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

22nd October - Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin II

Artist – Album: Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II

Released: 22^th October 1969

Sounds Like: The only way to fly

Their debut was good, but Led Zeppelin II was the album where Led Zep became Led Zep. Blues based hard rock (‘Heartbreaker’), Tolkein-inspired lyrics (‘Ramble On’) and even a bloody long drum solo (‘Moby Dick’): these are to Led Zep what tiny Stonehenges, amps that go up to 11 and self-combusting drummers are to Spinal Tap. Oh look, I mentioned Spinal Tap on a heavy metal album review (I have previous: here and here)! This time, though, there is a fair excuse; for Led Zeppelin II didn’t only cement the sound of Led Zeppelin, it provided the blueprint for every other heavy metal album that followed. And, even now, it’s still better than them all.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Whole Lotta Love – 5:34

2.       What Is and What Should Never Be – 4:44

3.       The Lemon Song – 6:19

4.       Thank You – 4:49

5.       Heartbreaker – 4:14

6.       Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman) – 2:39

7.       Ramble On – 4:23

8.       Moby Dick – 4:21

9.       Bring It On Home – 4:20

Listen to ‘Ramble On’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVp-atyiVA

Also released on 22^nd October:

2001: Gotan Project – La Revencha del Tango

Also released on 22^nd October:

2001: The Hives – Your New Favourite Band

30th August - Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited

Artist – Album: Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

Released:  30^th August 1965

Sounds Like: A special day

I’ve had days on this Albumaday… journey where I’ve had a pretty tough choice between two awesome records – in June, for example, Radiohead’s OK Computer came directly up against Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On – and occasionally, say once or twice, there’s been as many as three brilliant albums released on the same day. But today is just plain ridiculous. Today I’ve had to listen to, and then reconcile not writing about, one of the Nineties best albums in Oasis’ Definitely Maybe, The Beach Boys’ forgotten classic Surf’s Up, The Byrds’ sweetest record Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Kanye West’s superstar- status-confirming Late Registration, The Libertines’ stunning self-titled debut and Björk’s majestic Medúlla. It’s just not fair is it? As difficult as it was to justify ignoring each of these genuinely great records, however, it would have been a hell of a lot more difficult to overlook Highway 61 Revisited.

The album that definitively marked Dylan’s transformation from a folk artist to a rock star, Highway 61 Revisited is bookended by two of his most iconic tracks – the sneering, bile-fest that also happens to be the most acclaimed song of all time ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, and the mystic, flamenco tinged stream of consciousness ‘Desolation Row’. An album made of just these two alone would be worthy of mention in this blog, and, at seventeen and a half minutes between them, would roughly equate to the length of the average Ramones record. In between though, there’s wit, romance and, yes, a little bit more anger. The title track is blues boogie plays like a circus act, and it’s followed by the nervous, hallucinatory ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’. Along with ‘Desolation Row’, the shuffling ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ is probably my favourite, with Dylan filtering every bit of venom in the delivery of his put down “something’s happening but you don’t know what it is, do you Mr Jones?”. Highway 61 was seen by Dylan as the road that connected his birthplace, Duluth, to all the blues landmarks, such as the birth places of Muddy Waters and Charley Patton and the point where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil, and, as such, a lot of the music within has blues foundations.  

Better writers than I have found themselves fumbling fruitlessly for satisfactory expressions when attempting to describe albums as great as this. Professors of English would struggle to decipher Dylan’s lush, abstract poetry, whilst the backdrop against which the album was released – with the US entering conflict in Vietnam and the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King still being mourned, the Sixties were yet to truly swing – is something that I’ve read about but have had no experience of. Nevertheless, even with my weak and feeble mind, living in these considerably less turbulent times, this album for me is still spectacularly good.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Like a Rolling Stone – 6:13

2.       Tombstone Blues – 6:00

3.       It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry – 4:09

4.       From a Buick 6 – 3:19

5.       Ballad of a Thin Man – 5:58

6.       Queen Jane Approximately – 5:31

7.       Highway 61 Revisited – 3:30

8.       Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – 5:32

9.       Desolation Row – 11:21

Listen to ‘Desolation Row’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-8KA4G4S9o

Also released on 30^th August:

1967: The Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Also released on 30^th August:

1994: Oasis – Definitely Maybe

Also released on 30^th August:

2005: Kanye West – Late Registration

26th July - ZZ Top's Tres Hombres

Artist – Album: ZZ Top – Tres Hombres

Released:  26^th June 1973

Sounds Like: It’s got legs

This morning I woke up at the foot of the bed, still wearing my tie and suit (although I had at least managed to unbutton the shirt), with the lamp still on and the laptop, fresh from a last minute Albumaday... posting, still on and snuggled up next to my head. Evidently it was quite a heavy one and I just couldn’t be happier that I had the foresight to book today off work. Not to sound too smug, all you unfortunate workmates...

I don’t remember much about the walk back from the pub, but I do recall playing the Arctic-cool ‘La Grange’ on my ipod far too loudly over and over again. Its John Lee Hooker-influenced blues and throaty A haw, haw, haw, haw, a haw are damn near perfection. And I’m pleased to report that the rest of the album attains a similarly high standard – the opening couple of ‘Waitin’ for the Bus’ and ‘Jesus Just Left Chicago’ which together saw frequent radio airplay, the heavy, heavy sound of ‘Master of Sparks’ and the soulful ballad ‘Hot, Blue & Righteous’ are all worthy companions to the standout single.

I used to think ZZ Top were a bit of a gimmicky band, with their matching beards large enough for a flock of birds to make a nest in, MTV-ready music videos and shiny, synthy singles such as ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ and ‘Legs’. It’s a pleasure to find out that they actually have roots in much purer, undistilled blues rock, and it’s a hell of a lot easier for my hungover brain to deal with.

Albumaday... rating:  8/10

1.       Waitin’ for the Bus – 2:59

2.       Jesus Just Left Chicago – 3:30

3.       Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers – 3:23

4.       Master of Sparks – 3:33

5.       Hot, Blue & Righteous – 3:14

6.       Move Me on Down the Line – 2:32

7.       Precious and Grace – 3:09

8.       La Grange – 3:52

9.       Shiek – 4:05

10.   Have You Heard? – 3:15

Listen to ‘La Grange’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vppbdf-qtGU

Also released on the 26^th June:

1974: Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom

15th June - The White Stripes' Icky Thump

Artist – Album: The White Stripes – Icky Thump

Released:  15^th June 2007

Sounds Like: They’ve gone mental!

Things kick off on Icky Thump, The White Stripes’ sixth and final studio album, with the band not straying too far away from their standard stuff. The Led Zeppelin influences are on full display on the title track, whilst the bluesy garage rock of ‘300 M.P.H Torrential Outpour Blues’ has the vibe of their earlier work but with a slightly more polished feel.

On the fourth song though, things take a turn for the weird. Jack White wails “Connnn-quest!” like a psychotic matador, whilst mariachi trumpeters and flamenco guitars provide a suitably theatrical and exciting backdrop. It’s by far the most enthralling, interesting and, well, insane song on this album, and it’s only once you look at the album’s writing credits that you realise that this centrepiece is not a White Stripes song at all, but a near like-for-like copy of Patti Page’s 1950s dramatic pop. You barely have time to get your breath back during the pleasant but hardly ground breaking ‘Bone Broke’ and ‘Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn’ before you’re thrown back into the crazy with ‘St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Wind’ ), a psychedelic  rocker complete with bagpipes and spoken word verses. Following that is the abrasive and harsh ‘Little Cream Soda’.

Whilst these flights of fancy can be fascinating and original, they’re mostly just baffling. There’s also the inkling that they’re only doing this for the sake of being weird – check out the pearly king and queen outfits on the album cover for exhibit 1, totally unnecessary. Not only do the bizarre bits swing and miss, but when the band decide to go back to basics and rock out they can still occasionally disappoint. Unfortunately, for the first time they sound like they’re no longer making classic rock but just imitating Classic Rock. It’s a decent album, but nowhere near as vital as their earlier output.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Icky Thump – 4:17

2.       You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told) – 3:54

3.       300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues – 5:28

4.       Conquest – 2:48

5.       Bone Broke – 3:14

6.       Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn – 3:05

7.       St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air) – 1:49

8.       Little Cream Soda – 3:45

9.       Rag and Bone – 3:48

10.   I’m Slowly Turning Into You – 4:34

11.   A Martyr for My Love for You – 4:19

12.   Catch Hell Blues – 4:18

13.   Effect and Cause – 3:00

Listen to ‘Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69EVJCOKWM

Also released on the 15^th June:

1989: Nirvana - Bleach

Also released on the 15^th June:

1999: The White Stripes – The White Stripes

Also released on the 15^th June:

1999: Santana - Supernatural