How can you have a day without a night?

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

#242 : Loaded - The Velvet Underground (1970)

The Velvet Underground made their most accessible album in 1970, during a summer alternately comprising triumph and stress. Drummer Maureen Tucker was on maternity leave; singer-guitarist-songwriter Lou Reed quit in August before the record was even finished. But Reed left behind a pair of hits (“Sweet Jane,” “Rock ’n’ Roll”), two of his finest ballads (“New Age,” “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’”), and a record that highlights the R&B/doo-wop roots and Sun Records crackle buried deep inside the Velvets’ noir-guitar maelstrom.

Our last visit to The Velvet Underground resulted in a very grumpy me, so you can imagine the trepidation with which I approached this album.  However, I'm pleased to report it's a much more bearable listen.  I mean, most of it's still utter tripe, but at least it's tripe you can listen to.  I almost liked "Sweet Jane", but it suffers badly in comparison with the Cowboy Junkies version.  But very little of this album made me wanted to dig my eardrums out with a rusty spoon, so it's a definite improvement on the last one I had to suffer

Aaaargh - Wikipedia has just made it clear to me that I listened to a specially extended version (I wonder if anyone has ever released a specially compressed version?) so I actually listened to a lot more Velvet Underground than I had to, but part of me doesn't mind too much because I got to experience "I'm Sticking With You" which is a most peculiar track indeed - it would feel quite at home on Sesame Street.  The only other thing Wikipedia tells me is that Lou Reed wasn't happy about something to do with the album, but I'm pretty certain Lou Reed's entry is just a list of things he's had grievances with in his lifetime, although there's no danger of me reading it to find out.  And I'm sorry, but I'm just not up to reading the band's entry either - I'll do it next time (because that banana album is going to turn up, isn't it?)

"Customers also listened to" - you know what, I don't care.  Enough of this, already.

#241 : Blue Lines - Massive Attack (1991)

Perhaps the first post-hip-hop masterpiece: Blue Lines combined rap, dub, and soul that gave birth to trip-hop; if you ever found yourself in a “chillout room” in 1995, this album was probably on, and it can still suck you into its gravitational pull. In the U.K., where acid house and jungle were the dominant sounds, its creepingly slow ambiance knocked the music world on its back. “What’s important to us is the pace,” said the band’s 3D, “the weight of the bass and the mood.”

I'm sorry - what exactly is "post-hip-hop"?   That's nonsense, right?  A quick Google suggests it's a thing, but a slightly longer Google suggests it's many things to many people - so I'm happy to declare it nonsense.  And it's interesting that I'm pretty certain I lived in the UK in the early 90s, and I'm not sure I remember "acid house and jungle were the dominant sounds".  But I could be wrong, I guess...

Anyways, I quite like this album, although I've never been entirely convinced it's the masterpiece that everyone thinks it is.  However, it was a pleasure to listen to it again and the high points are very high indeed - and "Unfinished Sympathy" has to be the highest with its exceptionally sleek sound and an unfeasibly cool video to accompany it.  The album's got a lot to recommend it throughout - although I think I prefer Protection to both this album and Mezzanine, which is obviously why they're both on this list and Protection isn't!

Wikipedia agrees with the album is quality and notes "Blue Lines is generally considered the first trip hop album, although the term was not widely used before 1994".  It also gives us the critically important information that "The font used on the cover of the album is Helvetica Black Oblique" errr, OK.  Thanks for that.  It also tells us that one of my heroes was heavily involved, as this quote from Daddy G tells is "We were lazy Bristol twats. It was Neneh Cherry who kicked our arses and got us in the studio" - more information on her here (and Raw Like Sushi really is a great album so it quite obviously doesn't make this list).  The band's Wikipedia entry is very much in the style of the band - interesting and serious, with very little actual fun involved.  "Customers also listened to" Portishead and Tricky - the Bristol massive sticking together there.  But basically, if you haven't heard this album, you pretty much should - would i lie to you about such things?!?

#240 : Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963 - Sam Cooke (1986)

Sam Cooke was elegance and soul personified, but he works this Florida club until it’s hotter than hell, all while sounding like he never breaks a sweat. He croons and strokes “For Sentimental Reasons” like a superlover, and when the crowd sings along with him, it’s magic. RCA Records originally shelved the album out of fear that Cooke’s raw performance might alienate crossover (read: white) audiences. When it was finally released more than 20 years after he recorded, Live at the Harlem Square Club gave many fans a whole new perspective of his greatness.

Hmmm - I'm not sure about live albums on this list.  So not sure that I had to go back to the last one to see what I decided then - and if I'm being honest, I kinda fudged the issue.  I listened to it anyway and I'd have to say I really enjoyed it - it sounds like it was a great night out and conveys the atmosphere of a gig in a club quite well, unlike most albums which are just stadium rock monstrosities (often very good monstrosities though, I hasten to add!).  If you're a Sam fan then check it out, but having listened to it, I think I pretty much have to declare it a greatest hits album for the purpose of this exercise.

Wikipedia confirms the reason for the delay in releasing the album "RCA Victor, at the time, viewed the album as too gritty and raw and possibly damaging to his pop image, and quietly kept the recordings in their archive" - which just seems bizarre, but at least the recording escaped into the wild in the end!  There's not much else there but the critics agree it's a great live album and presents a different side to Sam.  "Customers also listened to" a load of Sam Cooke greatest hits albums - total vindication for me, methinks!  But it's definitely well worth checking out if you're not aware of it though.

With Sam being declared ineligible, it's an easy win for Massive Attack here.

#246-243 - Why the rule change?
#239-237 - Three very different albums