1001 Albums Summary

Death of a Disco Dancer is maybe the first time I’ve really heard the seeds of Radiohead (who cite them as inspo). Supports my suspicions that the band was impeccable AND that Moz would be an insufferable hang.

I found it difficult to separate this record from teenage memories, namely, a feeling of ironic kitsch a la 70s songs on Tarantino soundtracks. I feel confident in presuming that a great deal of the band was high all through these sessions, particularly the vocalist, with his lazy yawning intonations and long-hanging sibilants. My choir director would throw me out of the room for that shit. Be that as it may, it’s a classic sound and a good 30 years before Santana collaborated with Rob Thomas.

I’m officially old. I was past 40 by the time I became a dad. There’s hair growing from my ears. But even more important: I don’t hate prog anymore. Like any prog album, it’s all over the map — but also very clearly a record that came about a year after CSNY’s Deja Vu. Similar to The Dead’s American Beauty, the packed, doubled harmonies are so big in the recordings that everything else is dwarfed and tinny. Honest question tho: would it even be “proggy” if each song section went fully into a new track? Cf. tracks 3 and 4, which do the old “we’re so smart that our songs have several names.” Stray thoughts: - Track 1: I’ll go on the record and say that a single guitar line should never be panned back and forth like a shuttlecock. I don’t care how much coke the engineer did. - Track 2 is ridic. If only bc a live track in the middle of an album is 3-days-sleepless madness. - Fascinated by Ev’s grab from track 3 and now I want to find an 80s/90s musician that cites it as an influence.

I've reflected often in recent years how the component parts of what would become the grunge explosion are more diffuse and individually interesting than I used to naively assume. Here, these Madchester lads don't really *sound* like the UK Second Summer of Love (except Fools Gold, on the remaster), but boy do they presage Oasis and Blur. I basically picture Liam Gallagher singing this record. Apple Music calls this "one of the great debuts of all time". I could start to get behind that if it started with "Waterfall", instead of the two pastel jangly tracks that precede it. There's nothing that great about Waterfall’s performances (tho the baseline rips), but the texture is marvellous (same producer as The Bends — checks out), and again, feels prophetic in 1989. And then, Don't Stop, right after, picks up the lead line and tips it vertiginously on its edge, as if to say "yes, there were drugs. LOTS of drugs." I actually got pointed to that track recently by way of a Pitchfork review of a Cut Copy album which I like, but they hated; and they called out a certain track as a direct rip of Don't Stop. (The track is called Take Me Higher, a true facsimile of the time period, and I begrudgingly concede Pitchfork's point) I obvs wasn't part of those molly-soaked couple years at the end of 80s in the UK, but like a good consumer at the peak of his dispensable income, I love to passively participate in memories that I existed but didn't participate in. So while there's little on this record that intensely grabs me outside of Waterfall/Don't Stop, I LOVE the vibes, and some part of me wishes I was there, then. Even though my discretion was always at a career low with MDMA, and so if I had been there, I probably couldn't see straight today.

Five albums. Two years. In this period, Creedence were cranking albums like King Gizzard, except all hits. I admit that the non-single tracks here weren’t arresting. But it doesn’t matter. Fogerty is a fucking powerhouse.

You could say it’s minimalist because of its un-fussy, straightforward production. Or you could say it’s maximalist, with its giant orchestra hits. Either way, it’s *insubstantial*. It lacks substance. It’s big and dumb. It’s a Fast and Furious movie. It’s a jumbo hot dog with zero toppings. It’s an episode of Highlander on a Sony Watchman.

My main takeaway is that Lemmy’s guitarist, Fast Eddie Clarke, sounds exactly like Mike and Stone from Pearl Jam. Like, dead-ringer for those soaring, overdriven wah-pedal licks. I’m curious whether there are a bunch of intermediaries there, or whether there’s a direct influence. Other than that, I’d have loved to be at that show, Ace of Spades rules; but otherwise prob not coming back.

I want to say that this sounds like GarageBand. That's not fair. There's plenty of close-mic and panning. If it's GarageBand, it's very good GarageBand. It's just that nothing stands out in this perfectly fine and unremarkable indie funk album. My knowledge of The Bees comes from Free the Bees, which came two years after this. I heard the song "Chicken Payback" on Triple J Sydney all the time when I lived there. That song is still great. And in fairness, it's of a piece with what appears to be their career statement of un-fussed Motown revival mashed with gentlemanly lad rock. But it's wall-to-wall better. So politely close the tab on this record, listen to Free the Bees, and wonder why that wasn't the Bees record in this dude's book.

I must admit I didn’t finish this, but not because I didn’t like it. I thought it was bright and inventive without being annoying. The funk of Isley Bros without the blandness, and the jam-iness of Yes without quite so much wank.

Even if Fela hadn’t been Ada’s jolly jumper soundtrack from approx. 0 to 2, I would fucking love it. But I showed her how to dance to it (badly), I showed her how to play her plastic drum to it (not terrible), and she loved it too. So this is an easy sentimental 5 for me, and a reminder to bring it back to our speakers and see if she’ll take a break from Taylor Swift and jazz out to Afrobeat.

Today I learned that I myself have DJ'd Stuart Price. Said with dripping sarcasm, naturally, but every so often in my youth I'd cut a mixtape CD, and in the mid aughts I actually beatmatched a few of them. Not terribly well, but to my credit I think I counted the BPM by hand and then used percentages to slow down the tracks using a basic sound editor. The Toast app was a faithful friend. The best one was when I lived in Australia and had max free time; it was called "Australia: The Other White Meat". I wedged Four to the Floor (Thin White Duke remix — aka Rhythmes Digitales) between Run Eyed Blues by Ben Harper and a track by Telefon Tel Aviv. Questionable pacing, but a pretty good transition. That was a good remix. I think it was more popular than the original. Wikipedia tells me that Price, as Duke, did a bunch of popular remixes. So I think of this one as formative for Price. Ev and I were both speculating that it was influential; again Wiki says that it had some effect on the nascent millennial electro scene. I was hoping that it was created before Daft Punk's Homework — French name and all — but no, it came two years later. Huh. Most of it is borderline annoying; I had to tab over a few times to see how much was left in a track. So I’m glad that he grew into a good career producer, but I wasn’t thrilled to listen to the highshool essay.

Is there a greater state of nihilism than not loving a Marvin Gaye record? I’m sorry world. But I suspect I might be in good company with my brother in song reviewing. It’s a protest record I suppose, but he sings about the wrongs of the world in such vague language that it feels meaningless. I feel like I’d legit enjoy the instrumentals somewhat more. All that said, I like the trifecta of tracks 6, 7 and 9. I’d give a higher rating to an EP that dispenses with the vague whingeing about the wrongs of the world and leans in to the groove of Mercy Mercy Me and Inner City Blues.

Love Curtis in general, though this didn't especially grab me — I think because we've happened to be served a fair lot of 70s soul in our first few records. Will return to it another time.

Subtract a star from this impeccable artist, on this album, only because the richer instrumentation IMO obfuscates the raw energy of Waters. Dare I say it MUDDIES THE WATERS, but seriously folks. It feels indelibly marked in the post-Last-Waltz period; indeed his guitarist joined The Band with Muddy during that magical show. I was hoping that the harp player was Paul Butterfield, but no, he was gone by ‘77. My favourite track on this record is I Can’t Be Satisfied; it feels like half the band went on a beer run late at night, someone picked up a slide, and they just went for it. Raw, swung and funky. Makes me think of a gold-plated CD of his glorious second album on which he mostly plays solo. Many hours spent with Adam listening to that one.

Not a highlight Neil record, but thoroughly enjoyed. I love For The Turnstiles sung by Be Good Tanyas. Now I know the original.

This is a very good album that I don't really want to listen to on any given day. With a little dad-istry under my belt, I feel marginally closer to understanding Cave's pain after losing his kid; enough that I sense the grieving and the existential want behind these songs. He's a varsity songwriter and a great lyricist, and like the best of them, he speaks of his own experiences behind veils and parables. They're not fun but they're rich. I want to listen to more Nick Cave, and I hope to cultivate his wisdom without sharing a fraction of his pain.

When we were kids, I felt like Beastie Boys were state of the art. They were great — but for the most part, they in fact were not the bleeding edge. Licensed to Ill was essentially a ripoff of this seminal album. They leaned into Jazz and Punk after that (if anything, that part *was* bleeding edge), but then with Hello Nasty...it was right back to emulating this classic sound. 1984! This came out in 1984. Fucking prophetic. I love everything about it: the hair metal guitar, the campy synth splashes, the 808 beats. Hail to the kings.

Another record/band that clearly inspired Pearl Jam's sound. It's so cool to learn about the component parts of what felt, as a teen, like a singular revolution. I don't think I'm necessarily going to come back to it, but I'm inspired to listen to some other Bad Brains records.

I like this WAY more than the studio album I started with before Ev joined. It's raw as hell, and Pete (I assume it's Pete) is doing his max Jimi impression (a year after Woodstock; figures). They are having fun, and it's fun to listen to. The 17-minute penultimate track is somewhere between captivating and annoying, but it sells the concert vibe as dangerous and unpredictable. There's some real Zeppelin pomp with an indie rock feel. I can't read drums very well, but I feel like Keith Moon was pretty well regarded in this period, and I credit him obliviously for the driving force of those borderline jam tracks.

I’ve occasionally had the thought that Eric Clapton is a gleaming example of white dudes expropriating Black music. Holding that for the moment to be a good take (it might not be), it’s auspicious that this record came a few days after Muddy Waters. Eric’s blues is technically competent, shiny, showy, and utterly devoid of feeling. It’s a photograph of a poem, framed and hung in a posh London pub. Now, there aren’t very many blues songs on this record. And yet the vibe remains. There’s nothing grabby. And yet I find myself indifferently enjoying it, because it’s Talmud in rock and roll. I’m supposed to like it. If we were teenagers in the 60s/70s, we would have put this record on before getting ripped. (We probably would have in the 90s if we had a copy) I think what it comes down to is that it makes me *think* about feelings without feeling anything.

Goddamn I miss this era. Take me *back* — not because I want to be 24 again. I don't, really. Take me to this liminal moment in rap when jazz and poetry seemed like an endless tap for creativity and groove. When the Soulquarians were active and brilliant and prolific; when there was a list of brilliant heads to follow; when it felt like being part of a movement. That said: Hearing that The Roots were down with 50-Cent's music in the mid-aughts was a little "Dylan goes electric" moment for me. A sadness, but also a reminder that I didn't necessarily understand this movement, and just as likely, that the movement wasn't really for me. The latter point, probably technically true. And at any rate, became true as the proliferation of Southern & trap made me feel old and disconnected, like my father complaining of Grunge that he couldn't hear the lyrics. And all THAT said: my recollection is that at some point, Chris had dissuaded me of listening to Common, so I kind of ignored his music. But his flow and beats feel so of a piece to that moment where I was obsessed with every Roots album, it feels like I've heard most of it before. I don't even dislike the Kanye collaborations. Subtract a star because while I love it in general, it doesn't feel like an instant classic like The Tipping Point or Black on Both Sides.

It's obvs a classic, but I've never liked this record. Dre keeps doing the early rap beats thing with a whiny descending scale — like, 3 or 4 different songs. I respect it as history, but I don't want to listen to it. And as much as I love the conscious era of that Common record, I'm an old dad now and rapping about hoes, blunts and casual assassination is gross. 2 stars plus 1 for Gin and Juice, which Ev and I put into a Flash experience to commemorate the ticking of the clock as we all left home for school.

How is there not yet an emoji for a wet fart? I realize a literal image would be problematic, but something cultural, along of the likes of how the anodyne eggplant is now forever a dong. #itstime Anyways, I need one for this album. I classify it under the hood of English Lout-Lad Rock, a genre that started around the time of the Rolling Stones, but I’m sure lives on today. I reckon that louty lads especially had a day around the mid-aughts: Kasabian, The Streets, and I guess The Coral, though this is the first I’ve heard of them. +1 star for the reasonably cool harmonies, which season these bland shouty songs with a little sea shanty saltiness. Alas, I thought this was a great new discovery, but 🍑💦💨

It's a pure pleasure listen for me — Elliott Smith was my driving soundtrack for the summer-or-two of Persia Tea House visits. I was delighted to hear a contemporary artist that front-lined classic fingerstyle folk pickings. An update of the early Paul Simon sound, with just as much brokenhearted emo, updated for a more complex age. I remember the day I woke up, in Adam's basement, to my clock radio breaking the news that Elliott ended his life, allegedly with a steak knife to the heart. I had just gotten to know his music. I tried to listen to this outside the context of my own history. In that light, I might subtract a star for somewhat transparent emo vocals. A little too whiney, a little too obvious, perhaps. But I'm going to be consistent and vote with my feels — if 50 Cent got a 1, Elliott gets a 5.

I was all set to pan this album, but in good conscience I cannot. If it came out in 1986, I could write it off as bog-standard genre. But released in 1976, it feels kind of prophetic of the wave of hair metal to come. And despite a consistent lack of dynamics — the power chords, the screamy solos, the screamy vocals (outside of Foreplay), this record is fun. The power chords are tight. And despite their obvious conviction that their instruments are extensions of their dongs, they see to be somewhat in on the joke?

I feel like I’m always in the wrong mood for this album. It feels as inaccessible as Ziggy Stardust was accessible, just a year earlier. The title track grates on my nerves. The Stones cover is fine. Jean Genie is familiar, but never much grabbed me. I feel like I’m missing something on this one.

Despite spending my last highschool year as a musical theatre nerd (if I joined MT in grade 10, I would have been a WAY less miserable young man), I'm lukewarm on any musical I didn't grow up with. On the other hand, I have more time of day — at least in theory — for this sort of interstitial early-20th-century-vaudeville fusion that owes a tremendous amount to Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel and probably a German tradition I'm completely unaware of. I'm done with it, but it makes me want to watch WWII documentaries in an abiding desire to better understand a pivotal moment to our present world, and a mighty determiner in my family's history.

A band I say I know much more than I do. I like David Berman because he was a longtime Shmuel favourite. The only song I really know is How Can I Love You If You Don't Lie Down, which I recorded myself for his 40th. This is not that, but it carries Berman's lowlife poet charm on its sleeve. Somewhere between Lou Reed and Stephin Merritt. I want to run through his discography sometime, but it's so awfully sad, even back in 2001; and I hear it doesn't get better in the following 18 years up to his suicide.

Depeche Mode has been on my “to listen” list for a long time, mainly because they’re probably my stepbrother’s favourite band. At first, it’s hard to listen past the synth instruments, which often sound like a $100 Soundblaster in a PC in ~1993. SO much goth emo drama with just 1-2 voices and minimal synths. But then I started thinking about Nine Inch Nails. This is basically a softer version of Pretty Hate Machine, or Downward Spiral. I can totally see leaning into this as a teenager in the 80s if I was looking for a dark alternative to New Wave. Personal Jesus is still great crossover pop — cynical, confident and provocative. Waiting for the Night is a great vampiric ballad; almost a music theatre song. And Enjoy the Silence fucking slaps. +1 just for that song. Policy of Truth is ridiculous and pretty groovy. But yeah, without the vocals, most of the record sounds like the soundtrack to Quake, or some homemade beats shared on a cyberpunk webring in the late 90s.

My only question is whether this is the *best* S&G album. The answer is probably yes. Though I’m pretty familiar with every one of his songs, I’ll happily admit that Paul has been given to fillers; mostly starting around 1980. But there are no fillers here. And there are so many *ideas*. WTF is a chill bossa nova song about Frank Lloyd Wright doing here? It all works. It’s 1970. It’s experimental and light and fun. Some rue this as S&G’s swan song, and that’s true, but it cleared the way forward with Paul’s self-titled, itself a genre-fuck, a style of styles that carried on into the 90s. There’s just nothing not to love here. And as much as I love to give Paul basically solo credit: goddamn, Art’s harmonies. Paul always said that Artie sang the songs the way he heard them in his head. Every time I’ve hashed together a harmony, what I’m really thinking about is Art’s effortless tenor in The Boxer.

I have fond memories of this record, in the epicentre of the indie rock revolution. It felt part of a movement, and I felt a part of it too. Eclectic as it it is, it's consistent with New York's tradition of audacious iconoclasts; it makes me think of Battles, or recently, Geese. Warm though my memories are, I'm not certain that it holds together all that well. Zagging, instead of zigging, wears out its welcome. Listening to it feels like I'm allowing for the strangeness of these songs out of responsibility, because I like strange things because art. But this record runs the risk of trying too hard, I think. Halfway Home is a dramatic bit of post-industrial; I was excited to hear it again. Family Tree is boring as shit and I never liked it. Side B tries a little less hard and fares better for it. Love Dog has a good shouty hook and succeeds as being restrained. Similarly Shouted Out. Most of the following tracks. That part is a more linear, maximalist, New York record. But admittedly also more forgettable. Being weird is fine when it comes together. I'm tempted be cynical and say they definitely hit that on their first record, and chased that ever since. But I guess that's what a New York hipster would have said in the late aughts.

It’s quite possible that I wasn’t in the right mood to open my ears up to a fairly hardcore punk album. But I actively disliked listening to it. Cool to learn about Pat Smear’s origins though.

Perfectly good early afrojazz, though fairly unremarkable. +1 star because I assume that this record was influential, being that it was released before 1960.