This critically acclaimed 1977 album is early new wave/punk and is a bit of a snapshot of 70's British life. It's love stories and character driven narratives with some funk and early electronica.
I'm struggling with it a bit on first pass, mostly because I want to listen to the stories but the bassline and musical set up is really interesting.
Will probably listen to it again.
The standouts on this album: Blockheads and Plaistow Patricia.
This album is brand new to me, so I'm already learning.
I was so excited to see this come through on a rainy Friday morning. I just listened while I did my am journaling with a coffee.
This album is so strong, it's more like a cozy friend than anything.
Standout songs:
Obviously My, My, Hey, Hey and Powderfinger
I haven't marked anything a 5 star yet because I feel like I need to save that.
I hate this band so much. I know it's a classic or whatever but I audibly groaned when this came across my radar.
I love this so much. Cold is The One.
I mean, I know it's a classic but David Bowie is not my favorite.
Still haven't hit a 5 yet.
Painful - first album I didn't finish
It was fun until it wasn't. That's a LOT of bongos. 10 6-minute songs is one thing, but 18??
I cannot stand the Beatles.
I mostly just avoided them before but I've now had to listen to four of their albums in 60 days and it's pushed them into "visceral reaction of pure rage" when I see their name pop up.
I hope this is the last one.
If you love this, run out and grab the Sliver soundtrack.
The movie is peak 90's but the soundtrack is timeless.
I love a good slide guitar.
Can we talk about prog rock for a second? If you're not familiar with that term, prog rock is "a subgenre of rock that emerged in the late 1960s/early 1970s, blending rock instrumentation with classical, jazz, and folk influences, often featuring complex, long-form compositions, virtuosic musicianship, and conceptual theme."
I know it's a thing, I know people love it, I know that some amazing, beloved musical arrangements have been created in prog rock scenarios, and people hope that their beloved prog rock bands will just continue to play until everyone in the audience falls over dead.
I, however, can only handle prog rock in small doses. And bud, this album is LONG - 24 songs at anywhere from 3 minutes to 9 minutes - with a full runtime of 95 minutes. It has a cult following, as do a lot of our friendly prog rock bands, and while I no longer judge people for their musical likes (mostly), I do wonder who has the patience for this whole thing.
For the love of Peter Gabriel, I have shit to do, and it's not listening to this whole album in one sitting.
This started out as a concept album against the storyline of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and I might have actually preferred that over this story of Rael, a "troubled and rebellious youth who is unexpectedly taken on a journey of self-discovery and identity as he encounters a series of bizarre incidents and characters."
Knowing all this now, there might be a time that I actually sit down and learn about Rael's adventures, but today is not the goddamn day.
This is a did not finish at 49 minutes. My nervous system could not take another bit of the twee-ass synths in the background.
Standout: The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging, because that's where I completely disassociated from this experience.
I really enjoyed it. It's got kind of an Americana bent, and I wouldn't have known ol' boy was BRITISH if I hadn't looked up the album. It's got a very retro feel to it. It's a little jazzybluesyrockabilly in all the right ways.
This album makes me feel like I should be driving off into a desert sunset in a convertible with a long scarf around my neck, after murdering my duplicitous husband and his lover after they tried to steal my inheritance.
I'm going to get away with it, too, because I'm wearing the perfect shade of red lipstick.
I have neither a husband nor an inheritance, but if you ever watch film noir, you smell what I'm steppin' in. Oh, I also don't have a convertible, but that's more of a want than the husband or inheritance.
Standout: The Ocean
Day 83 - 1985 - Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms
This was the first album in history to sell over a million copies on CD. This is their fifth studio album. Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums recorded on a Sony 24-track digital tape machine. The tour for this album started in Yugoslavia, which doesn't exist anymore. I mean, the place exists, just not the name. Now it's Croatia. The British critics HATED this album and were super dismissive of it. American critics loved it. The amount of musicians that quit and joined the band during the recording of this album is 4, including drums, bass, and recording technicians.
Dire Straits is also British, which kind of confused my brain because I spent my whole life thinking they were some sort of Southern rockish outfit.
Almost every GD song on this album is a hit.
Standout: Always, always, Your Latest Trick. There's some opening saxophone which is a little too 80's late night talk show host, but
There is some great bass on this album.
I put on the good headphones, which allowed for the stereo to really come through.
I braced myself for SIX songs on a ~42ish minute album.
I reminded myself I started this for a reason.
The reason? To discover new music and to rediscover things I hadn't listened to for a long time, fully knowing that there would be albums on the list that I cannot, nay, WILL not abide.
This is one of them.
Are there some great Yes songs? Sure. Of course there are. There's a reason that they have endured and people love them 54 years after this, their third studio album. Am I one of those people? NO I AM NOT.
Again, Prog rock.
I already went on my diatribe about prog rock so I'm not going to drag you through that again, but literally no one needs an 11 minute song that has three sections and features (checks notes) "cosmic imagery, spiritual searching, and New Age philosophy. Inspired by Robert Heinlein's novel of the same name, the song centers on a 'guardian angel' figure and the individual's journey to find inner divinity and truth."
Or maybe you do. I'm not going to judge if you love it but I tapped out about 6 minutes into that song because even with the good headphones, it was a LOT.
I've Seen All Good People also has three parts and clocks in at 7 minutes. I am thankful that the radio generally cuts this to 3-4 minutes. And you know what? I enjoy those 3-4 minutes. It's an immediately recognizable song - and the mandolin at the very beginning is lovely. Plus, there are some pan-esque flutes.
Oh no! What if Zamfir is on this list? I will absolutely drop dead. Also, I looked for a gif of Zamfir and his Magical Pan Flute, and this is what popped up (amongst some other things that are NSFW).
Standout: Owner of a Lonely Heart
Yes, I KNOW it's not on this album, but so what. It's their best song, IMO
Day 85 - 2001 - Radiohead, Amnesiac
Okay, I'm going to tell you guys a secret.
I don't know if it was snobbery, distaste, or what but I never listened to Radiohead on purpose. I mean, of course I know "Creep," because that song was E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E when it first came out in 1992 (!).
But also, I was a musical PURIST, FFS. I went and saw Oasis with Eric one time and he got mad at me because I was kind of making fun of Wonderwall. Like I thought I was cool as fuck because I refused to play certain kinds of music because it was too "mainstream" or whatever.
Meanwhile, I was still popping in my Whitesnake CD on rare occasions. Don't tell anyone that, either.
So, here we go - I'm going to say it: holy shit, this album is really good, and I'm sort of sad that I didn't give Radiohead a chance back in the olden days.
There is a LOT going on here: classical, jazz, electronica, strings, bass, everything. I legit sighed when it popped up for me this morning, and I got out the shitty earbuds and immediately popped them out and got the good headphones off the charger.
*Of note: I generally start writing these at the beginning of the album so I can get it started, add some stuff halfway through, and then I pop back through songs to find my standout. The above was written before I hit my breaking point.
The first half of this album is mostly non-lyrics driven, and by Knives Out, I figured out why I never got into Radiohead:
Thom York's voice. There is something about the tone and pitch of his voice that does not work for me. At All.
By Dollars and Cents, I was ready to bail, which is really a shame because there are some amazing songs at the beginning of the album, including Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors.
You know how when you're somewhere and there's a small child that just hits that whiny pitch that drives a want to punch someone, anyone, hard in the face? Maybe not the child, but no one would REALLY fault you if you did punch the child (I am not advocating punching children, but you know...)
Thom York is that child for me. Sorry Thom. It's not you, it's me. I wanted to love this SO BAD and had to skip through the rest of the songs as soon as he started singing. I tried to hold out for "Life in a Glasshouse" because jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton did a WHOLE THING on that song but then Thom started and bye.
Standout: Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
Glam rock with 17 consecutive top 20 hits. Their best-selling single, "Merry Xmas Everybody", has sold over one million copies. They were skinheads before they got in to glam in the early 70s, which, okay, guys. Thanks for moving on from THAT.
Also, a bit of trivia: Slade originally did Cum On Feel the Noize, well before Quiet Riot. It's a little more... poppy then the version us 80s rock kids knew but Quiet Riot played it almost note for note, with very little experimentation. The original is that good.
Look, it would take me a whole day to write up a thing for this band, because holy gads, the original guys are all still alive and some of them are still going. And the number of bands quoted across timelines and the globe is too much for me to even paraphrase here.
Standout: Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Everyone knows this album, even if you don't know this album.
Ol' Harry was a well known composer who did the soundtrack for Magnolia, Contact, Punch Drunk Love, and Goodfellas and his songs were on dozens of films, most famously with "Everybody's Talkin'" in Midnight Cowboy (1969), "Coconut" in Reservoir Dogs (1992), and his soundtrack work for Popeye (1980). Other notable uses include "Jump Into the Fire" in Goodfellas and "The Puppy Song" in You've Got Mail.
The opening song, Gotta Get Up, was heavily featured in Russian Doll, the Natasha Lyonne show. If you haven't seen this, go start it now. I'll wait.
Also, Harry had kind of a rough go of it and died of a heart attack at 52. Cass Elliot AND Keith Moon died in his London apartment. On different days. He was friends with some of the Beatles. He was born in Brooklyn and moved to L.A. At least one of his songs was about his dad heading out for cigarettes and never coming back. He had three marriages and 7 kids. All his money was embezzled by Cindy Sims, who stole multiple millions of dollars from many clients. He already had a bad heart, but this exacerbated his existing heart issues, and probably led to his death.
For a guy who wrote such peppy songs, shit was rough all around for him. And let me be clear - the melody on the songs is very Leonardo Di Caprio skipping and then listening to the words, it's very "Harry? You okay, bud?"
Driving along you can see all the people
Who seem to have nothing to say to each other
Each day they grow farther and farther away from each other
Driving along you can spot all the problems
On faces so tired of facing each other
Each day they grow farther and farther away from each other
Driving along at fifty seven thousand miles an hour
Look at those people standing on the petals of a flower
Look at those petals bumping for a little bit of power
Driving along you can see all the people
Who seem to have nothing to say to each other
Each day they grow farther and farther away from each other
Overall, this is probably a 3.5 out of 5, but now that I *really* listened to the lyrics, I don't think I need to hear this again, thanks.
Standout: Without You. This song is rough, but it's a classic breakup song and it's really good - even if it's miserable.
Day 91 - 1977 - David Bowie, Heroes
My friend and I are loading up on shows after saying we weren't going to load up on shows this year, because that's a thing that we do.
I logged into Ticketmaster because I apparently love giving a conglomerate loads of money for junk fees and saw that Kid Cudi is touring this summer. I got kind of excited and passed on the news, only to remember that we loathe going to White River Amphitheater.
So no Kid Cudi.
Do you need this information? No, probably not, but it's probably more interesting than listening to Heroes again. Look, I am not a Bowie hater, but this album is one of the duller ones and can't even be saved by Beauty and the Beast and the song Heroes, which was cowritten with Brian Eno!
I expect to see Brian on this list at some point.
Anyway, it's ambient and art rock and part of the Berlin Trilogy. Unlike other albums, I didn't look up any of the details on this one until I finished it because I *thought* that the reviews would be glowing because Bowie.
Turns out, the critical reception to this album wasn't great either: The record was not without its detractors. Tim Lott of Record Mirror gave the album a more mixed assessment, calling it "disjointed" and criticised the instrumentals on side two as having less "continuity" than the ones found on Low. Lott further considered Bowie's vocals "hollow" and the lyrics "opaque". Overall, he felt that other than the title track, "Heroes" was "a disappointment" and "a come-down from Low". In the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hilburn lamented the way Bowie's "fluctuating pop interests caused him to shift from style to style faster than his ability to master them", ultimately calling it one of the artist's "least arresting turns". The Philadelphia Inquirer gave "Heroes" one out of four stars, finding the album "more self-indulgent than rewarding".
Later reviews were kinder, but not me. I'm still mean about this album. It's boring.
Standout: Meh. Probably Heroes
Look, this is a great album, and I understand separating art from artist, but Lance (Afrika Bambaataa's real name) was a really, really awful human. Awful enough that there's debate about keeping him in any historical documentation about the rise of hip hop in NYC in the 80s.
