Day 0369 - Before and After Science

Brian Eno "Before and After Science" (1977)

Eno collaborates with a catalogue of artists including Robert Fripp and even Phil Collins. As with his other solo albums that I've listened to so far, he manages to incorporate interesting audio textures, avant garde techniques and, here, some occasionally virtuosic performances into a cohesive and often quite 'pop' sounding whole.

This album doesn't stand out above the other two of his that I've heard on this list, but that says more about the consistency of quality of Eno's solo output than any particular shortcoming of this album.

Fun fact, Eno would go on to produce the second Talking Heads album, and this record features a track "King's Lead Hat" which is an anagram of that band's name.

Day 0366 - Legalise it

Peter Tosh "Legalise it" (1976)

 
Tosh's first solo effort after getting out from under Bob Marley's leadership.

Well, Tosh clearly wears his heart on his... erm, green sleeves in the title track. The album suffers from some of the same-ishness that I tend to associate with reggae, but I'd say there was actually slightly more variety than the last couple of Marley albums I've listened to for this list.

As with Bob's albums, the uniformity doesn't make it bad or unenjoyable; just less engaging over the duration of the album (maybe I should have gotten stoned first).

Day 0364 - Ramones

Ramones "Ramones" (1976)

One of the original punk albums that totally lives up to its hype.  Right out of the gate, it's a blistering stampede of raw rock.  Stripped of grandiosity complex virtuosity that had become prevalent in certain areas of rock, to present an "anyone can play" style of music.

There are so many great tracks here, 'Blitzkrieg bop', 'Beat on the brat', 'Today your love, tomorrow the world', 'Havana affair', and the surprisingly dark '53rd and 3rd' written about a street hustler taking violent action... legend/rumour suggested that Dee-Dee Ramone was writing in a somewhat autobiographical frame.

Surprisingly for an early punk album, it was fairly well received critically on its release, though not with the sales to match.

Day 0360 - Rocks

Aerosmith "Rocks" (1976)

A quick follow-up to the successful 'Toys' album.  With lyrics about sex, drugs, rock and the music industry.

I would say that it has less obvious 'hits' than 'Toys' but I really enjoyed the riffage across it. "Lick and a promise" has an especially enjoyable, heavy groove.

Day 0018 - Sarah Vaughan at Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan "Sarah Vaughan at Mister Kelly's" (1958) - got it

I LOVE Sarah Vaughan, she just has the most amazing vocal control and range of any jazz/popular singer I can think of.

I'm not usually a fan of live albums but Vaughan sounds note perfect, the recording quality is great, and you get the added charm of Vaughan's extra vocal gymnastics, her sassy banter with the crowd, and her quick-thinking ad-libs any time she happens to forget a lyric.

It's hard to tell, given that it's a sound recording, but at one point it sounds like she knocked over her lyric sheets.  Certainly at one point she ad-libs and scats the lyrics for an entire song ("how high the moon")