Day 0641 - All Hail the Queen

Queen Latifah "All Hail the Queen" (1989)

I must say, I have a bit more respect for Queen Latifah after a bit of reading up about her.  Previously, I just knew her as being in one or two lacklustre films and was aware that she'd started off in music.

QL co-wrote and co-produced this, her first album, and has apparently had a similarly DIY approach to much of her career.  A career that has led to a raft of awards and nominations, including an Emmy, a Grammy, Golden Globe, and a nomination for an Oscar.

This feels like it samples less existing material than a lot of other hip hop albums at the time (not that there's anything wrong with interesting use of samples) and builds original arrangements, drawing on funk, dance and reggae. 

A few highlights for myself: "The Pros" is one of those epic tracks that is just a constant stream of lyrics, barely broken up with its catchy reggae-ish chorus.  "Ladies First"makes you sit up and take notice with its quickfire, forceful rhymes.

The Queen laid the groundwork for other female hip hop artists such as TLC, Salt-n-Peppa and and Beyoncé to break out in the typically male-dominated genre.

Day 0555 - Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega "Suzanne Vega" (1985)

 
Suzanne Vega is another of those artists that I was familiar with by name, but wasn't entirely sure I'd heard any of her music (though from a quick look on wikipedia, I see now that I know her song 'Luka').

The sound is quite simple: Vega with her acoustic guitar and voice.  One of her producers was Patti Smith's guitarist so it's maybe not surprising that the guitar is brought front and centre here.  Drums are either incredibly subtle or (in a few songs) non-existent, and then other than some unobtrusive synth and guitar overdubs, it is all just Suzanne.

Interestingly, the song "Undertow" sounds like it might have been borrowed from quite liberally by Gotye for his hit "Somebody that I used to know."

Day 0394 - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols" (1977)

 
Well this one was really always going to show up, wasn't it. This album gets held up as one of the most influential, the one to really 'put punk on the map'.  Quite frankly though, with so many punk artists and albums around at the time, the 'revolution' would have happened whether this band released an album or not.

I can see why this one got seized on though: for a start, it was hugely publicised with the Pistols being assembled and marketed by Malcolm McLaren.  The band had gone on the Bill Grundy show and dropped the F-bomb.  But aside from all of that, where a lot of the other artists at the time, such as the Clash or Suicide or whoever were punk, mixed with other musical elements the Pistols seemed to be designed as some kind of punk shorthand.  The album has simplistic 3 chord songs played fast, noisily and with a large dose of sneery, smirking attitude.  There's not lot of variation so it almost reflects the later more "pure" underground and American hardcore punk that followed over the next decade or so. 

Day 0354 - Arrival

ABBA "Arrival" (1976) - got it

My mum had this album on vinyl when I was growing up and, being an ABBA fan from a young age, I listened to it fairly religiously.  Benny and Bjorn were just such skilled songsmiths.  They could come up with tricky little ideas, but they mostly just favoured strong and simple songs.  It’s not on this album, but I saw an interview with them where they singled out “ the winner takes it all” as one of their stronger compositions exactly because it is a song built more or less around just one repeating melodic motif.

Obviously the ’hits’ from this album are all good.  “Knowing me and Knowing you”, “Money Money Money” “Dancing Queen” and gently anthemic album closer “Fernando” are all memorable earworms that are possibly even popping back into your head just from reading the song titles.  Outside of the hits though, the other tracks are just as enjoyable.  Whether it’s the playful “When I kissed the teacher”, the slightly cheesy “Dum dum diddle” or my personal favourite “Tiger” which switches from poppy glam rock to the subdued, almost childlike melodic bridge sections.

The tracks with Benny and/or Bjorn singing are enjoyable too, but the group really shines when Agnetha and Frida are on the mics, creating the classic ABBA sound.

Day 0345 - A Night at the Opera

Queen "A Night at the Opera" (1975) - got it

Although I did listen to the album again for the 1001 albums (twice in fact) I'm mostly just going to plagiarise another review I wrote when I was re-listening to all of the Queen albums a few years back. ~apologies, this will be a long one~

Queen started with a fairly cohesive 'band' sound over their first couple of albums, but the work of the individual songwriters (mostly) became easier and easier to pick.

On night at the opera they're kind of in a middle ground, you can pick the different songwriters but this is still such a cohesive 'album', right from the opening piano flourishes through to the big finale of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "God save the Queen".

"Death on two legs" is such a great opener, Freddie belting it out with real venom before the wall of voices comes crashing in to back him up.  Mercury then performs a compositional 180 with the light and cheery 'Lazing on a Sunday afternoon'.

Roger Taylor's "I'm in love with my car" is such a musically strong slice of rock (some great lead guitar) that I'm actually able to ignore the fact that he used the lines:

"Told my girl I just had to forget her, Rather buy me a new carburettor

So she made tracks sayin' ths is the end now 

Cars don't talk back they're just four wheeled friends now"

The rock calms down into John Deacon's much lauded 'You're my best friend'.  It's not my favourite of his ("spread your wings" holds that spot) but I have succumbed to its charms over the years.

Brian May's '39' is an odd mix of old and new.  It kind of has an olde timey folk feel, yet lyrically it is a sci-fi story.  Roger Taylor's eerie falsetto in the middle section is particularly stunning. "Sweet lady" is one that I never really used to like, but listening to it now, I'm not sure why as the verses sound kind of like David Bowie rock tracks or maybe the rolling stones, while the chorus riff... it's like part funk, part metal ...like extra heavy Hendrix (makes sense as Roger, Brian and Freddie were all big fans of Jimi, with Freddie in particular following him around on tour in the UK)!

Side a is rounded out with another jaunty little music-hall number , complete with a kazoo horn section and Freddie and Roger doing a tap dance routine by wearing thimbles and drumming on the recording console!

Side B kicks off with 'The Prophet's song' (the longest song Queen released while Freddie was alive) which has always been a favourite of mine.  I would be surprised if some 90s alt-rock bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains haven't heard this song, the riffs and vocal harmonies are very ahead of their time.  The vocal/delay section in the middle is still mind-blowing... almost literally, I was listening to the album while walking home from the gym and I just fell over, I was getting so disorientated trying to follow the different parts as they flicked from one ear to the other.
"Love of my life"... I really kind of prefer the live version of this song, just acoustic guitar with the power of Freddie's voice and the quality of the songwriting brought to the fore, but this song is beautiful in any form.

"Good company"; I'm guessing it was Brian aiming for a George Formby sound, but to me it kind of comes off sounding more Paul McCartney and not necessarily in a good way. "Bohemian Rhapsody"... this song is still amazing no matter how many times I've heard it, seen the video, sung it at karaoke, or watched it in Wayne's world. The album's outro of 'God save the Queen' is a brilliant cheeky little touch and really does make it feel like you've reached the end of a journey or sorts with the album.