17th August - Miles Davis' Kind of Blue

Artist - Album: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Released: 17th August 1959
Sounds Like: Birth of the cool

Like Christmas or a birthday, a day like today comes but once a year and promises excitement, good will and cheer to all men. Yes, today is the first day of the Barclays Premier League season.  It should be a corker.

It'd have to go some way to beat the opening day of the 1959-60 season though. Amongst other high scoring games, there was the 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Preston North End, a 4-0 romp for Blackburn Rovers against Fulham, a 3-0 shellacking of Leicester City by West Ham United and 3-2 victories all round for Blackpool, West Bromwich Albion (against Manchester United that one) and Burnley (the eventual champions. Burnley!). Imagine that lot on Match of the Day. At the end of the first round of fixtures Tottenham Hotspur would top the table though, after a comprehensive battering of Newcastle 5-1. That victory would serve as an indicator of the landmark that was to come: the following season they became the first team of the 20th century to win the Fa Cup and League double.

Another landmark of that rich era came courtesy of Miles Davis, who, with the release of Kind of Blue, submitted his entry into the pantheon of the greateat and most influential albums of all time.  Aided by one of the most impressive bands ever assembled - John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers - the sextet jammed over a set of five modal sketches, each becoming a study in scale based improvisation and elegant, sophisticated cool.

Without in any way being knowledgeable or especially enthusiastic about jazz, this, along with Davis' own Birth of the Cool and Coltrane's A Love Supreme, is easily the beat jazz album I've ever come across.  What separates Kind of Blue from the rest is that it's actually one of the best albums I've heard of any genre.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1. So What - 9:22
2. Freddie Freeloader - 9:46
3. Blue in Green - 5:37
4. All Blues - 11.33
5. Flamenco Sketches - 9:26

Listen to 'All Blues': www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIfdYs8WErM

Also released on the 17th August: 

2007: Seabear - The Ghost That Carried Us Away

Also released on the 17th August:

2009: The XX - The XX

Also released on the 17th August:

2009: Mum - Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know

11th August - Chic's C'est Chic

Artist – Album: Chic – C’est Chic

Released: 11^th August 1978

Sounds Like: Disco’s shimmering, expertly assembled peak

 

“If you’re a fan of Chic, consider yourself unique”

So goes the opening lines of ‘Chic Cheer’, the self-aggrandizing first track on Chic’s sophomore effort, C’est Chic. Whilst the sentiment didn’t quite ring true when it was released – disco was still the height of fashion in 1978 and Chic scored a couple of huge hits with ‘Le Freak’ and ‘I Want Your Love’ – it wouldn’t take long for punk to rear its ugly, self-pierced head and purge all remnants of the spangled jump suits era. Amidst all those snarling, sneering anarchists, those who hung on to the cult of the Chic Organisation Ltd must have felt pretty lonely. But everything in music is cyclical (which is why I’m keeping hold of my keytar, shoulder pads and flock of seagulls wig in expectant readiness), and Chic is now chic again. Nile Rodgers had a starring role in the Daft Punk’s anthem of the summer ‘Get Lucky’, and the group produced possibly the standout set of a wonderfully celebratory Glastonbury.

As a result, more and more people are dipping into the group’s back catalogue and, whilst the newly released greatest hits Up All Night may be the easiest way in, you could do worse than banging on this classic album. Whilst everyone knows the hits, the album tracks are hardly filler. ‘At Last I Am Free’ is a quiet ballad, a reminiscence of a Black Panther rally disguised as a love song. ‘Happy Man’ and ‘Sometimes You Win’ are exultant, whilst the instrumental ‘Savoir Faire’ has an elegant cool.

Rodgers and Bernard Edwards seem to have struck upon all encompassing formula for creating joyous, groovy perfection, and they’ve calculatingly utilised it to huge success for both themselves and for other artists (Diana Ross, David Bowie and Modjo to name just a wildly diverse three). To call this album their crowning glory is difficult as they’ve had so many highlights (and follow up album Risque is arguably even better), but it is still irresistible.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

 

1.       Chic Cheer – 4:42

2.       Le Freak – 5:23

3.       Savoir Faire – 5:01

4.       Happy Man – 4:17

5.       I Want Your Love – 6:45

6.       At Last I Am Free – 7:08

7.       Sometimes You Win – 4:26

8.       (Funny) Bone – 3:41

Listen to ‘I Want Your Love’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFqVtFCJEk

28th Feb - Van Morrison's Moondance

Artist – Album: Van Morrison - Moondance

Released:  28^th February 1970

Sounds Like: That feeling you get when you impress everyone by knowing what year Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ was released. 

Apologies, dear reader (note the use of the singular there), for only just getting this blog out before midnight. Beginning a blog with only an hour of the day left is not on and I really must do better. I had planned on having an evening of blogging, maybe making a start on the next couple of days (God knows when I’m going to do them now) but just as I was leaving work a colleague called and said that someone had dropped out of their networking quiz team and they really needed me to step in. How could I say no to that desperate plea? I just couldn’t. Plus I like to be a smart ass. We did pretty well, finishing third out of what must’ve been about a million teams (slight exaggeration) and it may (not) surprise you that we bossed the music round, but it does mean I’ve been a bit lax when it comes to today’s blog.

Fortunately, Van Morrison’s Moondance is not an album that needs a lot to be said about it. His second solo album, it’s arguably his best (or at least makes the top two) and is lit up by Van the Man’s soulful songwriting and exceptional vocal talents. It’s littered with some of his greatest tunes: the opening ‘And It Stoned Me’ which almost sounds like a Tom Sawyer slice of Americana; the jazzy ‘Moondance’; the partying centrepiece ‘Caravan’; the lush, brilliant ‘Into the Mystic’; the giddy salutation ‘Glad Tidings’.

This is a great album; one with enough class and that has earned enough praise over the years to be able to deal with being shunned by me for some charity pub quiz at Stockport County’s football ground. Hopefully.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       And It Stoned Me – 4:30

2.       Moondance – 4:35

3.       Crazy Love – 2:34

4.       Caravan – 4:57

5.       Into the Mystic – 3:25

6.       Come Running – 2:30

7.       These Dreams of You – 3:50

8.       Brand New Day – 5:09

9.       Everyone – 3:31

10.   Glad Tidings – 3:42

Listen to ‘Caravan’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBFCfGLVnlI