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.