27th December - The Pretenders' Pretenders

Artist – Album: The Pretenders – The Pretenders

Released: 27^th December 1979

Sounds Like: Someone’s not impressed

So today was the day of a marathon journey back to Manchester after Christmas, a mere 286 miles on the map but 7 hour drive in horrible wet and windy conditions today. With just getting home being the main task for today, I didn’t have time to fully review this album. Luckily, I had it on my ipod, and a lovely little sister in the passenger who was happy to review it for me. Here’s her take on the album:

Track one: nernernernerner office clerk. Mum and Stuart Pickford. Makes me want to dance like in The Breakfast Club when they’re all high. Prefer her singing (not a clue what she’s on about mind you) to the electric jibber jabber of track two. Track 4, festive Caribbean (bit like in A Muppets Christmas Carol with the rats in Hawaiian shirts). Doesn’t sound like there’s much of a structure, a bit of a jam sesh… ‘Stop Your Sobbing’, I think I’d sob if she were being so mean! I like her more commercial sounding ones. Don’t reckon I’d like to have a barney with the lady! Nice guitar bit in the track after ‘Stop Your Sobbing’. Youtube misheard lyrics. I do think there’ll be no one like her in whatever room she’s in. I’m liking the album more as it goes along… “Stars in the sky” one makes me want to don a hippy skirt and floaty dance a bit like in The Lovely Bones when she’s enjoying her trippy heaven.

Albumaday... rating: 4.7/10 (per my sister!)

1.       Precious – 3:36

2.       The Phone Call – 2:29

3.       Up the Neck – 4:27

4.       Tattooed Love Boys – 2:59

5.       Space Invader – 3:26

6.       The Wait – 3:35

7.       Stop Your Sobbing – 2:38

8.       Kid – 3:06

9.       Private Life – 6:25

10.   Brass in Pocket – 3:04

11.   Lovers of Today – 5:51

12.   Mystery Achievement – 5:23

Listen to ‘Kid’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyCbkI9EgEA

Also released on the 27^th December:

1967: Bob Dylan – John Wesley Harding

Also released on the 27^th December:

1967: Leonard Cohen – Songs of Leonard Cohen

12th December - The Clash's Sandinista!

Artist – Album: The Clash – Sandinista!

Released: 12^th December 1980

Sounds Like: a little bit of everything

Following hot on the heels of the seminal double album London Calling, triple whammy Sandinista! must have been a mouth watering prospect if you were a fan of their unparalleled blend of punk, rock, pop, reggae, soul (*deep breath…*), ska, funk, jazz and rockabilly of way back in 1980. If, however, you are a blogger in 2013, trying your best to write a new post every single 24 hours, then the prospect of a 36 track, 144 minute looooong album is the stuff of bloody nightmares.

It’s not as good as London Calling and it’s a whole lot longer.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       The Magnificent Seven – 5:28

2.       Hitsville U.K. – 4:20

3.       Junco Partner – 4:53

4.       Ivan Meets G.I. Joe – 3:05

5.       The Leader – 1:41

6.       Something About England – 3:42

7.       Rebel Waltz – 3:25

8.       Look Here – 2:44

9.       The Crooked Beat – 5:29

10.   Somebody Got Murdered – 3:34

11.   One More Time – 3:32

12.   One More Dub – 3:34

13.   Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice) – 4:51

14.   Up in Heaven (Not Only Here) – 4:31

15.   Corner Soul – 2:43

16.   Let’s Go Crazy – 4:25

17.   If Music Could Talk – 4:36

18.   The Sound of Sinners – 4:00

19.   Police on My Back – 3:15

20.   Midnight Log – 2:11

21.   The Equaliser – 5:47

22.   The Call Up – 5:25

23.   Washington Bullets – 3:51

24.   Broadway – 5:45

25.   Lose This Skin – 5:07

26.   Charlie Don’t Surf – 4:55

27.   Mensforth Hill – 3:42

28.   Junkie Slip – 2:48

29.   Kingston Advice – 2:36

30.   The Street Parade – 3:26

31.   Version City – 4:23

32.   Living in Fame – 4:36

33.   Silicone on Sapphire – 4:32

34.   Version Pardner – 5:22

35.   Career Opportunities – 2:30

36.   Shepherds Delight – 3:25

Listen to ‘Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfMA9nYzo2M

28th November - The Jam's Sound Affects

Artist – Album: The Jam – Sound Affects

Released: 28^th November 1979

Sounds Like: Something to be thankful for

Hot dawg, it’s Thanksgiving!

Over here in Britain we don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving, and with plenty of good reasons: the tale of the pilgrims and the Native Americans breaking bread together doesn’t really relate to us; having another big family meal just a month before Christmas seems just a touch greedy; our particular brand of football is miles better than NFL (ooo, fighting talk!); and – ok, we admit – we couldn’t throw a good parade to save our lives.

Still, the real point of Thanksgiving is to take a moment and appreciate all the things in life that you have to be thankful for. At least, that’s what Friends and The Simpsons have taught me. And what am I thankful for today? The Jam. I’m thankful for spiky, psychedelic, and ever so British rock. I’m thankful for the infectious ‘Monday’, the acoustic marvel of ‘That’s Entertainment’ and the bristling ‘Man in the Corner Shop’. I’m thankful for ‘Start!’ despite of its shameless thievery of an old Beatles classic.  

It’s more of a thanksgiving special than a thanksgiving turkey.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Pretty Green – 2:37

2.       Monday – 3:02

3.       But I’m Different Now – 1:52

4.       Set the House Ablaze – 5:03

5.       Start! – 2:33

6.       That’s Entertainment – 3:38

7.       Dream Time – 3:54

8.       Man in the Corner Shop – 3:12

9.       Music for the Last Couple – 3:45

10.   Boy About Town – 2:00

11.   Scrape Away – 3:59

 
Listen to ‘Start!’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSqpT6gfDU

27th October - Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Artist – Album: Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols

Released: 27^th October 1977

Sounds Like: It’s my 300^th blog post (never mind the bollocks)

Wow, 300 posts! Hands up who thought I’d reach 300... Put your hands down guys, even I thought I'd get bored by mid-February...

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Holidays in the Sun – 3:22

2.       Bodies – 3:03

3.       No Feelings – 2:51

4.       Liar – 2:41

5.       God Save the Queen – 3:19

6.       Problems – 4:11

7.       Seventeen – 2:02

8.       Anarchy in the UK – 3:31

9.       Submission – 4:12

10.   Pretty Vacant – 3:18

11.   New York – 3:05

12.   EMI – 3:10

Listen to ‘Holidays in the Sun’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ah1JM9mf60

Also released on 27^th October:

1982: Prince – 1999

Also released on 27^th October:

1986: XTC – Skylarking

Also released on 27^th October:

2006: Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

21st September - Green Day's American Idiot

Artist – Album: Green Day – American Idiot

Released:  21^st September 2004

Sounds Like: adolescence

Today’s blog started with a straight shoot out between two albums from my schooldays. One was a concept album by a group of aging American rockers featuring songs nearing the ten minute mark, whilst the other was only the third release from a rural English guitar band with a fervent obsession with Radiohead. Naturally I went for Muse’s Absolution over Green Day’s American Idiot, opting for what I thought was the best of a bad bunch. Then, I found out Absolution wasn’t released 10 years ago today at all – it doesn’t reach that milestone for another 8 days silly me. Although I was a bit perturbed about having to write about the album that featured the pop-punk anthem “American Idiot” and the boring slow ballads “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” that I remember the kids moshing to, in truth I was a bit relieved because all of Muse’s songs are just a bit samey. And then, when I pressed play, I didn’t hear the expected pretentious, hackneyed record from the titans of those insufferable genres emo and power punk, but a pretty awesome indictment of George Dubya Bush’s America, with stonking great songs and straight-to-the-point lyrics.

The most obvious influence is The Who, the inventors of the concept album and the rock opera, but other clear reference points include The Clash (strongly felt on the title track) and Bowie (on the likes of ‘Jesus of Suburbia’, the stronger of the two bookending suites.)

Post 9/11 America was a confused place, with the country in a war that most didn’t understand and many didn’t want, led by a man variously viewed as an unflinching protector and a bumbling imbecile. Many artists riled against the government but it’s American Idiot, along with Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Rising’, that delivered the best, most enduring testimony of the time.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.        American Idiot – 2:54

2.        Jesus of Suburbia – 9:08

3.        Holiday – 3:52

4.        Boulevard of Broken Dreams – 4:20

5.        Are We the Waiting – 2:42

6.        St. Jimmy – 2:56

7.        Give Me Novacaine – 3:25

8.        She’s a Rebel – 2:00

9.        Extraordinary Girl – 3:33

10.    Letterbomb – 4:05

11.    Wake Me Up When September Ends – 4:45

12.    Homecoming – 9:18

13.    Whatsername – 4:14

Listen to ‘She’s a Rebel’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1raCtM3UGk

Also released on 21^st September:

1973: Faust – Faust IV

29th August - Iggy Pop's Lust for Life

Artist – Album: Iggy Pop – Lust for Life

Released:  29^th August 1977

Sounds Like: Choose life

There are many iconic scenes in Danny Boyle’s landmark 1996 film Trainspotting: from Renton’s Eno-soundtracked disgusting toilet dive, to the psychotic Begbie’s one-man-and-his-pool-cue brawl against an entire pub; from the terrifying drug induced roof crawling baby nightmare to the unfortunate kitchen episode with the parents of an underage girl that Renton has slept with. The film’s opener also sticks in the mind, with a young Ewan McGregor as Renton sprinting down Princes Street in Edinburgh, his eyes bulging on adrenaline and, no doubt, heroin. The music backing it is the bouncing, thrill-seeking ‘Lust for Life’, and a more appropriate song for a film there has never been.

In March 1977, Iggy Pop had released not-a-lot-of-fun The Idiot, a glum slow burner questioning rock posturing and detailing the demise of his contemporaries (reviewed what seems like a lifetime ago by yours truly here). Five months later, Pop had clearly laid those ghosts to rest with this nihilistic and rocking album. Things quick off splendidly with the rollicking title track, and this is followed by the aggressive ‘Sixteen’, the decadent ‘Passenger’, the mocking ‘Success’ and the cool ‘Tonight’. Pop was back enjoying life, and it's impossible not to be swept up in the enthusiasm.

As mentioned in its respective blog, The Idiot may well contain Pop’s strongest set of songs, but it’s an album to respect rather than love. Lust for Life, on the other hand, is necessarily primal and brazen, and requires little or no thought at all. As with Trainspotting, it may be visceral and unrefined, but it’s exhilarating and enjoyable, even for those of who would never dream of shooting up.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Lust for Life – 5:13

2.       Sixteen – 2:26

3.       Some Weird Sin – 3:42

4.       The Passenger – 4:44

5.       Tonight – 3:39

6.       Success – 4:25

7.       Turn Blue – 6:56

8.       Neighbourhood Threat – 3:25

9.       Fall in Love With Me – 6:30

Listen to ‘Success': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGbw-cz35qo

28th August - Devo's Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Artist – Album: Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Released:  28^th August 1978

Sounds Like: New wave for robots

I first came across Mark Mothersbaugh, the front man of Devo, when I was but a rugrat. Mothersbaugh, you see, was the composer of the theme tune to nineties cartoon Rugrats, a melody so simple and infectious that everybody in my high school music class would play it incessantly on the keyboard, like ‘Chopsticks’ for the 21^st Century. Like Max Fischer in Rushmore, I did pretty well all round in high school (Ok, ok, I never saved Latin or wrote a hit play), and Mothersbaugh supported me all the way: he provided the soundtrack to a host of Wes Anderson films, including the Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and, indeed, Rushmore. Finally, in university, I discovered Devo, and three of their best songs – the emphatic novelty hit ‘Whip It’, the genius deconstruction of the Rolling Stones’ classic ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ and the relentless, primitive ‘Mongoloid’.

Are We Not Men… does not contain their biggest hit, but those latter two tracks are here in all their mechanical wonder. Alongside them, is a selection of the jerkiest, catchiest songs new wave ever saw. Devo sound like a mix between Talking Heads and Kraftwerk, with Mothersbaugh yelping, stuttering and caterwauling like David Byrne having a panic attack, behind a mathematically designed danceable backing track. As well as the aforementioned duo (on ‘Satisfaction’, by the way, they come across as even more frustrated and desperate than in Jagger’s legendary performance), the bursting opener ‘Uncontrollable Urge’, the Johnny B. Goode referencing ‘Come Back Jonee’ and the delightful ‘Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’) are gems. The centrepiece is ‘Jocko Homo’ , a track borne from their philosophy of the “devolution of man” and contains the persistent, insane call and response “Are we not men? We are Devo”, which probably stands as the litmus test as to whether you think these are art rock messiahs or just very naughty boys.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Uncontrollable Urge – 3:09
2.       (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – 2:40
3.       Praying Hands – 2:47
4.       Space Junk – 2:14
5.       Mongoloid – 3:44
6.       Jocko Homo – 3:40
7.       Too Much Paranoias – 1:57
8.       Gut Feeling / (Slap Your Mammy) – 4:54
9.       Come Back Jonee – 3:47
10.   Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’) – 2:40
11.   Shrivel-Up – 3:05

Listen to ‘Uncontrollable Urge’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8UcpmUQkNU

Also released on 28^th August:

1973: Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On