Day 0946 - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Outkast “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (2003) – got it

This is a lot!   

• Two discs
• Over two hours of music 
• Multiple guest collaborators 
• Covering a range of styles and genres.

Following the success of “Stankonia” (see day 921) and a follow-up single “The Whole World” to help promote their greatest hits collection, the duo started working on new music.   Initially they worked separately with plans towards maybe doing a solo album each, but then they came together in the studio and further developed the album as a split/double Outkast album.   Though the two releases largely each the work of an individual member, 3000 and Big Boi still contributed to and influenced each other’s music.

It would be easy enough to just write off this album (and maybe the group as a whole) as “Andre 3000 is the quirky flamboyant one and Big Boi is the straight-up hip hop guy” but that’s not really being fair to either of them.

True, Big Boi’s “Speakerboxxx” is more centred on hip-hop but there is still a range of styles packed in there.   The first track proper “Ghetto Musick” explodes with a heart-pumping, almost techno beat, wild synth sounds and speedy raps.  Breaks for soulful gospel vocals and organ keep you guessing.   “Bowtie” has a horn backed swagger.

There’s a strong P-Funk vibe to proceedings, both with the music, vocal harmonies and even via the high-pitch pitch-shifted vocal that pops up across several tracks.

The Love Below has more of a pop and psychedelic vibe (some comparisons to made with Prince).  There's the innocent alien pop of "Protoype" the jazz-meets-dance interpretation of "My Favourite Things" and of course the propulsive funky pop of singles "Roses" and "Hey Ya".

It's hard to know what to make of this all in all.  It could just have easily been two solo albums instead of an Outkast album.   Taking it as one thing, it is cumbersome.  But, unlike a lot of double albums, this one doesn't feel like it could easily be trimmed down to a single cohesive album, it's not laden with filler.   

 

I used to prefer the Love Below for its melody and musical diversity but I've since come to appreciate Speakerboxxx for its conciseness, and that it manages to exhibit great diversity with a little more internal cohesion.

Day 0828 - Murder Ballads

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds "Murder Ballads" (1996) - got it

The album was a bit of change up for the Bad Seeds, with the change of a charming oil painting in place of the usual moody photograph of Cave on the album cover, through to the lyrics being completely narrative and non-autobiographical.

The album, which Cave has described as 'a holiday' had its genesis during the sessions for the "Henry's Dream" album, where the song "O'Malley's Bar" (the near-enough-to quarter hour penultimate track on Murder Ballads) was written.   The band felt it didn't fit on any of their albums, so created an album that would work for it.   Having said that, musically the album isn't a million miles from the gothic blues, folk and lounge stylings of their previous album "Let Love In".

Murder ballads are a subgenre within balladry, featuring songs that recount the gruesome details and sometimes aftermath of murderous deeds.   Cave launches into it with twisted glee, with a foul-mouthed account of the actions of one "Stagger Lee" at the Bucket of Blood Inn.   You can almost hear how much fun he's having as he assumes the role of the mass-murdering schoolgirl Loretta in the wild organ-driven song "the Curse of Milhaven".   

It's not all Cave by himself though, PJ Harvey guests on "Henry Lee" and wildcard Kylie Minogue duets with Cave on the beautifully cinematic "Where the Wild Roses Grow" which provided the band with an unlikely hit and adds a bit of colour amongst some of the low-key groove-based tracks.  On that note "Stagger Lee" is an interesting one in that it doesn't have verses and choruses, just the same groove repeated throughout the entire song (including the freakout section at the end).   

The album closes on what seems like a more positive note, with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Death is not the End" featuring guest vocal spots from Kylie, PJ, Shane Macgowan and members of the Bad Seeds.

Is it the best Bad Seeds' album?   Depends which day of the week you ask me.

Day 0647 - Stone Roses

Stone Roses "Stone Roses" (1989)

When I lived in the UK, the music fans whom I knew seemed to rave about the Stone Roses.  I've never been quite able to understand the appeal based on the songs of theirs that I'd heard.   Oddly (given that they appear to only have 2 full-length albums) I had never heard much of the material on this album before.   

I was much more used to their sound being a stripped down almost funky dancy take on rock; but this album seems to have its roots more in 60 pop-rock and folk (even featuring a reworked version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair").   There is a good deal more melody than I was expecting, and some sonic experimentalism with track "Don't Stop" seeming to be the music for previous track "Waterfall" played backwards with different lyrics.    

As a fan of reversed music, I wholeheartedly support this approach.  Reversing a piece of music really does produce an entirely different sound, often with a different mood to it.   When I was younger, I had a Beatles cassette that got twisted.  Once I rolled the tape back in, half of the album played backwards.  It honestly cracked my mind wide open, and I loved it.

Day 0600 - Appetite For Destruction

Guns n Roses "Appetite For Destruction" (1987)

 
Gunners, formed from members of two bands: LA Guns and Hollywood Rose... should be pretty obvious from that where their new band got its name.   After a few disagreements and members quitting, guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler were brought into the fold and... well I'd say the rest was history, but the band line-up continued to be in flux long after this.

The 'classic' GnR lineup set about recording their debut album.  They had an abundance of material, and several songs (including "Don't Cry", "November Rain" and "You Could Be Mine") were held over until the "Use Your Illusion" album.

The album doesn't suffer from the omissions, it's a stonking classic of a rock album.  From opener "Welcome to the Jungle", the blues rock vibe of "Nightrain" to the MTV favourite, rock ballad "Sweet Child o' Mine", the album is a lean, mean rock monster.  I'm not even a huge GnR fan, but I enjoyed every song.

I'm not sure if this is true or 'Axl legend' but I read that the band finished the music quite quickly, but Axl insisted on recording his vocals one line at a time to make sure and get everything right.  I'll bet he had a glass of brown M&Ms on standby too.

The original cover (top) featuring some kind of robot john and a prostitute or something was deemed to be 'a bit much' and was replaced with the better known alternative above.