It's a wonderful album, but one that I'm overly familiar with. Still, it's been awhile, and it's nice to catch up. Check out the More Blood, More Tracks bootleg for more context and clues to Dylan's original concept. 10/10.
The third album of their classic four album run that began with 1968’s Beggars Banquet and ended with the glorious sprawling mess that was Exile on Main St. I’ve always felt that Sticky Fingers was the weakest of the bunch, but in that company, that’s hardly a criticism. They were, after all, inventing modern Rock music, so we should probably cut ‘em a little slack - and the Stones were all about the slack.
The album’s anchored by Brown Sugar, a song that’s attracted its fair share of disapproval over the years, though it remains a cornerstone of the Stones rep. and still sounds pretty good to these old ears. Other highlights: Bitch is propelled by an immense Keith riff that’s almost too good for the song, Sister Morphine feels like a state of the nation speech set to music, and Dead Flowers - the sort of country shuffle that the band were adept at during this period - is dark and prophetic. Check out Townes' version.
9/10
De La Soul’s debut is a lot of fun. I remember enjoying the singles at the time but never picked the album up. I should’ve done. Their approach was completely unique in 1989 and has weathered well. It’s had a couple of spins today, and the combination of smart wordplay and tunes that stick, still sound fresh as a d.a.i.s.y. – I went there.
8/10
This was a first time listen for me. Of course, I know Depeche Mode and own - or have owned - several albums and singles over the years, but somehow Music For The Masses had passed me by.
My first impressions were all very positive and the album feels very much the precursor to Violator, which I adored when it came out a few years later.
It’s a powerful, muscular sounding record with songs written and produced for big arenas, which Masses propelled them into. The sacrifice made was the complete loss of froth, the poppy edge that had made them household names in the first place - but it feels a like a natural progression, and anyway, they’d never been convincing popstars after Vince Clarke left.
Highlights for me are the bombastic opener Never Let Me Down, the linked I Want You Now and To Have And To Hold and the lush final track, Pimpf, with its choral chants and orchestral ambiance.
9/10
This was a biggie in the day. Surfer Rosa earned the Pixies an instant fanbase and pretty much reinvented - or at least reinvigorated the alt. music scene. Style-wise, the band hit a few different bases, while simultaneously settling on the quiet/loud/quiet thing that became their trademark sound – a sound which didn’t lack imitators.
Steve Albini’s production doesn’t take any prisoners, and the decision to include studio chat gave the album an odd feel of slight novelty, though never enough to detract from the intensity of songs like Bone Machine, Where Is My Mind and Cactus. The latter was even covered by David Bowie. Nice.
Of course, the brilliant Doolittle followed and the band broke through big time.
9/10
The Offspring’s breakthrough album passed me by completely when it was released, and listening now, 30+ years later, it’s easy to understand why. I’d already grown-up listening to classic punk, US hardcore and UK thrash merchants like Discharge, what could a band like The Offspring offer that was in anyway new? The answer, not much.
To be fair, the single Come Out and Play is alright, and a couple of other tracks seem ‘fun’ but really, there’s nothing much here for me. To generic, too polished, too safe and too juvenile.
4/10
I haven’t listened to this for years, though loved it when it came out - falling hook, line and sinker for the over-the-top hype that surrounded its release. Revisiting after all this time, I think I was spot on – it’s a bit of a stunner! Of course, the Beasties were originally a punk band, so it’s no surprise they bring plenty of snotty attitude to their songs, and I genuinely dare anyone not to smile when that opening exclamation and power chord hit at the start of Fight For Your Right. And as for the rest, it’s shouty, childish, full of itself, and very entertaining.
8/10
Odd choice this one. Groove Is In The Heart was a huge record, played a dozen times a day on every pop station, and in every club for months. However, the album? Personally, I don’t know anyone who owned it, and I’m sure there were loads of folks who loved the single without knowing the album even existed. Listening to it now, I’m not sure what it adds to my enjoyment of Deee-Lite. The single is as outstanding as ever – it really should have aged – it hasn’t – but the rest of the album drifts by without any danger of it sinking in or sticking around. It’s okay, but Groove is all you need.
4/10
I’ve spent many hours with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings’ Time (The Revelator) over the years, and whenever I put it on it sounds like time well spent. For the new listener, there’s much to discover, but it takes patience and a few spins to get inside a collection of songs that don’t come with much in the way of production frills, but pack plenty of emotional punch.
Its style is best described as American folk music, and like the best of its genre, it relates on multiple levels, from the personal to the political, and does so in a way that feels both timeless and immediate. Our foremost anxieties and fears, for the most part, remain constant, from love and death to putting food on the table, and these concerns resonate in this beautifully understated collection.
8/10
Hole’s debut album Pretty On The Inside wasn’t great - it was just too relentlessly antagonistic. Courtney Love was pissed off, we got it, but art needs more than that to make an impact. The follow-up, Live Through This, channelled the anger into proper songs with proper hooks and was all the better for it. Love pretty much reinvented the band, retaining only guitarist Eric Erlandson from the previous line-up and upping the production values - and for all its snarly attitude and loud guitars, Live Through This sounds great. Turn it up and it pops out of the speakers, giving those hooks every chance to catch. Highlights include opener Violet (shouty and angry), Miss World (angry and nihilistic) and Doll Parts (nihilistic and fatalistic) – which probably limits its audience, but Love was an important voice at the time, and this album is one of the best ways to reconnect with it.
8/10
Cat Stevens’ second album of 1970 and his second after a three-year break from recording – a break that included a TB scare and a period of soul searching. Considered by most as a pop performer at the start of his career, his return marked a departure into singer-songwriter territory, where he’d stay until he gave up the music biz in ’78.
Tea For the Tillerman is a lovely album, intimate and ageless, with a warm, sympathetic production from Yardbirds’ bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. It’s also an incredibly adult collection, with adult concerns; Where Do The Children Play, Wild World and Father And Son are all prime example of Stevens new found spiritual maturity. In 1970 Stevens was 22 years old. Remarkable.
10/10
Glam rock ruled in early 70’s UK, and this is the album that kicked off the whole shebang. That’s only right and proper as Electric Warrior is a joyous romp from beginning to end, a collection of swaggering, sexy, mystical pop songs, including two of the finest singles of period in Jeepster and Get It On. Both tracks are utterly enthralling, timeless classics, but the joy of Electric Warrior is the strength of the material around them. Life’s A Gas is gloriously slinky with one of the great opening lines - “I could have loved you, girl, like a planet, I could have chained your heart to a star” – yep, I’m in. Cosmic Dancer – recently covered by Nick Cave – is probably my favourite of the lot and is especially affecting because of Marc Bolan’s early demise. Those strings…
10/10
Louis “Sabu” Martinez earnt his spurs as a percussionist in Dizzy Gillespie’s Orchestra in the late 1940s. His 1957 album Palo Congo was his first as bandleader, and it’s a ride, a terrific mix of driving Afro-Cuban drumming, primal chants, Santeria prayer and irresistible grooves - which feel like they directly link back to ancient roots.
To be honest, I’ve no idea how to contextualize Palo Congo. Is it a unique jazz record? Was there a huge wave of wild Latin jazz in the late 50s that I haven’t heard about? I’ve no idea, but what I hear I like, and that’s probably enough.
7/10
A Love Supreme is an act of genius in four parts. John Coltrane’s 1965 masterpiece must surely have a place in any jazz fan’s collection – and is one of the few jazz albums that effortlessly crosses over to mainstream audiences. It’s an extraordinarily accessible collection, but that doesn’t mean it compromises itself in any way.
The album is organised into a four-part suite, which ebbs and flows beautifully over 33 minutes. Not being a musician, let alone a jazz musician, I’m not able to go into any technical detail, but it doesn’t really matter as A Love Supreme is ultimately a purely emotional experience – spiritual and truly uplifting – it’s an album that I’ve returned to regularly over the past 30+ years, it’s power to move has never diminished.
10/10
Morrissey’s debut album was plenty popular upon its release and grabbed plenty of positive reviews from journos broken-hearted at the end of their favourite group.
Me? I never really engaged with Morrissey post-Smiths, a decision that’s stood me in good stead over the years and listening to Viva Hate properly for the first time, it’s striking just how dull a record it is. Suedehead is probably the standout track, insofar it feels alive and vital, rather than the album’s other much lauded single Everyday Is Like Sunday, which indicates strongly that singing songs about being bored, is quintessentially quite boring.
Of the rest, I’m struggling to engage with much at all – I just can’t bring myself to care.
4/10
Fugees’ The Score is an album that passed me by when it was released in 1996, and I’ve never felt the need to seek it out. Rap and Hip Hop are genres that have limited appeal to me, and I can’t say The Score changed my mind. I’m not saying it’s a bad album by any means, but it just doesn’t click with me. Also, all the best tunes on the album aren’t theirs – which really gets on my wick.
2/10
Fiona Apple was 19 when Tidal appeared, but it transmits an unexpected maturity and it’s pretty ballsy. The songs flow purposely and with direction. She sings with a voice that is both honest and a little damaged by experience. She’s got stories she needs to tell, and isn’t afraid of sharing truths.
Musically, her piano does most of the heavy lifting. It’s not flashy of frilly but provides a suitable vehicle for her words. Her songs, though often themed around relationships, aren’t romanticised and don’t shy away from conflict. If that all sounds a bit too earnest, there’s no shortage of lighter moments to soften the edges.
7/10
I’ve bought a few Björk albums over the years, but this is my first time hearing Medúlla and frankly, it’s stunning. It sounds like she retreated to a shamanic monastery with nothing but lungs, mouths and limitless imagination, and fashioned a record that’s uniquely Björk-like, and of course, utterly unlike anything else.
The voices swoop and dive, sometimes chiming true like bells, sometimes breathy and halting - sometimes fevered and full of spiritual elation and at other times bursting with existential dread. Without instruments, the emotional impact is multiplied – this is the noise humans make, and it’s beautiful. Full of terror, anxiety, love and joy, and it really is beautiful.
9/10
Leftfield’s debut is almost a compilation, considering the number of tracks featured that had been previously released as singles. Still, plenty of combos have released multiple singles from albums, so no crime doing it the other way round. So, Leftism. It’s a bit of a monster - confident and completely lacking in manners. There’s no knocking first, it kicks the door off the hinges, takes a massive shit in the shower and then raids the fridge.
Leftfield makes electronic music like it’s looking for a punch-up. This record just sounds big and nasty, and excretes bad attitude. The beats are insistent and unapologetic as dub collides with paranoia and rancorous thoughts. Vocalists – including John Lydon and Toni Halliday – bear witness or rant and rave like chippie arrestees on the way to the van. It’s probably illegal somewhere.
8/10
My second Dylan so far – I’m sure there’ll be more before this thing is over – the classic Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. It’s tricky this one for me. I know it’s a wonderful, important album, and most of the songs live somewhere in my head, with enough presence that I can singalong if the opportunity presents. However, and here’s the rub, this isn’t my favourite period of his career; his early ‘60s LPs are rarely my go-to records.
So, knowing this, I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed listening. There are a lot of tracks I’m very familiar with, but it’s the obscurer songs that hold the album together, add context, and generally provide the depth that makes Freewheelin’ a genuine artistic statement rather than an early hits collection.
This is Bob with sparks flying, full of questions, and offering up some answers. He’s still hungry, still proving himself, and simultaneously moving away from his contemporaries. “Blowin’ In The Wind” is the perfect start – cool and erudite – and making all the right noises. Whereas “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” is a surreal biblical journey into stranger lands. It’s here, over these dozen tracks, he begins to transcend his genre, and he’s literally freewheelin’ into the future.
10/10
Black Sabbath invented Metal and are/were the genre’s greatest artistic force. Personally, I don’t think Vol. 4 is their best album, but it’s one of their best – the fourth of their classic six album run that bludgeoned the genre into existence. Dropping the needle on Vol. 4 is to step into the world of a band who were taking control of their own destiny, co-producing for the first time and letting in a little light and shade.
That’s not to say Vol. 4 isn’t damnably heavy, it is. “Wheels Of Confusion” is a lively opener, though a trifle murky in its presentation, which sets the aural tone. “Supernaut” features Tony Iommi in classic slash n burn form and “Snowblind” is all about the band’s drug of choice - the ebb and flow mirroring the drug’s effect – with some great soloing from Iommi again. And then there’s “FX” which is just that, a couple minutes of guitar effects. “Changes” is a weepy ballad of all things, and “Laguna Sunrise”, an instrumental piece that’d fit seamlessly on one of those chill-out compilation albums with a dove on the cover.
So, taken as a whole, it’s a strange, fucked up, messy record, but still quite brilliant in its own weird way. Ozzy and the band are on fine form throughout, and obviously in the mood to go exploring. It was probably the cocaine.
9/10
1970’s Beach Boys LPs are pretty much the definition of hit and miss. In truth Surf’s Up’s no different, until, that is, we come to the final three Brian Wilson penned tracks: “A Day In The Life Of A Tree” – a strangely moving lament seen from the perspective of a tree in crisis, dying slowly from the pollution in the air and soil - quite brilliant. “Til I Die” a lovely, melancholy study on existential irrelevance and man’s meaningless journey to the grave, and the title track, originally conceived during the Smile sessions, is a lyrically obstruse sheard of luscious, harmonious psychedelic pop, simultaneously both tenuous and beautifully considered. It’s peak Brian Wilson, post Pet Sounds.
As for the rest, “Student Demonstration Time” is Mike Love being Mike Love, Bruce Johnston’s “Disney Girls (1957)” is both humorous and touching, and a highlight. Opener “Don't Go Near The Water” is desperately worthy and “Take A Load Off Your Feet” is Al Jardine’s tribute to his plates. Smashing.
7/10
I don’t know enough about hip-hop to put Ghostface Killah or Fishscale into any kind of context, but I know it’s rated as one of his best. I enjoyed the album. It’s intense and gritty and he’s a clever storyteller with genuine depth. He also has a notable talent for the less obvious lyric. I really liked the more soul influenced tracks, especially “Back Like That”. Alongside the cinematic “Shakey Dog” - probably my favourites.
7/10
Eric Clapton probably isn’t anyone’s favourite human being, but as a guitarist, he’s rightly considered one of the greats. 461 Ocean Boulevard is chock full of great grooves rather than showy soloing and is all the better for it. It makes the album far more approachable and likeable. It also includes some of his best tunes. Opener “Motherless Child” has always been a favourite and starts the set at a gallop. Things soon slow down and the singles, Johnnie Otis’ “Willie And The Hand Jive” and Bob Marley’s “I Shot The Sheriff” are both great versions, and different enough to the originals.
461 Ocean Boulevard’s mix of influences – blues, reggae and mellow California rock – sit well together, and Clapton’s playing, though confident, is never overbearing. The support players serve him well and the production is clean and warm. It’s easy to like.
8/10
One of the great Isley Brothers albums, which were coming thick and fast in the early ‘70s. 3 + 3 is a perfect fusion of rock and soul - with plentiful classic songs featuring on its track list. The big singles “That Lady” and “Summer Breeze” display the band’s abilities and range, though both are underpinned by the outstanding guitar of Ernie Isley on his first recordings with his brothers. In turns, both funky and smooth, 3 + 3 is a wonderful collection of different moods and grooves, but when it comes to sheer quality, it’s thoroughly consistent.
9/10
One of my little musical theories is the better looking an artist is, the duller their music will be. Generally, it’s a sound concept, but Sade is a definite exception. I saw her once, around about the time of Diamond Life, shopping in a London market, and she was utterly captivating, like she’d been beamed down from another planet to cheer us all up. As for the album, Diamond Life feels like a midnight tour through the capital’s classier joints, cool, confident and pleasingly smooth. Pop, jazz and soul fuse effortlessly; emotionally punchy but never oversold. It’s remarkable how well it holds up.
9/10
Tragic Songs Of Life is the real old-time country deal. The brothers sing perfect sibling harmonies, singing about the big, bad stuff; heartbreak, sinning, shame and disappointment, the sweetness of their vocals accentuating the emotional wrench. Honest down to its boots.
9/10
Hugh Masekela’s Home Is Where The Music Is pulls off a very neat trick – it’s warm and welcoming, loose, and very groovy, without ever sounding smooth or easy or disposable or, heaven forbid, throwaway. It works anytime of the day you want to play it, and its mischievous melodies and soulful interludes are guaranteed to connect. Home Is Where The Music Is sounds just like the title suggests: hanging out at Hugh’s house, with friends, just playing and enjoying the jams.
8/10
