#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