7th July - Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Artist – Album: Spoon – Ga ga ga ga ga

Released: 7^th July 2007

Sounds Like: Radio ga ga ga ga ga

Not only is the UK currently blissfully wilting away in a mini-heatwave (it’s summer guys, this is what summer’s supposed to be like!), but Andy Murray finally lifting the Wimbledon crown, and with it Britain’s ancient dry spell in the competition, had the country (or at least the tennis favouring quotient of it) in raptures. The euphoric pop of a couple of the tracks here – the unbelievably catchy, hook-laden ‘You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb’ and the brass propelled ‘The Underdog’ – are absolutely perfect representations of the current national state of mind.
 

Those two tracks in particular stand out from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon’s sixth album, because they’re musically more layered and bouncy than anything the critically acclaimed Texan group had ever previously released. But they’re not the only songs of note here. ‘Don’t Make Me a Target’ (which took on a whole new meaning for me when I saw this fan video from the legendary Adam Buxton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBtXw6CPwg4) and ‘Don’t You Evah’ are great spiky, ironic tunes in the typical Spoon fashion; full of paranoia and bite yet still accessible enough to make it on to your driving music playlist. ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’ is appropriately haunting and haunted, ‘Eddie’s Raga’ is an enjoyably messy jam, whilst album closer ‘Black Like Me’ is beautifully melodic, skitting along a repetitive piano riff and Britt Daniel’s candid loneliness.
 

Great days like this deserve great albums and thankfully Spoon have obliged.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1. Don't Make Me a Target - 3:55
2. The Ghost of You Lingers - 3:34
3. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - 3:08
4. Don't You Evah - 3:36
5. Rhythm & Soul -3:30
6. Eddie's Ragga – 3:39
7. The Underdog - 3:42
8. My Little Japanese Cigarette Case –3:03
9. Finer Feelings – 4:54
10. Black Like Me – 3:25

Listen to ‘Black Like Me’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJXYpDdKn-c

Also released on the 7^th July:

1970: The Stooges – Fun House

Also released on the 7^th July:

2003: The Darkness – Permission to Land

Also released on the 7^th July:

2003: Kings of Leon – Youth and Young Manhood

6th July - The B-52's' The B-52's

Artist – Album: The B-52s – The B-52s

Released:  6^th July 1979

Sounds Like: 
 

Here's a bit of trivia for you: On 18^th April 1930, listeners to the 6.30pm Good Friday new broadcast on BBC Radio were matter-of-factly informed that “There is no news”, with the remainder of the usual broadcast time filled with piano music. On 6^th July 2013, my loyal (i.e. small) band of avid (i.e. capable of feigning interest when I bring the topic of music up) readers were treated to a similar scenario yesterday, as they eagerly searched the Albumaday… website only to find that there was no posting. Well guys, I can assure you that albums were released that day. It just happens that I was out enjoying the sun/getting drunk for a lot longer than I’d originally intended and therefore completely missed the 24 hour window to make a post. Doh!

In actual fact, the 6^th July saw the release of a bit of a belter. Released during the aftermath of the punk movement, when the rules were re-written and perversely the artists placed as much emphasis on their appearance as their music, The B-52’s’ self-titled debut was a breath of kitschy fresh air. With a sound that was as colourful and animated as that album cover, the album dances through it’s nine tracks in a state of unbridled ecstasy. Over a quirky amalgamation of pop rock, new wave, funk and punk, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson woop and holler whilst Fred Schneider sing-speaks in his campy vocal style about dance crazes, b-movie sci-fi and oceanic shindigs.

Opening with the brooding ‘Planet Claire’ things lighten up considerably by the revelries of ‘Dance This Mess Around’ and their signature tune (until ‘Love Shack’ that is) ‘Rock Lobster’. ‘There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)’ is playful nonsense, whilst their cover of ‘Downtown’ which closes proceedings is ramshackle and amateurish but expertly displays their love for all things 50’s and early 60’s. It simply is a great party album.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

 

 1.       Planet Claire – 4:35

 2.       52 Girls – 3:34

 3.       Dance This Mess Around – 4:36

 4.       Rock Lobster – 6:49

 5.       Lava – 4:54

 6.       There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon) – 4:54

 7.       Hero Worship – 4:07

 8.       6060-842 – 2:48

 9.       Downtown – 2:57

Listen to ‘6060-482’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hik5y1lNGbY

Also released on the 6^th July:

2009: Slow Club – Yeah So

5th July - Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Artist – Album: Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Released: 5^th July 2010

Sounds Like: Outkast’s better half?

Following a drawn out wait for release and feverish rumour mill more reminiscent of a summer football transfer saga, Sir Lucious Left Foot was finally released in the summer of 2010 to near universal acclaim. It perhaps shouldn’t surprise anyone that one half of Outkast, possible the 21^st century’s greatest group, should produce such an accomplished and assured debut. But, you know, it kind of did...

In the southern hip hop duo, Big Boi was seen as the heavy – his lyrics contained powerful hip hop bravado and he possessed a machine gun flow that few of his contemporaries could compete with, but wasn’t he really just the muscles to back up Andre 3000’s offbeat genius and deft creativity?

Instead, with superb tracks like ‘Shutterbugg’, ‘Tangerine’, ‘Hustle Blood’ and the Harold Melvin sampling ‘Shine Blockas’, this album proved he was his friend’s creative equal. ‘General Patton’ features a sample from an opera, ‘You Ain’t No DJ’ is propelled by a manic backbeat that could’ve come from an early The Prodigy track, whilst ‘Be Still’, featuring the angelic Janelle Monáe, becomes a beautiful funky ballad. Monáe is just one of an impressive cast of supporting characters, as the likes of T.I., Jamie Foxx, George Clinton, B.O.B. and Gucci Mane all bring their considerable talents to the court, but Big Boi remains the star. His delivery as elastic as ever, mellow one minute, frenetic the next. And whilst the themes here are very much the typical R&B cocktail of bragging, sex and clubbing, here the lines are dispensed with fantastic wit and skill. For example, in the weed-celebrations of ‘Fo Yo Sorrows’(featuring George Clinton, who the album’s funky looseness has drawn comparisons to) we're hit with the following low blow “In my chair, as I sit back smiling from ear to ear with a fistful of your girlfriend's hair. Yes, she'll blow one tonight, fo' yo' sorrows”. Oooo, that's got to hurt! Honestly, even the skits are funny.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10
 
1.    Feel Me (Intro) - 1:28
2.    Daddy Fat Sax - 2:36
3.    Turns Me On - 3:29
4.    Follow Us - 3:35
5.    Shutterbugg - 3:35
6.    General Patton - 3:12
7.    Tangerine - 4:14
8.    You Ain't No DJ - 5:31
9.    Hustle Blood - 4:00
10. Be Still - 5:10
11. Fo Yo Sorrows - 3:42
12. Night Night - 3:45
13. Shine Blockas - 3:45
14. The Train, Pt. 2 (Sir Lucious Left Foot Saves the Day) – 5:20
15. Back Up Plan - 3:43

Listen to ‘Be Still’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvkaDW-OfUU

 

 

4th July - Sufjan Stevens' Illinois

Artist – Album: Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

Released: 4^th July 2005

Sounds Like: Summer camp and Superman 

Sufjan Stevens is clearly a man after my own heart. Following his 2003 release of the gentle indie-folk brilliance of Michigan (titled Sufjan Stevens Presents... Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lake State on the cover), he announced his intention to release an album for each of the 50 U.S. states. It’s a stupid boy project, like Analbumaday…! Wahaaayyyy! Album no. 2 of the assignment – and yes, the only other one he’s done, as he’s since confessed that it was just a gimmick to promote sales – is Illinois, or, as the cover would have it, Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the Illinoise. 

The album is littered with allusions to very American matters (UFOs, Christianity, highways, summer camp and Superman), state-specific incidents (‘The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders’ is a reference to Robert Wadlow, or the Giant of Illinois, who measured just shy of 9ft and is the tallest man in history, whilst ‘John Wayne Gacy, Jr’ is the frankly chilling bio of one of America’s most notorious serial killers and paedophiles) and deeply personal episodes (such as the delicate retelling of a close friend’s battle with bone cancer on ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’). Aided by lush strings, flutes, banjos, glockenspiels and heavenly backing vocals, he often interweaves this trio of different standpoints into one glorious all-encompassing indie-folk epic, never more so than on the escapist ‘Chicago’.

What a shame that he won’t be bringing us more of these lovingly crafted postcards to his most beloved places. His irreverent humour, lucid prose and ability to mesh touching personal situations with the history and culture of a region bring to mind great modern travel writers such as Bill Bryson. I’ve never been to Illinois, but this exceptional album attaches such warmth and affection to the place that I feel like I grew up there and still think of it with a wry, nostalgic smile every now and again.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois - 2:08

2.       The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!' - 2:14

3.       Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream) - 6:45

4.       John Wayne Gacy Jr. - 3:19

5.       Jacksonville - 5:24

6.       A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons - 0:47

7.       Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother! - 3:03

8.       One Last 'Whoo-Hoo!' for the Pullman - 0:06

9.       Chicago - 6:04

10.   Casimir Pulaski Day - 5:53

11.   To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament - 1:40

12.   The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts - 6:17

13.   Prairie Fire That Wanders About - 2:11

14.   A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze - 0:19

15.   The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! - 5:23

16.   They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! - 5:09

17.   Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell - 0:40

18.   In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth - 0:35

19.   The Seer's Tower - 3:53

20.   The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders (Part I: The Great Frontier – Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now) - 7:02

21.   Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few - 0:46

22.   Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run - 4:21

Listen to ‘Come on! Feel the Illinoise!’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaQDYaK34Q4

3rd July - The White Stripes' White Blood Cells

Artist – Album: The White Stripes – White Blood Cells

Released:  3^rd July 2001

Sounds Like: Bloody good

So, another day, another White Stripes album. Today’s White Blood Cells joins Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump as another of the Detroit duos albums to get the Albumaday... treatment. And you know what? This could be the best of the lot.

It doesn’t take long to be immersed in its rambling rock and roll genius. The swaggering garage rock of ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ is followed up terrifically by the bumbling county rock of ‘Hotel Yorba’ in probably the finest opening one-two of their career. With these two being trailed by the sweetly behind the times ‘I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman’ and the frankly peerless indie rock of ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’ (so good not even the foghorn vocalled Joss Stone or my high school band could spoil it), the album sets off on one hell of a roll. Equally impressively, they keep it just as energetic, playful and witty throughout.

And... we're done!

Albumaday... rating:  9/10

1.       Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground – 3:04

2.       Hotel Yorba – 2:10

3.       I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman – 2:54

4.       Fell in Love with a Girl – 1:50

5.       Expecting – 2:03

6.       Little Room – 0:50

7.       The Union Forever – 3:26

8.       The Same Boy You’ve Always Known – 3:09

9.       We’re Going to Be Friends – 2:22

10.   Offend in Every Way – 3:06

11.   I Think I Smell a Rat – 2:04

12.   Aluminium – 2:19

13.   I Can’t Wait – 3:38

14.   Now Mary – 1:47

15.   I Can Learn – 3:31

16.   This Protector – 2:12

Listen to ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27BfBkRHbs

2nd July - Crowded House's Woodface

Artist – Album: Crowded House – Woodface

Released: 2^nd July 1991

Sounds Like: You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Finns

Long before the Flight of the Conchords wooed the world with their comedy folk routine, the brothers Finn were New Zealand’s premier songwriting duo. The antipodean siblings first enjoyed success together during their 80’s Split Enz heyday, but typical rivalries eventually put paid to that new wave group and they went their separate ways – Tim to continue as a solo artist and Neil to co-found Crowded House. Thankfully they briefly reunited around at the start of the nineties, looking to produce something collaboratively as the Finn Brothers but which eventually became the bulk of Woodface.

The result was pure pop of the finest vintage. Admittedly, not all of it is excellent – a lot of people blame lead single ‘Chocolate Cake’s spectacular failure to chart highly in the U.S. on its comic anti-consumerism message but really it’s just a bit of throwaway rubbish, whilst the contributions from the third songwriter in the band, drummer Paul Heston with ‘Italian Plastic’ and hidden track ‘I’m Still Here’, fall desperately short of the mark. More often than not though, the songs within are among the best in either of the brothers extensive back-catalogue. ‘Weather with You’ has a great sing-along chorus and a spine-tingling lead guitar riff, ‘Four Seasons in One Day’ is sombre and poetic, whilst ‘She Goes On’, ‘As Sure As I Am’ and ‘All I Ask’ are effortless love songs. I’m split on whether ‘Fall At Your Feet’ or ‘Whispers and Moans’ is the best song here, but both contain stunning harmonies, effecting lyrics and brilliantly realised pop melodies.  

This album is one of those that I’ve always had in my life – along with Kirsty MacColl, The Pretenders and John Martyn, Crowded House always seemed to be there to soundtrack long drives to the sea for our family holidays or sitting around the table every Sunday eating Mum’s trademark roast beef/rubber. So it’s hard for me to detach sentiment from it and to not exaggerate how good it is. I think giving it a seven out of ten is a fair reflection of its quality, but my heart is screaming out to me that it’s a lot better than even that.  

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1. Chocolate Cake – 4:02

2. It's Only Natural – 3:32

3. Fall at Your Feet – 3:18

4. Tall Trees – 2:19

5. Weather with You – 3:44

6. Whispers and Moans – 3:39

7. Four Seasons in One Day – 2:50

8. There Goes God – 3:50

9. Fame Is – 2:23

10. All I Ask – 3:55

11. As Sure as I Am - 2:53

12. Italian Plastic – 3:39

13. She Goes On – 3:15

14. How Will You Go – 4:14

Listen to ‘Whispers and Moans’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZP9LbwEP7U

1st July - The Band's Music from Big Pink

Artist – Album: The Band – Music from Big Pink

Released:  1^st July 1968

Sounds Like: The mid-point!

Woahhh, we’re halfway there. Woooah-ohhh! Living on a prayer!

It’s July, which means we’re on to the seventh month of 2013, which in turn means that there’s only half a year left to go. Living on prayer might be a tad strong, but occasionally I have doubted the sanity of this epic enterprise, posts about albums released on that day, every day, for a full year. Still, 183 blogs have been posted, and 182 of the little blighters are all that remain. Half-well done me, but half-well done to you too dear reader. Half-well done. I couldn’t have half-done it without you. Give yourself (half) a pat on the back... Not easy is it?

In some ways it might have been more appropriate to have had Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet as today’s album, seen as I did kick off with one of its lyrics. But that didn’t come out until September in the UK, and a chorus featuring the line we’re three quarters of the way there doesn’t sound nearly as good. No, we’ll have to make do with one of the greatest albums of all instead. That’s all.

Music From Big Pink comes from that fascinating period of the late 60’s, when bands were still producing records of unmatched craft and invention, but the giddy psychedelia of the summer of love felt like a long time ago. The albums sums up the general mood perfectly, The songs have an element of melancholy, but are mostly just wistful for that bygone time of innocence and happiness. A lot of that comes from Richard Manuel’s wispy tenor vocals, that perpetually have an air of loneliness to them. Stunning harmonies ably back him up, whilst the band’s music itself is the pinnacle of melodic Americana.

There’s not a large number of hit material here but songs such as ‘Tears of Rage’, ‘To Kingdom Come’, ‘The Weight’, ‘This Wheel’s on Fire’ and ‘I Shall Be Released’ have long been recognised for their brilliance. If the remaining 182 are as good as this, I’d have no problem doing another year.

Albumaday... rating:  10/10

1.       Tears of Rage – 5:23

2.       To Kingdom Come – 3:22

3.       In a Station – 3:34

4.       Caledonia Mission – 2:59

5.       The Weight – 4:34

6.       We Can Talk – 3:06

7.       Long Black Veil – 3:06

8.       Chest Fever – 5:18

9.       Lonesome Suzie – 4:04

10.   This Wheel’s on Fire – 3:14

11.   I Shall Be Released – 3:19

Listen to ‘The Weight’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9evTAZM-so

Also released on the 1^st July:

2003: Sufjan Stevens – Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State