

These sounds back singer Jarvis Cocker's stories that reflect both his northern upbringing and his geeky outsider status.  He has a certain theatrical flair to his delivery, moving between sultry whispers and spoken word, from sleepy croons, through to impassioned howls.

Many of his stories are a little downbeat, while still not without a sense of humour and a shrug of the shoulders.  Whether it's his scathing yet amused take on rich twats glamourising working class life in "Common People":

"Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool"

Or this line from album opener "Mis-shapes" which seems to sum up the band's self-image:

"We don't look the same as you
And we don't do the things you do
But we live around here, too"

As I've said a few times, I'm not really much of a lyric fan, but Jarvis has a way with words that I can get behind.   He does seem to be very sex-focussed, but in kind of an awkward, unconventional way.

Another pillar of Britpop/Cool Brittannia.

 

Day 0772 - Yank Crime

Drive Like Jehu "Yank Crime" (1994)

Drive Like Jehu was formed following the dissolution of Jehu's member's previous bands Pitchfork and Night Soil Man.   Guitarist/singer John Reis also formed the horn-backed rollocking rock band Rocket from the Crypt (more on them in a future post).

This the second of Jehu's two albums and it is a whirlwind of guitars.  Pounding out riffs with hardcore intensity, but with quick rhythm and timing changes overlaid with screamed vocals that makes this seem like a blueprint for early Dillinger Escape Plan, but unfortunately probably also egged on a few of the emo and screamo bands in the 00s.

The group broke up after this and the band members went onto other individual artistic pursuits.

Day 0760 - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Pavement "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" (1994)

I think I preferred this one to the previous Pavement album in the list.   I've seen it referred to as a more mainstream sound than the previous album, but I dunno.  It's still quite noisy and has some unconventional compositional directions.

Though the album has some nice hummable melodies, there's still a lot of noise.   A sparse piano part will appear out of a cloud of fuzzed guitar.  A rock song will suddenly give way for an extended, repeated clean guitar section.  There's a jazzy instrumental in 5/4 time "5-4 = Unity" which is a tribute to jazz pianist Dave Brubeck but it also has elements of rock and even rockabilly on show.

The 90s are obviously well underway by now with that idea of it being cool to not care.   Singer Stephen Malkmus is just so unimpressed, and so cynical, and takes the time to make fun of several other 90s rock acts in song "Range Life".

Day 0748 - The Infotainment Scan

The Fall "The Infotainment Scan" (1993)

The Fall embrace electronic elements on top of the rock, noise, spoken word sound of their previous two entries in this list.

The Infotainment Scan did reasonably well, hitting no.9 in the UK charts, and it has some interesting sounds throughout, but for some reason it just didn't tickle my music-bone the way other two entries (Live at the Witch Trials and This Nation's Saving Grace) did.

Day 0721 - Lazer Guided Melodies

Spiritualized "Lazer Guided Melodies" (1992)

Following the disbanding of Spacemen 3, the bulk of the members of that group formed Spiritualized.   Due to the number of members carrying over from Spacemen 3, the new band were still bound by the former's record contract.

Spiritualized did away with much of the noisier rock elements of Spacemen 3, opting instead for a mix of electronic drone-grooves tracks and... almost "digital-shoegazer" songs.  Built from layers of sound over the core grooves.

It's a fairly atmospheric, dreamy record.  

Day 0716 - Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy "Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury" (1992)

This one was a pretty full-on aural onslaught from right out of the gate.  Picking up where Public Enemy left off to put forward a wall of noise.  The album mixes samples, band performance and various foley-esque sounds, including the use of sheet metal as percussion.  The lyrics tackle  non-stop issues, including everything from racism and homophobia to the media.

Vocalist Michael Franti would depart the group a year or so later to start his group Spearhead who are still active at the time of writing.

I enjoyed this one well enough.  Franti's lyrics are clever and the production complements him nicely.

Day 0695 - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" (1991)

I'll be frank - Mudhoney don't really do it for me.  They have a lot of the hallmarks of other bands that I like from this era/movement; the loud guitars, the loud vocals.  It's just that, although there are moments on this album that I enjoyed well enough, none of it really stands out or sticks in my memory after 3 runs through.  There are moments where I think "oh that sounded kind of interesting" but no "oh wow!".

The album title comes from a memory device for teaching students the line notes on the treble clef (EGBDF... the gaps 'FACE' are easier to remember), though usually it's "Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit/Favour.

Day 0692 - Rising Above Bedlam

Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart "Rising Above Bedlam" (1991)

Jah seems to be a bit of an interesting guy, having played in Public Image Ltd with his friend John Lydon and then with members of Can.   There are stories that he set fire to his room-mates' possessions and maybe even the drummer from the Fall, the aptly named "Karl Burns".

Jah had a number of musical collaborations throughout the 80s before releasing his first album with the Invaders of the Heart.  "Rising Above Bedlam" is the group's second release and takes the mixing of cultures/genres popular in London at the time to new levels.  There are middle-eastern chants, synthy noodlings, African rhythms, Spanish guitar, dub, street poetry... bedlam indeed.  Yet, Jah does manage to rise above the musical carnage of the mishmash of genres to present an interesting, cohesive album.

Day 0684 - Nowhere

Ride "Nowhere" (1990)

The band had released a few EPs before settling in to record this, their debut full-length. 

I'm not usually a huge fan of shoegazer stuff, but this one actually tickled my fancy.  The melodies didn't seem quite as obscured by the wash of guitars etc. as is usually the case.  I found the grooves to be hypnotic and engaging, instead of boring and forgettable.

Day 0674 - Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

Happy Mondays "Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches" (1990)

I wasn't a huge fan of "Bummed" the previous Happy Mondays album on this list, but this one appealed to my sensibilities much more.   The production is clearer than 'Bummed's muddy sound, and the mix of raucous, almost punky rock, with dance beats and hints of 60s influences presents a sound that largely doesn't feel like it has aged too much at all.

The album and band helped link rockers to ravers and probably influenced some of the 'Cool Britannia set with its interesting mix of sounds a production ideas.

Day 0653 - What’s That Noise?

Coldcut "What's That Noise?" (1989)

"What do you get when you combine an art teacher and a computer programmer?"  Sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but the answer is actually 'Coldcut'.   The two had started off DJing individually and eventually made contact and started working together.

Much like the previous entry from 808 State, this is an interesting electronic album, built mainly from samples.  Unlike the 808 State album though, this one does have a few featured vocal turns including Mark E Smith from the Fall (“I’m in deep”), and Lisa Stansfield (“People hold on”).

Day 0646 - Spy vs Spy

John Zorn "Spy vs Spy" (1989) - got it

It's a shame to see some artists get almost their entire discography included in this book, while someone with as varied an oeuvre as John Zorn only gets this one.   

In some ways its an appropriate enough album, a bit of a microcosm for what Zorn is about: it takes familiar elements (the free-jazz compositions of Ornette Coleman, elements of hardcore, hints of Carl Stalling's cartoon music, and metal grind) and mixes it together to form something original.  Dishing out short bursts of sound.
On the other hand, it's not the most diverse or representative of Zorn's albums (not reflecting the more melodic sides of his sound, the breadth of his soundtrack work, or his passion for traditional Jewish music), it doesn’t feature any original compositions from the prolific Zorn, and the unrelenting sonic pummelling does risk becoming a bit samey by the end.

Zorn's goal here had been to try and reimagine Coleman's compositions while reinvigorating the shock factor they would have had when they were first unveiled.   Zorn and the other sax player Tim Berne are panned either side and improvving over an amazing rhythm section.  They're like "you want some hard bop rhythm?  Not a problem.   What's that?  Blast beats... yeah, sure thing". 

Free free jazz.

Day 0629 - California

American Music Club "California" (1988)

The book outlines this as being an 'Americana' album before that was really established as a genre.  There is certainly a very American mix of genres here, with country featuring prominently, along with alt-country, rock, and a touch of what is almost psychobilly ("Bad Liquor"). 

The band had been compared (by themselves too) to R.E.M. so they were a little surprised to see that band take off mainstream while they themselves did not.  They resolved to record in a different, more mellow style this time around.

Really quite enjoyed this album, nice mix of styles: "Western Sky" almost has a Smiths kind of thing going on.  "Jenny" (much like my wife, with the same name) is gorgeous.  A delicate, sombre acoustic ballad.  "Somewhere" has a bit of a Springsteen flavour to it... maybe Springsteen-meets-REM.

The album is mostly low-key, mellow, with production geared to create mood around the sparse arrangements.   A few livelier tracks keep things spicy.