#300: Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)

Zack: I had no idea who Elliott Smith was before I listened to Figure 8 and it wasn’t until after I’d listened to the entire thing that I pulled up the Wikipedia page to glean whatever details I could. I liked Figure 8 a lot and I was thinking how great it would be to hear some of those songs live. It made it all the sadder to see that he had died more than a decade ago. Figure 8 immediately comes off as the type of album that requires multiple listens to really get, and I definitely intend to devote some time to really delving into it sometime in the near future. In that respect, I see a similarity with Nick Drake, who Elliott Smith seems to be compared to a lot. In terms of actual music, though, I didn’t see any real similarities between Figure 8 and Pink Moon (one of my favorite folk albums we’ve listened to, you know behind the Neil Young stuff). Figure 8 felt upbeat and poppy, at least at first. Maybe later on I’ll hear some of the emotions that color Pink Moon so vividly, or maybe the relationship is best observed in some of Smith’s older work, but I didn’t pick up on that at all after going through once.

Favorite Tracks: Can’t Make a Sound; Color Bars; Son of Sam

Emily: The name Elliott Smith sounded familiar when I picked Figure 8 to listen to. Turns out, though, I was totally unfamiliar with his music until about an hour ago. He did contribute a song to the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, which Zack and I watched for the first time a couple weeks ago, but I definitely didn't pick up on that at the time. Regardless, Figure 8 ended up being an excellent way to close out the 201-300 chapter of this blog. It starts out as upbeat power-pop and seamlessly segues into the lush, dreamy sounds of indie rock. It's the kind of album that I just want to listen to again, to make it the soundtrack of a commute or study session or quiet night at home. I don't know much about Elliott Smith's brief career, but Figure 8 definitely made me want to find out more.

Favorite Tracks: Happiness/The Gondola Man; Son of Sam; Junk Bond Trader

#299: D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (1995)

Zack: I was excited when Emily selected D’Angelo in this batch of albums, because I wanted to verify if his music really is as…potent as I’ve heard. While the rating for Robin Thicke is clearly way off, 90% seems about right here. Brown Sugar is every bit the masterpiece I’ve always heard it to be and I definitely see why his forthcoming third album, which has been forthcoming about as long as Detox, has so many people anxious. I thought Brown Sugar started slow, but worked into a nice groove by the halfway point and then was just consistently excellent until the end. It reminded me a lot of channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean, except Brown Sugar was more compact and featured stronger compositions while the lyrics on channel ORANGE are more diverse and mature.

Favorite Tracks: Cruisin’; Brown Sugar; Lady

Emily: D'Angelo definitely has a smooth way with words and sounds. I'm pretty sure he's the only one who can make a song called Shit, Damn, Motherfucker, with lyrics that are pretty much just those three expletives repeated over and over again, sound panty-droppingly sexy. I didn't even realize that's what he was saying until about two-thirds of the way through; I was just grooving along with the beat. Those smooth beats kept me swaying throughout the entire album, and the lyrics on many other songs matched the sexiness of the music. My favorite song, however, was D'Angelo's cover of Smokey Robinson's Cruisin'. That song was the informal theme song of my trip to Israel a few years back, as played on acoustic guitar by a smattering of Americans and Israelis and eventually sung by our entire group around many a campfire. D'Angelo's version takes it from acoustic old-school soul to smooth R&B neo-soul, making a great song even greater and creating a classic in its own right.

Favorite Tracks: Cruisin'; Brown Sugar; Shit, Damn, Motherfucker

#298: Pulp - This is Hardcore (1998)

Zack: I had Pulp filed under post-punk, since their career starts in the 80s and that really just seems like a safe assumption to make. But it turns out that Pulp is one of those rare bands that needs a decade and a half to really find success. So apparently they were a post-punk/new wave band early into their career with little success, and then transitioned into alternative rock in the '90s and produced a few good albums, including two on the list. This is outstanding news. I haven’t exactly hid my disdain for a lot of the post-punk we’ve come across, seeing as it all sounds identical. In all, it seems like the '80s have routinely been my least favorite decade. But the '90s? The '90s are awesome. And so was This is Hardcore. I was really not expecting to like this album, but it really blew me away. I wouldn’t say that there was anything novel about it, just that it was a really good example of what the alternative rock genre has to offer. A few songs stood out, but the album overall was really cohesive and everything seemed to just work.

Favorite Tracks: Glory Days; This is Hardcore; The Fear

Emily: Sometimes we get an album that really illustrates just how UK-centric this list is, and This is Hardcore is a prime example. Pulp's breakthrough album, three years prior to This is Hardcore, reached #1 on the UK charts and only charted in the US on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. This follow-up was eagerly anticipated by British audiences, and Pulp reached #1 yet again. How far did they get in the US? According to Wikipedia, they made it to #114 - barely a blip on the collective radar of American popular music. When this happens, I usually understand why the album wasn't a big hit here, and am more confused as to why the UK loved it so much. Here, though, I feel the opposite. I really enjoyed This is Hardcore. Although I agree with Zack that it's not anything new and different, I thought This is Hardcore was a great, interesting example of '90s alternative rock. Perhaps we were too enamored with boy bands, but America just didn't get it right back in '98.

Favorite Tracks: This is Hardcore; Help the Aged; Sylvia

#297: Soft Machine - Third (1970)

Emily: Sometimes, an album on this list perfectly fits the mood and situation in which I'm listening to it. It could be a happy-go-lucky day with '70s pop music in the background while I'm cooking dinner, or brooding post-punk as I organize my bedroom with seriousness and focus. Today, I was doing research and assembling fact sheets in the library about law firms for my upcoming on-campus interviewing. It was after a meeting about the interview program, and I was feeling a bit anxious but also oddly reassured. Enter: the jazz fusion stylings of Soft Machine. The jazz element made the album great music for reading and focusing on details, while the fusion elements - specifically with experimental rock - caught my attention just enough to quell my anxiety but not enough to divert my attention away from the research. All in all, Third was great preparation music - perhaps next time I'll listen to it during exams.
Favorite Tracks: Slightly All the Time; Moon in June; Out-Bloody-Rageous

Zack: We’ve run into jazz fusion a few times before, with my favorite example being Aja by Steely Dan. From the Wikipedia wormhole I’m just now emerging from, I can see that it traces a lot of its origins to Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, which would have been released right as Soft Machine was recording Third. I have no hard evidence that they were actually influenced by Bitches Brew and haven’t listened to that album yet (another Miles Davis album should be coming up in the next 50 or so though, so maybe soon) so as to compare. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say they got a copy and liked what they heard. Soft Machine incorporate their electrical instruments in with a handful of additional musicians all playing more typical jazz instruments, with the results being a pretty free-flowing give-and-take between the jazz and rock elements. Third is just four reeeeaaaaally long songs (the shortest clocking in at over 18 minutes) that take some pretty mighty twists and turns along the way. I’ve been known to utilize some of the jazz albums we’ve come across as background music to cooking or homework – Birth of the Cool and A Love Supreme foremost among them – and I could easily see this album sliding into that rotation. It’s dynamic enough to keep you from zoning out but sedated enough that you can do other things.

Favorite Tracks: Moon in June; Slightly All the Time; Facelift