#411: Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)

Emily: Even though I've been writing about jazz at various intervals over the last 5+ years, I still struggle with the vocabulary to write about it. The adjective "jazzy" captures much of what I hear and feel about the music, but it doesn't really communicate that to an audience who hasn't heard it. Especially after attending a jazz festival this summer, though, jazz music in all of its variations is so much more about the vibe and the energy than the actual notes of music played. Head Hunters certainly embodied that. It's a jazz-fusion album that is smooth, funky, and totally engaging. It's the kind of music I'd want to hear at a jazz club, if I ever actually go to a jazz club. Does that actually do a good job of explaining what this album sounds like? Probably not, but that just means you have to listen to it for yourself.
Favorite Tracks: Chameleon; Sly; Vein Melter

Zack: We’ve run into jazz fusion before, but this was the most jazzy entry that we’ve had. It was quite exceptional. This particular entry merged a smooth variant of jazz with a dynamic funk sound. They were blended seamlessly, creating a dynamic listen. I need to listen to Head Hunters a few more times to really appreciate it, but on one listen it really popped out as an album I can play over and over again.

Favorite Tracks: Chameleon; Vein Melter; Sly

#410: The Divine Comedy - A Short Album About Love (1997)

Zack: First off, great band name. Second off, I really enjoyed this EP (you can’t force me to call it an album). Divine Comedy have this really lush sounds to them, like a big band started making 90s pop music. Wikipedia informs me that this is called orchestral pop, which I think is an apt name. The EP, as the name suggests, centers around the concept of love. It discusses it in sloppy, often hysterically awkward terms. This includes the incredible, “If you were a horse, I’d clean the crap out of your stables and never once complain / If you were a horse, I could ride you through the fields at dawn through the day until the day was gone.” I actually found this element to be somewhat charming. Think about all of the different quotes you’ve heard in movies and books and TV shows trying to explain love. Some are shitty, some are poignant, but none ever really capture it. Love is such an abstraction that we don’t really have a great way to explain in linguistically outside of cliches. This EP sort of accidentally captures that. It spends 32 minutes trying to explain being in love, which is an endeavor not unlike The Big Bang Theory trying to explain string theory. But the effort is sincere, if occasionally cringe-inducing. Along with the majestic music, this made for a fun way to spend half an hour.

Favorite Tracks: In Pursuit of Happiness; If…; I’m All You Need

Emily: I was also a big fan of this not-quite-EP, not-quite album. I'm all in on musical compositions clocking in at just over thirty minutes. They get their point and sound across clearly and efficiently, and hopefully with no filler. A Short Album About Love was just as it says in the title - short (and filler-free) and lovely. The sound is orchestral and grand, and you get the sense that in whatever venues The Divine Comedy plays in they can't quite replicate it without the stage cracking under the weight of all of musicians and instruments necessary. Or it's all on a computer, but I have no idea. The instruments are a romantic ideal, and this album is certainly romantic. It could be the soundtrack to a quirkier, indie-film Love Actually (minus all the Christmas music). It may not accurately capture what's it's like to fall in love, but that's a near-impossible achievement. But capturing the romance and grandeur of love? A Short Album About Love embodies that beautifully.

Favorite Tracks: In Pursuit of Happiness; If I Were You; Everybody Knows (Except You)

#409: Brian Eno - Before and After Science (1977)

Zack: I have a pretty special attachment to Eno’s Here Comes the Warm Jets because I listened to it the day I moved into my first grown-up apartment in North Philly. We hadn’t installed internet yet, so I didn’t have much to do besides listen to albums for the blog (wow, times were different) and this one just so happened to be the first one up. As soon as my mom left – she and I moved all of my worldly possessions including a bed, desk, and dresser up 3 flights of very narrow and twisty stairs – I set my old laptop up on the dresser and got to work. I’ve relistened to that album maybe 6 or 7 times since then, always just to feel nostalgic for when my major life stresses were finding a job and getting someone to buy me alcohol rather than health insurance and that moment of prayer between when you hit run on your do file and when you see the results. It’s a pretty good album. Outside of my normal wheelhouse, but something that I find it quite enjoyable every once in a while. I can’t imagine that I’ll develop a sentimental attachment to Before and After Science that will rival that, but it may be the better album anyway. I’ll admit, the first handful of tracks really threw me for a loop. I was not into them at all. But after that, the album settled into a nice groove and I really appreciated the vibe it was putting out. I guess I really prefer things after science. Those songs were sort of cold and distant, but sort of soothing. There was something…inevitable to the music. I guess I would describe it as sort of anti-jazz. All the life and vibrancy that makes jazz so great was absent, but it sort of became its own thing. I know that doesn’t make it sound too inviting, but I don’t really know how to explain it any better than that.

Favorite Tracks: Julie With…; King’s Lead Hat; Energy Fools the Magician

Emily: The title of this album evokes a grand scope, envisioning a world changed by the steady drumbeat of scientific progress and evolution. What did the world sound like before science, anyway? Primordial ooze? Darkness and chanted hymns? And what about after science? Does the light come in? What would that light sound like? I'm not sure if Eno answers these questions on Before and After Science (or even intended to answer them), but the album provides a pensive soundtrack by which to contemplate them. Eno takes rock music and twists and bends it around, experimenting with the avant-garde and ambient sounds that would come to define his later work. The result, like so much of Eno's work we've encountered, is at once familiar and yet totally unique.

Favorite Tracks: King's Lead Hat; Julie With...; Here He Comes

#408: Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (1975)

Zack: Evaluating Dylan albums after only one listen is really tough. So much of the appeal is wrapped up in the cryptic lyrics, and so they usually require dozens of listens to really start to appreciate. This was true of Blood on the Tracks, just as it has been true for Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde before it. Also just like the other two Dylan albums we’ve listened to, it is so musically compelling that it really invites those listens. As of right now, I could easily see Blood on the Tracks being a contender for my favorite album whenever we get around to our next awards batch. Hopefully by then I’ll have listened to it enough to have developed a fuller opinion.

Favorite Tracks: You’re a Big Girl Now; Meet Me in the Morning; Idiot Wind

Emily: My first error in listening to this album was attempting to read and do work at the same time. I wanted to catch up on email and work on some job applications, and some background music seemed like a great idea. I probably should've stuck with the radio, though. Bob Dylan demands greater attention than I provided to Blood on the Tracks. His mastery is not in the music itself (though it's compelling in its own way), but in the lyrics. And I'm just not one to pick up on lyrics while I'm reading and writing and doing other things. Blood on the Tracks seems to deserve multiple close listenings, and if I get around to it again I'll give it the proper attention.

Favorite Tracks: Meet Me in the Morning; Tangled Up in Blue; Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts

#407: The Replacements - Let It Be (1984)

Zack: This album came out a decade before it sounds like it did. Seriously, I thought it was a really solid alternative album from right after the grunge era. It sort of sounded like an edgier Oasis. Turns out, I was way off. The Replacements started as a punk band (which I honestly could have guessed from the name alone) then decided they had gotten tired of trying to break guitar speed records and slowed it down a tad. Wikipedia claims that this made them a post-punk band, and in a strictly literal sense I suppose that’s true. It did come out after the band had personally gone post punk. But the sound is pure alternative rock. If you’ve read any of my other posts over the past 6 years, you know that that is about the nicest compliment I can give. Let It Be features some great melodies and never gets boring. More importantly, it created a sound years before others invented it. That along makes it worth a listen.

Favorite Tracks: I Will Dare; Seen Your Video; Androgynous

Emily: It takes a lot of balls to call a rock album Let It Be. Even if it sounds nothing like the Beatles, there will be inevitable comparisons to one of the best albums by one of the best bands of all time. That was my first thought when I saw the title of this album by The Replacements, but that thought didn't last long at all. As Zack noted, rather than reaching back in time to its predecessor-in-title, it seemingly leaps into the future. Its nod to the past is to the fast, angry punk of the '70s and early '80s, Then it skips over the dreary elements of the post-punk of its time to the alt-rock sounds that rose to prominence ten to fifteen years later. You can hear the influence of this sound in countless songs and albums from the '90s through today, many of which I love and have loved since my teenage years. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed Let It Be (with nary a thought of the Beatles in my head) and I will certainly be returning to it.

Favorite Tracks: We're Comin' Out; Favorite Thing; Unsatisfied

#406: Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time (1989)

Emily: You don't necessarily think of white red-haired women singing the blues, but Bonnie Raitt somehow makes it work. It definitely was not a straightforward blues album, though. A few songs have slick and polished production more reminiscent of pop and country music (and definitely characteristic of '80s), while others have a slightly shaggier quality that provided more of a blues and rock vibe. Both strategies work fairly well and create a cohesive sound reflective of an artists straddling multiple musical worlds, but I preferred the latter.
Favorite Tracks: Real Man; Nobody's Girl; Thing Called Love

Zack: After the novel I wrote for N.W.A., I figured I would keep this review brief. Nick of Time was a good album, but I didn’t find it particularly exciting. It was the epitome of 4-out-of-5 star. Solid throughout, no complaints to be voiced, but hardly engrossing. As I listened to it, I found myself generally liking every song, but there really aren’t any that I would plan on relistening to. Overall, there are certainly worse ways to spend 40 minutes, and Nick of Time is certainly a good album, but I left the experience certainly unimpressed.

Favorite Tracks: Real Man; Nobody’s Girl; I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again

#405: The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (1969)

Zack: I was able to stealthily make sure that the first two Rolling Stones albums we listened to were my favorite two, so it’s all downhill from here. Not really, the listmakers (for once) did an excellent job in picking the 6 Stones albums they included, so Let It Bleed is privy to all the same praise I’ve heaped on Exile on Main Street and Aftermath. If I was to issue any criticism to this album, it would be that the primary singles – Gimme Shelter and You Can’t Always Get What You Want – are just too good. They bookend the album and totally eclipse all the songs in between. For most other Stones albums, the singles are strong but there are a couple of other songs on there that I love almost as much as the singles. Here, there’s a pretty strong drop-off from my first 2 favorite tracks to the third. But that comment is minor, since there’s really no filler track on Let It Bleed.

Favorite Tracks: Gimme Shelter; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Midnight Rambler

Emily: The Rolling Stones are such an iconic band that I tend to forget exactly what they sound like. It's like they've just been part of the cultural backdrop for so long that they tend to blend in with every other band from that era, all of the musicians who have stood the test of time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. It means I'm surprised every time I actually listen to a whole Rolling Stones album. I forget how strong the blues influence is in their music, especially earlier albums like Let It Bleed. I think they're most successful, though, when they take that influence and make it entirely their own. That especially shines through on the most iconic songs from this album - Gimme Shelter and You Can't Always Get What You Want. These songs are classics for a reason. And it's a great reminder when you haven't heard them in a while of why this band remains relevant nearly fifty years after this album was released.

Favorite Tracks: Gimme Shelter; You Can't Always Get What You Want; Let It Bleed

#404: N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (1988)

Zack: I’ve listened to Straight Outta Compton before, although only a handful of times. I distinctly remember the last time I listened to it because it was the day after the grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. I, like a lot of people I think, was pretty horrified and angry. The Department of Justice has since released a report saying that Wilson acted in self-defense and I am willing to believe the DOJ on this matter, but a man died and that was at least taking to a formal trial setting, I believe. I spent most of the day after stewing in my frustration, and I naturally drifted toward albums which talked about these issues to soundtrack my disgust. Straight Outta Compton was one of them. It’s fascinating (and very depressing) that an album that came out the same year as He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper could speak so clearly to the events of today. And it’s even more fascinating when you consider the public outcry to black men expressing themselves that occurred then, in light of the fact that when I’m writing this Colin Kaepernick is dominating headlines for refusing to stand for the national anthem. And that, ultimately is what I think makes this album so special. If you isolated only the musical contributions, it would still be worth including in this list. I’ve listened to a fair number of albums that came out the same year as Straight Outta Compton (The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, Love Live the Kane, By All Means Necessary, and Follow the Leader for example) and nothing I’ve heard sounds like this. Dre and Yella really changed the sound of rap by building songs more around the bass than the drums. The rapping is solid, and I will go to my grave arguing that MC Ren is terribly underrated as a rapper. The lyrics have their grimace-inducing moments (like all of I Ain’t Tha 1), but they are more often than not clever and powerful. But beyond all of that, this album stars a conversation, and it’s one we’re still talking about today. That’s what makes it one of the most influential rap albums of all time.

Favorite Tracks: Fuck Tha Police; Straight Outta Compton; Parental Discretion Iz Advised

Emily: Last year, Zack and I, along with another friend, went to see the movie Straight Outta Compton. I was reluctant to go at first, because I wasn't sure how much interest I would have in a movie about gangsta rap in the late '80s, especially a group I had barely listened to before. Turns out I was wrong - I really enjoyed the movie. I left the theater feeling like I learned a lot about N.W.A. and their place in both music history and the larger cultural dialogue about the black experience in America. And that experience led me to pick Straight Outta Compton, the album, to listen to for this blog now. Many of the songs, particularly Fuck Tha Police and the title track, were featured heavily in the movie to show how controversial yet prescient the group was in 1988. While there are songs on this album that are embarrassingly sexist and outdated, the ones that stood out back then remain relevant to the issues facing the world today. Both Straight Outta Compton the movie and the album reflect a particular era in music and history, but tell stories and reflect a mood of discontent that remain startlingly relevant today.

Favorite Tracks: Straight Outta Compton; Fuck Tha Police; Parental Discretion Iz Advised

#403: Liars - They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (2004)

Emily: A few songs into this album, I turned to Zack (who was sitting next to me on the couch watching TV) and told him that I thought this album sounded like spooky Halloween noises. It reminded me so much of the CD you buy at the costume store to provide some ~ambiance~ for the haunted house in your suburban garage. This album is mostly just weird noises being passed off as experimental music. Although a few of the later tracks did actually have some melody and rhythm to them, those aspects were overshadowed by the sheer weirdness and dissonance of it all. The Halloween vibes may have been seasonally appropriate, but if that's what I wanted I would've just turned on the Monster Mash.
Favorite Tracks: Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway; We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own; If You're A Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses?

Zack: You know how I normally bemoan every post punk album for sounding identical and just generally not being very interesting. Well, the good news is that I won’t be doing that on this one. For starters, I thought this album might have promise because it appears towards the end of the post punk list I created, and I generally tend to like bands considered post punk revival (Klaxons, Interpol). But apparently I just completely misclassified it. This album really belonged in the experimental rock category, and it is pretty clear to me know that this is less Kaiser Chiefs and more a swarm of bees driven mad with bloodlust. It was really unpleasant and strange, which made it very different from all of those 80s post punk albums, but not at all in a good way. I thoroughly disliked this album, and I honestly struggle to find any redeeming qualities about it. I would have gladly taken an uninspiring but innocuous 80s album by like Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Favorite Tracks: We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own; There's Always Room on the Broom; Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway

#402: Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar (1996)

Zack; I was pretty apprehensive of this album. On the one hand, there are things like the title or the artwork or the names of the songs. On the other, I kind of like the few Marilyn Manson songs I’ve encountered in the wild (namely Beautiful People and Vampire) and I remember watching Bowling for Columbine when I was a kid and seeing Marilyn Manson be probably the most thoughtful and articulate person in that whole documentary (I rewatched that interview before I wrote this and it still kind of holds up, especially the part where he says “I wouldn’t say anything to [the people of the Columbine High School community], I would listen to them because it’s the one thing that no one did.”) Both of those points gave me hope. I found that the album confirmed that my reasons for hope were right. While I was listening to it, I was reminded of this band that I’ve gotten kind of into in the past few years, Deafheaven. In terms of general sound, there really aren’t that many similarities. But what I like about Deafheave is how well produced the rollicking metal riffs and screeching sound. It’s metal, but it sounds really lush. The production on Antichrist Superstar was comparable in that sense. Even if this album growled where Deafheaven tend to scream, there was a richness to the music that was really impressive. I don’t think I’ll ever get really into it, and I probably won’t ever listen to it again (when I crave metal, which is rarely, I usually just rotate between the aforementioned Deafheaven and early Metallica, and I’m content with not branching out much from there). But it’s certainly worth a listen, even for the less thrashy among us.

Favorite Tracks: The Beautiful People; Antichrist Superstar; Tourniquet

Emily: I always associate Marilyn Manson with his cover of Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode. For the longest time, I thought that was his song, not a cover. Even when I hear the original I always assume it's the Marilyn Manson version. Before today, I'm not sure if I had even heard any of Manson's own songs. Personal Jesus is certainly more approachable to an unaccustomed listener (like me) than most of Antichrist Superstar, but I liked this album more than I thought it would. Yes, it has its moments of disorienting anger and distortion, and it's about 20 minutes too long, but there's grandiose performance and melody surrounding it all. And it just works, better than I thought it could.

Favorite Tracks: The Beautiful People; Angel with the Scabbed Wings; Tourniquet 

#401: The Ramones - Ramones (1976)

Zack: Oh man. I used to listen to this album all the time. Then I just kind of stopped listening to it one day, probably because I discovered that London Calling could scratch any itches I had for 70s punk music. Honestly, I think I’ve missed it. It can be kind of rough, but in an unabashed way. There is a surprisingly clear vision for what the album is supposed to be, which is pretty remarkable considering this was the debut by a band that was, in many ways, inventing a new aesthetic. It knows exactly what it wants to be and really hits the mark. You can imagine how bands often considered the contemporaries of the Ramones, namely The Clash and the Sex Pistols, heard this and just said yeah let’s do this now. And while the Sex Pistols made the sound more aggressive and the Clash brought in a more diverse group of influences and merged them into punk, it’s clear that the Ramones left a great foundation for them to work off of. I still prefer London Calling, but my appreciation for this album was definitely rekindled.

Favorite Tracks: Blitzkrieg Bop; Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World; Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue

Emily: I was introduced to the Ramones many years ago in a perhaps unusual way. Rather than a cool friend or cousin playing a few tracks for me, I first came to love Blitzkrieg Bop when it was featured on the Jimmy Neutron movie soundtrack. I have no idea why my brother and I decided we needed to have that CD for endless future car rides, but it's a surprisingly good, albeit random, collection of pop music. Alongside Aaron Carter, Britney Spears, and a Lil Romeo/Nick Cannon cover of Parents Just Don't Understand, the soundtrack also features some classic punk and pop jams - most notably We Got the Beat by the Go-Gos and Blitzkreig Bop by the Ramones. While the Ramones probably would not want to see their music in the company of these other artists, let alone on a soundtrack for a Nickelodeon kids movie, it kinda makes sense to have it there. Blitzkreig Bop, much like the rest of the Ramones' eponymous debut, is a simple yet hard-driving wallop of power-punk. It's the rough-edged predecessor of the punky '80s pop of the Go-Gos and their peers, as well as the scores of pop-punk bands that emerged in the '90s and '00s. But the Ramones did it first, and they still did it best. While the coolness factor may not be quite the same after years of marketing and soundtrack features, this album stands the test of time with punks and non-punks alike.

Favorite Tracks: Blitzkrieg Bop; I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend; Let's Dance

The (Less than) Annual Album Awards: 400 Albums Edition

Can’t stop, won’t stop. It’s a funny line from a ChappelleShow skit. It’s a book on our shelves that desperately wants to be read. And it’s the underlying mantra for us here at 1001 Album Reviews. We’ve labored and toiled over the course of more than 5-and-a-half years. And yet, we can’t stop. We won’t stop.

Except today, when we are totally stopping to celebrate meeting the 40% mark on this endeavor! Another hundred albums have come and gone, and it is time to memorialize them the only way we know how/have tried: *Oprah voice* FAKE AWAAAAAAAARDS!!!

So, without further ado, let’s revisit some of the albums and artists that have left their mark over the last nearly 2 years since our last fake award. And then, let us begin anew our efforts to complete this slog. For glory!!!

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Zack: What’s in a name? For us, a shit ton. A very important criterion for which albums we choose to listen to is how cool is the name. So I wanted to take a moment to recognize those bands and albums with implausibly cool names. With that said, the nominees for the Mustapha Mond Award for Best Name are…

The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic
Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
The Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

And the winner is…Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner! While there is little special about the man’s name, I love this album title. There’s something about it that is just very vivid and poetic. Boo Radleys have a great band name, but the album title is lacking. Violent Femmes is also a great band name, but they don’t get double points for going with an eponymous album title. I like the link between the band and album titles for Super Furry Animals, but neither really capture the essence of the band. Wu-Tang Clan almost snatched this. It is a great name and the album title is better than going purely eponymous. I honestly love it. But I just love Nighthawks at the Diner (as a title) a little bit more.

Emily: Sometimes, the best thing about an album is its danceability. There is always room for music that you can groove to at a club, in the car, or even in your living room when no one else is home. It doesn't have to be the most interesting or groundbreaking album - all you need are some good beats and a few lyrics that are fun to shout along with. The nominees for the Shake Your Groove Thing Award are...

ABBA - Arrival

Basement Jaxx - Remedy

Curtis Mayfield - Super Fly

Justice - Cross

Sister Sledge - We Are Family

And the winner is...Sister Sledge, We Are Family! While Justice and Basement Jaxx are great for the club, I'm just not the club-going type. But throw on We Are Family in the car or at a wedding, and everyone from your grandma to your baby cousin will be dancing and singing along. Disco is made for dancing, and Sister Sledge have mastered the groove.

Zack: You would think that a list of 1001 albums that demand listening would only have good stuff within in. You would be very wrong. Every once in a while, an album betrays us. They force us to listen as they are unmistakably and irredeamably bad. They hit us where we’re most sensitive with this suckiness. The nominees for the Steven Adams’s Testicles Award are…

ABBA - Arrival
Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story
The Beau Brummels - Triangle
Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
Throbbing Gristle - D.o.A.: Third and Final Report

And the winner is…Throbbing Gristle, D.o.A.: Third and Final Report!!! Throbbing Gristle may be the album we listened to most recently, but I still feel confident saying that it was also the worst. Beau Brummels’s mediocrity drove me crazy. Barry Adamson was just lacking cohesiveness and was kind of dull. And ABBA and Culture Club share a common sin: They were just too fucking poppy. Throbbing Gristle, however, was just terrible from start to finish. I don’t have any clue why anyone would ever like this album. I just don’t.

Emily: Sometimes, among all of the classic albums that we get to listen to on this list, something totally terrible sneaks on. Not just mediocre, not just confusing, but music that can actually cause physical pain when you listen to it. Unpleasant albums have come up in every section of our journey through the list, but only a select few are deemed totally unlistenable. The nominees for the I'd Rather Take the Bar Again than Listen to This Album are...

Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier

Barry Adamson – Moss Side Story

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle be Unbroken

Scott Walker - Scott 2

Throbbing Gristle - D.o.A.: Third and Final Report

And the winner is...Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will the Circle be Unbroken! Although there were many strong contenders for worst album here, Nitty Gritty clocks in at almost two hours of twangtastic country music. I listened to it over the course of several days last summer, and each time I prayed for it to be over as quickly as possible. The sheer length combined with the unpleasantness makes this the album I'd choose the bar exam over, time and time again.

Zack: And now, to celebrate those precious albums that make it all worthwhile. Plenty of albums that we come across are good, and some are even great. But there are previous few gems that make you stop and say “Wow.” These are those albums. They’re the ones that change the way you think of music. They’re the ones that seem to wash over you in their excellence. They’re the ones you definitely don’t put on Dropbox for other people to bask in since that would be illegal file sharing. And among these gems, one shines brightest. This gem, from the listed nominees, is the Steven Adams’s Moustache Award Winner. The nominees…

BB King - Live at the Regal
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
Fundadelic - Maggot Brain
Otis Redding - Otis Blues/Otis Redding Sings Soul
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

And the winner is….the Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)!!! It’s one of my favorite rap albums, and for damn good reasons. It completely changed the course of rap music, all for the better. I wrote a long review for it, so I won’t sing its praises too much. But I will say that it beat out some tough competition. BB King and Otis Redding created masterpieces of their genres in Live at the Regal and Otis Redding Sings Soul. Bruce did some amazing things lyrically on Darkness at the Edge of Town, and the genius in those words is matched by what Funkadelic did musically on Maggot Brain. All of these albums, and a number of others that couldn’t make the cut, were strong contenders. But, I mean, it’s 36 Chambers. Enough said.

Emily: As easy as it was to find albums that I hated from this batch, it was really hard to find ones that I loved. Maybe it's because it's been almost two years since we last had an awards post, or maybe it's because this middle section just wasn't all that inspiring. However, a few albums broke through the dust to become my favorites. The Diamond in the Rough Best Album nominees are...

B.B. King - Live at the Regal

Count Basie - The Atomic Mr. Basie

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Morrissey - Your Arsenal

Primal Scream - Vanishing Point

The winner is...B.B. King, Live at the Regal! Over the last couple of years, I've listened to more and more jazz and blues music. It's probably because I mostly listen to music while I work, and instrumentals do the trick of keeping me focused while not distracting me. But I have had the opportunity to hear some live jazz in the last few months, and I've realized that jazz is best heard live. The musicians can improvise and try new things, feeding off the audience and coming up with new classics right before their eyes and ears. B.B. King's live album epitomizes the energy of a live show, helmed by one of the masters of the craft. That's why it's an enduring classic, and my favorite album of this group.

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Well, thanks for putting up with another long post. We’ll be back to reviewing albums shortly, and we’ll try to get around to doing another one of these before the sun expires. But no promises.

#400: Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (1974)

Zack: Tangerine Dream has released over 100 albums, so one was bound to make this list just by sheer chance. The one that did, Phaedra, is among the group’s first albums. I didn’t particularly like the album, but reading the Wikipedia page has given me some sort of appreciation for it. After I finished listening, I happened to note that the year on the album was maybe a decade or so earlier than I thought it would have been. And it turns out that this was not a typo in my iTunes but rather a symbol of how ahead of their time Tangerine Dream were. They were among the first to start playing around with synthetic instruments, and really seemed to be trying to push them as far as they can go. None of the cosmic nature of the sounds that are described on Wikipedia came through for me. But I can see how absolutely seminal this album is for so many electronic genres that have come since.

Favorite Tracks: Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares; Phaedra; Movements Of A Visionary

Emily: This album didn't really inspire anything in me. Granted, I was studying family law for the bar while I listened to it, but I think even if I had 100% laser focus on the music I still wouldn't have gotten much out of it. I tend to feel that way about a lot of electronic albums we listen to. When they're pleasant and ambient, the music tends to fade into the background, like waves crashing at the beach or the buzz of the city outside my window. It's nice to hear, but doesn't elicit much else from me. Phaedra fit right into that scheme of electronic music. I'll take it any day over something that's loud and screeching, but 400 albums definitely went out with a whimper.

Favorite Tracks: Phaedra; Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares; Movements Of A Visionary

#399: Supertramp - Crime of the Century (1974)

Emily: I'm sure if I rooted through the milk crate in my parents' basement that holds my mom's old records, I would find a Supertramp record. Most likely it would be Breakfast in America, the band's biggest record in America with hits like The Logical Song and Take the Long Way Home. When these songs pop up on classic rock radio in the car my mom will blast them and sing along. That's essentially all I knew about Supertramp until today. What I didn't know was that Breakfast in America was actually the band's sixth album, and that Crime of the Century was both their third album and their first real breakthrough. It went Gold in the U.S., selling over 500,000 copies (something that rarely happens today, but was a regular occurrence in the '70s). And without listening to their other stuff, it seemed to me that this is where Supertramp started to figure out the sound that would bring them great success a few years later. It's a little prog rock, a little artsy, and a little pop. It's the kind of sound that would only work at that moment in time, but it totally makes sense. Taking a quick look back at the list, we won't get to hear any more Supertramp to see how they continued to hone and evolve this sound. However, maybe next time I'm home I'll search for that record.
Favorite Tracks: School; Bloody Well Right; Asylum

Zack: With a name like Supertramp, I kind of expected some semi-campy hard rock. Honestly, I’d say my expectations were about in line with what I expected out of Bad Company. Loyal lookers with long…memories (damn, really thought I could keep that going) may remember that I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by how decent Bad Company (the album) was. Crime of the Century took it up a couple of notches. This album wasn’t only decent, it was downright good. There was some Pink Floyd-ish vibes going on, mingling with the Led Zeppelin that was my favorite part of Bad Company. It was pretty dynamic and just a pleasant listen. I could easily see myself revisiting it down the road, and enjoying it each time.

Favorite Tracks: Crime of the Century; School; Hide in Your Shell

#398: George Michael - Faith (1987)

Zack: Faith is George Michael’s first solo album after leaving Wham!, and it pretty much defined what everybody will think of him from the day it was released until the end of time. The song Faith was so big that even I, with my general dislike of anything from the 80s, could not possibly hope to escape it growing up. I never liked that song, and so I didn’t expect to like this album. And parts of it I really didn’t like. But there were other parts that really won me over. The main one was Kissing a Fool, which was sung so perfectly that I was kind of shocked that this gem had followed the shittiness that is Monkey (I know that the song went #1 on Billboard as a single but it still sucks; fight me if you care so much about it.) When Michael slowed down and allowed more soul influences to bleed through, I was really impressed. When he let the 80s flow through him with corny upbeat pop bullshit, I was left pretty dour. Except for the 9-minute song explicitly about fucking, that is.

Favorite Tracks: Kissing a Fool; Look at Your Hands; I Want Your Sex

Emily: Many of the pop albums that we listen to affirm my belief that pop is a genre of singles, not albums. A great pop song can transcend genre and generations, but more often than not those great songs are featured on albums padded with filler that barely deserves to share a track listing with them. Of course, there are exceptions to this (Michael Jackson particularly comes to mind, but Thriller ended up being essentially all singles anyway). George Michael's Faith, unfortunately, lives up to the great-single-bad-album rule. Faith is upbeat and impossibly catchy, reminiscent of Michael's earlier band Wham, and the radio appeal of Father Figure and I Want Your Sex is clear. The rest of the album, however, feels like unnecessary filler. With the exception of the unexpected throwback soul of Kissing a Fool, the non-single parts of Faith don't even come close to the pop success of the title track.

Favorite Tracks: Faith; I Want Your Sex; Kissing a Fool

#397: Throbbing Gristle - D.o.A: The Third and Final Report (1978)

Zack: The fuck did I just listen to? This is one of the most confusing albums since Captain Beefheart. There was something about E Coli and a song called Wall of Sounds which was just a wall of sounds. Apparently, my least favorite song is actually a relatively normal song just sped up to 16 times its speed. I’m just so confused. Look, I didn’t like it. It honestly made me uncomfortable and a little anxious. If you’re the kind of person who likes feeling anxious, then seek help but also maybe seek out this album. Otherwise, I’d say hard pass.

Favorite Tracks: Hometime; Dead on Arrival; AB/7A

Emily: I listened to this album while home alone, and every few minutes I felt like I had to adjust the volume to make sure the neighbors couldn't hear what I was listening to. I also paused it a few times because I couldn't tell the difference between ambient city noise and some of these songs. I'm sure it has some artistic merit or other importance - otherwise why would it be on the list - but I just didn't get it, and I have no interest in figuring it out.

Favorite Tracks: Dead on Arrival; Weeping; AB/7A

#396: Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

Emily: Oasis songs are a staple of both alt-rock radio and mixtapes (or mix CDs) (or mix playlists? is that a thing?). Having never listened to this album in full before today, I nevertheless felt that most of the songs were familiar. The singles are played all the time on my favorite Philly radio station, even though at this point they're over 20 years old, so I know all the words by osmosis. And I definitely put Wonderwall on at least one mix CD in high school in order to "educate" a boyfriend about music - even though I only really liked that song and didn't care much about Oasis at all. So having made it this long without delving into a whole Oasis album, I don't really think I missed much. I will always love Wonderwall, and Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger, and Some Might Say are very good/great Brit-pop-revival songs in their own right. I will continue to listen to those songs every time they come up on the radio, but that's really all of the Oasis I need.
Favorite Tracks: Wonderwall; Don't Look Back in Anger; Champagne Supernova

Zack: Sometime in high school, I decided I should try and get into Oasis. Wonderwall is an objectively perfect song, so I figured the rest of their catalogue was probably strong as well. So I checked a bunch of their CDs out from the library (seriously) and gave them a listen. One of them was (What’s the Story) Morning Glory. I found all of those CDs, this one included, consistently underwhelming. There would be a number of really strong songs – usually the singles – sandwiched between stuff that just smelled of filler. Like a few pieces of meat and cheese around just way too much lettuce. I gave them a fair number of listens, but I honestly have not listened to any full Oasis album since like freshman or sophomore year of college. Oasis albums are just kind of boring. My opinion has not fundamentally changed with the years either. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is just as I remember it. There are a handful of awesome songs – Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova, and Don’t Look Back in Anger are the standouts in my opinion – with a bunch of fluff around them. Hell, even the rest of the singles, especially Roll with It, are pretty middling. What’s interesting is that my apathy toward Oasis isn’t necessarily a statement on Britpop in general either. I’m pretty fond of Blur and The Verve, for example. And this album was a big enough deal that I have no qualms about it being included here. I thought this album mattered enough to listen to it around the same time that I was getting super into Hendrix, the Who, and the Rolling Stones, and that probably means that it had a really powerful moment in the cultural sun. But, man. Oasis is just way overvalued and overrated. This album especially.

Favorite Tracks: Wonderwall; Champagne Supernova; Don’t Look Back in Anger

#395: Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975)

Zack: This is the second of four Joni Mitchell albums on the list. When we started this project, I had no idea who Joni Mitchell was, and so I was skeptical that that was an appropriate number. But then I heard Blue, and album that I listen to maybe once a year and think “Wow, this album is perfect. Why don’t I listen to this more than once a year?” Despite the fact that I’ve only listened to Blue like 3 times, how incredible it is had me pretty excited for The Hissing of Summer Lawns. But the two albums are completely different. Whereas Blue is a pretty straightforward folk album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns draws on a more eclectic mix of genres. There’s a fair mix of jazz here, and it gets a lot more rockish on songs like In France They Kiss on Main Street. The last track, Shadows and Light, even gets a bit experimental by drawing on some looping and electronic-y music. I didn’t like that song, but still. What remains constant is the thoughtful lyrics. I didn’t pick up on a lot of this while I listened to the album, but in reading the lyrics now I can see what intricate stories Mitchell is trying to craft. Between the two, I definitely think Blue is the superior album. But The Hissing of Summer Lawns certainly has its moments, and the way Mitchell pushes the boundaries of folk can be are pretty interesting.

Favorite Tracks: The Hissing of Summer Lawns; In France They Kiss on Main Street; Edith and the Kingpin

Emily: Looking back at where we wrote about Joni Mitchell before, my search brought me to our 200-album award post. I had nominated Blue, our first foray into Joni Mitchell's catalog, for an album that I wanted to return to later on. Since then, I don't think I've actually relistened to it. Perhaps I've heard a song here or there as it popped up on a playlist, but I haven't sat down and played the whole thing since then. Now, after listening to The Hissing of Summer Lawns, it appears I have double the Joni Mitchell albums to return to in the future. For one, I love the title of the album. It evokes such a strong and beautiful image of a quiet street, lined with trees and houses, on a breezy, sunny summer day. And the title fits the tone of the album beautifully as well. It's another intimate take on folk, balanced out with jazz, rock, and a touch of experimentation. As Zack noted, the lyrics deserve a deeper listen to fully understand the scope of the story. I intend to learn more about that story, alongside Mitchell's stories on Blue, when I return to them again.

Favorite Tracks: Harry's House/Centerpiece; In France They Kiss on Main Street; The Boho Dance

#394: The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000)

Zack: Of the four albums I listened to while working on my prospectus, this one suffered the most form my diminished attention. It faded into the background a bit too easily, unlike Tarkus, and wasn’t compelling enough to get me to go back and relisten, unlike Marcus Garvey. That said, I’m not super sure I would have liked it even if I had been enraptured. I’ve come around a lot on electronic music, but I’m pretty particular. The Avalanches key sound is plunderphonics, which is a made-up word that means sampling a lot. Apparently, Since I Left You has somewhere in the ballpark of 3500 different samples in it, which is a thing that sounds wrong but I can’t refute. This type of music is something I have historically disliked (I can’t emphasize my dislike for Girl Talk enough), but at least when you have that many samples it’s impossible to know who precisely you’re just straight up stealing from so it actually is sort of your own work. Still, it just didn’t have the smoothness of Air or the soulfulness of Daft Punk, so I can’t imagine it would have grabbed me even if I was locked in.
Favorite Tracks: Etoh; Close to You; Live at Dominoes

Emily: Wikipedia decided to call Since I Left You a "plunderphonics" album. That doesn't seem like a real word, and it appears to be essentially the same thing as a mashup. The only difference between this type of album and, say, Girl Talk or The Grey Album appears to be that the insane number of samples draws from less-well-known sources rather than Top 40 pop, rock, or hip-hop. I still consider it a mashup, though, mostly because I really don't want to give the term plunderphonics any credence. Either way, anytime I listen to a mashup now I think about the copyright implications (what can I say, I'm almost a lawyer). Music and copyright is a hot topic right now, with the Blurred Lines/Marvin Gaye case saying that a song with a similar "vibe" to a copyrighted song is infringing, as well as continued controversy over what constitutes the fair use of a sample as a beat or in a mashup and whether the sampled artists should provide compulsory licensing. My guess is that here The Avalanches paid nothing for the samples they used, and it doesn't appear that they got in any trouble for it - regardless of the similarity between the original compositions and the final product. They created something original and new, but only by standing on the shoulders of others. This means of creativity has been embraced by musicians for decades and across genres, but the law hasn't really caught up yet. While I doubt that The Avalanches will get caught up in this evolution, as this album is already over 15 years old, it'll be interesting to see how artists and musicians - both the samplers and the sampled - adapt to a possible new legal regime that overlaps with artistic expression.
Favorite Tracks: Frontier Psychiatrist; Since I Left You; A Different Feeling

#393: Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983)

Zack: Tragically, Prince passed away earlier this week (at least the one in which I’m writing this). And as I thought about what an important figure he was and how much incredible music he made, I also couldn’t help but think about how weird it is that he existed in the same decade that gave us music like Def Leppard. As I was thinking that, I didn’t have Def Leppard specifically in mind, but they’re a handy stand-in for right now. Pyromania is not a good album. It is a pretty shitty album. Honestly, I don’t really know what is supposed to be redeemable about it. I tried to like Photograph, the biggest single off the album, and I guess it’s my favorite track? Notice that question mark. It is very important, because I want you to picture me, all handsome and whatnot, shrugging because I am very uncertain about what my favorite track is supposed to be off an album that is just not very good. Now, picture me shrugging even harder when I see that this album somehow went Diamond. Not Gold. Not Platinum. Platinum times 10. Diamond. How? How! I don’t know. This album came out in the year between Prince releasing 1999 and Prince releasing Purple Rain. Both of those albums sold very well too (Purple Rain went Diamond with an extra 3 Platinums to spare), but how could people be content to buy Pyromania when there were Prince albums right there to buy for the 3^rd or 4^th time. Doesn’t make any sense. The 1980s, you’ve still got some explaining to do.

Favorite Tracks: Photograph; Billy’s Got a Gun; Comin’ Under Fire

Emily: As Zack said, the '80s were a weird time for music. There were amazingly talented superstars whose music transcends the decade - people like Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna come to mind. There was a whole bunch of experimental post-punk and early alternative stuff, which isn't always my favorite, but it's at least interesting and created the foundation for great bands in the following years. And then there's a ton of schlocky hair metal that was insanely profitable and successful for a good 10 years, but 100% does not stand the test of time. Def Leppard falls into that latter category, and Pyromania exemplifies the crass, commercial nature of the genre. The album is radio friendly for sure, but it's a lot of flash with not a lot of substance. I understand why it did well in 1983, but it also just should've stayed there.

Favorite Tracks: Photograph; Rock of Ages; Too Late for Love

#392: Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey (1975)

Zack: Let me get this out of the way right now: I listened to albums 391-394 back-to-back-to-back-to-back while working on my prospectus, so the same disclaimer about not paying the most attention I gave for Tarkus applies here as well. That said, I liked Marcus Garvey enough to go back and relisten to all the songs I realized I had completely not paid attention to. Which means I basically ended up listening to this album 2.5 times by accident, and I have absolutely no qualms about that. Marcus Garvey is a reggae album and we haven’t had a chance to listen to one of them in a long, long time (I haven’t gone back and looked, but I think the last one was Peter Tosh’s Legalize it somewhere on the other side of 300). Marcus Garvey definitely had some political undertones to it which didn’t get through to me at all. All I noticed was the smooth grooves that kept telling me how nice it would be to be relaxing in a tropical paradise somewhere. And while I’m excited to double back to get more about the message, the feeling that the album had is pretty much all you can ask from a reggae album.

Favorite Tracks: Slavery Days; Tradition; Resting Place

Emily: Reggae music is deceptively simple - the steel drums and chill vibes evoke Jamaica's tropical climate, beautiful beaches, and laid-back party atmosphere. However, underneath these first impressions frequently lie revolutionary lyrics that reflect the political, economic, and social turmoil that took over the island after its independence and continues to some extent today. My favorite example of this is Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come (probably because I wrote a paper about the album and its accompanying film for a class in college), but Burning Spear's Marcus Garvey comes in a close second. The album cover itself indicates that it's not just a reggae party album, revealing the political and militant content right up front. A first listen reveals a classic upbeat reggae sound, right at home on the beach or in a dancehall. However, I need to listen to Marcus Garvey a few more times to fully grasp the entire context - something I definitely intend to do in the future.

Favorite Tracks: Marcus Garvey; Tradition; Old Marcus Garvey

#391: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus (1971)

Emily: Emerson, Lake & Palmer sounds like it should be the name of a '70s soft rock band, the kind that wears Canadian tuxedos and big mustaches and plays exclusively on adult contemporary radio and in waiting rooms. But then I saw that their album had a robot armadillo on the cover, so I knew that I was in for something totally different. Tarkus (which is the name of the aforementioned armadillo, according to Wikipedia) starts out with a 20-minute prog rock jam session. The rest of the album consists of much short tracks that continue the prog sound, with jazz and classical influences and a couple tracks that wouldn't be out of place in a particularly proggy church. I still don't understand where the armadillo plays into all of this, but I'm glad the album defied my expectations.
Favorite Tracks: Tarkus; Bitches Crystal; A Time and a Place

Zack: Prog rock has been so hit or miss, so it was nice to find that this album struck a happy medium between weird and listenable. The weirdness, which mostly shone through on the 20-minute title track, isn’t an abrasive kind of strange, but more like things just sound a bit off, like the entire album is just slightly positioned off center somehow. It gives it a sort of kooky vibe that I actually quite enjoyed. Once you get past the first track, which I need to reiterate is more than 20 minutes long and more than half the album’s total length, all the songs sort of breeze right by. I was working on my prospectus throughout the album, so I wasn’t necessarily paying the most attention that I could have, but it seemed like an album well-deserving of its art, in its general nature of making you both slightly confused but sort of appreciative.

Favorite Tracks: Tarkus; Are You Ready Eddy; The Only Way (Hymn)

#390: Primal Scream - Vanishing Point (1997)

Emily: I'm always on the lookout for good music to listen to while I work. This is a hunt that will become even more pronounced as I spend my summer studying for the bar and starting my first real-life job as a judicial clerk. For me, the best working music is largely instrumental (though a few words here and there is fine), a mix of energetic and calming songs, and some sort of steady beat. I've found a few things that fit this bill - the John Coltrane Pandora station and the Mellow Beats playlist on Spotify are two of my favorites, as well as a few of the albums we've chronicled over the years. And now, Primal Scream fits the bill as well. The album is largely instrumental, spanning the '90s rock spectrum between alternative and electronic. It's an interesting mix, but it all flows together - perfect for both background music while studying and a closer listen on its own.

Favorite Tracks: If They Move, Kill 'Em; Kowalski; Star

Zack: I had never heard of Primal Scream, so I had no idea what to expect going in to this album. I had classified it as alternative rock, but alternative is such a broad category that it could really be a lot of different things. I was a bit nervous, but it turns out I had no reason to be. Primal Scream reminded me of a lot of different artists that we’ve come by, but the main three were Radiohead, TV on the Radio, and Air. You may notice that those are three very, very good comparisons, especially coming from me since I love TV on the Radio so so so very much. Vanishing Point mixed a light version of alternative rock with a heaping dose of electronic, specifically some effects that remind me of the modern chillwave movement. I actually find the sections where the band was playing around with electronic music to be the more interesting ones. But the whole album was really solid. I didn’t love it quite as much as I love The Bends or Moon Safari or pretty much anything by TV on the Radio (OK Calculator excluded), but it was the sort of album that I could easily see myself keeping on my iPod and just enjoying on a long train ride or something. Considering the bloated size of my iTunes and my limited iPod space, that’s one of the highest compliments I can give.

Favorite Tracks: Long Life; Get Duffy; If They Move, Kill ‘Em

#389: The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

Zack: Now for part 2 of our accidental Gram Parsons extravaganza. Apparently, the Byrds popularity as a rock/psychedelic band was kind of winding down and members were leaving. In order to fill in some places for a tour, they brought in relative unknown Gram Parsons, who then proceeded to brainwash the rest of the band into making a country album. Essentially, Gram Parsons wanted to merge country and rock music into one single sound, and instead of making his own albums and hoping they catch on, he somehow took over a major rock band and changed them from the inside instead. Seriously, reading this story sounds like a cross between Ocean’s 11 and Charles Manson. But you can’t argue with the results. Much like Grievous Angel, Sweetheart of the Rodeo has a bit too much twangy honky tonk in it to be the particular brand of country that I enjoy. And it lacks the emotional depth that Parsons was able to put into his solo work. But it still sounds more innovative and less generic that the other Byrds album we listened to, so I count this as a decent win. Sweetheart of the Rodeo was breezy, rarely boring, and generally stood out as doing something sort of different. I didn’t particularly love this album, but I liked it enough that I don’t mind saying it’s something that more people should probably check out.

Favorite Tracks: You Don’t Miss Your Water; One Hundred Years from Now; Nothing Was Delivered

Emily: Zack has been on my case lately about not getting through albums quickly enough. While he makes a legitimate point, part of my reason for slowness is that I'm just not super excited by the current batch of albums. Alas, I have to get through the current batch before we get closer to #400 and beyond. So tonight, a slow Monday night at home, I decided to sit down with my oh-so-scintillating Federal Courts treatise and fire up The Byrds. While Sweetheart of the Rodeo made a chapter on legislative courts somewhat more interesting, it definitely wouldn't be my first choice of studying music. Or of other kinds of music. It was just too much honk and too much tonk throughout. Wikipedia told me that before they brought Gram Parsons in, the band wanted to do more of a concept album encompassing the American pop music of the 20th century. Now that sounds like an intriguing album, but when they brought Parsons in he essentially made them scrap the concept and go full-on country instead. The result was not too different from Parsons' solo effort, which we just listened to, but it seemed to have even more of a twangy country vibe - not exactly my cup of tea. But getting through Sweetheart of the Rodeo does make us one album closer to the next hundred-milestone and beyond, so it at least counts for that.

Favorite Tracks: One Hundred Years from Now; Nothing Was Delivered; You Ain't Going Nowhere

#388: Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel (1974)

Zack: To show you how much both Emily and I know about country music, neither of us realized that Gram Parsons was in the Byrds, which is why we are inadvertently listening to Grievous Angel (the last album Parsons recorded before he died) and Sweetheart of the Rodeo (the last Byrds album Parsons worked on) back to back. He also apparently was on that Flying Burrito Brothers album we listened to forever ago, which is a thing I did not know. Anyway, that we’re listening to these two right next to each other is completely coincidental, but it might be interesting to hear how Parsons developed what he called “Cosmic American Music” but what any normal person who is not addicted to heroin might refer to as country rock. The one Byrds album we listened to before definitely had country influences on it, but it was certainly a rock album. Grievous Angel is sort of the opposite. I really don’t hear much of the rock that’s supposed to be in its genes. It comes across mostly as a pure country album, albeit quite a good one. There’s a bit too much twang in there for we to love it as much as I do the outlaw stuff. But there are a number of songs where the twang is dialed back and the emotion is turned up. Those songs, which have a beautiful somberness to them, are the ones that really jump out. Grievous Angel, overall, is quite a good album, but it is really carried by songs like Love Hurts, In My Hour of Darkness, and $1000 Wedding. In those songs, the beauty of this album as a county masterpiece really shines. The other tracks were solid, but were mostly just filler to me.

Favorite Tracks: In My Hour of Darkness, $1000 Wedding; Love Hurts

Emily: Clearly I had no idea who Gram Parsons was when I decided to pick a Byrds album immediately after a Gram Parsons solo album. Maybe it was because there are so many Byrds albums on this list that I felt that I should pick one in this batch. And maybe it was also because the albums are in two different genres. The Byrds lean more on classic rock (we'll see about the next album), but this album was decidedly country. There was a bit of twang on some of the tracks (which as you probably know is what really turns me away from country music), but where the album really shined was in its emotion. Grievous Angel has an undercurrent of sadness on it, made all the more poignant by the fact that the album was released four months after Parsons' untimely death from a heroin overdose at the age of 26. From that sadness comes the album's strength, an emotional core that has resonated in both country and rock ever since.

Favorite Tracks: Love Hurts; In My Hour of Darkness; Hearts on Fire

#387: Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980)

Zack: Holy crap! A post punk album that I actually liked! I did not think this day would actually come. While so many other post punk albums we’ve listened to all sounded so repetitive, seemingly remaking the same songs over and over and over again with identical vocals and sputtering guitars, Killing Joke ditched the speed of punk but retained the intensity and some of the harshness. The result is a really interesting sound. It’s not polished, but it is dynamic, with a sort of proto-grunge vibe to it. Killing Joke was solid and different from so many of its contemporaries, making it one of like 3 albums we’ve listened to from that accursed genre actually work checking out.

Favorite Tracks: Tomorrow’s World; The Wait; Bloodsport

Emily: Frequently, with the post-punk genre, I'm not quite sure what to write about. I don't feel much of a connection to the genre - it's way before my time, but usually not interesting enough to make me wish it was of my generation. A lot of the artists have a similar sound too, and there's only so many permutations of "I can see the transitional influence here" that I can put forth. Now, Killing Joke is another member of this uninspiring post-punk brigade. I definitely liked it more than many of its counterparts, particularly the heavier-rock elements that certainly became a hallmark of grunge a decade later. However, it still didn't give me much to say, and it's likely I'll forget it altogether by the time the next post-punk album comes around.

Favorite Tracks: Wardance; Requiem; Complications

#386: Sister Sledge - We Are Family (1979)

Emily: As soon as I turned on this album I was immediately transported to car rides with my mom. She and I both love to sing along (poorly) with the radio, and disco hits are some of the best fodder for an afternoon of carpool karaoke. The first track on this album, He's the Greatest Dancer, has definitely been in that rotation, along with the iconic title track that has been a staple at weddings and bar mitzvahs for decades. Disco may catch some heat as a genre, but when Sister Sledge up the R&B grooves alongside the dance fever, it makes for an album perfect for singing, dancing, and grooving - especially from the comfort of your car.
Favorite Tracks: He's the Greatest Dancer; We Are Family; One More Time

Zack: It’s fitting that right before I begin my annual music marathon where I catch up on all the new albums I missed over the course of the year while I was being productive, in what I’ve heard was yet another great year for the Philadelphia music scene, we came across Philadelphia’s own Sister Sledge. Everyone knows Sister Sledge from their hit song We Are Family, which is featured in approximately 40% of all movie soundtracks. But apparently that song was on an album, which had other songs besides We Are Family on it. There were as many as seven other songs, in fact! I know, it’s shocking. Most of the other songs have the same sort of feel to them as We Are Family, with that upbeat disco/soul vibe to them. Which is to say it was quite the pleasant listen. Overall, I probably won’t revisit this album ever again, and it’s a long way away from my favorite Philly albums of all time, but it was exactly what it needed to be and you can’t fault it for that.
Favorite Tracks: We Are Family; You’re a Friend to Me; He’s the Greatest Dancer

#385: Morrissey - Your Arsenal (1992)

Zack: I had, up to this point, been underwhelmed by the musical offerings of Morrissey that we had come across. Both Meat is Murder by The Smiths and Viva la Hate – Morrissey’s debut solo album – just felt sort of empty to me in a way that reminded me a lot of what I dislike about 80s post punk (perhaps not surprisingly, both of those albums came from the 1980s). But whatever happened once the decade turned is a godsend, because I was really drawn into Your Arsenal. It had a more definitive oomph to it that prevented it from just whisking by. Wikipedia tells me that this was Morrissey drawing more influence from glam rock, and that is a thing I really hope he kept doing on the other two solo albums that we have left. Because the change in his sound, and the excitement that gets imbued into the music from that change, make all the difference between a forgettable album and one that can contend for one of my top 5 favorites come album 400.
Favorite Tracks: Seasick, Yet Still Docked; We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful; You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side

Emily: I had come to expect a certain sound from Morrissey - indie pop, emotional, brooding, dark...I could go on, but you probably get the point. I liked that sound from Morrissey and the Smiths. And then he goes and puts out Your Arsenal. The underlying emotion is still there, but infused with rock, glam, and rockabilly. It sounds like he's having a lot more fun with the music, and I had more fun along with him. Now that I know that Morrissey's sound isn't just the somewhat singular (but compelling) note from his earlier work, I'm even more curious to delve deeper into his discography.
Favorite Tracks: You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side; I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday; Tomorrow

#384: Weather Report - Heavy Weather (1977)

Zack: This album made me realize how painfully unequipped I am to discuss jazz music. I’ve mentioned before about how I’ve enjoyed a lot of what we’ve come across, but even when I like something I don’t quite know how to express it. It’s very different than talking about hip-hop or alternative rock or just about any other genre, where I know the language. With jazz, I always feel like I should have a translation dictionary on hand. Which is why it’s so hard to write a post about why I enjoyed Heavy Weather. It was a really solid album, and I loved how it…sounded. That’s about the best I can do. Something about it really stuck with me, and hopefully listening to it a few more times will shake some useful adjectives out of me so I can say why.

Favorite Tracks: Birdland; The Juggler; Harlequin

Emily: I was catching up on the New York Times as I listened to this album today, and by the end I was reading an article about Kamasi Washington. If you don't know who Washington is, you should, because his debut album The Epic is simply fantastic. Washington is a contemporary jazz musician that very well might bring jazz back to the forefront - he's already started by working with Kendrick Lamar on To Pimp A Butterfly, and from the article I also learned that he's toured with both Snoop Dogg and Lauryn Hill. Washington's jazz comes from many different eras and influences, creating something entirely his own. It made a lot of sense, then, that I was listening to Heavy Weather while reading about him. Heavy Weather is a jazz-fusion album, with elements of rock and funk alongside the quintessential jazz arrangements and feel. The jazz artists of today - like Kamasi Washington - pull from contemporary influences as well (like hip-hop and electronic). I'm sure there's a long line of this tradition within the jazz community (and probably a lot of naysayers and purists as well), but the two artists I've connected with today at least begin to tell that story.

Favorite Tracks: Birdland; Palladium; Teen Town

#383: Moby Grape - Moby Grape (1967)

Emily: A recent trend that's popped up on this blog is '60s psychedelic-rock bands named after fruit. First the Electric Prunes, and now Moby Grape. I didn't even plan it that way! I wonder if they ever shared a stage in 1967, because that pairing is ripe (heh) for so many branding opportunities. And it's not like sharing a stage would just be a novelty because of their names. Both bands emerged around the same time into an emerging psychedelic rock scene that drew on rock and roll, blues, country, and so many other influences and created something uniquely of that moment. Here, Moby Grape draws on all of that, creating links among all of these influences and starting to shape the psychedelic rock sound that defined that year and that era. I can only hope that there's a third band to round out a psychedelic fruit trifecta, but it'd be hard for that band to stand up against the Prunes and Grapes of the day.
Favorite Tracks: Mr. Blues; Omaha; Come in the Morning

Zack: Remember like 10 albums ago when I ranted about Beau Brummels? If not, go read that review, because it’s like a paragraph and the site navigation on Blogspot isn’t THAT bad. Basically, I found it preposterous that an album as weak as Triangle should be included, especially considering that the musical scheme around that album (the year 1967) was so lush. Triangle’s one claim to fame was that it tried to merge a lot of different genres (folk, country, psychedelic, rock, etc.), but I was confident that there had to be a better example out there. Turns out I was prophetic, because Moby Grape is exactly that. Coming from the same year (Triangle was released about a month later), Moby Grape successfully blended a bunch of different musical styles being practiced by their contemporaries into a single cohesive sound that is actually interesting and worth listening to. While I wouldn’t say I was particularly blown away by it, I enjoyed it enough that I think you can make a great case that it’s worth listening to.

Favorite Tracks:  Changes; Mr. Blues; Indifference

#382: LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)

Zack: I was just a little too young and a little too uncool to have been into LCD Soundsystem when they were active. Which is a shame, since I’ve long thought that Daft Punk Is Playing at My House is a great song, and thought so for a good year before I knew whose song that actually was. Sound of Silver is not an album with Daft Punk Is Playing at My House on it, but it has its own merits. For one, it is an interesting blend of The Strokes with, perhaps not surprisingly, Daft Punk. For another, it’s just a fun album to listen to. I actually liked the more Strokes-y parts the best, which sort of surprised me since The Strokes are comically overrated (#shotsfired). Sound of Silver was a great introduction to the band, although I’m certainly eager to listen to their other two albums so I’m prepared when they reunite five years from now.

Favorite Tracks: New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down; All My Friends; Someone Great

Emily: As we've discussed before, Zack and I don't listen to albums at the same time. We live in different states, so we have a list of albums that we go through individually. Zack sends his reviews to me and I post everything. Usually, this results in me being really behind and attempting to catch up with Zack's prolific review-writing. Today, though, my delay brings me somewhat of an advantage. Zack wrote his review about a month ago, predicting that we wouldn't see an LCD Soundsystem reunion for five years. However, just a few days ago, the band announced that they're coming back in 2016. They're headlining Coachella (with Guns 'n Roses...), releasing a new album, and most likely touring the world. So today seems like a perfect time to discover where this band all started, since I definitely wasn't cool enough to be listening to them in 2007. I was surprised by just how much I liked this album. It's a great blend of Daft Punk-esque electronic and 2000s punk-revival, with some alternative influences thrown in for good measure. It's the kind of album that you can dance to, tap your feet to, or just sit around and listen to. I can see it playing really well live too (perhaps explaining the reunion festival appearance). With this first exposure, I'd like to hear what else they've done, and I definitely wouldn't be opposed to seeing them live when they hit the East Coast later this year.

Favorite Tracks: Us vs. Them; North American Scum; All My Friends

#381: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair (1985)

Zack: We, as a society, need to come together and come up with some real, substantive regulation over the playlists in all retail locations. I get that they are private businesses and that this may seem like too much, but I think I actually recoiled in actual horror on the train when Everybody Wants to Rule the World came on this album. I heard that song twice a day, 4-5 days a week, for almost 2 years while I worked in the hell-on-Earth that is Modell’s Sporting Goods. I’m sure that normal people would hear that song and think that it is an acceptable new wave song. I hear it and start shrieking “Kill it! Kill it with fire!” And I haven’t even worked there in more than 2 years. In a world with Pandora, Spotify, and a million other music services, there is just no reason for retail stores to be playing the same shitty CD with the same shitty songs on repeats for eternity. Moving on from that #calltoaction, Tears for Fears have a pretty good band name and the same exact sound that almost every other new wave band we’ve listened to has had. Seriously, were the funky haircuts of the 80s just a means of telling bands apart, like a more vertical color coding system? Songs from the Big Chair is an album we’ve already heard a dozen or so times, and I’m honestly too sick of it to even bother complaining anymore.

Favorite Tracks: I Believe; The Working Hour; Head Over Hells/Broken [Live]

Emily: You're not going to get a band like Tears for Fears today. Their particular combination of bombastic synths, feathery mullets, and sung-spoken vocals on Songs from the Big Chair comes distinctly out of 1985. It would maybe work as a nostalgia act today, but not as much else. I don't even think Tears for Fears today (yep, they're still together and making new music) would try to capture the Tears for Fears of 1985. I suppose this is true of most new wave, actually. But Songs from the Big Chair is one of the more interesting albums of the genre and era, mixing up the tempo and pop/rock vibes from track to track. Trying to capture that distinct musical moment in time today would seem a little silly, synths and all - though I totally support bringing the sweaters from the album cover back.

Favorite Tracks: Shout; Everybody Wants to Rule the World; Broken