30th September - Tom Waits' Rain Dogs

Artist – Album: Tom Waits – Rain Dogs

Released:  30^th September 1985

Sounds Like: Off-centre dreams from New York City

Tom Waits is like olives - nobody likes him when they’re a kid, but pretty much everyone who’s reached a certain age is a fan. Or maybe he’s a bit more like a strong beer – you might have to force it down the first few dozen tries, but, man, is it worth it once you’ve learned to love him. Me, I first knowingly saw him in 1999’s pleasingly naff comedy Mystery Men, and the eccentric inventor that he played, a recluse that lives in a fun fair and creates non-violent gadget weapons, equipped me with a suitably weird image of the singer when I went on to sample his peculiar brand of rock-and-roll-meets-Ripley’s-Believe-It-or-Not.

Rain Dogs, along with its predecessor Swordfishtrombones, is the most decorated album of Waits’ hailed career, although even here it’s not hard to see why it’s an acquired taste. By this point he’d moved on from the lounge singer act of his earlier records to a wholly unique new sound, with the albums of his "Island trilogy" – of which this is the second – being made up of eclectic sketches of dark city life. The more recognisable genres include adult-orientated rock on ‘Downtown Train’ (ruined by Rod Stewart five years later), country on ‘Blind Love’ and tender balladry on ‘Time’, but most occupy a realm where conventional genres and instrumentation are thrown out of the window. ‘Jockey Full of Bourbon’ (chosen as the theme music to the brilliant British comedy Black Books a couple of decades down the line), ‘Big Black Mariah’ and ‘Cemetery Polka’ are three of the best oddities.

I like coffee (sometimes), champagne (sort of), caviar (yes, I’ve had caviar!) and strong cheeses, but, blergh, I balk at Marmite. I love Tom Waits. 

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Singapore – 2:46

2.       Clap Hands – 3:47

3.       Cemetery Polka – 1:51

4.       Jockey Full of Bourbon – 2:45

5.       Tango Till They’re Sore – 2:49

6.       Big Black Mariah – 2:44

7.       Diamonds & Gold – 2:31

8.       Hang Down Your Head – 2:32

9.       Time – 3:55

10.   Rain Dogs – 2:56

11.   Midtown – 1:00

12.   9^th & Hennepin – 1:58

13.   Gun Street Girl – 4:37

14.   Union Square – 2:24

15.   Blind Love – 4:18

16.   Walking Spanish – 3:05

17.   Downtown Train – 3:53

18.   Bride of Rain Dog – 1:07

19.   Anywhere I Lay My Head – 2:48

Listen to ‘Cemetery Polka’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iuuv_1TPYo

Also released on 30^th September:

1982: Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

Also released on 30^th September:

1997: Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind

10th September - Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam

Artist – Album: Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam

Released:  10^th September 2007

Sounds Like: It’s a Good Life

There’s a well loved Twilight Zone episode set around little Anthony Fremont, who lives in Peaksville, in what was Ohio. Anthony looks like every other six-year-old; unlike the other residents of Peaksville, who oddly appear to live in constant fear of the little boy. We quickly learn the reason for their trepidation though, as we witness the god-like Anthony read minds, send “bad people” to the cornfield in the middle of nowhere and turn his neighbour into a jack-in-a-box. In reality, Anthony is one of the best monsters in the Twilight Zone universe, a potent cocktail of emotional immaturity and unbridled, terrible power. I bring this up because I hear the same heady mixture of the innocent and the freakish in Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective’s seventh album.

‘Peacebone’ gets things started with it’s tale about dinosaurs, sing-song chorus and mutters of “bonefish”, as well as the abrasive intro, random monstrous roars and screamed middle section. It chugs along on a repetitive synthesizer sequence but sounds a world apart from any other form of electronica. The lyrics also seem to have an element of naïve wisdom buried in amongst the patchwork of striking visuals, and so “a blow out does not mean I will have a good time” sits not too far from “I bet the monster was happy when we made him a maze, cause he don’t understand intentions and he just looks at your face”.

The whole album continues along this same dual direction of simple and oddball. Possibly the best triple whammy found in any Animal Collective album appears when the shrieking, could-blow-up-at-any-minute “For Reverend Green” is sandwiched by Panda Bear’s giddy ‘Chores’ and Avery Tare’s wonderful ‘Fireworks’.

As with most artists that experiment with the weird side of rock, this album is unlikely to appeal to everybody. But it's good they're making music like this. A real good thing. And tomorrow... tomorrow's gonna be a... real good day!

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Peacebone – 5:13

2.       Unsolved Mysteries – 4:25

3.       Chores – 4:30

4.       For Reverend Green – 6:34

5.       Fireworks – 6:50

6.       #1 – 4:32

7.       Winter Wonder Land – 2:44

8.       Cuckoo Cuckoo – 5:42

9.       Derek – 3:01 

Listen to ‘Fireworks’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztvr09J7KK4

Also released on 10^th September:

1975: Kiss – Alive!

Also released on 10^th September:

1990: Neil Young – Ragged Glory

5th June - Radiohead's Amnesiac

Artist – Album: Radiohead - Amnesiac

Released:  5^th June 2001

Sounds Like: Radiohead are pushing boundaries again

Although 1997’s OK Computer pointedly avoided being The Bends 2, it’s arty, paranoid moments were contra-ed effectively enough by classic rock influences to appease fans and music critics alike and it turned out to be a huge success. It was just too awesome to be ignored.

Follow up Kid A came from even further left field – introducing robotic squeaks and squawks and all but eschewing guitars altogether. Despite debuting at #1 in the album charts in both the UK and the US, the initial reaction was somewhat mixed, with some fans feeling alienated by the departure from indie rock and the experiments with the likes of Krautrock and jazz. Eventually though, the public were won over by the avante garde masterpieces and that album’s awesomeness also shone through.

Amnesiac, however, came close to being a weird turn too far. As much as the majority of people learned to love Kid A, there was the hope that the group would allow Johnny Greenwood to pick up his guitar again and, as Melody Maker had anticipated of Kid A, they would “return rock to us”. Instead, they were presented with woozy electronic experimentation that sounds like a Kid A hangover. It beeps and bumps and, having been recorded during the same sessions as its predecessor, some accused it of just being a collection of B-Sides.

The best moments here though are absolutely stunning – the dense geometry of ‘Pyramid Song’, the whiny ‘You and Whose Army?’ , the breakbeat of ‘I Might Be Wrong’, the ringing ‘Knives Out’ and the beautiful reimagining of ‘Morning Bell’. The drunken jazz of closer ‘Life in a Glasshouse’ is as imaginative and rewarding as anything on their more acclaimed records. Although it’s suffered a more indifferent response than its brothers, there’s still time for Amnesiac’s awesomeness to win you over.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box – 4:00

2.       Pyramid Song – 4:49

3.       Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors – 4:07

4.       You and Whose Army? – 3:11

5.       I Might Be Wrong – 4:54

6.       Knives Out – 4:15

7.       Morning Bell/Amnesiac – 3:14

8.       Dollars and Cents – 4:52

9.       Hunting Bears – 2:01

10.   Like Spinning Plates – 3:57

11.   Life in a Glasshouse – 4:34

Listen to ‘Life in a Glasshouse’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upl_rxmsu6s

Also released on the 5^th June:

2009: Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

17th May - The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin

Artist – Album: The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin

Released:  17^th May 1999

Sounds Like: It can’t help but put a smile on your face

I don’t think anyone has ever asked me what the best gig I ever want to was – I guess I’m just not that interesting to you people – but, you know what, I’m going to tell you all anyway. So there. It was these guys, the Flaming Lips. The first gig I saw was good – James at the M.E.N – and at 14, when I took a girl to a gig for the first time, it was curiously to see Simon & Garfunkel, a couple of septuagenarians. R.E.M were a fantastic arena band, as were Oasis, whilst Jens Lekman was stunning in one of the most intimate venues in Manchester. At the same place my mind was blown by local nutters Livestock Jihad, complete with pig-mask wearing dancers and crowd-surfing, fat and bald frontman, a few weeks ago. Also worthy of mention were Sigur Rós, Arcade Fire and even OK Go. But none of these could compare to the Flaming Lips at Jodrell Bank observatory last summer.

It was an incredible experience, with scores of giant multi-coloured balloons bouncing through the crowd, whilst costumed dancers cavorted on the stage and videos were projected straight on to the satellite dish. Wayne Coyne did everything in his powers to whip us into a frenzy, singing through a microphone and surfing the crowd in a Zorb ball.

But, of course, all that would mean nothing if the songs weren’t any good. The Flaming Lips specialise in joyous anthems of universal topics, songs that speak to the soul and bring everyone together. And the collection of tunes on this album are arguably the most all-encompassing of their entire thirty year career. ‘Race for the Prize’ kicks things off in typical bombastic fashion, telling the tale of two scientists who sought to save the world whatever the cost – “Theirs is to win, If it kills them, They're just human, With wives and children.”  At times, the record slows to walking pace, but the likes of ‘Waitin’ for a Superman’ and ‘Feeling Yourself Disintegrate’ are the album’s secret weapons – deeply soulful tracks of transcendental beauty and emotion. It is quite simply one of the finest records ever set down, and one of few that could follow comfortably in the footsteps of yesterday’s Pet Sounds.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Race for the Prize – 4:18

2.       A Spoonful Weighs a Ton – 3:32

3.       The Spark That Bled – 5:55

4.       Slow Motion – 3:53

5.       What Is the Light? – 4:05

6.       The Observer – 4:10

7.       Waitin’ for a Superman – 4:17

8.       Suddenly Everything Has Changed – 3:54

9.       The Gash – 4:02

10.   Feeling Yourself Disintegrate – 5:17

11.   Sleeping on the Roof – 3:09

12.   Race for the Prize (Mokran Remix) – 4:09

13.   Waitin’ for a Superman (Mokran Remix) – 4:19

14.   Buggin’ (Mokran Remix) – 3:16

Listen to ‘Feeling Yourself Disintegrate’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8IP3S8dxU8

Also released on the 17^th May:

2010: LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

5th May - Blur's Think Tank

Artist – Album: Blur – Think Tank

Released:  5^th May 2003

Sounds Like: The ‘Girls & Boys’ boys become men

Of the two bands most readily associated with Britpop – Oasis and Blur – one spent the decade after its death continuing to create the same laddish boozy anthems, with arguably diminishing returns, and the other was Blur. Following their huge success with Parklife and the Great Escape, the band decided to take something of an abrupt turn into lo-fi influenced alternative rock on their sixth studio album Blur, presaging the end of the mid nineties Britpop era.

On their seventh album the group took another u-turn, moving away from the Pavement sphere of influence onto more of a Radiohead orientated sound. For the first time they introduced electronic beats and elements of trip hop to the alternative rock mix, and the result is, for the most part, a pleasantly interesting and rewarding album. A selection of the opening cuts, ‘Ambulance’, ‘Out of Time’ (worth the admission price alone) and ‘Good Song’ stand up next to anything in the extensive back catalogue – lush, gorgeous and poignant songs that are further enhanced by Damon Albarn’s world-weary vocals.

Unfortunately, the song in between – ‘Crazy Beat’ – is a bit of a stinker. It introduces a vocoder style chorus in the style of Daft Punk, with none of that collective’s warmth and charm. This track is indicitive of the (rare and relative) failures that prevent this album from becoming on a par with the best early indie forays into electronica such as Kid A and Music Has the Right to Children. Being a step or two behind those two though really isn’t so bad and it’s quite an achievement for the group that not long before were releasing Cool Britannia fluff like ‘Country House’.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Ambulance – 5:09

2.       Out of Time – 3:52

3.       Crazy Beat – 3:15

4.       Good Song – 3:09

5.       On the Way to the Club – 3:48

6.       Brothers and Sisters – 3:47

7.       Caravan – 4:36

8.       We’ve Got a File on You – 1:03

9.       Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club -3:03

10.   Sweet Song – 4:01

11.   Jets – 6:25

12.   Gene by Gene – 3:49

13.   Battery in Your Leg – 3:20

Listen to ‘Out of Time’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkX1Up1vnc

 

Also released on the 5^th May:

1973: Paul Simon – There Goes Rhymin’ Simon

12th March - The Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground & Nico

Artist – Album: The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico

Released:  12^th March 1967         

Sounds Like: Top banana

The Velvet Underground & Nico cover art consists of a white background and a large yellow banana. I’ve read elsewhere that this yellow herb is the perfect symbol of what is represented within, decadent and sexual. You can run with that if you want but I’m not convinced. Admittedly they can be quite phallic, although I’m not sure about decadent – I have one for my breakfast every morning and I’m hardly a millionaire (yet). But I can’t help but just think that it’s a banana. It is just a banana. It was pop art genius Andy Warhol’s contribution to the sleeve art and I’m sure that this is what lends it some of it’s intrigue, but had his world famous painting of a soup can been on another album, I’m sure I would still be questioning it’s validity. Whatever the reason however, I can’t deny that this is one of the most iconic albums of all time.

Most of that success is of course nothing to do with Mr Warhol’s doodles, as the music contained within was an incredibly influential bout of art rock, made palatable by the groups prodigious musicality and Lou Reed’s bizarre tales of the strange characters that orbited around Warhol. ‘Sunday Morning’ is about a paranoid comedown, hidden behind a lullaby-like glockenspiel. In ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ the man in question is the drug dealer. ‘Venus in Furs’ is about fetishes. ‘Femme Fatale’ about maneaters. ‘Heroin’ about heroin (duh). This is fascinating, surreal stuff for the majority of us.

The music is different too. Back in 1967, most records followed pretty firm stylistic lines; genres weren’t crossed too regularly. But if we go back over those aforementioned tracks we get: lullaby, garage rock, baroque pop, pop rock, experimental rock (emphasize mental).  The result is one of the greatest albums of all time, one which was bought by few but influenced many, and one which still sounds amazing today. An album I think could be represented by something better than a banana.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Sunday Morning – 2:54

2.       I’m Waiting for the Man – 4:39

3.       Femme Fatale – 2:38

4.       Venus in Furs – 5:12

5.       Run Run Run – 4:22

6.       All Tomorrow’s Parties – 6:00

7.       Heroin – 7:12

8.       There She Goes Again – 2:41

9.       I’ll Be Your Mirror – 2:14

10.   The Black Angel’s Death Song – 3:11

11.   European Son – 7:46

Listen to ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOmZimH00oo

Also released on the 12^th March:

1991: R.E.M – Out of Time

Also released on the 12^th March:

2001: Daft Punk – Discovery

Also released on the 12^th March:

2007: LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

18th Feb - Radiohead's The King of Limbs

Artist – Album: Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Released:  18^th February 2011    

Sounds Like: It could slip your attention

Whisper it, but I get the feeling that Radiohead aren’t really bothered any more. I can’t say that I blame them; after all, over the last 20 years they’ve released consistently brilliant records, including a smattering that can be listed amongst the greatest of all time. They’ve had immensely successful singles without ever compromising their artful direction, and in doing so they’ve become worldwide superstars.

But listening to this, their eighth album, you don’t really get of any of that. You get more of the sense that Thom Yorke and co had been kicking around for a while, watching Friends repeats and drinking peppermint tea in their mansions, when they suddenly call from their record company demanding that they pull together a new album, like, now. Even the actual release was a bit slapdash, being that its arrival was only announced five days before it actually came out.

I mean, they’re still a great band and there’s plenty here to enjoy. They continue to craft wonderfully textured, electronic pieces and I was impressed with the beautiful melancholy of the final three tracks, particularly the haunting ‘Give Up the Ghost’. But too often it felt like they were just retreading old ground. Put together a few robotic bubble and squeaks, add a sparse backbeat and get Mr Yorke to warble over it indecipherably for four minutes. Repeat x 8. There’s not a lot more to it is there?

This one’s for the fans (Radiohead-heads?) and not the must-have record that pretty much everything else they’ve produced is.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Bloom – 5:15

2.       Morning Mr Magpie – 4:41

3.       Little by Little – 4:27

4.       Feral – 3:13

5.       Lotus Flower – 5:01

6.       Codex – 4:47

7.       Give Up the Ghost – 4:50

8.       Separator – 5:20

Listen to ‘Give Up the Ghost’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Yz5JtnNwM

14th Jan - David Bowie's Low

Artist – Album: David Bowie - Low

Released:  14^th January 1977

Sounds Like: Bowie & Eno, or Beano, withdraw

When I’m feeling low, I stick on some music, write a blog and eat some cheesy puffs (hint: I’m eating said crisps now and would really love a hug); When David Bowie’s down in the dumps, he gets together with his buddy Brian Eno and creates weird and atmospheric soundscapes.

Admittedly, Bowie was at a different place back then to me now (in his life that is, not that he was in Berlin and I’m in my flat in Salford). He was attempting to get himself off cocaine, and had moved to the capital of West Germany to escape the trappings of life in L.A. The feel of the album reflects a druggy come down – the first half is all snappy guitars and short tracks, while the second has calmed slightly and consists of eerie mood pieces. Bowie’s vocals drift in and out of the album, and are multilayered and strange, conjuring up abstract thoughts and images, before giving way completely to the avant garde instrumentals halfway through.

It’s hard to pick out individual tracks for special mention when it is the album as a whole that gives it it’s notoriety, but I feel I should mention ‘Sound and Vision’, which is the closest thing to contemporary music on the record. It’s chiming guitars and peppy bass contrast magnificently with Bowie’s murmured and paranoid lyrics, and it was my ringtone for a few years whilst I was at uni and trying to be cool.

In summation, Low is an initially challenging but beautiful listen, an enlightening capsule of Bowie trying to escape his Thin White Duke persona that rewards with perseverance and repeated use. And I would like somebody to give me a hug.

Albumaday... rating:   8/10

1.       Speed of Life – 2:46

2.       Breaking Glass – 1:52

3.       What in the World – 2:23

4.       Sound and Vision – 3:05

5.       Always Crashing in the Same Car – 3:33

6.       Be My Wife – 2:58

7.       A New Career in a New Town – 2:53

8.       Warszawa – 6:23

9.       Art Decade – 3:46

10.   Weeping Wall – 3:28

11.   Subterraneans – 5:39

Listen to ‘Sound and Vision’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IJsAuUgSgc

Also released on the 14^th January:

1972: Paul Simon – Paul Simon

Also released on the 14^th January:

2008: British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?