Day 0896 - HMS Fable

Shack "HMS Fable" (1999)

I'd initially put this one on while I was cooking dinner.  I  was listening to the first track thinking "oh yeah I think I know what this one is about - sounds like a bit of 90s brit rock, like Oasis but with a touch of Suede.   But then that first track "Natalie's Party" breaks from its rowdy-yet-melodic rock to drop in a nice little string section.   I decided I needed to give the album a bit more of my attention rather than having it as background music.    

I've listened to it a couple of times through now and there are certainly some swirly rock tracks that have more than a hint of the 'Madchester' sound but this album is all over the place in an interesting way.

There's bouncy melodic "Lend's Some Dough" with its beautiful layered vocals.  "Captains Table" has a dreamy, folky vocal-heavy sound not unlike the last Tripping Daisy albums before they transitioned into Polyphonic Spree.   "The Streets of Kenny" somehow manages to build a mellow, vocal laden track into what feels like a crescendo before suddenly cutting out and dropping you into "Re-instated" which, with its strings and mellow trumpet parts almost seems to hint at Burt Bacharach.  After a couple of more guitar-heavy tracks, the album closes out with the delicate acoustic "Daniella".

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 0732 - Devotional Songs

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party "Devotional Songs" (1992)

The list yet again throws up a little surprise.  In amongst the grunge, hip hop and electronic albums populating much of this part of the 1001; suddenly an album of devotional ragas sung in a passionate, strong voice with a fantastic range.

I would say that the only annoyance was that this was that it was another of those albums that was hard to track down.  I had to piece it together using a collection of youtube clips.  At one point I accidentally clicked the wrong link and ended up listening to a full uninterrupted half hour performance of one of these songs.   It's a credit to the music (a) that I didn't notice it had been going on that long, (b) that it held my interest throughout, and (c) that Fateh and his group seem to be able to maintain their intensity across a half hour of non-stop music!

Day 0613 - Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys "Fisherman's Blues" (1988)

I think that in my head I'd confused the Waterboys with the Newsboys and was expecting some "Take me to your leader" style pop-rock.   The Waterboys had produced some rock albums, then their new violinist Steve Wickham invited singer and songwriter Mike Scott over to Ireland to hang out.  Apparently it changed his life (or at the least his musical direction).

The band wrote and recorded screeds of material and ended up whittling it down to these 13 songs (though a less successful second volume of songs was later released from these sessions).  The songs have a definite Irish/Celtic flavour throughout, probably more in a Dexys Midnight Runners way than something like the in-your-face sound of the Pogues though.  There are hints of Bob Dylan and the Band too with folky flavours throughout.

Day 0567 - Licensed to Ill

Beastie Boys "Licensed to Ill" (1986)

The Beasties started off as an obnoxious, 'in your face' hardcore punk band, but tired of the limitations imposed by the expectations of fans of that genre.  The boys dropped a couple of members and gained another to slowly evolve into an obnoxious, 'in your face' hip hop group.

The Beasties kept the party vibe and anarchic spirit of punk while stretching their musical wings a bit more; mixing punk and metal riffs with turntables and rap.   The more serious political sound that the band would move towards later on is not really here, but the sonic experimentalism is.

This went on to become one of the most commercially successful hip hop albums... I wish it could be said that it had nothing to do with a passively (or even actively) racist recording industry, but it's unlikely.  To be fair though, this is a musically interesting album that is not undeserving of some success.

Day 0509 - Junkyard

The Birthday Party "Junkyard" (1982)

The wild, rabid Aussie band had made the move to the UK.  Based on acts such as the Fall, they assumed that they would find a music scene full of kindred spirits; but instead found a country well in the grip of new-wave, new romanticism and various other 'news'.

They did find supporters in England for the turbulent last year or so of their existence (in an already turbulent life... the band used to take hard drugs, and steal cars, amongst other things).  Drugs, alcohol, in-fighting all the usual band noise plagued this punky, demented murder-blues band, before Nick Cave left to start up his new gothy murder-blues band.

The songs on this, their last album, are as buck-wild and bare-backed as anything they ever worked on, with the songs being clamorous enough in places that you could imagine that each member was working on a totally different song.  Working 'against' rather than 'with' each other, but  somehow still working.