Weekend = The whole list (this far)

It's the weekend and here's the Whole List for your easy viewing!
The last week's entries are in full view while the earlier work are linked.

0604. Aphex Twin
Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Tracks dedicated to chrystal oscillators, samples of movie dialogue for atmosphere [fact check: even getting in a bit of Public Image Ltd. in Green Calx] and using his vacuum cleaner means that, oh heck, this is one of those albums.

As this isn't my type of music I can just state that after a couple of listens I still just find this to be background music and my mind wanders off to other things while we follow the knob-twiddling ambient antics of Aphex Twin as he goes from mimimalist techno to minimalist house and on (and on and on and on).

But as it was a bit of a game changer in the development of the genre that Brian Eno named, I actually would recommend it to anyone interested in that subsection of music.

0603. Kate Bush
The Sensual World

Opening with the sound of chuch bells, Kate Bush is back for the third time. And while still not as far-reaching vocally as on The Dreaming, she's still going beyond the intellectual horizon, using Ulysses as inspiration for the title track (at first intending to have the actual book passage as lyrics, but getting denied by the Joyce society until just about last year when she re-recorded the song). She also went for a bit of tricksterism as the single version of the song was a double-grooved vinyl, i.e. two parallel grooves containing either the full song or the instrumental, depending on where you put the needle down (something The Residents also planned to do, but skipped).

While the other songs on the album might not all have such esteemed inspirators, it doesn't mean they're something thrown out without a thought - au contraire they're thought through and in at least one case kind of predicting the future.
Cause listening to Deeper Understanding's narrative where the protagonist "turn to my computer as a friend", I feel slightly compelled to close Twitter for the evening.

I once again find myself longing for Ms. Bush to throw herself into the guttural from the heights of her pitch just once, but it never happens.
More of a unified (or maybe just less of a shattered) album, The Sensual World is better than the Hounds Of Love, while not reaching the creative heights of The Dreaming. Still, that's a pretty high grade.

0602. The Fugees
The Score

The Fugees took the world with storm with their second album after their first sort of bombed (even though it got some real good tracks on it).
Here, they've gone for bulk. It's a truckload of producers and engineers involved and, despite what you might think, it actually results in that the album sounds pretty good. I don't think there's anyone reading this that's never heard Lauryn's taunting voice in Fu-Gee-La or the tracks that hit bigger than that.

But it's a bit irritating that Pras is the one with the lesser lyrical skill, cause of the three he's got the better delivery by far (and yes, Wyclef almost doesn't make the list).
Also, since he's the less talented one, only Lauryn and 'Clef gets to do covers (or "versions"), in this case Killing Me Softly and No Woman, No Cry, respectively. And where the first has been played asunder by both MTV (remember when MTV used to play music? rant, rant, rant) and radio as well as getting accolades from just about everyone, the other's quite frankly not even near touching the original.

(The last seventeen minutes of the Euro-CD version of the album's dedicated to a couple of remixes of Fu-Gee-La, plus the Wyclef tune Mista Mista, none of which are neccessary for the album (even though it's nice to hear Sly & Robbie let their magic get to work).)

Anyway, this sold six times platinum in just a year and a half.

0601. The Temptations
Cloud Nine

This is yet another album where the songs automatically starts playing in my head as I check out the tracklist. The thing I notice is that in some cases it's the wrong version.
Cause in my head it's the original version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine (well, you know, the Marvin Gaye version [yes, I know he didn't write it nor record the first version) and not the popped up version that The Temptations launch here.

The title track outshines everything else on the album with it's definitive funk (a change in musical style induced by one of the members fascination for Sly & The Family Stone) and escapist theme.

Eddie Kendricks falsetto, most prominently featured on Love Is A Hurtin' Thing, isn't a joy for my ears, though. I chalk it up to bad mixing on the re-release, cause I doubt that anyone on Motown would let it sound that bad.

The other real good track is the nine-minute Run Away Child, Running Wild, with a huge chunk of instrumental music in it, while the rest are okay (and mostly lacking the funk-drive). But the title track. D�mn!

0600. Public Enemy
Fear Of A Black Planet

Exactly 500 albums later, Public Enemy's back (coincidentally with the follow-up to It Takes A Nation Of Millions...). I'm really starting to feel that the Random Page Generator's not so random.

And to be frank I don't like the track Pollywanacraka, and there are some other lyrical content that's doubtful to say the least. But the other parts, when Chuck D booms black power and equality, there's probably nothing better in the world at that moment.

This is, in their own words, their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, while It Takes A Nation... was their version of What's Going On?. And while you can have a lengthy dispute about the comparisons, they do have a point: this is almost as fragmented as Sgt. Pepper's is and while not as influential on the popular mainstream (apart from, you know, helping getting the mainstream to notice hiphop), made its mark on hiphop production techniques with its extensive use of layered samples.
In the chart-busting Fight The Power there's at least 14 different picks - from Uriah Heep to Rick James to Afrika Bambaata & The Soulsonic Force (interesting how many of the GotToGets are represented on P.E:s releases, by the way) - and I dare you to identify 'em all without checking the Internet first.

As original for its content as for its cover image, Fear Of A Black Planet still holds its own today.

Weekend = The whole list (this far)

0604. Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92

0603. Kate Bush The Sensual World

0602. The Fugees The Score

0601. The Temptations Cloud Nine

0600. Public Enemy Fear Of A Black Planet

0604. Aphex Twin
Selected Ambient Works 85-92

0603. Kate Bush
The Sensual World

0602. The Fugees
The Score

0601. The Temptations
Cloud Nine

0600. Public Enemy
Fear Of A Black Planet