Day 0881 - Apple Venus vol.1

XTC "Apple Venus vol.1" (1999) - got it

It had been 7 years since the previous XTC album.  The band had been arguing with their record label Virgin and essentially went on strike until they were allowed the freedom to do things their way.   Eventually the band left the label and were able to move forward with their music.  

Songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding had amassed over 40 songs and at first had planned to release a double album, but changed this to release two volumes.   The second Apple Venus volume "Wasp Star" would consist of more straight ahead rock/guitar songs.    Volume one though is a masterpiece of baroque pop mostly consisting of orchestral instruments and acoustic guitars.   Due to budgetary restrictions the album's orchestral parts were all recorded in one day.

From the opening pizzicato strings and dripping sounds of "River of Orchids" that build to a swirl of strings and layered vocals, the album is a gorgeous journey with hints of Beatles, Bacharach and Beach Boys while still being totally XTC.   

 

There are a couple of more light-hearted tracks ("Frivolous Tonight" and "Fruit Nut") courtesy of Moulding, but the bulk of the album is Partridge's with a McCartney-eqsue upbeat acoustic track "I'd like that".  A bitter reflection on the end of his marriage with "Your Dictionary".   Album-closer "The Last Balloon" is an appropriately elegant melodic journey with its slow keys and strings with choirs building to booming percussive accents and sailing the album away on a mournful lilting trumpet solo.

XTC are one of those musical oversights for me.   I liked and bought this album when I first skimmed through the 1001 albums book and have since bought two other of their albums... but given they have 14, I could probably delve deeper.

Day 0839 - Maverick a Strike

Finley Quaye "Maverick a Strike" (1997) - got it

This is a straight-up summer album.   Quaye's distinctive voice moves between laid-back delivery and ecstatic yells.

The music largely revolves around reggae and dub sounds, with a bouncing, jiving reimagining of Bob Marley via "Sunday Shining", summery reggae pop with single "Your Love gets Sweeter", the long percussion jam of "Red Rolled and Seen" and the deep soupy dub of "Supreme I Preme".

Quaye seems someone who has been dogged by hassles, whether it's a feud with Tricky after claiming that he was the trip-hop star's uncle, being booed offstage by a bunch of football fans for disparaging the team, or being charged with physically assaulting someone.   Separating the artist from the art though, this is an enjoyable listen.

Day 0767 - CrazySexyCool

TLC "CrazySexyCool" (1994)

TLC were started by Crystal Jones and her manager when they had the idea to put together a girl-group with a hip-hop image.  They enlisted Lisa ‘left-eye’ Lopes and Tionne Watkins and started shopping around management and producers.  The band’s name was made up from the first letter of each member’s first name.   Before they could be signed, Jones was ousted from the group and Rozonda Thomas was bought on board.  She was given the nickname 'Chilli' to keep the TLC moniker intact.
                                              
After a successful debut “Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip” the group set about recording their second album.  They cast aside the energetic, colourful ‘teen’ image from the first album to recast themselves as a more sultry, adult group.  This, mixed with their genre-mixing of RnB, soul and hip hop would create a blueprint for future artists such as Destiny Child, Pussycat Dolls etc.

To my ears "Waterfalls" is the most obvious hit on the album, so not surprising that it was chosen as a single.

Despite the group's success, they filed for bankruptcy the next year, partly due to the reported unfairness of their contracts and partly due to Left-eye having set fire to the mansion of her football player boyfriend... oddly, the two reconciled and went back to dating after that!

Day 0610 - Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby" (1987)

Over the first couple of tracks I was a little put off by the staid, sterile 80s production sound on this one, but TTD's amazing voice and strong songwriting turned my opinion right around.

There's the minimalist funk and catchy synth line of "Wishing well", the souful doowop of "Who's Lovin' You", the beautiful acapella "As yet untitled" and plenty of other gems.

Day 0595 - Faith

George Michael "Faith" (1987)

 
Wham! played their last show, then George Michael immediately got to work on his first solo album.  Given that he had been the producer and main songwriter in the band, and had an easily marketable image (i.e. he was a pretty face); the move to a solo career wasn't exactly a shock. 

He probably could have coasted for his first solo outing, producing Wham!-lite; instead he delivers a stonking pop and RnB album that perfectly showcases his strong, clear voice.

Possibly a controversial take but I feel like George Michael would have made a great replacement for Freddie Mercury in Queen.  Obviously nobody can live up to Freddie, but GM has a kind of similar tone to his voice, he can sing it hard or delicate, and his rendition of "Somebody to Love" at the Freddie tribute concert was fantastic.   I kind of feel like his pop and soul vibe would nicely offset the rock of Brian and Roger to produce the variety that Queen always had. 

In case you didn't get the message, this is me giving GM high praise.  Normally, the idea of Queen playing with anyone else on vocals leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Day 0591 - Sign o' the Times

Prince "Sign o' the Times " (1987)

 
Prince had been working on a double album with the Revolution "Dream Factory", and a solo album that he'd planned to release under the feminine pseudonym 'Camille'.  He ended up disbanding the Revolution and scrapping the Camille album.  Combining the material from these projects with some new songs he planned a triple album "Crystal Ball".   This was vetoed by the record company who baulked at releasing that much material simultaneously, and Prince was left to cherry-pick tracks for a single album.

You'd think that choosing from such a large pool of songs this would be a 'home run' of an album.  Instead, I feel as though the songs being drawn from 3 disparate projects over a number of years led to a bit of a lack of cohesion across the material.

There are plenty of good moments here, and Prince explores every genre that he'd investigated up till that point (and then some), but as a whole it just doesn't quite hit the spot for me the way that '1999' or 'Purple Rain' did.

Day 0368 - Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton "Frampton Comes Alive" (1976)

Frampton's live set that (much like Kiss Alive!) elevated him from a relatively successful artist to a huge worldwide success.  I'm not sure that there's been a live album in recent times that has really changed the fortunes of an artist like the aforementioned did.

It's a good clean set of accessible sunny pop and rock with some longer instrumental jam sections thrown in.  The obvious hits are "Baby, I love your ways" "Show me the way" and the epic "Do you feel like we do".