The little hand rings shining on my skin corals

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

#316 : The Who Sell Out - The Who (1967)

The Who’s third record was their first concept album, a tribute to the U.K.’s offshore pirate-radio stations. The band strung the songs together with mock commercials (“Heinz Baked Beans”) and genuine radio jingles. It’s the Who’s funniest record — the sad love ballad “Odorono” turns out to be an ad for deodorant. The band expanded its maximum-R&B sound with mini rock opera “Rael,” giving a hint of things to come (Tommy was two years away), and “I Can See for Miles” rode Pete Townshend’s thrashiest power chords into the Top 10.

Another album older than me - and the 2nd Who album on the list, which I was hoping to enjoy more than the general meh that I felt listening to Live At Leeds.  And it was an interesting listen - the format of commercials and jingles linking the tracks makes it feel very dated indeed, not in a bad way as such, it's just really tying it to the time (allegedly they didn't get permission for any of it, which you just can't imagine happening these days!) .  None of the tracks massively jumped out and grabbed me (except maybe "I Can See For Miles" but I already knew that one), but they weren't dreadful and you could certainly hear the classic Who sound coming through on some of them.  I did find the album waaaay too long, but it turns out that was because I was listening to the special extended deluxe super-fucking-dull edition, so I'll lay the blame fairly and squarely with the record label for that.

Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, many critics consider this to be their best album which slightly concerns me (although I suspect I'm going to get further chances to make my opinion).  According to one critic, the album cemented The Who's place as "the third best band in the world" - high praise indeed.  And here's a fact I bet you don't know - "Original vinyl copies of Sell Out end with an audio oddity that repeats into a locked groove (In response to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)" - I never even knew you could do that (but thinking about it, there's no reason why not!) but it lead me on to the Wikipedia page entitled "Unusual types of gramophone records" - what's not to love about that?  This tells me that records have been made with diameters from 2-20 inches, rotating at speeds of 3-130 rpm, with up to 6 parallel grooves and some playing inside-out.  I love Wikipedia for pages like that! 

I'm not going to revisit the band's Wikipedia entry except to report that thankfully Pete and Roger are still on good terms.  "Customers also listened to" The Kinks, The Byrds and The Velvet Underground - "The" was very much a thing in those days, it appears.  An interesting listen, but not one I'll be rushing back to.  It's a slightly strange album cover though, to say the least.

#315 : El Mal Querer - Rosalia (2018)

In her Grammy-winning breakthrough album, El Mal Querer (in English, A Toxic Love), groundbreaking Spanish singer-producer Rosalía not only mainstreamed the centuries-old tradition of flamenco music, she also freaked it, using the power of 808s and a whole lotta heartbreak. Rosalía assumes a rapper’s bravado in the opening track, “Malamente,” and in the palma-pop gem “Di Mi Nombre,” she grabs her bullish lover by the horns. The result is one of the best ancient-modern mash-ups of the 21st century.

I was vaguely aware of Rosalia because she appeared to take over Glastonbury in 2019, appearing on all the stages with everyone at once (or maybe the telly just made it seem that way).  But I had no real concept as to this album was going to sound like - I think "Spanish" was probably as far as I'd got.  And Spanish it most definitely is!  There's more vocal than I was expecting, but I'm perfectly happy with that - she has a good voice and uses it in a very interesting way.  And for a pleasant change, the foreign language thang didn't bother me in the slightest - maybe I'm growing as a person?!? I can't say any tracks jump out at me but I think that's mostly because they're all an unfamiliar sound - it feels like it needs a few more listens before I'll be able to distinguish between tracks.  But, overall, I like it and am intrigued to listen to it again.

Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot to say about the album - mostly noting that it was well received.  It's interesting to note that the album was accused of cultural appropriation because she's from one part of Spain and flamenco is from a different part of Spain - to which her comment was "Yeah, and?" which seems like a perfectly reasonable response to me.  Rosalia's Wikipedia entry basically says "Yeah, she's pretty talented" but spends a long time doing so.  "Customers also listened to" a load of Spanish names I know nothing about - the album that this reminded me most of was "Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares" (a somewhat obscure reference) which, although from a completely different country, uses the voice in a similar manner (and I think I've hit peak muso there!).  So yeah, I like this and will be making an effort to revisit it and some of her other stuff.

#315 : One In A Million - Aaliyah (1996)

Aaliyah’s second album was her first with producer Timbaland, and until the singer’s tragic death in 2001, the pair reshaped the landscape of R&B. Aaliyah seems to be sparring with Timbaland’s hide-and-seek drum tracks, ducking and weaving — and, somehow, singing beautifully — as high-hats and shakers zip past her ears. As futuristic as this album sounds, even today, Aaliyah also benefited from her close study of the classics: Her version of the Isley Brothers’ “Choosey Lover” rises to the level of the original.

This is an odd one - because it's not on Amazon Music and I think it's the first such album which isn't either a greatest hits from the 50s or a ten CD boxset.  Detective Google tells me it's not on any streaming services because of difficulties with her estate but it really feels like they should have sorted that out by now (as the description above notes, she died in 2001 - at the age of just 23).  So I had to listen to the album on YouTube, which is a somewhat less than optimal listening experience - but I think I got enough of an idea...

...to know this isn't really for me.  It just sounds like so much of the 00s-10s identikit R&B to me - I'm happy to accept that it was ahead of its time, but there's always the reciprocal argument that it's therefor to blame for much of what came after.  I don't hate it and I can see it's well done, I just can't be bothered with it - sorry Aalz (as she liked to be known.  maybe).

Wikipedia tells me that a lot of people disagree with me - "undoubtedly one of the most influential R&B albums of the '90s" apparently, with 8 million sales globally.  Oh well, eh?  Interestingly (and sadly) it was really difficult for her to find producers for the album because of "the whole R Kelly thing" - if you're not aware of this then you're lucky, but it's quite safe to assume that she's not to blame here.  Her Wikipedia entry goes into it all in great detail if you need to know more - but it's better to concentrate on the "Legacy and influence" section imho.  The "Personal life" section amused me though with "In her spare time, she was mostly a homebody, which dated back to her younger years, but on occasion went out and played laser tag".  A somewhat strange detail to pick out but why not, eh?  

The section on her death really sounds like it should have been preventable given that "the badly overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all nine on board. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body, and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight" but I guess these things still happen unfortunately.  I'm unable to tell you what "customers also listen to" - YouTube suggests Nina Simone, Michael Jackson and Bonobo which is an odd mix, to say the least.  I'm afraid there's no danger of me revisiting any of it though, even when they get it sorted on streaming services.  I did like the album cover though - very Matrix-esque, but 3 years before! 

So in a completely unexpected turn of events, Rosalia wins this one - I liked it a lot for a first listen and I think I could grow to love it.

#319-317 - One album I know vs two I don't
#313-311 - The ladies show Neil what attitude really is