9th December - Cream's Fresh Cream

Artist – Album: Cream – Fresh Cream

Released: 9^th December 1966

Sounds Like: Best before 1967

Now it’s never nice to torpedo a classic*, especially when it’s a long established one and you weren’t there to feel its initial impact first hand. I’m left to rely on what I’ve read on Wikipedia and think about the impression an album has made on me. The impression Cream’s Fresh Cream has made on me is… meh. I’m not bothered really. ‘I Feel Free’ is an awesome, swinging track, full of innovations and quirks, but in the UK that was a non-album track, a top twenty single only. The rest feels less like the cream of the crop and more like a poor harvest.

Cream have quite rightly been lauded for being pioneers, influential in the birth of jam rock, heavy metal and psychedelic blues, as well as making the power trio a viable band format, but influence doesn’t always mean greatness. Citizen Kane is one of the most influential films of all time and it is rubbish (haha, I know that that’s controversial). Rather than possessing the exciting creativity of its psychedelic progeny or the masculine muscle of its metal descendents, Fresh Cream is just a bit turgid and boring. ‘Spoonful’ is probably my favourite cut – and it is good – but it can’t hold a candle to the Howlin’ Wolf original.

If you’re looking for an introduction in to the music of the world’s first supergroup, I’d recommend diving straight into the 1967 sequel Disraeli Gears for a much more enjoyable set, plus one of the coolest album covers of all time.

* this is in no way true: it can actually be great fun if it’s one you have a particular distaste for…

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       N.S.U. – 2:43

2.       Sleepy Time Time – 4:20

3.       Dreaming – 1:58

4.       Sweet Wine – 3:17

5.       Spoonful – 6:30

6.       Cat’s Squirrel – 3:03

7.       Four Until Late – 2:07

8.       Rollin’ and Tumblin’ – 4:42

9.       I’m So Glad – 3:57

10.   Toad – 5:11

Listen to ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrQftYFU7Vc

Also released on the 9^th December:

1966: The Who – A Quick One

Also released on the 9^th December:

2011: Slow Club – Paradise

1st December - The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Axis: Bold as Love

Artist – Album: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold as Love

Released: 1^st December 1967

Sounds Like: Blerggghhh

Urgghhh. Well, the stag do may be over but I’m afraid the hangover has just begun. Blergh. I feel like there was a controlled explosion in my brain. It’s one of those days were you need to put sunglasses on to open the fridge. I’m so sensitive to sound that I can hear the clouds lurching across the sky, the noisy so-and-sos. I am not in a condition to write a blog. At all.

 

So here’s a run down of today’s listening experience: ‘Exp’ confused me. Skip. ‘Up from the Skies’ is too garish. Skip it. ‘Spanish Castle Magic’, now I know that this is belting tune. But it’s too loud for this time in the… afternoon. Skiiiip iiiit. ‘Wait Until Tomorrow’ and ‘Ain’t No Telling’ are fun and harmless, as long as you keep the volume down. ‘Little Wing’, what a beautiful (i.e. quiet) track, this is more like it. -What on earth is going on with this ‘If 6 Was 9’? This is hurting my brain. Skip, skip, skip…

In summary, Axis: Bold as Love is a great album by Hendrix, covering everything from all-out psychedelic jams to gorgeous, down-tempo ballads. It is not, repeat not, recommended for a hangover.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       EXP – 1:55

2.       Up from the Skies – 2:55

3.       Spanish Castle Magic – 3:00

4.       Wait Until Tomorrow – 3:00

5.       Ain’t No Telling – 1:46

6.       Little Wing – 2:24

7.       If 6 Was 9 – 5:32

8.       You Got Me Floating – 2:45

9.       Castles Made of Sand – 2:46

10.   She’s So Fine – 2:37

11.   One Rainy Wish – 3:40

12.   Little Miss Lover – 2:20

13.   Bold as Lover – 4:11

Listen to ‘Little Wing’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZsN6RMmdls

25th October - The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland

Artist – Album: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland 

Released: 25^th October 1968

Sounds Like: Electrical Dylan d (it’s a rubbish anagram!)

Defining cool is not an easy thing to do:

Marge: Am I cool, kids?
Bart and Lisa: No.
Marge: Good. I'm glad. And that's what makes me cool—not caring, right?
Bart and Lisa: No.
Marge: Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried everything here.
Homer: Wait, Marge. Maybe if you're truly cool, you don't need to be told you're cool.
Bart: Well, sure you do.
Lisa: How else would you know?...

The closest anybody ever came to embodying cool was Jimi Hendrix. His recording engineers and bandmates may have disagreed, as they struggled with the hanger-ons and the titanic consumption of drugs, but the flamboyant guitar-God was the coolest of them all and this album just so happens to find him at the very peak of his powers. From the groovy ‘Crosstown Traffic’ (the only Hendrix recording to not feature a guitar solo) to the apocalyptic Dylan cover ‘All Along the Watchtower’ (my vote for the greatest cover song of all time), Hendrix and his Experience come out all guns blazing in one of the most free-wheeling, experimental albums of the 60s. A stoned cold classic.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       …And the Gods Made Love – 1:21

2.       Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) – 2:11

3.       Crosstown Traffic – 2:25

4.       Voodoo Chile – 15:00

5.       Little Miss Strange – 2:52

6.       Long Hot Summer Night – 3:27

7.       Come On (Part 1) – 4:09

8.       Gypsy Eyes – 3:43

9.       Burning of the Midnight Lamp – 3:39

10.   Rainy Day, Dream Away – 3:42

11.   1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) – 13:39

12.   Moon, Turn the Tides… Gently Gently Away – 1:02

13.   Still Raining, Still Dreaming – 4:25

14.   House Burning Down – 4:33

15.   All Along the Watchtower – 4:01

16.   Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – 5:12

Listen to ‘Burning of the Midnight Lamp’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smNJQZxZMeA

Also released on 25^th October:

1974: Bob Marley & The Wailers – Natty Dread

12th May - The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced?

Artist – Album: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

Released:  12^th May 1967             

Sounds Like: An experience

It almost came down to a coin toss to decide which album was most worthy of today’s blog. It says something that the beautiful and haunting folk of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, released 5 years ago today, was never even in serious consideration for review. Nor was The Bluetones’ Luxembourg, although that was less of a special record... No, today was a straight head to head between the psychedelic blues-rock jams of Are You Experienced? and the druggy, country-tinged haze of The Rolling Stones’ exceptional Exile on Main St.

In the end, it came down to two deciding factors. 1) I haven’t done any Jimi yet, and he was a bloody legend; and 2) whereas Exile... was originally released to mixed reviews before gradually attaining its (deserved) exulted status, Are You Experienced? has always been, and will always be, recognised as masterpiece. Where Exile... is a grower, a charming shambles that rewards repeated listens, Are You Experienced? has the immediacy of one of its many solos and the cocksure bravado and panache that made Hendrix such a enigmatic icon.

From ‘Foxy Lady’ (ten points if you can’t hear it without picturing Garth from Wayne’s World) to ‘Are You Experienced?’, the album is chock-full of rock, blues, pop and soul and guitar virtuosity. It’s also worth noting that its credited to the Jimi Hendrix Experience; they were a band, not just a solo artist. Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding can be proud of the fact that they’re not completely eclipsed by the guitar god here. Check out Mitchell’s changing percussion on ‘Fire’ in particular – quite simply exceptional.

And all this from their debut album. Hendrix may have enjoyed only the briefest of careers at the very top, but the swaggering, passionate and empowering qualities that define his lasting legacy and influence are already on show here.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Foxy Lady – 3:22

2.       Manic Depression – 3:46

3.       Red House – 3:53

4.       Can You See Me – 2:35

5.       Love or Confusion – 3:17

6.       I Don’t Live Today – 3:58

7.       May This Be Love – 3:14

8.       Fire – 2:47

9.       Third Stone from the Sun – 6:50

10.   Remember – 2:53

11.   Are You Experienced? – 4:17

Listen to ‘Remember’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrzVmkU5cps

Also released on the 12^th May:

1972: The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St.

Also released on the 12^th May:

2003: The Bluetones - Luxembourg

Also released on the 12^th May:

2008: Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

29th March - Quicksilver Messenger Service's Happy Trails

Artist – Album: Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails

Released:  29^th March 1969

Sounds Like: How Much Do You Love (psychedelic jams)?

How much you like Quick Silver Messenger Services’ Happy Trails depends an awful lot on how much you love great big, protracted guitar solos. A friend of mine (the guitarist/vocalist in a hitherto unnamed Nottingham band) was recently moaning to me about songs that overuse the guitar solo; how they‘re just speedy progressions through scales performed by pompous wankers. But he does like to moan a lot. Similarly, another guitarist friend (who used to carve up the fretboard in my shortlived teenage band The Cornerstones) completely denounced simple pop songs and melodies and fully embraced the jazzy jams performed by mostly unknown guitar gods such as Mike Walker. Although by no means jazz, Happy Trails is likely to satisfy the second friend more than the first. But, as I said, the first friend likes to moan a lot, so really it’s win win.

The first half of Happy Trails is one long extended jam through Bo Diddley’s classic ‘Who Do You Love’, split into 5 parts. Every last ounce of cool is squeezed from the tune, as the group’s shifting emphasis focuses on the rhythm, then the guitars, then the drums, then the vocals, then the guitars again. You’re never but a few seconds away from a blistering lick or solo.

It’s said that listening to this album is the closest you can get to experiencing what it was like to see their critically acclaimed live performances. This, for me, is the crux of the problem. It’s quite clear that it would have been awesome to have been there, to see the original Quicksilver Messenger Service quartet play. But live albums tend to disappoint unless you’ve experienced the band yourself. You can’t see the group play, you can’t see the dynamics between them and the crowd and the way they bounce off each other; the rush of rocking tracks and the sentiment of ballads are dimmed when they’re heard solely through your laptop speakers.

Unfortunately, for me, this album is a sorry substitute for watching a great live band play live.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Who Do You Love? Part 1 – 3:32

2.       When You Love – 5:15

3.       Where You Love – 6:07

4.       How You Love – 2:45

5.       Which Do You Love – 1:49

6.       Who Do You Love? Part 2 – 5:51

7.       Mona – 7:01

8.       Maiden of the Cancer Moon – 2:54

9.       Calvary – 13:31

10.   Happy Trails – 1:29

Listen to ‘Who Do You Love? Part 1 ’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTeArrWk2qI

Also released on the 29^th March:

1994: Ali Farka Toure/Ry Cooder – Talking Timbuktu

4th Jan - The Doors' The Doors

Artist – Album: The Doors – The Doors

Released:  4^th January 1967

Sounds Like: The stuff of rock (and sexual) organ legend

The Doors self titled first album is widely considered to be one of the greatest debuts of all time. It’s classic rock at it’s sleaziest best: Jim Morrison’s vocals, Rick Manzarek’s keys, Robby Krieger’s guitar and John Densmore’s drums melding together to form some kind of god damn sexual tyrannosaurus.

In truth, the album just would not be made in today’s risk-averse environment. The organ reached it’s peak as a musical instrument around the time the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America, whilst Jim Morrison’s dripping sensuality and raw masculinity would not sit well next to the One Directions’ and Justin Bieber’s of this world. The closest we have to his rock-with-your-cock-out charisma today is probably closet-lesbian Pink - she too would probably charm your father and seduce your mother if you took her to meet the parents. Furthermore, you just don’t get songs like the 11-minute, oedipal derangement of The End any more.

Still the album is a great listen, from pumping singles Break On Through and Light My Fire to the slow, otherworldliness of The Crystal Ship. Take regularly as an antidote to the modern manufactured music malaise.

Albumaday... rating:   9/10

1.       Break On Through (To the Other Side) – 2:29

2.       Soul Kitchen – 3:35

3.       The Crystal Ship – 2:34

4.       Twentieth Century Fox – 2:33

5.       Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) – 3:20

6.       Light My Fire – 7:06

7.       Back Door Man – 3:34

8.       I Looked at You – 2:22

9.       End of the Night 2:52

10.   Take It as It Comes 2:23

11.   The End – 11:41

Listen to ‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbiPDSxFgd8