30/09/2016

Reading - September 2016

The Science Of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen (2005)
Another entertaining slice of science leavened with humourous episodes with the wizards of Unseen University, although the Discworld bits and the science bits don't seem particularly connected up with each other.
The Week (3 September 2016 / Issue 1089)
Guitar & Bass (October 2016 / Vol 28 No 01)
The Week (10 September 2016 / Issue 1090)
Live At The Brixton Academy by Simon Parkes with JS Rafaeli (2014)
I've been to a couple of gigs at the Brixton Academy (The Ramones in 1987-ish and Goldfrapp sometime around 2006) but never knew much or even thought about its history as a music venue. As far as I was aware it was just always there. Simon Parkes is the man who made it like that, and this is the story of how he did it. Well told, in bite size chapters, we go from Parkes buying the venue for £1 in 1983 to him selling it twelve years later and cover just about every major name in rock music as well as some of the shadier and dodgier characters hovering around. I do find it ironic that having spent a lot of time worrying about how to fend off the Brixton underworld who were trying to take over such a lucrative venture, he eventually sold out to the real sharks of the music biz - the corporates. Still, a great adventure and a hugely entertaining book.
The Week (17 September 2016 / Issue 1091)
Guitarist (October 2016 / Issue 412)
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (1996)
Such a stylish novel and a great (and unforgettable) twist. Obviously satire and not to be taken seriously as an aspiration, but nevertheless Palahniuk's afterword describes the ironically unstoppable after-life of the book as a manual for lost souls who just want to find the nearest fight club.
The Week (24 September 2016 / Issue 1092)
Computer Music (Autumn 2016 / Issue 235)
Bought because it had a free delay plugin, and then discovered that actually it has about 50 free plugins, plus samples etc etc etc - 8 GB of STUFF! Lots of interesting articles too. Not sure where I'm going to get the time to go through it all though ...
Naked At The Albert Hall by Tracey Thorn (2015)
A lovely, thoughtful, personal, informal discussion about singing as an activity, a job, as therapy and much more. Never boring, much to think about and interesting insights into a pop life from the inside. Very enjoyable. I should now go and read Bedsit Disco Queen, which I also own but haven't got round to reading yet.

15/09/2016

Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys
1980

I've known Dead Kennedys tracks like "Kill The Poor" and "California Über Alles" for a long time but never listened to the whole album. But there it is on my "Eighties in Music" list, so now's a good a time as any. It's not available on Spotify so I've had to resort to the lawless wild west of YouTube to hear it.

First impressions: it's full of energy and Jello Biafra's voice is cool in a whiny kind of way, while the music is surprisingly varied. It's obviously a low budget production but that's appropriate for the style. Best of all, it's nice and short. Not in the "thank god that's over" way, just about a dozen short tracks.

Some of the lyrical targets are very dated, some are obscure, but most tracks are musically interesting enough to make listening worthwhile. The singles are good - not least because there's the semblance of a tune: I particularly like "Holiday In Cambodia" because it has a great intro, moody verse and some great playing (although lyrically it's hardly cheery); and "Viva Las Vegas" is great, probably because it's best tune on the album and I know it best. It suits their style, funnily enough, although I'm sure it's all heavily ironic given their known politics.

Not something you'd put on for repeated listens but it's enjoyable because of the energy and it has a place in history, of course.

14/09/2016

Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Adam And The Ants
1980

Adam & The Ants' singles were the soundtrack of my early teens and I remember them so well. Despite that, I never owned the albums at the time, 1980 being just a little bit before I started buying records properly. What strikes me now is that the best tracks - "Dog Eat Dog", "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" and, to a lesser extent, "Ant Music" and "Ant Invasion"  - seem to have come from nowhere. They sounded like nothing else at the time and sound like nothing else today - incredibly distinctive, strange but familiar, and executed with an almost infinite swagger and bravado.

The other tracks are hit and miss and are more obvious in their influences. "Killer In The Home" is obviously based on Link Wray's "Rumble", while I'm sure there's also Eddie Cochrane and Duane Eddy in there too. As an album, it's patchy and doesn't really deserve a place in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, but the singles are absolutely essential.

The single and indeed the album were hugely successful (the UK's biggest selling album of 1981, no less) but not imitated - I wonder why not? The time is ripe for a revival, I think!

13/09/2016

Back In Black

AC/DC
1980

Single entendres and loud guitars. What's not to like?

Some albums take a while to bed in, to seep into your consciousness or unconscious. On the other hand, some albums are pretty instant. I don't think I'd ever listened to Back In Black before today, but already I like it.

It wouldn't be fair to call Back In Black shallow, but there's not really a lot of depth or complexity here, nor is it needed. Titles like "Shoot To Thrill", "Let Me Put My Love Into You" (sample lyric: "let me cut your cake with my knife") aren't exactly difficult to decode, and the music is just as straightforward. But that doesn't imply that it's without power, excitement or dynamics. Obviously it's great rock - you don't sell million and millions on the back of sub-standard music.

I'm not particularly keen on the high-register screech-sing of much of this kind of stuff but Brian Johnson's voice has enough grit and personality to make up for it. The guitars are superb, of course, thick, crunchy and powerful. Even better, it's ten good tracks and doesn't outstay it's welcome. Classic for a reason.

12/09/2016

The Eighties In Music

I've been wallowing in nostalgia for the last few weeks compiling my ultimate 80s playlist in Spotify. Obviously I make no claim for completeness - this is my 80s, not anyone else's. That decade was also pretty much exactly my teens, and my listening was heavily centred around Radio 1, Top Of The Pops and the Sunday chart rundown. Unsurprisingly, my musical diet was pop, pop and more pop, with a side order of the more acceptable rock. I don't think I knew what indie was until I went to university and the hairier end of metal was (and in many ways, still is) a closed book to me.

Discovering old tracks that I haven't heard for years is enormous fun, of course, but after a while I started to wonder what I missed while I was humming along to Swansway, Icehouse or New Musik all those years ago. Back to the books I go. Here's the combined list from the 1001 Albums & the Mojo Collection, in approximately chronological order:

  • AC/DC - Back In Black (1980) A M
  • Adam & The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier (1980) A
  • Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980) A M
  • Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels (1980) A
  • Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles (1980) A M
  • Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Get Happy! (1980) M
  • Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (1980) A
  • Joy Division - Closer (1980) A
  • Judas Priest - British Steel (1980) A
  • Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980) A
  • Linton Kwesi Johnson - Bass Culture (1980) M
  • Magazine - The Correct Use Of Soap (1980) M
  • Motörhead - Ace Of Spades (1980) A M
  • Nic Jones - Penguin Eggs (1980) M
  • Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (III) (1980) A M
  • Smokey Robinson - Warm Thoughts (1980) M
  • Steve Winwood - Arc Of A Diver (1980) A
  • Talking Heads - Remain In Light (1980) A M
  • The Circle Jerks - Group Sex (1980) A
  • The Cramps - Songs The Lord Taught Us (1980) A M
  • The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980) A
  • The Jam - Sound Affects (1980) A M
  • The Pretenders - The Pretenders (1980) A
  • The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (1980) A M
  • The Specials - More Specials (1980) A
  • The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro (1980) A
  • The Undertones - Hypnotised (1980) A
  • Tom Waits - Heartattack And Vine (1980) A
  • UB40 - Signing Off (1980) A
  • X - Los Angeles (1980) M
  • ABBA - The Visitors (1981) A
  • Bauhaus - Mask (1981) A
  • Black Flag - Damaged (1981) A M
  • Bobby Womack - Poet (1981) A
  • Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (1981) A
  • Dick Gaughan - Handful Of Earth (1981) M
  • Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps (1981) A
  • Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement (1981) A
  • Journey - Escape (1981) M
  • Motörhead - No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (1981) A
  • Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Architecture & Morality (1981) A
  • Phil Collins - Face Value (1981) M
  • Psychedelic Furs - Talk, Talk, Talk (1981) A
  • Rush - Moving Pictures (1981) A
  • Siouxsie & The Banshees - Juju (1981) A
  • Soft Cell - Non Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981) A
  • The Birthday Party - Prayers On Fire (1981) M
  • The Go-Gos - Beauty And The Beat (1981) A
  • The Gun Club - Fire Of Love (1981) A
  • The Human League - Dare (1981) A M
  • The Police - Ghost In The Machine (1981) M
  • Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club (1981) A
  • X - Wild Gift (1981) A
  • ABC - The Lexicon of Love (1982) A
  • Associates - Sulk (1982) A
  • Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982) A
  • Dexys Midnight Runners - Too Rye Ay (1982) A
  • Donald Fagen - The Nightfly (1982) A M
  • Duran Duran - Rio (1982) A
  • Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom (1982) A
  • Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (1982) A
  • Haircut 100 - Pelican West (1982) A
  • Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (1982) A M
  • John Cale - Music For A New Society (1982) M
  • Kate Bush - The Dreaming (1982) A M
  • Madness - The Rise & Fall (1982) A
  • Marshall Crenshaw - Marshall Crenshaw (1982) M
  • Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982) A M
  • Orange Juice - Rip It Up (1982) A
  • Prince - 1999 (1982) A
  • Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84) (1982) A
  • The Birthday Party - Junkyard (1982) A
  • The Cure - Pornography (1982) A M
  • The Dream Syndicate - The Days Of Wine And Roses (1982) M
  • The Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now (1982) M
  • Toto - IV (1982) M
  • Venom - Black Metal (1982) A
  • Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1982) A
  • Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain (1983) M
  • Billy Bragg - Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy (1983) M
  • Culture Club - Colour By Numbers (1983) A
  • Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual (1983) A
  • Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983) A
  • Echo & the Bunnymen - Porcupine (1983) A
  • Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (1983) A
  • Hanoi Rocks - Back To Mystery City (1983) A
  • King Sunny Ade - Synchro System (1983) M
  • Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock (1983) A
  • Meat Puppets - II (1983) A
  • Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones (1983) A
  • Police - Synchronicity (1983) A
  • REM - Murmur (1983) A M
  • Ruben Blades - Buscando America (1983) M
  • The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops (1983) A
  • The The - Soul Mining (1983) A
  • Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones (1983) A M
  • U2 - War (1983) A M
  • ZZ Top - Eliminator (1983) A
  • Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA (1984) A M
  • Cocteau Twins - Treasure (1984) A
  • Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain (1984) A
  • Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome (1984) A M
  • Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade (1984) M
  • Julian Cope - Fried (1984) M
  • Lloyd & The Commotions - Rattlesnakes (1984) A M
  • Minor Threat - Out of Step (1984) A
  • Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime (1984) A
  • Prince - Purple Rain (1984) A
  • Run DMC - Run DMC (1984) A
  • Sade - Diamond Life (1984) A
  • SOS Band - Just The Way You Like It (1984) M
  • The Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime (1984) M
  • The Replacements - Let It Be (1984) A
  • The Specials - In The Studio (1984) M
  • The Style Council - Café Bleu (1984) A
  • Tina Turner - Private Dancer (1984) A
  • Van Halen - 1984 (1984) A
  • Youssou N'Dour - Immigrés (1984) A
  • A-ha - Hunting High And Low (1985) A
  • Abdullah Ibrahim - Water From An Ancient Well (1985) A
  • Big Black - Atomizer (1985) A
  • Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down (1985) A M
  • Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (1985) A M
  • Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985) A M
  • Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love (1985) A M
  • New Order - Low Life (1985) A
  • Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & The Lash (1985) A
  • Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen (1985) A M
  • Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85 (1985) A
  • Shaun Davey & Rita Connolly - Granuaile (1985) M
  • Simply Red - Picture Book (1985) A
  • Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega (1985) A
  • Tears For Fears - Songs From The Big Chair (1985) A
  • The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace (1985) A M
  • The Mekons - Fear And Whiskey (1985) A
  • The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (1985) A
  • The Waterboys - This Is The Sea (1985) M
  • Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (1985) A
  • Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock: The Album (1986) A
  • Anita Baker - Rapture (1986) A M
  • Bad Brains - I Against I (1986) A
  • Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill (1986) A M
  • Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (1986) A
  • Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet (1986) A
  • Elvis Costello - Blood & Chocolate (1986) A M
  • Megadeth - Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying? (1986) A
  • Metallica - Master Of Puppets (1986) A
  • Nanci Griffith - Last Of The True Believers (1986) A
  • Paul Simon - Graceland (1986) A M
  • Peter Gabriel - So (1986) A M
  • Robert Cray - Strong Persuader (1986) M
  • Run DMC - Raising Hell (1986) A M
  • Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986) A M
  • Sonic Youth - Evol (1986) A
  • Steve Earle - Guitar Town (1986) A
  • Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (1986) A
  • The Bulgarian National Radio & Television Chorus - Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares (1986) M
  • The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986) A M
  • The The - Infected (1986) A M
  • Throwing Muses - Throwing Muses (1986) A
  • XTC - Skylarking (1986) A M
  • Anthrax - Among the Living (1987) A
  • Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton - New Tango (1987) A
  • Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel Of Love (1987) M
  • Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician (1987) A M
  • Def Leppard - Hysteria (1987) A M
  • Depeche Mode - Music For The Masses (1987) A M
  • Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me (1987) A
  • Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris - Trio (1987) A
  • George Michael - Faith (1987) A M
  • Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987) A M
  • Hüsker Dü - Warehouse: Songs And Stories (1987) A
  • Jane Siberry - The Walking (1987) M
  • Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Shaka Zulu (1987) A
  • Laibach - Opus Dei (1987) A
  • LL Cool J - Bigger And Deffer (1987) M
  • Michael Jackson - Bad (1987) A
  • Napalm Death - Scum (1987) A
  • Pet Shop Boys - Actually (1987) A
  • Prince - Sign O' The Times (1987) A M
  • REM - Document (1987) A
  • Sonic Youth - Sister (1987) A
  • Terence Trent D'Arby - Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby (1987) A
  • The Cult - Electric (1987) A
  • The Jesus & Mary Chain - Darklands (1987) A
  • The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me (1987) M
  • The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland (1987) A
  • The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come (1987) A M
  • The Triffids - Calenture (1987) A
  • U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987) A M
  • American Music Club - California (1988) A
  • Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Session (1988) A
  • Dagmar Krause - Tank Battles (1988) A
  • Dinosaur Jr - Bug (1988) A
  • Dwight Yoakam - Beuenas Noches From A Lonely Room (1988) A
  • Everything But The Girl - Idlewild (1988) A
  • Fishbone - Truth And Soul (1988) A
  • Happy Mondays - Bummed (1988) A
  • Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (1988) A
  • k.d. lang - Shadowland (1988) A
  • Keith Richards - Talk Is Cheap (1988) M
  • Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man (1988) A M
  • Living Colour - Vivid (1988) A
  • Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America (1988) M
  • Metallica - … And Justice for All (1988) A
  • Morrissey - Viva Hate (1988) A
  • Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff (1988) A
  • My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything (1988) A M
  • Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988) A
  • Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988) A
  • REM - Green (1988) A
  • Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988) A
  • Steve Earl - Copperhead Road (1988) M
  • Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good (1988) A
  • Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden (1988) M
  • The Go Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane (1988) A M
  • The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988) A
  • The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues (1988) A
  • Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman (1988) A M
  • 808 State - 808:90 (1989) A
  • Aerosmith - Pump (1989) A M
  • Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck - Djam Leelii (1989) A
  • Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story (1989) A
  • Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989) A
  • Bonnie Raitt - Nick Of Time (1989) A M
  • Coldcut - What's That Noise? (1989) A
  • De La Soul - 3 Feet High & Rising (1989) A M
  • Faith No More - The Real Thing (1989) A
  • fIREHOSE - fROMOHIO (1989) A
  • Fugazi - Repeater (1989) A
  • Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) A
  • John Lee Hooker - The Healer (1989) A
  • John Zorn - Spy vs Spy: Music Of Ornette Coleman (1989) A
  • Kate Bush - The Sensual World (1989) A
  • Lenny Kravtiz - Let Love Rule (1989) A
  • Madonna - Like A Prayer (1989) A
  • Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi (1989) A
  • New Order - Technique (1989) A M
  • NWA - Straight Outta Compton (1989) A M
  • Pixies - Doolittle (1989) A
  • Queen Latifah - All Hail The Queen (1989) A
  • Soul II Soul - Club Classics: Vol One (1989) A
  • Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire (1989) A
  • The Blue Nile - Hats (1989) M
  • The Cure - Disintegration (1989) A
  • The Jungle Brothers - Done By The Forces Of Nature (1989) A M
  • The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989) A M
  • Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989) M
  • Virgo - Virgo (1989) M
  • XTC - Oranges And Lemons (1989) M
  • Young Gods - L'Eau Rouge (1989) A
(Key: M = Mojo CollectionA = 1001 Albums)

Unlike my attempt to listen to all the recommended albums from the Fifties (nearly done!), I'm not going to try and acquire all 251 of these - not yet, anyway - but I already own 87, and these days we have Spotify Premium so why bother? Although interestingly, at least two - De La Soul's 3 Feet High And Rising, and Prince's 1999 - are not available online, in the former's case due to short-sighted copyright clearance issues, and in the latter probably just because Prince.

Of course, I already know, and have opinions about, a good few of these albums, but I am going to try and put these to one side for a bit and listen to them with fresh(ish) ears. Should keep me going for a while ...