644. Green - R.E.M.

This is one of the very few albums I own on vinyl and CD, and so it's fair to say that I know it reasonably well. Chloe was also familiar with a couple of the tracks, so listening to this was like catching up with someone you'd met a couple of times, got on with, and was then coming to live with you for a week; enjoyable, but slightly strained at times.

The album focuses primarily on 'green' issues, relating to environmental concerns caused by freak weather conditions in the US in the summer of 88. Michael Stipe's aim was to raise the profile of climate change concerns, as well as experiment musically with their first album on their new label, having just signed with Warner Bros. 

There are some well known, classic R.E.M. type songs on the album, such as Pop Song '89 and Stand, as well as the well-known Orange Crush. There are also some much slower, more acoustic numbers, including the mandolin on three tracks. The songs are on the whole very catchy, with some interesting, often cryptic, lyrics. The environmental theme is pretty central to the album, from the cover artwork to the outstanding I Remember California. 

Overall, we both enjoyed the album a lot, but it didn't grow on me as much as I had thought it might. A couple of songs I didn't know too well from previous listens stood out this time, but as a whole the album seems a bit fragmented, and pulls the listener in too many directions. Whilst variety is good, it just doesn't seem sufficiently cohesive to be a truly outstanding album.

Chloe's rating: 7
Chloe's favourite track: 4. Stand
Olly's rating: 7
Olly's favourite track: 10. I Remember California

Next week's album is 380. Oxygene by Jean-Michel Jarre. Given my love of synth and prog, I think I'm looking forward to this more than Chloe...

932. Vespertine - Björk

The difficulty with this project is the fixed nature of time we have to listen to an album. For some, a week has felt about the right length of time to get to know it, and for others, it's been too long, frankly. Donovan, I'm looking directly at you. However, there are some albums where a week is just not going to be long enough to fully come to terms with the intricacies and density of the body of work. I suspected that this would be the case with Björk, knowing some of her work, and her reputation. And so it has transpired that the album this week is probably a masterpiece but I cannot verify this from my point of view. I've no doubt that this revelation will be devastating for Björk.

The album is a real tapestry of deep poly-rhythms and juxtaposed hard and soft electronic sounds, held together with lush lyrical content. It is excellent, and there are definite earworms there that stick with you after the first couple of listens. Pagan Poetry and Hidden Place stand out straight away, but others come to the fore after repeated listens. Undo has a beautiful refrain that is worthy of note, Unison has some fantastically vivid imagery, and Cocoon is delicate in a crisp, frozen kind of way. In all, it is a very wintery album, and so has been a great companion on the dark morning and evening commutes to and from work. It does require a certain amount of active listening on the part of the audience, as otherwise it could just become a series of nice sounds washing over you, rather then the more mapped out ebb and flow it in reality appears to be. 

This is definitely one of albums that I know I will be returning to, and I have high expectations that I will end up loving it even more. However, having only scratched the surface having listened to it about 15 times, I'll have to look forward to this being a slow-burn of a relationship rather than fireworks.

Chloe's rating: 7
Chloe's favourite track: 2. Cocoon
Olly's rating: 8
Olly's favourite track: 5. Pagan Poetry

Next week's choice is a belter - 644. Green by R.E.M. Good times.

96. Something Else by The Kinks - The Kinks

Let's start at the end - this album closes with Waterloo Sunset, which has to be in the top 100 songs ever written. Far better writers have written far better things about that song than I ever could, so I won't bother trying. Suffice to say, it is the album's highlight.

The opening track is one that I had only ever heard by The Jam, at the time not realising that it was a cover. It is a great song, about pining for success and acceptance as a schoolboy, but I have to say that I prefer the venom of The Jam's version. Harry Rag is a a very catchy shanty, that I enjoyed on the first listen, and Situation Vacant and Afternoon Tea offer different subject matter to a classic pop song, which certainly adds some depth. Death of a Clown is a slightly swirling and well put together number, that was written by Dave Davies, Ray's oft-overshadowed brother. 

All in all though, I wanted to like this album more than I actually did. It contains some excellent music, but I find my mind drifting when I listen to it, which means that I am more than ready to move on to the next week's album. The slightly reedy, folksy nature of many of the songs mean that there doesn't appear to be much variety in it, and Funny Face and Lazy Old Sun really don't add anything to proceedings in my opinion. As an album, it just hasn't aged particularly well, however good individual songs. Well, song. 

Chloe's Album rating: 7

Chloe's favourite track: 7. Situation Vacant

Olly's Album rating: 6

Olly's favourite track: 13. Waterloo Sunset

Next week is 932. Vespertine by Björk. Doubt that will be folksy...

754. Very - Pet Shop Boys

I knew a handful of Pet Shop Boys songs before listening to this album, and I'd always enjoyed them at a fairly superficial level. I would never have thought of them as being an especially political band, and I wouldn't have attributed a huge amount of depth to their lyrics. As occasionally transpires, I was wrong.

Released in 1993, this album came out around the same time as Neil Tennant did. This public discussion of his homosexuality plays a key role in much of the lyrical content of the album. Discussions of changing teams and dying lovers are none too subtle, but seem to make a valid point - why should they have to be? Being only 8 when this album was released, its hard to recall/imagine what Britain was like for openly gay men at the time. This album suggests that, whilst things were getting better, society was a long way from true acceptance.

Unsubtle could well be the subtitle of this album. The music is utterly relentless, from cutting electronica to swirling orchestrations, with the songs seeming to never stop to take a breath. There is a variety to the songs that make the album enjoyable from the outset, but also offer much more following repeated listens. Songs such as Dreaming of the Queen deal with the challenging subject matter of HIV deaths rife in the gay community in the late 80s and early 90s. Young Offender offers the immortal line "How graceful your movements, how bitter your scorn; I've been a teenager since before you were born" which summarises clinging to youth about as well as is possible. The Theatre is the stand out for me, with its big, bold strings, and venomous lyrical delivery. 

I did not expect to love this album half as much as I did. It is exciting and intense, yet with a real depth to it. If you've never heard it before, I recommend that you give it a listen.

Alternatively, you could may hear it and agree with Chloe that it is a decent album, but nothing special, thus making me wrong once again. Hmm...

Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 4. A Different Point of View
Olly's rating: 9
Olly's favourite track: 7. The Theatre

Next week's album is number 96 on the list; Something Else by The Kinks, by The Kinks. Slightly less electronic, I would imagine.

646. Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz is an artist I feel I should know more about than I do. Whilst I, and many others, could happily sing along to three or so of his biggest hits, I have never actually heard any of his albums, despite having seen him live last year (two word gig summary: surprisingly compelling). Released in 1989, this was Lenny Kravitz's debut album, and was a big success in Europe following some modest sales in the USA. He scaled much higher heights five years later with "Are you gonna go my way?".

This album is what I expected musically, but with lyrical elements I did not foresee. I had assumed that Lenny's songs would be funky, and primarily written about the opposite sex. They are, for the most part, very funky; great bass lines on "Fear" and "Freedom Train" (the intro of which sounds fairly like American Woman) set a high bar. However, I was not expecting the religious elements that abound on this album, with Rosemary exemplifying this. There are also a large number of references to the racial tensions that Lenny is obviously familiar with, "Mr Cab Driver" being the obvious, but not sole, example.

Both Chloe and I did enjoy this album, but it didn't gain much as the week progressed. The song-writing is none-too-subtle, and whilst there are some very catchy songs, there are also a fair few that could be cut from the album without an overall loss, such as My Precious Love. There is variety, but in a formulaic manner - it's other a slow bluesy number, or a funky upbeat number. In trying to emulate Prince, Lenny shows that he is not really in the same league musically or lyrically.

Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 5. I build this Garden for us
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 6. Fear

Next week - 754. Very - Pet Shop Boys. I don't think that'll be too subtle either...

579. Skylarking - XTC

XTC were not a band that we had ever come across, and, in a very shallow manner, I was not looking forward to it given a combination of the album cover, and the slightly bizarre name. I am always delighted to be proven wrong, and I was certainly wrong with this. 

Chloe and I both agreed that this was a very good album, that really grew over repeated listens. The album is quintessentially English, primarily in its lyrical content, which looks at everything from the countryside to the weather via a slightly cynical view about wedding days. The music is hugely varied, and the sound ranges from a Bond theme (The man who sailed around his soul) to a Ben Folds Five number (Season Cycle). It's a real range of new-wave and psychedelic pop music, and offers so much to the listener.

Dear God is that standout for me, and did fairly well as a single in the US reaching number 37, although only number 99 in the UK. The track was originally only a B side to 'Grass', but got picked up and put on the album after some radio airplay success. Todd Rundgren was involved in the recording of the album, and had a huge influence on the band, though his techniques were sometimes rather abrasive, including insulting the lead singer's voice.

The Swindon-based band were around for 23 years, and they actually have another album in the list, suggesting that they were better/more important (delete as appropriate) than I would otherwise have said. On the basis of this album, I'm very much looking forward to the next one.

Chloe's rating: 8
Chloe's favourite track: 8 Earn enough for us
Olly's rating: 8
Olly's favourite track: 15. Dear God

Next week - Let Love Rule by Lenny Kravitz from 1989. Funky.

814. Fun Lovin' Criminals - Come Find Yourself

The very first album where I knew some tracks on it, I was really please to get to delve beyond just the singles of this band. A fun album, that has some real highlights on it, and is head-boppingly catchy. However, there is a fair amount of filler, which dilutes it somewhat. The running time is 54 minutes and change, and frankly, you could comfortably take 15 minutes off that and have a better album as a result. An example of this is the surprisingly straight-up cover of We Have All the Time in The World, which serves no purpose at all, other than to irritate the listener. It's not original in any sense of the word, but nor is the strength of the vocals going to rival the original.

Passive/Aggressive is a satisfyingly angry track, which makes use of some nicely distorted guitars to give a very 90s feel. The opener is an absolute riot, and as soon as it started, it took me back to my late 90s days of taping songs off XFM. Scooby Snacks is a standout, and probably the best starting point for anyone who hasn't heard any of the bands' material before.

Huey Morgan now has a very successful BBC 6 Music Radio Show, and his range of musical tastes comes across in a formative sense on this album. Although the lyrical content runs along similar themes between the songs, there is a real variety in the backing tracks, riffs and samples used across the whole album, from the hillbilly touches of the opener, to the hazy, acoustic tones of Smoke em. 

Overall, a decent album, but the high points are slightly isolated amongst some fairly average tracks.

Chloe's rating: 6

Chloe's favourite track: 5. Smoke 'em

Olly's rating: 6

Olly's favourite track: 1. The Fun Lovin' Criminal

Next week's album is XTC - Skylarking. Sounds interesting...

332. The Dictators - Go Girl Crazy

This week we had the chance to listen to some very early punk (labelled proto-punk no less), which I thought would be pretty interesting. It is US style punk, and it doesn't sound much like punk to begin with; guitar solos, harmonies, themes about surfing - it's a far cry from Anarchy in the UK. However, that is no bad thing when the songs are as fun and well-crafted as these ones. 

The album is a real celebration of the craft of a punchy pop song, and is instantly accessible and puts a real smile on your face. It is hard not to sing along with the harmonies, and there are some real earworms in there too. Stand out tracks for us were California Sun, The Next Big Thing, Weekend, and Cars and Girls.

The only time we were unsure about this album was during the slightly questionable lyrics of Back to Africa. Whilst we agreed on reflection that it was more mocking of racism than anything else, a couple of the phrases are a bit close to the bone.

The band themselves never achieved real acclaim, which is a shame given how influential they appear to be. For example, Ross Funichello is clearly an excellent guitarist, and went on to appear alongside metal bands such as Dio and Manowar, showing a high level of technical expertise that is evident on this album too. Other members had less follow up success, with them primarily reforming the band under different names. 

Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite song: 6 - California Sun
Olly's rating: 7
Olly's favourite song: 9 (I live for) Cars and Girls

73. Sunshine Superman - Donovan

The random selection of another early album we'd never heard of did not lead our hearts to beat faster with excitement. It'd be nice to hear something slightly more familiar at this very early stage of our journey through music history. Indeed, we changed our original chronological plan for this project for the very reason that we wouldn't be listening to anything post 1990 until around 2030. Still, that is what was chosen, so we went with it.

First impressions were not bad. Sunshine Superman opens with the track of the same name, and it is very catchy, with a nice depth of sound. There's plenty of psychedelia on the album too, and liberal use of the sitar, representing an interesting look at Swinging Sixties London. There are other good tracks, notably the more traditionally rock-based Season of the Witch and the creepy yet noticeable Superlungs (not on the original UK release). However, other songs seem decent one listen, and frankly irritating the next time they come around. The more Donovan tries to produce a classic folk type song, the less convincing his sound is. 

This was Donovan's third studio album, and it built on his previous success. By this stage, he was a well-known figure, close to the Beatles and selling large numbers of records both sides of the Atlantic. This album contains some of the first examples of psychedelia committed and released on record, and so it deserves praise for that.

I think the overwhelming feeling I get when listening to the album is that Donovan is simultaneously taking it very seriously, yet producing whimsy. And lyrically it has not aged well, with lots of frankly disturbing images about school girls littering the words. I reckon that this album was probably very important at the time of its release, and played a formative role for some (many?) growing up in the 60s, but to my ears, it just isn't that cohesive, and I can't imagine that I will regularly be revisiting it.

Chloe's album rating: 4
Chloe's favourite track: 6 - Season of the Witch 
Olly's album rating: 3
Olly's favourite track: 1 - Sunshine Superman

Our next album is 332. The Dictators - Go Girl Crazy from 1975. Viva la Punk.

35. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963)

So once again Chloe and I have an album that we know little to nothing about. Furthermore, my knowledge of Jazz would certainly fall into the 'limited' section, as the only album of the genre I own is Blue Train by John Coltrane. But I am a big prog fan, so I had pretty high expectations that this would be a type of music that would appeal.

After the first couple of listens, I honestly thought that this would be an album I would really, really like. There's an intensity to the playing from all instruments that draws you in, and there is a real assortment of rhythms and melodies, as you would expect, that you find yourself humming snippets of a few hours later. Mingus is clearly obscenely talented, and the orchestration of the pieces is very impressive, to a lay person.

Over the week though, I didn't really feel that the album grew on me particularly. Perhaps saturating oneself in one album from a genre you don't know is not the best way to truly enjoy it. There are parts of the album that really stand out, like the hectic, frantic ending to the final track, and the opening of the first track, but the album as a whole seemed a bit less than the sum of its parts. I do like the album, and I can imagine myself returning to it from time to time, but I can't see it becoming a real staple of my collection. And it hasn't made me particularly want to hear more Jazz, which is a bit of a shame in a way.

Chloe's album rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 2 - Track B - Duet Solo Dancers
Olly's album rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 3 - Track C - Group Dancers

Next week it's another pretty early one that we know nothing about - Donovan - Sunshine Superman from 1966.

182. Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

Once again we have an album that Chloe and I do not know at all. The little I knew about Nick Drake was that he did acoustic-y type numbers that were pretty pared back, and he was quite important. It turns out that only the latter of those is really correct, as the orchestration and arrangements on this album take it far beyond the "one man and his guitar" territory I'd expected.

This album is frankly excellent. There are a number of outstanding songs that make up this album, and the range of instruments used is very impressive, and makes for a very full sounding record. "One of these things first" stood out straight away as an excellent track, with interesting lyrics and a great piano and guitar interplay. I am not usually a fan of instrumentals, but the beautifully delicate "Introduction" sets up the album perfectly too. Chloe thinks the album sounds pretty up-to-date, whereas I think it's more that this style of music still sounds old-fashioned, but either way it certainly has been a very influential recording.

Nick Drake's history is a pretty tragic one, as he ended up dying from an overdose of antidepressants following his lack of commercial success at the age of just 26. All three of his albums feature in the 1001, and so my earlier statement that he was pretty important does seem accurate. I'm really looking forward to listening to the next two, as I don't think there's a weak song on this one.

Over the course of the week, one track really started to set itself apart for both of us, and so Chloe and I have both plumped for Northern Sky as our favourite. It is a reserved yet uplifting song, with a wonderfully lush set of instruments laying out a backdrop for Nick Drake's voice.

Chloe's rating: 9
Chloe's favourite song: 9- Northern Sky
Olly's rating: 8
Olly's favourite song: 9 - Northern Sky

Next up is a very early one - 38. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus. Good thing I love instrumentals...

235. Trafalgar - The Bee Gees

So Chloe and I were slightly sceptical when we got the Bee Gees, as we weren't sure how much falsetto we could manage in a week. As it transpires, the pre-Disco era Bee Gees were a very different band, and it's fair to say their songwriting has always been their strength, so this album was a pleasant surprise. Not a jaw-dropping, demanding to be listened to, all-time classic gold album, but a decent slice of pop music that is entirely influenced by the Beatles. I mean entirely. But that is not a bad thing when it's done fairly well.

One thing that was a slight annoyance was the use of strange vocals throughout the album. Whilst hearing a tremulous voice from time to time can accentuate the emotion, when it is overdone it just gets annoying, and two songs are guilty of this in particular - Dearest and Remembering. When the group get it most right is on It's Just the Way and Trafalgar, both of which could be later Beatles tracks.

The production on the album caused a bit of disagreement between myself and Chloe, as she found it completely overblown, whilst I quite enjoyed the lush arrangements of backing strings etc. This shouldn't come as a surprise, as Chloe also prefers Let It Be Naked, as opposed to the original.
Which is the incorrect preference, but whatever.

So we enjoyed the album, and I may come back to it from time to time, but it wasn't a stand-out success.

Chloe's rating: 5
Chloe's favourite song: It's Just the Way
Olly's rating: 5
Olly's favourite song: Somebody Stop the Music

The next album we've had selected for us is 182. Bryter Later - Nick Drake

612. 16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens Review

First off, Chloe and I really liked the album, which was good given that this project may have struggled to take off had it been crap. I'm not saying that I don't commit to a project, but I'm not yet a world-class DJ following a rash promise I made years ago, so you can draw your own conclusions.

The album is very listenable, and inoffensive in an inoffensive way. There is a hint of early U2 about them, crossed with Teenage Fanclub, which I will never complain about. There is a nice hint of Aussie twang to the vocals from the Brisbane-based band, which gives a slightly different perspective. This was the band's final album before they split up, and whilst I am not tempted to delve through their entire back catalogue straight away, intelligent song-writing doesn't grow on tress, so I'm sure I will have a dabble later on.

It has been described as the indie 'Rumours', due to the relationships within the band. Robert Forster and Lindy Morrison were starting to split up, and Grant McLennan and Amanda Brown had a burgeoning relationship. This leads to a range of songs from the beautiful Quiet Heart to the slightly desperate Streets of Your Town. Grant McLennan passed away at the age of 48, which is a real shame as his song-writing is excellent. Lindy Morrison became an Aboriginal Rights Activist, showing the depths of this intelligent band.

Chloe's Rating: 7
Chloe's favourite song: Quiet Heart
Olly's Rating: 8
Olly's favourite song: Was there anything I could do?

Next up is the 235. Bee Gees - Trafalgar.

Something to do for the next twenty years...

My fiancée and I have decided to embark on a project where we listen to one album a week from the "1001 Albums you must hear before you die" list (we're using the 2013 updated version of the book if anyone actually cares that much). We are randomly selecting an album, and I will put our views (probably mostly mine as I will be the editor and writer, and ) down on this site.
The first album that was chosen by random.org was 612 - 16 Lovers Lane by the Go-Betweens. It's an album that we've never heard of, which seems like a very appropriate start.
I'll let you know what we thought of it next week.