Day 0963 - Coles Corner

Richard Hawley “Coles Corner” (2005)

Hawley had played in a couple of bands Treebound Story and Longpigs.  Following the breakup of the latter band, Hawley split his time between playing as a touring guitarist for Pulp and as a session musician.  Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey heard some of Hawley’s solo demos and encouraged him to do something with them.

He recorded his first album in bits and bobs, often using leftover studio time from other recording gigs.   The album was well received, and Hawley was up and running.

This album, like Hawley’s previous release “Lowedges” references a location in his native Sheffield for the title.  Coles Corner apparently being a spot for courting lovers to meet.  That reference seems appropriate with the collection of gentle, atmospheric tracks, and Hawley holding a bunch of flowers on the cover.

I was turned onto Hawley’s music by a friend in Leeds who played me his song “Tonight the Streets are Ours” and this album follows a similar vibe; 1950s balladry styles with the vocals and guitar drenched in reverb.  Strings back selected tracks and this, combined with the overall sound and Hawley’s deep croon brings Scott Walker’s early material to mind.   There’s more of a country lilt to a couple of songs including “Just Like the Rain” “(Wading Through) the Waters of My Time”, but much of it is lush chamber-pop and torch songs.

I like this album and Hawley’s sound in general, but I couldn’t claim that every song stuck indelibly in my mind.

The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize but lost out to Arctic Monkeys.

Day 0923 - Bright Flight

Silver Jews "Bright Flight" (2001)

Silver Jews were often written off as a Steven Malkmus side-project, despite having been started around the same time as his other more famous band Pavement, and Malkmus doesn't even feature on this album.   I actually enjoyed this more than Pavement/Malkmus too.

The sound of the album is generally a laid-back alt-country, with almost a touch of the melodic side of Velvet Underground (that impression helped by the laconic drawling vocal of that band's primary singer).   There's some variety though, "Transylvania Blues" an instrumental track with that 'driving down the highway at night' vibe to it that builds to haunted rock.   "Let's Not and Say We Did" has a kind of fun Honky-Tonk vibe to it.

The book mentions that Silver Jews mainstay David Berman had written a book of poetry too so I tried to pay a little more attention to the lyrics than I normally would.   I definitely heard a few lines I enjoyed like "You're the highest apple on the tree" and "they slow-danced so the needle wouldn't skip".
I'd also have to say, the part of me that loves a cheesy pun enjoyed the couplet in "Tennessee":
"Marry me and leave Kentucky, come to Tennessee/because you're the only ten I see".   Sweet, corny, perfect.

Day 0884 - The Man Who

Travis "The Man Who"

Listening to this album kind of confirms for me what I've always thought about Travis.   That some of their songs are good, but overall I'm probably never going to be a rabid fan or buy their albums.

Travis had released their slightly rockier debut "Good Feeling" to reasonable sales but not blistering success.  After a tour with Oasis, the band got together with Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich... I hate to say it, but you can tell.   The track "As You Are" has a Bends-esque quiet-to-loud guitar build-up, and singer Fran Healy's high voice hits some rasps over the big distorted chorus that instantly brings Thom Yorke to mind.

For the most part, the album is ballad-heavy.   there are a lot of acoustic and clean guitars with Healy's voice going for a more gentle tone.   It seems to be a similar Radiohead-lite vein mined by Coldplay a year or two later.   Melodic and inoffensive but not really earth-moving.   

The single "Why Does it Always Rain on Me" helped to launch the album commercially, and it ended up selling a ridiculous number of copies and making the band (at least briefly) one of the biggest around.

The album features (as was the style at the time) a hidden track at the end of the CD after a long stretch of silence.   It's quite foul mouthed and makes a nice departure from the overly tasteful, and radio-friendly fare of the album.

Day 0840 - Supa Dupa Fly

Missy Elliott "Supa Dupa Fly"(1997)

Another musical 'lifer', Missy had been performing since she was a child, then formed a musical group called Fayze (later 'Sista').   She recruited her friend Timothy Mosley AKA Timbaland to help them get some demos together.

They caught the attention of a member of the group Jodeci who got them on board to work on music for Jodeci while they also worked on their own material and songs for other artists including superstar Aaliyah.

Puffy Daddy/Diddy tried to sign Elliott to his Bad Boy label, but she took control of her own destiny and created her own imprint 'Goldmind Records' to release her debut and (as with her future records) got Timbaland on board for production duties.

It's not hard to see why Missy Elliott was lauded as revitalising hip hop.  Entering what was primarily a male-dominated and often misogynistic genre; taking on writing, producing, rapping and singing, and bringing fresh, sparse arrangements, and well placed (though again, not cluttered) rhymes.   Single "The Rain" is probably my favourite track.

Day 0614 - Truth and Soul

Fishbone "Truth and Soul" (1988) - got it

I am a big Fishbone fan, and I think it's a pity that they've never enjoyed the same notoriety as their contemporaries in bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Primus, or bands they influenced, such as No Doubt or Sublime.   It could be because they have stayed weird and haven't made any deliberately commercial moves, or it could be (as was hinted in the excellent film "Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone") more a question of race.

Definitely, outside of one or two middling-to-good releases, the band have continued to produce interesting and quality music throughout their career.  This is their second album, and possibly my favourite of theirs (don't know, my 'favourite' changes every so often).  They'd taken their wild, madcap mix of funk, ska, reggae and rock and had added elements of metal, jazz, punk and even an acoustic ballad (album closer "Change").  It's probably too the album where they best balanced their different sounds.

The band had added a more mature and serious tone with tracks like "Change", or "One Day" (which, to my ears, almost sounds like they were borrowing the vocal harmony sound of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision" but making it funky), or the moody "Pouring Rain" which acts as a bridge between the Fusion of Miles Davis and the sound of modern dub.  The band still retain their wackiness on tracks like the jazzy stomp of "I like to hide behind my glasses" or the funky-as-all-hell "Bonin' in the Boneyard".

I could continue going track-by-track, suffice to say, it's a brilliant album.

Day 0602 - Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo "Shaka Zulu" (1987)

Having gained some international notoriety backing Paul Simon on his Graceland album, LBM made use of this attention and released "Shaka Zulu" and won further hearts and minds.

Nice to see that less obvious 'hit' albums were still selling well in the 80s, with the Astor Piazzola instrumental/jazz/tango album earlier in the list, and now this dose of 'World Music' or African folk music (depending on your choice of label).

Love the timbre of their voices, and the huge swells of harmony that occur.  An acapella album that feels uplifting and exciting.

Day 0585 - So

Peter Gabriel "So" (1986)

Huge success for Peter, helped along by high rotation of the unusual and entertaining video for the funky single "Sledgehammer", not to mention the fact that PG's handsome mug was displayed unadorned on the album cover for once.

While there are some familiar 80s sounds here with synths and stabs of brass and some synthy slap bass, Gabriel manages to add his own touches to the songs.  Whether it's his solid songcraft, including elements of world music (including a guest spot by Youssou N'Dour), elements of experimentation (including a poppy duet with wild-card Kate Bush), or just his own strong and versatile voice.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, and could see why the blurb it the book holds it up as a good starting point for getting into his work.

Day 0521 - A Walk Across the Rooftops

The Blue Nile "A Walk Across the Rooftops" (1983)

According to the book, being a fan of Blue Nile requires only patience.  The albums are all pretty similar but it takes them at least 5 years between releases.  Apparently even in being offered a recording deal it took them several months to come back with an answer for their record company.

There was a persistent story that the band had been commissioned to make an album by a company wanting to show off their hi-fi equipment and that the recording so impressed the company that they formed a record label to release the album.  Apparently though that is not true and the company had already released one or two things already; but it makes for a nice story.

The sound of this album is reminiscent of a few other artists of this era, in that these are essentially soulful pop songs but just steeped in instrumentation and production techniques of the 80s that maybe make them cleaner and colder than they want to be.  I liked it well enough.