7th September - The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs

Artist – Album: The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs

Released:  7^th September 1999

Sounds Like: The book of Love

69 Love Songs does exactly what it says on the tin: a hugely ambitious project, it sets out to serenade us with 69 brilliant songs about love. This is no Mills & Boon album though; Stephen Merritt examines the condition of love from all angles, dissecting the grisly and painful bits at least as much as the warm and fuzzy bits, always with wit and style.

There, 69 words.

Albumaday... rating: 9/10

1.       Absolutely Cuckoo – 1:34

2.       I Don’t Believe in the Sun – 4:16

3.       All My Little Words – 2:46

4.       A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off – 2:41

5.       Reno Dakota – 1:05

6.       I Don’t Want to Get Over You – 2:22

7.       Come Back from San Francisco – 2:48

8.       The Luckiest Guy of the Lower East Side – 3:43

9.       Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits – 2:25

10.   The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be – 1:11

11.   I Think I Need a New Heart – 2:32

12.   The Book of Love – 2:42

13.   Fido, Your Leash is Too Long – 2:33

14.   How Fucking Romantic – 0:58

15.   The One You Really Love – 2:53

16.   Punk Love – 0:58

17.   Parades Go By – 2:56

18.   Boa Constrictor – 0:58

19.   A Pretty Girl Is Like… - 1:50

20.   My Sentimental Melody – 3:07

21.   Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing – 2:27

22.   Sweet-Lovin’ Man – 4:59

23.   The Things We Did and Didn’t Do – 2:11

24.   Roses – 0:27

25.   Love Is Like Jazz – 2:56

26.   When My Boy Walks Down the Street – 2:38

27.   Time Enough for Rocking When We’re Old – 2:03

28.   Very Funny – 1:26

29.   Grand Canyon – 2:28

30.   No One Will Ever Love You – 3:14

31.   If You Don’t Cry – 3:06

32.   You’re My Only Home – 2:17

33.   (Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy – 2:18

34.   My Only Friend – 2:01

35.   Promises of Eternity – 3:46

36.   World Love – 3:07

37.   Washington D.C. – 1:53

38.   Long-Forgotten Fairytale – 3:37

39.   Kiss Me Like You Mean It – 2:00

40.   Papa Was a Rodeo – 5:01

41.   Epitaph for My Heart – 2:50

42.   Asleep and Dreaming – 1:53

43.   The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing – 2:46

44.   The Way You Say Good-Night – 2:44

45.   Abigail, Belle of Kilronan – 2:00

46.   I Shatter – 3:09

47.   Underwear – 2:49

48.   It’s a Crime – 3:54

49.   Busby Berkeley Dreams – 3:36

50.   I’m Sorry I Love You – 3:06

51.   Acoustic Guitar – 2:37

52.   The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure – 3:10

53.   Love in the Shadows – 2:54

54.   Bitter Tears – 2:51

55.   Wi’ Nae Wee Bairn Ye’ll Me Beget – 1:55

56.   Yeah! Oh, Yeah! – 2:19

57.   Experimental Music Love – 0:29

58.   Meaningless – 2:08

59.   Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin – 1:46

60.   Queen of the Savages – 2:12

61.   Blue You – 3:03

62.   I Can’t Touch You Anymore – 3:05

63.   Two Kinds of People – 1:10

64.   How to Say Goodbye – 2:48

65.   The Night You Can’t Remember – 2:17

66.   For We Are the King of the Boudoir – 1:14

67.   Strange Eyes – 2:01

68.   Xylophone Track – 2:47

69.   Zebra – 2:15

Listen to ‘Abigail, Belle of Kilronan’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75u4mN1HO0M

Also released on 7^th September:

1998: Belle & Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap

Also released on 7^th September:

2004: The Black Keys – Rubber Factory

Also released on 7^th September:

2011: Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

6th September - Paul Weller's Wild Wood

Artist – Album: Paul Weller – Wild Wood

Released:  6^th September 1993

Sounds Like:  very rustic, very British, very Weller

First there was The Jam: literate, modish punk rock legends who infamously led the upset BBC DJ Tony Blackburn to opine “It's disgusting the way punks sing about violence. Why can't they sing about trees and flowers?”. Then there was The Style Council: experimental, Motown obsessed sophisti-poppers whose recordings had a typically Eighties sheen. Finally, Paul Weller (who would be known as Paul Well-‘Ard if he was a cockney gangster) decided to go it alone, blending elements from both of his previous incarnations to form a mixed but distinct new sound.

There’s a dichotomy to the two best known songs from this album too – ‘Sunflower’ is an electric rocker, with the powerful refrain of “And I miss you so” in the chorus full of Steve Marriott-esque soul. ‘Wild Wood’, meanwhile, is an acoustic led folk masterpiece, guiding the listener through autumnal, rustic chords and lyrics of self-doubt and soul searching. (Incidentally, my sister when she was younger used to sing along to the title track with “waa waa woo”. As ever, it’s hard to know exactly what was going on in that little head of hers…). The rest of the album follows in a similar vein, with pastoral folk sitting comfortably alongside passionate rockers, with a few trippy instrumentals thrown in for good measure.

Wild Wood wasn’t quite the most commercially successful album of his solo career, but it’s certainly the one that has had the greatest impact. Whereas The Jam had influenced groups such as the Smiths, Wild Wood opened up the doors for the likes of Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene and Cast; and Paul Weller was proclaimed as the godfather (or Modfather) of the burgeoning Sixties-fixated Britpop scene.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Sunflower – 4:06

2.       Can You Heal Us (Holy Man) – 3:41

3.       Wild Wood – 3:22

4.       Instrumental (Part 1) – 1:37

5.       All the Pictures on the Wall – 3:56

6.       Has My Fire Really Gone Out? – 3:50

7.       Country – 3:39

8.       Instrumental Two – 0:50

9.       5^th Season – 4:45

10.   The Weaver – 3:43

11.   Instrumental One (Part 2) – 0:34

12.   Foot of the Mountain – 3:37

13.   Shadow of the Sun – 7:36

14.   Holy Man (reprise) – 1:50

15.   Moon on Your Pyjamas – 4:00

16.   Hung Up – 2:49

Listen to ‘All the Pictures on the Wall’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOOB0p2r7D0

5th September - Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker

Artist – Album: Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Released:  5^th September 2000

Sounds Like: The life of Ryan

I don’t know about you, but I had my doubts when I saw that the first track on Heartbreaker is an argument about Morrissey. It doesn’t fill me with particularly high hopes that the rest of the songs are going to be full of quality and creativity if you chose to lead with a pointless conversation. However, whilst I don’t know how many other albums there are that begin with a Mozza debate, I can tell you this: out of the one albums that I know of that begin this way, 100% of them are great.

Ryan Adams famously has an ego the size of Carolina but even that must have taken a bit of a battering when his critically acclaimed but volatile group Whiskeytown finally imploded in 1999. He barely showed it though, and it wasn’t long before he bounced back with this, his first solo effort. And there’s enough good stuff here to support the courage of his conviction: ‘To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)’ is a rip-roaring rocker, ‘My Winding Wheel’ is a giddy love song and ‘Amy’ is a song of quiet resignation, suggesting those winding wheels may have come off somewhere in-between. There are also some stellar collaborations to enjoy, from the various contributions of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, to his hooking up with the golden voiced Emmylou Harris on ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina. ‘Come Pick Me Up’ is possibly the album highlight, a gorgeous, modern country song which was listed in Pitchfork Media’s top 500 tracks of the 2000s.

Heartbreaker helped to make Ryan Adams a star, and he became the poster boy of the final era of the alt-country movement. Later albums found him moving away from his country roots with varying success – the rock and pop of second album Gold was a resounding success, but the sketchy hard rock and punk of Rock and Roll is best ignored – but he’s so far yet to better this.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       (Argument with David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey) – 0:37

2.       To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) – 3:04

3.       My Winding Wheel – 3:13

4.       Amy – 3:46

5.       Oh My Sweet Carolina – 4:57

6.       Bartering Lines – 3:59

7.       Call Me On Your Way Back Home – 3:09

8.       Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) – 2:08

9.       Come Pick Me Up – 5:18

10.   To Be the One – 3:01

11.   Why Do They Leave? – 3:38

12.   Shakedown on 9^th Street – 2:53

13.   Don’t Ask for the Water – 2:56

14.   In My Time of Need – 5:39

15.   Sweet Lil Gal (23^rd/1^st) – 3:39

Listen to ‘My Winding Wheel’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIeLrcD672M

Also released on 5^th September:

2005: Richard Hawley – Coles Corner

Also released on 5^th September:

2006: Grizzly Bear – Yellow House

Also released on 5^th September:

2007: Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala

4th September - The Hidden Cameras' Awoo

Artist – Album: The Hidden Cameras - Awoo

Released:  4^th September 2006

Sounds Like: “gay church folk”

Given three words to describe The Hidden Cameras’ music, I don’t think “gay church folk” are quite the trio that spring to my mind, but that’s exactly what frontman Joel Gibbs plumped for back in 2003. On that years’ The Smell of Our Own and 2004’s Mississauga Goddam they may have been more overtly homosexual (with songs named ‘Ban Marriage’ and one about golden showers), but by Awoo you have to know what you’re looking for to pick up on the references. How churchy they are is also a matter for debate – I suppose you could draw a link between their deliciously pure chamber pop and the interior of a pristine chapel, whereas the sheer volume of members past and present could be called a large congregation, but I’m clutching at straws really.
 
As for folk, well, there’s definitely some folkier moments here in the likes of ‘Fee Fie’ and ‘Follow These Eyes’, but that’s just one of a number of touchstones. There’s a rolling rock in the form of ‘Death of a Tune’ and delicious twee pop in ‘For Fun’ and ‘She’s Gone’. ‘Lollipop’ is their attempt at ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’. Then there’s the unclassifiable, yet awesomely infectious, title track.
 
It may be slightly overproduced, and some of Gibbs’ brainwaves towards the end of the record don’t feel entirely thought out, but this is still a hugely enjoyable album. Three words to describe it? Contagious, gorgeous indie-pop (Hyphens count right??)
 
Albumaday... rating: 7/10
 

1.       Death of a Tune – 2:43
2.       AWOO – 2:44
3.       She’s Gone – 3:39
4.       Lollipop – 3:13
5.       Fee Fie – 3:27
6.       Learning the Lie – 2:18
7.       Follow These Eyes – 4:22
8.       Heji – 2:37
9.       Heaven Turns To – 3:36
10.   Wandering – 2:46
11.   For Fun – 5:07
12.   Hump From Bending – 3:10
13.   The WAning mOOn – 4:29

 
Listen to ‘She’s Gone’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWgizsBmN6A

Also released on 4^th September:

2001: System of a Down - Toxicity

3rd September - Jens Lekman's I Know What Love Isn't

Artist – Album: Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn’t

Released:  3^rd September 2012

Sounds Like: Someone’s hurt our Jens

It’s been 20 days since I moved into the new place, and I am still living in the dark ages (i.e. without easy access to the internet). To paraphrase Homer and Marge Simpson:

“No TV and no internet make Joe… something, something…”
“…Go crazy?”
“Don’t mind if I do!”

On the plus side, the lack of distraction has allowed me to immerse myself fully in my music and the albumaday… project, although that still has the potential to drive one mad: the inability to post my blog; the difficulty in researching; the interminable Elbow albums. Today’s album, for example, is not one that I own on CD and I somehow seem to have lost it from my itunes. Without effortless access to Spotify, Deezer or Last FM, I’ve been forced to watch snatched snippets of Jens on YouTube on my phone. Not ideal. And yet…

Regular readers (go on, I know there’s at least one of you!) will know that I’m a huge fan of Jen Lekman’s music (and that I have a bit of a man-crush on him, but we won’t go in to that…). His early music tended to deal in euphoric pastiches of sampled strings, cymbals, handclaps and glockenspiels, gentle, soothing piano ballads, or flighty, ukulele-led indie tracks, culminating in possible career highlight Night Falls Over Kortedala, his 2007 album. I Know What Love Isn’t is the follow up, but it’s strikingly different. This time he’s backed by a full band rather than his library of samples, and the music is a few notches down from the excitable previous record. Also, Lekman appears to have had his heartbroken in between, as he sings of heartache on each and every track.

Fortunately, whatever she did to him seems not to have upset his trademark wit, as his lyrics are still scattered with the usual black humour. Take the beautiful closing song ‘Every Hair Knows Your Name’: “started working out when we broke up, I can do one hundred push-ups. I could probably do two if I was bored”. And this is the crux of the album – it’s still funny, it’s still full of music that gets stuck in your head, it’s still Jens and it’s still good.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Every Little Hair Knows Your Name – 1:26

2.       Erica America – 3:56

3.       Become Someone Else’s – 4:24

4.       Some Dandruff On Your Shoulder – 3:41

5.       She Just Don’t Want to Be With You Anymore – 3:53

6.       I Want a Pair of Cowboy Boots – 2:57

7.       The World Moves On – 6:11

8.       The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love – 4:41

9.       I Know What Love Isn’t – 3:34

10.   Every Little Hair Knows Your Name – 3:17 

Listen to ‘Become Someone Else’s’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoWHNDgGtbg

2nd September - Suede's Coming Up

Artist – Album: Suede – Coming Up

Released:  2^nd September 1996

Sounds Like: Bowie does Britpop

Some would have it that Suede are the group that kickstarted the Britpop fad, highly acclaimed pioneers that were barged out of the way by yobbish upstarts Oasis and Blur and left to pick up the scraps in terms of hit songs. The description fails on closer inspection on two counts: Suede were not quite the first of the Britpoppers – Morrissey had been making music like this for a decade (including his 1988 single ‘Suedehead’, the track from which Suede took their name) and the rockier elements of the earlier Madchester scene (including a somewhat Baggier Blur) were the real forerunners; and the group were certainly not the nearly men of pop – their first album became the fastest selling debut in history as it rocketed to the top of the charts, whilst their fourth album also surged to the top. Coming Up, their third effort, is the other of their three number one albums (second album Dog Man Star broke the sequence with its measly third place charting), and with it produced five top ten singles. They didn’t do too shabbily, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Coming Up’s array of hits is indicative of the direction the band took with this release. The group had parted ways with guitarist Bernard Butler, and frontman Brett Anderson made the decision to adopt a much more upbeat and accessible sound than the commercially tepid (but since declared masterpiece) Dog Man Star. The album is dominated by simple, anthemic choruses and rousing guitar solos, with Anderson prancing about in his Bowie/Bolan obsessed manner and half-celebrating, half-lampooning the excessive lifestyles of vacuous nineties celebrities.

‘Trash’, ‘Beautiful Ones’ and ‘Saturday Night’ are classics, but, to be honest, the one note tactic to the album – Anderson had announced that he wanted to write an album of “just ten hits” – does begin to grate a little. A change in dynamic, a pared down approach to a song or two just to give you time to breath, is sadly lacking.  It’s good, not great, and is perhaps the album to turn only once you’ve tired of their first two stonkers.

 Albumaday... rating: 7/10

    1.       Trash – 4:06

2.       Filmstar – 3:25

3.       Lazy – 3:19

4.       By the Sea – 4:15

5.       She – 3:38

6.       Beautiful Ones – 3:50

7.       Starcrazy – 3:33

8.       Picnic by the Motorway – 4:45

9.       The Chemistry Between Us – 7:04

10.   Saturday Night – 4:32

Listen to ‘Trash’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PdKGDMhau4

Also released on 2^nd September:

2003: The National – Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

1st September - Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left

Artist - Album: Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Released: 1st September 1969
Sounds like: living on Solid Air

Nick Drake is music's best answer to the neglected artist, ignored and unappreciated in his lifetime but declared a genius posthumously. Despite the fact that his three full albums are now each considered to be masterpieces, they would have been considered flops in their day had anyone even noticed they'd come out. The complete lack of success and his battles with mental illness marks him out as a kind of Van Gogh-lite, although admittedly his influence doesn't quite extend as far as the earless Dutchman's.

Five Leaves Left was his first album, and back then Drake wasn't beset by the depression brought about by his failure to sell any records. The music is pastoral and moody, but never maudlin and melancholy, nor as lonely, as with his later work. The English graduate plays with autumnal imagery and has a wistful tinge, but there's no sign of the hounded tone his later songs possessed.

The cult of Drake have placed the man on a pedestal alongside the great English poets, his heroes Blake and Yeats. This may be over-egging it a bit but tracks such as 'The Thoughts of Mary Jane', 'Fruit Tree' and 'Day is Done' have an equally distinctive Englishnessicity. Drake also liked to experiment with tunings on his expertly plucked guitar and the creativity didn't stop there - 'Cello Song', 'River Man' and 'Way to Blue' are unique compositions, nominally folk but really some baroque form of original thinking that we've yet to name. We haven't had to; nobody since has made music like this.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1. Time Has Told Me – 4:27
2. River Man – 4:21
3. Three Hours – 6:16
4. Way to Blue – 3:11
5. Day Is Done – 2:29
6. Cello Song – 4:49
7. The Thoughts of Mary Jane – 3:22
8. Man in a Shed – 3:55
9. Fruit Tree – 4:50
10. Saturday Sun – 4:03

Listen to 'Cello Song': you can't on YouTube! There's no footage of him performing in existence. Just buy the album already...

Also released on 1^st September:

1987: R.E.M - Document