21 October 2013 (Day 294) - What’s My Favourite Album Ever - Final Nominations [1]

Over the weekend I found myself scrolling through my iPod and I realised, to my horror, that there were a great number of albums that could easily make my top 100 that I haven’t even mentioned yet.   Today’s playlist consists of such albums starting with;

(# 680) Lucinda Williams –Car Wheels On a Gravel Road (1998)

Lucinda Williams is another in the great long line of American singer songwriters. Initially known as a country songwriter due to successful cover versions by other artists of great early songs such Passionate Kisses and Changed The Locks, but for the bulk of her fans, it is Car Wheels On A Gravel Road that was her calling card.  It is a superb distillation of rock, country and folk, very much in the vein of Steve Earle who also appears on the album.  Unlike Earle she doesn’t write overly political or controversial material but, like him, does write deeply felt tracks about life and love.  And just about no one writes better material for themselves; however emotional the songs may read on paper, they take on an extra dimension when sung by her own voice.  There is not an inflection, gasp or swoon that is not meant and one can almost come to the conclusion that the, often exquisite melodies are written in the first instance to complement them.  Listen to the title track, Drunken Angel, Concrete And Barbed Wire and the sublime Still I Long For Your Kiss and you’ll immediately hear what I mean.

(# 681) Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic (1974)

This is the key album in Steely Dan’s history, marking the period of transition from the rockier sounds of their first couple of albums to the studio perfectionism of their albums from Aja onwards.  Opening cut Rikki Don’t Lose That Number explicitly points towards that future but there is enough passion and fire in both the band’s performance and Donald Fagan’s delivery to ensure that it remains the fave Dan track for a great many people.  Elsewhere variety of styles abound; Parker’s Band, a tribute to jazzman Charlie Parker, is fired by stunning guitar work, Barrytown is dominated by its lyrical content (a true Dan rarity) and East St Louis Toodle-Oo sees them tackling Duke Ellington. Most of side two is taken up by abstract works such as Through With Buzz, With A Gun, Charlie Freak and Monkey In Your Soul that work superbly ultimately tie this distinctive package together.

(# 682) Pavement – Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (1994)

This is Pretzel Logic as it would have sounded like had it been recorded 20 years later.  Undoubtedly Pavement’s most popular album, it carefully balances a hit single in the guise of the undeniably catchy Cut Your Hair, the even catchier Gold Soundz and the delicate Stop Breathing, with typically fractured Pavement tunes such as the opener Silence Kit,  instrumental 5 – 4 =Unity,  Newark Wilder and Hit The Plane Down.  As unlikely as it sounds, the closing number Fillmore Jive is a majestic epic.

(# 683) De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising (1989)

One of the rap albums that rock fans should own, 3 Feet High And Rising is a triumphant combination of humour, wordplay, inspired sampling and heaps of originality.  The album is distinguished by containing no examples of then dominant gangsta rap and even the social message of Ghetto Thang is cloaked in a positive message.  But even more crucially for rock fans, its best known tracks resemble rock numbers more than rap; best known track The Magic Number has now been covered by a number of rock acts.  Potholes In My Lawn, Me Myself And I and The ‘D.A.I.S.Y. Age are very much in the same vein. Even the various skits, most built around a fictional quiz program incorporating the worst attempt at an Australian accent ever recorded, add to the overall joyful feel. 

(# 684) Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979)

Joyful is definitely not a word to describe Unknown Pleasures, arguably the key record to emerge from the post punk era.  Stark, dark and claustrophobic are more appropriate descriptors and despite what one might think about the sound of Ian Curtis’ voice or the state of his mind, it is music of the most compelling kind, an inscrutable work of art that demands repeated listening without ever yielding its secrets.  The spritely feel of opening track Disorder is almost a false start.  The walls start to close in with Day Of The Lords and it’s “Where will it end?” refrain whilst Candidate and Insight which follows consolidates that feel in word and sound.  New Dawn Fades then takes us to an even darker place consolidated by the unforgettable She Lost Control, Shadowplay and Wilderness.  Interzone appears almost as a respite but the darkness of closer I Remember Nothing ensures this is only temporary relief.