Sunday 24 January 2010

3: Work 1989 - 2002 - Orbital

Detail links:
A far jump from the blues of the Mississippi delta, Work 1989 - 2002 is a good mix of 90s pop/techno. This album was one I got into very quickly during a drive from Leicester back to Kent.

In comparison to the two CD monolith for the previous week and this week (I'm now onto the Yardbirds - Ultimate) it was a shorter piece which was simple and enjoyable. The only track that I was familiar wit from the album being "Satan" Which I can remember blasting from the radio while I retyped my GCSE coursework after a hard disk failure... remember kids, always make regular backups. I hadn't listened to this track since it was on the radio when it was in the charts (Note: not a good track when trying to stick to the speed limit). The only thing it missed from my radio 1 listening days was the intro:
Daddy, what does regret mean?
Well son, the funny thing about regret is,
It's better to regret something you have done,
Than to regret something you haven't done.
And by the way, if you see your mom this weekend,
Be sure and tell her, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN, SATAN!!!
But that asside it's still a good pounding tune with attidtude, pace and Metallica's Kirk Hammett (remixed/recorded for the movie Spawn). A large chunk of the album (like many "dance" tracks & albums) I found repetatice and missing some development/intricacy. But that is very much my own opionon. Not necaserily a bad thing (I do like the albuma and I do like a lot of "dance" music). This partly made it very accesible as less "listening" was required to get into the album.

"Impact" was another track that stood out for two reasons:
  1. The second half is an enjoyable techno sound which somehow goot a good vibe going with me.
  2. The first half has a sample which sounds a little like a horn (from a car) which is mildly offputting when driving.
The voice samples of quotes with political and profound statements... At the same time as describing them as that, their level reminds me of a HHGTTG quote:
"Very deep," said Arthur, "you should send that in to the Reader's Digest. They've got a page for people like you."
While profound, not quite insigtful.

In all I enjoyed the album. It's not a "masterpiece" or article of great historic musical documentation. But One I did enjoy.

My next few albums are already worked out:
4: Ultimate - Yardbirds (I am seeing Eric and Jeff soon)
5: Shallow Life - Lacuna Coil (Seeing them at the end of this week)
6: The Best Of - Jeff Beck (Seeing him and Eric at the end of this week)

Sunday 17 January 2010

2: Anthology - Muddy Waters

Detail links:
A deep leap into the Mississippi delta. This is a far jump from the polished and highly stylised Rhythm and blues from the states of the early part of this millennium. Yet in some way there are some interesting links and similarities. Subject matter of many of the songs is very much like contemporary R&B, however musically you can hear that the blues had a baby and they called it rock n' role.
I have been a big fan of the roadhouse podcast for some time, so I'm now no stranger to the blues. In fact I quite enjoy it. I do feel I don't know enough about it but my weekly hour of the finest blues I've never heard (roadhouse tag line) is working me towards a rudimentary education.
Anyone who has listened to anything by Muddy or in fact seen the film goodfellas will be familiar with "Manish Boy" [sic]. A song which oozes all the things stereotypical about blues (with a rock leaning), those destictive 12 bars and base line. And I'm sure everyone has listened to various incarnations of "Rollin and Tumblin" which also features on this album.
I found this two disk collection of music a lot of work for one week (note to self: No double CD anthologies of people with big back catalogues). But a long drive did help.
I liked the music a lot. Although i did find it difficult to listen to any of it for a long period.
On a side note this recording was good background music for a small dinner party.
I do plan on returning to the blues after trying some other things out. As a big rock fan I know that a lot of my top bands have a history of influences which lead back to the blues.
Next weeks album is something a little more modern. Work 1989 - 2002 - Orbital

Wednesday 6 January 2010

1: Hits - Joni Mitchell

Detail links:
So here I am, album no. 1 on my list. Christmas present (thanks mummy).

Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson; November 7, 1943) is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and painter.[1]

An artist I have been told many good things about over the years. I knew the "Woodstock" song from before... OK and "Big Yellow Taxi" also but didn't know it was her (or what it was called).

I found out about her (or at least was inspired to get this album) from a BBC documentary on music from California.

I like this album, I love her voice. The top song on the album has to be "Woodstock" sublime, love it. Straightforward and simple lyrics. Tells a story of a festival like no other.

Big yellow taxi. I never listened to the lyrics much before. But they do make a lot of sense. You don't know what you've got till its gone. And how often is paradise covered in concrete for cars to drive in and out for capitalism.

After my "anti capitalist" comments were pointed out to me I was reminded that I hate going places with insufficient parking... I'm a "hippie crit".

Next week: The Anthology - Muddy Waters

A New Album Every Week For 2010

So here it is 2010 and my new resolution is "I want to acquire and listen to a new album each week of 2010".

The idea is not a new one... Just one I have decided that the start of a new year is an ideal opportunity to kick off. So here I am in Ernest.

My aim and desire is to listen to more music. Too often I get stuck listening to the same albums (and too much the same genre "Rock"). So I want to:
1: Listen to new music.
2: Listen to music I haven't listened to before.

To make this achievable I'm going to clarify my definition of "Acquire and listen to a new album a week" :
1: "Acquire" means I can get the album on any medium I chose. CD, Vinyl, mp3 download. I aim to get them all legitimately (making up for the imbalance in the force caused by illegal music downloads).
2: "Listen to" means to play while paying attention 2 or more times.
3: "album" means a CD that is not classified as a "single" (we can stick with the music industry definition here. If the "album" is a double (or more) CD "Best of..." or "anthology" then I reserve the right to count it as multiple (one for each disk) albums and spread it over multiple weeks (If I have the requirement) so that I can do multiple lots of 60 mins justice. I want to listen to albums and music, I don't want this to be a chore.
4: "A week" depicts a period of roughly 7 days. This can overlap, this can over run and this can start on any day of the week. However 52 albums need to be "acquired" and "listen to"ed to over the year Jan 1st 2010 - Dec 31st 2010. And the listening to of these albums is to be done evenly spread.

So there we have it. Feel free to recommend me an album or artist to listen to.

To kick myself of I have got:

1: Hits - Joni Mitchel
2: Anthology - Muddy Waters