Saturday, April 29, 2017

#426: Sonic Youth - EVOL (1986)


Zack: Much like Talking Heads, it has been 6 years since we last listened to a Sonic Youth album, which is still a very deflating thing to type out. This one makes a little more sense though. While Sonic Youth have 5 albums on the list (compared to Talking Heads’ 4) and we therefore should have probably listened to a second one like 100 or so albums ago, I really do no like Sonic Youth. I typically find their music to be screechy and annoying. I may have, therefore, been a little lax about suggesting we listen to a Sonic Youth album. Maybe I let it slip my mind for the past 2+ years...whoops. Anyway, here we have EVOL, which is the third Sonic Youth album but the first one they made that the listmakers deemed worthy. EVOL is, according to Wikipedia, when Sonic Youth decided to go in a more pop-oriented direction, which hahaha wait really? I would not say EVOL shared much with, say, Madonna’s 7x platinum album True Blue from the same year. Anyway, I did not like this album. I also did not like Goo, which is the Sonic Youth album they always tell you to start with. I do not like Sonic Youth. And I don’t particularly understand anyone who does. Take that as you will.
Favorite Tracks: Death to Our Friends; Shadow of a Doubt; Secret Girl

Emily: Much like when we listened to Goo way back in 2011, I'm still kind of in-between on Sonic Youth after listening to EVOL. I sat down this morning to listen to it before Zack woke up. He came into the living room after I got through about three songs and I told him I thought it was pretty good so far - not a lot of noise, and heavier on the creeping rock melodies. And then I hit the middle of the album, which can best be described as screechtastic. I had spoken too soon. But then I hit the last track, Bubblegum, a power-pop track filtered through Sonic Youth's noise-rock style. Sadly, Wikipedia tells me that Bubblegum was a CD bonus track not on the original album, and therefore doesn't count. So without that song, I disliked more songs than I liked on EVOL, but I'd be happy to add the tracks I liked to a playlist without the noise. I guess I'll see how I feel about the next three Sonic Youth albums, the next of which should come sooner than six years from now.
Favorite Tracks: Star Power; Shadow of a Doubt; Tom Violence

Sunday, April 9, 2017

#425: Jethro Tull - Aqualung (1971)


Zack: Depending on who you’re talking to, Aqualung is either a deep and profound concept album about religion, God, and society or it’s a bunch of songs that constitute a rock album and maybe like calm down with your projecting. You’ll hear the first if you’re talking to anyone who has written a retrospective review of the album. You’ll hear the latter if you’re talking to anyone in the band who worked on this album. So I think I’m going to go with the latter on this one. I wasn’t really paying too close of attention to the album, because I was listening to it while I built a dataset for my prospectus. It was pleasant enough, and way more acoustic than I was expecting from a prog rock staple. Overall, Aqualung was alright. I didn’t think it shifted my perception on issues of faith or anything, like some people seem to come away from it experiencing, but it was still a pretty good listen.
Favorite Tracks: Aqualung; My God; Locomotive Breath

Emily: I agree with Zack that I didn't exactly pick up on any of the "dour musings on faith and religion" that allegedly fill this concept album. Upon first listen, you can definitely tell that Jethro Tull was shooting for something bigger than a typical rock album. Even without a full grasp on the lyrics, the grandiosity and a smidgen of self-importance shine through. Otherwise, though, Aqualung is a perfectly serviceable, if unexciting, rock album. And it includes the best use of flute this side of Ron Burgandy, which definitely is a point in its favor.
Favorite Tracks: Aqualung; Wind-Up; Hymn 43

Saturday, April 1, 2017

#424: The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)


Emily: Zack has every artist on this list categorized so we can arrive at some semblance of balance as we work our way through. The Velvet Underground is labeled as "experimental," a subset of rock that can vary wildly in its tone and general enjoyability. That moniker made sense for The Velvet Underground & Nico, an experimental album and earlier foray by the band that I rather enjoyed when we listened to it a few years ago. However, the category doesn't fit at all for this later self-titled album. I found the music to be remarkable in its simplicity, a sweet yet melancholy collection of ballads that veer toward the folk end of folk-rock. It's a supremely unexpected step for a band known for the unexpected, and it's a step that I rather enjoyed.
Favorite Tracks: Pale Blue Eyes; What Goes On; Candy Says

Zack: Before this album, we’ve listened to one of the three Velvet Underground albums (Velvet Underground & Nico) and one of the two Lou Reed albums (Berlin). In addition, I did a pretty serious binge of Lou Reed’s other albums after he died a few years back, which led me to a pretty strong appreciation of tracks like this. I’ve kind of stayed away from anything Velvet Underground/Lou Reed since then. Not intentionally, but there is just so much music out in the world, plus podcasts, movies, TV, and other things to preoccupy time. You look up one day and realize it’s been like 2-3 years since you’ve listened to a band. Happens to the best of us. Anyway, Velvet Underground, the album, was pretty good. A bit more folksy than I was expecting, especially since it came only two years after the more experimental and psychedelic & Nico. But the artists behind Velvet Underground all strike me as people who always wanted to try new things, so the abrupt change in style didn’t catch me that off guard. It was good, but I think I would prefer either & Nico or Berlin to this album.
Favorite Tracks: Pale Blue Eyes; That’s the Story of My Life; Jesus