1. Beetlebum - instantly forgettable.
2. Song 2. Yeah! Classic quiet-loud grunge format, nonsense lyrics, all about the vibe, too short and classic because of that.
3. Country Sad Ballad Man. Slow string scrape at the beginning reminiscent of a front porch hammock. Silly falsetto vocal amusing. Goes to a very silly place. Fun.
4. M.O.R. Call and harmony response - nice bit of borrowing from Beach Boys/Motown/Do-wap. Good dance track.
5. On Your Own. Filler.
6. Theme from Retro - half-baked idea, could be a song one day.
7. You're So Great. Acoustic cardigan-swinger that goes heavy, nice.
8. Death of a Party - can hear Gorillaz coming in this one.
9. Chinese Bombs - BOSH! Proper punk track.
10. I'm Just a Killer for your Love. I'm a sucker for this head-nodding, foot tapping tempo. Not a fan of the one-note bass in this track. Nice bit of wah in the interlude.
11. Look Inside America. reminiscent of House in the Country.
12. Strange News from Another Star. Nice vibe, bit Bowie - Cold-War Generation blues.
13. Movin' On.Good ol' Rock track - could be Stones. Funky ending.
14. Essex Dogs. Artsy Fartsy. Soundtrack track - not an album track. Filler.
Faves: 2, 7 & 12.
I'll give it a 3, but I mean 3.5
1. Hotel California. I get asked to play this a lot by older men, so approaching this song is like visting a drunk Uncle whose inappropriate stories I've heard too many times, but when I get through the door, I forget how much I appreciate the ambience. Found a live acoustic version - loved the guitar sound, minimal drums and the general space/air in the arrangement.
1. Billy Jack - Love the congas & brass. Poor old Billy, eh?
2. When Seasons Change - Beautiful grief-soaked vocal. Crazy fx on guitar & keys! Didn't spoil the vibe, but parks it squarely in the 70s! Great line: " ... if you want a good life, best look into yourself..."
3. So in Love - The language (words like devotion, testify, faith) denotes Mayfield's Gospel roots, but applied to romantic love here rather than the guy in the next song. I like that he chooses to describe that intensity of feeling for his partner with the vocabulary of divinity.
4. Jesus - "Look into your inner self - only you know how to be free"
It's rare to find such plain speaking about the inner devotional life in popular music. Mayfield doesn't shy away from it, neither does he shirk social commentary. Like so many in the Gospel tradition, it seems he needed the one to deal with the other.
5. Blue Monday People "But when cupboards are bare, our love we can share" another slow call for social solidarity. Could have been shagging music, were the lyrics not so interesting.
6. Hard Times. A lot of unsaid feeling about local racism in this one. "Hmmm...". Lovely wailing guitar (as on most of these tracks).
7. Love to the People. Really dig this one - reminds me of trip-hop vibes and sums up the album's message for me. Great sax solo.
Dr. Cornel West is always bigging up Curtis Mayfield - his debut album, "Curtis" has "Move On Up" which is more popular (I think). Nice to hear this one. The line from track 5 "They know this money don't feed us" juxtaposes my sense of this album as food for the soul. Addressing the elephant in the room - I'm frankly amazed that I don't find his falsetto ridiculous - somehow the genuine feeling comes through it - it has a unique, intense quality - it's not what I'm used to, but I guess it's no more strange than other intensity-modified vocal styles like screamo, death-metal growling or punk shouting, only I can understand most of Mayfield's lyrics here.
Sheffield! Four of these tracks are in my set list and two more are in my "to learn" pile.
1. The View from the Afternoon - Great start, tri-tone (METAL!) establishes that this album is not going to be a pleasant ramble through the country (if you didn't get that from the cover). Love the arrangement - bass dropping out, guitars taking stereo turns to play the chords after the fake finish half-way through, drum style changes, band dropping out - all serve to keep the ear interested. Love the major version of a bond-type chord at the end. This track whets my appetite for the rest of the album.
2. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor - one of my fave tracks - even the salsa band I'm in do this one. Great tempo. Your name isn't Rio (not real), but I don't care for sand. Great poetry - don't need romance, Shakespeare invoked and undercut too. Love it.
3. Fake Tales of San Francisco - You're not from NYC, you're from Rotherham (Rovrum) continues the theme of cutting through the bullshit of romance and getting real and local.
This is Ken Loach indie pop.
4. Dancing Shoes - another banger. Love a floor tom rhythm. No chords, just a tune over the second verse, great. "Shit Shock Horror" love it. I really identify with the whole being at the club burning with lust and too afraid to talk to anyone theme, so, yeah - love this one.
5. You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me - the tune is too high for everyone in the band to sing, which is so appropriate - it will damage vocal chords every time they play it and no-one cares. I'd have used more distortion on this one.
6. Still Take You Home - sounds like Dead Kennedys intro. Lounge middle 8. "Fake tan. Top Shop princess."
7. Riot Van - lovely sweeping up, going home vibe to this one - great contrast to the violence in the lyrics.
8. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured. Ide to nicking a taxi fare. Again, great arrangement.
9. Mardy Bum - in Sheffield, this is as classic as Don't You Want Me Baby. Local vernacular "rate 'ard", "got the face on". They've never heard of "squinny" up here.
10. Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But... Anticapitalist rant. Longest track by half, distortion on the vocal connotes Alex's depth of rage to me. Song actually finishes at 2:10, then theres a metal Mambo/drum jam. Fucking love it. Last bit reminds me of The Great Imperial Yo-Yo.
11. When the Sun Goes Down. My lad Jacob used to sing this acapella as a folk song round the fire. "What a scummy man ... It's all not quite legitimate ... She must be fookin' freezin'"
12. From the Ritz to the Rubble - rhymes totaitarian with "scary 'un". Couldn't have done that on a Sunday - Turner returns to this theme
in Do I wanna know "... nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day." I'm looking forward to what he produces as he continues to get older.
13. A Certain Romance" Classic.
13 songs, 41 minutes - BANG!
Love letter to the night-life of youth.
Smashed it.
1. "Deee-Lite Theme" - Funky. Nice opening dorian sax motif.
2. "Good Beat" - very of it's time - Pump Up the Jam/Volume etc.
3. "Power of Love" Everyone's got to have one. Bit more Madonna- esque this one.
4. "Try Me on... I'm Very You" - filler.
5. "Smile On" - bit too slow for dancing, not enough interest for listening. Filler.
6. "What Is Love?" - Bit more Orbital, like it.
7. "World Clique" - meh.
8. "E.S.P." Nice house dance track.
9. "Groove Is in the Heart" - I've always supported the song philosophically, but it's never been on my playlist.
10. "Who Was That?" Nope.
11. "Deep-Ending" Deep house, 'sokay.
12. "Build the Bridge" - Axel F's annoying little sister.
1. "5000 Miles West of the Future" - Love this track - the pauses, lack of continuous rhythm and odd drum pattern all chime with the idea of broken continuity in the lyric. Genius!
2. "Airwave Hysteria" - funky beats and scratches, list of mad-making media mess. Better out than in lad.
3. "Planet 10" - More funky weirdness. Very chill.
4. "Takes More Than 41" - found the clipped kick drum sample annoying. Interesting, slidey synths, soft and rearranged.
5. "Bladerunners" - "replicants AKA refugees". More weirdness - constant flow of lyric, in time, but rhymes on spurious beats.
6. "No. 1 St." - Abstraggadocious rhymes.
7. "To the Moon's Contractor" - very pleasant sonic disorientation.
8. "I Feel Like $100" - Didn't do much for me.
9. "The Animist" - loop reminded me of Squarepusher. All this after future is getting a bit too postmodern for me. Can I get a narrative?
10. "Red Eye to Jupiter (Starship Nigga)" - more braggadocious nonsense, but at least it's proper nonsense.
11. "Welcome to the Afterfuture" - title track.
Can't hear it - noise to signal ratio on this track and album as a whole has tipped towards noise.
12. "Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon" - nice loop, some rhythmic interest in second half.
13. "Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)" - strong. Like the texture, lyric very oblique. Great crescendo.
Overall, glad I heard it - lad (Ladd) is trying something new. Some ace moments. Proper art, this.
Love it. Chill, heartfelt.
Less overt than Mayfield, but nonetheless a strong Gospel influence. Love, love, love. ❤️
Not a go-to genre for me, but not a bad song on it.
One of my favourite albums. Stephanie and I used to listen to it in the car in our early days. Alanis is up there with Björk, Kate Bush, Paula Cole, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell - artists in music. Never careless filler - always an impetus.
Great stuff, love these guys.
1. "Burning Wheel" So far, so Kula Shaker
2. "Get Duffy" Ok ambience.
3. "Kowalski" Interesting sample based ambient track. Nice. Bit Beastie Boys. Fave track on the album.
4. "Star" Nope. Just this side of cringe. I know some Brothers and Sisters who postively are not stars. That's the problem with singing unconditional love - it's useful, it's a great tool, but I've bought so much of over the years and it leads to being a doormat, which is not cool.
5. "If They Move, Kill 'Em" Meh.
6. "Out of the Void" I'm clearly not in the right mood / on the right substances for this album.
7. "Stuka" skipped.
8. "Medication" skipped.
9. "Motörhead" NIN
10. "Trainspotting" AIR
11. "Long Life" Nope.
It's all a bit 12", eh?
Delay drums.
Two tempos: cocaine dancing and sex.
Love the singer's tone. Edith Piaf vibrato took some acclimation. Lots of ooh's.
1. Surprising piano wildness in 2nd half.
2. My Lady's Tory.
3. For Today I am a Boy
4. Beautiful string arrangement.
5. You Are My Sister. Great duet with Boy George.
6. What Can I Do? Beautiful 7/8 piano ballad with Rufus Wainwright. Too short for my money.
7. Lou Reed! Axis of awesome chords.
Overdriven guitar low in the mix echoes the intense, but controlled emotional tenor of the track.
That's all I managed.
Nice to hear live musicians.
The shuffle beat gives most of the songs a 6/8 feel and reminds me of Irish jigs.
Not my thing, but the fella is awfully polite in his intro.
Hall and Oates meet Joe Jackson in an Edward Hopper painting of a Disco.
First three tracks in weird time signatures while still sounding accessible - no mean feat, both to achieve musically and also to get that past record company executives! Five singles from this album.
Bones - Maybe the only 7/8 song that charted in the 90s? Great, heavy without being too weird.
Dam that River - 12/8 (or three lots of 4) love it!
Rain when I die - 3/4 - It's so hard to do anything but waltz in 3. Like bones, back into 4 for the chorus. Weird - normal, rhythmic tension and release.
Down in a hole. 4th track is a ballad - gutsy move for a heavy band at this time.
Sickman - At least three different time signatures in this one, discordant vocal line in verse and bridge. Tempted to say it's accidental, but in the 2nd half of the song he shows he can sing in chromatic harmonies, so have to assume it's a very cool artistic choice. Lyrics tend towards self-loathing, which I think is a new, defining feature of grunge - the lyrics are based more on empathy, personal truth and sadness rather than the hedonism, anger and recklessness of rock lyrics in the 80s. Throw misogyny in there too (80s wise).
Rooster - beautiful, powerful song. Guitar player's Dad was a Vietnam vet with spiky hair - hence Rooster was his nickname. He and his family left his Dad, Rooster to live with a Gran because of his PTSD issues. The song is an attempt to empathise with his Dad. I love the ambiguity caused by the pronoun omission in the first line "Ain't found a way to kill me yet" (They / I?). This guy is a battle survivor - internal and external.
Dirt - Title track. Phrygian dominant scale (Egyptian sounding). Another good slowish one demonstrating that heavy doesn't have to be fast.
God Smack. Very weird vocal line on the verse - same four times, so again, have to conclude he's being intentionally very oddly discordant. I have no idea what I'd sing over such an odd riff.
Iron Gland. (Iron Man parody/tribute)
Hate to Feel (Almost a Dazed & Confused tribute). More time signature malarkey - bridge is a bar of 7/8 followed by a bar of 9/8. Interesting, more weird vocals.
Angry Chair. A single, but never really stood out to me.
Would? Definitely a classic grunge track - verse quiet, chorus loud. A song about Andy Wood (singer who died of a heroin overdose) whose band mates formed Pearl Jam. Prominent bass.
A great, classic album forming part of the heart of the 90's Seattle sound.
This is very much my kind of thing.
Did Not Listen, but remember the title track fondly as one of my faves to dance to at CHAOS nightclub, Southsea.
Only heard the first track - liked it.
Short, funky. I suspect substances were taken.
I've always liked Madonna. Soft spot for this one. Newly wed, we had the cassete in the car an the cd at home.
Love the rhythm (and sound) of the bass in Amazing.
Not on this album, the single Beautiful Stranger came out similar time - great pop track.
I do love music around that 144 bpm tempo, but production-wise, the whole album has a lot a gaps in the spectrum of audible frequencies - noticably not much low-end.
I wasn't there (by which, I mean I never knew anyone who caught this buzz) and suspect those gaps are filled with nostalgia or substances for those who love this. I'm more into influenced bands like She Wants Revenge.
Not for me, but there's definitely some artistic expression going on.
Hip-Hop ground zero. I hear roots of Electro, RnB, Gangsta, Conscious.
Scorpio - wicked electro track. One note and a drum machine - that's the way to do it.
The Message. Had it on a vinyl compilation called Rap It Up. Formative classic. Lots of feels for this track.
Survival Great track.
Just hate Def Lappard.
Will not listen.
Yeah, it's okay - you know?
Sweet Child of Mine is ok as a middle-of-the-road pop-rock song.
Never been a fan of Axl or his voice.
Take or leave, mostly leave the rest.
Enjoyed the first few tracks.
Nice cross rhythms on the first track.
Love the 2nd - quirky Pearl Jam in 3.
Great 3rd. And 4th. 5th. 6th. Yeah, all the rest.
Whatever this fellow is saying at the top of his voice, he means it.
2nd listen (!) for lyrics.
1. Shades of California Uber Alles.
2. Do You Compute? One of the best "fuck you"s I've ever heard.
4. Nihilistic anger. Grrr!
Favourite riff: 9. Sinews 6:42
2nd favourite 10. Hand over Fist 3:35 (reminds me of the end of Unsung by Helmet).
Lots of loud repetitive riffs and noise, which I've not been into recently, but I heard this early morning while writing an essay and it had the effect of background brown noise - the odd rhythms helped with this.
Nice contrasts. Don't know how many more listens I'll give it, but I really liked this one.
Yep, yep.
Now we're talking - classic album.
It's got it all: Production values, variety of styles, dynamics, great musicianship, good lyrics, varied instrumentation: sitar, gong, clever arrangements, palindromic intros. Hair.
There's so much here, I challenge anyone to say they can't say \"I like this bit\" to something.
I also challenge you not to have learned some vocabulary after listening to the Fairy Feller's Master Stroke.
Even filler tracks like some day one day are so well arranged, I like them.
I had this and Sheer Heart Attack on both sides of a TDK D90 and played it often on my headphones at college.
Roger Taylor songs are so weird. But again, I can't help but like them.
Wasn't in the mood for loud and simple.
Was expecting Captain Beefheart for some reason. Very pleasant.
There's a lot of weird on the album that makes it a hard listen sometimes, but clearly a classic.
Blues is not my thing, but I like it's roots and fruits.
Most of this I could get on with.
I liked Sekou Oumaro, Wayei and Ai Tchere Bele (fast 6/8) especially.
Nice sunny day driving music.
Six track wonder! Still riding the wave of sixties optimism.
Awesome opening, great rock organ sound.
Such a nexus! A melting pot of stuff that came before and influenced stuff after.
I hear The Who, Queen, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Zappa, Zeppelin, Small Faces,
Chris Burnell gave me two Yes albums after hearing the school band as if to say "This is how it's really done."
Skip listened - not in the mood.
Spent a lot of time with this one in my teens. Delay solo from Brighton Rock especially nostalgic.
