Day 0401 - This Year's Model

Elvis Costello "This Year's Model" (1978)

 
A bit more of a polished effort than "My aim is true" (though still a little gritty production-wise).  The swirly, occasionally psychedelic electric organ adds a little extra flavour to Costello's jaded stories of love, lust, disgust and the grey areas between them.

The song "pump it up" was ripped off wholesale by U2 for their track 'Get on your boots' but then Costello claims that his track was likewise an appropriation of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean homesick blues"...music continues to eat itself.

This album sounds like it's another one (and maybe it's true of the more stripped down rock of this whole period of music) that influenced the 00s indie sound, I can hear shades of the Shins on one song.

Day 0353 - Boston

Boston "Boston" (1976)

I started listening to this thinking "I wonder if I know any songs by Boston? I mean, the name is kind of omnipresent, so they seem like they'd be one of those well known radio-friendly bands."

The first track is "More than a feeling"...  ..."Oh, THAT'S a Boston song?!"

This album is pretty much pop-rock perfection.  There are a couple of little dallinces into blues and tripped out jamming, but it's mostly just upbeat hooky guitars and big vocal harmonies. Every second song seems to sound familiar.

Apparently the music was leader Tom Scholz's take on Cream and Led Zeppelin. His music was much less raw and rocking than theirs but, I guess, acted as a precursor to a lot of the big melodic rock bands of the 80s.

Day 0004 - The Wildest

Louis Prima "The Wildest" (1956)

This is an album that I checked out the first time I had a read through the '1001 albums' book (2010 or so) and ended up buying up a greatest hits album that I found in a shop here.  This album is as good as his greatest hits and, at 10 tracks, much more concise a musical statement.

Dismissed as an Italian Louis Armstrong (not helped by covering 3 of Armstrong's tunes here) he is another artist whose career (like Sinatra's, as mentioned on day 0001) was floundering, but he married a young 22 year old singer and added her and a hot young sax player to revitalise his band.  That seemed to do the trick, with that new burst of energy being cut essentially live in the studio.  A great mix of tracks with some great vocal harmonies on the driving "Just a gigolo/I aint got nobody" and Prima and his wife Keely Smith trading lines on (the lyrically dated) "Just for You".

I just think it's an incredibly fun album, even the sweeter tracks like 'buonasera senorita' are performed with a twinkle in the eye.  The band is tight, the playing is hot and, as the book says: "this is irrepressible music that more than matches its glorious cover shot"

Fun fact, Louis also performed the voice of King Louie in the original 'Jungle Book' film.