You talk to the walls when the party gets bored of you

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

#322 : From Elvis In Memphis - Elvis Presley (1969)

“I had to leave town for a little while,” Elvis Presley sings on the first track. Along with his 1968 TV special, this record announced he was back. With help from a crack crew of Memphis musicians, Presley masterfully tackles quality material from country (“I’m Movin’ On”), gospel (“Long Black Limousine”), soul (“Only the Strong Survive”), and pop (“Any Day Now”), as well as message songs (“In the Ghetto”). The same sessions also yielded one of Presley’s greatest singles, the towering pop-soul masterpiece “Suspicious Minds.”

I can't claim to have listened to any Elvis albums apart from several of the many greatest hits albums I've heard at various random times, but I like this period of The King and knew "In The Ghetto" and "Gentle On My Mind" (from the Glen Campbell version) so was expecting to like this album.  And I did.  I can't say any particular track stood out for me, but it's all fine Elvis-huh-huh-huh material with tight yet warm musical accompaniment.  The version I listened to also included "Suspicious Minds" which I love as a track (and this version is just the maddest!) - but I've discounted it from the equation because it wasn't on the original version (I obviously listened to it though!).

The Wikipedia entry for the album makes the point that this album marked the end of his run of film soundtrack albums (which apparently his manager made him do but he wasn't happy with).  It also discusses how controversial the subject matter of "In The Ghetto" was at the time - so much so that Elvis almost didn't record it.  I still didn't try reading Elvis' Wikipedia entry - I'm running a bit behind on my album listening schedule and don't have the spare day available which will be required to get through it.  "Customers also listened to" "no available recommendations" - it always perplexes me when Amazon does that for anyone, but for Elvis?!?  Overall, I liked this - I struggle to imagine it's one of his better known albums (there are a lot of greatest hits albums, after all) but it's well worth checking out.

#321 : Norman Fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Rey (2019)

Lana Del Rey became a music-blog sensation playing the poker-faced millennial Nancy Sinatra on her debut single, “Video Games.” She kept growing as an artist, and on her wonderfully titled sixth album perfected her epic vision of doomed, decadent, Seventies-steeped California romance on songs like “Mariner’s Apartment Complex” and the nine-minute crusher “Venice Bitch.” Del Rey dropped references to the Eagles and Graham Nash, merging her own music into the Laurel Canyon canon. No less an authority on Seventies greatness than Elton John called the album’s songs “timeless.”

Back in 2011, everyone on the internet either loved "Video Games" or bitched about how she wasn't authentic ("I mean, her name isn't even REALLY Lana!!").  I personally cared neither for the song (meh) or her perceived lack of authenticity (double meh) - I also didn't care about any of the follow-up singles and when she somewhat faded away after "Summertime Sadness", I assumed that would be it.  But she kept plugging away at it, and when this album (such language from a lady!) appeared on various "best of 2019" lists, I was intrigued enough to listen to it - and I liked it.  I don't think I'd listened to it since, so I was pleased to be given an opportunity to revisit it - and I still liked it!

Listening to it again, I'm not entirely sure why I like it when I didn't engage with her earlier stuff - it's not like they're massively different, although it does sound like she's actually trying on this album whereas I thought she was somewhat detached from her earlier stuff.  According to Wikipedia "According to critics, Norman Fucking Rockwell! features "psych-rock jams" and piano-based ballads" which I must admit surprises me I was ever tempted to listen to it - who's not going to run quickly in the opposite direction to a "psych-rock jam"?  I guess my advice would be if you think you almost like Lana Del Ray, then you might actually like this version of her - try it out.  It's also quite like Lorde's album from last year if you liked that.

WIkipedia also tells me that's Jack Nicholson's grandson on the album cover, which diverted me into imagining having Jack Nicholson as your dad - I think your only option would be to end up like Saffie from Ab Fab.  But I bet he's a fun grandad!  Wikipedia also helpfully tells me "The name of the album is a reference to the painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell" - sometimes I wonder what I'd do without it.  Her Wikipedia entry manages to be both lengthy and reasonably content-free - although there is a reasonably interesting section on her being "anti-feminist" which can be read in several ways - but it's probably safest if I don't attempt to analyse it here because I'm bound to get myself into trouble with at least someone, if not everyone!

"Customers also listened to" Lorde (I told you!) and Tove Lo (which is also quite a decent album if you like this sort of thing).  And it transpires I do like this sort of thing, although I'm not able to articulate why I don't like a sort of thing which is almost the same as this sort of thing.  Oh well - I'm sure none of this surprises you in the slightest.

#320 : Los Angeles - X (1980)

X stood out from the other L.A. punks — for one thing, they had a married couple in the band, John Doe and Exene Cervenka, venting their sexual and cultural rage over the high-speed rockabilly thrash of Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake. Doe and Cervenka met in a poetry workshop, and you can hear it in the complex wordplay of “Johnny Hit and Run Paulene” and “Sex and Dying in High Society.” But they kick off their debut with a hilariously nasty bang: “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not.”

So I'd never heard of X or the album, but my first thought on reading the above "Oh God, I'm going to hate this, aren't I?" so I can't say I was exactly looking forward to listening to it.  But, to be fair, it wasn't as terrible as I was fearing - Americans have a slightly strange all-encompassing definition of punk and this is the Billy Idol end of "punk" as opposed to the Black Flag end of "punk", so it is at least listenable.  I can't say I loved it though, it was all a bit same-y for my liking - although the track titles are great.

Wikipedia has remarkably little to say about the album - not even bothering to claim it's influential.  Pah - what's the point, eh?!?  The entry for the band is slightly longer, noting that they're still going and released an album last year - 27 years after the last one!  However, although X's output hasn't exactly been prolific, the various band members have kept busy over the years and they all seem remarkable normal people - their Wikipedia pages turn up various health issues, but very little else apart from creative output.  To be honest, I'm not sure they should be allowed to call themselves a proper punk band if they can't do better drama than that between all of them!  "Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of and won't be investigating - and whilst I won't be rushing back to this, I'm glad I didn't hate it as much as I was expecting to and I wish them well!  I also liked the album cover.

I liked the Elvis album but Lana shades the round for me and it's nice to have a winner from the last couple of years as opposed to the last century.

#325-323 - No contest
#319-317 - One album I know vs two I don't