Day 0994 - D

White Denim "D" (2011)

Originally a 4-piece group called Parque Touch.  Once one of their members left, the group solidified into a trio for a couple of lo-fi psychedelic rock albums.   They then recruited a new fourth member before moving into a professional studio to record "D".

The mix of psychedelia, melody and decent recording techniques is delightful.   "Burnished" with its distorted, fiddly playing around with time signatures reminds me favourably of Soundgarden.  It then segues seamlessly into the fusiony fretboard pyrotechnics of "Back on the Farm".

The pace is pulled back then for "Street Joy" which is spacey and melodic.  Elsewhere "River to Consider" has a busy 'world music' percussion and jazz flute.   It's not all trippy melodic and psychedelic rock though.   "Is and Is and Is" er... is a solid rock track with Ian Curtis-esque vocals.   The album closes on a relaxed note with "Keys" which has kind of a laid-back Lou Reed "Transformer" vibe to it.

I don't quite rate this as an "I must rush out and buy this one" album, but definitely above average and I enjoyed it well enough.

Day 0826 - Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers "Everything Must Go" (1996)

Following the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards the band relocated themselves to France with producer Mike Hedges to work on the follow-up to "The Holy Bible" (see day 777).

The sound of the previous album was dark, angsty and brittle.   "Everything Must Go" instead brings energy and a cathartic, at times almost euphoric sound.

This album features single "A Design for life" which was my introduction to the band back in the 90s sometime.   I'm not a hardcore MSP fan by any stretch of the imagination, I have a greatest hits album, and that's it.   Having said that I frequently hear sounds from them that I enjoy, and definitely the two albums on this list so far are full of 'good bits'.

Day 0797 - the Bends

Radiohead "The Bends" (1995) - got it

The heady days, before many Radiohead fans became insufferable snobs who crapped over the bands they perceived Radiohead to have influenced.  When Radiohead themselves were just "that band who sang Creep" with everyone waiting to see if they could follow up their 'hit'.

While the bleeps and bloops of "Kid A" are often pointed out as the big change in direction for Radiohead, arguably their first few albums all displayed fairly major stylistic shifts.   "The Bends" saw the band move away from their straight-ahead alt-rock to a more densely nuanced, melodically sophisticated sound, but still with more of a rock-guitar sound than follow-up "OK Computer" would have.

The band worked more collaboratively on songrwiting and arranging, instead of creating a wall of guitars, they played with arrangements that put together different parts for each of the three guitarists that worked together.  In some places the sound was still dense, like on single "Just" a bit of a favourite of mine, and something of a good middle point between their rock sound and their intelligent melodic directions.  Elsewhere, they stripped things back on songs like the acoustic, atmospheric "Bullet Proof... I wish I was" and album-closer "Street Spirit (Fade Out)".... damn, actually Radiohead always have the best album-closer tracks.

Most of the tracks start small and build their arrangements, as can be heard in songs like "Fake Plastic Trees", "My Iron Lung" and "Nice Dream".   

An argument could be made for this being the album where Radiohead really found their sound, with that more melodically sophisticated vein being mined; but you could also argue that Radiohead are another of those good bands who never quite fix on their sound and are constantly trying to forge new ground.

Day 0777 - The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers "The Holy Bible" (1994)

Possibly the darkest MSP album, and the last featuring guitarist Richey Edwards who disappeared suddenly during the promotion for the album.  To this day it's not known what happened to him or where he went.

In addition to the situation with Edwards, vocalist/lyricist/guitarist James Dean Bradfield was suffering depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia.  This is not the sing-along preachiness of latter stage MSP, this is some grinding, grim and angsty rock.   The guitar riffs are distorted and angular, my favourite being "the Intense Humming of Evil" which sounds like a mix of NIN, TOOL and Radiohead.

The album did not sell well initially, though it was critically vaunted.   The band were probably just a bit ahead of their time, with gloom and angst... which would be fairly marketable over the next few years.   I personally thought it was a great slice of rock.

Day 0630 - Viva Hate

Morrissey "Viva Hate" (1988)

Released a mere 6 months after the Smiths' swansong "Strangeways Here We Come", Morrissey hit the ground running assisted by Smiths (and eventually Cranberries, Blur and Kaiser Chiefs) producer Stephen Street.

Street, and guitarist/keyboardist Vini Reilly would later argue over which of them wrote the bulk of the songs on the album, but whatever the case, one of them helped Morrissey get over the potentially awkward hurdle of the first solo album.

To my mind, the tracks are a bit of a mixed bunch and stand or fall based on the backing track.  Morrissey himself mostly seems to do a similar vocal thing over each track.   There's are some sonic experiments (particularly in the first couple of tracks) mixed with more traditional arrangements, one or two even sounding a bit like the Smiths.

A couple of favourites are "Ordinary Boys" (from which the band of the same name got their moniker) and "Margaret on the Guillotine" in which Morrissey wistfully imagines Margaret Thatcher being killed... and as a result, in real life, got him questioned by the Special Branch (according to Morrissey's autobiography).

Day 0615 - Idlewild

Everything But the Girl "Idlewild" (1988)

Everything But the Girl named themselves after a department store advertisement that proclaimed it could provide all your bedroom needs "...everything but the girl".   Despite the skeezy origin of their name, they made beautiful, sultry and soulful music.

I was more familiar with EBtG's later more electronic-tinged music, but this was really nice.  Their soulful tunes are given a vaguely jazzy flavour due to the horn section.   Smooth as silk.

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 0584 - The Queen is Dead

The Smiths "The Queen is Dead" (1986)

Seems I kind of have this thing with the Smiths, whereby I like their music, but I can't really tell their albums apart.  It all just sounds kind of... Smithy.

This is an enjoyable album though.  Johnny Marr paints the songs with a range of guitar tones from swirling and dreamy to vigorous folk, to country twang and everything in between.  Morrissey's lyrics continue to be intelligent and with a touch of humour.

This was the band's 3rd album in 4 years, and after one more album the band broke up.  Unlike most bands that go through the whole break up thing, they seem to have resisted the urge to reunite, even to revisit their back-catalog for a quick buck.

Day 0558 - Meat is Murder

The Smiths "Meat is Murder"

I'll admit to not being hugely familiar with the Smiths' music.  They were solely active in the 80s which was not a time that I was actively seeking out music.  Once I was more into music I was more interested in 60s pop or loud distorted guitars; the Smiths don't fit the bill in either case.  A teacher of mine who also helped out one of the high school bands I was in recommended the Smiths to me and I listened to one or two tracks, but it didn't really peak my interest.

So essentially I came to this fairly 'blank slate', the only song I was familiar with on this album was "How soon is now?" (only featured on certain versions of the album) as the theme tune to the tv show 'Charmed'.

I'd say there are more than a few connections that could be made between the Smiths and U2; both bands with solid rhythm sections, sonically explorative guitarists, and cause-heavy lyricists.

Guitarist Johnny Marr is the real star on this album, his guitar sounds ranging from jangly rockabilly, wicky funk, extreme tremolo guitar overlaid with slide lead parts, delicate acoustic guitar, clean new-wave-style guitar.

Morrisey's vocals seem to largely follow the pattern of being emotive and drenched in reverb.  While he is all about his causes here (pacifism, anti-monarchy, and the obvious vegetarian message of the title track) he does occasionally show a bit of a sense of humour, which I'm not sure is still present in his more recent work.

Day 0504 - The Nightfly

Donald Fagen "The Nightfly" (1982)

Following the breakup of Steely Dan, Fagen set out to record this solo album.  The album dabbles in soul, funk and jazz, but the early digital recording equipment used (one of the first albums to be recorded entirely digitally, apparently) combined with its perfectionist engineers seemed to serve to suck out a lot of the spontaneity and humanity that those genres usually embody.

That being said: these do work just nicely as good catchy pop songs.

Day 0402 - All Mod Cons

The Jam "All Mod Cons" (1978)

The Jam had been signed in 1977 and within 12 months they seemed as if they were all dried up. Paul Weller's songwriting inpsiration seemed to have vanished. When the record company heard their new album they told the band to scrap it... That must be a harsh message for guys who were only around 20 at the time, and it worked to revitalise them as went back to the drawing board.

The book mentions Weller's well-sketched characters laid out in his lyrics, but as is often the case for me, I didn't really take much note of the lyrics. The music though is tight, it kind of has a punky Clash-esque vibe but with the bass even more prominent (which I enjoy) and a lot more melody.  It's almost as if the Beatles and the Clash had birthed a little pop/rock/punk baby.

There's a kind of stripped-down punk energy to it, but with a couple of tracks (including English Rose) actually being quite lovely and melodic.

0266 - All Directions

The Temptations "All Directions" (1972)

 
The Temps continue to prove themselves to be "more just that band who sung 'My Girl'".  The group continue to explore sounds outside of the standard Motown sound, as already heard in slinky funky wah-wah infused albums like 'Cloud Nine' and 'Psychedelic Shack'.

This album is full of funky grooves, including the nearly 12 minute jam of 'Papa was a Rollin' Stone' and gets in your face with the N-bomb laden "Run Charlie, Run" that definitely draw a line in the sand between this album and the clean, short-n-sweet pop of their earlier material.

It comes with a deceptively run of the mill album cover, featuring a clean-cut band photo that doesn't immediately hint at the interesting directions explored within.