11th December - John Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

Artist – Album: John Lennon – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

Released: 11^th December 1970

Sounds Like: Nowhere boy

Once upon a time, John Lennon wrote songs called ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘I Feel Fine’. By the end of 1972, he was writing songs called ‘Isolation’, ‘Love’, ‘God’ and ‘My Mummy’s Dead’ – I think it’s fair to say the man had moved on to bigger things.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is big in almost every sense: the topics he covers, the emotions he conveys, the fact that he was the man that once claimed that is his band were bigger Jesus. The only way it isn’t huge is in its arrangement. More often than not, Lennon is accompanied just by a piano or a guitar, as he works his way through a litany of troubles.

If that all sounds like a bit of hard work – and, trust me, this is serious stuff – you have to remember there is still the Lennon in there who wrote the likes of ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘All You Need is Love’, and if there’s a pop hook and a positive message to be mined, it’s unlikely to be ignored completely. ‘Mother’ may be one of the saddest songs in his oeuvre, but it’s built on a beautiful piano melody. ‘Hold On’, ‘Working Class Hero’ and ‘God’ are all therapeutic, powerful and enjoyable in equal turns. Lennon even sounds hopeful on ‘Love’. Only on ‘Well Well Well’ does the album verge close to unlistenable. Never has a top pop star been so open, honest and brutal.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Mother – 5:34

2.       Hold On – 1:52

3.       I Found Out – 3:37

4.       Working Class Hero – 3:48

5.       Isolation – 2:51

6.       Remember – 4:33

7.       Love – 3:21

8.       Well Well Well – 5:59

9.       Look at Me – 2:53

10.   God – 4:09

11.   My Mummy’s Dead – 0:49

 
Listen to ‘Mother’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDVkkwl6aJo

Also released on the 11^th December:

1968: Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears

10th December - Queen's A Day at the Races

Artist – Album: Queen – A Day at the Races

Released: 10^th December 1976

Sounds Like: It’s all done in the best possible taste

Queen were the Seventies’ queens of camp and the Seventies was surely the campiest decade of them all. Saturday Night Fever and Grease stormed the box office, ABBA and Village People filled dance floors and you wouldn’t be seen dead unless you were sporting a perfectly coiffured moustache, proud gold medallion and skin-tight sparkly spandex. Everyone smelt of Brut or Old Spice. Admittedly, I still hadn’t been born back then and so my image is based mainly on John Travolta films and talking head programmes like I Love the Seventies, but I think that’s about right. If it isn’t, A Day at the Races isn’t doing anything to make me change my mind.

The fact that ‘Somebody to Love’ – a song that has appeared in the likes of both Glee and Ella Enchanted in recent years – doesn’t come across as particularly overdramatic says a lot about the bombast and pageantry of this set. The group took the view that theatre of A Night at the Opera, the parent album of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ amongst others, ain’t broke and don’t need fixing.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite hit the heights of that previous album, with the unabashed pomposity and blatant strive for sales occasionally getting a bit old. Aside from ‘Somebody to Love’, ‘You Take My Breath Away’, ‘Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy’ and (maybe) ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ the rest of the album is – although never boring – just a little bit too silly.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Tie Your Mother Down – 4:48

2.       You Take My Breath Away – 5:09

3.       Long Away – 3:34

4.       The Millionaire Waltz – 4:54

5.       You and I – 3:25

6.       Somebody to Love – 4:56

7.       White Man – 4:59

8.       Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy – 2:54

9.       Drowse – 3:45

10.   Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) – 5:50

Listen to ‘Somebody to Love’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pMM4iwC-ag

Also released on the 10^th December:

2002: GZA/Genius – Legend of the Liquid Sword

5th December - The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed

Artist – Album: The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

Released: 5^th December 1969

Sounds Like: Whatever the Beatles can do…

Let It Bleed was the last Stones album to feature the doomed Brian Jones, the first member of the infamous “27 club” (soon to be joined by Joplin, Hendrix and Morrisson) and one of the most talented musicians in pop history. The Rolling Stones were his band – he had picked the team and led them out, chosen their identity and played lead guitar – but by the late Sixties drug and mental problems had meant that he was increasingly on the periphery. He appeared on only two tracks here (autoharp on ‘You Got the Silver’, and percussion on ‘Midnight Rambler’) and a little like Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones seemed to be getting on just fine without their estranged icon.

In fact, Let It Bleed was right in the middle of a stunning succession of albums for the group; beginning with the previous year’s Beggar’s Banquet and concluding with Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. Each of these greats were shining examples of the sum being more than the parts, and when the parts include ‘Gimme Shelter’ and ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ that really is saying something.

In the olden days people would practice bloodletting, whereby medicians would cut the patient to let out small quantities of blood to cure or prevent illness and disease. It must have been tough, but the band knew they had to cut Jones loose; that for the Rolling Stones to prosper, they had to let it bleed.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Gimme Shelter – 4:30

2.       Love in Vain – 4:19

3.       Country Honk – 3:07

4.       Live with Me – 3:33

5.       Let It Bleed – 5:28

6.       Midnight Rambler – 6:52

7.       You Got the Silver – 2:50

8.       Monkey Man – 4:12

9.       You Can’t Always Get What You Want – 7:28

Listen to ‘Monkey Man’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNY8eYmzdH4

3rd December - The Who's My Generation

Artist – Album: The Who – My Generation

Released: 3^rd December 1966

Sounds Like: Suitable for all generations

For those that are more familiar with the bloated excesses of The Who’s 70’s efforts such as rock-opera Tommy and the behemoth Who’s Next, My Generation comes across as incredibly trim. The fact that only one track reaches the four minute mark suggests a collection that is at once both lean and geared up. Indeed, that incredible title track is as wiry and tough as music got in the Sixties, as it stutters and bounces like a bog-eyed, pogoing amphetamine addict. But that only tells half the story, as one of the real treats of listening to their debut is that it leaves little clue as to what genre they would come to rest on – would it be the proto-punk of ‘My Generation’, the soul-tinged “Maximum R&B” of ‘Please, Please, Please’ or the glistening power-pop of ‘The Kids Are Alright’? In the end, the group cemented their legend on anthemic dad rock and windmilled power chords, but at this point in their career it seemed that they could have done anything

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Out in the Street – 2:31

2.       I Don’t Mind – 2:36

3.       The Good’s Gone – 4:02

4.       La-La-La-Lies – 2:17

5.       Much Too Much – 2:47

6.       My Generation – 3:18

7.       The Kids Are Alright – 3:04

8.       Please, Please, Please – 2:45

9.       It’s Not True – 2:31

10.   I’m a Man – 3:21

11.   A Legal Matter – 2:48

12.   The Ox – 3:50

Listen to ‘The Kids Are Alright’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afam2nIae4o

Also released on the 3^rd December:

1965: The Beatles – Rubber Soul

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