29th December - Christopher Williams' Changes

Artist – Album: Christopher Williams - Changes

Released: 29^th December 1992

Sounds Like: Scraping the Barrel

What can I tell you about Christopher Williams? Um... not a lot. Honestly, I haven't got a clue who the guy is. Changes (or at least the bits I managed to find on Youtube, the record not being good enough to be in the gargantuan Spotify library) seems to be a completely inoffensive, if uninspiring, R&B album. The first song I listened to I quite liked until I realised it was actually just the soundtrack to an advert and the real song hadn't started yet. I really wouldn't think that it's worth your time unless you're massively into your slow and sensual neo-soul, and even then I'd recommend that you take a few cold showers and put something a bit more substantial on like Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye. 

Wikipedia - which we must never doubt - can fill in some of the other gaps in our knowledge about the man himself...The nephew of legendary jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, he most certainly has not been living off that claim to fame his whole life. No. He has starred in films such as 1991's New Jack City, and the 1990 police drama New York Undercover, in which he gave a memorable performance as "the singer". Some people thought he had died of an unknown illness in 2005 but it turned out that was just an internet hoax. So, that's not really anything... And he categorically did not beat up Halle Berry when he dated her in the late Eighties/ early Nineties, despite what you think, and he reckons it was probably Wesley Snipes that did it. Which seems like something you wouldn't want to say about someone who is liable to beat you up.

What a hero. Definitely someone worth my blogging about and you reading about. Cheers guys. 

Albumaday... rating: 5/10

1.       All I See – 4:18

2.       Don’t U Wanna Make Love – 6:53

3.       Good Lovin’ – 4:48

4.       Come Go with Me – 4:59

5.       When a Fool Becomes a Man – 5:26

6.       Changes – 5:10

7.       Where Is the Love – 3:55

8.       Let’s Get Right – 5:14

9.       Where Are U Now – 6:28

10.   Every Little Thing U Do – 4:44

11.   Please, Please, Please – 4:19

12.   Dreamin – 4:40 

Listen to ‘Changes’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJJtumgudE

21st December - Jodeci's Diary of a Mad Band

Artist – Album: Jodeci – Diary of a Mad Band

Released: 21^st December 1993

Sounds Like: Diary of a mad man

Why did I choose Jodeci? It was a straight shoot out between this and a half-decent DMX album called …And Then There Was X. Honestly, I kind of assumed that Jodeci’s Diary of a Mad Band was a metal album and so I chose it to give us some respite from the countless R&B records we’ve been through recently. How wrong I was.

Jodeci are not a metal band. They do not rock in the slightest. They are, instead, early 90’s exponents of boring R&B and New Jack Swing (fun fact: those irritating manchilds JLS are named after the movement Jack the Lad Swing, a direct descent of NJS) who sound like a Boyz II Men tribute act. Never bad, it somehow tightrope walks that thin line of total indifference, which in it’s own way is much, much worse. Previous bad albums such as those infernal Dixie Chicks were terrible, but at least they left a mark – Diary of a Mad Band skips across my conscience like a skimmed stone. I’ve half a mind to give it a worse score than the lowest ratings I’ve yet meted out but I actually don’t want to honour it with that anti-accolade.

The album may have a pretty damn impressive claim to fame – it features the first ever album appearances from each of Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Ginuwine – but even those illustrious acts cannot save it from beige mediocrity.

Albumaday... rating: 5/10

1.       My Heart Belongs to U – 5:02

2.       Cry for You – 5:01

3.       Feenin’ – 5:10

4.       What About Us – 5:20

5.       Ride & Slide – 4:57

6.       Alone – 4:44

7.       You Got It – 5:56

8.       Won’t Waste You – 4:55

9.       In the Meanwhile – 4:22

10.   Gimme All You Got – 3:42

11.   Sweaty – 5:54

12.   Jodecial Hotline – 3:11

13.   Success – 4:41

Listen to ‘My Heart Belongs to U’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh5h2hYMjbo

Also released on the 21^st December:

1999: DMX - ...And Then There Was X

20th December - Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough

Artist – Album: Mary J. Blige – The Breakthrough

Released: 20^th December 2005

Sounds Like: No more drama in my life          

Hats off to Mary J. Blige. I do try to listen to each album with open ears (is that the correct phrase??) but, having grown up during a period of tepid R&B dominance, I had particularly low expectations for this one. Worse still, I remembered the chokingly poor team up with U2 for the cover of ‘One’, a version that was more bilge than Blige. Suffice to say, I was bracing myself for two thumbs down for this effort.

But, I’m pleased to say, I was dead wrong. On album highlight ‘MJB da MVP’ (one of many collaborations, this time with 50 Cent), Blige proclaims herself the “Soul hip hop queen” and she means it. Few can match her for her stunning vocals, and whilst Mariah got lost in some loopy dreamworld and Whitney battled with addiction and bad men, Mary had the smarts to keep it real. Her influence on the best R&B/soul artists such as Aaliyah and Alicia Keys is plain to see, but she was also able to keep up with the times – ‘Be Without You’ and ‘MJB da MVP’ are excellent singles.

Blige was 34 by the time of the Breakthrough, and so it’s understandable that matters in her life have settled somewhat. Despite her ‘Baggage’, she’s now happy and married and that old attitude has simmered down a bit. Regardless, great production, top notch vocals, and simply the most consistent set of songs Blige has worked with in a long time make for a thoroughly enjoyable record. As long as you ignore the U2 track.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       No One Will Do – 4:46

2.       Enough Cryin – 4:20

3.       About You – 4:04

4.       Be Without You – 4:06

5.       Gonna Breakthrough – 4:00

6.       Good Woman Down – 4:07

7.       Take Me as I Am – 3:57

8.       Baggage – 3:35

9.       Can’t Hide from Luv – 3:52

10.   MJB da MVP – 3:21

11.   Can’t Get Enough – 3:40

12.   Ain’t Really Love – 4:40

13.   I Found My Everything – 5:23

14.   Father in You – 5:23

15.   Alone – 4:29

16.   One – 4:20

 
Listen to ‘Baggage’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmrnnr_1Ipk

30th November - Michael Jackson's Thriller

Artist – Album: Michael Jackson - Thriller

Released: 30^th November 1982

Sounds Like: 65 million Thriller fans can’t be wrong

 
What can I tell you about Michael Jackson’s Thriller that you don’t already know? Chances are: nothing. The best selling album of all time, it has worldwide sales estimated at between 51 and 65 million. In the UK, it has sold 4.3 million copies, which means that one in every 6 households owns the album. In the US, it’s even more impressive: 29 million copies sold, one in every 4 homes proudly displaying Michael Jackson’s sculptured façade. Seven of its nine tracks were top ten hit singles, with only the gentle ballad ‘The Lady in My Life’ and the fantastic, funky ‘Baby Be Mine’ saved as album tracks. I’ve read some reviews that described it as hits-plus-filler but if 78% of the songs were singles that’s hardly going to be a sticking point. Thriller was a phenomenon, a trailblazer, a once-in-a-lifetime album.
 
It’s also very good, although that can sometimes get lost amidst the numbers. Almost all the tracks are classic MJ: smooth, polished blends of soul, motown and rock. There’s something for everyone, from the monster hits of ‘Thriller’, ‘Beat It’ and the untouchable ‘Billie Jean’, to the lesser-known-though-no-less-awesome ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’, ‘Human Nature’ and ‘P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)’. The one anomaly is the god-awful duet with Paul McCartney ‘The Girl is Mine’, a schmaltzy jingle describing a “doggone girl” who is inexplicably attracted to both Wacko and Macca. If you manage to make it through the first 3 and a half minutes of torture you are rewarded with spoken dialogue between the two leading men, bad enough to make suicide seem the only sane way out.
 
Still, otherwise it is very good record. But then you probably already knew that.
 
Albumaday... rating: 9/10
 

1.       Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – 6:03

2.       Baby Be Mine – 4:20

3.       The Girl is Mine – 3:42

4.       Thriller – 5:57

5.       Beat It – 4:18

6.       Billie Jean – 4:54

7.       Human Nature – 4:06

8.       P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) – 3:59

9.       The Lady in My Life – 5:00

 
Listen to ‘Baby Be Mine’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG9OzYVSg3c

Also released on the 30^th November:

1970: George Harrison – All Things Must Pass

Also released on the 30^th November:

1979: Pink Floyd – The Wall

23rd September - Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Artist – Album: Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Released:  23^rd September 2003

Sounds Like: Blog #266 – “If you’re having blog problems I feel bad for you son; I’ve got 99 blogs to go and then I’m done.”

I’ve gone a little bit creative on today’s post. Below I’ve prepared a Venn Diagram to show the common factors that lead to a band releasing the dreaded double album:

Sitting right slap bang in that darker blue middle bit is Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, their follow up to the near-perfect Stankonia. At times on the record, André 3000 and Big Boi appear to be prospectors who have struck upon a powerful rich seam of creativity, from which they have ecstatically drilled and tapped; the lucky buggers blissfully oblivious to the drenching their clothes and hair are receiving from the excess quality-spray. Elsewhere though their heads appear to have swollen to planetary proportions, and they just had to release a similarly bloated record to show that to all their hip hop contemporaries they are considerably better than yow.

Of the 40 (40!) tracks on display here, 10 say could be cut-and-pasted into a contender for one of the all time greatest albums (for my money: ‘Ghetto Musick’, ‘Unhappy’, ‘Bowtie’, ‘The Way You Move’, ‘The Rooster’, ‘Flip Flop Rock’, ‘Spread’ ‘Prototype’, ‘Hey Ya!’ and ‘Roses’). Unfortunately, any album that lasts two and half hours long reeks of self-indulgence, and there are times in The Love Below set (let’s settle any arguments once and for all, this is by far the worst of the two) when it seems like André 3000 is just making it up as he goes along, safe in the knowledge that the listener will not have made it beyond the exceptional hits.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

Speakerboxxx

1.       Intro – 1:29

2.       Ghetto Musick – 3:56

3.       Unhappy – 3:19

4.       Bowtie – 3:56

5.       The Way You Move – 3:54

6.       The Rooster – 3:57

7.       Bust – 3:08

8.       War – 2:43

9.       Church – 3:27

10.   Bamboo – 2:09

11.   Tomb of the Boom – 4:46

12.   E-Mac – 0:24

13.   Knowing – 3:32

14.   Flip Flop Rock – 4:35

15.   Interlude – 1:15

16.   Reset – 4:35

17.   D-Boi – 0:40

18.   Last Call – 3:57

19.   Bowtie – 0:34

The Love Below

1.       The Love Below – 1:27

2.       Love Hater – 2:49

3.       God – 2:20

4.       Happy Valentine’s Day – 2:53

5.       Spread – 3:51

6.       Where Are My Panties? – 1:54

7.       Prototype – 5:26

8.       She Lives in My Lap – 4:27

9.       Hey Ya! – 3:55

10.   Roses – 6:09

11.   Good Day, Good Sir – 1:24

12.   Behold a Lady – 4:37

13.   Pink & Blue – 5:04

14.   Love in War – 3:25

15.   She’s Alive – 4:06

16.   Dracula’s Wedding – 2:32

17.   My Favorite Things – 5:14

18.   Take Off Your Cool – 2:38

19.   Vibrate – 6:38

20.   A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete) – 5:11

Listen to ‘Bowtie’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvF03ISh3W8

Also released on 23^rd September:

1991: Pixies – Trompe le Monde

Also released on 23^rd September:

2003: Rufus Wainwright – Want One

Also released on 23^rd September:

2008: Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue

15th September - Otis Redding's Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul

Artist – Album: Otis Redding – Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul

Released:  15^th September 1965

Sounds Like: A Best Of the 60’s compilation

I finally have internet again! Yep, it’s only taken me and my slothlike housemate a month since moving to our new flat to set up our broadband. Absence makes the heart grow fonder I guess, and I’ve been attacking the web with a vengeance all day, whiling away the hours with Youtube, Facebook, BBC Sport and things that I shouldn’t (NO, not that! More pirate-y things...). I’ve spent an awful lot of my time on http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/ , a website created by a Swedish statistician who has gathered as many critics best of list as he could get his hands on to and compiled them into a cumulative list of the definitive best songs and albums of all time. It’s all linked together, so you can search by year, artist or even genre. For example, if you were a big fan of The White Stripes (you might be!), you can see that all but their debut album is in the best 3000 albums, and they also have six songs amongst the 3000 most acclaimed of all time (for the record: ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ (#2171), ‘Hotel Yorba’ (#2658), ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’ (#268), ‘Seven Nation Army’ (#70), ‘My Doorbell’ (#1659) and ‘Icky Thump’ (#2346)).

Which brings us on to today’s album. Otis Blue (#60 most acclaimed album of all time) is a soul classic made up of some of the best of 60’s music. In fact, of its ten tracks, only ‘Ole Man Trouble’ and ‘Down in the Valley’ don’t have some version included in the top 3000 songs, and the likes of ‘Respect’, ‘Change Gonna Come’, ‘My Girl’ and ‘Satisfaction’ are real heavy hitters. Of course, such wonderful material wouldn’t mean a jot in the hands of any old soul singer, but Otis Redding, backed by his crack ensemble band featuring the likes of Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes, treats it like the superlative performer that he is. Easily one of the best albums I’ll listen to all year.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.    Ole Man Trouble – 2:55

2.    Respect – 2:05

3.    Change Gonna Come – 4:17

4.    Down in the Valley – 3:02

5.    I’ve Been Loving You Too Long – 3:10

6.    Shake – 2:35

7.    My Girl – 2:52

8.    Wonderful World – 3:00

9.    Satisfaction – 2:45

10.   You Don’t Miss Your Water – 2:53

Listen to ‘Down in the Valley’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko_YsP6f7so

Also released on 15^th September:

1967: The Kinks – Something Else by The Kinks

Also released on 15^th September:

1971: Judee Sill – Judee Sill

Also released on 15^th September:

1986: Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Blood and Chocolate