One of the big sounds of the 80's. For those who grew up in or follow the pop culture of Anglophone countries, this album contains some of the most recognisable songs of the era. The problem is that it sounds not only dated (thinly EQ'd drums), but there's a few filler tunes towards the 2nd half of the album.
This was one of many sounds that was created for those that don't have any strong feelings about music. It's instantly accessible and save for a few songs, rather forgettable.
Blues hasn't grabbed me like some other genres but I can really appreciate the musicianship on display in this album. It could probably be better appreciated with a trip to the town(s) were the music was concocted, to truly soak up and imbibe the vibe.
Throughout the album, the grooves are swampy, muddy even, and every song is filled with superb displays of playing, from each melody instrument - lead guitar, rhythm and harmonica. From playing the main riffs as a unit to the individual trills at the end of a bar, this comes across as a prime example of blues, if not the finest in existence. But I'm not the best person to judge that last point.
The opening song has a familiar blues hook that has had countless copycats over the ages and thanks to the musicians and the sound engineering, this album sounds timeless. If this was released today, in my opinion it would still be a big hit.
The songs that caught my attention the most on this listen were:
Jealous Hearted Man - fantastic groove - as can be said about the whole album, but this one has a
Can't be satisfied - guitar work through your is intricate and superbly well played.
I could return to this again one day, who knows.
Best for 📻👨🏻🍳🍸🥃🍻
This was the launchpad for me. I liked music before and LOVED music after this. It's not friendly - it's a wake up call. Get the fuck up!
If this is a new listen for you, expect a wall of sound - sample overlays, atonal rhythms, rock riffs layered over killer 4/4 drum breaks and imperious rapping from Chuck D, buoyed up by Flavor Flav's jester-like ad-libs.
And this album has superb depth - the message of each song is jacked up with political urgency that demands social justice, black freedom and that the listener learns and knows the African-American man's daily experience in the US of the late twentieth century. All through the slang and street-speak of the time. There is no bling, no drugs or sex. None of the Lamborghinis and capitalist consumerism that oozes out of most modern hip-hop. In this album, there is only the most efficient of messages: black liberation.
36 years later - almost every element of this album has been copied, homaged, borrowed from and paid respect to by musicians, artists and broadcasters across the world and the ages. It is a stunning statement that still shakes the pantheon of all music.
There's a sound to this album, where the guitar draws on an American blues/ bluegrass, woven into the rock n roll sound that probably sounded new, exciting and exotic in the UK, as all American-influenced culture did in the 60s. The sound of the Stones was also led by Mick Jagger's hedonistic howling that stood in marked contrast to the crooning that was expect of the popular music stars of the day.
But now, 60 years later, the majority of the album sounds somehow less remarkable, possibly because these sounds have proliferated since, having been refined and repurposed by other artists inspired by the Stones.
And in the light of the 21st Century, the misogyny of many of the lyrics leaves a poor taste. Indeed, song no. 2 is titled Stupid Girl. Yes ,the 90s band Garbage have a song with the same title but those lyrics are about a woman reflecting on her own silly moves, but when a bloke sings disparagingly about the choices of a young woman, it sours, and feels like something between slut shaming and verbal abuse.
'Under my Thumb' and 'It ain't Easy' still sound excellent, but much of the rest of the album doesn't sound as well conceived, more a loose experiment with the sound that they may have come up with for each of the songs here recorded.
This album is the birth of the sound that made the super-prolific Muggs the most sought after producer in hip-hop in the 1990's, Dr Dre aside.
Bass-driven beats built from dusty soul samples, Latin drum breaks, rock guitar licks and scratches on the chorus. All sat in 90-96 BPM, the preferred time for most 1990s rap music. Other notable Muggs productions around this era are House of Pain's self titled debut album, including Jump Around, Funkdoobiest's Which Doobie UB? containing Bow-Wow-Wow (one of the best rap singles of all time) and key contributions to Ice Cube's The Predator, an albumWhat came next was Cypress Hill's Black Sunday,
The vocals by B-Real and Senen/ SenDog, plus guests Mellow Man Ace (Sen's brother) were new, fresh and exciting in '91. They were the perfect match for the music Muggs was churning out at the time.
At the risk of sounding like Alan Partridge, this is classic Elton John - all expert piano showmanship, building ballades and rousing vocals. What really comes across is Bernie Taupin's storytelling, rich in emotion and imagery, and how strings are constantly trying to swell the heart.
The first few tracks are in the Tiny Dancer style (balladic lyrics, tinkling piano, rousing chorus) and and after a couple, it feels easy to skip onto the next song, but the title track is just excellent - a splendid sonic journey, starting off with a simple acoustic guitar motif, joined by Elton's vocals, then his piano, and the remaining live band. The string section wends its way in to bring drama and emotion, only for the whole thing to be stopped back down.
It's not clear if this was conceived of as an album, or it's just a collection of songs that Reg & Bernie came up with at the time, because most of these songs seem to take the listener (and the performers) to through the same emotive journey, time after time. If you got as emotionally with each song, as the music bids you to, you'd probably need the next day or two off to recover.
Clothes horse with no pedigree or training thinks he's a rock god.
I found this hard not to skip every song after 15 seconds. How did Lenny Kravitz's attempts at music get him as far as it has?
The music is funk rock, and it's a decent, accessible version of it. There's not much reverb on any of the vocals or instruments but there's a good amount of fuzz and other effects. The players are quite tight as a band and they rock well.
Then there's Kravitz. His voice is at odds with almost every song. The band has barely got going into a song before he's squealing and yeah-yeahing and falling out of key. He undoes the good work of the band at every juncture.
He sings and yowls like someone who thinks this is what rock vocalists do, but has no idea of his own final product. Almost as if a rich kid paid a band to play something so that he could live his dreams out. Then he recorded all their stuff and released it in his own name. Good. If I was a musician, I wouldn't want much association with this work.
Someone at his label signed him based on his looks and marketing potential, rather than his music talent (zero!).
2/5 coz the band did what they could, but Lenny's hubristic vocal posturing has dated as well as Hale & Pace.
How on Earth is this an album we must listen to before we die?
Okay - 1st album to change my mind. I was never really moved by music like this when it came out. It was like the sounds of IKEA, as far as I was concerned. But I wasn't listening to the music. I was subconsciously having a go at the smug, slack trousered, hipsterish, moustachioed middle-classers I knew that liked it.
Listening on my own terms, some 20 something years later. Acoustic guitar-led songs with sardonic or ironic lyrics sung in baritone is soooo 1990s/early 2000s but it's pretty well done here.
It's definitely dinner party friendly. Could also warrant a close listening session, too.
A blistering start with Blackened - which sets out the album's mission - to drive the listener through a new extravagantly crafted dimension of metal; of shifting time signatures, intricate guitar solos and acoustic motifs that make way for heaving riffs and James Hatfield's stacatto roaring and vowel bending.
Brilliant!
On a side note, it's hard to fully enjoy Metallica, knowing that James Hetfield enjoys murdering animals in the wild and is happy to have the band's music be the soundtrack to US Forces videos of prison torture at the hands of US troops on foreign soil. Kirk Hammett on the other hand seems to give a shit.
Elliott Smith was such a capable and engaging musician/songwriter that this accessible album wasn't even his best. It was a more polished version of the sound and style established on his 1998 album.
'Everything means nothing to me' is a stand out track because of the nihilism of the lyrics, coupled with the journey of the music. But that said, most of this album is really listenable and great for being on the move, whether that's driving, cooking or decorating.
If you're a fan of Neil Finn/ Crowded House and The Beatles, you'll find a lot to like about Elliott Smith
Stunning - a true adventure that deserves a close listening session
A really hedonistic mix of fuzzy guitars, wah-wah effects and vocals that swing from laconic, woozy chanting to wild howls.
The album sounds like they are letting it all out, opening with 2 bombastic tunes including the infamous 'I wanna be your dog's, followed by a sudden change to a slower, almost meditative chant in the 3rd. But they kick the doors down again with the 4th & 5th, chill again in the 6th, etc etc.
It's brilliant and I can hear why David Bowie fell in love with them. They sound like the real, hedonistic deal.
