#460 – Hole, ‘Live Through This’

Live Through This (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: April 12, 1994
Label: DGC (U.S.), City Slang (Europe)
Genre: Alternative-rock, punk-rock, grunge
Producer: Paul Q. Kolderie, Sean Slade

I like this album, I like it  a lot and for a number of reasons. It sounds like my teenage years – not that I listened to Hole or alt-rock or grunge a lot, but this is the quintessential sound of the 90’s and it’s nostalgic and familiar and great. This is great because it’s strong women and interesting themes abound, themes around feminism and gender roles and stuff that matters to women and matters to society and stuff that actually matters. And it has a killer front-woman in  Courtney Love, and the band was/is outspoken about human-rights and LGBTI rights. The whole thing rocks and it all makes you appreciate the bands that are outspoken and in your face and “fuck-you”, but smart.

I like this album because it’s a bit of a rarity, on even a list like this… actually, noticeable especially on a list like this. I don’t know/have the numbers, but reading and listening through the 500 it’s strange (confusing… disconcerting maybe?) to notice that the vast proportion of entries are from men or groups of men. I won’t try and get into gender discussions, I just don’t know enough to about it all, but I will say the unbalance here is noticeable. So, what I really like is hearing a record like this smashing through this list: sounding every bit as accomplished as Love’s husband’s band, political, mature, accomplished, no gimmick, and standing tall despite (because of?) the gender of some of it’s members.

This record is all killer. If I knew enough to be truly critical, I reckon I’d almost be calling it perfect. And absolutely brilliant cover art too. Love it.

#462 – R.E.M., ‘Document’

Document (R.E.M. album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: September 1, 1987
Label: I.R.S
Genre: Alternative rock
Producer: Scott Litt and R.E.M.

I like R.E.M. and I like this album. No one hates “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”. At some point this week though I was wishing for something modern… a strange desire for someone working through a project like this (or maybe it makes total sense), but there  it is. It’s a total mindset thing but one I want to sort out quickly, else I risk resenting this whole process. I do know I’ve enjoyed weaving in talking about listening to various other bits of music over the last year, so maybe I need a bit more of that. Or maybe this turns into a more general music blog or a pop culture blog, or a life blog, and it’s punctuated by the 500. Maybe it’ll be all those things over the years. We’ll see.

Anyway Document is pretty basic rock and it’s good. Michael Stipe’s voice is so terrific and was iconic after this record, and the production and song structures are pure early 90’s (ok late 80’s) mainstream rock.

Top track: There’s a fair share of charting songs on here, but “End of the World…” that stands out as the absolute killer.

This week: Wheeeell-hell-helll look here. Like a bolt from the blue, Andrew and I have started seriously looking at property – we met with apartment salesmen, we met with brokers, we’ve been trawling realestate.com.au, we’re heading towards buying a place in Melbourne. Or are we? Are we staying in Melbourne? When will we move back to Perth?

Questions are being asked, which can only mean one thing.

It’s almost New Year’s Eve.

#466 – Coldplay, ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’

A Rush of Blood to the Head (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: August 26, 2002
Label: Capitol, Parlophone
Genre: Alternative rock, post-Britpop
Producer: Coldplay, Ken Nelson

Easily the album I’ve been most familiar with before it rolled around on the 500 list, Rush of Blood is a real classic, and is Coldplay close to their best. Coldplay have moved from soft – rock to stadium swelling anthems, and this second album sits somewhere in the middle – denser and more hearty than Parachutes, and there’s hints of the epic choral rock pieces come to signify their subsequent albums.

Artistically, musically and lyrically, Coldplay soar above most other bands. Easily the best commercially successful band of the 2000s, this is just a gorgeous album. Almost no weak parts (it is a bit melancholy) and so much more than just the sum of its parts. And it’s all a prelude to what I think is Coldplay’s best in X & Y (sadly, an album that didn’t make the 500). Travis must be kicking themselves that Coldplay came along…

And don’t I love a great album name – this is one of the best.

Top track: “Clocks’” classic riff will be remembered for many years to come. “Politik” is gold, as is “God Put a Smile on Your Face”, but the final track “Amsterdam” is an absolute cracker of a song-in-two-parts, which I’m always a big fan of.

This week: A fairly standard working week, but we did spend our Saturday using the (almost) last of the vouchers that our amazing guests gifted us for our ceremony, almost a year ago! Saturday spent at a day-spa, then lunch down at Red Hill.. We have some wonderfully generous and special workmates.

#473 – The Smith, ‘The Smiths’

 

The Smiths (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: February 20, 1984
Label: Rough Trade (UK), Sire (US)
Genre: Alternative rock, indie pop
Producer: John Porter, The Smiths

Now THIS is an album that I’d really been looking forward to – this project was spawned from me wanting to listen to The Smiths, and New Order and Joy Division – so I had high hopes this week. Now, it’s not as though those hopes have been dashed.. but.. well I guess just like Life After Death, The Smiths’ debut album will require a whole lot more listening to pick apart and deconstruct and appreciate and understand. This is layered stuff and I know I’m not quite giving it justice right now. On my first few listens this seemed like such an oddity: the songs were very same-y, almost folky, and Morrissey’s moaning vocals sort of lurched from one track to another, plus the songs seemed to be so strangely constructed, so there was no easy way to get familiar with choruses and verses and melodies of each song.

If I hadn’t found it all so funny and silly I probably would have been disappointed. The adolescent complaining of some songs is almost absurd and you can’t help but elicit a laugh, and you feel like grabbing Morrissey by the shoulders and shaking him and urging him to wake up and smile! But I can’t call this funny and silly. The music is really something and there’s such a denseness and (obviously a) moodiness to it all, and as a whole album it impresses me, and there’s no denying The Smiths’ legacy. Even if you do listen with a wry smile.

This will grow on you though, which is probably the mark of a great album.

Top track: “This Charming Man” and “What Difference Does It Make”.

This week: Biding time until America. I haven’t yet worked out what albums on the 500 I’ll be listening to when we’re there, but I hope they’re good (and American!)..

#488 – Hüsker Dü, ‘New Day Rising’

Released: January 1985
Label: SST
Genre: Post-hardcore, alternative rock, hardcore punk
Producer: Hüsker Dü, Spot

I hadn’t been looking forward to this album thinking that it’d be too hardcore for me, but I’m having a shit time at work lately and listening to something with some more anger in it on my walk in to work has been cathartic. In any case, this wasn’t that hardcore. Maybe it was hardcore at the time but this reminded me a lot of the pop-punk that I listened to in high school, like Australia’s Grinspoon or (a lot on some tracks) like Sweden’s Millencolin. Some tracks are roaring, and some are just good rock songs. Nothing that really touched me, but it’s mighty good punk.

Funnily enough, this list got some legs in my life this week. I was able to chat at length one afternoon this week with colleagues about The Stone Roses who are touring Australia right now (I tried to get tickets), KISS are touring too so I can see what the fuss is now (I’ve revisited that album a lot this week), and I picked out BB King being played in the background in a bar on Saturday night. Class.

Top track: All good. Like I say, I appreciated the anger in here this week. “Celebrated Summer” is great drama.

This week: Just gotta hold on. Work’s hard at the moment, and I need to try and remember everything that I learnt from last year’s meltdown… don’t take work home, it’s just work, exercise, fill your free-time with other stuff, and plan for the future. Change is close. Oh, and calm the fuck down. And we’re starting to think seriously about going to the US for my 30th… this might be the last chance for a while…

#493 – Wilco, ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Released: April 23, 2002
Label: Nonesuch
Genre: Alternative rock, indie rock, psychadelic rock
Producer: Wilco

If nothing else (though a lot else) this list has already introduced me to bands which I clearly should have been accross, but had never heard of. Which is pretty sad because (a) I really like Wilco, and (b) they’re apparently huge and it’s really lame that I didn’t know who they are.

This is just really solid modern rock; I’m not so sure about the songwriting and I didn’t really connect emotionally with the lyrics, but Wilco have good songs and a well-produced, rounded sound. As a side-note, Wilco released this electronically in 2001, on their website, for free, which I think is pretty cool.

Top track: ”Heavy Metal Drummer” maybe or “Kamera” if I was feeling upbeat. “Radio Cure” is terrific moodiness. “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” is probably my favourite.

This week: Back. To. Work. But it’s not all bad, or really bad at all. New year and all that.

#497 – The White Stripes, ‘White Blood Cells’

Released: July 3, 2001
Label: Sympathy, V2, Third Man, XL
Genre: Garage rock, alternative rock, punk blues
Producer: Jack White

White Blood Cells (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well this was bound to happen, though I’m surprised it happened now. I anticipated enjoying this album since I’ve heard a bit of The White Stripes over the years, and everyone knows how good “Seven Nation Army” is, but I really struggled with this album. Maybe it was coming off the high of The Stone Roses (and this album is a very different sound to that), but I didn’t really like big parts of this.

There’s good tracks in here, and it’s not like I think it’s bad music (or at least, it’s not badly made music), but this isn’t an album that I’ll be coming back to. I find some of it is tough to listen to, it’s a jarring style of rock and it’s hard work for me. Maybe it’s Jack White’s vocals that I have a probelm with – I just don’t enjoy listening to them. Ah well.

Top track: “Fell in Love With a Girl” is obviously great and universally loved, but “We Are Going to be Friends” is my favourite. It’s adorable; it’s innocent lyrics are so emotive and capture the spirit of childhood perfectly, and Jack White’s voice in this is lovely. Among an album that I found tough to listen to it was a place of respite, but more than that it’s a beatiful little ditty, and one that reminds you how magical and simple music can be sometimes. Plus it’s from Napoleon Dynamite.

This week: It’s almost Christmas!! That means it’s almost another year down, and what a year. Maybe next week I’ll have a bit of a retrospecitve on the year that was. Andy and I are celebrating Christmas 2012 in Melbourne with our adopted family Dwayne and Terri, and then heading to the Boxing Day test, and then over to Perth. Finally some annual leave – it’s actually been a while!

Anyway, moving on…