It recently came to my attention that Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ album was celebrating it’s 20th birthday (I know, 20 YEARS!!). This got me thinking, and after some investigation I found that 1991 was in fact a vintage year for music, with a few all-time classics released in that year.
But every silver lining has a cloud – this was also the year that gave us THAT Bryan Adams number one single!
Anyhoo – here’s a few of my highlights from 1991, enjoy!
I recently bought this box set containing (pretty much) the complete works of the mighty Orange Juice.
I’ve been a huge fan of the ‘Juice for many many years, but this box set has just brought it all home. This is one of the finest, and most influential bands of the modern era (Franz Ferdinand, anyone?). I fully intended to write a full, in-depth piece on this, but while researching for it, I found this:
Frankly, it says it all, so I’m not even going to bother saying any more, just read this brilliant piece by Frankosonic – it’s far better than anything I could write.
I will say this – if you are a music fan (a real music fan), you have to check out Orange Juice. Damn good stuff.
You remember a few years ago there was a craze for adding a ‘hidden’ track at the end of albums, you got about 20 minutes of silence at the end of the album, then it kicked in?
Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ had this. I remember one of the first times I played that album – I was playing it pretty loud, then it ended and I went about my business. The hidden track kicked in and I almost jumped out of my skin! I guess that was the point of it.
Anyway, this is the hidden post at the end of the 26×26 project!
Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who took the time to read this, and leave comments. I’ve had a really great time writing it, and it’s made me revisit some albums I haven’t listened to in a long time. In total it got around 900 hits, which I’m really very pleased with!
I probably wouldn’t have finished it if I hadn’t had my buddies Talcy and The Riverboat Captain doing the same thing, so thanks to them. Check out their 26×26′s - they are nearly as good as mine!
There will be more 26×26-type projects coming soon, so watch this space…
Today’s album is Who Killed… The Zutons? by The Zutons
The final album of my 26×26 project is Who Killed The Zutons, the Liverpool four-piece’s 2004 debut album.
Fronted by Dave McCabe, The Zutons are one of a number of great British bands we’ve seen in recent years. For me, the thing that makes The Zutons stand out from the others is the prominence of saxophonist Abi Harding. The sax is always present in their music, whether it be riffing and vamping in the background, or right up the front playing solos, it gives the band a real sound of their own.
I could have chosen any of The Zutons albums to write about, I like them all. But this being the debut album, and therefore around the longest, it’s just about my favourite.
The album begins with ‘Zuton Fever’, with that sax right in your face!
There were a few singles taken from the album, including ‘Pressure Point’, ‘Confusion’, ‘You Will You Won’t’ and a few others. All great singles, although they went on to have greater chart success with their second album ‘Tired Of Hanging Around’, which gave us the single ‘Valerie’ (later covered by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse).
The Zutons are a lot of fun to listen to – really well-crafted English pop music, with that twist provided by the sax which takes the standard pop-rock form to slightly different and interesting places.
Great album, great band – you’ll like it!
Standout track: Confusion (not a ‘typical’ Zutons track, but I really like it).
Other ‘Z’s who didn’t quite make it: The Zutons are my only ‘Z’, but I could have chosen any of their albums.
Here we have the third album from New York three-piece Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the follow-up to their highly successful album ‘Show Your Bones’.
Fronted by the stunning Karen O, the band are a mix of synth-led pop and riot grrrrl rock. Karen O is female lead singer in the mould of all the greats – Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hyde etc.
It would be easy to dismiss this band as all hype – Karen O is something of a media darling, known for her outrageous dress style amongst other things. She was offered a large sum to do Playboy, which she declined.
None of this should detract from the music – it’s really rather good. Great, catchy tunes well performed. There’s bits of Blondie, Madonna, Siouxsie and a few others in there.
Good album, well worth a listen..
Standout track: Zero
Other ‘Y’s who didn’t quite make it: uh-uhhh (Family Fortunes noise)
Today’s album is Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
* as I said at the start of this project, I don’t have any music by artists beginning with X! So I decided to write about one of my favourite artists, who has an X in his name!
When thinking about an artist containing the letter X, it was easy to choose Hendrix, then I just had to choose the album.
I decided upon Electric Ladyland, the final Jimi Hendrix Experience album.
This album can only really be described as ‘experimental’. It’s clear that a lot of it is ‘jammed’, the form is very loose at times.
It was said to have been a very difficult album to record, Hendrix was becoming more erratic, and would miss studio sessions etc. This led to tensions within the band – although the album features many guest musicians.
There is a wide-range of material on this double album – from the well-known tracks such as ‘Crosstown Traffic’ and ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’ – probably the most famous use of the Wah-wah pedal ever, used again on such tracks as ‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp’.
There are ‘far-out’ jams, including the 15-minute marathon ‘Voodoo Chile’, psychedelic ‘jazz’ (Rainy Day, Dream Away), and just plain trippy (Moon, Turn The Tides..).
Add to all this a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’, and you have a massively eclectic mix.
Not always easy to listen to, it can get a bit ‘far out’ at times, but certainly a great album.
Today’s album is White Blood Cells by The White Stripes
I love The White Stripes, I always have since I first heard them. The noises that these guys make with basically just a drum kit and a guitar is quite staggering. Meg’s very simple but effective drumming plus Jack’s outstanding guitar skills and unique vocal style deliver the songs with amazing skill and panache.
I could have chosen any of their albums for this article, but I chose this one simply because it’s my favourite!
The opening bars of the opening track ‘Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground’ are Jack White’s guitar playing in a nutshell – a hooky, melodic riff, played on a (possibly out of tune) cheapo guitar , fully fuzzed-up. There’s straight-up Jimmy Page- style rock riffing, down n dirty delta blues and more on this album. Great stuff.
The quality of the playing, recording and production on this record give it a very ‘live’ feel, you really feel you are in the room with the band.
Highlights of the album include ‘Fell In Love With A Girl’ (later covered by Joss Stone), ‘The Union Forever’, ‘I Think I Smell A Rat’, and the kooky ‘Hotel Yorba’ and ‘We’re Going To Be Friends’.
A stonking good album. No messing about – straight-up rock and roll. Great fun from start to finish.
Today’s album is The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground
I didn’t need to think twice when choosing a ‘V’ artist to write about – it had to be the mighty Velvet Underground!
I’ve chosen the band’s 1967 debut album ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’, featuring the original line-up (Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker) plus German model\singer\actress and Andy Warhol muse Nico supplying vocals on a number of tracks (‘Femme Fatale’, ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’).
The iconic ‘Banana’ album cover (of course designed by Warhol), features the slogan ‘Peel slowly and see’, inviting the viewer to peel off the banana sticker to reveal the alternative banana below!
Upon it’s release, the album went largely unnoticed by the masses, although of course it is now regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. Ahead of it’s time I think.
We’re treated to a wide range of music here, from the almost ‘twee’ pop of ‘Sunday Morning’ through to the highly experimental ’Black Angel’s Death Song’ and ‘European Son’. In the middle of all this you can find songs about going to score drugs (‘I’m Wating For The Man’), sado-machochistic sex (‘Venus In Furs’) and the explicitly described experience of drug-taking (‘Heroin’).
Nico’s haunting vocals are the perfect counterpoint to Reed’s New York drawl-like style, and gives the listener some light against some of the brutal sounds to be found elsewhere.
The Velvet Underground have inspired countless bands over the years, and continue to do so to this day.
If you’ve never experienced The Velvet Underground, go and do so. Now.
Standout track: ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’
Other ‘V’s who didn’t quite make it: Vic Godard, The View, and Various Artists (I have loads of their albums!)
If you weren’t around in the early 80′s, you may not be aware that UB40 were once a cutting edge band – a British reggae band fronted by two white brothers from Birmingham, with an overtly political agenda.
The band was formed by a multi-cultural group of friends from working class Birmingham, using instruments purchased with money from a compensation payout after one of the band was injured in a bar brawl. The band were undoubtedly influenced by the ‘blues party’ scene, i.e. Reggae.
Alas they are no longer quite so cutting edge, I think they lost that after their sixth album. It would have been nice if they had split up around that time
But, I still like to play their old material, it’s really very good, and often overlooked in my opinion.
I’ve chosen the band’s second album, 1981′s ‘Present Arms’ for you today. In my early teens, me and my pals were into UB40 in a big way. This was reggae music played primarily by white kids, but still managing to stay authentic (I should add that half the band are black, so obviously this played a part in the authenticity). It spoke to us, as working class inner-city kids.
This is a collection of reggae tunes with a social\political message. Thatcherism and mass unemployment were prevelant at the time, giving rise to the hit single ‘One In Ten’. The stark political anti-war message of the album’s title track is as relevant today as it was then. Other issues that are covered include the legalisation of cannabis (well, this is reggae!).
The band released a dub version of this album, ‘Present Arms In Dub’, which was typical of ‘genuine’ Jamaican reggae artists – an instrumental version of a tune, heavy on bass and drums, used at blues parties for freestyling lyricists to ‘toast’ over.
It’s worth exploring early UB40 material (anything up till Labour Of Love), there’s some really good stuff in there .
Standout track: Present Arms
Other ‘U’s who didn’t quite make it: Err.. nope, nothing.
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