Day 0995 - Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City

Kendrick Lamar "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City" (2012)

I guess this is one of those ones where the people putting the 1001 albums together had to choose some promising newer items and hope they'd pan out.    Well, many albums, much critical acclaim, a successful soundtrack and even a damned Pulitzer later and they seem to have called it correctly on Kendrick.

Kendrick started off producing mixtapes and doing a few gigs under the name K-Dot.   As things started to pick up, he dropped the K-Dot name and released an EP and his debut.   His star was in ascendancy from early on and he was signed to Interscope Records and Dr Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.

Kendrick grew up around gangs without being involved in them.   That seems to come out in his lyrics here, reporting on the dangers and stress of the streets without revelling in it or bragging about it.   Especially a track like "The Art of Peer Pressure" where he reflects on the need to try and do the drugs and act like a tough guy when he's 'with the homies'.

For "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" Kendrick said he wanted to return to his Compton roots.   The album is mostly stripped down, focussing largely on snappy beats and low-n-slow basslines.   Something like "Backseat Freestyle" almost sounds dubby at the start and there are some similarities to Dizzee Rascal's grime sound.  Elsewhere a track like "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" has a nice jazzy guitar backing and more lyrics expressing the unease and sense of danger on the streets.

Day 0806 - Timeless

Goldie "Timeless"

Things I learned from this entry:

• Thing the first - Goldie didn't get his name from his golden grill.  He was known as Goldilocks back when he was rocking dreads   
• Thing the second - Goldie has a freakin' MBE
• Thing the third - before he started making music (and possibly after?) Goldie gained a level of notoriety for his graffiti art.
  

Musically this album is enjoyable, but it's a lot.   There's nearly 2 hours of music, and while I could put on any part of this album and get enjoyment from it; it's not something where I'd sit and listen to it in its entirety.

The beats are unconventional and skittish, the bass deep and low.   Some of the tracks are lushly orchestrated and punctuated with some soaring female vocals.

The beautiful "State of Mind" is possibly my favourite.  Though the sprawling title track is well worth a listen too.

Day 0803 - Leftism

Leftfield "Leftism" (1995)

 

Formed by two percussionist DJs, Leftfield had previously released a number of singles with various guests.   Though their music is very much in the electronic genre with trancey soundscapes mixing with house synths, they brought in vocalists from other genres like rock (Toni Haliday and John Lydon), reggae (Danny Red, Earl Sixteen) and even a poet (Lemm Sissay).

The duo started their debut album by tweaking and re-purposing some of the tracks they'd released as singles over the previous years then went from there, developing new music.

I heard enough here to enjoy, though I wouldn't say that the album really seized my attention for the duration.    Another "I'll listen to it if someone puts it on, but I won't seek it out" album.

Day 0526 - Eliminator

ZZ Top "Eliminator" (1983) - got it

The Top were still well into their dry-n-dusty blues-rock, and still singing about cars and girls.   Any suggestion, however, that they were a complete anachronism was at least delayed by them getting into synths and drum machines and injecting elements of disco and new-wave into their catchy rock grooves.

Various rumours have Billy Gibbons more or less excluding his two bandmates in favour of drum machines and playing the other instruments himself.  Whatever the case, the album fared very well, helped in no small part by its music videos (such as "Legs") which were put into high rotation on MTV.