Day 0670 - Bossanova

Pixies "Bossanova" (1990)

 
To be honest, to my 'non-Pixies-fan' ears, this sounds like a similar flavour to its (in my opinion) far superior predecessor "Doolittle".

There is an added touch of surf music with the reverb drenched opener "Cecilia Ann" and the far-out theremin of "Velouria".  The Pixies' more abrasive side is still very much on display with "Rock Music".

Bassist/vocalist Kim Deal had stayed in the UK to record the debut album by her band the Breeders.  She eventually joined the other members of the Pixies back in the US, but her songwriting is absent from the album with all songs (other than the opening cover) being written by Black Francis.

The Pixies' more melodic side is still present, but again, to me the melodies just feel like 'more of the same' after "Doolittle".

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 0392 - Lust for Life

Iggy Pop "Lust for Life" (1977) - got it

Rawk! Since his days with the Stooges, the punk rock sound that they'd been chipping away at had come of age and started to find its way into the mainstream consciousness, which must have offered up some degree of vindication to Iggy.  This, mixed with his positive experience making "The Idiot" restored his confidence, and he felt comfortable shaking off the more prominent Bowie influences from his sound to produce another slice of gritty Stooges-esque rock but now with more of an underlying pop flavour.

The singles 'Lust for life' and 'the Passenger' feel like instant classics.  'Success' is a raging exorcism and 'Turn blue' is brilliant, drawn out bluesy jam.

The rhythm section for the album are brothers Hunt and Tony Sales, who would go on to become half of Bowie's (I feel unjustly) maligned Tin Machine band.