Con unas ansias locas quiero verte hoy

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

#479 : Amor Prohibido - Selena (1994)

Tejana star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez may not have been long for this world (she died when she was just 23), but she remains one of America’s most beloved singer-songwriters. At the heart of her regional Mexican masterwork, Amor Prohibido, is a universal, glittering pop core. The techno-cumbia title track tells the real-life story of her grandparents, who fell in love across class lines. It’s a Latina fairy tale, if ever there was one. Amor Prohibido, meaning “forbidden love,” became one of the bestselling Latin albums of all time.

I'd never even heard of Selena or Tejana music, so I think it's safe to say I had no real idea what to expect.  And having now lost my Tejana virginity, I think it's probably safest if I just say I don't really get it.  I quite liked some of the tracks - "Si Una Vez" and "Ya No" in particular jumped out - but whilst I wouldn't say the rest was actively unpleasant, I did find it a bit tinny and annoying. "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" in particular got on my nerves - according to Wikipedia, the song was recorded with improvised lyrics which you've never guess from the title now, would you?  "Fotos Y Recuerdos" was also an interesting track - it's a Spanish language cover of "Back On The Chain Gang" by The Pretenders, which actually works pretty well.  It was also intriguing that they chose to end the album with 24 minutes of family and friends reading out the liner notes - it's like a DVD commentary but for an album, which isn't something I've ever seen before (and no, I didn't listen to it all!).

What was quite surprising when reading up about this album was the length of the Wikipedia entries for both this album and for Selena - they're both massive which suggests a lot of interest in both her and her music (apparently her posthumous collaboration with MAC cosmetics became the best-selling celebrity collection in cosmetics history - there's a fine pub quiz question for you!).  I guess the interest can only have been increased due to her murder by her friend and business partner which sounds both horrific and like something straight out of a soap opera (and Wikipedia goes into an intriguing level of detail around it - "Critically wounded, Selena ran towards the lobby, leaving a 392-foot (119 m)-long trail of blood") but she was certainly extremely successful and loved before that tragedy occurred.

"Customers also listened to" AB Quintanilla who, given that he's her brother and wrote a lot of the songs on Amor Prohibido, I imagine doesn't produce music that's wildly different.  All in all, I feel this was an interesting diversion down an unfamiliar musical sidestreet, but one I'm unlikely to revisit.

#478 : Something Else By The Kinks - The Kinks (1968)

Something Else was a commercial flop that nearly killed the band, but it shows off Ray Davies’ genius for writing about the secret lives of everyday people. “Waterloo Sunset” is a gorgeously chilly ballad about a lonely man watching lovers from his window; “Two Sisters” celebrates a housewife dancing around her house with curlers in her hair. He’s got poetic compassion for all these characters, even as he witnesses their private pain in “No Return,” “Afternoon Tea,” and “End of the Season.”

I wasn't in the slightest bit aware this album even existed, but given that it has "Waterloo Sunset" on it, I had a reasonably strong idea what I was going to get from it.  And it basically delivers as expected - a kinda hazy late 60s feel which sounds dated but not unpleasantly so.  Although, given how badly the album was received at the time, it does make you wonder whether it sounded dated back then as well.  I'm not entirely sure I particularly like the overall feel of the album - it was exactly the sort of thing that I was worried about running into on this countdown and I can't say it's allayed any of my fears.  Having said that, you can't really fault "Waterloo Sunset" and it's interesting to hear the original version of "David Watts" (although I think I prefer The Jam's version which has a bit more spirit to it). 

Reading up further on how badly the album was received, it does sound as though they didn't do themselves any favours - in the UK they released it after all the singles from the album and at the same time as a cheap "Best Of" album.  And in the US, the band were in the middle of a 4 YEAR ban on playing live - this has an amusing level of detail as to how that happened, but my favourite bit has to be them playing a 45 minute live version of "You Really Got Me" because they were pissed off with their tour manager.

It was also interesting to read up further on The Kinks because I wasn't overly familiar with their story - I first became aware of them with the release of "Come Dancing" in 1983 which felt very dated/nostalgic at the time and didn't really push too many buttons with a 15 year old version of me, so I pretty much left it there.  So I never realised they released 24 studio albums and 4 live albums over a 30 year period - I find it unlikely I'll visit too many of them, although I'm intrigued to hear some of their early rockier stuff from their bad behaviour period.  "Customers also listened to" exactly the groups you'd imagine and I'm fully expecting to hear quite a few examples further along this list.  Overall, a quite interesting slice of musical history, but not a great one in my opinion.

#477 : Moanin' In The Moonlight - Howlin' Wolf (1959)

“That man was the natural stuff,” Buddy Guy said. “His fists were as big as a car tire.” The Wolf had the biggest roar in Chicago blues — he raved in a fierce growl, backed by explosive playing from guitar geniuses Willie Johnson and Hubert Sumlin. His 1959 debut album has some of the meanest electric blues ever heard, cut for Chess Records, from the eerie railroad drone “Smokestack Lightnin’” to the lowdown “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline).”

In my head, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters are pretty much interchangeable (and I'm sure this will result in cries of "philistine!") - and this is another blues compilation album, so he's lucky not to get disqualified.  However, seeing as it was only 12 tracks, I decided to risk it - but wasn't expecting to particularly enjoy it because of my apparent inability to enjoy blues when recorded.  I'm hoping to find an example on this list to disprove this but unfortunately this album fell into the "admire rather than enjoy" category - I also find the old, mono, scratchy recordings harder to enjoy.  And yes, I realise they are authentic - but I just can't help it.  I appreciated some of the skill involved, but a lot of it was a bit samey to my uncultured ear - sorry!

"Customers also enjoyed" Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters and Big Bill Bronzy - say what you like about the old days, but they had cool names.  But unfortunately, it appears that's not enough for me to appreciate what are obviously highly revered musicians and recordings.

All of which leaves us in a tricky place - I didn't hate any of this batch, but it's not like I liked any of them either.  I'm going to give it to Selena because I suspect that's the album I'd switch off last if I had to listen to them again and she also had the most interesting Wikipedia entry - it's hardly a glowing recommendation though, is it?

#482-480 - A bizarre ride indeed
#476-474 - I know what I like and I like what I know