Blaze a blaze - purple haze

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

#422 : Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye (1973)

“I mumble things into the microphone,” Gaye said. “I don’t even know what I’m saying, and I don’t even try to figure it out. If I try, it doesn’t work. If I relax, those mumbles will finally turn into words.” On this album, those words turn into meditations on the gap between sex and love and how to reconcile them. Songs like “Just to Keep You Satisfied” and “You Sure Love to Ball” are some of the most gorgeous music of his career.

So I imagined this album was going to feature Marvin finding a million different ways to say "make lurve" in a very tuneful manner.  And yup, I got it spot on.   "Get it on", "get to this", "lover", "ball" and "keep you satisfied" all feature in the track titles - I don't have space here to list all examples from the lyrics.  It would be easy for it all to get a bit repetitive and it's a testament to Marvin's smooth delivery that it doesn't - "Let's Get It On" is the stand-out track for me, but all the tracks glide by very smoothly indeed.

Wikipedia tells me that this album was originally released in 1973 with 8 tracks, but was then re-released in 2001 as a "deluxe edition" featuring 37 tracks across 2 CDs.  I wonder how many people have ever listened all the way through the second disc (I can assure you I gave up after the 8 original tracks).  Wikipedia also gives me far more information about Marvin Gaye's sex life than I feel I needed - you can thank me for sparing you the details.

"Customers also listened to" all the people you'd expect, but (from my position of limited knowledge of the genre) Marvin is pretty much out there on his own.  It's not exactly my cup of tea, but if you ever feel the need to get it on, there would be worse things you could do than put it on.

#421 : Arular - M.I.A (2005)

What’s the opposite of a girl next door? Perhaps it might be a radicalized, globalized pop star like M.I.A., an English-Tamil writer who provocatively questioned and deconstructed ideas about power and rebellion throughout her first album. She raps and cajoles in hard-chopping cadences (“I bongo with my lingo,” indeed), and mixes jokes, disses, and political insight about the abuse of authority over electronic beats that can sound like New York City electroclash or Brazilian funk. And her hipster hit “Galang” hit as hard as any hip-hop around at the time.

I bought this at the time coz I is well cool - I suspect it was down to the single "Bucky Done Gun".  I still love that track and "Pull Up The People" especially and have them on various playlists, so listen to them reasonably frequently but haven't listened to the album for a few years.  So I was pleased to find it still stands up well with interesting vocal delivery over strong rhythms and curious sounds. I'd forgotten about "U.R.A.Q.T" as well - a cute track indeed!

"Customers also listened to" Azealia Banks and Peaches who are both very much of that ilk - and I'd also suggest Santigold who I like in the same vein.  Peaches actually introduced M.I.A. to the Roland MC-505 when they met in the US because M.I.A. was recording a documentary about Elastica's tour.  Obviously.  Her Wikipedia entry is spectacularly long - the girl has certainly lived.  I think my favourite section is when the NFL sued her for millions and demanded an apology because she raised her middle finger during the Superbowl interval performance.  And her legal team's careful worded response basically said "Fuck you".  

I'd not heard much about her recently so assumed she was having some downtime - but it turns out she had a number 1 with Travis Scott in the US in October, so that counts as something, I guess!  Travis declared her to be "the illest of all time" and I, for one, hope she recovers soon - that's what he means, right?  Whatever, I like her and this album in particular and was glad to revisit it.

#420 : That's The Way Of The World - Earth, Wind and Fire (1975)

Before he got into African thumb piano and otherworldly philosophizing, founder Maurice White was a session drummer at Chess studios (that’s him on Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me”). He stayed behind the kit as he led EWF. Their sixth album is make-out music of the spheres, incorporating doo-wop, jazz, and African music into a sound that’s sleek but never too slick; the title track is one of funk’s most gorgeous ballads, and “Shining Star” is a Seventies self-help seminar delivered over one of the decade’s sweetest grooves.

I was expecting to tolerate this album, but swiftly tire of it.  And that happened about 10 seconds into the second track.  It's not bad - the guys do what they do well.  But I appear to be unable to appreciate it and unfortunately, some of it reminded me of Theophilus P. Wildebeeste.  Well, I say unfortunately but I enjoyed the time I spent watching various bits online ("Have you got any African in you?  Do you want some?") so at least this album gave me some pleasure.  I also did find my interest perked up a bit during "Africano" - there's a whole lot of funk going on during that track.

Wikipedia tells me that, 50 years after they formed, EW&F are still hanging around (and can be heard on Meghan Trainor's Christmas album for this year which I've now asked Santa for, obviously).  I also learned that September 21 is EW&F day in Los Angeles - I think this is a fine idea and we need to randomly dedicate days to bands over here as well.  "Customers also listened to" a load of groups who appear to have a very similar sense of style - the 70s was certainly an interesting time sartorially!  But I won't be investigating any of them - it's just not for me, I'm afraid.

M.I.A for the win here - it's a fine, interesting album which you should check out.  Tell her I sent you and say "Hi" from me!

#425-423 - Your choice is folk or quirk
#419-417 - Nobody saw this winner coming...