Day 0987 - Brothers

The Black Keys "Brothers" (2010)

There is a lot more to the Black Keys’ history than I was aware; this is actually their 6th album!

  

The two-piece band had formed when singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach asked his friend drummer Patrick Carney to help him record some demos.  The other musicians Auerbach had asked to take part failed to show up so the two guys started jamming and recording together.

They shopped around their demo and were eventually offered a contract.  They weren't living a life of wealth and fame at first.   They had to mow lawns to raise enough money to go on tour and recorded their first few albums themselves.   As other colour-themed-name duo the White Stripes ascended to fame, the Black Keys were left being accused of imitating them or jumping on the bandwagon (an accusation even levelled by Jack White himself).

The duo teamed up with Danger Mouse to produce their album “Attack and Release” (which is one I do own) after an Ike Turner record DM had contacted them about working on fell through.   Following this Auerbach released a solo album which caused a rift between the duo as nobody had told Patrick Carney this was happening.   They eventually made up and got together to record again, which brings us to “Brothers”.  

The duo moved into a famed studio in Alabama and pursued a more stripped down sound for the album (partly to accommodate the technical limitations of their equipment).   The sound is a kind of blues with a 60s vibe to it, while still feeling really contemporary.   Auerbach's vocal track is often distorted giving the recording that hint of lo-fi.   Elsewhere, fuzzed out single-string guitar lines and wah-wah guitar add to the 60s feel.

Opener "Everlasting Light" has Auerbach crooning in falsetto which Motown-esque backing vocals drift in and out.   Single "Tighten Up" is Danger Mouse's sole production contribution to the album, and the looped drum, perky whistling sound and backing keys definitely give him away.   Danger Mouse does tend to be one of those producers where his records sound like him.  I dig his sound, so I don't see it as an inherently bad thing, but I do feel like producers should be more about bringing out the best in their 'clients' rather than making themselves a member of the band.  

Pretty sure I've heard "Howlin' for You" in a commercial somewhere, it's got an easy stomping electric blues feel.   Psychedelic organ in "The Only One" again ramps up the 60s feel.    I actually feel like their laid-back, stripped-down blues with melodic sensibility and simple but effective drumming often brings to mind parts of the Beatles' "White Album" and Let it Be" albums, especially on a track like "Unknown Brother".

In the past I've felt the 'two-person band' thing was a bit gimmicky, but I've got to admit that the Black Keys have a great sound, and Auerbach's lyrics are kind of simple yet effective, both in their emotional impact and their fit with the music.

Day 0905 - Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris "Red Dirt Girl" (2000)

The third entry here featuring Emmylou (her 1975 album "Pieces of the Sky" was day 336 and the "Trio" album with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt was day 588).   Emmylou had gone from releasing an album every year or two in the 1980s to a much slower/lower output in the 90s.   Her 1995 album "Wrecking Ball" with regular U2 producer Daniel Lanois added a little extra atmosphere to her sound and was critically lauded.  

It took her a solid 4-5 years to follow it up with this album, which was different from her usual releases in that she wrote or co-wrote nearly every song.   It's not like she'd been slacking in the meantime though, with live albums and collaborations (including a second 'Trio' album) in the meantime.

The music is nice enough.  Kind of a folky alt-country vibe.   "Tragedy" has atmospheric looprf beats not dissimilar to "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks.   "My Baby Needs a Shephard" has lovely waves of vocal harmonies rising up on its folky arrangements.   

I don't really have too much more to say about this one.   Perfectly listenable, but not one I'll rush to revisit.

Day 0894 - S&M

Metallica "S&M" (1999) - got it

Arranger and film composer Michael Kamen met Metallica at the Grammy awards in the early 90s.  Having put together an orchestral arrangement for an acoustic version of the band's hit "Nothing Else Matters" he had approached them about doing more with an orchestra.   Nothing came of it, until a few years later when the band themselves revisited the idea with Kamen.

These "band mixed with orchestra" things are always a bit hit and miss and that's the case here too.   Some of the arrangements are a bit busy and distract from the already dense arrangements, or they go completely the opposite way and are too slow with lots of legato that doesn't match or effectively counterpoint the faster source material.  

Some of the more successful tracks are from the Black Album and Load/ReLoad because they have a more stripped down sound which gives the orchestra a lot more room to inhabit.   There's the big brassy power put behind the opening bass riff of "Devil's Dance", or the appropriately Middle-Eastern flavoured strings giving "Wherever I may Roam" an extra epic dimension... almost like "Kashmir" via Metallica.

The two new songs "No Leaf Clover" and "-Human" see the band continuing in the more melodic stripped-down vibe they'd explored on their previous few albums.   That sound wouldn't last though.

This was the last album to feature bassist Jason Newsted and the band started to move to recapture their old 1980s sound and their old fans with a return to their thrashy roots.

At the time this album was released I was going through a bit of a Metallica obsession and willingly, aurally-inhaled this new offering.   With other music having since taken me away from them, I couldn't say that I listen to this album with any regularity.  I revisit their albums on a regular basis, but I don't feel like this one necessarily adds anything to their oeuvre other than offering an interesting sidestep.

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 0779 - Ready to Die

The Notorious B.I.G. "Ready to Die" (1994)

 
Biggie was signed to Uptown Records by Sean 'Puffy' Coombes (who was working as an A&R guy) and started recording his album.   When Coombes/Puffy/Daddy/Diddy was fired by Uptown, Biggie was left in limbo.  Pufferino set up his own 'Bad Boy Records' label and a year later work resumed on Biggie's debut.    Big had spent part of the interim dealing drugs, which I guess adds to the 'street' credibility and authenticity of his lyrics.

The production has a touch of G-funk, with extra funk.  The occasional female backing-singers are reminiscent of Diddy's own Daddy-era recordings.   The beats can get a bit samey throughout, but Biggie's rhymes carry things along nicely.   Do have to say though, that at around 70 minutes, the album is probably a bit too B.I.G. for me.

Day 0763 - Illmatic

Nas "Illmatic" (1994)

Son of a jazz musician, Nas started playing trumpet and writing rhymes.  His father Olu Dara actually features on this album playing trumpet.

Nas met producer/rapper the Large Professor and through him recorded some material in studio downtime between other artists' sessions.   None of these recordings, however, were released at the time.   Nas then secured a recording contract with Columbia records and released his first single, a track on the soundtrack to the Oliver Stone-produced film "Zebrahead".   

By the time they came to work on Nas' debut "Illmatic", he had created enough buzz to attract a few producers wanting to work with him.  Producers for Illmatic included Large Professor, Q-Tip and DJ Premier.  The music is a good mix of jazz elements and more stripped down hip hop beats.   

Nas reports on ghetto life, but with grim reality rather than glamourising it.  The album was awarded a rare '5 mics' rating by American hip hop magazine 'The Source', a rating considered so high and so rare that the magazine had to make a point of defending it publicly.

Day 726 - Psalm 69: the Way to Suceed and the Way to Suck Eggs

Ministry "Psalm 69: the Way to Suceed and the Way to Suck Eggs" (1992)

One of those "what did I just listen to (in a good way)"  albums.

Much of this is speedy industrial rockabilly... like Motorhead meets Marilyn Manson.   There are grinding riffs, speedy beats, mixes of rockabilly, metal, military, choir elements.  It's speedy rock, but with quite cold, sterile production and the vocals not overly clear in the mix.

The most 'known' song (and the only one I knew in advance) is "Jesus built my hotrod" a redneck, high octane ripsnorter with Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers on vocals.   Compared to the bleak, 'scorched earth' vibe of much of the rest album, "hotrod" is almost a pop hit.

Day 0702 - Achtung Baby

U2 "Achtung Baby" (1991) - got it

While not my favourite U2 album, I can see that this one really does deserve its place on the list.  The band had been slowly evolving their overly-earnest sound, working through early post-punk, to a more nuanced pop-rock under the tutelage of producers Eno and Lanois, and then eventually delving deep into America’s rock and blues sound.   But when they released “Achtung Baby” (a line from Mel Brooks’ “the Producers” and an exclamation often uttered by one of the studio crew) it was a reasonably sizeable stylistic left-hand turn for such a major band.

The band were embracing dance rhythms and electronic elements, a style that, to my mind played to the strengths of sonic experimenter, guitarist the Edge, and metronomic, powerhouse drummer Larry Mullen Jr.

The road to the album hadn't been an easy one.  The band limped through fractious sessions in Berlin that yielded hardly any useable tracks.   Close to the tipping point, the band came up with the track "One" and from then on things started flowing, with the band picking up sessions again back in Ireland.

There are looped bass and drum sounds, "Rubber Soul"-era Beatles-style vocal harmonies (a combination that sounds not unlike some of the Chemical Brothers' work with Noel Gallagher).  There's the chunky wah-wah guitar of "Mysterious Ways", and the psychedelic swirl of "Even better than the real thing".   It's the track "the Fly" that really strikes me: Bono can be a bit of a self-righteous twat on occasion, but he really can write some good lyrics when it comes down to it.  I don't usually listen much to lyrics, but there's something about Bono's desperate, whispered delivery that makes you take notice.

The band would carry on down this avenue of experimentation through the "Zooropa" album, culminating with the "Pop" album, maligned by the band, but something of a favourite of mine.  After that, they returned to a more earnest, straight-ahead rock sound and were viewed by fans to have 'made a comeback' but I still enjoy this era of exploration.

Day 0625 - …and Justice For All

Metallica “…and Justice For All” (1988) – got it

This is another album that I could expound on without listening to it.  But I will listen to it for completism, and because…. METALLICA!  Accordingly, I'll warn you that this is lengthy...

Metallica had started out playing their punky thrash on “Kill em All” and had slowly been adding layers of melodic and harmonic sophistication to their speedy thrash, reaching their peak with the album "Master of Puppets".  On the tour for that album, the band’s tour bus crashed, tragically killing bass-player Cliff Burton and leaving a fissure in the band that would take years to properly heal.  Rather than take time off to process this tragedy, the band quickly recruited a new bassist Jason Newsted, recorded an EP and hit the road again, before eventually decamping to record "...and Justice".

The band ended up taking out a lot of their unresolved issues on Newsted, with the bassist being mercilessly hazed for a long time, being given nicknames such as ‘Jason Newkid’ and ‘Carole’ (due to his supposed likeness to Carole King).  Another result of Cliff's death was a shift in the power-balance of the band.  Metallica had been becoming increasingly democratic, with all members contributing songs and arrangement ideas.  “…and Justice” saw the power swing back largely to singer/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich.  Newsted only contributed to the writing of one song on the album, "Blackened" and his bass was famously almost non-existent in the final mix of the album.  It was suggested that this was further hazing from the band, who felt that Newsted’s playing was not up to scratch compared to their fallen comrade.

The album is an odd duck, but it really is its own thing.  With speedy thrash riffs mixing with occasionally dramatic vocals (and in the case of "Frayed Ends of Sanity" with a chant nicked from the Wizard of Oz).  The lack of bass is partially compensated by some low-chugging guitars and the resulting sound is odd but distinctive.  Hetfield was moving away from his throat scraping, trebly screams and into his now trademark, deep gravelly growl.  Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett is a star here, funnelling melodic themes, spitfire runs of notes and various scrapes, squeals and other sounds through his own virtuoso style to elevate each of the songs.

The songs could be seen as overblown in places, but I view them as being akin to a weird 'metal' take on classical music, particularly on instrumental track "To live is to die" which lays out its themes and then builds on them beautifully and brutally over its nearly 10 minute duration.

I do love this album, as it is one of those formative (high school) musical discoveries for me.  But, having heard one or two versions of this album where Jason Newsted’s basslines are added back into the mix (thanks to their inclusion on the Guitar Hero video game), the album certainly would not have suffered from having that extra bit of bottom-end.

Ultimately, the band tired of the complexity and length of the songs and started dropping them from live sets when they noticed some of their fans likewise losing interest.  The band ended up moving to a more commercial and compositionally compact approach for their follow-up (1991’s “Metallica” AKA “the Black Album”).

Day 0609 - The Joshua Tree

U2 "The Joshua Tree" (1987) - got it

Love or hate them, this really is U2 at the height of their powers.  They still had their earnestness and honesty, but hadn't become insufferably preachy.  They had mastered their instruments and embraced studio technology without being overly reliant on it.  With one Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois-produced album (the Unforgettable Fire) under their belt, they had found their groove with the producers and were able to trust them and take risks with their sound.

I'd obviously heard a lot of this music (even before I'd bought the album), but I was still pleasantly surprised what a strong overall 'package' the album is.  You have the awesome pop trio of "where the streets have no name" "Still haven't found what I'm looking for" and "With or without you" followed on by the atmospheric rock of "Bullet the blue sky".  The quality doesn't dip on the second side with "Red Hill mining town" and the NZ-inspired "One Tree Hill".

As someone who isn't a rabid U2 fan, but appreciates parts of their oeuvre, I would still point to this as their pinnacle.   Passion meeting studio-savvy without getting too far up their own arses in either of those aspects.

Day 0590 - Document

R.E.M. "Document" (1987)

Kind of a transitional album for R.E.M.   It was their last album for IRS records before moving onto a major label and their first with Scott Litt producing.

Musically, they were already starting to evolve into their more commercial 90s sound... to the extent that I was sure that catchy track "The One I Love" was on one of those later albums, rather than on one of the IRS releases.  I think part of the change is that Michael Stipe had really found his feet as a singer and frontman, so had set aside his mumbled obscure vocal delivery and moved to a more clear and outgoing style.

Musically, the album has a nice range of styles, from the jangly folk rock of "It's the End of the World..." (with the event of Covid 19, this one has actually had a resurgence), the slow dirge intensity of "Oddfellows Local 151" and the catchy, borderline-anthemic nature of "Finest Worksong".

Day 0583 - Rapture

Anita Baker "Rapture" (1986)

Apparently this album was well-received on its release, but quickly faded from the public consciousness; I can kind of see why.  It's similar to Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" album.  A talented singer belting it out over a somewhat glossy, studio-polished set of tracks.

Enjoyable and totally listenable music, but not the most memorable or vital release ever.

Day 0505 - Pelican West

Haircut One Hundred "Pelican West" (1982)

Another album that presents a certain familiar side of 80s pop.  Tame and glossy funk guitar licks, with smooth horns and roomy percussion hits.  Slightly melodramatic vocals sail over the top of it all to create something that feels polished and shiny, but with its emotional core as more of an act rather than something genuine.

If you're not too worried about earnestness in your music (it doesn't overly bother me), then this is an extremely well-constructed pop album, that even throws out some clever little musical left-turns every now and then.

Day 0372 - Exodus

Bob Marley and the Wailers "Exodus" (1977) - got it

A bit of a change from my usual "all reggae sounds the same" spiel.  Though there are a few familiar reggae musical devices here; there is also a healthy dose of variety, with everything from scratchy organic reggae through to soul, pop and proto-disco elements finding their way into the mix.

While songs like "One love", "Jamming" and "Three little birds" are definitely reggae, they are also pretty solid pop songs.  Bob does a good job of balancing his political messages with some more universal messages.

It's a surprisingly upbeat record considering that Marley had recently relocated to England after a gunman injured him and his wife in their home during a murder attempt.