1001 Albums: 74-83

Keee-rist! This seems to already be taking forever. I thought I was going through these at a pretty good clip, but it's just not happening. Soon, the snow shall fly in my humble city, which means no more reading at the bus stops for me. So my pace on these 10-packs should pick up since no bus reading means more listening.

This one was a real mix up for me. The greatest album ever made ever in the world ever is on it. An album that I think is the first one for me to all out despise is on it too. So here it is, albums 74-83, in all their poorly written and boringly presented glory!

0074 Yardbirds – Yardbirds [aka Roger the Engineer] (1st Album)
I'm a bit torn on this one. Nothing really stood out for me, but it also wasn't really all that bad. I guess it ultimately sounded derivative of everything else that was going on at the time so it all just goes WOOONK in my brain instead of surprising me. So is it worthy of this list? No. Is it that bad? No. If you're curious about early Jeff Back, and some harder then usual rock. It's probably worth a listen. I just wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

0075 Simone, Nina – Wild is the Wind
Unlike the Yardbirds, this one did surprise me! I was expecting a jazzy singer type thing, and what I got was some very sophisticated soul. Her voice is amazing, but if you've ever heard of her you already expected that. The songs for the most part where pretty great. I'm guessing the one that's considered the high point is "Four Woman", but I find this type of social commentary to be way to obvious and annoying. Other then that though, damned good stuff.

0076 Gilberto, Astrud – Beach Samba
The Girl From Ipanema gets her star turn on the list. This was really quite pleasing. The gentle samba rhythms just curl up around you and Astrud herself has a sweet innocence to her that is just perfect for this type of music. So while she's not the greatest vocalist or anything, she's better then the one hit no-name wonder I presumed she was. So great job Astrud! (Presuming Astrud is still alive, has the internet at her beach, and will read this)

0077 Nico – Chelsea Girl
Oh Nico, what to do with you! Yes, you're super hot to look at, but your droning voice... it's a bit charming but you sound like a drag queen with no talent (in case any drag queens are reading this and take offense...). Anyways, this is on the list for one reason and one reason only: it's basically a Velvet Underground album. It features Lou Reed and John Cale. "But Russ, is that a bad thing?" No, no it's not. It's actually a good thing and this is pretty decent. It's the style of music I would describe as "French Chanteuse", only sung with a droning, manly German accent. The weird thing here is, the best song is a Bob Dylan one, "I'll Keep It With Mine'. So while it's not terrible, it's also not as good as any of the Velvet Undergrounds material. I love the Velvet Underground. So you take all that, do the math and make a chart and decide for yourself if it's worth your time to listen to this.

0078 Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
What is there possibly left to say about the greatest rock record of all time? Nothing except that I was bored with the thing until buying it for Beatles Rock Band, and gained a re-appreciation for it. For pop perfection, it's incredibly loose when you play along to it with plastic guitars, and I attribute that feel to it's continued success. It's perfect, and it was played by human hands that were not. It's a beautiful thing, and worthy of it's over-rated legacy.

0079 Country Joe & the Fish – Electric Music for the Mind & Body
This was just shit frankly. Country Joe is only known for one thing, and one thing only: "The Fish Cheer" at Woodstock. Without that moment in time, no one would of gave Country Joe another thought. This album is of the annoying "We're psychedelic and clever and dangerous!" type that annoys the pee and poo out of me. It's also one of those albums where they use the word "high" as if it was a shocking, amazingly rebellious thing. It might of been then, but now it's just cliched and sticks this album firmly in 1967 where it should of been forced to wallow for ever. Fail!

0080 Buffalo Springfield – Again
Alright, after bashing Country Joe for being a walking gimmick, I'm going to be a hypocrite and praise Buffalo Springfield. Yes, it very much sounds like a 1967 album. The difference though is, The Springfield at this time was pretty much falling apart, and everyone was contributing their own songs. So the different flavours and styles that show up are much more honest, speaking for the artists as opposed to coming off as desperate gimmicks. When said artists are the likes of Neil Young and Stephen Stills, you will hear the things they are doing here in their later work. So my love of all things Neil Young, and love for this period give this one a giant pass because it is a pretty fantastic record. I feel like Young and Stills both went on to do greater things (well Young did, I never cared for "Crosby, Stills & Nash" without Young being involved), but this stands up with it's head held high in light of that future fact. Not many could say the same of their past.

0081 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Safe as Milk
I'm mostly familiar with Beefheart through his connection with Frank Zappa. So I was a bit surprised not to see Zappa'a name anywhere on here since some of the tracks sound like the Studio Z stuff Zappa recorded with Beefheart. Anyways, this was good. Some nasty, dirty blues to be found here, snarled out in that voice only Beefheart has. There are a few moments where this slips into a bit of psychedelic cliche, but for the most part the Captain manages to rise above it. So I give this one a win, and in many ways I preferred this to the much more lauded "Trout Mask Replica" (which oddly enough, was produced by Zappa.)

0082 Moby Grape – Moby Grape (1st Album)
The band's called "Moby Grape", so you kind of want to hate this from the get go. It ended up actually being pretty good. Yeah, it's more psychedelia, but it's grounded in a dead solid country/blues roots base that makes this work in ways that, again, that Country Joe record just didn't. So it's a pretty pleasing album.

0083 Love – Da Capo
I've heard of Love before, and am a pretty big fan of their album "Forever Changes", so I knew what to expect here. Except I was wrong! This was a real surprise. "Forever Changes" is a piece of elegant pop perfection. This one is a band that seems to be struggling between it's garage/bar band routes and what would later become the gentle perfection that is found on "Forever Changes". The real mind blower though is the song "7 and 7 is", a song that's so sonically punk that it blows the doors off. I had heard and loved this track before thanks to the brilliant "Nuggets" boxset, but never in a million years thought that the "Love" credited to 7 was the same as the one responsible for "Forever Changes". That my friends, is a true sign of greatness, and I think this record is the "find" for me on this ten pack. Well worth a listen!

That's that! Until next time friends, be good to one another.

*If anyone knows how to make all the links look the same on this stupid thing, I'd greatly appreciate it!