1001 Albums Summary

I'm a big fan of Roxy Music but didn't think this album highlighted their best work. If anything their later efforts showed it was addition by subtraction when Brian Eno - who would go on to co-produce U2's greatest albums - left the group. Burying Bryan Ferry's distinctive vocals didn't do the songs any favors; just compare where they are in the mix on most of the album vs. how forward they are on the post-Eno song 'Mother Of Pearl.' The standouts for me were 'If There Is Something' with its driving sax/oboe line and increasingly urgent lyrics and the Chuck Berry riffs/Jerry Lee Lewis licks in 'Would You Believe?'. I think we'll definitely see the band's final studio album Avalon on this list and suspect in listening to their more mature material it'll be clearer why the band is considered so influential.

I'm still playing catch-up but immediately turned around and put this album on again. To me it felt like walking through the Rock & Roll HOF and watching as genres and styles slowly shift and form into something that feels new and unrecognizable on its own but is clearly rooted in the musical past. These guys couldn't have known that a decade later Poison would be doing the 'Unskinny Bop' but here you have some dudes with great hair doing a song about sex with a hard-rocking hook. Sure some of the lyrics here still have that late 60's acid influence, but you can easily look at Sammy Haggar-era Van Halen's 'Love Walks In' and see a clear kindred connection. I mean is this the first hair album? It's all here - sexually charged songs (had to chuckle at the not even a little subtle golden cat/velvet hat lyrics in 'The Motivator'), blues riffs, drug-fueled lyrics - just promote a screaming electric guitar to co-lead vocalist and trade LSD for cocaine and heroine and you've got a rock-solid 80's hair metal album! Overall I didn't think there were any clunkers here. I appreciated the love-lorn desperation of 'Lean Woman Blues' and the laugh-it-off what-could-of-have-beens of its coda 'Life's a Gas'. 'Mambo Sun' was 60's funk fun, 'Cosmic Dancer' felt like vintage psychedelic Bowie (and not even a poor man's version), 'Jeepster' gets your feet tapping with its get-down riffs, 'Monolith' soothed like an acid-fueled lullaby, and 'Rip Off' got grungy as a proto-punk finale. Coming in knowing only 'Get It On' this album really impressed me, enough that I'm looking at the CD on Amazon as I write this - I think it could have a place in the rotation on this long road-trip to Montana I have in a few weeks!

Don’t know where this album sits in the history of electronic music but it wasn’t the worst way to start my day. Definitely reminded me of some sweet NES tracks. 'The Robots' was a bop with its funky beats though the 'we are the robots' line had me laughing. Liked the haunting melodies of 'Spacelab' and 'Metropolis' evoked Ryan Gosling coolly driving around LA at night. The standout for me though was the long, laid-back jam of 'Neon Lights'.

Absolutely loved this! This put a smile on my face and got my hips moving and my toes tapping. Over the past week I’ve listened to it several times and the feeling has been the same every time. I feel like this is music for the hard-working regular Joe or the hard-luck fool who just wants to cut loose and forget his troubles on a Saturday night, 'cause when the jazz gets hot and your feet start moving you can’t help but be happy in your very soul. Each song carried a positive, propulsive energy; I felt I could see each musician smiling behind his instrument. And it wasn’t just that it made me feel good - even though the Caribbean beats with a Glen Miller swing screamed post-war big city it still felt incredibly fresh to me. Wild Jungle - Well I don’t know how to dance to this but my feet and hips were doing something that felt so right. Is this mambo? Salsa? All I know is it transported me to some smokey club uptown where Mickey Mantle sits in the corner not slowly getting drunk. Kenya - big band start then driving island drums Holiday - brought a smile to face with its upbeat trumpeting Frenzy - lived up to its name with its frenetic background drumbeats that lingered before each soaring solo and duet Blues a la Machito - “Sometimes I feel bad. But when I play the blues, I feel good.” Tin Tin Deo - the screaming orchestra hits just keep coming Minor Rama - sax/trumpet call and response - in stereo! Feel like I don’t want to be throwing 5’s around yet but this is a 4.5 for me for sure! I could listen to this stuff all day.