Band: YEAH YEAH YEAHS Who: Alt-rock trio from New York,
fronted by the gorgeous Karen O.
Album: SHOW YOUR BONES – 2nd full-length. Released: 22 March 2006 – 20 years ago today.
Pitchfork said: “New York band follows its debut album
‘Fever to Tell’, this decade’s gold standard for transcending
indie hype, with a record that offers only one side of the
group’s multifaceted sound.”
TUTV: Seems like Pitchfork only listened to one side.
Trust me, this is a totally underrated LP.
British prog rock icons JETHRO TULL (1967–2012, 2017–present) led on one leg
by charismatic Scottish vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson, have released their
4th LP AQUALUNG on 19 March 1971, today 55 years ago
The LP has generally been regarded as a concept album with a central theme of “the distinction between religion and God“. The album’s “dour musings on faith and religion” have marked it as “one of the most cerebral albums ever to reach millions of rock listeners“. Academic discussions of the nature of concept albums have frequently listed Aqualung amongst their number.
The album’s original cover art by Burton Silverman features a watercolour portrait
of a long-haired, bearded man in shabby clothes. The idea for the cover came from a photograph Anderson‘s wife took of a homeless man.
Anderson later felt it would have been better to have used the photograph rather than commission the painting. Also, he recalled later that he posed for a photograph for the painting.
AllMusic said in retrospect: “In the space of one album, Tull went from relatively unassuming electrified folk-rock to larger-than-life conceptual rock full of sophisticated compositions and complex, intellectual, lyrical constructs. While the leap to full-blown prog rock wouldn’t be taken until a year later on ‘Thick as a Brick’, the degree to which Tull upped the ante here is remarkable.”
HÜSKER DÜ (guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart) turned up the decibels between 1979 and 1988 with no less than 6 LPs.
The 5th one, named CANY APPLE GREY, came out on 17 March 1986, today 40 years ago. It was their first major label release, though Warner Bros.
Candy Apple Grey was the first Hüsker Dü album to chart on the Billboard Top 200,
but despite positive reviews, exposure with the singles on radio as well as MTV, it
only went to No. 140.
AllMusic said in retrospect: “Demonstrating that punks can mature without losing
their edge, Mould inverts the rules of conventional confessional singer/songwriter songs
with these two haunting numbers, and in doing so, he illustrates the faults with the relatively staid post-hardcore punk that dominates the remainder of the record.”
British dark-electro-pop-wave titans DEPECHE MODE, active since 1980,
released their 5th album, BLACK CELEBRATION, 40 years ago,
on 17 March 1986.
It topped the UK charts, but only went to #90 in the US.
Martyn Atkins designed the album cover, as he’d done for all of the band’s LP
covers since A Broken Frame from 1982. Originally, he had envisioned a physical
miniature building, draped in black banners and inspired by totalitarian imagery,
to be photographed.
However, the band was not happy with the original design and so the cover
was re-designed to include only a cropped, close-up of the original photograph
and they instead emphasized the logos around the image, which the band paid
to have embossed on initial pressings of the album.
The LP’s title was not a reference to Black mass or rituals of the Occult, it was meant to describe the daily boredom of a dreary life without climaxes or hope for improvement.
Martin Gore: “Our songs from Black Celebration capture the idea: Make
the most of what you have, and find consolation wherever you can.”
David Gahan: “It’s a common thing: at the end of a working day you go
out and drown your sorrows no matter how shitty you feel or how bleak your
future looks.”
NME: “Within their own parameters, Depeche Mode create a resonant, if undemonstrative techno-pop tapestry” with “a rich textured sheen that is not without a certain depth. When the songs address topics other than the composer’s state of mind, Depeche Mode sound like a lot more than just a high tech, low-life melodrama.”
British rock heroes THE WHO released their
9th LP FACE DANCES on 16 March 1981, today 45 years ago.
Despite mixed reviews, the record peaked at #4 on the
US Billboard Charts and #2 on the UK Albums Chart.
The album was originally to be titled simply The Who, but the name Face Dances
replaced it just before release. The phrase was inspired by a friend of Pete Townshend‘s who was rhythmically moving a match between her teeth, an action that Townshend jokingly termed “face dances.”
The album cover features 16 paintings of the band members by 16 British painters,
who were commissioned by Peter Blake, designer of the cover of the Beatles‘ album
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.
French electro disco tandem DAFT PUNK released
their 2nd full-length DISCOVERY on 12 March 2001,
today 25 years ago.
The album marked a shift from the Chicago house style of their
debutHomework from 1997 to a house style more heavily inspired
by disco, post-disco, garage house, and R&B.
Thomas Bangalter (hamf of DP) described the LP as an exploration
of song structures, musical forms and childhood nostalgia, compared
to the “raw” electronic music of Homework.
Q Magazine (former reknowed British music monthly): “Discovery is vigorous
and innovative in its exploration of old questions and spent ideals. Aa towering,
persuasive tour de force that transcends the dance label with no shortage of
ideas, humour, or brilliance.’
It seems like ages ago since R.E.M. (1980-2011) was one of the greatest bands on
this planet. After 31 years and 15 LPs they went into history as a once in a lifetime
rock and pop sensation.
One of their best and most successful longplayers is, undoubtedly, their 7th one,
named OUT OF TIME. It was released today 35 years ago, on 12 March 1991.
It featured their giant hit Losing My Religion (almost 2 billion – !! – streams on Spotify).
It was the group’s first No. 1 full-length in the UK. It also topped the charts in the US
and several European countries and sold over 18 million copies worldwide.
Rolling Stone praised the record for achieving a balance between new mainstream
appeal and the band’s original identity, writing, “R.E.M. have managed to simultaneously branch out and consolidate their strengths.”
WEATHER REPORT was a jazz-fusion collective formed in New York City in 1970.
The band started as a free improvising group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings, but along their path, with changing line-ups, they increasingly
steered towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native
music from around the world.
Archives WR
After 14 LPs, the curtain fell in 1986.
Their 6th album, named BLACK MARKET, came out
on 11 March 1976, today 50 years ago. It got raving
press reviews.
AllMusic in retrospect: “While it goes without saying that most Weather Report
albums are transition albums, this diverse record is even more transient than most,
paving the way for WR’s most popular period while retaining the old sense of
adventure.”
The now 78-year-old shock rocker ALICE COOPER, and his troops released
their 3rd and breakthrough LP LOVE IT TO DEATH on 9 March 1971, today 55 years ago.
It peaked at #35 in the US and #28 in the UK.
The record consolidated the band’s aggressive hard-rocking sound, instead
of the psychedelic and experimental rock style of their first two albums. It was
the first longplayer on which the members received individual credit for songs.
The album has come to be seen as a foundational influence on hard rock,
punk, and heavy metal; several tracks became live Alice Cooper standards
and got frequently covered.
He has released his 4th solo album, titled SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO on 8 March 2011,
today 15 years ago.
Pitchfork said: “Kurt Vile’s fourth full-length may also be his best, as it distills classic
American guitar music into one singular and sublime vision. He’s still cycling between strummers and fingerpicked mazework, but the battery of pedal effects is mostly gone.
Vile has acknowledged limits in length for the sake of depth. It makes for a full-blown
journey.”
The LP got to #8 on the US Independent Albums Charts.
