Day 0729 - Vulgar Display of Power

Pantera "Vulgar Display of Power" (1992) - got it

Pantera started out as a heavy glam-metal band.  They would later deny it, but the spandex, puffed up perms and histrionic high vocals don't lie.

They slowly evolved their sound into a heavier thrashier deal, particularly with the introduction of new vocalist Phil Anselmo.

With this, the third album with Anselmo, he had mostly set aside his glam vocals in favour of metal screams and deeper growls.  The music had moved away from glam and even thrash to focus on a slower "groove-metal" sound.  Drawing on the band's southern background, with hints of blues and southern rock to some of the riffs and solos.

There is plenty of variety within the album.  There's the single-string, 2-3 note simplicity of "Walk" (that must surely have joined 'smoke on the water' and 'nothing else matters' as stock songs for beginner guitarists to bang out at guitar shops).  There are the grunge-ballad verses/grinding metal choruses of "This Love" and "Hollow".  While "F**king Hostile" is more or less a hardcore punk track with a little more flash.

Anselmo's newly shaven head and songs about dominance and respect raised one or two eyebrows (probably more in retrospect with Anselmo's infamous "white power" incident in 2016).

Day 0708 - Slanted and Enchanted

Pavement "Slanted and Enchanted" (1992)

Originally started as a studio-only project, Pavenement released a number of lo-fi releases.   They eventually recruited a drummer for more recordings and even some live shows.

The band certainly weren't courting fame and success, with the original version of this album being circulated on cassette with no song titles listed.   The music created some buzz and eventually the full version of the album was released.

It has kind of a Velvet Underground vibe with vocalist Stephen Malkmus' drawling vocals.  The music is vaguely melodic with lots of noisy guitar; so not unlike more than a few other bands active at the time.   It didn't really grab me.  It's perfectly listenable, but not something I'm likely to revisit or investigate further.

Day 0595 - Faith

George Michael "Faith" (1987)

 
Wham! played their last show, then George Michael immediately got to work on his first solo album.  Given that he had been the producer and main songwriter in the band, and had an easily marketable image (i.e. he was a pretty face); the move to a solo career wasn't exactly a shock. 

He probably could have coasted for his first solo outing, producing Wham!-lite; instead he delivers a stonking pop and RnB album that perfectly showcases his strong, clear voice.

Possibly a controversial take but I feel like George Michael would have made a great replacement for Freddie Mercury in Queen.  Obviously nobody can live up to Freddie, but GM has a kind of similar tone to his voice, he can sing it hard or delicate, and his rendition of "Somebody to Love" at the Freddie tribute concert was fantastic.   I kind of feel like his pop and soul vibe would nicely offset the rock of Brian and Roger to produce the variety that Queen always had. 

In case you didn't get the message, this is me giving GM high praise.  Normally, the idea of Queen playing with anyone else on vocals leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Day 0390 - Bat out of Hell

Meatloaf "Bat out of Hell" (1977)

Take a larger-than-life (not a fat-joke) actor with an operatic rock voice.  Take Jim Steinman, a composer of theatrical rock, frequently epic in style.  Put them in a studio with Todd Rundgren in the control room, and you have an album that stayed in the UK album chart on and off for 10 years!


The duo had started work on the album's songs some time earlier based on pieces that Steinman had written for a course.  They were touring together National Lampoons and took a few of the songs to develop on.





Meatloaf belts out Steinman's tracks with passion, wild abandon and (in places) a little tenderness.
I don't have much more to say except: great album!