Day 0851 - Homework

 Daft Punk "Homework" (1997) 

DP grew from the ashes of the guitar-based band 'Darling'.  One critic slagged them off as "Daft, punky trash" which at least set up Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter with a name for their subsequent band.

The duo moved away from guitars and into synthesizers, drum machines and samplers.  The duo released singles "Da Funk" and "Rolling and Scratching", they went back into the studio to record some more singles but came away with enough material to constitute an album.

The band leaned reasonably heavily on funk sounds, nice deep bass grooves and catchy wah-wah synth hooks.   The tracks definitely follow the dance music format of slowly building on repetitive loops, but the music is catchy, memorable and creative beyond that.

 

Day 0831 - Now I Got Worry

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion "Now I got Worry"

Spencer had started off with noise rock band Shithaus and garagey/noise/punk rock band Pussy Galore.   He stated that those bands were about him kicking against rock music but that JSBE was was him accepting and even celebrating the sound a bit more.

It's been mentioned by critics that the bands sound was not very 'bluesy'... I guess you could argue that maybe their sound is not supposed to be blues but rather the aftermath of the titular explosion.   "Now I got Worry" was recorded while the band were also working on the "A Ass Pocket of Whiskey" album with bluesmen R L Burnside and Kenny Brown and it seems to have injected a little more blues to 'Now I got Worry' which features another blues singer Rufus Thomas on song "Chicken Dog".

There is more of a blues vibe but it's still buried amongst a raft of other noisy, off-the-wall sytles.  "F*ck Sh*t up" has a noisy, beat-backed bit of drawling street poetry with miscellaneous noises jumping out at you.   "2kindsa Love" has almost a funk-metal Janes Addictiony vibe to it.  "Get Over Here" has an aggressive alt-rock groove similar to Mark of Cain or Helmet.  "Cool Vee" has a laidback, cruisy vibe with vocal samples being scratched over the top of it.

Day 0765 - Brutal Youth

Elvis Costello "Brutal Youth" (1994)

The book mentions Costello having recorded albums of surf and classical music.... so in a way it's a pity that they haven't really looked at those, instead selecting this one which returns to his early sound of melodic, yet biting rock music.

Having said that, the album does seem to wrap in different sounds that Costello had been playing around with, from jazz and soul flavours, piano balladry, and Beatles/Wilson-esque vocal harmonies which helped to keep things interesting.

As with all his other albums here, I enjoyed this and would happily listen to it again.

Day 0443 - Armed Forces

Elvis Costello "Armed Forces" (1979) - got it

I keep expecting to find that the next Elvis Costello album I listen to will be rubbish. He's one of those artists who has been around so long that you'd assume he'd have a few duds in him, but nope, this is another good'un.

Here Costello's keyboardist Steve Nieve was beginning to exert more control and the result is a very poppy, catchy, keyboard-heavy album. Bubbly pop rock with hints of new-wave and just the lightest ska-flavour. Possibly my favourite from Elvis and his band so far.

I picked up a copy sometime after listening to it for the list.

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 0399 - Dub Housing

Pere Ubu "Dub Housing" (1978)

 
Pere Ubu with another really great album. They had set up a crazy sound on 'the Modern Dance' which they could have easily continued exploring over the next few album; but instead set about revamping their sound.

A lot of the punk elements are gone, but the noisy experimental song forms remain. An interesting album that still hints at the origins of 00s indie music. Love the album cover too.

Day 0395 - The Modern Dance

Pere Ubu "The Modern Dance" (1978)

Ooh, I'm only the opening track at the moment but I'm quite liking it already. Kind of punk but with a whole lot of melody and noise.

...the album seems to be continuing in that vein.  A punky sound and energy, but mixed with melody, humour and a heavy slice of avant garde, from musique concrete to just beautiful horrible noises being injected.

At times this sounds akin to a more interesting version of the 00s' indie music, like one song sounds a bit like Bloc Party... but like 'good' Bloc Party, not like the real Bloc Party...

Just when you think you've got a handle on the band, the penultimate track "Sentimental journey" takes you on what is more like a nightmare journey! With smashing glasses, outbreaks of noise in amongst ambient meanderings.

Highly recommend this one!

Day 0345 - A Night at the Opera

Queen "A Night at the Opera" (1975) - got it

Although I did listen to the album again for the 1001 albums (twice in fact) I'm mostly just going to plagiarise another review I wrote when I was re-listening to all of the Queen albums a few years back. ~apologies, this will be a long one~

Queen started with a fairly cohesive 'band' sound over their first couple of albums, but the work of the individual songwriters (mostly) became easier and easier to pick.

On night at the opera they're kind of in a middle ground, you can pick the different songwriters but this is still such a cohesive 'album', right from the opening piano flourishes through to the big finale of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "God save the Queen".

"Death on two legs" is such a great opener, Freddie belting it out with real venom before the wall of voices comes crashing in to back him up.  Mercury then performs a compositional 180 with the light and cheery 'Lazing on a Sunday afternoon'.

Roger Taylor's "I'm in love with my car" is such a musically strong slice of rock (some great lead guitar) that I'm actually able to ignore the fact that he used the lines:

"Told my girl I just had to forget her, Rather buy me a new carburettor

So she made tracks sayin' ths is the end now 

Cars don't talk back they're just four wheeled friends now"

The rock calms down into John Deacon's much lauded 'You're my best friend'.  It's not my favourite of his ("spread your wings" holds that spot) but I have succumbed to its charms over the years.

Brian May's '39' is an odd mix of old and new.  It kind of has an olde timey folk feel, yet lyrically it is a sci-fi story.  Roger Taylor's eerie falsetto in the middle section is particularly stunning. "Sweet lady" is one that I never really used to like, but listening to it now, I'm not sure why as the verses sound kind of like David Bowie rock tracks or maybe the rolling stones, while the chorus riff... it's like part funk, part metal ...like extra heavy Hendrix (makes sense as Roger, Brian and Freddie were all big fans of Jimi, with Freddie in particular following him around on tour in the UK)!

Side a is rounded out with another jaunty little music-hall number , complete with a kazoo horn section and Freddie and Roger doing a tap dance routine by wearing thimbles and drumming on the recording console!

Side B kicks off with 'The Prophet's song' (the longest song Queen released while Freddie was alive) which has always been a favourite of mine.  I would be surprised if some 90s alt-rock bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains haven't heard this song, the riffs and vocal harmonies are very ahead of their time.  The vocal/delay section in the middle is still mind-blowing... almost literally, I was listening to the album while walking home from the gym and I just fell over, I was getting so disorientated trying to follow the different parts as they flicked from one ear to the other.
"Love of my life"... I really kind of prefer the live version of this song, just acoustic guitar with the power of Freddie's voice and the quality of the songwriting brought to the fore, but this song is beautiful in any form.

"Good company"; I'm guessing it was Brian aiming for a George Formby sound, but to me it kind of comes off sounding more Paul McCartney and not necessarily in a good way. "Bohemian Rhapsody"... this song is still amazing no matter how many times I've heard it, seen the video, sung it at karaoke, or watched it in Wayne's world. The album's outro of 'God save the Queen' is a brilliant cheeky little touch and really does make it feel like you've reached the end of a journey or sorts with the album.

Day 0165 - Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes "Hot Buttered Soul" (1969) - got it

Isaac was a hit songwriter before this album.  He was primarily writing songs for other artists.  I saw a documentary about Stax Records, and it sounds like at some point EVERYBODY got given a chance to do an album.  Isaac first release didn't fare so well, but his second go paid off nicely, and once he had the Shaft soundtrack under his belt his reputation was pretty well set in stone.

With music I generally prefer shorter more concise statements (but with plenty of exceptions to that rule).  The songs on this album are fairly long, but they are just so damned sultry and funky that it doesn't matter, plus this seems to be one of the earliest albums designed specifically for the audience to "get it on" to, so I guess you don't want the tracks to be 3-4 minutes long!  That being said, I definitely need to be in the right mood to listen to the lengthy spoken word intro to "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".