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 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 0816 - Endtroducing...

DJ Shadow "Entroducing..." (1996) - got it

Surely, one of the most impressive debut albums ever.  True, Shadow had been DJing and recording singles for 6-7 years by this stage, but this was his first full-length.   In addition to that, the record is composed entirely of samples from old records, and in addition (again) to that, the album was put together largely just using three pieces of kit: a sampler, a turntable and a tape recorder.

Shadow recorded the album in Dan the Automator's home studio which (as per entry 0811) was also being used around this time to put together Kool Keith's Dr. Octagon album.

Shadow combines everything from Metallica basslines to "Twin Peaks" dialogue, there are film scores, funk beats, synth patterns, odd noises and a blizzard of scratching.   

Despite (or perhaps because of) the disparate range of sources, and despite the longish runtime, this album sucks me in every time and leaves me wanting more.

Day 0778 - Dog Man Star

Suede "Dog Man Star" (1994)

Things were not tickety boo in the Suede camp.  While they were riding high on the success of their self-titled album, a US tour was delayed due to the death of guitarist Bernard Butler's father.  When he returned to the fold, Butler distanced himself from his bandmates, and by the time they came to record their follow-up, the situation was becoming untenable.

Bernard either left or was fired partway through recording, finishing some of his parts after his departure due to contractual obligations.  The rest of his parts were completed by session musicians.

I have mixed feelings towards the album.  There's a lot more variety and theatricality than on their first album, which I enjoy.  On other hand it feels as though there are less memorable tracks here than on "Suede".  I do quite enjoy the mini-epic "The Asphalt World" though.

Day 0775 - Live Through This

Hole "Live Through This" (1994)

Hole had lost its bassist and drummer due to (the classic musician euphemism) "artistic differences".   Long-term bandmates Courtney Love and Erik Erlandson started writing material and auditioning new members.

People have levelled accusations that Kurt Cobain wrote half of this album.  Certainly both bands were working on their albums simultaneously, but given the punky abrasive sound of Nirvana's "In Utero" and its  similarity to the noisy sound of Hole's debut "Pretty on the Inside", it's probably more accurate to say that the couple inspired and influenced each other.

"Live Through This" certainly doesn't remind me that much of Nirvana; the Pixies would be a closer comparison.  Clean(ish) indie-rock... almost indie-folk guitar and melodic vocals that can turn into a complete powerful maelstrom of distortion and screams.  This approach perfectly exemplified by opening track "Violet".   

 

Love may not be the most technically talented singer, but her voice is so distinctive, from her vampy drawl through to her animalistic screams, she is the star of this album.

The album would receive further attention when both Love's husband Kurt Cobain, and Hole bassist Kirsten Pfaff both died within months of its release.  Even without that publicity though, the music is more than strong enough to stand on its own.

Day 0752 - Doggystyle

Snoop Doggy Dogg "Doggystyle" (1993)

Snoop's debut hit the ground running, thanks to hype created by his contributions to Dr Dre's "The Chronic" album, and by the fact that Snoop himself had been arrested in connection to the murder of an associate of a rival gang.   For many it would have given that hint of authenticity to Snoop's rhymes that other 'gangsters' might have been seen to be lacking.

Other than a few of the bigger tracks I hadn't really heard this album before. Great music, some of the best basslines around, thanks to Dre and his G-Funk sound.  

Snoop's delivery has so much attitude... not so fussed on some of the more misogynist lyrics, but then 80s and early 90s hip-hop, that's unfortunately par for the course.

Day 0746 - Modern Life is Rubbish

 Blur “Modern Life is Rubbish” (1993) – got it

 

Blur had released their debut album “Leisure” which aligned itself stylistically with the ‘baggy’ scene, the musical movement mixing rock and dance rhythms.  The album fared well enough but things quickly went downhill.  The band came to be seen as bandwagon jumpers, they had an ill-received tour of the USA and found themselves owing quite a large sum of money, all while rival band Suede’s star was in ascension.

On the US tour, singer Damon Albarn had found himself missing the UK and listening to the pastoral, almost kitsch pop of the Kinks and formulating a bold change of direction for the next Blur album.  They all cut their hair and geared up in doc marten boots, narrow jeans and polo shirts to pose for photos under the label “British Image 1”.  The music followed suite with a more resolutely British bent to it.  Whether it was the brass band in “Sunday Sunday”, the London-centric lyrics of lead single “For Tomorrow” or Albarn's distinctive accent (labelled 'mockney' by his detractors) throughout.

It’s essentially the ‘classic’ Blur sound of upbeat pop songs with cheeky raucous vocals, lashings of backing vocals and embellished with brass bands and strings.  The clean pop doing battle with guitarist Graham Coxon’s love of noisy lo-fi indie rock and fuzzed-out distorted guitars.

But before you can get ideas about this album being all about Albarn and Coxon, the jagged bassline for “Colin Zeal” starts, with the drums and guitar coming in to create polyrythms against it, until it all congeals into the propulsive pop-rock chorus.

The band explore a range of sounds with "Miss America" being an interesting experiment in minimalism and atmosphere, that vaguely hints at Coxon's future work for "the End of the F**king World".  "Oily Water" almost bears a resemblance to what was going on in American indie-rock and "Advert" sounds like a blueprint for the faster tracks on their next two albums.

A lot of fans feel that “Modern Life…” is the best Blur album, others feel they perfected their sound with the next album “Parklife”.  My own heart lies with their murky, morose self-titled album, but I also like the fact that they don’t just settle on one sound and seem to be eternally questing for the next thing.

Day 0677 - Amerikkka's Most Wanted

Ice Cube "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" (1990)

Ice Cube's first album after leaving N.W.A.  The album was produced by the BombSquad (also producing for Public Enemy, whose Flavour Flav and Chuck D guest here).  It's an almost unrelenting aural assault, and two things become quite clear from listening to it:
1. Ice Cub loves the word 'mutherfucka' 
2, He is not to impressed with anyone being 'on his dick'.

You have to take the lyrics with a grain of salt as Cube blasts a certain degree of misogyny over the tracks.  This side of things is at least partly counterbalanced by his rap battle with Yo Yo on "It's a man's world".  She gives him a run for his money.

Day 0669 - Violator

Depeche Mode "Violator" (1990)

 
After making several albums, and getting good at what they did, th'Mode decided to pare things back on their first album of the 90s.   Band-member Martin Gore described how the group had become bored with the extensive pre-production and discussions on album 'sound' that they would usually undertake before working on a release.  They decided instead to work things out on the fly in the studio with new producer Flood (New Order, Ministry, Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, NIN etc.)

Apparently Depeche Mode were a big influence on Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, and I can hear it.  The synthline in first track "World in my Eyes" bears more than a passing resemblance to that band's sound.  The album mostly goes for sparse, but moody synth arrangements.  "Waiting for the Night" and "Clean" provide slightly fuller arrangements.

Oh it also has "Personal Jesus" on it.  Most people would at least be familiar with that or the so-so Marilyn Manson cover of it a few years later.

Day 0662 - Done by the Forces of Nature

The Jungle Brothers "Done by the Forces of Nature" (1989)

 
The Brothers beefed up their classic rap sound with elements of jazz, world music, house, funk and Afrobeat.  According to the book, the group were accused of selling out, but history appears to have vindicated the them, with the album being pegged quite high on several ranked lists, not to mention retrospective reviews generally lauding the album.

Day 0661 - Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation 1814" (1989)

JJ had had success with her third album "Control".   Predictably, her record label suggested producing a follow-up that reproduced that album as closely as possible.   Janet, instead opted to craft an album with a sense of social consciousness.   She commented on various issues she'd encountered either herself or in the news, issues such as school shootings, and racial dis/harmony. 

While working on the album, Janet had commented to her producers that it would be great if they could just create their own peaceful nation of music... leading to the album title and title track.

The music mines similar territory to her brother's 1980s output, the funk and RnB mixed with a touch of rock (particularly the track "Black Cat").  There's more of a focus on danceable beats on memorable singles like "Miss You Much" and "Rhythm Nation".   The Jackson family could do no wrong (musically) around this time.

Day 0613 - Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys "Fisherman's Blues" (1988)

I think that in my head I'd confused the Waterboys with the Newsboys and was expecting some "Take me to your leader" style pop-rock.   The Waterboys had produced some rock albums, then their new violinist Steve Wickham invited singer and songwriter Mike Scott over to Ireland to hang out.  Apparently it changed his life (or at the least his musical direction).

The band wrote and recorded screeds of material and ended up whittling it down to these 13 songs (though a less successful second volume of songs was later released from these sessions).  The songs have a definite Irish/Celtic flavour throughout, probably more in a Dexys Midnight Runners way than something like the in-your-face sound of the Pogues though.  There are hints of Bob Dylan and the Band too with folky flavours throughout.

Day 0602 - Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo "Shaka Zulu" (1987)

Having gained some international notoriety backing Paul Simon on his Graceland album, LBM made use of this attention and released "Shaka Zulu" and won further hearts and minds.

Nice to see that less obvious 'hit' albums were still selling well in the 80s, with the Astor Piazzola instrumental/jazz/tango album earlier in the list, and now this dose of 'World Music' or African folk music (depending on your choice of label).

Love the timbre of their voices, and the huge swells of harmony that occur.  An acapella album that feels uplifting and exciting.

Day 0590 - Document

R.E.M. "Document" (1987)

Kind of a transitional album for R.E.M.   It was their last album for IRS records before moving onto a major label and their first with Scott Litt producing.

Musically, they were already starting to evolve into their more commercial 90s sound... to the extent that I was sure that catchy track "The One I Love" was on one of those later albums, rather than on one of the IRS releases.  I think part of the change is that Michael Stipe had really found his feet as a singer and frontman, so had set aside his mumbled obscure vocal delivery and moved to a more clear and outgoing style.

Musically, the album has a nice range of styles, from the jangly folk rock of "It's the End of the World..." (with the event of Covid 19, this one has actually had a resurgence), the slow dirge intensity of "Oddfellows Local 151" and the catchy, borderline-anthemic nature of "Finest Worksong".

Day 0583 - Rapture

Anita Baker "Rapture" (1986)

Apparently this album was well-received on its release, but quickly faded from the public consciousness; I can kind of see why.  It's similar to Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" album.  A talented singer belting it out over a somewhat glossy, studio-polished set of tracks.

Enjoyable and totally listenable music, but not the most memorable or vital release ever.

Day 0572 - The Colour of Spring

Talk Talk "The Colour of the Spring"

 
Talk Talk, one of the earlier bands to employ the new sound of synthesizers is here, one of the first bands to abandon them.  The synths are ousted for pianos, organs and interesting guitar textures, and the results are brilliant!

There is some competent pop-rock in the shape of "Life's What You Make it" and "Happiness is Easy" which has a moody trumpet solo and a child choir to lift it above standard fare.  There are some moodier tracks like "Chameleon Day", where Mark Hollis' haunting tenor backed with a semi-classical backdrop of piano and keyboards almost predicts the moodier moments of A Perfect Circle.

Day 0550 - Songs From the Big Chair

Tears For Fears "Songs From the Big Chair" (1985)

This is something of an 80s pop power-house.  It's an album that featured the hits "Shout", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Head over Heels" and which would go on to help TfF find success in the US as well as continuing their success in their native England.

There is the bombastic power of pop anthems like "Shout", but also the moody, noirish jazz vibe of a track like "I believe" and the low-key, vaguely world-music outro "Listen".  That variety makes for an enjoyable listening experience and stops the album from being anywhere near one dimensional.

The album title came from a film called 'Sybil' about a woman with multiple-personality disorder, who only felt safe while recounting her problems to her therapist while sat in the 'big chair' in his office.