On one scary night, I saw the light - heard a voice that sound like Barry White

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

#367 : If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake (2015)

Just when everyone was ready for more pop sensitivity from Drake, he went street. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late was a mixtape for his rap base — no radio hits or catchy hooks, just his harshest beats and rhymes. It sums up Drake’s willingness to switch lanes at any moment. (Just a few months later, he swerved back into soft-soul territory on “Hotline Bling.”) He spends his money and curses his enemies in paranoid bangers like “10 Bands.”

I've always been slightly mystified by Drake's global megastardom - I mean he and his songs seem perfectly pleasant and all that, but I'm perfectly pleasant as well and where's that got me?!? (ah, hold on - I'm being given some news to the contrary here which might explain things).  Anyway, the description above suggests that maybe this is more nasty Drake than nice Drake, so maybe that'll help me understand the appeal a bit more.

And well, I mean - it's OK.  He doesn't sound like a very happy guy though - and tbh it all feels like a bit of an act because I can't believe his life is really all that terrible.  I'd disagree with Rolling Stone and say there are some catchy enough hooks in this - it's not really all that harsh (maybe it's just a bit nasty compared with nice Drake).  Once again, it falls into the "not my thing" category and I don't really feel qualified to comment - although if this run continues I might accidentally become an expert and then I'll be forced to comment.

As usual, Wikipedia tells me I was wrong and how all the critics and general public also disagree with me - oh well, never mind, eh.  Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia has A LOT to say about the man - but I got no further than giggling when I read that his real name is Aubrey.  That's very street now, isn't it?!?  "Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of - which surprised me, but it might be because this isn't a typical Drake album (and I suspect we'll get to find out more later on in the list).  But I'm afraid that, for the time being, I remain slightly mystified.  I'm also intrigued as to how long they spent on the album cover artwork.

#366 : Rocks - Aerosmith (1976)

The bad boys from Boston perfected their Seventies guitar raunch on Rocks — it’s the musical equivalent of getting run over by a muscle car. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry sounded like America’s heirs to the Mick-and-Keith tradition with the filthy riffs of “Lick and a Promise” and “Back in the Saddle.” Tyler brings all his dirtbag swagger and gutter poetry to his favorite topic: sex. Surprise peak: “Sick as a Dog,” an incredible fusion of the Byrds, James Brown funk, and Sixties girl-group harmonies.

I was aware of Aerosmith from their 80s days and I was slightly surprised they'd been going as long as they had (they formed in 1970), but I suspected this wasn't going to sound way different from the Aerosmith I knew.  And it's not massively different although maybe a bit dirtier and heavier than I was expecting - Rolling Stone's description of "guitar raunch" seeming like a reasonable attempt.  Tbh, it's not really my thing - I can appreciate the mix of skill and attitude involved, with attitude often being the major component of the two in lesser bands but that doesn't seem to be the case here.  No particular track jumped out at me though - they all seemed like good examples of that sort of thing to someone who doesn't really like that sort of thing.

Wikipedia tells me that Kurt liked the album, so that's generally a black mark against it (it's amazing that guy found any tlme to make music given the amount of albums he must have listened to) but it's balanced out by Slash liking it, who I have a lot of time for (unlike some of his bandmates).  The Wikipedia entry for Aerosmith is surprisingly lengthy but I guess it has 50 years to cover, a lot of which seems to have been spent with threatening each other with lawsuits.  It's not entirely clear whether they're still going - which must be a bit of a surprise for people who have tickets for their shows later this year, so I guess we'll see.  "Customers also listened to" a lot of names more fully associated with the 70s (The Who, Deep Purple, Led Zep) - it seems weird to think they were all contemporaries.  So, it's not really for me, but I was interested to listen to it and I didn't totally hate it, so that's good right!!?

#365 : Madvillainy - Madvillain (2004)

This collaboration between rapper MF Doom and producer Madlib is one of underground hip-hop’s greatest moments. Madlib provides a shifting bed of warped funk and wildly unpredictable samples, drawing on everything from Thunder and Lightning’s “Bumpin’ Bus Stop” to “The Theme of the Justice League of America.” Doom’s rhymes are so casually adventurous that sometimes it takes a second to notice how stunning they are: “Still back in the game like Jack LaLanne/Think you know the name, don’t rack your brain/On a fast track to half sane” — hell yeah!

I'd never heard of this or any of the people involved except for very recently learning about MF Doom because, sadly, his death was announced earlier this week.  I suspected it was going to be another one of those records I didn't feel qualified to comment on...

...and whilst that's true, I enjoyed it considerably more than some of the other recent albums I've had to endure.  There was a bit more of an overriding theme here which linked the tracks together (although I should point out it was all pretty mad) and a bit more intelligence and humour on display (and a bit less effing them bees - although OBVIOUSLY they still found some time for that.)

Wikipedia has all the usual nonsense associated with influential albums about how everyone loves them but the entry for MadVillain is surprisingly short, except for saying that the follow-up album has been close to completion for 10 years (but feels somewhat unlikely to appear now).  For items of interest, we need to look at the entries for MF Doom and Madlib - there's loads of nuggets in there, particularly for MF Doom who seems to have lead a most intriguing life.  I almost didn't bother checking what "customers also listened to" because I knew I wouldn't recognise any of the artists, but it's mostly MF Doom related - and the interesting monikered Earl Sweatshirt, who I might need to check out just on the basis of his name.  So, I kinda enjoyed the album (and suspect the enjoyment would increase with further listening) but I enjoyed learning about the people involved even more and feel proper educated now!

Whilst not completely up my street, Madvillainy is the only album there's any chance of me relistening to out of this lot so I hereby declare it to be the winner.

#370-368 - And the award for best feuds goes to...
#364-362 - A slight improvement