This song is for all the women out there

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

#391 : Kaleidoscope - Kelis (1999)

“I hate you so much right now!” Kelis blasted on her debut single “Caught Out There,” giving spurned lovers around the world an instant anthem. It set the tone for a knockout R&B debut. Kaleidoscope was also a showcase moment for the Neptunes (Pharrell and Chad Hugo), who helmed the album’s production, backing Kelis with a barrage of splatting keyboards and thwacking drums and giving the album a taut consistency. Yet the singer was so charismatic she might not have needed them. “I hate you so much right now!” doesn’t lose any force a cappella.

Was this really 21 years ago?!?  I love "Caught Out There" (it's a proper classic tune) but don't believe I'd ever listened to the album, so was looking forward to doing so.  And it's a fine album which doesn't seem to have dated at all - good vocals over high quality backing, tightly produced.  Yes, "Caught Out There" is the stand-out track, but the others don't fade into insignificance which was always going to be a risk - and I don't really have much more to say about it!

WIkipedia also has very little to say about the album - other than apparently she didn't make any money from the album because she was totally ripped off by everyone around her.  Which seems a shame - I've heard a couple of interviews with her and she always comes across as the nicest, funnest person.  "Customers also listened to" Mya apparently, who I've never heard of - I assume she's in a similar mould.  I'd happily just listen to this album again though because I really liked it -  and it also has a very fine album cover.

#390 : Surfer Rosa - Pixies (1988)

The brainy Boston quartet went up against punk producer Steve Albini for one of the era’s most influential rock sounds: all razor-blade guitars and drum thud. It became the sound of the Nineties, as everyone from Nirvana to PJ Harvey went to Albini, hoping to get the raw power of Surfer Rosa. Black Francis goes from a whisper to a scream in oddities like “Bone Machine,” “River Euphrates,” and “Where Is My Mind?” But bassist (and future Breeder) Kim Deal steals the show with her cheeky Midwest vocals in “Gigantic.”

Another one I own - and I've never quite decided if I like it.  Yes, it's cool to like them (Kurt likes them, after all!) and we all know how important being cool is to me and I do like the general music style (I'm a big Throwing Muses fan, who are certainly in the same ballpark) but I find Black Francis' vocal delivery "somewhat challenging".  So yes, I do quite like "Gigantic" and "Where Is My Mind?" is also a fine track, but it can all get a bit much on some of the other tracks. I'd also say I prefer (or am less undecided about) Doolittle, their second album - I'm going to wait and see if that rocks up at any point on this list.  And I think I'm going to leave it that - if you like Pixies, then you like Pixies and if you don't know if you like Pixies, then let me assure you won't.

Wikipedia is full of all the usual nonsense you get for "influential" albums and bands - although the list of people who claim to have been influenced by Pixies is surprisingly high calibre, including Bowie, U2 and Nirvana (of course!).  It also has a surprising amount of "justification" for your woman having her tits out on the cover.  "Customers also listened to" The Breeders and Frank Black - any relation, I wonder?!?  (yes, I know they're the same person!)  So, whilst it was interesting to hear this again, it hasn't help me make up my mind about them.

#389 : The Emancipation of Mimi - Mariah Carey (2005)

Mariah Carey’s last couple of albums had only attained platinum status, paltry by her usual high-flying standards. But the vocal acrobat swept away the naysayers with “We Belong Together,” a chattering, heartbroken ballad that interpolates two R&B classics (Bobby Womack’s “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” and the Deele’s “Two Occasions”), then followed that song’s huge success with “Shake It Off,” a dismissive, vengeful cut for all the jilted lovers — and The Emancipation of Mimi turned out to be a sextuple-platinum return to form.

Over the years, a lot has been written about Mariah Carey's voice, so obviously it would be remiss of me not to add my thoughts to the canon.  And my thoughts (which the world has obviously been waiting for) are "shrill, show-offy warbling".  And there's nothing on this album to change my mind, I'm afraid.  My opinion is that she takes average songs and elevates them to the ranks of annoying through the application of the aforementioned warbling.  

Wikipedia, obviously, expends vast tracts of text pointing out how everyone disagrees with me.  The album sold more than 10 million copies globally and "We Belong Together" spent 14 weeks at #1 in the US - so I guess I'm very much in the minority.  Never mind, eh?!?  "Customers also listened to" exactly the sort of people you'd expect - most of whom I'd suggest are less annoying, but I guess we've already proven my opinion doesn't really matter here.  If you like Mimi, then you'll like this album and if not, then I'd say avoid - but there's probably a copy somewhere in your house anyway.

Kelis for the win here - which wasn't necessarily what I was expecting.

#394-392 - Three nice ladies and one bad man
#388-386 - It's all about the legacy