1001 Albums Summary

OK, here we go. Noncing Jackson's - Bad I'm not in the best place to listen to this. It's friday night and I'm usually balls deep in techno or jungle by this point... I'm familiar with the singles but don't think I've ever listened to this through. The title track sounds a lot like the Ghostbusters theme, which I didn't recall before. Nor the dreadful synth riffs about 2:45 in. Ahhh, the signature wooooos as well. Shamone motherfucker. eeeheeeeee The way you make me feel. God this sounds dated, what year is it? 1987. Pulp released their second album in 1987. Cocker and Jackson became the best of friends many years later. Speed Demon. I've never heard this before I don't think. Ffs I've just realised that this album is gonna destroy my "mainstream" stats for the week on last.fm. All these tracks sound very similar, think it's the bassline that is just about the same in all of them so far. Wooo ahhhhhhh Liberian Girl is fucking terrible. Though at least it sounds markedly different to the first three tracks. ooooohhhhh We're Just Good Friends, you're ignorant. eeehhhhheeeeee eh hu oh he eeeee. Jesus fucking wept. I thought I might enjoy this album. He's an all time great pop star, I expected it to be toe tapping at least. This is a total chore. OOoowwwwww. The tracks just don't go anywhere. It's really dull and repetitive. According to the review Plex pulls though, this is meant to be deeper into hard rock and hard dance. Really? REALLY? I dunno about the rock side but I clearly have a different definition of hard dance. Though this could definitely benefit of a fucking big donk on it. There was a great techno remix of Billie Jean that chugs away for 11 minutes by Bushwacka. I could listen to that on repeat over having this on. Another Part Of Me has come and gone. Man in the Mirror I remember hearing before. "This wind is blowing my mind"...... ok. Yeah I mean I can see how this one did ok. But really it's drivel. I've just remembered this is quoted in Lego batman "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change oooooo" KEY CHANGE. That key change is the highlight of the album so far. SHAMONE. At least this track doesn't end fading out too. I just want to lay next to you for a while You look so beautiful tonight Your eyes are so lovely Your mouth is so sweet A lot of people misunderstand me That's because they don't know me at all I just want to touch you And hold you I need you, God I need you I love you so much FUCK OFF!! I wanna put it out there, I fucking love Off The Wall. It's brilliant. This is hot garbage. Why is it on this list, what qualifies it over countless others? Cos he was massive? They could have swapped in a Toots and the Maytals album instead of this. No Toots but we get second rate Jacko. Who they rope in to do the guitar on Dirty Diana? This is probably my favourite so far. Maybe I've just been ground down and desperate to think I've not completely wasted this time. Weren't Duran Duran around at this time? At some point this has made me thing of View to a Kill. I don't know any other Duran Duran tracks other than that like. Smooth Criminal, this is a classic innit? I mean after some of the dross on this album I'm thirsty for something that isn't terrible. THe sound of school discos when I was 9 will have to do. The last track is fitting called Leave Me Alone. I could make more jibes, but really by this point I just want to be left alone. ooooOOOOOhhhhhhoooOOOOOO I've tried, I really have. I don't like it. It's not just it's music that doesn't interest me, it's music I don't like and I'm struggling to find pretty much any enjoyment out of. Joe Smooth's Promised Land came out in 1987. Brothers, sisters, one day we will be free. From fighting, violence, people crying in the streets. I'm not surprised people were crying in the streets when Jackson was number 1 in the album charts with this. 1/5

perfect

Here we go. This is a formative album for me. It's of the few albums that managed to cut across the divide at school between all the dullard "real music" britpop bores, and the super cool kids like me listening to electronic music. It drips with pop appeal but manages to keep a pretty cool edge. Album opener Right Here Right Now, sampling the wonderful Angela Bassett from the film Strange Days is an absolute powerhouse of a tune. Big lush and emotive. I remember being blown away hearing this on a mixtape for the first time. It doesn't quite tingle the spine as much today but it's a fine track. Rockafella Skank is amazing, it epitomises the bright and breezy pop appeal of the album. In a sea of po faced indy wankers it's not hard to see why tracks like this stood out. Fucking In Heaven at first glance feels like a bit of filler but I ended up loving the funky breaks thing going on here. It stands up better than some of the more overt big beat tracks like Build it Up Tear It Down. Big beat was a light that burned so very bright but for a very short period of time, so sounds very much of they're time. Gangster Tripping sandwiched between those two is another that was hammered on the radio. This really is a rare album for me. One that I both hold in fond regard personally and one where many of the singles were widely popular. You'd hear this wafting out of car windows, playing in shops or whatever. Kinda makes me wish I enjoyed more popular music. Or at least that the music I like was more popular. Anyway, as we get into the second half of the album there's still plenty to enjoy. Kalifornia is another nice breakbeat number, bringing in daftpunkesque vocoder type voice. I don't remember the breaks tracks being as strong as this. Soul Surfing was always a favourite, he used to chop this into his DJ sets, possibly works better as a DJ tool than an album track, but meh, it's still fun. But the time we get to You're Not From Brighton though it's feeling like it needs a bit of a change up. Which happily is delivered with the album's most successful single, the (amongst others) Camille Yarbrough sampling Praise You. Fatboy Slim always seems to work best when things seem at their most simple. Catchy vocal sample, breakbeat, bang. He's got a tremendous ear for it, as seen with his ace renegade master. Love Island brings a bit of of an urgency, with some driving beats as we get to the end of the album. This is more club gear really but it still fits pretty nicely here. Acid 8000 brings things to a bit bombastic squelchy end. These are not the cross over tracks, but they show off Cook's club chops. He could still get the cooler dancefloors jamming .I saw him play Back2Basics a few years after this and it was absolutely mega. He probably gets a bit of stick for being the first pop crossover DJ, but he's done it better than most.