The night session at the Australian Open last night was
fairly boring so I turned in relatively early.
As is my practice on such occasions, I fell asleep listening to my
iPod. When I woke this morning I
returned to the last track I remembered hearing and completed the album whilst
walking Lady.
(49) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Live In New
York City (disc 1)
If I can say that I have a favourite artist it would have to
be The Boss, although Neil Young is closing the gap. This is Exhibit A for any doubters, an
awesome exhibition of the man and his band at full flow and throttle. Recorded on “home” turf at Madison Square
Garden, this forms part of the record of his reunion with the E Street Band in
2001. The first disc of this two disc
set stands alone practically as a mini gig and is beautifully sequenced. The opening three tracks including Prove it
All Night roar out of the blocks (or dare I say it, roar down the highway like
a hotted up speed demon with pistons pumping). Things progressively cool with versions of
Atlantic City, Mansion On The Hill and a downbeat The River. The pace starts to pick up again with, of all
things, Youngstown from the acoustic Ghost Of Tom Joad which mutates into a guitar
orgy with great playing from Nils Lofgren. A couple a blasts of feedback surges
into Murder Incorporated and the brilliant as always Badlands. A fun version of Out In The Street seemingly
brings proceedings to a close but this simply makes may for an unlisted Born To
Run, one of the three most significant songs in my musical education. (This is a story for another day.)
Delving into the plastic crate, I take four albums with me
for company on another standard day at work.
(50) Femi Kuti – Day By Day
Femi keeps things in the family through his mastery of Afrobeat
as invented by his father, Nigerian musical legend Fela Kuti. Like his half-brother, Seun Kuti, Femi
pursues an even more politically charged musical vision utilising shorter
tracks than the customary 10 minute plus epics of his father. Day By Day is a
typically strong Femi album although he is probably best heard in a live
setting backed by his exceptional band, Positive Force.
(51) The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet
Arguably rock’s most unclassifiable band, this was the
Prog/Psychedelic/Hard Rock/Alt Rock/Free Form Jazz/kitchen sink Mars Volta’s last
album before a self imposed hiatus. Using
generally shorter songs, it is a massive improvement on their previous release
Octrahedron and their best album since the first two. Simultaneously, it probably explains why
mainstays Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavalar felt compelled to
reactivate their previous band, At The Drive In, for a series of live shows
last year.
(52) Quicksilver Messenger Service – Self Titled
This is the debut album for one of the leading lights of the
60’s San Francisco Haight-Ashbury movement along with The Greatful Dead, Big
Brother And The Holding Company and The Jefferson Airplane. Along barely 30 minutes long this release,
starts with a number of bright, almost pop gems before somehow finding space to
include an interesting 12 minute jam titled The Fool. They followed this album with their greatest
achievement, the wonderful live album, Happy Trails.
(53) The Skids – The Saints Are Coming. The Best Of The Skids
Come 1977 there was a host of punk bands in England, Stiff
Little Fingers in Northern Ireland and The Skids in Scotland. The album showcases the sound that was hugely
influential on other young acts of the time, notably U2 who covered their best
known tune, The Saints Are Coming, with Green Day. (The latter as noted in the movie version of
High Fidelity, probably being more influenced by Stiff Little Fingers.) Also notable is Skids founder Stuart
Adamson’s groping towards the guitar sound he was to unleash in his next band,
Big Country.
With that, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve got on top on
the plastic crate. It is now time for
further explorations of my back catalogue, starting tomorrow.
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