Day 0901 - The Virgin Suicides (Soundtrack)

Air “The Virgin Suicides (Soundtrack)” (2000) – got it

Air’s debut album “Moon Safari” (entry 874) had been chilling people out for a year or two, and then the French duo reappeared scoring Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut ‘Virgin Suicides’, the film adaptation of Jeffery Eugenides’ novel.

The film is full of beauty and bleakness, life and death.  The music offsets this with a quality that is dreamy, yet with an underlying darkness.  A vibe not unlike Angelo Badalementi’s work for David Lynch on Twin Peaks.

The opening track "Playground Love" is a dreamy electro indie-pop track, but much of the rest of the album is instrumental with a few melodic themes repeated on different tracks like one of Marvin Gaye's song-suite albums.   

There's a vaguely trippy 70s-era Pink Floydian vibe to some of the music, particularly closing track "Suicide Underground" which also features narration from the film, linking the score back to its source.

Day 0769 - Superunknown

Soundgarden "Superunknown" (1994) - got it

This album feels like: if the Beatles were the result of a really good acid trip; this is the flip side.  The bad trip that takes you to dark places... but still in a melodic, imaginative way.

Soundgarden had always had a pretty good mix of Black Sabbath (big fuzzy, sludgey riffs) and Led Zeppelin (skilled, virtuosic musicians, and of course Cornell's Plant-esque wail) but with this album they added a heavy dose of the Beatles.  The title track sounds musically like something that could fit on a modernised version of "Revolver" until the chorus riff kicks in and things get dark and heavy.  "Black Hole Sun" is the most obvious link, with its slightly trippy guitar, drawling drugged vocal and lyrics that are obscure but paint a disturbing picture.  

There's middle-eastern and Indian elements on songs "Half" and "Head Down", and plenty of Soundgarden heavy-riffing on songs like "My Wave", "Spoonman" (featuring a spoon solo, don't cha know) and "Fourth of July" that, with its slow, inexorable riff, sounds like the audio equivalent of the end of the world!

This is a favourite album of mine, and has been since high school.   At its base it is just a great collection of songs that sits together coherently (even its 73 minute running time doesn't really put me off).  This was a band ready to try everything: they'd have different tunings, their songs would be in time signatures ranging from 6/4 to 15/8, they experimented with different overdubs and recording techniques, and all 4 members contributed compositions.

Some people will view the band as being mostly about singer/guitarist Chris Cornell, but that is not fair on any level.  Yes he is a phenomenal singer and a great songwriter, but Soundgarden wouldn't be Soundgarden without Ben Shephard's sludgey, ugly bass; Kim Thayil's riffs and wild and colourful lead guitar, and Matt Cameron on drums.   

I'll chuck a little gush here about Matt because I truly love his drumming.  Like Jimmy Chamberlain from the Smashing Pumpkins, or Mitch Mitchell from Jimi Hendrix's band, Matt is a jazz-influenced drummer who can put some rock power into his playing.  He plays parts that fit the song like a glove without being too showy, and it's only when you listen closely that you realise he's constantly evolving those parts throughout the song and playing quite tricky little bits and pieces.  

Day 0642 - Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3 "Playing With Fire" (1989)

I honestly don't have much to report on this one.   A band folding in the aural assault of the Stooges with psychedelia, drone, and the harsh industrial machine-rock of Suicide.  The music is largely abrasive ambience and swirly shoe-gazey psychedelia, with some beefy fuzzed out guitars making an occasional appearance.

I didn't hate it, but won't be rushing to revisit it.   A couple of the members went on to form the band Spiritualized, whom I've heard of, but haven't heard.  I notice that 2 or 3 of their albums are in the list, so I'll get to them.

Day 0522 - Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks "Back to Mystery City" (1983)

The book referred to these guys as the meeting point between glam-rock and punk... which I kind of doubted and assumed they'd just sound like every other 80s rock band - newsflash: I was wrong.  This does have the anthemic vibe, flashy guitar solos and some of the glitz that I'd associate with glam; but also has a lot of humour to it and punky energy and swagger in places.

A couple of members of Mott the Hoople helped the band produce this, their third album overall, and their first with new improved drummer Razzle.  The success of the album landed them a three album deal with CBS.  Unfortunately the band broke up after Razzle was killed in a car accident while a passenger in the car of Vince Neill from Motley Crue.

Day 0267 - The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

David Bowie "The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" (1972) - got it

As with a few of the albums on the list, I didn't really need to listen to this one specifically for the 1001 albums thing, because it's indelibly printed on my synapses.  Having said that... I'll take any excuse to listen to some Bowie.

It's a lush, interesting, and immaculately crafted pop album.  All the more impressive that (aside from some sax and trumpet) it is pretty much just the standard "drums, bass, guitar, piano/keyboard and vocals".  Speaking of the vocals, they do really feel like they help to flesh out the arrangements.  Much of the shift from 'intimate' to 'grandiose' that comes when the choruses of "Starman" kick in comes from Bowie swinging between octaves in best "Somewhere over the rainbow" fashion.

Bowie's voice is sometimes gentle and confessional, sometimes brash and glammy, occasionally desperate and howling.  'Five years' has an almost Marlene Dietrich feel to it.  There's the gospel feel of 'It ain't easy', and 'Rock n roll suicide' might be the most perfect album closer ever conceived, going from a burnt out acoustic jam and building to a cathartic crescendo.

With the quality of music, it's no wonder that this album was a success in the US and UK, and lednew fans back to "Hunky Dory" and other previous releases.

Bowie reinvented himself and, with his androgynous alien persona, reinvented the idea of what a rock star could be. The black and white photo tinted after the fact just adds to the sci-fi/alien vibe that Bowie is putting out.