#653 Stereo MC's - Connected

In 1988 I reconnected with a friend, Raj, I hadn't seen in a few years. We ran into each other walking across campus at the University of Calgary. For the next few years we were practically inseparable. Prior to our chance meeting I didn't listen to any R&B or Dance music, but Raj did, and over the course of next few years as we went to dance clubs we listened to a lot of R&B and dance music. It really grew on me and I still listen to it, although it is primarily the stuff I listened to in the clubs, not the newer stuff. 

This album, while I had never heard it before today, is a great example of the music I'm talking about. although it was released in 1992, a little later than when I was listening to DJ's mix records, I can totally see some of the songs from the album in the mix.

"Step It Up"

Nothing to do with Stereo MC's but I thought I'd add my favorite song that Raj introduced me to

Seduction "(You're My One and Only) True Love (Rap Version)"

and the original

Tomorrow's Album # 81 The Beau Brummels - Triangle

#743 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

I did not know that this band was from Australia. There haven't been a ton of bands to come from Australia and become famous, INXS and AC/DC being really the only two that I can think of.

Overall the album was just o.k. I felt like it kind of plodded along and never really got going. The title of the album "Murder Ballads" is in reference to a genre of music where the songs are regarding crimes of passion, which, now that I know that, it makes the album make a bit more sense, but it doesn't make it any better.




"Where the Wild Roses Grow"

Tomorrow's Album #653 Stereo MC's - Connected

#667 Nirvana - In Utero

I was never on the Nirvana train. They did have some good songs, and most definitely were the pioneers of the Seattle grunge sound. Nobody was making the music they were making before they were making it. It is hard to imagine or guess what would have happened to the band if Kurt hadn't decided to take his own life. From the ashes of Nirvana was born the Foo Fighters however and it is one of my favorite hard rock bands.







"Heart-shaped Box"

"All Apologies"

Tomorrow's Album #743 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

#248 Can - Future Days

A four song EP with 3 of the 4 songs weighing in at 8+ minutes, most of which consists of random sounds strung together to make some semblance of a song - no thanks.











"Moonshake"

Tomorrow's Album #667 Nirvana - In Utero

#393 AC/DC - Highway To Hell

I saw AC/DC in concert once. My friend in high school, Davin, had an extra ticket for their Thunderstruck tour. The concert was soooo good. For pure entertainment, off the charts energy, loudness and showmanship, it may be the best concert I've ever seen. The band left it all on the stage.

I wouldn't say that I am a fan of the band, but like most people I like their hits, and Angus Young is the master at creating recognizable guitar riffs. Definitely a fun album to listen to.







"Highway to Hell"

Tomorrow's Album #248 Can - Future Days

#710 Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill

I really liked this album when it came out but it has been a long time since I listened to it. It still holds up really well. It contains a lot of really catchy, really good songs.

I don't think that many people know or can fathom how huge this album was. Globally it sold 33 million copies, which is crazy for any artist, but amazing for a angst ridden girl from Ontario, Canada, who started her career as a pop singer. Overall Alanis has sold more that 60 million albums worldwide.





"Ironic"

"To Hot" - Alanis' start as a pop singer

Tomorrow's Album #393 AC/DC - Highway To Hell

#723 Rocket From the Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream!

Two punk albums in a row. That's about all I can take of that, and all I have to say about this album is that it was a bit better to listen to that yesterdays.











"Come See, Come Saw"

Tomorrow's Album #710 Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill

#360 Wire - Pink Flag

Another typical punk album. Nothing too original here. It's an album of 21 short, angry, to the point songs. When I hear a punk album that is different than that I'll let you know.

BTW apparently the meaning of a pink flag is kind of like a "soft" warning that something might be wrong, like a "red" flag but not as bad.







"Pink Flag"

Tomorrow's Album #723 Rocket From the Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream!

#252 Faust - Faust IV

This album reminds a bit of a cross between Kraftwork and Yello, which makes sense since the genre that is classified as is "krautrock" an experimantal rock formed in Germany in the 60's, and of which Kraftwork is also classified as.

The album was ok, but just isn't my style of music. I was happy that when there was singing, it wasn't in German.







"It's a Bit of Pain"

Tomorrow's Album #360 Wire - Pink Flag

#854 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

This was a pleasant change from yesterdays album. Listening to the album the band, and the album, had a strong Radiohead vibe to it. Which is never a bad thing, since Radiohead is one of my favorites. The funny thing about the album is though, after the band had recorded it they submitted it to their record label and they refused to release it. The band was, however, able to find a different label to release it on.







"Jesus, Etc."

"Kamera"

Tomorrow's Album #252 Faust - Faust IV

#573 The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God

I'm trying to think back on the albums I have listened to so far and recall if there has been one that I quit listening to. If there was one I don't remember it, and if there wasn't, then this is the first. I got about 4 songs in and realized that there was no way I was going to be able to listen to the whole thing. So to save my sanity I shut it off.

I commend the band for trying to take their Irish heritage and music and turn it into some form of punk, but I really didn't  like it.




"Turkish Song of the Damned"

Tomorrow's Album #854 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

#460 Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast

Iron Maiden is one of the original metal bands. As a fan of metal I like their music but in my opinion there are better metal bands out there. Bands like Metallica and Motley Crue to name a couple. Maiden does have some classic hit songs though that are good for an occasional listen.









"Run to the Hills"

Tomorrow's Album #573 The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God

#217 Alice Cooper - School's Out

Alice Cooper is all about the act. He is a showman through and through, which is good because his music isn't that good. This album contains probably his biggest hit "Schools Out" but the rest of it was just not good, in fact is is pretty cheesy and terrible.








"Schools out"

"Gutter Cat Vs The Jets" - bad, just bad

Tomorrow's Album #460 Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast

#469 Def Leppard - Pyromania

Def Leppard really hit their stride with this album and would go on to follow it up with their monster album - Hysteria. I love everything about this album. It is everything a classic rock album should be. I dare you to crank it up and not love every minute of it.









"Photograph"

"Rock of Ages"

"Foolin"

"Too Late For Love"

Tomorrow's Album #217 Alice Cooper - School's Out

#346 Iggy Pop - The Idiot

Iggy Pop. The Godfather, or at this point in his career maybe I should say, the Grandfather of Punk. Iggy started out in a band called The Stooges, and after a few albums ventured out on his own for a solo career, with this album being his first solo effort. I didn't hate it but I didn't really like it either. I'm not really a fan of punk, even though this would definitely be a toned down punk, it was mostly Pop's singing for me. He's just not that good.

The Album was written in collaboration with David Bowie, and actually contains the first release of "China Girl" which Bowie would re-record almost a decade later and would become a HUGE hit for him.

"China Girl"

Tomorrow's Album #469 Def Leppard - Pyromania

#636 Slint - Spiderland

This album was very interesting. It was recorded live and in only one or two takes. The interesting part is that many of the songs are music, which I kind of liked, with spoken word added to them for the lyrics. I definitely think the music was stronger than the lyrics or the singing.









"Washer"

Tomorrow's Album #346 Iggy Pop - The Idiot

#265 Mott The Hoople - Mott

Listening to this album I got a really heavy David Bowie vibe from it. Researching about the band I find out that Bowie was a huge fan of the band and actually wrote their biggest hit "All the Young Dudes" for them. In fact after learning that the band was about to split, Bowie persuaded them to stay together and offered them "Suffragette City" from his then yet-to-be-released Ziggy Stardust album and they turned it down. It is hard to imagine a world where they take the song and Bowie isn't the singer of one of his biggest hits.

Anyways the album itself was pretty good. Typical 70's style glam rock made better by the Bowie influence for sure.


"All the Young Dudes" - not on this album but I wanted to hear their biggest hit

"Violence"

Tomorrow's Album #636 Slint - Spiderland

#851 Doves - The Last Broadcast

I started listening to this album while I was out walking my dog, but got interrupted a couple songs in and had to start over. I was intrigued by the first couple songs and was eager to give it a second go. The album turned out to be pretty good. The music was definitely the better part of the album as it didn't sound like a cookie cutter, same as every other band at the time album. There was some good songs on here, although I did loose interest a couple times.






"There Goes the Fear"

Tomorrow's Album #265 Mott The Hoople - Mott

#476 Paul Simon - Hearts and Bones

I enjoyed the first part of this album a lot. It has a pretty catchy casual listening/pop sound to it. His voice is great and it was just kinda fun to listen to, but then, about 1/2 way through, it started to sound repetitive and I got bored with it. I lost interest and just didn't care if I heard the rest.









"Think Too Much (B)"

Tomorrow's Album #851 The Doves - The Last Broadcast

#858 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

Everyone, I assume, has a list of their favorite songs. I do, but I also have a a list of songs that I absolutely have to listen to if they come on the radio or randomly play while listening to my music library. They are songs that, for whatever reason, I have made a connection with. They are favorites I guess, but they also speak to me on a different level other than just listening to a song. Some of them, to name a few, are The Wallflowers "One Headlight", Augustana "Dust", The Cure "Fascination St", Blue October "Fear" and "The Feel Again", and one of the songs on this album - "Maps". I can't explain it but I have to listen to them, and in fact I will often repeat them a couple time if they come on. Once on the list they will be forever on it, and every once and awhile a new song is added.

I have listened to Fever to Tell before and it is pretty good to be sure, but when Maps comes on they have me.

"Maps"

Tomorrow's Album #476 Paul Simon - Hearts and Bones

#389 Throbbing Gristle - DOA

There have been some albums I have listened to that I didn't understand what was going on. That just were not that good for various reasons. Maybe it was the Lyrics, or the singing or the music itself was just terrible. This album was beyond that. It's not even an album in my opinion. Every single song, and I use that term very loosely in this case, is just random sounds strung together. There is very little instruments use and no singing. When there is "singing" it is obscured and distorted so that you can't really tell what is being said. Out of all the albums I have listened to so far this is the first that was an absolute waste of my time. I did wise up about 4 songs into it and I started to listen to just the beginning of each song to make sure it was more of the same then I skipped to the next one.

I did find one review of the album in Pitchfork magazine to be kind of funny it described the album as "a nauseating masterpiece, and an essential recording." Nauseating - yes, Essential to what - I'm not sure.

Since I have a love of microbiology here is "E-Coli"

Tomorrow's Album #858 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

#303 Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today

Never listened to Curtis Mayfield before but this was some pretty good bass guitar driven funk/R&B. Really enjoyable to listen too.











"Billy Jack"

Tomorrow's Album #389 Throbbing Gristle - DOA

#635 Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha

Sometimes when I listen to an album I feel like I'm not part of an inside joke. Well not a joke but something that the artist or band or producer understands in relation to the album but unless you are party to it you just don't get what they were going for. This is especially true when it seems like the album is a concept album like this album. The album contains short little interludes that are suppose to tie the songs together but I don't understand the connection.

Oh well. The album was just an o.k. club album that might have been better if they had let me in on the secret.



"Only Love Can Break Your Heart"

Tomorrow's Album #303 Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today

#55 John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

So I have had some exposure to Eric Clapton in the past. My father-in-law Mark really likes his guitar playing so I have heard him many times through Mark. But it is still limited and I was unsure what his part in this band was. Apparently he was John Mayall's guitarist from 1965-66, after Eric had had some success with the Yardbirds. I thought the album was o.k with the guitar work being the best part.







'All Your Love"

Tomorrow's Album #635 Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha

#642 Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hiphoprisy is the Greatest Luxury

So for a rap album this was not bad. I actually kind of enjoyed it. I think the reason is because it was a politically driven album more than your typical themes that are in rap albums. Very much the same as why I like Rage Against the Machine. The difference being no band has an amazing guitar player like Tom
Morello, like Rage does. I also was pleased that this album had no swearing.





"Television, the Drug of a Nation"

Some Tom Morello Guitar Solos just because:

Tomorrow's Album #55 John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

#579 Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story

This the second and hopefully the last album on the list from Barry Adamson. This album is his first solo album and was recorded 8 years before the previous one that I reviewed, Oedipus Schmoedipus, and it is much worse. To me most of the songs just sound like random noises that have been constructed into song format. Not really anything great to listen to here. Definitely not worth taking up another spot on the list (I really hope there isn't a third) and nothing worth posting a video for.





Tomorrow's Album #642  Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hiphoprisy is the Greatest Luxury

#279 Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson is brother to Carl and Brian Wilson and one of the founders of the Beach Boys. He played drums for the band and sang backup vocals. He had a couple of interesting events happen in his short life, yes he died young, which I will get to, other than being a member of the Beach Boys.

The first is that he had an interaction with Charles Manson from about 68-69' It is an interesting read if you are interested in researching it, but the short version is that Dennis had an association with Manson and his followers for about a year because Manson was interested in song writing and Dennis felt he had talent. They worked on a song that Manson had started and it eventually ended with a different title and as a Beach Boys B-side, credited to Dennis. This angered Manson and he threatened Dennis and his family's lives. Dennis beat the crap out of Manson and it was the last they saw of each other. After the Manson murders occurred a year later, Dennis refused to speak about any of it.

Secondly, after releasing one solo album, this one, and while working on a second album, he got drunk one night and decided to dive in the ocean at a spot where he had lost some items 3 years before, to try and retrieve them. Dennis drowned that day at the age of 39.

The album was pretty good, and nothing like I expected from a member of the beach Boys, but then again that is a reason many artists record solo albums. They want to record songs that are different than what they record with their band.

Tomorrow's Album #579 Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story

#228 John Prine - John Prine

So John  Prine is listed by Apple Music as Rock, which really threw me off when the album started and he is very obviously, on this album anyways, folk/country. I usually have to kind of psych myself up for listening to country and it took me by surprise. It was a pretty typical country album, good if you like country and not so great if you don't.








"Illegal Smile"

Tomorrow's Album #279 Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

#863 Kanye West - The College Dropout

I have no love for Kanye West. I fact many of the things that he has done outside of just being a rapper, out in the public eye, really have made me thing of him as a douche-bag. Would I ever give a single cent to him by purchasing any of his music, no way, but not because I don't like his music. In fact, while I don't particularly love rap, and have never listened to any of his music until now, the album was pretty good, for a rap album that is. I just wish he didn't act like such an idiot.






Once again I am unable to add a video due to every song on the album being explicit. There was, however, a clean version of the album on apple music that I could listen to.

Tomorrow's Album #228 John Prine - John Prine

#155 The Youngbloods - Elephant Mountain

So far i haven't really liked many of the albums to come out of the 60's. I've found they are too drug-induced, weird, hippyish for my taste. So I was pleasantly surprised by how good this album was, for a number of reasons; great lyrics, great voice, range of musical styles within the album so the songs don't all sound the same, and it didn't try to be over the top weird like so many 60's albums. Over all it was just really enjoyable to listen to.

I'll probably be keeping some of these songs in my music library.




I loved the idea of having these two contrasting songs on the same album.

"Darkness Darkness"

"Sunlight"

Tomorrow's Album #863 Kanye West - The College Dropout

#382 Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

The Talking Heads have had quite a bit of success over the course of their career. I have heard many of their hits but never really wanted to listen to any full albums. Now that I have I'd say I wasn't missing too much. In my opinion the album was too high pitched. The treble needed to be balanced out a bit more with some bass, which was seriously lacking, and the lead singer, David Byrne's style of singing is a little bit singing, a little speaking and a little yelling.






The hit single was the best song on the album.

"Take Me to the River"

Tomorrow's Album #155 The Youngbloods - Elephant Mountain