1001 Albums Summary

This is my first album that was from the generator. I probably should have stuck with my original plan of going through by year. Music is often a product of its time. When an album becomes influential, the original can sound tired and derivative even though it was the first fumbling attempt at a style. Tastes change. It is harder to see influences if you don't have the history or the musical vocabulary in which to judge it. I was concerned about all of this because I was not a huge fan of these folks at the time the album came out. How would it hold up? This is the first time I listened to it all the way through. So, let me explain... I was in my early twenties when I first heard this album. I was already steeped in early punk and glam rock. This seemed like a rehash of 80s but with a more suburban bent. Anger was replaced with boredom and disaffection. The goofier moments of The Ramones and the energy of pop came through. The music was everywhere. It wasn't intended for me -- I was from a rural area and living in a city. This seemed like a step backwards in terms of music that I was listening to. It was the year of NIN's Downward Spiral which already less angry than Broken. At the alt nights or later closing clubs in the city across the water (Gatineau), some of these songs would play and the floor would crowd. Boredom you can dance to. MuchMusic had them on fairly heavy rotation. Taken out of context and their impact on music at the time, some of these songs still have an energy that shines through. It is hard to talk about the band's impact and how it influenced many other sound-a-likes that followed. Their longevity is not all nostalgia. This album captures a feeling and time quite well. Yes, there is some datedness. Some specific notes: "Welcome to Paradise" reminds me of the Bangles "We Got the Beat" "In the End" is probably my favourite off this album. Something about it sounds rude and sarcastic while being melodious. "All by Myself" was the track I relistened to right away. Sonny and Cher vibes crossed with Muppets. Recently listened to some 50s rock and you can hear echoes of that. The hits tend to still be listenable and nostalgic in a particular way. For rating; for influence and impact, it would rate a 2.5. I am using the rating loosely as 1 - won't listen to 5 - put on heavy rotation or favourites list. So, this would rate a 3 overall. If it is at a party, might move away from the speakers but not leave the room. Would probably bop my head and dance or tap my feet to a few of the numbers but wouldn't loose track of the conversation or put my beer down.

It is the late 80s. I'm seventeen. Living in rural Canada. I have heard some rap in passed around cassettes and the occasional track on Good Rockin' Tonight or Coast to Coast on CBC. No black person around that hasn't been seen on tv or VHS movie. There is no hip hop culture here; just artifacts and flotsam and jetsam that get tossed onto the beach of a fairly homogenous culture that is different from the mainstream that is portrayed in the media at the time. We are in a protected bubble. Roseanne or any working class comedy hadn't even made it to our consciousness. Only a few channels with no real American exposure in terms of news. Something big was coming. Tv shows were changing and rage seems to be on the menu. AIDS has already told us to stop having sex. Ronnie and Maggie made austerity a thing. The War on Drugs had a new target that felt a little stilted by the D.A.R.E. program. The hype war was starting to fail. Then comes Gangsta Rap. Fuck the Police was the song we all heard about but for a while had a hard time finding. A friend got a cassette and we listened to it. Already, we were wary of the police. Not ACAB but not friends. In a small town, we knew the kids and the families of the police. Still, this song seemed to get at some truth. Something that seemed more real than being told that we were the problem and that maybe it was the leaders and the people under their control. Heady stuff for a teenager to realize that maybe we are being lied to. This seemed like someone's real life and not the sanitized versions of tv life. I still have a hard time with gangsta rap as it became the dominant genre in hip hop that I could hear without having to look too hard. It is really hard to argue with how good this album is. It is definitely a groundbreaking album, in spite of not being the first. The furor around Fuck tha Police drove this record into relevance and the folks all went on to have impactful careers. Yeah, homophobia, sexism and whatever else is part of everyday life is here. Just reality out here. And maybe some attempts at comedy. Some of the casual misogyny is more neighbourhood sniping at the girls and reflects as posturing by the guys. Other times, it seems like a warning against drug use, materialism, and just fucking around. Some standouts. 'Express Yourself' 'Fuck Tha Police' of course 'I Ain't tha 1' ...and what is that last track? Something 2 Dance 2. On another album, this would be unremarkable. On this, it just reminds me of the roots and stuff for hip hop and rap. Straight up a 4. I haven't listened to this for more than 30 years. I won't be waiting for another 30 to give it a listen again. Hell, it may have given me a chance to revisit the genre.

The Rolling Stones, when I was growing up, was the music for older brothers and cool parents. It wasn't until early 90s when I really listened to anything they did. Of course, I heard a single hear and there - Paint It Black was the theme to Tour of Duty and that was cool. Sympathy for the Devil and Mother's Little Helper played occasionally while we were swapping seats for a C64 game at a friend's house. But I hadn't listened to them really. It was somewhere around 93 when I was living with a bunch of guys and had discovered Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville and wanted to see how the whole thing was a response. One of my roommates had quite a few of the remastered CDs of the Stones. He took me on a tour of the early stuff; stuff that had departed from what they were doing at the time. It reminded me of 50s rock, honky tonk and older country (or roots) music that I had been weaned on. There was a healthy dose of blues there and songs that I had heard covered many times. I listened to Exile all the way through. Maybe it was once, possibly twice. Nothing struck me as something I needed to revisit. This album is now considered one of their best but even then with the remasters, it sounds muddy. The mix reminds of a live performance where you strain to hear the lyrics as the mix favours the instruments. I wonder how many rock albums are a result of the drugs and how it affects the listening? I hear Dwight Yoakam and so many other bands that copied the copier. This is a good rock album. I found a few that I would like to listen to again. Torn and Frayed - you can hear some of the same inspiration in bands like the Band and CCR, country inflected rock. I just want to see his face - This is gospel rock. All in all, this was one phase in the Stones career. My friend who I lived with would say it was probably their best phase. While the Stones had played it out for themselves, music still returns to this part. You have to respect that this is one of the records that keeps being pulled out to create the next wave of rock. I would give this a 4 - Relistenable. A record that when I am feeling blue about the direction of rock music, I can put it on and know that someday another band will rediscover it.

Listening to this on my computer through headphones and it is definitely the wrong choice. I know very little of Fleetwood Mac beyond Rumours and that is probably a shame. One almost perfect album shouldn't be a way to decide about a band and a legacy. This is the album after. Another double album in a row. Just finished Exile on Main Street where it is the last gasp of rock for a band who is done and then this double of a band falling apart and trying to distance themselves. Heroin for the Stones and cocaine for Fleetwood Mac. I don't have any context for this album other than against Rumours. So, here we go. Mostly thoughts as I listen. I have heard The Hedge before. Something about it reminds me of Mumford and Son. There is a brightness and trebly quality to the sound here. Definitely some production tricks with the whispers. So far not as experimental as I have been lead to believe. Might also be due to so much music that I have heard over the years. Way brighter than Exile that I just finished yesterday. This is like too much light off the water on a summer's day rather than the muffle under water. I really wished I wasn't using Spotify for this. I wish I had Tidal on my work computer. I may end up using my phone for the remainder of the time that I listen away from my home. I just found out that Camper Van Beethoven did a whole cover album of this. I will be listening to that as I really dig David Lowery. I can imagine that it will be more experimental than what I have heard so far. Sometimes these songs sound like they belong to another album. They share some similar DNA of sounds but from somewhere else. This is Storms that makes me wonder about this. I like this song. Very much jingly jangly. That's all for everyone seems like a half a song. Maybe something that Andy Patridge was working on for XTC. Something that didn't make the Beatles influenced Skylarking. Sometimes this feels like the Travelling Wilburys with more treble. This feels like a coke bender between frantic come ups and mellow comedowns, never spending enough time to fully follow an idea to an end. Either getting bored or sliding into a more mellow tune. Sisters of the Moon. Solo at the end was not as wanky as I expected. Self indulgent but only going so far. Angel feels Proud Mary like to me. That's Enough for Me reminds me that I should re-listen to T-Rex. Something Bolanesque about this one. Brown Eyes the first song that feels really experimental to me probably due to the weirdos I listen to. This song seems to be perpetually ending on the next beat; like falling forward walking upstairs. Never Make Me Cry feels like a full song. Probably the first fully formed one. I'm starting to think it isn't that bad of thing to be like this. This becomes apparent on Honey Hi which sounds like a Rumours reject. It also sounds like a rock/pop version of minimal techno with repeating phrases over simple melodies and beats. Maybe just a pop version of experimental techno? I hate the piano in Beautiful Child. I can't say why. The first song I want to skip but I hold out. Tusk - Another one that feels like an experiment. T-Rex, Tom Waits or a demo. All feel at home here. This is a wandering, meandering time of someone lost and trying to find a way. Some great production and some bad decisions. I would lean to a 3.75 for the shining moments. --- I have read a number of the reviews and while it looks as if I have been leaning towards some themes. I like to listen to records as if they are intended to be heard together and have some sort of cohesion. It doesn't have to be sonically. It could be thematic. This just seems to be a whiplash mood and wanting to do something different. I don't find it as trashy, disconnected or experimental as others. There are some cool production tricks and a definite impact of substances on the recording. I will give it a 4. I will probably dip in sometime in the future when I listen to some alt country, 80/90s prog rock or some more organic techno. --- I finished listening to the Camper Van Beethoven cover. It is a great companion piece to this. I will definitely be listening to that again.