There's nothing wrong with me - this is how I'm supposed to be

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

#249 : Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston (1985)

She had been a model and a nightclub singer when she cut this smooth R&B debut. Her vocal gifts and technique are astounding — even slick tracks such as “Greatest Love of All” stick. Best song: “How Will I Know,” perky synth-funk evoking Whitney Houston’s godmother, Aretha Franklin. Though her career and life ended tragically, nothing can diminish the memory of her Eighties glory, which is still a template for young singers looking for a path to greatness.

Yes, she may not entirely be my cup of tea, but I had heard of her - although I was yet to experience a full Whitney album, but was expecting tuneful warbling in a "Greatest Love" stylee.  And that's pretty much what we've got, although I would have to say the lesser known tracks from the album are lesser known for good reason - it's definitely a "two lane" album with "Hold Me", in particular, being grade A Stilton. It also uses "that piano sound" a lot - listen to it and you'll know what I mean.  It's got some great tracks on it, but I wouldn't personally say this is a great album.

Wikipedia has a LOT to say about the album, some of which is surprisingly interesting.  Although it was released in February 1985, it didn't get to #1 in the US album charts until 1986, spending 14 weeks there.  So a bit of a slow starter, but I think it's safe to say it got there in the end.  I also learned that "The Greatest Love Of All" was a George Benson cover (yes, the same George Benson whose Breezin' became the best selling "jazz" album ever upon release).  I was, however, most drawn to the "Best New Artist Controversy" section - who doesn't love a spot of controversy?  Basically, she wasn't nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy because she'd sung on a couple of duets in 1984 - so she wasn't new, right?!?  Let's just say that the rules do not always have been applied quite so rigorously in the past - the good news is that it didn't appear to overly hold her back.  The nominees that year ended up being a-ha, Freddie Jackson, Katrina And The Waves, Julian Lennon and Sade - with the right person winning.  And more on her very soon...

Further controversy arises from her Wikipedia entry - apparently, despite what Rolling Stone says, Aretha Franklin wasn't her godmother (apparently Darlene Love was though, so don't feel too bad for poor old Whitney on the "singers for godmothers" front).  Apparently, Aretha was her "honorary aunt" (whatever one of them is), but it's not sounding too controversial yet, is it?  But, apparently it all kicked off between Aretha and Dionne Warwick when Aretha didn't attend Whiney's funeral - apparently Dionne said she WAS her godmother and threats of libel cases were issued as a result.  Ladies, please!  I didn't read much past the first few albums of Whitney's page - suffice to say she did OK for herself up until that point.  I'm not normally one to swerve gossip, but Whitney's story is so sad and I'm just not in the mood for it - so I'll leave myself imagining she will always love me.  "Customers also listened to" all the sisters of soul - and Culture Club.  Obvious really.  But whilst I generally quite like Whitney, I found this album a bit too variable in quality and cheesiness for my liking and would stick to her greatest hits instead.

#248 : American Idiot - Green Day (2004)

The Nineties’ most irrepressible punk brats grew up with a bang. They also proved they could take on the kind of gargantuan old-school concept album that nobody else seemed to have the guts to try. Green Day raged against political complacency of mid-decade America with a Who-size sense of grandeur, zeroing in on the rock audience’s political outcasts and misfits as Billie Joe Armstrong snarled, “Welcome to a new kind of tension/All across the alien nation.”

We previously met Green Day at #375 and I particularly enjoyed their somewhat juvenile effort, but it was obvious to everyone at the time that they were simply along for the girls and the beer and they'd soon fizzle out, never amounting to anything.  But they pretty much continued doing the same thing throughout the late 90's and early 00's with a reasonable amount of success - and then they did this.  Boom.  I love this album and think it has everything - great songs (which sound fantastic loud), great lyrics (which have PLENTY to say), just enough variation and a great overall concept.  "American Idiot" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" are the best known bits but, for someone who's not always keen on a longer-than-average song, I really like "Jesus Of Surburbia" (although there's a good argument it's really 5 shorter songs glued together).  "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" and "Give Me Novocaine" are also highlights for me, but there really isn't a bad track on there - it's 57 minutes of politically prescient (or was it influential?) greatness with a great album cover to boot.

Wikipedia tells me I'm right (for once) and the entry is well worth a read.  It also tells me there's a musical based on the album which I imagine works quite well, although it feels unlikely I'm ever going to get to see it.  There's also an online mash-up by Dean Gray (get it?) which got a cease-and-desist order, so that probably means it's pretty good, so I might check it out!  The band's Wikipedia entry is huge, so I obviously only checked out the controversies section - apparently the biggest one is whether or not they're punk.  Ooooh - the decisions people have to make these days.  I think we can safely say they're not really punk, because Tre Cool's real name is Frank Wright and that's far too boring a name for him to count as punk.  "Customers also listened to" Blur, Weezer, Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance (no surprises there!).  I love this album and think (unlike most of the efforts so far) that it can safely be called one of the 500 greatest albums.

#247 : Love Deluxe - Sade (1992)

After releasing three multiplatinum records in a four-year flurry in the 1980s, Sade took another four years before putting out Love Deluxe in 1992. The group partially turned away from the soft, impeccable grooves that had made their previous LPs so successful, lacing the album opener, “No Ordinary Love,” with menacing guitars. But they remained masters at transcendent serenity: “I Couldn’t Love You More” verges on deep house as it overflows with contentment, while “Cherish the Day” wins with a simple entreaty, “Show me how deep love can be.”

I'm a big Sade fan but, being British, I'd never even heard of this album - it seems like we stopped caring about her after the 80s.  She was doing "OK" for herself in the US though, which is probably why Rolling Stone picked this album (although I'm pleased to see it's not the last time we'll see her).  Whilst I'd not heard the album, I was aware of "No Ordinary Love", so was expecting to like the album - and I did.  It's perfectly fine Sade (except for the dodgy instrumental to close out the album), where "perfectly fine" Sade just happens to be 1000% better than most of the other people trying to do such things, whilst making it all sound particularly effortless (although I bet loads of work goes into making it sound so effortless).  As an aside for Sade lovers, this list is worth checking out because it pointed me at what is quite arguably her finest track and it's one I was entirely unaware of beforehand (and "No Ordinary Love" comes in at #2).

Wikipedia has remarkably little to say about the album - she's not exactly the chirpiest when it comes to self-promotion, but it's interesting to compare the sales in the UK (100k - it sold more in France, Spain, Italy and Germany) with the US (3.4m - OK I guess).  For further information, we have to check out the entries for both Sade (the band) and Sade Adu (the singer) but it's fair to say that for people who've done very well for themselves, there's not too much information out there (and fair play to them for that!).  It won't surprise you to hear there's no "controversy" section to review ("Sade once wore a green dress with a red hat!") but there's quite an interesting story about how in the late 00s (when they hadn't been heard of for 7 years or so) some scam artist who had nothing to do with the band set up sade2009.com promoting her entirely fictional new album just to generate clicks for pay-per-view ads.  He was quickly shut down, but imagine everyone's surprise (including his) when a new Sade single drops in November 2009!

"Customers also listened to" Anita Baker and Toni Braxton (my wife loved a bit of Toni back in the day) - I don't think either can be considered adventurous choices for the average Sade fan!  I liked this album - not enough to distract me from Promise or Diamond Life, but it's still a fine listen.  And yes, she won best New Artist in 1984 - what different lives her and Whitney lead in the intervening years.

The sweet-sounding ladies take on the lads and come off second best in this round for me - well done to Green Day.

#252-250 - We're firmly in the 70s here!
#246-243 - Why the rule change?