Day 0896 - HMS Fable

Shack "HMS Fable" (1999)

I'd initially put this one on while I was cooking dinner.  I  was listening to the first track thinking "oh yeah I think I know what this one is about - sounds like a bit of 90s brit rock, like Oasis but with a touch of Suede.   But then that first track "Natalie's Party" breaks from its rowdy-yet-melodic rock to drop in a nice little string section.   I decided I needed to give the album a bit more of my attention rather than having it as background music.    

I've listened to it a couple of times through now and there are certainly some swirly rock tracks that have more than a hint of the 'Madchester' sound but this album is all over the place in an interesting way.

There's bouncy melodic "Lend's Some Dough" with its beautiful layered vocals.  "Captains Table" has a dreamy, folky vocal-heavy sound not unlike the last Tripping Daisy albums before they transitioned into Polyphonic Spree.   "The Streets of Kenny" somehow manages to build a mellow, vocal laden track into what feels like a crescendo before suddenly cutting out and dropping you into "Re-instated" which, with its strings and mellow trumpet parts almost seems to hint at Burt Bacharach.  After a couple of more guitar-heavy tracks, the album closes out with the delicate acoustic "Daniella".

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.