Day 0921 - Stankonia

Outkast "Stankonia" (2000)

 
Following the good reception of their album "Aquemini", Outkast drew attention to Southern hip-hop and found themselves in a position to purchase a studio in which they could work on the follow-up.   By all accounts this gave the group the freedom to work on ideas at their leisure without being 'on the clock'.

The result is some space-aged hip-hop, with interesting production throughout, good beats, and a mix of genres.   Andre 3000 had taken to singing more than rapping which gave the group another string to their bow.  The album opens on an explosive note with "Gasoline Dreams" it moves through slinky and soulful singles "So Fresh, So Clean" and "Miss Jackson" before hitting you with "B.O.B".   That last song more than anything sums up what Outkast were capable of, with drum'n'bass, gospel, rap, and psychedelic rock all smashing together in a track that feels like it shouldn't work, but it does, and obliterates the planet!

The group would start to drift a little with their next (still brilliant) release, being put forward as a double-album that, though each disc featured collaboration from both members, was sounding more and more like two solo albums rather than a unified band release.

 

Day 0903 - Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto "Tanto Tempo" (2000) - got it

I came to Bebel’s music via her collaboration on Mike Patton’s Peeping Tom project.  I enjoyed the sound of that track and decided to investigate Bebel's own music.  At the time the local music stores were pretty well stocked and I managed to find both this and the self-titled follow up reasonably easily and cheaply.

Bebel had been around music her whole life with her father being the famous Brazilian musician João Gilberto who had collaborated on the feted “Getz/Gilberto” album (day 41) and had written the bossa nova classic “Girl from Ipanema”.

Bebel released music with her parents and wrote and released music with a friend before teaming up with Serbian-born producer Suba (see day 879) who had immersed himself in the Brazilian music scene, mixing traditional musical styles like bossa nova with electronic elements.
 

This album takes that mix of styles, but it is fairly subtle on the electronic elements.  They mainly come to the fore in opener "Samba da Benção“, "Alguém” and "Lonely".  There’s a laidback bossa sound to much of the album, with a lovely rendition of bossa classic “So Nice (Summer Samba)”.   

 

Tracks “Bananeira” and “No Return” offer a spicier, livelier side to Bebel’s sound.

Day 0583 - Rapture

Anita Baker "Rapture" (1986)

Apparently this album was well-received on its release, but quickly faded from the public consciousness; I can kind of see why.  It's similar to Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" album.  A talented singer belting it out over a somewhat glossy, studio-polished set of tracks.

Enjoyable and totally listenable music, but not the most memorable or vital release ever.

Day 0493 - Tom Tom Club

Tom Tom Club "Tom Tom Club" (1981)

Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz showing that David Byrne wasn't the only member of Talking Heads who could follow his artistic muse outside of the 'home' band.

The couple had been hanging out with famed reggae rhythm section Sly and Robbie and enlisted reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry to produce the album... but he never showed  up, so they did it themselves.

With the songs, built on rhythmic grooves, throwing different genres at the wall to see what sticks, messing around with  synthesisers and choirs, they generally took an "anyone can get involved" ideology.  Perhaps this was them kicking against the restraints of David Byrne this could be seen as something of a precursor to the first Gorillaz album (which the Tom Toms were apparently also involved with).   The album also features multi-instrumentalist Adrian Belew who has recorded with King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Cyndi Lauper and a range of others.

This is an important album for the burgeoning rap scene as well, the  TTC grooves being sampled by artists ranging from Tupac, Grandmaster Flash, Puffy Daddily Diddily, Mariah Carey and others.

Tina Weymouth's rapping "Wordy Rappinghood" seems like somehow childlike, but also fun.

Day 0007 - Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra "Songs For Swingin' Lovers!" (1956) got it

Something of a companion piece to "In the wee small hours".  Where that was the breakup album you play at night and cry bitter tears into your scotch; this is the bright sunny flipside, as you revel in joys and wonders of love!

Frank has never been in better voice, and Nelson Riddle's arrangements are once again top-notch with brilliant little jabs of horns or pa-pows of drum fills that catch you unawares and put a smile on your face. Apparently after the band had run through Riddle's arrangement of "I've got you under my skin" they gave him a round of applause.

The book points out that the album's 45 minute runtime over 15 tracks shows that the 3 minute pop song was already well established here.

See this is where I'm glad for this listening 'quest' because I love this album but it seems there are always so many things I want to listen to , that it's easy enough for great albums like this to slip my net for a while.