17th December - David Bowie's Hunky Dory

Artist – Album: David Bowie – Hunky Dory

Released: 17^th December 1971

Sounds Like: Getting the ball rolling 

For one of the most successful and influential artists in pop history, David Bowie didn’t half get off to a slow start. Although he scored a big hit in 1969 with ‘Space Oddity’, the Thin White Duke spent the following years being viewed as just a one hit wonder, a bit of an oddity himself. His next few albums, Space Oddity and The Man Who Fell to Earth, met with little fanfare and it was no surprise that Hunky Dory – despite hosting ‘Changes’ and ‘Life on Mars?’ for goodness sake – also came and went without much attention. Then, in ’72, came The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and suddenly the world was ready for super-Starman Bowie. Fans clamouring for more releases were sated when Bowie, in true Blue Peter-esque style, said “here’s one I made earlier” and Hunky Dory marched back up the charts.

It may not be anywhere near as cohesive as Ziggy Stardust, but the songwriting on display here is simply extraordinary. As well as the aforementioned ‘Changes’ and ‘Life on Mars?’, the eccentric pop of ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’, the glam rock of ‘Queen Bitch’ and the folky ‘Song for Bob Dylan’ are splendidly crafted songs. Even the apparently throwaway ‘Kooks’ is delightfully perfect. At times there is the sneaking suspicion that Bowie hadn’t yet  decided on which direction he wanted to take, and the two more experimental cuts ‘Quicksand’ and ‘The Bewlay Brothers’ do begin to drag a little bit, but it’s charming and novel to hear a rock icon figure things out.

Ziggy Stardust may have been the real catalyst for one of rock and pop’s greatest careers, but Hunky Dory showed the world just how much talent had lay dormant, waiting for people to catch on.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Changes – 3:37

2.       Oh! You Pretty Things – 3:12

3.       Eight Line Poem – 2:55

4.       Life on Mars? – 3:53

5.       Kooks – 2:53

6.       Quicksand – 5:08

7.       Fill Your Heart – 3:07

8.       Andy Warhol – 3:56

9.       Song for Bob Dylan – 4:12

10.   Queen Bitch – 3:18

11.   The Bewlay Brothers – 5:22

Listen to ‘Life on Mars?’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ

23rd November - Cat Stevens' Tea for the Tillerman

Artist – Album: Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman

Released: 23^rd November 1970

Sounds Like: More owl than Cat-like (sorry…)

Cat Stevens was 22 when he released Tea for the Tillerman. Judging by the pearls of wisdom he scatters across the album, he felt like he was 122. “You are young, that’s your fault, there’s so much you have to live through” he trills on ‘Father and Son’. “I was once like you are now, and I know that it’s not easy”.

That’s not to say that Tea for the Tillerman sounds jaded. Far from it – Stevens is full of energy and he supports his life-lessons with stonking good folk-pop. ‘Where Do the Children Play?’, ‘Hard Headed Woman’ and ‘Wild World’ make up an opening trio of the most singalongy pop songs ever. You could take issue with the sincerity of Stevens and he doesn’t always seem so sage-like when his lyrics are treated to a closer inspection, but if you’re gonna get hung up on things like that I may as well just point you towards ‘On the Road to Find Out’: “Kick out the devil's sin, pick up, pick up a good book now”.

The record also enjoys the double life of being zealously raided for the soundtrack to the fantastic black comedy Harold and Maude. To any of you that are fans of one but don’t know the other, I demand that you right that wrong straight away. Go. Now. Shoo!

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Where Do the Children Play? – 3:52

2.       Hard Headed Woman – 3:47

3.       Wild World – 3:20

4.       Sad Lisa – 3:45

5.       Miles from Nowhere – 3:37

6.       But I Might Die Tonight – 1:53

7.       Longer Boats – 3:12

8.       Into White – 3:24

9.       On the Road to Find Out – 5:08

10.   Father and Son – 3:41

11.   Tea for the Tillerman – 1:01

Listen to ‘On the Road to Find Out’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ--odAAA1A

5th November - The Mountain Goats' Tallahassee

Artist – Album: The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee

Released: 5^th November 2002

Sounds Like: This is for loners

In a few weeks time, Paul will be the first of my group of friends to take the plunge and get married. If, for whatever reason, I wanted him to reconsider (and I don’t!), then I would simply have him listen to this 40 minute long hurting and spiteful spew of marital vitriol.

Barely concealed under the clean but simple arrangements of delicate acoustic guitars and Josh Darnielle’s lovely voice, the lyrics serve to skewer any concept of marital bliss and give flesh to the idea of trouble in paradise. Each and every song is fantastically scornful and desperate, but the greatest lyrics are on the brilliant, venomous ‘No Children’:

“And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand”

Paul, I implore you, don’t listen to this album! Just ignore it son.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Tallahassee – 4:42

2.       First Few Desperate Hours – 3:03

3.       Southwood Plantation Road – 2:45

4.       Game Shows Touch Our Lives – 3:48

5.       The House That Dripped Blood – 2:53

6.       Idylls of the King – 3:32

7.       No Children – 2:46

8.       See America Right – 1:54

9.       Peacocks – 3:44

10.   International Small Arms Traffic Blues – 2:50

11.   Have to Explode – 3:21

12.   Old College Try – 2:52

13.   Oceanographer’s Choice – 4:08

14.   Alpha Rats Nest – 2:10

Listen to ‘No Children’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRP6egIEABk

Also released on the 5th November:
2005: Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around

3rd November - Beck's Mutations

Artist – Album: Beck – Mutations

Released: 3^rd November 1998

Sounds Like: The genre spanner

Howard Moon: I do many things. I span the genres - they call me the genre spanner.

Vince Noir: Yeah, they call you the spanner...

Getting started on Beck’s back catalogue can be something of a daunting task for any music fan – over his 20 year career he’s racked up 11 albums and 40 singles, hopping from style to style on each one like Howard Moon’s genre spanner. Take a wrong turn as you explore his music unguided and you could unwittingly find yourself in bossa nova territory, or stranded in some electro-indie-hip hop no-man’s-land, unprotected against stray DJ scratches and obscure samples. No one wants that.

Luckily I’ve come up with a cheat, which should help you to avoid potential pratfalls. Begin with Odelay, Beck’s seminal 1996 recording. Even here the eclectic varieties come at you thick and fast, but they’re so well-crafted and brilliant that you should be immune to them. However, you can – and this is my  point – use the songs as springboards into whichever Beck-osphere is best suited to your particular tastes. For example, if you like ‘Where It’s At’ and ‘High 5 (Rock the Catskills)’ best, then Midnite Vultures might be the album you turn to next. If the chameleon-esque approach of ‘Devil’s Haircut’ and ‘The New Pollution’ sit easy with you, then you’re safe to make the move to Mellow Gold and Guero. If, like me, ‘Ramshackle’ and ‘Jack-Ass’ are your favourites, then the lush sound of Sea Change and the acoustic Mutations are great albums.

Beck himself revels in the laid back psychedelic bluesy folk surroundings of Mutations. There’s less need to be the shape-shifting showman and we’re treated to a more open and reflective individual on the likes of mandarin-led ‘Nobody’s Fault but My Own’. Being Beck there’s still a degree of diversity, diving from The Kinks-inspired ‘Lazy Flies’ to the Brazilian ‘Tropicalia’ to the bar room band ‘Bottle of Blues’, but the changes here seem minor and seamless compared to other albums. The mellow gold of Mutations is one of the best Beck mutations.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Cold Brains – 3:41

2.       Nobody’s Fault but My Own – 5:02

3.       Lazy Flies – 3:44

4.       Canceled Check – 3:14

5.       We Live Again – 3:05

6.       Tropicalia – 3:20

7.       Dead Melodies – 2:36

8.       Bottle of Blues – 4:56

9.       O Maria – 3:59

10.   Sing It Again – 4:19

11.   Static – 5:18

12.   Diamond Bollocks – 6:02

Listen to ‘Cold Brains’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl-337I6RH0

Also released on the 3^rd November:
1978: The Jam – All Mod Cons

Also released on the 3^rd November:
1992: Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine

1st November - Nick Drake's Bryter Layter

Artist – Album: Nick Drake – Bryter Layter

Released: 1^st November 1970

Sounds Like: A crisp November morning

Whether yesterday evening for you consisted of drunken debauchery at a Hallowe’en party or, like me, watching scary movies with no lights on, the chances are you require some gentle, soothing music this morning. Enter: Nick Drake.

Bryter Layter was Drake’s second album, and it’s also his most unchallenging; one where’d he moved very slightly away from the pastoral folk countryside of debut Five Leaves Left to a poppier setting, and one where he hadn’t yet been possessed by the demons that consumed him on final record Pink Moon.

‘Northern Sky’, though understated, stands amongst the greatest love songs of all time, the Hazey Jane’s (actually the name of a pretty good Scottish group) are brilliantly light folk-pop efforts, ‘Fly’ is as delicate as insect wings and ‘One of These Things First’ is busy and fun, bouncing along on Drake’s gossamer croon. All told, it’s a fantastically assured album and one that softly but confidently blows those Hallowe’en cobwebs away.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Introduction – 1:33

2.       Hazey Jane II – 3:46

3.       At the Chime of a City Clock – 4:47

4.       One of These Things First – 4:52

5.       Hazey Jane I – 4:31

6.       Bryter Layter – 3:24

7.       Fly – 3:00

8.       Poor Boy – 6:09

9.       Northern Sky – 3:47

10.   Sunday – 3:42

Listen to ‘Hazey Jane II’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSZ9oX0rLgg

Also released on 1^st November:

1988: My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything

Also released on 1^st November:

1970: Grateful Dead – American Beauty

Also released on 1^st November:

1994: Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York

24th October - Traveling Wilburys' Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1

Artist – Album: Traveling Wilburys – Traveling Wilburys vol. 1

Released: 24^th October 1988

Sounds Like: The league of super best friends

The most super of all supergroups, the Traveling Wilburys saw Nelson (George Harrison), Otis (Jeff Lynne), Lefty (Roy Orbison), Charlie T. (Tom Petty) and Lucky (Bob Dylan) team up in a constellation of stars that is unlikely to ever be bested. Throw in the fact that it was produced at one half of the Eurthymics’ home studio, and that the liner notes were written by Michael Palin, and it’s enough to make even the most cynical of music fans’ head explode. Ignoring the silly Wilburys backstory, our heroes really joined forces when Lyne, Harrison and Orbison were having dinner together (as you do). Harrison needed help with the b-side to his ‘This Is Love’, and they agreed to jointly record ‘Handle with Care’ over at Bob Dylan’s house (as you do). The result was so brilliant that they decide to lay down a whole album, and the band was completed when Harrison went over to Petty’s house to pick up his guitar and roped in the Heartbreaker (as you do).

Vol. 1 is noteworthy because of the stellar cast assembled, but it’s special because it’s actually just an album of mates having a laugh together. ‘Handle with Care’ may have been the first and best of their tunes but its not short of competitors – ‘Dirty World’ is a riot with its vehicular euphemisms (“You don't need no wax job, you're smooth enough for me, If you need you oil changed I'll do it for you free”), ‘Margarita’ is propelled by flighty guitar licks and glorious harmonies, whilst Roy Orbison on the soaring ‘Not Alone Any More’ and Bob Dylan on ‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’ contribute arguably their best performances since their sixties and seventies heydays. ‘End of the Line’ at the end of the album is a belter, with the, ahem, mature stars wittily commenting on their age – “Well it's all right, even if you're old and grey, Well it's all right, you still got something to say”

It might not technically be the best album released on this day – that accolade would probably have to go to Don McLean’s American Pie or Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness – but goddamn it is a lot of fun.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Handle with Care – 3:20

2.       Dirty World – 3:30

3.       Rattled – 3:00

4.       Last Night – 3:48

5.       Not Alone Any More – 3:24

6.       Congratulations – 3:30

7.       Heading for the Light – 3:37

8.       Margarita – 3:15

9.       Tweeter and the Monkey Man – 5:30

10.   End of the Line – 3:30 

Listen to ‘Margarita’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UEu5iusUOE

Also released on 24^th October:

1971: Don McLean – American Pie

Also released on 24^th October:

1995: Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Also released on 24^th October:

2003: The Cat Empire – The Cat Empire

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