1001 Albums: 0337 - 0348, The Best Blog Ever!

It's the end of 1975, and music got amazing! Seriously, check it out. I don't think I've liked more albums in one chunk then I did with this one!


0337 Dion – Born to Be With You - It's Dion! Doo wop in the seventies! Except it's not doo wop. It's over produced seventies mush with none of either Dion or Phil Spector's charm on display. So it's a pass.


0338 Joni Mitchell – Hissing of Summer Lawns - A few blogs ago I said I'd put money down that Joni would never appear on this list again... AND NO ONE TOOK ME UP ON IT! You fools! You could of had some foldin' money lining your pockets! Serves you all right for not reading each and every word of these brilliant reviews! Anyways, this album was boring as boring things in action. Joni WILL NOT APPEAR AGAIN ON THIS LIST!


0339 Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner - I love Tom Waits! I discovered him later in his career though, with his Bone Machine weird-o stuff. So this jazzy night club affair sounds really bizarre, BUT AWESOME! Tom Waits pretty much can't do any wrong. My only thing with this one that could be a negative is that it's mostly talking stories as opposed to songs. So if you don't like that, then this might not be the Tom Waits album for you.


0340 Rahul Dev Burman – Shalimar (Soundtrack) - The first 3 tracks on this are so insanely good, that you forget that the rest of the album isn't as good. CHA CHA CHA! Anyways, it's a Bollywood soundtrack that is all over the place, and well worth a listen so that you can fall in love with the Cha Cha Cha song.


0341 Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night - I've known and loved this one for a long time since I blind bought it on cassette in junior high. It's considered to be one of the most depressing albums ever made. Young and his band get wasted mourning the loss of the guitar player and their roadie, and bang out some songs. It's sloppy, lyrics are botched, and it's so human that it's hard to resist. Recommend!


0342 Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks - Another personal favorite! This is the best pack ever! Dylan gets a divorce, and deals with it on this album. Not a bad song on here. "Tangled Up In Blue" is probably the best known one, but my fave is "Idiot Wind". This album has actually helped me in life, so it gets a recommend.


0343 Patti Smith – Horses - Seriously? My favourite Patti Smith album is next? UNBELIEVABLE! This really is the greatest pack of music in a blog yet! Anyways, this is pretty great. It has two of her best known songs. It starts with "Gloria" and ends with the amazing "Land" that features the title track. In between its all good with more poetry type songs that don't sound snooty. It all rocks rather hard, this has to be one of the greatest debuts of all time. So it's another recommend!


0344 Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here - In my mind "Dark Side Of The Moon" is as good as Pink Floyd gets. This album on the outside looks like a miss. It's largely taken up by one song "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and it's a spacey affair. But in the middle of all that diamond stuff, you get the brilliant "Have A Cigar" rocking out, and the title track which has to be one of the greatest songs of the seventies, if not ever. since the spacey Diamond stuff actually comes off as a song instead of dicking around, this album is pretty great...SO IT TOO IS A RECOMMEND!!


0345 Queen – A Night at the Opera - It has Bohemian Rhapsody on it. So holy shit RECOMMEND! not enough of a review? OK, the previous two albums were pretty great, this one adds in a timeless sound that goes from rock to music hall with genius production. Seriously, Queen in the span of two years put out 3 deadly solid albums! I'm not sure if even The Beatles can claim that! RECOMM- sorry I already said that.


0346 Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger - You would think that this would be a bit of a let down after all the awesome that came before it... WRONG! Willie scraps the traditional Nashville style of country and puts out a sincere affair that pretty much changed the face of country music for the better. For a while anyways. Not a bad track on here, he will make you a country fan. RECOMMEND!!


0347 Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s the Way of the World - It's soulful and funky. Soulfunky! Not a bad album, but kind of a wash after the non-stop awesome that proceeded it. I wonder what that sideways lying down guy is up to on the cover?


0348 Curtis Mayfield – There’s No Place Like America Today - Sadly, this one was flat out disappointing. The previously listed "Superfly" was so god damned good, and this one just wasn't. Completely forgettable, way to leave a bad taste Curtis Mayfield!

See? Truly, 1975 is the strongest year in popular music. This of course can only be attributed to me. Yes, with my birth in 1974, the globe was inspired, and the must listen to albums show that here! Come on 1976, keep the good going!

1001 Albums: 0327 - 0336, It's 1975 Now

Hello Chippers! Another ten pack of songs to go through. It's 1975, and music is all over the place. This ended up being a real mixed bunch. Genre was all over the place. It was also mostly good. So here they are my lovelies, the first chunk of 1975!


0327 Eno, Brian – Another Green World - "Here Come The Warm Jets" was a nice start to 1974. This one was not! All the things I liked on his previous album were missing here. This album seems to mark Eno's steps into ambient music. Ambient music by it's very nature tends to be music that doesn't draw attention to itself, and that's exactly what this does. I've already forgotten it.


0328 Dictators – Go Girl Crazy! - This was great. Imagine your favourite loudmouthed heel wrestler recording an obnoxious frat rock album, and this would be it. Their cover of "California Sun" is my new favourite, and the rest of the songs about drinking and girls are just as great.


0329 Neu! – ‘75 - Ambient music from a couple of guys from Kraftwork, only not as good.


0330 Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti - Zep's first double album is a pretty solid affair. Hits Like Kashmir appear here, but I can't help but think it would be better as a single.


0331 Jarrett, Keith – Köln Concert - I'm so mixed on this one! It's a solo piano concert. The music is a mix of sounding like the start of songs where people are warming up, and sometimes it has a nice melody. I'm shocked that I have to say I liked this! I usually hate this modern jazz type stuff, but this was more classical sounding. Maybe.


0332 Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic - This is the third album put out by American Idol host Steven Tyler's band, but it might as well be their first. It has the title track, "Sweet Emotion" and Run DMC's "Walk This Way" on it, so I can't imagine there being much more Aerosmith that anyone needs. It also features a cover of "Big Ten Inch" that Steven Tyler claimed to have wrote on an Idol show a couple of weeks ago. The fool! Oh, the record is pretty good by the way if you like American rock type stuff.


0333 Bowie, David – Young Americans - It opens with the awesome title track, and closes with "Fame". In between are songs that sound nothing like the beloved Ziggy Stardust, and instead seem to be inventing disco. It all completely works! Except for his terrible cover of "Across The Universe", that song was not designed to be screamed out in a soul singer kind of way. The rest though, is good stuff.


0334 Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey - It's another reggae album. It's a bit more funky then the previously listed Bob Marley, yet manages to be even more political. Or more angry political at least. It was alright, but this reggae stuff tends to wash over me.


0335 Springsteen, Bruce – Born to Run - I was never a big Springsteen fan - in fact you could argue that I hated The Boss at one time - but there is no denying that this is a great record. It's full of Rock & Roll love, and there's not really a bad track on it.


0336 Harris, Emmylou – Pieces of the Sky - I was a little surprised to see Emmylou show up here. Not that I don't think she has a fantastic voice, she does. I just don't think I ever heard anyone talk up any of her albums. This was a great one. Dead solid folk/country, even the cover songs were fantastic. Great job!

So it's a tie between The Dictators and Emmylou Harris. I probably should of been picking the "Best Of The Packs" since the beginning. I haven't really thought this project through. Too late!

Later

1001 Albums: 0314 - 0326, The End Of 1974

Big whoop!

You read that right. Big whoop 1974! Nothing blew me away, and worse, I all out hated one of the albums in this chunk. How dare you, Robert Wyatt, release such noise in the year of my birth?!? I don't know what your story is since I'm to lazy to Google your name, but if I ever meet you, I'm going to slap you in the face with my sock!

Anyways, it's not all bad. On the whole, 1974 was better then some other years. I hope Mrs F. Wall is right and that music will get better for when I'm aware of it, which should be around 1982. I expect the Bay City Rollers to appear before that...

It's time for the list! Here's how it all went down. Remember, if you're curious about these albums, the pictures are links to the Amazon page where you can sample for free.


0314 Supertramp – Crime of the Century - This is the one with both "Bloody Well Right" and "Dreamer" on it, so is might be the only Supertramp you need. I have to admit, I like these guys. Not too pretentious, but pretentious enough to be interesting.


0315 Thompson, Richard & Linda – I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight - I've spun this one a few times before, and like it a little more each time. It's that odd singer/songwriter/not really folk/not quite rock 70's thing, but it really works well. Sad songs about other people having fun.


0316 Scott-Heron, Gil & Brian Jackson – Winter in America - This is a jazzy soul record that would of been not bad except for the first song. Anyone familiar with "Ping Pong" mixing will know that it can be a little annoying. The first track on this is so over the top ping pong mixed amongst other things that I'm sure it was literally driving me crazy. I nearly baled on the album. So no, no recommend here.


0317 Queen – Sheer Heart Attack - Queen appears twice in 1974! Not only that, but this is a great Queen album. It has the brilliant "Killer Queen" which hints at the greatness that will be "Bohemianism Rhapsody" as well as "Stone Cold Crazy" which will be one of Metallica's best songs. The rest of the album is pretty good too. Well done Queen!


0318 10cc – Sheet Music - I don't know why I expected to hate this. The name 10cc just filled me with dread. The first song is about the stock market, the second about the worst band ever. I fell in love at first listen, this is an awesome record! Well done 10cc, you're the first contender for the highly coveted "Best Of 1974"!


0319 Young, Neil – On the Beach - This one confused me since I thought it came after "Tonight's The Night". I was wrong (Tonight's The night was recorded first, but this was released before it.) Anyways, this is another great Young record. It starts off kind of optimistic with "Walk On", then starts to get darker and darker until Ambulance Blues wraps it all up in a stark blanket. Amazing stuff.


0320 Jones, George – The Grand Tour - With a title like that you'd think this was a live album. Well you would be wrong dummy! A more then decent collection of songs about heartache and loss. It is a country and western album right? It lost me a bit in the middle though. The production just wasn't there, and none of the tracks where as good as the opening title track, or the album ending "Our Private Life".


0321 Clark, Gene – No Other - I enjoyed this one. The last one of his was a country rock affair. This one continues down that path, but then moves forward into kind of spacey-rock. Not in a bad way either since the songwriting is tight. I wonder what happened to Gene Clark, you never hear of him now, but he's pretty solid on these albums.


0322 Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic - This is the album that released "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" on the world, and that is why there would be a special place in hell for Steely Dan if hell existed.


0323 Newman, Randy – Good Old Boys - Another solid affair from Newman. This one sounds like it could be part of a Toy Story soundtrack in places. Well, not lyrically, these songs are for grown ups. Funny, cynical and romantic all at the same time. My only critique is that shortly after listening to this I kept humming Dr. John songs...


0324 Marley, Bob & the Wailers – Natty Dread You saw the name Bob Marley, so again you know exactly what to expect. I liked this one more then the previous one. More polished and seemed more personal as far as the preachy songs go. It has "No Woman No Cry" on it, so that might be a selling point for you.


0325 Wyatt, Robert – Rock Bottom - I don't know what to even call this. Jazzy-prog rock? I hated it. Sounded like random whooshing synth sounds with garbage spoke/sung over it. Avoid.


0326 Parsons, Gram – Grievous Angel - I've spun this one a few times over the years. It's not the greatest alt country rock album you'll listen too, but it's pretty good. I like that he has such a non-country voice and is singing over such classic country music arrangements. The songs are good. This is what the Eagles would be like if they weren't terrible and so emotionally distant from their music.

So that's 1974, the year of my birth in music! I'm not giving any of these the "Best of 1974" award since none of them blew me away as new discoveries. Otherwise, Neil Young, Van Morrison and 10cc can Indian leg wrestle for the title since they were the best of the bunch I think.

In other news, The Beach Boys have announced that the original sessions for "SMiLE" from 1967 have been spruced up, and an official release is coming this year! Clap your hands and raise a cheer! Go on. I'll wait. Done? Great! Why is this so important? Well, "SMiLE" is the greatest of the legendary lost albums, one which many think would of replaced "Sgt. Pepper" as the most defining album in rock music. Imagine it, the Beatles kind of disappear in the wake of The Beach Boys. It's hard to believe eh? I've listened to at least 4 bootleg reconstructions, as well as the demos released in the Beach Boys boxset, and let me tell you, it really is amazing, timeless, beautiful music. I can't wait for it! It should sound marvelous coming from first gen masters. Huzzah!

I have to get this damned project finished so I can catch up on the new stuff I'm missing... I'm going to presume that there is actually good new music being made. I don't actually see any evidence of this in the current media, but I dare to dream!