I thought I could organise freedom - how very Scandinavian of me

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

#203 : Pink Moon - Nick Drake (1972)

Nick Drake recorded his last album in a couple of nights, mailed the tapes to Island Records, and checked himself into a psychiatric ward. If the music were as dark as the lyrics, it might be unlistenable. But Drake’s soothing vocals and unadorned acoustic picking unfold with supernatural tenderness. Few heard Pink Moon when it was released, but its stark beauty has touched the intimate bedroom folk of Cat Power, Elliott Smith, and many others.

I know and like Nick Drake, but haven't previously viewed this as his finest work - and I wasn't expecting this view to change on one listen, given how often I've listened to Five Leaves Left and Bryter Later and how much I like them.  And my view did not change.  It's not wildly different - it's just not quite as smooth for me (and I'm sure his state of mind might have played a part here).  I also think it's lacking any stand-out tracks - it all washes over me and nothing jumps out.  It is also very short - 28 minutes - and I could quite easily have managed another couple of tracks (and it's very rare for me to say that).  I'd also have to say that, as a fan of nonsense surreal art (as it likes to be known), it's a particularly fine album cover.

The album's Wikipedia entry is quite detailed and interesting - apparently he was actually quite upbeat (for him, anyway) at the time of recording and was purposefully going for a more stripped-back feel to the album.  Unfortunately, as with his previous offerings, it sold very little during his lifetime - like many others looking with the benefit of hindsight, I don't really understand this.  His Wikipedia entry is interesting, but I'm afraid the main fact I took away from it is that his dad's middle name is Shuttleworth - you can't say I shy away from sharing the important facts with you.

"Customers also listened to" Tim Buckley and John Martyn - very much in the same ballpark.  All in all, I think this is a fine album and I'm pleased to see it on the list but, in my opinion, it's his third best album (and is, of course, the only one of his to make it onto this list)

#202 : Homogenic - Bjork (1997)

Björk’s third album was a departure from the fun, playful electronics of her mid-Nineties solo sets Debut and Post, adopting a more uniform, chilly, and distinctly Icelandic sound in its fusion of trip-hop with neo-classical strings. “Jóga,” with its stratosphere-high vocals and beats inspired by volcanic eruptions, may be Björk’s signature song, but it’s only one sample of the album’s palette, jagged and luminescent like broken stained glass. The sheer beauty underneath its boldness and abrasion has enraptured countless artists, from Thom Yorke to Arca, in the years since its release.

I know the mad-as-a-box-of-frogs Icelandic squawkstress isn't to everyone's taste, but I love her.  Personally, I prefer Debut and Post but there's nothing wrong with this one - as Rolling Stone notes, it is a change of direction but I've no problem with that.  There's no obvious high point for me (maybe "Bachelorette") but the quality bar throughout is high.  Another thing she does that I love is throw the most bizarre lyrics in to make you go "what did she just say?"

You will go astray like a killer whale
I'm no fucking Buddhist, but this is enlightenment
Excuse me, but I just have to explode

The Wikipedia entry for the album is suitably Bjork-ish - for example, for the cover art it's "someone who is put into an impossible situation, so impossible that she has to become a warrior. A warrior who has to fight not with weapons, but with love. I had 10 kilos of hair on my head, and special contact lenses and a manicure that prevented me from eating with my fingers, and gaffer tape around my waist and high clogs so I couldn't walk easily".  You probably didn't need me to tell you that though.  The critics pretty much loved it and unusually for Wikipedia there's no negative comments included, although it does include this particularly bizarre comment "Homogenic could have been stuffy and dull — Sting with a sex-change operation.  Nothing Bjork has ever done could be described as dull - but this could have been.  But it wasn't" - very odd

I couldn't face her Wikipedia entry last time and so I have read it this time, but it's hard to pick out a favourite mad fact or quote.  How about this one - "Early in her career, Björk cited Sir David Attenborough as her biggest musical influence, saying "she identified with his thirst for exploring new and wild territories""?  I was also very pleased to read that this album features the glass harmonica - 10 points if you can remember when we last met this particularly fine instrument! (I remembered the artist but not the album, so only 5 points for me).

"Customers also listened to" some strong female vocalists - Portishead, Moloko, PJ Harvey, Neneh Cherry - I can go along with that selection.  And whilst I realise it won't be for everyone, I like this album a lot.  And disappointingly it's our last visit with Her Icelandic Madjesty on this list.

#201 : Midnight Marauders - A Tribe Called Quest (1993)

Tribe had a lot to live up to on the follow-up to The Low End Theory, but they kept the boho rap groove going. Q-Tip and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad layered the LP with vintage jazz samples and intentionally doubled-up drums to retain the spirit of New York boom-bap, as Q-Tip and Phife Dawg deepened their rhymes on tracks like “Electric Relaxation.” In a historic moment of New York hip-hop synergy, Midnight Marauders was released the same day as the Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang.

I had absolutely no expectations for this album - they have popped up on a couple of previous entries and here I expressed an interest in listening to them because I had a suspicion I might like them.  So, having listened to them, did I?  Hmmm - not sure.  I like the overall sound - it's "bouncy hip hop" with some cool samples.  And I generally like the lyrics - they're not so obsessed with shooting people or effing them bees (although like Pharcyde, they do like the N word).  But, after a bit of head-nodding and toe-tapping, I found myself drifting off.  Which isn't really a recommendation for any kind of music, but definitely not for the hip-hop.

As usual, Wikipedia tells me I'm wrong and this is one of the finest examples of the Native Tongues movement, which I didn't know about, but I gather it refers to a group of artists who are "known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics".  Or, as a musical expert might put it - they're not so obsessed with shooting people or effing them bees, but they do like the N word.  The section on the cover artwork is quite interesting because it's basically their mates and people they admire - "one of hip hop's last grand displays of cultural unity as the Coastal fallout loomed imminent" apparently.  

The group's Wikipedia entry tells me they come from St Albans - the second group on the list to do so, although I've a slight suspicion it might not be my gangsta hometown they hail from.  To be honest, I read the rest of it but didn't follow most of it - there's a lot of names there I've never even heard of.  But they seem like decent guys and in the words of Rolling Stone they "maintain the attitude of the Bohemian everydude funkonauts".  They really do write some shite, don't they!?!  "Customers also listened to" all them other Native Tongues dudes that I'm now an expert on.  I feel I could get into this album, but it's not something I'm likely to bother trying with, I'm afraid.

A pretty good all round selection (compared to recent efforts, anyway) but it can only be Bjork for the win for me.  And with that, we're 60% of the way through!

#206-204 - Not hip-hop.  Not hip-hop.  Hip-hop
Pause - 60% of the way there