8th October - Talking Heads' Remain in Light

Artist – Album: Talking Heads – Remain in Light

Released: 8^th October 1980

Sounds Like: Well, how did I get here?

Talking Heads were once known as a punk band. Admittedly, they were associated with the much more melodic and aptitude-based New York punk scene, rather than the gob in your face, can’t-play-their-own-instruments UK punk scene, but it’s startling nonetheless. In three short years since 1977 (a.k.a the dawn of punk) Talking Heads had morphed into a wildly inventive art rock collective, and their creativity reached an apex with 1980’s Remain in Light. The three chord simplicity of the Ramones’ debut it is not.

The Heads had found themselves obsessed with Afrobeat – particularly the stylings of the king of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti – and endeavoured to replicate the sound of their polyrhythms, fed through a Brian Eno produced filter. Guitars that don’t always sound like guitars are layered over the top of each other, and frequently season the album with random quirks. Husband and wife rhythm section Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth are typically prominent, supplementing their elastic playing with the frenetic beats synonymous with both Africa and their new home in the Caribbean. On top of it all, David Byrne spins wildly, churning out disparate disconnected images and struggling in vain to keep it all together.

It’s hard to pick individual moments from the dense, almost uniform body of the album, with one exception: the stunning ‘Once in a Lifetime’, with Byrne stealing the show as a preacher/marionette. The song, and album that went with it, is a fascinatingly singular effort from a band breaking far beyond the confines of the restrictive punk scene and with all members right at the top of their game. Once in a lifetime stuff indeed.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) – 5:49

2.       Crosseyed and Painless – 4:48

3.       The Great Curve – 6:28

4.       Once in a Lifetime – 4:23

5.       Houses in Motion – 4:33

6.       Seen and Not Seen – 3:25

7.       Listening Wind – 4:43

8.       The Overload – 6:02

Listen to ‘Once in a Lifetime’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98AJUj-qxHI

Also released on 8^th October:

1980: Prince – Dirty Mind

Also released on 8^th October:

1971: John Lennon - Imagine

Also released on 8^th October:

2001: Royksopp – Melody A.M.

9th July - Red Hot Chili Peppers' By the Way

Artist – Album: Red Hot Chili peppers – By the Way

Released: 9^th July 2002

Sounds Like: The new and improved Red Hot Chili peppers

The Red Hot Chili’s had been through an awful lot by the time of their eighth studio album. Formed two decades earlier, they had begun life as the infamous cock-rockers (or should that be cock-sockers due to their unique way of wearing socks?) Tony Flow & the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, dabbling in punk, funk, rock and rap. As they changed their name and first began to release albums and gain a following outside of the Californian underground they operated mostly as a quartet, with the backbone of Anthony Kiedis and Flea backed by Jack Irons on drums and Hillel Slovak on guitar. Unfortunately, years of drug abuse and waywardness reached its inevitable conclusion as Slovak died of a heroin overdose in 1987, and Irons left the band soon after.

New recruits Chad Smith and John Frusciante would complete the most successful line up of the Chili Peppers career, and they soon forged greater success with their 1989 cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Higher Ground’, the album Mother’s Milk, and, more completely, with Blood Sugar Sex Magic and lead singles ‘Give It Away’and ‘Under the Bridge’. Things still weren’t quite settled though for the Chili’s though, and it took Frusciante to quit the band and spend a spell in rehab before they found their feet once more with 1999’s Californication. By the start of the new millennium and the release of By the Way, however, things were better than ever before.

Frusciante was seemingly freed from his shackles imposed upon him by crippling addiction and he took a much more prominent place in the band, writing the majority of the songs and embellishing each song with his versatile guitar work and his soaring backing vocals. Kiedis went sober in 2000, but he didn’t shy away from singing about the hard times, with ‘This is the Place’ being the most severe indictment of his previous dependency, containing the line about Slovak “On the day my best friend died I could not get my copper clean”. But for the most part the band seemed to revel in their newfound status as the mature, tee-total, stadium fillers that they had become. ‘Universally Speaking’, ‘Dosed’, ‘The Zephyr Song’ and ‘Cabron’ were joyous, sunny songs, ‘By the Way’, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Throw Away Your Television’ merged the funk-rap of before with the harmonious sound they were perfecting, whilst the latter half of the album, and, in particular, ‘Midnight’, ‘Tear’, ‘Warm Tape’ and ‘Venice Queen’ were near-psychedelic tracks that showcased the Chili’s sky high confidence and their willingness to experiment with the template.

By the Way was the triumphant culmination of years of hard work, resilience and no little talent; an album that won legions of new fans whilst still satisfying the old ones, one that left the critics satisfied but also peppered radio station’s playlist for years afterwards, one that confirmed their status amongst the highest echelon of rock’s elite. Nice one boys.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       By the Way – 3:37

2.       Universally Speaking – 4:19

3.       This Is the Place – 4:17

4.       Dosed – 5:12

5.       Don't Forget Me – 4:37

6.       The Zephyr Song – 3:52

7.       Can't Stop – 4:29

8.       I Could Die for You – 3:13

9.       Midnight – 4:55

10.   Throw Away Your Television – 3:44

11.   Cabron – 3:38

12.   Tear – 5:17

13.   On Mercury – 3:28

14.   Minor Thing – 3:37

15.   Warm Tape – 4:16

16.   Venice Queen – 6:07

Listen to ‘Minor Thing’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHmv2XYMsE

Also released on the 9^th July:

2007: Cherry Ghost – Thirst for Romance

Also released on the 9^th July:

2012: Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough?

8th June - Red Hot Chili Pepper's Californication

Artist – Album: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

Released: 8^th June 1999

Sounds Like: A dark summer

Summer’s here kids! With the UK finally getting some much needed continuous sunshine and temperatures hitting the early to mid 20’s (which, having just checked online, is similar to the highs of such well-known hotspots as Moscow, Minsk and Riga), it feels likes the hard slog through the looooong winter is finally over. Now is the time for beer gardens, bbq’s and summer playlists. Yay!

Today’s album seems to revel in its status as a faux summery album. From the title itself, which crosses the name of the Golden State with, well, sex, to the artwork, with a pool side picture bastardized by the strange colour scheme, things are not quite as light and warm as they first appear. The sweetest melody and mellowest guitar belongs to ‘Scar Tissue’, but in truth, like previous hit ‘Under the Bridge’, the song deals with lead singer Anthony Kiedis’ crippling drug addiction. ‘Emit Remmus’ is summer time backwards. At turns the music can be chilled or funky, but the subject matter tends towards the dark (though never gloomy), with subjects such as sex, death, suicide and drugs being covered.

Each member of the Chili’s had matured incredibly by this seventh album, and they had never collectively been stronger. Kiedis had turned into a genuinely great singer rather than an entertaining front man and John Frusciente had returned from his drug induced sabattical a cleaner, and arguably better guitarist. The rhythm section of Flea and Chad Smith, meanwhile, have always been one of the best the rock world has ever seen, and here they are borderline telepathic.

Californication is a downright brilliant album by a group at the peak of their powers, and, if you’re looking for an album with a little more to it than the general sunny pop fluff whilst you’re sat in the garden drinking Pims, you could do worse than to turn to this.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.        Around the World – 3:58

2.       Parallel Universe – 4:30

3.       Scar Tissue – 3:35

4.       Otherside – 4:15

5.       Get on Top – 3:18

6.       Californication – 5:21

7.       Easily – 3:51

8.       Porcelain – 2:43

9.       Emit Remmus – 4:00

10.   I Like Dirt – 2:37

11.   This Velvet Glove – 3:45

12.   Savior – 4:52

13.   Purple Stain – 4:13

14.   Right on Time – 1:52

15.   Road Trippin’ – 3:25

 Listen to ‘Scar Tissue’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJj5-lubeM

Also released on the 8^th June:

2010: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today