409. Live and Dangerous - Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy are a band I primarily know of because of their famous "Boys are back in Town", which can be found on every compilation aimed at the "50-year-old-men-who-love-Top-Gear" demographic. The band are regarded as being one of the key founders of heavy rock, and stuck to a successful formula throughout their career. However, they were also politically aware, with the group always containing at least one Catholic and one Protestant member at any time, as well as members from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Whilst this album is only live in the loosest sense of the word (allegedly only the original drums are used from concerts), it does convey a real sense of energy and chaotic fun that the band were famed for at the time. Lead singer Phil Lynott is obviously a compelling showman, and, a couple of lewd comments aside, captures the mood perfectly. This album is something of a best of for the band, as it captures all of their best selling songs to that point, including The Rocker, Cowboy Song and Dancin' in the Moonlight.

Jailbreak kicks things off with a classic riff-filled number, with a great, teasing bridge that ascends into a cracking guitar solo. It is the sort of song that you don't even need to like to know that you would enjoy at a concert - it just carries everything along. Emerald sounds like a variation on a classic Irish folk number, complete with dual guitar arpeggios. Southbound is a slower number, that rolls along inoffensively enough, with nice backing vocals on the chorus. Rosalie is a cover of a Bob Seger song, and is not the strongest from that individual's impressive back catalogue, in my opinion. Dancin' in the Moonlight, on the other hand, is an absolute cracker, that has stayed in my head for most of the week for all the right reasons. A catchy riff, a singalong chorus, and some squelchy sax make this the standout for me. Massacre is like a slightly less intense Lightning-era Metallica, in a good way. Still in Love with You drags a bit for my liking, with the chorus just a little bit too artificially bittersweet. Jonny the Fox meets Jimmy the Weed is just a bit bizarre, and is a bit of a live filler to give fans the chance to get another drink in, I suspect. Cowboy Song is also a bit mediocre, although it segues into a cracking live version of the Boys are back in Town, which is impossible not to listen to sans smile. It is the only song on the album I knew before, and I still enjoy it now, having heard it countless times, although I've always been of the opinion that Jonny probably deserved the slap he received. Don't believe a Word is a juggernaut of a song, which has a chugging riff that must have been covered by a hundred garage rock bands. Warriors is a song that would have been a decent instrumental, but is tarnished by a meandering vocal delivery. Suicide tells a compelling story, although I'm not sure the upbeat tone of the guitar is quite right for the content of the song. The Rocker ends things off as they began, with a guitar driven fatty slice of heaviness, although without the subtlety of the opener.

This album was very enjoyable, although a bit shallow. It would be great to belt out whilst driving along on a long monotonous journey, and I'm glad I now know more of this influential band's repertoire. It would be a step too far, however, to say that this has re-energised my slightly fading love of cheesy heavy rock.

Chloe's rating: 6

Chloe's favourite track: 4. Rosalie (Cowgirl's song)

Olly's rating: 7

Olly's favourite track: 5. Dancin' in the Moonlight

As we enter our second year of the project, we have the delights of 860. Apocalypse Dudes by Turbonegro, which is probably not going to be nu-soul.

449. The Pleasure Principle - Gary Numan

When I was about fifteen I was quite into electronic rock music, and decided to research the artists who influenced bands like Nine Inch Nails and Tool. I picked up a best of Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army CD for about two quid, and listened to it at most once. The cut glass synths and weird electronic voice sounded a million miles away from what I liked, and so that particular exercise in musical history and discovery died a death. Revisiting an album proper by Numan felt like a chance for me to right this wrong, and give him a fair hearing.

The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's first album under his own, the first two having been under the name the Tubeway Army. The album was heavily influenced by other electronic artists at the time, notably Kraftwerk, Eno and Bowie, and was unashamed about his plagiarism. The album spawned two successful singles in Complex and Cars, the latter of which went on to be a US number one. Indeed, it was this track that enabled Numan to follow up holding the UK number one album and single slot for the second time in ten months, following his previous success with Replicas and Are 'Friends' Electric? This dual success put the record label Beggars' Banquet firmly on the map, and it is still going to this day as a collection of independent British labels. The album's cover art is based on a Magritte painting called Pleasure Principle - clever Numan.

Airlane is a well layered and textured instrumental opener that would have worked particularly well as the theme tune for Knightmare. Metal is an exceptional song, and one I knew from the Nine Inch Nails cover. It has a great squelchy bassline, and some really insistent percussion; all military precision and coldness. At the same time it is telling a story somewhere between Pinocchio and Blade Runner, yet using a Moog to provide the required emotions rather than the vocals. Complex meanders without meaning, whereas Films at least has some decent string backing. M.E. sounded instantly familiar as the guitars were sampled for Basement Jaxx's Where's your Head at? As good a sound as it is, Jaxx do much more with it to my ears than Numan does, especially as his song fades into high pitched electronic swirling. Tracks is a song with a bit more of a varied profile to it, rising to something of a crescendo that gives it a more human feel than many others on the album. Cars is the best known song off the album, and is a belter, although having heard it about twelve times this week its novelty does wear off somewhat. Engineers is a decently rousing ending, but to be frank, by this time it's all starting to merge a bit.

There are songs off this album that I really enjoyed, but there were too many that just did nothing for me. The cold, teutonic sound still sounds futuristic, and obviously a lot of thought has gone into the production of the record. Listening to it several times in a week though, tracks just seemed to merge in a slightly muddled mixture of high pitched synths, efficient drumming, mournful vocalsa and the occasional violin. Numan had obviously got an efficient formula that served him well, but a large number of permutations on a theme left me thinking that the fifteen year old me didn't have too much to apologise for having abandoned his greatest hits.

Chloe's rating: 5

Chloe's favourite track: 4. Films

Olly's rating: 5

Olly's favourite track: 2. Metal

Next week we have 409. Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy. I'm not normally a fan of live albums, and this run of late 70s albums could start to drag. Bodes well.

419. The Cars - The Cars

The Cars are a new-wave, power-pop band from Boston who formed in 1976. They have been a very influential band which is partially down to their radio airplay friendly sound, which led to them reaching a pretty sizeable audience. They are best known for their 1984 single Drive, which you will know. I have never come across them outside of that context, and it is always good to hear a band's debut album, especially given it's success at the time, so I was looking forward to this week.

Good Times Roll kicks things off with a big, lolloping slice of Americana. However, the tone struck is frankly more desperation for the good times to start than for them to continue. My Best Friend's Girl was released as a single, peaking at number 35 in the US and number 3 in the UK, and is basically the musical forerunner for Stacy's Mom. Apparently Nirvana performed a cover of it at their last ever gig, and it is a classic pop song, although I don't think The Cars do it justice. Just What I Needed has a stonking riff and ridiculous solo, and it is this style of slightly heavier sound that works much better for the band, with Elliott Easton a hypnotic lead guitarist. I'm in Touch with your World is simply a list of bizarre sound effects trying to hold a song together. And failing. There are some rough diamonds here though, such as the chorus to You're all I've got tonight, which could be awesome with its synth/guitar/saxophone combo if it were sandwiched between better verses, and if it didn't go on for quite as long. Moving in Stereo is lyrically poor, sounds dated as hell, but is hugely enjoyable nonetheless. A broody undertone of swirling noise overlaid with simple, sharp synths, and some innovative drumming, coupled with ridiculous studio effects; it is a fantastically 80's song released in 1978. It's All Mixed Up would also sit in this category, and it is when the Cars are ploughing this particular furrow that they sound at their best. The chorus on this track is the best single part of this album, for me, and one of the few aspects I reckon I'll revisit.

This album is somewhere between Talking Heads and Tears for Fears. But not as good as either. Sometimes the lead singer, Ric Ocasek, sounds like a slightly budget Freddie Mercury - not an embarrassing comparison at all. The album is very much peaks and troughs, with some songs that are worthy of being much better known. The Cars can really write a cracking chorus when they put their mind to it, but they seem to struggle with what to do with the rest of the song. They are the epitome of a single's band, with their songs having a similar, repetitive DNA, and if I could cut this album down to an EP it would be great. But this is an album, I can't, and so it isn't.

Chloe's rating: 6

Chloe's favourite track: 3. Just What I Needed

Olly's rating: 6

Olly's favourite track: 9. All Mixed Up

Next week we have more late 70s synth work, but on a different scale - 449. The Pleasure Principle by Gary Numan. So, more Cars then.

821. Fuzzy Logic - Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals are a great band, and I was hugely excited when we got this album that I knew a bit. They've always struck me as a good summer band, as they're too in your face to enjoy on a cold winter's trudge to work.

The band hail from Cardiff, and are pop-rock with a liberal dash of psychedelia, and a powerful lead singer in Gruff Rhys, a name I struggle not to append with Jones. The group formed in 1993, originally with now actor Rhys Ifans as part of the line-up, and were initially a techno group. The depth and variety of sound effects in their music, alongside the strong sense of rhythm gives this away a bit. They were signed to Creation Records in 1995 following a performance at Camden's Monarch, the very venue I was at last night, and round the corner from my home. They are still going now, with the same line-up (Ifans aside) which is pretty impressive.

God! Show Me Magic is a rip-roarer of an opener, and introduces the band's debut as a an energetic bundle of fun. Unashamedly pop-focused but with a strong element of psychedelia, it is a strong start. Fuzzy Birds has a decent enough chorus, and is very catchy, but it goes through the motions a bit. That could not be the case on something 4 the Weekend, which is excellent. It is one of the few tracks with a decent set of verses, and a guitar sound the punctuates them perfectly. The chorus is proper festival fodder, with an epic singalong-lighters-aloft swagger about it. Homewtown Unicorn is another belter, with great harmonies on the vocals, and a very Graham Coxony guitar solo. It goes downhill a bit after this though. Whilst foot-stomping chroruses, phased guitars and squeeally electronics, are all good fun, they can mask the slight shallowness of some of the songs. Bad Behaviour is enjoyable enough, but can't quite pull off its repetition. Mario man is another song which is all swirling noises and psychedelic influences and some clever lyrics, but there isn't enough of a song about it. I'm all for experimentation in music, but something that would work live doesn't always transfer well to the studio. If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You has a delicate yet powerful chorus that works well, and Hangin' With Howard Marks (whose face adorns the album cover) has a cracking riff, but doesn't do enough with it. Long Gone is a track I sometimes really enjoy, and sometimes it just ends up washing over me.

I was pleased to see that Super Furry Animals had another album in the book, as I don't think that this is their greatest work, but I was gutted that it wasn't Radiator. As much as I've enjoyed this album, it just isn't as good as Radiator, and so that leaves a tinge of disappointment when listening to it. It's like being offered a meal at the Ivy, and then it being full booked, so you have to settle for the Italian place round the corner. The food will be very nice, but it just won't taste as good because you're not at the Ivy, you're at Gianluca's. So a good album, but it just hints at how good they really can be. If you want to know the answer to that, go and listen to Radiator.

Chloe's rating: 6

Chloe's favourite track: 3. Something 4 the Weekend

Olly's rating: 6

Olly's favourite track: 3. Something 4 the Weekend

Next week's album is 419. The Cars with their self-titled debut from 1978. No, it doesn't have Drive on it. Yes, I was gutted to find that out too.