My favourite dreams of you still wash ashore

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

#455 : Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1958)

Diddley’s influence on rock & roll is inestimable, from the off-kilter rhythmic thump of “Pretty Thing” to his revved-up take on singing the blues. This album — a repackaging of his first two records — has many of his best singles, including “I’m a Man” and “Who Do You Love?” Bands immediately started ripping off his signature rollicking beat, and they haven’t stopped yet — including many on this list, from Bruce Springsteen on Born to Run’s “She’s the One” to George Michael on “Faith.”

So this album is really two albums - there's a lot of dubious behaviour going on in this list!  I was pretty much expecting some very old rock and roll - and it will surprise no-one to hear that's exactly what was delivered.  For me, it fell into the admired rather than enjoyed category - I can appreciate he was ahead of his time and has influenced countless others, but I know I don't have enough musical knowledge to understand or trace the influences, which is a shame.  I should have stuck with the piano lessons, I guess.

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot to say about either album, but does have a lot to say about the man himself - the fact that he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll, Rockabilly, Blues and Rhythm and Blues Halls of Fame gives you an idea as to how highly he's regarded.  One thing (amongst many) that I didn't know is that he wrote "Love Is Strange" - his recording of it was made in 1956 but not released until 2007, which is quite some wait!  "Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never even heard of, so I am quite unable to comment on.  All in all, a pleasant enough stroll down a historical musical alley which left me feeling like I should have learned more from it.

#454 : Ege Bamyasi - Can (1972)

Chugging out of Cologne, Germany, in the late Sixties, avant-psychedelic crew Can took influence from the Velvet Underground’s subterranean drones, Miles Davis’ molten jazz rock, and James Brown’s circular funk grooves. On Ege Bamyasi, new singer Damo Suzuki mumbles, chants, and shrieks his way through engulfing Kraut-boogie workouts like “Vitamin C” and “I’m So Green.” Spoon took their name from the LP’s Doors-meets-Stereolab closing track, and Kanye West sampled the lupine “Sing Swan Swing.”

I wasn't aware of Can, but if the review was trying to scare me off with phrases like "avant-psychedelic", "mumbles, chants and shrieks" and "engulfing Kraut-boogie" then it should know that I'm made of sterner stuff than that.  It didn't exactly encourage me though and a quick scan of the album listing to see a couple of ten minute tracks didn't improve matters either.  And it is, without doubt, a curious album.  It would be extremely easy to write the whole thing off as entirely without merit and, to be honest, I'm quite tempted to do so. 

It does, however, at times have some interesting rhythms, some intriguing sounds and the vocal delivery is certainly different - the Wikipedia page for Damo Suzuki says "his freeform, often improvised lyrics, were sung in no particular language" and I'm certainly not going to argue with that.  Having said that, I was amazed to see the songs on this album do actually have lyrics but they're generally impossible to make out - it's Vic Reeve's club singer transplanted to Germany in the 70s.  But not in a good way.  Having said all that, I quite liked "Spoon" but I had to listen to the rest of the album in order to get to it - the first track in particular is quite dreadful.

"Customers also listened to" Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.  No, of course they didn't - it's all Captain Beefheart or The Stooges.  I imagine there are various recreational substances that would improve this album but I think it's probably safest not to experiment with such things - prolonged exposure to this music is unlikely to be good for you.  So, in case you haven't guessed yet, it's a "No" from me.

#453 : Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Nails (1989)

“The music I always liked as a kid was stuff I could bum out to and realize, ‘Hey, someone else feels that way, too,'” Trent Reznor said in 1990. “So if someone can do that with my music, it’s mission accomplished.” Led by the hit “Head Like a Hole,” Nine Inch Nails’ debut album took bleak Midwestern goth-industrial disco to the rock masses, a move that would shape pop culture just as much as Nirvana’s Nevermind did. When Reznor sang, “Grey would be the color if I had a heart,” on “Something I Can Never Have,” millions felt his pain.

Nine Inch Nails have always been a bit of blindspot for me - lots of people whose musical opinion I respect like them, so I see no reason why I wouldn't as well (or at least tolerate them) but I've never made any effort to either confirm or deny this hypothesis.  Until now...

...and my impression is that Trent heard late 80s Depeche Mode and (particularly) "Info Freako" by Jesus Jones and thought "I reckon that would go down well in the US" (and history suggests, with sales of 3m for this album, that he was correct).  The bad news is that I would have absolutely loved this in 1990 when I was allowed to play my music loud but it's all "ALEXA, VOLUME DOWN!" in our house these days, so I merely liked it.  Definitely one to revisit when Elaine is out of the house.

"Customers also listened to" Filter and Ministry, who I've never heard of but I'd be amazed if they didn't sound exactly the same.  Trent Reznor's Wikipedia page is quite interesting - he has a lot of stuff going on and also talks about his influences, which amazingly include late 80s Depeche Mode!  So, I'm glad I finally got around to listening to some Nine Inch Nails - it won't be for everyone, but I liked it.

Tricky one to judge this one - Bo Diddley's stuff featured more that was truly great in the sense of musical history but I didn't really enjoy it, so I'm giving it to Nine Inch Nails because there's a chance I'll listen to that again.  Unlike Can.

#458-456 - One pleasant surprise at least

#452-450 - Put down the guitar, Paul