#331: Ozomatli - Street Signs (2004)

Zack: This may take the award for weirdest world music album we’ve listened to, if only because I was constantly thrown off guard. Up until track 3 (when I finally checked), I was desperately trying to figure out why Redman was apparently a member of this Latin Rock band. Turns out he’s not, but they have an incredibly convincing Redman impersonator who drops in on songs every once in a while with some pretty sick verses. Beyond that, they also work in some rock, alternative, funk, and jazz in with their Latin flair. It was a lot to process. If I’m faulting this album at all, it’s for that. It’s hard to get your bearings on an album when it is so violently flipping between genres, even within songs. I tried to adopt a mentality similar to the positionless style of play sweeping the NBA (that is to scrap the boundaries of genres and just listen to the music), but it was just too much. There arEme fusions, and then there are concoctions. Street Signs is an example of the latter. But when the proportions are right, Ozomatli really bring it. Things just click every once in a while, and then the album really seems like something special. I particularly liked the first three tracks of the album, which really blew my hair back.

Favorite Tracks: Street Signs; Believe; Love and Hope

Emily: As a respite from working on my law review comment these past few days and to distract myself from the shitty weather we've been having, I've spent a bunch of time researching places for Zack and I to go on vacation when the semester is over. The plan is to go somewhere warm, with a beach and good food. Today my search led me to look at San Juan, Puerto Rico as a potential option. It's tropical and they have beautiful beaches, plus some history and a lot of food. I turned on Street Signs with Puerto Rico on my mind, and for a few minutes I felt like I was there. Or if not there exactly, then on some other beach in Latin America with a drink in my hand and a band playing Latin fusion-funk in front of me. Turns out Ozomatli is from LA, but that doesn't even matter. The sound of this album captures modern Latin music in seemingly all of its iterations - from funk to jazz to rock to rap and everything in between. It's a combo that frequently sticks, creating a sound that is at once global and distinctly Latin. I'll definitely be listening again when I want to be transported away from the ice and snow to a land of palm trees and blue seas - no plane ticket required.

Favorite Tracks: Love and Hope; Believe; Dejame en Paz

#330: The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)

Zack: I’m on record as being more of a 2Pac fan, despite my East Coast upbringing. But most of that preference is derived from an emphasis on consistency. Pac has more releases to his name, with like 2.5 classics included. Biggie has the undeniable classic that is Ready to Die, and another classic contained somewhere in the bloated double album of Life After Death. I don’t think any Pac album really competes with Ready to Die. That said, how crazy is it that I think this is somehow only the third best rap album of 1994? Seriously, that post doesn’t even have Ill Communication in it and that chart still has way too many mind-melting albums on it (Illmatic and Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, for the record). Moving on, what I’ve always loved about Ready to Die is that is blends two very different types of personalities in a way that feels seamless. It’s almost like there are two different characters rapping. On one hand is the blustering Mafioso talking about dealing drugs, killing would-be thieves, and loving women with incredible fervor. On the other is a vulnerable human who feels pressure from his lifestyle and the world around him, feels like the armor of invincibility he has had to don is close to shattering, and really struggles. In a lot of ways, I see Biggie’s identity on this album as practically a rough outline of the TV anti-heroes that have dominated pop culture for over a decade. At a first glimpse, it seems like his motivation is pure immorality. But if you take the time to dig deeper, you find something anyone can relate to. This could come off as contrived, or the juxtaposition could be too jarring (Eminem is prone to this when flipping between the hyper-violence of Slim Shady to the emotionally vulnerable, soul-baring of Marshall Mathers). But it never does. It always feels to me like Biggie found a way to take the watchful eye that Nas turns outward to his surroundings on Illmatic back around onto himself. He depicts a certain image. Celebrates it even. But he’s very much aware of the repercussions that image is having on his psyche. I’ll still take a Makaveli playlist over a Biggie one on most days, but that shouldn’t be taken to mean anything about my level of respect for the masterpiece that is Ready to Die.

Favorite Tracks: Suicidal Thoughts; The What; Big Poppa

Emily: Ayo Big! Ayo, ayo Big! That line closes out the final track of Ready to Die, entitled Suicidal Thoughts. A friend in high school had that song on her iPod, amid all the pop-punk and ska and alternative we listened to back in the day. She would play it in the car and we'd yell "Ayo Big!" along with the track in loud, ridiculous voices. I have no idea why she liked the song, how she found out about it, and how it made its way onto her iPod. But that song is the only real impression I had going in to listening to this album, since the only other Biggie songs I really know are Hypnotize and Mo Money Mo Problems (which came on his posthumous second album). Now that I've listened to Ready to Die once, I don't really know what my opinion is on it. There is so much context that goes into the music that I don't know much about, and I really think that context is necessary for an album with as much cultural significance as this one has in the evolution of rap music. I'll have to listen to it again with Zack, who knows so much more about this than I do, so that I can get a fuller understanding of what this album is and what it means. Until then, I'll reserve my judgment.

Favorite Tracks: Big Poppa; Suicidal Thoughts; Juicy

#329: James Taylor - Sweet Baby James (1970)

Zack: Apparently James Taylor went through a phase where he was so depressed that he would sleep 20 hours a day, checked himself in to a hospital for mental instability, and got hooked on heroin. All BEFORE he got famous as a folk musician. Somehow, none of that comes across in his music. Sweet Baby James isn’t anything particularly fancy. It’s pleasant, folk music that sounds like it should be playing in the background of a driving/road trip montage in a movie. I didn’t have many impressions from it. I thought it was just generally pretty solid on all the fronts. It didn’t have the lyrical complexity of Dylan, the emotional vulnerability of Nick Drake, or the general musical excellence of Neil Young. But it had all of those components in satisfactory quantities. There were a number of songs that I just found boring, but I’d imagine a more dedicated folk music listened would have no problem swaying to them. In general, I enjoyed Sweet Baby James, but it wasn’t the type of album that stood out.

Favorite Tracks: Fire and Rain; Country Road; Sweet Baby James

Emily: My family was a bit late to the CD game. Until my parents bought a new car with a CD player in 1999, we subsisted on car and home stereos with a cassette deck and a radio. With this not-so-new technology in our lives, though, it was time to buy some CDs. Since my mom was the one who would be driving the new car most of the time, she got a few of her favorites for long drives. One of those early CD purchases was James Taylor's greatest hits. Taylor is one of my mom's favorite artists, and we listened to that greatest hits CD once in a while on long drives. I'm sure if you go through the crate of records in my parents' basement you will find Sweet Baby James in there too. Having only been exposed to the mix of Taylor's whole career, however, I wasn't super familiar with this early album. The folk elements are definitely there, but a few are infused with more rock and roll than I would've expected. The combination makes sense, though having a calm, more purely folk song like the title track juxtaposed with the live folk-rock guitar solo on Steamroller is a bit of an odd juxtaposition. I know that Taylor went more towards folk has he progressed through his career, but it's definitely cool to hear how that sound all started.

Favorite Tracks: Steamroller; Sweet Baby James; Country Road

#328: The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)

Zack: I really want to become a big fan of The Stooges. I just feel like that’s a really cool band to say you’re a fan of. So I was really pumped to listen to this album. I loved Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life and still play it pretty often, and I’ve already obtained the complete Stooges discography for when I can officially consider myself a fan. But I haven’t jumped in to listening to anything else yet because I wanted to get through the classics first. So no matter how bad I wanted to listen to Live at the Whiskey a Go-Go (and I wanted and still do want to listen to it very badly), I reconciled myself to waiting until we at least listen to their debut album and Raw Power. I certainly haven’t backed down from my plans after officially crossing the former off. The Stooges was an awesome album, serving as an amazing halfway point between garage rock and punk. Even when the album got kind of weird (We Will Fall), there was a certain charm to it. I didn’t think any of the songs were quite as good as Search and Destroy, but the album was filled with really solid songs that were packed with energy. I still hesitate to call myself a Stooges fan, since there is still a few more albums to listen to before I think I can speak about them intelligently. But I’m on my way and very excited about the process.

Favorite Tracks: No Fun; I Wanna Be Your Dog; Real Cool Time

Emily: The Stooges occupy such an interesting place in the rock music timeline. They come at a time when the hippies were on their way out, garage rock was just settling in, and punk was still a few years away. At that time, I don't think there was a clear way to be cool in music. The best strategy was just to do what you want and see what happens. I think that's what makes The Stooges so cool. They're definitely tied to a scene and an era, but they're the ones who made that scene and era happen with their unencumbered sound and style. They took what was new and made it even newer, foreshadowing the evolution of punk late in the next decade. The only other exposure I've had to The Stooges is Iggy Pop's solo Lust for Life, so I'm curious to hear what he and the band did in between. No matter what it is, though, I'm sure it's just as cool as this debut.

Favorite Tracks: No Fun; 1969; I Wanna Be Your Dog

#327: Anita Baker - Rapture (1986)

Emily: I've written on here before about my dad's love for Smooth Jazz 106.1, the jazz radio station that was here in Philadelphia for most of my childhood. It went off the air a few years ago, but until then it was pretty much all my dad would listen to in the car until my brother or I protested. Well, usually it was me doing the protesting, but still. For a kid/preteen/teenager, smooth jazz radio filled with the likes of Kenny G was not what I wanted to hear when I was getting a ride to the mall. As I've gotten older, and exposed less often to smooth jazz, I have somewhat more of an appreciation for it. I'm not about to go out of my way to listen to it, but when a smooth jazz artist like Anita Baker comes up on this list I'm always willing to give it a chance. I recognized Sweet Love, the lead single from Rapture, almost immediately. It was a staple on 106.1, and even when I was younger I didn't particularly hate it. That's probably because it's more than your standard, boring smooth-jazz fare. Baker's singing has more soul and R&B style along with the jazzier instrumentals, a blend that shines throughout the album. Smooth jazz radio needs more music like this - maybe then it'll get a better rep than it has had so far with the annoyed children and teenagers of the world.
Favorite Tracks: Sweet Love; Same Ole Love; Been So Long

Zack: I don’t really have much to say about this album, which I think makes it the first of its kind. Anita Baker had a combination of the smoothness of R&B with the up-tempo of jazz. It was a nice mixture and was certainly nice on the ears. There wasn’t anything that really stood out, other than how coherent everything felt. Every song seemed to flow right into the next, like a seamless stream of silky songs. Overall, I’d stop short of saying Rapture felt heavenly, but it definitely wasn’t a hell on Earth.

Favorite Tracks: Sweet Love; Caught Up in the Rapture; Mystery

#326: ABBA - Arrival (1976)

Emily: My mom absolutely hates ABBA. She was a teenager in the '70s, and I'm pretty sure she yelled at her radio to turn off Dancing Queen every time a pop station played it - which in 1976 was approximately every other song. ABBA comes up on the radio significantly less often now, but I'm sure she'll do the same thing. Even when the '90s neo-ABBA pop group A*Teens came along to Radio Disney with covers of Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia and equally sugary pop confections like Upside Down, she would turn the songs off immediately unless I protested. Yes, despite my mom's hatred, I liked A*Teens as a kid. Now, does that translate to liking ABBA now? Not quite. Arrival is brainless pop music meant to be danced to in 3-minute intervals, not savored as a full-length album. I'll take the shimmery Euro-disco fun that is Dancing Queen once in a while, but I didn't really need a half hour of it.
Favorite Tracks: Dancing Queen; Money, Money, Money; Dum Dum Diddle

Zack: I’m not sure I could turn the volume low enough on my iPod and still be able to hear enough that I could, in all good faith, write a review. I spent my morning walk to school nervously glancing over my shoulders every six seconds to make sure no one knew I was listening to ABBA. Hopefully everyone just thought I was being followed or was an escaped convict instead of what would have truly elicited judgment form my peers. I mean, it’s ABBA. Even if this albums sold several trillion copies (all numbers approximate), it still made a music journalist write “By reducing their already vapid lyrics to utter irrelevance, lead singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog are liberated to matter on in their shrill voices without regard to emotion or expression,” Reread that quote. And know that, even if you like this album (which I’m already 100% positive Emily will), that statement is completely and obviously true. The songs are designed to be as shallow, repetitive, and uncomfortably upbeat as possible. I’m almost a little ashamed to admit that I’m kind of impressed by it. I have a longstanding hatred for The Black Eyed Peas for doing the same thing, but here it kind of feels at least a little sincere, as opposed to a concerted effort to make music for commercials and bar mitzvah royalty checks. I may not have liked this album. I may be moments away from scrubbing it out of my iTunes with digital bleach. But I respect that ABBA made the exact album they wanted to make in as unabashed a fashion as they could.

Favorite Tracks: Dancing Queen; Money, Money, Money; Why Did it Have to Be Me?

#325: Big Star - #1 Record (1972)

Zack: I’ve wanted to listen to this album forever now. I kept nominating it like every time it was time to pick a new batch, and it always got looked over. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a single Big Star song I’d ever heard, and all I’d ever read about the band or this album was that it was the epitome of critical darling, commercial failure. It gave it an air of mystery. Now that I’ve actually listened to it, I have to say that it didn’t quite live up to my lofty expectations. I was really expecting to be blown away, but instead I got a very consistent, very enjoyable album. My life remains unchanged. But it was definitely an album that I want to listen to a few more times, and I’m hopeful that more realistic expectations for a second go around will help.

Favorite Tracks: The Ballad of El Gordo; Watch the Sunrise; My Life is Right

Emily: I think the reason I apparently passed over Big Star so many times is because I had absolutely no idea who they were. Zack put them in the "classic rock" genre, but how could they be classic if I didn't even know their name? Turns out their cult following and critical acclaim, as well as emergence in the '60s and '70s, rightfully places them in the category of classic rock. That, and their power-pop-rock stylings that Wikipedia describes as drawing "on the vocal harmonies of The Beatles, as well as the swaggering rhythms of The Rolling Stones and the jangling guitars of The Byrds," which is a super-accurate description if you ask me. This album didn't really do anything new, but it definitely did it well. Plus, In the Street was later covered by Cheap Trick and used as the That '70s Show theme song. As That '70s Show is both one of my favorite sitcoms and favorite sitcom theme songs, that's totally a plus in my book for Big Star.

Favorite Tracks: In the Street; Watch the Sunrise; When My Baby's Beside Me