Day 0838 - OK Computer

Radiohead "OK Computer" (1997) - got it

A couple of things I learned reading about 'OK Computer':

1. Most it was recorded with the band playing together, allowing for bleed through of the instruments into each other's feed and using minimal overdubs.  I find that kind of interesting, as I've always pictured the band meticulously layering overdubs and putting together the album piece by piece like that.
   
   
2. A couple of the songs were thrown together fairly quickly at outside requests.  Again, I find that surprising because I assumed the band were a group of perfectionists who would need/want to spend weeks or even months on any given track.

It was one of these quick turnaround songs "Lucky" that started off the writing for OK Computer.  Brian Eno had requested a composition from the band for a charity compilation and the song was recorded in five hours with Nigel Godrich, who had been an engineer on previous album "The Bends".   The band were happy with the experience and brought Godrich on to produce OK Computer, and eventually all subsequent Radiohead albums and Thom Yorke's solo material.

The album moves further away from the rock sound of "Pablo Honey" and "the Bends", with only "Electioneering" really feeling like a 'rock' song.  

The album starts off with an almost 'Bends-esque' track "Airbag", but then track two "Paranoid Android" comes crashing in taking you on a sonic odyssey and setting the scene for the album, from the simple acoustic guitar and vocal that swells to a dense arrangement mixing guitar noises and keyboards, with multiple vocals layered and playing against each other in a melancholic, almost unsettling atmosphere.  A similar approach is used on "Karma Police" and the brilliant "Exit Music (For a Film)" (written at request for the soundtrack to Baz Lurhmann's "Romeo and Juliet" film).

The lovely, delicate "No Suprises" offers a respite from the aural density.  

The album was a huge success, but Radiohead would not rest on their laurels, taking even bigger risks with their next release "Kid A" and flipping the script on their sound yet again.

Day 0663 - Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" (1989)

We wrap up the 1980s with another classic rap release.   Oddly, this album was funded via a canny marketing move from Priority Records, who licensed and released an album by the fictional group 'The California Raisins' who had hit it big with their cover of 'Heard it on the Grapevine'.



Eazy E assembled the group of DJs and MCs, and put together an undeniable slice of gangster rap.   Whereas Public Enemy brought their 'wall of noise' and De La Soul, their pop-leaning sample-based tracks, N.W.A. just lay down sparse rhythms with some scratches and a few well-placed sounds and beats-by-Dre (and Yella) to create the backing for Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Mc Ren to rhyme over. 

The tracks are famously aggressive, packed with violence, which the group were accused of glorifying, but as they pointed out, they were just reporting on what life was actually like in their neighbourhood.  The opening salvo of "Straight outta Compton" "Fuck Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" set the scene, but the album holds its own throughout the duration.

The mix of the three MCs works really well and adds variety enough to keep things spicey across the album's runtime.  

Day 0617 - Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney "Superfuzz Bigmuff" (1988)

One of the earlier grunge albums, and featuring a decent cross section of the talent/incest involved in the Seattle scene.  The drummer was in Nirvana (for all of one song), the bass-player was in the Melvins, and the other two members were in bands with future Pearl Jam Members.

This EP is named after two guitar effects pedals favoured by the band: the Univox Super-Fuzz and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff.  The record was produced by Jack Endino, who also produced SubPop releases for bands such as Soundgarden, L7 and Nirvana.  Really just adds to the grunge pedigree of it.

The music was indicative of where some of those Seattle bands were heading at the time: Punk rock rawness and energy but with a touch more melody, embracing swirling walls of psychedelic noise guitar and with more than just a touch of Black Sabbath to the whole thing.

Day 0612 - I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen "I'm Your Man" (1988) - got it

Cohen moves away from live/organic instruments in favour of synths and drum machines.  A lot of people, even now, praise it as a giant leap forward, but personally it doesn't 'do it' for me.  Don't get me wrong, the songs on "I'm Your Man" are among Leonard's best, but having heard live versions of some of them using live band instrumentation, I just feel like the songs would have been better served that way.

That gripe aside, the album does have an interesting sound.  Leonard picked it as one where he was happiest with his vocals, which is odd as he seems to sing with much less melodic range here (though his voice does sound smooth).  The lyrics here are brilliant as usual, with the title track being a personal favourite of mine.

Day 0529 - Synchronicity

The Police "Synchronicity" (1983) - got it

 The Police were more or less sick of each other by this point, recording their parts in separate rooms of the studio, and even being symbolically 'separated' on the album cover.

The music seemed to be separating and stretching to the four corners too, with less of their reggae sounds, increased synthesizer presence, and touches of world music.   Sting's songs were sounding more and more like the de-clawed pop that he'd perfect later on.  He and drummer Stewart Copeland nearly fought aggressively because Sting wanted some simple, straight-ahead drumming on "Every breath you take" and Copeland wanted to do his thing (which he would go on to do to great effect in the band Oysterhead with members of Primus and Phish).

Andy Summers' two tracks are possibly among the more interesting: "mother" is a demented ode to the most important woman in his life, and 'Murder by numbers' is my favourite track on the album and (to my mind) the best mesh of the pop and experimental sides of the band's sound.

The band split after one last tour and, though they reunited for a series of shows, never rekindled their spark enough to want to record together again.

Day 0433 - Regatta De Blanc

The Police "Regatta De Blanc" (got it)

The second album from The Police. After the moderate success of "Outlandos D'Amore" the band's label wanted to set them up in a flash studio with a high profile producer, but the band chose instead to stick with the same recording setup as their first album, the used the profits of the first album to pay for the recording of this one, whichj meant that the label had less control over what the band recorded.

The album that resulted was regarded by Stewart Copeland as the best that the Police ever made. It was the album where they fully embraced reggae to supplement and even supplant their post-punk pop sound of the first album. The influence of reggae also helped shape Copeland's drumming style significantly with his floating backbeats.

Regatta (the album title is pidgin for 'white reggae') was also a relatively even spread songwriting-wise. Sting wasn't lord and master, with Copeland contributing just as many songs, and Andy Summers putting in some too.

"Message in a bottle" is a brilliant track. The Police always had an ear for a pop hit - even their heady concept album 'Ghost in the Machine' features the light and poppy (slightly out of place) "Everything little thing she does is magic".

Day 0069 - Freak Out

Frank Zappa and the Mother's of Invention "Freak Out" (1966) - got it

This album has hints of the sounds popular at this point of the 60s... but with a huge helping of weirdness on top.  Nowhere near the virtuosic oddball stylings the band would exhibit once Frank fired half the band and ensconced himself well and truly in the driver's seat, but still comfortably 'out there'.

There are one or two pretty solid pop songs here, a direction that Zappa would explore more completely with his doowop album "Cruisin' with Ruben and the Jets".
"Trouble every day" sound suspiciously like it is mocking Bob Dylan... wouldn't surprise me, as Zappa was making fun of EVERYBODY at this point in his career

The last couple of tracks start to investigate some weirder, musique concrete-esque territory (which, again, Zappa would explore more fully in later releases).  All in all a startling and well formed debut.