8 October 2013 (Day 281) – What’s My Favourite P.J Harvey Album Ever

I had sufficient time in my day to listen to four albums today and used it to revisit the world of Polly Jean Harvey.

Harvey’s catalogue rivals Joni Mitchell’s as just about the most varied released by a woman in the history of rock.  It incorporates the brutal early three piece albums, at least one highly commercial album, an experimental head scratcher (2004’s Uh Huh Her), a piano based work (2007’s White Chalk) and the folkish Let England Shake (2011).  How some people out there seem to regard her as a Patti Smith clone has always been a mystery; that both are strong women with powerful voices who are able to write memorable songs from a woman’s viewpoint are superficial points of similarity.  Instead these people should be asking why there are so few women with these attributes and, as usual, it would appear that the blame should be directed to either the record industry or the music media.

(# 655) P.J. Harvey – Dry (1992)                   

The word intense is not often used to describe debut albums yet intensity pervades everything on this release.  The playing by the three piece was above average post punk/alternative rock in which no effort seems to be spared to ensure that quiet spots were completely obliterated; for evidence check out the use of strings towards the end of the impressive Dress and especially on the ballad Plants And Rags.  Lyrically, the tunes frequently give pause for thought accentuated by the spectacular use of her vocals, especially the throatiness on Oh Stella and the vocal gymnastic display on this album’s standout track Sheela-Na-Gig and its “I’ve got to wash this man out of my hair” call and response. 

(# 656) P.J. Harvey – Rid Of Me (1993)

Initially this album sounds like a rawer version of Dry courtesy of the Steve Albini’s typically coarse production.  It brilliantly suits strong songs of the calibre of the title track, Rub ‘Til It Bleeds and Man-Sized Sextet, the latter incorporating strings to brilliant effect.  An almost unrecognisable version of Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited appears to function as some form of internal marker or release valve.  The remainder of the album, headed off by the churning 50ft Queenie is absolutely explosive and Yuri-G, Man-Size, the title track, Me-Jane, Snake and Ectasy ride this groove home. For something even more brutal, try her next album (4-Track Demos) which includes 8 of this album’s tracks in a more primitive form.

(# 657) P.J. Harvey – To Bring You My Love (1995)

Harvey seemingly begins to polish her basic sound towards more conventional rock starting with the dismemberment of her original trio and the use of Flood’s more lush production style.  Certainly the simmering Working For The Man, the acoustic folk with strings of C’Mon Billy and Send His Love To Me and the keyboard dominated The Dance could not have been created by the original band.  But some tracks, notably To Bring You My Love, Meet Ze Monsta and Down By The Water were on hand to keep fans of her original sound happy. 

(# 658) P.J.Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2000)

Havey’s next album, 1998’s Is This Desire? Consolidated and completed the movement away from her original sound.  This album is the closest she’s ever come to releasing a commercial sounding rock album and it tempting to argue that her subsequent albums have been deliberate attempts to stay well clear of replicating this. The opening cuts Big Exit and Good Fortune are big sounding tracks employing a sound that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a U2 album.  On You Said Something, she employs a vocal tone and musical backing that results in a track that sounds uncannily like a long lost Pretenders track, and one can easily image the gorgeous Horses In My Dreams residing on a Nicks/Christine McVie Fleetwood Mac album.  However, three tracks late in the album Kamikaze, This Is Love and the closer This Wicked Tongue are on hand to remind you that this is a P.J. Harvey album.

7 October 2013 (Day 280) – What’s My Favourite Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Album Ever

Back at work again for another week and my mind turns ever so briefly to my playlist.  I realise that I haven’t yet identified my favourite Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds albums. 

Although Kylie Minogue supporters might not agree, Cave is undoubtedly the most significant musical force to have emerged from my home town.  Formed in the wake of the dissolution of Cave’s previous band, The Birthday Party, the band initially served up a post punk/goth mixture which could really have emerged from anywhere.  As time went by, the sound has matured like a fine red wine or Melbourne itself; the music is now a refined blend of alternative rock crossed with a distinct blues influence, touches of European sophistication and just a touch of country/Americana (the latter especially revealing itself lyrically).  As a result, like its influences, the band is capable of making lush sounding epics, minimalist gems or gritty rockers (although the dirtiest of these works were ultimately reserved for Grinderman).  It’s little surprise that no less an icon than Johnny Cash would embrace this music and its lyrical themes when led to it in his final years.

There are several albums that could have made the cut.  I would have liked to replayed Tender Prey and The Good Son  but neither is on my iPod as I do not own either in CD form.  Abattoir Blues would have got a mention had I not run out of time and I think Dig!!!Lazarus Dig!!! is due a relisten.  The Complete B-Sides triple set also contains a mass of great material, certainly one of the best examples of this type of release.  But in the end, I found it hard to go past:

(# 651) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Kicking Against The Pricks (1986)

This is the best of the early releases and a covers album to boot.  Crucially there are two songs associated with Johnny Cash, The Singer and Muddy Water.  The piano based latter makes a great intro to a savage version of John Lee Hooker’s I’m Gonna Kill That Woman that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Birthday Party album.  Relatively respectful versions of Black Betty, Long Black Veil and Jesus Met The Woman At The Well mesh well against some of the more audacious versions.   The pick of these are a wonderful slowed down organ dominated version of By The Time I Get To Phoenix, a truly disturbing take on Hey Joe that’s full of simmering menace and a superb cover of The Velvet Underground’s All Tomorrow’s Parties, played as though it was a track on the VU’s White Light/White Heat.    Somehow, The Carnival Is Over seems an appropriate track to wind up proceedings.

(# 652) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds –Henry’s Dream (1992)

The album frequently cited by Cave fans as their favourite, this is lead off by three absolute bulls eyes; the great singalong Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, the dramatic I Had A Dream Joe and the romantic Straight To You.  Three dramatic set pieces, Brother My Cup Is Empty, the incendiary John Finns Wife and the closing track Jack The Ripper  are thereafter placed at regular intervals, providing balance, light and shade to slower, but no less dramatic tracks Christina The Astonishing and Loom Of The Land. 

(# 653) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds –Let Love In (1994)

The band’s sound expanded to new dimensions with the addition of violist (and Dirty Three member) Warren Ellis.  This is made immediately apparent by two versions of Do You Love Me? which bookend the album, the former a raucous take in the manner of Henry’s Dream and the latter, a slower more contemplative version in which Ellis eventually plays a major role.  Otherwise there is a greater degree of variety found here than on a typical Bad Seeds record.    Loverman and  Red Right Hand incorporated some highly effective time changes, Thirsty Dog sounds much like a Beasts Of Bourbon number, Jangling Jack anticipates Grinderman and Nobody’s Baby Now sounds like a band prototype for Into My Arms.

(# 654) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – No More Shall Me Pass (2001)

The next two Bad Seeds albums, Murder Ballads and The Boatman’s Call were both almost universally praised.  Although undoubtedly fine albums, the next Cave album that really grabbed me was No More Shall We Pass.  An album with marked religious overtones, it is distinguished by some of Cave’s very best singing and a succession of lush arrangements that brilliantly suited the material.  As I Sat Sadly By Her Side set the tone for the rest of the album and heartfelt material such as Love Letter, God Is In The House and Gates To The Garden shine brightly.  Oh My Lord unfolds in a majestic epic style as does We Came Along This Road which uses strings to great effect.

5 & 6 October 2013 (Days 278 & 279) – The Miseducation of otis.youth Pt.7

It was another incredibly busy weekend which included a trip into the country for a speaking engagement as well as birthday celebrations for a family member.  “M” accompanied me to both and so there was no time for playing items from my collection.  But it presents the opportunity for:

The Miseducation of otis.youth Pt.7

My marriage to “M” was basically my second in less than a year.  About six to eight months previously I began my relationship with my iPod.  Out of love and respect for “M” I have not given my iPod a name, even though the various Walkmen I’d owned previously were all named “Iggy” (i.e Iggy, Iggy1, Iggy2, etc, none of this IT “Iggy vers.0.2” crap).   But realistically, it really is my iPod that should be named because it is been my longtime companion ever since I purchased it.  There is barely a situation where I’m likely to be on my own when it is not with me.

Oddly for such clingy behaviour, I resisted embracing the digital revolution for a very long period of time.  As I’ve written previously, the turning point came when I was sitting in a café and listened to what I thought was the world’s best radio station only to discover it was the owner’s iPod on shuffle.  From that moment onwards, the purchase of one had become a priority.  I had done some DJ stints in the privacy of my own home but the mechanics of selection and playing were so time consuming to leave me little room to actually enjoy my sequencing.  

I then resolved to buy an iPod classic 160GB duty free as part of my trip to Europe to meet “M”s parents and get engaged.  I organised things brilliantly, first checking out the retail price at JB and other retailers as well as the duty free shops in the city and at Melbourne Airport prior to our departure.  I knew prices in Europe would be high owing to the state of the $AUS at the time and this turned out to be the case.  No problems, I thought, thinking I could easily pick up a cheaper one on our stopover in Hong Kong on the way back.  There, I could not barter the price down with any seller past the duty free rate for the same item back home.  (I think this is why the retailers there also start negotiations by asking you from where you come.  I suspect they have the duty free rate for each of the major spending tourist nationalities memorised.)

Again, not a problem I thought, I could pick up one at Melbourne Airport at the end of my flight and before I passed through customs.  That plan was stymied when the assistant at the counter informed me that stock had been exhausted.  In the weeks that followed, I could not find one for sale anywhere in Australia.  (It appeared that Apple had withdrawn them from sale only to reintroduce them a couple of years later.) I eventually purchased mine almost by mistake.  Waiting for “M” to emerge from a woman’s clothing shop at a shopping centre, I idly turned to a mobile phone stall behind me and asked whether they had a classic.  The salesman rang through to HQ who informed me the entire phone chain had one Classic left in all of Melbourne.  I quickly purchased it for a price that turned out to be less than even the duty free rate.

My purchase meant that I had to embrace the mp3 world as I quickly came to grips with concepts such as import, playlist and synch.  I taught myself to put my library onto a portable hard drive rather than my laptop so I could import a quantity of music greater than the iPod’s capacity.  As I didn’t have internet access until this year, I imported tracks from the CDs in my collection and manually typed in the song and album details.  Fortunately for “M” I wasn’t interested in adding detail such as genre, songwriters, year of release, etc, just the album name, artist name, song titles and the cover, otherwise I ‘d still be engaged in the task.  And I could never work out why anyone would want to rate individual tracks using their star system.  If you think a track is worth only none or one stars, why would you put it on your iPod in the first place?  As I import only entire albums or discs, I never think in those terms anyway.

The selection of albums to be imported was easily the most difficult task.  Most of the key albums really picked themselves.  I had no qualms about selecting multiple albums for many acts such as The Stones, Springsteen, Neil Young, etc.  There are also a number of great one off albums such as the 2ManyDJ’s As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2, or acts whose entire career is based on one blindingly great album (Macy Gray, for example).  It’s all the acts in between that provide the real selection headaches. There’s no real formula for picking these; I just go with my instincts.

The other headache comes from those, mostly pioneer, acts that do not have a truly representative album.  This has resulted in my purchase of an increasing number of compilation best or greatest hits albums.  It might not be readily apparent, but I’ve found the purchase of such albums to be quite a difficult task as I seek to convince myself about which of these releases truly represents the artist in question and contains all of the material of theirs that I would want. 

This is all of crucial importance because, as time goes by, I find myself increasing listening to just the music on the iPod.  Usually, and this blog confirms my thought, I’m unable to spend much time listening to music at home.   As the CD player in my car has died, I can’t listen there but this issue will be fixed later this year when I’ll purchase a new car.  It will re-establish its position as the place where I’ll effectively play my CDs.  For newly purchased albums, the car doubles as my audition unit; as I listen to an album the thought that immediately runs through my mind will be whether it is reasonable enough to be iPod worthy. 

The one thing that my iPod has not influenced is my need to find and listen to music I’d like to hear.  Even more importantly, the advent of digital music has not altered my desire to collect it.  I still want music to be a tangible object – either a commercially produced CD or one burnt from a digital representation I’ve purchased.  I don’t see the logic of that sits behind today’s digital world (i.e if you no longer like the music, delete it) as this would mean that the vision of the early music hustlers will have sadly come true – that popular music and acts are essentially fads that can be treated as disposable objects. 

I’d hate to see this vision of music be adopted by the world at large.  My personal voyage into music has resulted in my investing far too much time, effort and emotion.  The payoffs, discovering sensation tracks or passages and hearing them for the first time, the excitement on discovering something I didn’t know existed in a shop or online or being at a brilliant gig, have been more than worth it.  Or to put it another way, as put by Van Morrison in titling his first live album, It’s too late to stop now.

2-4 October 2013 (Days 275-277) – What’s My Favourite Paul Kelly Album Ever

The last few days of the working week provided precious little time for listening.  Work commitments on Wednesday limited my listening to only three albums whilst my attendance at a two day seminar over the Thursday and Friday limited my listening to a single album played on my iPod as I travelled by train into the city.  (On both days, I travelled back home accompanied by “M”, hence the lack of a return album so to speak.)

I used the time that was sparingly available to listen to some of the output of the man frequently described as the Australian version of Bob Dylan, Paul Kelly.  I’ve never really understood the Dylan comparison as Kelly’s lyrics are far more rooted in the lives of everyday (Australian) people and employ far more direct language in their observations.  Certainly I could not have thought of anyone better to accompany me on my headphones during Thursday’s and Friday’s morning excursions as I stared into the passing backyards of suburban Melbourne or slyly observed the interactions of my fellow train commuters.

It’s also a view shared at least by the educational authorities in my home State of Victoria which has, on occasion, placed the volume of his collected on the list of books available for study during the final year English curriculum for high school students.  Like Dylan, Kelly is a prolific writer but, unlike him, has also recorded material under guises including Professor Ratbaggy, a dub act.  I suspect the comparison is made for no other reason than both are singer/songwriters who are equally adept in front of bands or in solo acoustic mode with on a guitar and harmonica for company. 

(# 646) Paul Kelly – Post (1985)

This was Kelly’s third album and the first without his initial backup band The Dots.  Most of the arrangements on this album give the songs a sparse sound that it is quite easy to characterise it as an acoustic album.  In fact at least four of the songs were to be re-recorded with a much fuller sound on his next album.   This is about as autobiographical an album as he was ever to record.  From St. Kilda To King’s Cross clearly relates to his relocation from Melbourne to Sydney for the recording of the album and the catchy Adelaide is about his home town.  But realistically the album is full of simply recorded tunes on universal subjects as evidenced by songs such as Look So Fine Feel So Low, Luck, Satisfy Your Woman, You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed and Little Decisions.

(# 647) Paul Kelly And The Coloured Girls – Gossip (1986)

(# 648) Paul Kelly And The Coloured Girls – Under The Sun (1987)

Gossip was and is a rarity in Australian rock history, an all studio double album with the original vinyl release containing a whopping 24 tracks of straight head, all down the line Aussie rock.  Unfortunately, three tracks are omitted from the standard Australian CD version and even more so for the version released overseas.   (Many of the tracks deleted from the latter were those containing overt Australian references.)   It’s notable for containing Kelly’s first three major Australian hits, Before Too Long, the rocking Darling It Hurst and Leaps And Bounds, complete with references to local Melbourne landmarks.  Elsewhere, the atmospheric Last Train To Heaven was a satisfying opening, White Train incorporated a nice rockabilly rhythm, The Ballroom likewise with country and Down On My Speedway seriously rocked.  A trio of consecutive tracks, The Execution, the bluesy Incident On South Darling and Maralinga (Rainy Land) effortlessly added social comment to the mix.  (The latter is about the effects of fallout on the Australian aboriginal population as a result of British nuclear testing in the outback.) A number of fine ballads are also interspersed throughout.   It’s an album that is still regarded as one of the finest ever produced by an Australian act with only the keyboard sounds on So Blue betraying its 80s origins.

Under The Sun is very much like a single disc version of Gossip.  Dumb Things, To Her Door  and Don’t So Close To The Window added to his local hits.  Crosstown, the title track and Sam Old Walk added to his collection of rockers, the piano, sax and drums only Know Your Friends added to list of classic ballads and Bicentennial was his pointed comment about Australia’s 200 anniversary celebrations as seen from the perspective of the native population.

(# 649) Paul Kelly And The Messengers – So Much Water So Close To Home (1989)

Each of the preceding albums above was released overseas which provided Kelly with fresh inspiration.  (There was also the name change of The Coloured Girls – inspired by Lou Reed’s hit Walk On The Wild Side – to The Messengers to ensure the band wasn’t seen as racist.)  It enabled him to locate songs in overseas locales such as South Of Germany and the wonderfully evocative Cities Of Texas which closes the album.  Even more intriguingly, the album demonstrates that Kelly had also been listening to some of the Australian acts that had relocated overseas and were able to evoke their country from afar;  She’s A Melody (Stupid Song), Moon In the Bed and No You in particular all seem to betray an debt to The Triffids.   You Can’t Take It With You, Most Wanted Man In The World and the sublime Careless added to his roll of local classics.

(# 650) Paul Kelly – Stolen Apples (2007)

The success of the previous three albums in Australia appears to have left Kelly free to pursue whatever muse moved him and it is in the succeeding near quarter century that he has most resembled Dylan through constant touring, some soundtrack work and acting and the production of a number of seemingly effortless tossed off albums.  Stolen Apples is the pick of the bunch, an incredibly strong collection of tracks highlighted by his version of the peerless adult ballad You’re 39 You’re Beautiful And You’re Mine, a track originally produced for Tex [Perkins] Don [Walker] and Charlie [Owen].  Religious themes dominate on God Told Me To, Stolen Apples Taste The Sweetest, Lion And The Lamb and Sweetest Thing.  The Ballad Of Queenie And Rover maintains his interest in aboriginal themes and Please leave Your Light On is another superior ballad.

1 October 2013 (Day 274)– What’s My Favourite Patti Smith [Band] Album Ever

Today’s playlist consists of my favourite Patti Smith (including Patti Smith Band) albums.  

Patti is another act who has released a number of albums of a staggeringly high quality throughout her career.  Along with Bob Dylan and not many others, she is one of the few lyricists who can be described as a proper poet.  (I’m not a poetry scholar at all, but it’s clear from a lifetime of listening to popular music that her lyrics adhere more closely to the form than most other songwriters.)  With long term accompanist Lenny Kaye she has put those lyric to music encompassing  garage rock, 70’s punk and modern alternative rock of the highest order, along the way becoming one of the first American acts (if not the first) to incorporate reggae rhythms into her work.  Her influence has been immense with a range of acts, notably R.E.M.s Michael Stipe, openly acknowledging their debt to her and the number of women who’ve been inspired by her career is probably incalculable.

Unfortunately, by listening to my favourite albums in chronological order today, this posting will probably give the misleading view that her best work was released in the 1970s. This is not the case.  Her “comeback” album Gone Again as well as Gung Ho and last year’s Bunga are all albums of the highest quality and her covers album Twelve is one of the better examples of this type.  But any appreciation of her work must start with one of the most startling debut albums ever released:

(# 642) Patti Smith Group – Horses (1975)

Some of the best moments in rock have resulted when acts have thrown away the rule book.  Horses is one of those albums.  For a new singer/songwriter, it starts with a cover of the Them/Van Morrison classic Gloria with revised verses and the potentially suicidal couplet of “Jesus died for somebody’s sins/But not mine” to open proceedings.  Yet even by the time this raging track has finished one already knew that a major act had been unleased.  The reggae accented Redondo Beach and the stark poem/ballad Birdland follow highlighting the band’s versatility whilst keeping the first time listener off balance.  Free Money starts off as though it’s a continuation of Birdland only to return to the white hot rock of the opening track.  The remaining tracks more or less stay faithful to the approach set by most of these tracks culminating in the album’s original final track Land, effectively a bookend to Gloria.   The album has since been reissued with Gloria’s B-side tacked on to end.  It is a live version of The Who’s My Generation which provides ample testament to the original band’s raw power.

(# 643) Patti Smith Group – Radio Ethiopia (1976)

This album copped quite a bit of stick when it was originally released but it is very hard now to find anything that warrants that today. Certainly the original closing two tracks, the live 10 minute noise fest, Radio Ethiopia and Abyssinia would have sounded alien to many listeners at the time of release but I’d like to think that many of the present day noise merchants such as My Bloody Valentine have taken inspiration from it. (Put another ways, these tracks were way ahead of their time.)   Ain’t It Strange features a strong mix of punk and reggae, the equal of anything coming out of England at the time, Pissing In A River is a stately number that features some wonderful guitar work from, I assume, its co-author Ivan Kral and Pumping (My Heart) is as exciting as anything on the debut album.  The reissued album’s closing track is the rather serene Chiklets which makes an effective contrast with what precedes it.

(# 644) Patti Smith Group – Easter (1978)

Apart from Twelve, this is easily the most commercial album Smith has ever released and she was suitably rewarded in terms of record sales.  The straight ahead rock of Till Victory is a good opener with Space Monkey and effective means in reducing the tempo.  It sets up her best known song Because The Night, the number co-written “with” Bruce Springsteen.  The mournful Ghost Dance follows which, in turn, sets up the album’s centrepiece.  Babelogue is an exciting piece of poetry that detonates Rock N’ Roll Nigger, a raging tune that is best experienced live.  (It concluded her set when I saw her on her first Australian tour in 199 and included Patti doing a complete circuit of the stalls of the Palais Theatre.)  The original album is concluded by three incredibly strong rock tracks, 25r=th Floor, High On Rebellion and the tile track.

(# 645) Patti Smith Group – Wave (1979)

This is an incredibly underrated album which seems to have been unfairly compared to Horses and Easter by most critics.  The opening two tracks Frederick and the oft covered Dancing Barefoot, both apparently about future husband Fred “Sonic” Smith, are impeccable.    This is followed by a compelling reading of So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star that tears strips off most versions I’ve heard of this Byrds chestnut.  Revenge is an epic tune that features some great guitar work.  (Although not credited, I wouldn’t be surprised if the guitarist is question was Television’s Tom Verlaine.) Citizen Ship is a strong number like the trio that closed Easter and Seven Ways Of Going sounds like an attempt to outdo some of the wilder material Fred Smith’s band The MC5 released on High Time.  One of the two bonus tracks now appended to the reissued version is 54321/Wave, a rare exercise in frivolity and is all the better for it.

30 September 2013 (Day 273)– What’s My Favourite R.E.M. Album Ever

Back to work and back to my quest to determine my favourite album.

Today’s playlist focuses on R.E.M. the band that has, in my opinion, released more classic albums than any other.  For this exercise it might have been simpler to list their albums that I didn’t really consider for inclusion.  (For the record the answer is a mere two – 2004’s incredibly dull Around The Sun and their final album, Collapse Into Now.) Ignoring the albums, I’ve already played this year – their superlative second album Reckoning and the grossly underrated, one-day-it-will-be-regraded-as-a-classic Accelerate – I found time today to play five albums.  EVEN THEN, I couldn’t fit in albums highly regarded by fans and critics alike in the guise of Fables Of The Reconstruction, Green or Out Of Time.  Nor could I find time for Up, an album that must rank amongst the bravest ever released by a major act and which gets better with repeated listening.  But I did find time to play the following:

(# 637) R.E.M. – Murmur (1983)

The first time I heard of R.E.M. was when this, their debut album, was voted Rolling Stone’s album of the year.  I immediately hunted it out at the University's music library and was entranced by its sound, at least until the slightly more conventional sounding Reckoning came along.  And I have no idea why this persists, even today, 30 years later.  After all, the songs make no sense; the lyrics are indecipherable and none of the members came close to being regarded as masters of their instruments.  Even the album title and cover gives little away.  Everything though is summed up by the brilliant propulsive opener Radio Free Europe from the faint strange noises at its start, slightly sped up beat, glistening guitars and crazed singalong chorus.  Moral Kiosk, Catapult, Sitting Still, 9-9 and West Of The Fields rocked in more of less the same manner and the remaining tracks, led by the enigmatic Pilgrimage and Laughing were bewilderingly entertaining.  Among such company, Talk About The Passion, with just about the only clearly enunciated vocals on the album appeared to make profound sense.  In retrospect, what you got was an uncanny calling card that was to summarise a stunning career before it had even begun.

(# 638) R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)

By the time this album had been released, R.E.M. had reached exalted status in my record collection priorities meaning their albums were automatically purchased on the day of issue.  The last thing I expected after the mainly acoustic, downbeat but incredibly satisfying Fables Of The Reconstruction was this beast, containing powerhouse rock, with a direct and clear production sound courtesy of John Mellencamp’s producer Don Gehman.  This was the first time the lyrics on a R.E.M. album could be heard clearly on every track presumably due to Michael Stipe’s delivery of a suite of songs with a distinct moral compass.  Begin The Begin and These Days provided the startling one two opening punch with lyrics clearly commentating on how Stipe viewed Regan’s America,  Fall On Me the gorgeous ballad, Cuyahoga the socially aware tune and Hyena the throwback to Murmur.  The strange Underneath The Bunker concluded what was a flawless first vinyl side.  The remaining tracks offered greater diversity from the acoustic The Flowers Of Guatemala, the folk rock I Believe, the much harder Just A Touch  and the simply strange Swan Swan H.  Fortunately, a cover of Superman, voiced by Mike Mills, was on hand to end things on a truly unrepresentative note.

(# 639) R.E.M. – Document (1987)

Lyrically this was Lifes Rich Pageant Part Two, however, Gehman’s production was ditched in favour of an edgier, much more nuanced sound.  This perfectly complemented, often ambitious material such as Finest Worksong with its horns ,the typewriter strokes in Exhuming McCarthy and the use of something resembling electronic rhythms in Lightnin’ Hopkins.  The One I Love has been misinterpreted by generations as a companion piece to Pageants’  Fall On Me (Honestly, how can anyone misinterpret, This one goes out to the one I love/This one goes out to the one I left behind/A simple crutch to occupy my time ?)  and the otherwise entertaining It’s the End Of The World As We Know It was to be blatantly solemnised by far less talented songwriters who failed to see its humour.    A cover of Wire’s Strange added a bit of raunch and with Fireplace indicated the band was absorbing English post punk sounds.  King Of Birds and Oddfellows Local 151 again ended the album on an odd note but subtly positioned the band and acclimatised their audience to the subsequent offerings on Green and Out Of Time.

(# 640) R.E.M. – Automatic For The People (1992)

The electric guitars were largely put away for this album in favour of an, at times, lush acoustic sound which brilliantly suited the material.  The opening cut Drive is full of mystery and intrigue almost as though the band were trying to educate us as to how Murmur would have sounded if they had recorded it at this moment in time.  The remainder of the album mixed up sly pop tunes such as Try Not To Breathe, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight and Monte Got A Raw Deal, the mega ballads Everybody Hurts, Man On The Moon and Nightswimming,  sweet material such as Sweetness Follows and Find The River and a couple of instrumentals.  Somehow, they sequenced the album into such a seamless whole that even the one track with the loud electric guitars, Ignoreland, does not sound out of place.

(# 641) R.E.M. – New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)

This album, their last featuring the original quartet, was recorded on the run in a variety of locations whilst on tour.  Amazingly, it sounds like Murmur in reverse, a sort of unintended retrospective look back over their career.   The superb opener How The West Was Won And Were It Got Us and closer Electrolite would have slipped in brilliantly into the Automatic For The People running order.  The Wake Up Bomb would have slotted into Lifes Rich Pageant , Undertow on Document, Departure on Monster, Zither on Out Of Time and so on.  If there is a complaint with this album it is that it goes on for a bit too long.  But being the artists they were, the band never made this mistake again. 

28 & 29 September 2013 (Days 271 & 272) – The Miseducation of otis.youth Pt.6

Grand Final Saturday.  As the Western Bulldogs have never got there in my lifetime, I find music shopping is a great therapy as the supporters of the two teams lucky enough to make it, celebrate and make their way to the MCG.  I'll shop, sulk and generally annoy "M" until such time as game starts and only then can I lose myself in the game.  Naturally, I switch off after the final siren (after all their is the season's Premier to be acknowledged) but before the cup is presented (which is a sacred moment for the team, their supporters and no one else).

Sunday arrives and I know that Summer is around the corner.  "M" and I celebrate by heading into town thus ensuring a) another weekend without music, as well as b);

The Miseducation  of Otis.youth - Part 6

“M” quite literally walked into my life (actually my office).   First impressions weren’t all that great; she didn’t like me at all.  Not that it mattered.  No one, including yours truly, could fail to notice what looked like a giant engagement ring on the appropriate finger.  As I thought she was off limits, I reverted to my usual John Cusack as in Hi-Fidelity easy going character, and this eventually did the trick.  Around two years later she succumbed to the acquired taste that is otis.youth.

Despite the efforts of the boom box in my office, music did not play a major role in our courtship with my complete and utter failure to play anything in my collection that led to any expression of, even begrudging, enthusiasm.  I put this to one side as I gradually became aware that our sense of spirituality and what’s important in life were for all intents and purposes identical.  Before I knew it, I had proposed fully realising that the most unlikely scenario in my life was to be writ large; I was going to share that rest of my life with someone whose musical taste did not remotely resemble mine. 

But ultimately this did not matter as we found ways and means to overcome the void.  Lazy Saturday mornings in bed listening to music we loved never eventuated; instead we discovered our taste in movies and TV was practically identical.  Friday and Saturday nights in pubs attending gigs likewise didn’t occur and we found other activities to take its place.  Music shopping?  Initially, I relied on shopping strips or supermarket malls where I could shop for music whilst “M” hunted clothing or shoe bargains. Now there’s the internet.

Not that this was ever going to get in the way of our getting married.  As many people have written, marriage is just about the hardest thing that two people could undertake.  It is a commitment that requires patience, understanding, love and the ability to compromise.   I knew that I was ready to get married – and that my love for “M” was unshakeable – when I realised how easy it was to painlessly give up certain parts of my music life.  The biggest compromise was my gig going.  In the entire time we’ve been together, I’ve not seen more than five gigs in any given calendar year until this year when I’ll get to six and for half of that period I’ve seen no more than three per year. 

I’m still adding items to my collection, but I’ve found ways of doing this more efficiently.  This means I do this using far less time and, crucially, without it impeding much on our time together.  Mind you some of these developments were forced upon me with the closure of so many fine record shops.  These included the Last Record Store in Collingwood, Au Go Go Records and HMV in the City, and the loss of another via the merger of Collectors Corner and Missing Link Records also in the City.  The Brashs and Sanity chains are also completely or largely gone and even many of the department stores have dramatically cut back on stock.  For the most part only JB HI-Fi remains as does the legendary Greville’s records in Prahan, Polyster in the City and Fitzroy and a small number of second hand stores.

The internet has also helped, although it took a long time before I embraced it.  The catalyst came for a period of over 2011/12 when Amazon removed postage charges for deliveries to Australia.  Added to the then high state of the Australian dollar, I used this as the opportunity to order a mass of material that is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get here. I closed my account when the reintroduced postal charges.  Since then, I turned my attention to my music library and have been expanding that, taking advantage of sites that also don’t charge postage.  I need to work fast; once the dollar starts to depreciate, I’ll close my account.

None of this stopped my musical explorations.  In the first decade of this century I started to delve into World Music once I’d accumulated enough of the key reggae albums.  This was an area I’d always had an interest;  I did go across to Adelaide for the first Womad Festival there in 1992 and I started collecting Fela Kuti albums as a result of listening to Talking Heads.  But over the last decade BJ turned into something of an authority on the music and pointed me into all sorts of interesting directions.

My explorations into the world of German experimental music (or Krautrock) were all my own doing and represents “M”s greatest musical legacy to me.  Before she entered my life, my knowledge of this field was limited to the mighty Kraftwerk as well as a couple of minor Can albums I’d been able to snag.  It started to take off when I returned to “M”s home city to visit her parents and get engaged.  As per usual standard operating procedure when I arrive in a new city, I poke around her hometown’s music stores.  It wasn’t (and still isn’t) all that inspiring.  However, she took me to a weekend market which seemed to specialise in music, movies and electronics.  There were so many music stalls there I felt I arrived in heaven.  At one of these stalls I bought Can’s Tago Mao and Future Days, a disc of John Peel Sessions and Kraftwerk’s hard to find in Australia first two albums.  From there I was hooked and over the course of the years since have added the master works from the likes of Cluster, Harmonia, Popul Vuh, Aamon Duul II, La Dusseldorf, Tangerine Dream and, of course, Neu!

But the biggest impact from these trips has come from my decision to purchase the one thing in my life that is welded to me today almost as securely as “M” – my iPod.  It's impact on my listening and purchasing patterns were to become significant.