19 February 2013 (Day 50) – 5 Albums With Absolutely Nothing In Common

I knew I would be able to get through a few albums today so I set myself the task of playing albums that I could not link in any way whatsoever.  This is one of the things that I normally pride myself on in selecting listening matter but this project, and the need to find something to comment on each day, has influenced my thinking in ways I hadn’t anticipated. 

To make things interesting, I brought in the rule that all of the albums had to be rock albums. Otherwise, it would have been too easy to follow a rock album with, say a delta blues album, then a jazz album, then a reggae one.  (Of course I could have nixed that anyway by stating that these are all examples of black music, but I hadn’t thought of that at the time.)  In any case with that, supposedly difficult limitation, I think I did pretty well; you be the judge.

(132) Cowboy Junkies – The Trinity Session

By now everybody knows of the circumstances of the recording of this album by this Canadian band.  (Recorded on a single microphone in a Toronto church presumably for a pittance for those who don’t.)  Lo fi doesn’t even begin to describe the vibe early but it suits the material and the exquisite whispered vocals of Margo Timmins incredibly well.  For some reason the highlights come in the second half of the album, 200 More Miles, Dreaming My Dreams (trying playing that in front of a roaring fireplace) and of course their magnificent cover of Sweet Jane.

(133) Tool – Lateralus

Tool is seemingly where prog rock meets metal without sounding like either.  “I know where the pieces fit”, sings Maynard on this album.  Good. Now you can tell me but unfortunately the track concerned is called Schism.  Adding to the wilful confusion are enigmatic lyrics that are too angst ridden to be associated with either musical camp, traces of world music (such as the into to Reflection) and in Maynard the most withdrawn lead singer in music.  Unbelievably the whole thing works wonderfully particularly on intricate, epic tracks such as Ticks & Leeches and Triad.

(134) Bad Company – Straight Shooter

From the ashes of Free comes this no frills, straight ahead, blues/rock beauty, a particular favourite of mine in the mid too late 70s.  This neatly encapsulates the era – the songs about making love (Feel Like Makin’ Love), love gone bad (Good Lovin’ Gone Band), women (Anna and Wild Fire Woman), a cautionary tale (Shooting Star) and a tender ballad to round things up (Call On Me)  All this and the great voice of Paul Rodgers too.

(135) The B-52’s – Self Titled

Their debut album and the one that has Planet Claire, 52 Girls and the immortal Rock Lobster on it.  Need I say more? Err, yes.  For me the highlights are the final two tracks on the album.  First is the hilarious 6060-842 which probably contains the definitive Fred Schneider vocal performance, especially his answering the phone bit.  But even this is topped by the cover of Petula Clark’s Downtown, an act of supreme demented genius.

(136) Rancid - …..And Out Come The Wolves

For the most part this is an exemplary set of rousing 90’s American punk tunes which should have been much bigger that it was.  Just one listen to hook heavy tracks such as Ruby Soho, As Wicked, Disorder And Disarray, Junkie Man and the Oi Oi Oi chorus in Avenues & Alleyways and you’ll be hard pressed to stop joining in.  It is as exciting as this form of music gets and their live shows in the era were even better.