Doves Review / Elvis Preview (Album 7)

(Doves preview here) Sorry about that last post. Didn't notice that I highlighted everything. Whatever. Anyways, the Doves album, is pretty awesome. I am going to have to say that I like it a lot. Sound-wise, it's as if Beck got together with Coldplay to make elevator music. That is not a bad thing, even though elevator music is considered...tacky? Or lame. The first 5 or 6 songs are mostly instrumental, with some singing, but the singing is used more as another sound or an instrument than actual lyrics or singing. Then with Catch The Sun (which sounds like this albums attempt at a single) the songs go to a more traditional songs with lyrics. The songs are very relaxing and have some really excellent sound to them. I liked the whole album, as I said.

Favorite songs:
     Sea Song
     Catch The Sun
     The Man Who Told Everything
     Break Me Gently

Now we head back a few decades for some more 50s action:

Album: Elvis Presley

Artist: Elvis Presley

Release Year: 1956

"This is not the holy grail.... Yet there is magic here, and plenty of it; certainly, revolutions have sprung from less. The white-boy "I'm Counting On You" and the jittery rumble through Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" are an early one-two punch; near the end sits the definitive lonesome version of "Blue Moon." It is a landmark recording." - Will Fulford-Jones

01 - Blue Suede Shoes

02 - I'm Counting On You

03 - I Got A Woman

04 - One-Sided Love Affair

05 - I Love You Because

06 - Just Because

07 - Tutti Frutti

08 - Trying To Get To You

09 - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Cry Over You)

10 - I'll Never Let You go

11 - Blue Moon

12 - Money Honey

I found another website that will let you listen to the whole album for free, chech it out (the website is in Romanian): Radio3.net

Looking forward to some classical guitar and some dashing Elvis. 

~mfm

Cocteau Twins Review / Doves Preview (Album 6)

(Twins preview here) The Cocteau Twins album is...strange. To say the least. I mean it was interesting, but I don't understand what was so special about it that I had to hear it before I die. Sound wise, it was as if the main singer for Coldplay (Chris Martin, who I love by the way) was born a girl, singing over mediocre house music mixed with some synthy-electro guitar. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as I think the authors of this book had intended. I just thought that it was 'meh'. So, needless to say there won't be a whole lot of replay value for me for this album. I will say though, that all the songs had fantastically entertaining names.

Favorite Songs

     ...
     *crickets*

The first album of the 21st century:

Album: Lost Souls

Artist: Doves

Release Year: 2000

"Appropriatley, Lost Souls contains reference points to much of Manchester's glorious musical heritage - notably the seductive melencholy of Joy Divisions and early New Order, the sparkling musicality of The Smith's, and the rhyths of early house music. (The album is dedicated to Rob Gretton, New Order's manager, who had signed Sub Sub to his label, Rob's Records.)Nominated for the Mercury Prize, Lost Souls remains one of Doves' strongest offerings, a stellar achievement from a band who had lost everything." - Peter Notari

01 - Firesuite

02 - Here It Comes

03 - Break Me Gently

04 - Sea Song

05 - Rise

06 - Lost Souls

07 - Melody Calls

08 - Catch The Sun

09 - The Man Who Told Everything

10 - The Cedar Room

11 - Reprise

12 - A House

iTunes: Lost Souls - Doves (has some extra bonus songs or whatever, I won't be acknowledging those songs in the review)
Spotify: Lost Souls - Doves

It's interesting that you can tell very obviously that "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" is very blatantly English. I haven't heard of a couple of these bands before, and looking ahead, there are a lot of English references and bands that played and developed there (England).

~mfm

Adam And The Ants Review / Cocteau Twins Preview (Album 5)

(Adam preview here) Adam And The Ants...Where to start. It's actually pretty cool. I think though, that its really one of those albums that was really really cool, and now, it is less cool. Some of the songs are really pop-esque, like Dog Eat Dog and Antmusic. Other songs seem to be a little experimental. The sound in all the songs is really cool, and is nicely combined with Adam's voice in most of the album. The tribal drums in the first song are really snazzy. I won't be listening to any of the songs I don't like probably ever again. The songs I do like though, those are pretty cool and will stick around.

Favorite Songs
     Dog Eat Dog
     Jolly Roger

Moving into familiar territory (1990s):

Album: Heaven Or Las Vegas

Artist: Cocteau Twins

Release Year: 1990

"This was the strongest and most cohesive set of songs the Twins had released since 1984's Treasure. Gone was the trademark ghostly, muted album artwork. Instead, the cover features a colorful swash of Vegas neon swirling against a deep blue and red sky. Similarly, the sound of Heaven... is warmer and more inviting." - Rob Morton

01 - Cherry-Coloured Funk

02 - Pitch The Baby 

03 - Iceblink Luck 

04 - Fifty-Fifty Clown

05 - Heaven Or Las Vegas

06 - I Wear Your Ring

07 - Fotzepolitic

08 - Wolf In The Breast

09 - Road, River and Rail

10 - Frou-Frou Foxes In Midsummer Fires

iTunes: Heaven Or Las Vegas (Remastered or something)

Spotify: Heaven Or Las Vegas

Sounds like weird 90s jam. Early, early 90s jam. So, still recovering from the 80s jam.

~mfm

Creedence Clearwater Review / Adam And The Ants Preview (Album 4)

(Creedence preview here) So, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory is a pretty steady stream of Southern Rock and Roll. All of it. The couple of covers (most notably Before You Accuse Me for myself) are good covers, and the songs that aren't covers are good songs. Looking Out My Backdoor is one of those songs that pretty much everyone knows, whether they know who sings it or not. It's one of those classic 70's songs that seems to live on in infamy in the nether of music. Up Around The Bend just gives me flashbacks of every helicopter ride I ever took over Nam. Before You Accuse Me is a really grand song, but I think that I prefer the Eric Clapton cover. It's all around a good album, to be sure. When I think Southern Rock I usually don't think of these guys for some reason, my brain just seems to skip to country rock. I much prefer Southern rock to country rock. I like this album. it may get some play time on my iPod when I listen to everything else. I think that this is probably going to be my favorite decade, I can tell already.

Favorite Songs:
     Before You Accuse Me
     Looking Out My Backdoor
     Up Around The Bend
     Travelin' Band

First album from the 80s:

Album: Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Artist: Adam And The Ants

Release Year: 1980

"'We used ocarinas, echo chambers, textures from John Barry and Ennio Morricone soundtracks, rockabilly guitar riffs from Duane Eddy and Hank Marvin. We were even twanging rulers on desks and recorded the results!' You can also hear even weirder sonic traced - the thundering tom toms of the Glitter Band, the thrilling snare-drum salutes of Loyalist marching bands, the mutant disco of Ze Records, even Aboriginal grunts and stomps borrowed from Rolf Harris." - John Lewis

01 - Dog Eat Dog

02 - Antmusic

03 - Los Rancheros

04 - Feed Me To The Lions

05 - Press Darlings

06 - Ants Invasion

07 - Killer In The Home

08 - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

09 - The Magnificent 5

10 - Don't Be Square

11 - Jolly Roger

12 - Physical (You're So)

13 - The Human Beings

iTunes: Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Spotify: Kings Of The Wild Frontier

My goodness, the future is looking radical.

~mfm

Joan Baez Review / Creedence Clearwater Preview (Album 3)

(Joan Baez preview here) In the Book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", the writer of the Joan Baez album review said that Joan Baez has "the voice of an angel". He is very right. Joan Baez has a beautiful voice. Personally though, I don't enjoy folk music. I listened to her album without any ideas like that in my head, but this just doesn't do it for me. Her songs remind me a lot of protest songs and songs that you would hear in the 50's and 60's (which makes sense, since this album is from 1960). I liked it, but I don't think that I will be listening to it much more.

Favorite Songs:
     House Of The Rising Sun (yes, it's a cover)
     Henry Martin (for her guitar playing)

And now, for the first album from the 1970s:

Album: Cosmo's Factory

Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Release Year: 1970

"It is quintessential Creedence. A glorious distillation of their distinctive, Southern-style mix of choogling swamp boogie and prime, blistering pop. Eschewing the druggy psychedelic excess of many of their San Francisco peers, the album includes both sides of their three recent hit singles, to which they added covers of songs made famous by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Bo Diddley..." - Ross Fortune

01 - Ramble Tamble

02 - Before You Accuse Me

03 - Travelin' Band

04 - Ooby Dooby

05 - Lookin' Out My Back Door

06 - Run Through The Jungle

07 - Up Around The Bend

08 - My Baby Left Me

09 - Who'll Stop The Rain

10 - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

11 - Long As I Can See The Light

iTunes: Cosmo's Factory (Remastered)

Spotify: Cosmo's Factory

~mfm

Sinatra Review / Joan Baez Preview (Album 2)

(Elvis preview here) Hello again both of you. To start things off we have the In the Wee Small Hours review.

It's too bad that music like this is lost on my generations and the generations that are coming after. This is really quality music. Suffice to say, the whole album (and I mean the whole album) is sad. Like that quote said, this is a man alone. There didn't seem to be any really outstanding songs singles wise, but this was a time before singles when people listened to the whole album. Musically it's really smooth swing, but mostly just background to Franky's voice. If all the songs weren't so sad, this would be good baby-making music. But alas.

Favorite songs:
     I Get Along Without You Very Well
     What Is This Thing Called Love
     Last Night When We Were Young

The next album I'll be listening to:

Album: Joan Baez

Artist: Joan Baez

Release Year: 1960

"She [Baez] released 17 records through Vanguard, and while she later was to become known as "Queen" to Bob Dylan's "King Of Folk Music" (Dylan was in awe of Baez at first), her name was not connected with Dylan's until her thrid album, on which she first began performing contemporary material...Although her place at the forefront of the protest movement was still around the corner, Baez's strength, compassion, and courage were apparent on this initial release, which did much to revitalize folk music for a new generation."

 - Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

01 - Silver Dagger

02 - fare Thee Well (10,000) Miles

03 - House Of The Rising Sun

04 - All My Trails

05 - Wildwood Flowers

06 - Donna Donna

07 - John Riley

08 - Rake And Rambling Boy

09 - Little Moses

10 - Mary Hamilton

11 - Henry Martin

12 - El Preson Numero Nueve

Looks like folk / protest music possibly for album 2. Let me know what you thoughts are.

~mfm

Frank Sinatra Preview (Album 1)

Since this is the first album, I'm going to set up what I think the rest of the posts are going to look like. I plan on listening to each album 2 times through before posting any thoughts on it. Next to the thoughts that I have, I will put up the next album I'm going to be listening to.

I've decided to go through the book chronologically, but instead of straight through, to do the first album from the 50's, then the first album from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's...and then the second album from the 50's, 60's...etc.

So here we go. The first album I will be listening to is:

Album: In The Wee Small Hours

Artist: Frank Sinatra

Release Year: 1955

"In The Wee Small Hours arrived not long after Sinatra's relationship with Ava Gardner collapsed, and it is this split that defines perhaps the all-time greatest break-up album. The wisecracking, finger-snapping Sinatra of popular legend is absent; this is a man alone." - Will Fulford-Jones

Track Listing:

01 - In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
02 - Mood Indigo
03 - Glad To Be Unhappy
04 - I Get Along Without You Very Well
05 - Deep In a Dream
06 - I See Your Face Before Me
07 - Can't We Be Friends?
08 - When Your Lover Has Gone
09 - What Is This Thing Called Love
10 - Last Night When We Were Young
11 - I'll Be Around
12 - Ill Wind
13 - It Never Entered My Mind
14 - Dancing On The Ceiling
15 - I'll Never Be The Same
16 - This Love Of Mine

iTunes: Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

Spotify: Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

Let me know what you think.

~mfm

Blogging

This blog is dedicated to the book:
"1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die"
(http://www.amazon.com/1001-Albums-Must-Hear-Before/dp/0789313715)
(Also, I am using the Revised and Updated Edition, published in 2010)
It is an attempt to go through the majority of the 1001 albums in the book. Ideally it will be one album a week, possibly two a week. I'm sure that it probably won't happen and I probably won't get through them all, but I can dream.  

This blog will be organised with the album (or albums) and their artwork, followed by what the book says about the album. After that, I plan on putting a little something about what I thought about the album. It won't be really thought provoking all the time. Most of it will probably be along the lines of: "Hey this song was cool, but this one sucked." I would like to do a little bit more than that, but that's a lot of albums. After the review of the album, then there will be the preview of the next album I'll be listening to.

I also implore you (yes, both of you) to please share your thoughts about whatever album I'm currently listening to. I tried to set it up so that if someone wants to follow along and do this with me, it wouldn't be too impossible.

Feel free to follow along.

Blogging: Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

~mfm