From the depths of the sea, back to the block

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

#340 : Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg (1993)

Until Snoop Dogg came along, no one in rap — and hardly anyone in rock — realized that an aloof whisper could be more intimidating than a shout. Snoop never gets heated; he takes the same tone when he’s menacing a cop as he does with a woman who’s soaping his back in the tub. Emanuel Dean and Dr. Dre’s sterling G-funk productions on “Gin N Juice” and “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” ensured enormous album sales for the D-O-double-G’s debut and his laidbaaaack Indo-flavored tales of life on the streets of Compton.

I can't quite decide if I like Snoop or not - he certainly has his own style, which is something to be commended in a somewhat crowded field and he has produced some top tracks - "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" on this album certainly being one of them.  But, I'm never entirely sure how much of his cartoon-ish schtick is an act - and I also think it somewhat concerning that I find his JustEat advert some of his best work (I spent quite a few weeks admiring how well they'd captured his essence before I realised it was actually him!).

So I approached this album expecting to like bits of it, but suspecting a whole album might be too much - but I actually found there was enough variation there to keep me engaged for the whole album (although it's possible he somewhat overdoes the "I'm a dog" thang).  I can't say I feel tempted to immediately rush back to it, but it was definitely better than I expected.  Wikipedia's entry for the album has a lot to say about how influential the album is (certainly more so than I realised - 11 million sales worldwide for starters).  It also somewhat helpfully tells us "The album's title alludes to the doggy style sex position" -  all I can say is "that's one muthafucking subtle allusion you got there, Snoop".  

Snoop's Wikipedia page is interesting because it claims he's way more influential than I was aware of - I can't claim to know how accurate this might be, but I'm happy to take their work for it.  Somewhat surprisingly, the page doesn't contain details of any feuds - fortunately the internet confirms he has managed to piss some people off, but he's got some way to go before he's up there with the best of them (and he's been around much longer than most!).  "Customers also listened to" The Chronic by Dr Dre, which prominently features one Mr S Dogg (as explained in detail on Wikipedia).  All in all, a mildly pleasant surprise from a starting point of reasonably low expectations - which is a win for this list!

#339 : Rhythm Nation 1814 - Janet Jackson (1989)

Janet Jackson bought a military suit and ruled the radio for two years with this album. Along with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she fashioned a grand pop statement with hip-hop funk (“Rhythm Nation”), slow jams (“Love Will Never Do [Without You]”), and even hair metal (“Black Cat”). “While writing ‘Rhythm Nation’ I was kidding around, saying, ‘God, you guys, I feel like this could be the national anthem for the Nineties,’” Jackson recalled. “Just by a crazy chance we decided to look up when Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem, and it was September 14th, 1814.”

Unsurprisingly, I had heard of Janet Jackson and had always been a bit "meh" - but I suspected she wasn't really trying for my vote and we were both happy enough with that situation.  I'd certainly never listened to a full album's worth of her stuff - I wasn't expecting to like it but I wasn't expecting to hate it either.  What I wasn't expecting was for it to be so incredibly dull - all the tracks are either far too bassy or far too "Man in the Mirror"-ish.  Maybe I was just playing it too quietly to get the full effect, but I can assure you there's no danger of me dragging myself through it all again to find out.

Wikipedia gives you a good idea how much this album was everywhere at the time though - 12 million sales, with 8 singles released, 4 of which got to #1 in the US.  And the accompanying world tour lasted 9 months and was seen by over 2 million people - the world really was Janet crazy at the time, although I have to admit it somewhat passed me by.  Her Wikipedia entry is unsurprisingly quite lengthy but gives very little away about Janet the person - but there are hints that she is surprisingly normal (certainly compared to other famous Jacksons).  

Her Wikipedia page also contains the following snippet which certainly rings true to me -  "Jackson's Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet. established the singer-dancer imprimatur standard in pop culture we now take for granted. So when you're thinking of asking Miss Jackson, 'What have you done for me lately?' remember that Britney, Ciara and Beyoncé live in the house that Janet built". "Customers also listened to" a load of high class female singers - and Bobby Brown, which seems a somewhat incongruous inclustion.  And whilst I'm more likely to listen to this album again than I am to listen to any Bobby Brown, I don't think we can exactly call that a wholehearted recommendation.

#338 : Another Green World - Brian Eno (1975)

After years as a rock eccentric with Roxy Music and two groundbreaking solo LPs, Brian Eno was exploring new ideas about ambient music. But he said goodbye to song form with this album of pure synthetic beauty, mixing lush electronics (“Becalmed”) with acoustic instruments (“Everything Merges With the Night”) to cast a truly hypnotic spell. Eno’s work habits were pleasantly subversive too; at one impasse during the recording, he pulled out a cake from underneath the mixing console and served pieces to everyone in the studio.

You know what this list needs?  More Brian Eno - the poor lad just isn't getting the recognition he deserves!  I generally quite like ambient music, but I am also very aware that there is some truly dreadful music hiding under that umbrella.  I had tried some of Brian's ambient stuff before (Music For Airports, I think) and was somewhat underwhelmed by it so didn't have massively high expectations for this, but was interested to listen to it nonetheless.

And it was an interesting listen.  Some of it falls squarely under what I would call "classic" ambient - like "Becalmed" and "Spirits Drifting" - and I like them, although I wouldn't claim I consider them best in class (but there's an argument they are a few years ahead of their time!).  Other tracks fall into a somewhat weirder unnamed (by me at least - Wikipedia tries for art rock, amibient pop and avant-pop) category where voices are featured, but more as instruments than voices and it's a somewhat weird effect.  To say the least.

Wikipedia lists an interesting bunch of people involved with the album - Phil Collins, John Cale, Robert Fripp - an interesting selection of instrumental credits - "snake guitar", "uncertain piano" - and makes the point that whilst the critics loved it, the album sank without trace upon release.  The following quote is also interesting given my comment on the weird voice effects (and I promise I wasn't aware beforehand!) - "To create the lyrics, Eno would later play the backing tracks singing nonsense syllables to himself, then taking them and forming them into actual words, phrases and meaning".  Is that peak Eno?!?  The Wikipedia page for the man himself is not a brief read so I'm going to save it for a later release (because there's so going to be that chance).  "Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of - which doesn't surprise me in the slightest.  All in all, an interesting listen but one I'm unlikely to repeat.

A mixed bag this time around and although I'm not a huge fan, I feel I have to give it to Snoop given the opposition.

#343-341 - Speaking words of wisdom
#337-335 - And the award for blandest winner goes to...