#280: John Lennon - Imagine (1971)

Emily: In terms of Beatle preferences, I'm more of a McCartney fan than a Lennon fan. I just tend to prefer McCartney's simpler, poppier style over Lennon's world-weariness and experimentation. Lennon is a legend in his own right, and on his own he really gets to explore different styles and ambition. Though the give-peace-a-chance title track is the best-known song on this album - and perhaps the best-known solo Lennon song period - Imagine really gets its fire when Lennon gets angry and brings out the rock & roll. Nowhere is this more evident than on the McCartney-attacking How Do You Sleep?, a fiery rock track brimming with rage and guitars. McCartney still may be my favorite Beatle, but I'm not exactly rushing to defend him after spending a bit more time with Lennon on his own.
Favorite Tracks: How Do You Sleep?; I Don't Want to be a Soldier; Imagine

Zack: I’ve made it no secret that I’m not that into the Beatles, but maybe I should be more specific. I think John Lennon is wildly overrated. Is that clear enough? Don’t want there to be any confusion over where I’m coming from. That said, Imagine is a pretty good album. Not fantastic, not mind-meltingly fantastic. Maybe you could persuade me to go as far as really good, but certainly no further. But, hey, maybe I’m missing something here. Maybe I just don’t see the beauty underneath the bubblegum. I’m open to persuasion, but look convincing me otherwise.

Favorite Tracks: Jealous Guy; Imagine; How Do You Sleep?

#279: Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)

Zack: Much to most people’s surprise, I’ve never really liked Public Enemy. Some of that stems from the fact that the first Public Enemy song I ever heard was Fight the Power, and I disagree with Chuck D’s assessment of Elvis Presley. I’m not really an Elvis fan, and Flavor Flav’s 1000% right about John Wayne, and I get that his larger point is that Elvis benefited from the advancements made by black musicians in a way that none of the people who influenced him ever did. But I just always found that one line to so aggressively discard contextual facts in the pursuit of an incendiary claim that I never really got over the frustration. Plus, the song was made for a Spike Lee movie, and I’ve seen enough of his bullshit antics at Knicks games to dislike him. I know that it’s stupid of me to focus so intensely on a single line in an entire sea of lyrical production and it’s completely unfair of me to have made up my mind about a band without really diving too far into their catalogue. In my defense, the rest of my disdain comes from thinking that Flavor Flav is annoying. Anyway, I promised myself that I would be more open minded when it came to their three albums on the list, and I’m trying. For instance, I intentionally made sure that the first album we listened to wasn’t Fear of a Black Planet (the album that song is actually on). I promise you’ll get the unabridged complaint about Fight the Power in that review (“Oh God there’s more?!” you all exclaimed with terror). In the meantime, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was definitely a step in the right direction. I’ve never denied Chuck D’s talent when it comes to actually rapping, and he is definitely a smart dude. His songs back a huge punch, especially once you get over Flavor Flav buzzing around like a goddamn mosquito in the backing vocals. There isn’t much flashy about the production, but there doesn’t really need to be. The point is to emphasize Chuck D, and that goal is certainly achieved.
Favorite Tracks: Party for Your Right to Fight; Black Steel in the First World; Don’t Believe the Hype

Emily: Perhaps not surprisingly, my only exposure to Public Enemy is through the ongoing legacy of Flavor Flav and his seemingly dozens of reality shows. I don't even think I watched any of them (or perhaps one - I think he was on Couples Therapy with some lady who was not a Flavor of Love girl), but the clips were ubiquitous on various pop culture clip shows of the early and mid-2000s that were a regular part of my teenage TV viewing. So my impression of Flav is that he's a ridiculous person wearing Viking horns and a giant clock who yells and gets a lot of bitches. On a Public Enemy album, he's pretty much just doing the yelling part. Luckily, he's not the focus of things. Flavor Flav essentially acts as part of the beat, making way for Chuck D's angry, issue-driven raps. The words really drive this album, and combined with the sparse, erratic beats and samples, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is an album that really makes you sit up and take notice.
Favorite Tracks: Party for Your Right to Fight; Caught, Can We Get a Witness?; She Watch Channel Zero?!

#278: The Residents - Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978)

Emily: No ducks were stabbed in the making of this album. Well, at least I hope not. The Residents' innocuous band name belies the sheer absurdity, discord, and creepiness of their "art collective" interpretation of music. Duck Stab! could be the soundtrack of a high-concept fun house that has a lot of weird distorting mirrors and scary clowns behind every turn. Or it could be surrealistic children's music, since the lyrics are nonsensical, the tonality ominous and creepy, and the singers/speakers articulating in high-pitched voices that could easily belong to cartoon characters or Pee-Wee Herman. I thought of that episode of Rugrats where one of the babies has a dream and Stu turns into a creepy clown-like monster person. Seriously, this shit would give kids and many grown adults nightmares for weeks. I may or may not be keeping my lights on tonight to ward off dreams of ducks being stabbed...
Favorite Tracks: The Electrocutioner; Krafty Cheese; Weight-Lifting Lulu

Zack: I had no idea what to expect from this album. Apparently, what I should have foreseen the output of a mockumentary band. I didn’t check Wikipedia until I sat down to write my review, but the first things that caught my eye were two pieces of trivia that made total sense after listening to the album: The Residents are less a band and more of an “art collective” and they have produced more than 60 albums as well as numerous multimedia projects. Apparently, they also wear eyeball masks with top hats when they perform. Because duh. Duck Stab!/Buster Glen is precisely as weird as all those parts add up to, and I ended up listening to it while typing up notes on various shortcuts for political preference taking. It was quite a feeling. I don’t know what was more confusing: the random noises coming through my headphones or the methodology that Chong, Citrin, and Conley employed. I don’t really have much more to say about the album. I didn’t like it. Not at all. But the absolute absurdity was sort of endearing. That’s all I have to say about that.

Favorite Tracks: Blue Rosebud; The Electrocutioner; Constantinople

#277: Jeff Beck - Truth (1968)

Zack: My dad is a pretty big Jeff Beck fan (although a bigger fan of Eric Johnson, not that there’s a natural competition between the two), so I’ve been exposed to the virtuosity that is Beck shredding. I’ve also listened to a decent amount of The Yardbirds, especially Beck-era (Jeff’s Boogie, anyone?). So I knew what to expect from Truth, even if I had never listened to this particular album before. And I certainly wasn’t surprised by much of what I heard, except for the fact that there were certainly about infinity times more tracks with vocals than I expected. Apparently, that’s because Rod Stewart was an early member of Jeff Beck Group, something I did not nor really wanted to know. The whole album is filled to the brim with notable cameos, including Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Keith Moon all on the world-shattering Beck’s Bolero. But more important than all the famous Faces (see what I did there?) are all the genres being blended together to form a beautiful bisque of guitar mastery. Blues, psychedelic, and heavy metal all get stirred together in Beck’s capable hands and nimble fingers in a way that is unique and that lets you know that a master is at work.

Favorite Tracks: Beck’s Bolero; Morning Dew; I Ain’t Superstitious

Emily: I actually listened to Truth a few weeks ago on an early-morning train ride to DC. I was computer-less on my journey, so I couldn't actually write anything at the time. Once I got home later that afternoon, I was tired and couldn't think of anything to write. I told myself that I would get back to it as soon as I could. Well, the end of the semester had gotten in the way so I didn't exactly have the time for leisurely blogging activities. Now, though, I am done with class and in the midst of preparing for finals. Since I'm not one to be able to focus for hours and hours on end, I need a few breaks in between outlines, studying, and practice exams. Forty-five minutes or so does the trick; consequently, many of the albums on our list are about forty-five minutes long. The point of that summary of my life at the moment is this: I foresee much blogging between now and next Thursday. And that (finally) brings me to Jeff Beck. I still don't know much about his guitar virtuosity beyond a cursory skim of Wikipedia and Zack's review, but this album really demonstrated what he's all about. With blues guitar at the core, Beck and his band blend together multiple genres of rock into a sound that's unique for its time and definitely classic today.

Favorite Tracks: Blues de Luxe; Let Me Love You; I Ain't Superstitious

#276: The Verve - Urban Hymns (1997)

Zack: Emily and I have a disagreement over whether or not The Verve are a one-hit wonder, a disagreement that may stem from the fact that she has worshipped at the gospel of Vh1 too long or because I severely overrate the quality of Love Is Noise. It went to No. 1…in Ireland. Okay, point taken. But the real point is that Bitter Sweet Symphony is a bitchin song and they went ahead and put that first, daring you to try and listen to the other 11 without doubling back and listen to those strings in the world’s most brass- and woodwind-less symphony. If you can get past that, it’s totally worth doing so. Not every song on this album is a winner, but there are plenty that can jump out at you during even a casual listen.

Favorite Tracks: Bitter Sweet Symphony; Weeping Willow; One Day

Emily: I was surprised to learn that The Verve, like many others on this list, have a whole album that's more than just the famous single over and over again. However, I think an album of Bitter Sweet Symphony played 12 times in a row would be preferably to the rest of Urban Hymns. It wasn't a bad album, just dull. Bitter Sweet Symphony starts it out on a high note with its iconic strings and hummable melody. From there, though, I just got bored. A few songs briefly picked up my interest, but they all seemed to blend together after a while. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for an evening of Urban Hymns, but I think The Verve should've just stuck with their one-hit strategy.

Favorite Tracks: Bitter Sweet Symphony; Space and Time; Velvet Morning

#275: The Everly Brothers - A Date with the Everly Brothers (1960)

Zack: When we initially picked this batch, I understand that Emily’s main reason for selecting this album was, “one of those dudes died recently.” By the time you read this, I’m sure it won’t be that recently. And I also hope that Kid Rock keeps alive and kickin’ for as long as possible. Nevertheless, I’m really glad she did because this album was a real pleasant surprise. The Everly Brothers sound a bit like Simon and Garfunkel were bred in captivity with the Beatles, then those genes were spliced with some random country guitar player who is charged with nothing more than standing in the background and trying not to stand too close to the spittoon. None of those acts are my favorite in the world (although the third is sure close), but they each work in their own way and still sound great when combined. A Date with the Everly Brothers just worked from start to finish and you could hear the influence they’ve had in every harmony.

Favorite Tracks: Stick with Me Baby; Love Hurts; Cathy’s Clown

Emily: As Zack mentioned, one of my reasons for picking this album was because Phil Everly had recently passed away and, as a result, his name and brotherly band were in the news. My other reason was that I had also recently listened to Foreverly, an album of Everly Brothers covers by Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones. In their duets, Billie Joe and Norah reinterpret a '50s Everly Brothers album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. That album, as the name implies, is a collection of folk and country standards that the Everlys learned growing up. Though I haven't listened to the original, Foreverly combines beautiful harmonies with simple country undertones and surprisingly dark lyrics - an interesting and worthwhile listen. So that's what I expected going into A Date with the Everly Brothers - country-tinged folk, traditional yet dark lyrics, and harmonized duets. Aside from the harmonies, the two albums ended up not having much in common. Recorded and released in 1960, A Date with the Everly Brothers takes on pop and rock & roll without entirely losing the brothers' country roots. The resulting (original) music, combined with those signature harmonies, is early pop music at some of its best. Its influence on later '60s artists is clear, and it still completely holds up for a modern listener to enjoy.

Favorite Tracks: Cathy's Clown; Sigh Cry Almost Die; Donna Donna

#274: Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty (1964)

Emily: When I looked at our list to see what I was listening to tonight, I groaned a bit when I saw the name Dusty Springfield. Based on the name alone, I thought she was a '50s or '60s country singer - not exactly my cup of tea, and not at all what I wanted to listen to tonight. Imagine my surprise when the first song, Mama Said, started and it sounded like late-'60s Motown girl groups. The Ronettes and Darlene Love came to mind immediately, so I flipped over to Wikipedia to get a little more info about Dusty, and it turns out she's a mid-'60s British pop singer. The short album nimbly bridges the gap between the British Invasion sound of The Beatles and their brethren, and the soul-and-doo-wop influences of Motown. The end result is thoroughly enjoyable - an unexpected trip to Detroit by way of London.
Favorite Tracks: When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes; Will You Love Me Tomorrow; Nothing

Zack: I don’t really have much to say about this album. It was short, poppy, yet still had a soft soulful side. She sings a rendition of Mockingbird that I liked infinitely more than Eminem’s version. But most importantly, it was short enough that it never outstayed its welcome. Just like this post.

Favorite Tracks: When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes; Mama Said; Anyone Who Had a Heart