So to our third Kinks album. As we had enjoyed the previous one, Arthur, so much, I had high hopes for this album. I know that it is regarded as their finest hour, and I'd heard it once or twice before, but I couldn't remember much about it.
The album was written over two years, with several tracks around during the Something Else recordings, and is not a concept album as such, but is a series of vignettes with Ray Davies writing of a better time for England, or at least a simpler time. This was primarily a personal response to the difficulty of becoming a star, with the pressures associated with the bright lights. Village Green is so steeped in nostalgia that it should only be listened to on a valve based amplifier. It has a sheen like an old-fashioned detergent or cereal commercial to it, and my streaming of the remastered, stereo version just appears insensitive. However, I'm not going to buy it on LP until I've decided that I like it, however revered it is.
The album opener, and title track, lists items that Davies remembers fondly from his youth such as strawberry jam and Donald Duck. Do you remember Walter is tangible with regret for what became of a childhood friend, and their dreams. Picture book is a vision of family memories from "a long, long time ago". Last of the Steam-powered trains is somewhere between honky-tonk and rock and roll, and with defiant lyrics referring to living in a museum, and being the last of the soot and scum brigade. Village Green is another peon to a more whimsical time, with American tourists photographing the simple village green. I would talk about more songs, but alas, I'm running out of synonyms for nostalgia. All of my friends were there is an interesting song with an intriguing look at public embarrassment - not a topic pop music often covers.
It is this albums relentless whimsy, and lack of bite, that left me feeling disappointed. After the intelligence and variety of Arthur, this album is just a bit monotonous. Whilst I'm sure that is sacrilegious for many who dote on this album, it just hasn't aged well to a modern listener, if I can put myself in that category. Chloe described it as twee, which I think is spot on. Whilst many songs are enjoyable, and it is an interesting theme to cover, it just isn't as good as I'd hoped that it would be.
Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 3. Picture book
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 5. Last of the Steam Powered Trains
Next week's album is 482. Juju by Siouxsie and the Banshees. Not sure what to expect, I doubt it will be nostalgic.
So, free-form acid Jazz is the genre to which this album belongs. This would conjure the idea of arhythmic, amelodic noise, which I'm afraid doesn't even get close to the cacophony of sound talbums this album. There are genuine points where the sound is of a series of instruments facing down stairs, with a horn section attached togender of bellows with no concept of anything.
I normally go through some key songs, and talk a bit about the artist, but I'm not going to here, as I don't feel that this work is fully deserving of it. I have no doubt that the individual musicians are supremely gifted and talented, and no doubt worked hard on their sound for years. What annoyed me about this album, rather than me just not liking it, was that it is the type of music that makes me feel stupid, because I feel that I should at some level get it. And after eight full listens through, I simply feel daft, and that I've wasted my time. I struggle to remember most songs at all, and some of them I think I remember a key change, and I just don't, and that is not really pleasant. If I wanted just to be surprised, a randomly generated set of notes and sounds would have the same impact, and not feel so supercilious.
The only thing that this album is good for is helping me to work, as I can't follow any of it, it works like white noise. My least-hated song is Feet Music, which just sounds like a cheesy 80's TV show theme, but at least I can follow that. Chloe liked Broadway Blues, which I think was a sort of Stockholm syndrome response, although it does at least have some rhythm to it.
So, a new low, with Sepultura being put in their place.
Chloe's rating: 2
Chloe's favourite track: 14. Broadway Blues
Olly's rating: 2
Olly's favourite track: 13. Feet Music
Next week is 135. The Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks. Our third Kinks album in fairly short succession, I am confident that it'll be a more pleasant experience than this last week has been.
What is it that Tosh wants legalised? The cover and lyrical content just don't clarify this question. Whatever it is, I'm reassured that it's good for asthma and tuberculosis. It also led to the album being banned in Jamaica, and its resulting infamy launching it up the charts.
Overt sarcasm aside, this album falls into the cliched category of reggae albums that talk a lot about weed, have a distinctive/samey rhythm section in most songs, and insist that you move whenever you hear them. As you may have guessed, I'm, not a big reggae fan. This is partially demonstrated by/due to the fact that I've never heard a reggae album in its entirety, I've just heard singles and compilations. My concern was that reggae didn't offer much variety, and to be honest, this record demonstrates that pretty clearly. However, and there was always going to be a however at that point, that isn't the whole story.
When focused and listening to the album, it doesn't really do much for me. It's in no way offensive, but it doesn't exactly push boundaries. What I did discover was that when I was listening to it, but not fully concentrating on it, I enjoyed it a lot more. Ketchy Shuby is one of the catchiest things I've ever heard, but I also don't mind having it stuck in my head, which is pretty high praise. Allegedly the title is about cricket, but I think it is a none-too-subtle reference to something that doesn't last five days and involve tea breaks. Burial makes fantastic use of both horns and the classic upstroke on the rhythm guitar, and is just a great song to have blaring out of big speakers with a BBQ going on in the background (I couldn't confirm this due to our rubbish summer). Brand new second hand is a good song, but does suffer from the classic issue regarding reggae being a fairly sexist medium. Describing a woman in the manner it does is hugely problematic. My favourite song was Till your Well runs Dry, which shows that there can be some real variety in this genre. It is both touching, and simultaneously upbeat, and simply a great song that is not embarrassed by comparison to Marley's best work.
Peter Tosh was one of the key members of the Wailers, and had a successful solo career, the highlight of it being this album. Tosh was unfortunately killed in 1987 during an attempted robbery at his house. The three robbers tortured him, and as more guests arrived to welcome Tosh back to Jamaica, they furthered their attempts to get money out of him. Eventually growing frustrated, the leader of the gang, Dennis "Leppo" Lobban, shot Tosh in the head.
Overall I enjoyed this album more than I thought I would, but that was a pretty low bar. It certainly has a couple of tracks I can imagine revisiting in certain scenarios, although I don't think I'll often come back to the album as a whole.
Chloe's rating: 7
Chloe's favourite track: 8. Till your Well runs Dry
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite rating: 8. Till your Well runs Dry
Next week's album is 606. Spy Vs Spy by John Zorn. The 1001 album's write up of this album made little to no sense, but it is Jazz, so maybe that figures.
Whilst I may not have known much about Common as a music artist, I am familiar with some of his acting roles, such as playing James Bevel in Selma and Sir Ivy in Smokin' Aces. Common's fame originally came from his role as the more socially aware rapper coming out of Chicago. He is also a poet, and has read his words to at the White House when invited to by the First Lady. The title of the album comes from a book and film, and Common chose it to represent the emotion he puts into his music, as the lead character puts the emotion into her food.
The opener, Time Travelin', has an exceptionally catchy refrain, which I found lodged in my head throughout the week. The Light should work better than it does, as it has all the ingredients required for a great track, but it doesn't quite click for me, although Chloe was quite a fan. Funky for You is a classic slice of hip-hop and funk, where Common just seems to be enjoying himself. The Questions is a clever, well-constructed song, although possibly not as clever as it seems to think it is, although it features Mos Def, which is always great in my book. There are definitely some stand out lines though, such as "Why do I need ID, to get ID? if I had ID, I wouldn't need ID." The 6th Sense is probably the most complete song on the album for me, with themes of social awareness, cuts from DJ Premier, and a soulful chorus featuring Bilal, as well as ending with Common sending himself up. A Film Called (PIMP) features a great back and forth joust with MC Lyte, although I'm not sure if the themes will always be seen in the (pro-feminist) way I have interpreted. Geto Heaven is catchy as hell, with a great beat, and the distinctive voice of Macy Gray. A Song for Assata is a powerful song that tells the story of Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Panthers and Tupac Shakur's step-Aunt.
As Chloe pointed out, it's a good album, but it doesn't grab your attention - it works better in the background. I guess that not enough of these songs stand out as being exceptional, and as I mainly know hip-hop through the universally known, multi-multi platinum singles, that will put a well-crafted, consistent, album at a disadvantage when none of its tracks can hit those heady heights.
Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 5. The Light
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 9. The 6th Sense
Next week's album is 359. Legalize it by Peter Tosh. Reggae. An album of reggae. Hmm...
Ok, so the circumstances under which this album was heard should be put in context. The UK has just voted to leave the EU, the pound and FTSE 100 have collapsed, the Prime Minister had resigned leaving a clear path for Boris Johnson to become our leader, and the Labour party is having an effective civil war over the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. And so, in the middle of this series of absolute nightmare scenarios, we have randomly picked one of the most miserable song-writers ever to have to listen to.
And how wonderfully cathartic this has been. The biting, sometimes vitriolic language adopted by Morrissey has cut through the heavily caveated commentaries that are everywhere at the moment; "Come Armageddon, Come Armageddon, Come" has rarely sounded so appealing.
The album opener, Alsatian Cousin, is all angry guitars and bitter words. Everyday is like Sunday, probably the best known song off this album, is a beautifully melancholic anthem. Railing against the sheer monotony and boredom of life, Morrissey manages to somehow sound uplifting. Bengali in Platforms is a much needed pro-immigration song, or at least, not anti-immigration - life really is "hard enough when you belong here". Late Night, Maudlin Street is a well-observed and utterly majestic snapshot of growing up and moving on, with the standard dose of disappointment one would expect of Morrissey. Suedehead is another well known song, and is hugely accessible from the first listen. I Don't Mind If You Forget Me could only ever have been written in the 80s - Van Halen-esque guitar work and a pounding drum beat over a fairly conventional heartbreak song. Yet, it really, really works.
We both enjoyed this album a lot, and I could happily have spent another week really coming to terms with it. Some songs don't hit the dizzy heights of the best moments on the album, such as Treat me like a Human being and Dial a Cliche, but then that is the same for many very good albums. Whilst Morrissey himself may be something of a marmite figure, and impossibly self-centred (a Penguin classic autobiography?), he is also fairly iconoclastic.
Chloe's rating: 8
Chloe's favourite track: 6. Late night, Maudlin Street
Olly's rating: 8
Olly's favourite track: 3. Everyday is like Sunday
Next week's album is 905. Like Water for Chocolate - Common; not a clue what to expect.
