Day 0960 - Funeral

Arcade Fire “Funeral” (2004)

Arcade Fire seem to have had 'fiery' beginnings, with most of the band other than founder Win Butler and Régine Chassagne quitting and/or being replaced in the journey from formation to this, their debut album.

I remember seeing Aracde Fire on the televised footage of either Reading or Leeds fest when I was living in the UK.  A friend opined that they seemed like enthusiastic amateurs.  Playing pretty basic music, but with so much gusto and so many people on stage that it kind of carried things along.  Possibly a harsh assessment given that this album topped a lot of end of decade top ten lists (just behind Radiohead’s “Kid A”).

Myself, I don’t know that it’s worthy of those plaudits.  I feel as though it’s a competent enough indie-rock album with a few extra embellishments from strings, accordion and additional percussion touches; but it’s not necessarily better than a lot of the other albums on this list so far.

The gusto/bombast mentioned above is definitely on show with a song like “Wake Up” which seems to have been designed for a big audience sing-along.  Huge but simple group vocals that are pretty much a chant.

Songs like “Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles)” and “Crown of Love” offer up subtler moments, whereas a song like “In the backseat” starts small and builds.

I wasn’t really an Arcade Fire fan going into this, and that hasn’t really changed.  It’s not bad music, but it’s also not something I feel compelled to revisit or investigate further.

Day 0919 - Music

Madonna "Music" (2000)

I've already gushed on about Madonna's virtues as a chameleonic creative force in my entry about "Ray of Light" (day 869) so here I'll just focus on this album itself.

Following the critical success of "Ray of Light", Madonna had been keeping busy.  She'd done some more acting and released a couple of songs for movies soundtracks ("Beautiful Stranger" for 'Austin Powers' and a cover of "American Pie" for the film 'the Next Best Thing' which she had starred in).   Looking to get started on her new album she teamed up with producer William Orbit again but also brought in French electronic artist Mirwais who had attracted her attention when he submitted a demo to her record label.

The two producers definitely put this release in the electronic zone but their differing styles help set it apart from her previous release and keep things interesting.

The opening, self-titled track has a (for the time) contemporary sound to compete with all the Britneys and Christinas of the time.  

The sort of 'digital cowgirl' vibe of the album (personified by the cover photo with Madonna in a stylish Stetson) is showcased on peppy single "Don't Tell Me" and the sombre alt-country-with-a-beat of "I Deserve it".   "Nobody's Perfect" shows the other side of the album's sound, all slinky groove, synths and auto-tune vocals... it doesn't feel cold though, despite the technology.  It has heart.            

The album closes off with the cover of "American Pie" a cover that feels somehow ill-judged and yet hearing the lyrics from Madonna's mouth, it almost feels like it could have been written for her.

Day 0869 - Ray of Light

Madonna “Ray of Light”

When a long-standing popular artist starts dabbling in the musical fashion of the day, it can often be an embarrassing and ineffective attempt to stay relevant.  I think that Madonna is different in this respect because (a) she works with good people, like producer/remixer extraordinaire William Orbit, and (b) she commits to the new direction.  She doesn’t try and just do what she was doing before but adopting affectations of the genre she’s working with, she fully ‘leans in’ to it and changes her vocal style to suit.

Mads had recently become a mother and embraced Kabballah, which led to a more reflective approach to her songwriting.

There’s the moody, electronic minimalism of album opener “Drowned World” and closer “Mer Girl”.  Lead single “Frozen” is similarly restrained and moody but bursts forth into a beautiful string arrangement.

The euphoric poppy title track almost feels out of place among the other material, but does link into the more middle-eastern sound that is being explored elsewhere on the album.  "Candy Perfume Girl" has a nice funky, loping groove, and there’s a song in Sanskrit "Shanti/Ashtangi".

Though I’m less of a fan of some of her more recent work, with Madonna’ s mixing of genres, her acting work and releasing books ranging from children’s books to books of erotica, I hope that when she does depart the mortal coil that she’s remembered alongside other multi-faceted artistic chameleons like say ,Bowie.

Day 0786 - The Foo Fighters

The Foo Fighters "The Foo Fighters" (1995) - got it

Dave Grohl had been writing songs and recording demos during his time in Nirvana, having released the relatively varied demo "Pocketwatch" under the name 'Late'.   After Kurt Cobain's suicide, Grohl took his songs and really started to get things going.

Dave recorded this album entirely by himself and then slapped the name 'Foo Fighters' on it to make it seem less like a solo release.  The demo/album ended up garnering industry interest and Grohl was stuck with the name, which he later opined was the stupidest band name in history.

I quite like this album, the Foos hadn't yet fully found their identity as a dad-rock band  with output that (to my ears) moves between good albums, and mediocre (but occasionally listenable) albums.  This albums is kind of a poppier less abrasive take on the grunge sound that Grohl's other band were known for.    "Good Grief" almost sounds like new-wave filtered through punk, "Weenie Beenie" is one of the lo-fi shout-rock tracks Grohl would occasionally indulge in (e.g. "White Limo" and "the Color and the Shape").   Elsewhere there's the poppy 'Big Me', the jazzy "For all the Cows" and the washy, almost droney tracks "X-static" and "Exhausted".   

Good selection of rock tracks, and it's impressive that Grohl did the whole thing himself.

Day 0755 - Strange Cargo III

William Orbit "Strange Cargo III" (1993)

 

William Orbit is now a well known name in music, with production and remix gigs ranging from U2 and Madonna, through Blur, Finley Quaye, P!nk and Chris Brown.   But back in the day he was just starting out as an artist in his own right.

Orbit had been in a group called Torch Song, making music from their home-made studio... learning on the job essentially.  The group disbanded and Orbit started on his solo career.

The book opines that this album sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday rather than decades ago... I'd have to agree.  The trance-like soundscapes and well-aged synth sounds are as fresh as anything out today.

Day 0601 - Darklands

The Jesus and Mary Chain "Darklands" (1987)

With "Darklands" J&MC move from a fuzzed-out 'shoegazer' sound, to something that almost sounds like "upbeat Joy Division".  Their drummer had left to become the lead singer of Primal Scream, so the band opted to replace him with a drum machine.  As a result of this, and I guess their general songwriting style, their songs have zero groove.  It's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that their songs drift along like a dreamy wave heading serenely for shore, rather than like choppy surf.

I feel as though their previous album "Psychocandy" was the one that the band is better known for.  But I prefer the rolling, pulsing drone pop of "Darklands" over the fuzzy cloud of "Psychocandy".  I listened to this one 2 or 3 times and would happily spin it again.

Day 0560 - Psychocandy

The Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy" (1985)

Much like the Smiths a couple of posts ago, I knew the Jesus and Mary Chain by name more than by their music.  As with the Smiths I'd dipped my toe a few years back but didn't really respond to what I found.

On revisiting the Smiths this time, I didn't mind them too much (more for Marr than Morrisey), but with the J&MC, I haven't really changed my mind on them.  They seek to mix the pop of 50s-60s girl groups and the abrasive wall of sound/noise of the Velvet Underground.  That could have been great, but, to my tastes, it feels like they took the weaker parts of those two sounds to create something that on the whole, falls a little flat.