And I found a dream that I could speak to

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

#191 : At Last! - Etta James (1961)

Etta James was a self-described “juvenile delinquent” when R&B band boss Johnny Otis took her under his wing and made her a precociously sexual teenage star with 1954’s “Roll With Me, Henry.” Seven years later, James bloomed into a mature, fiery interpreter on this spellbinding LP. Against Riley Hampton’s meaty orchestrations, James wraps her husky voice around strange bedfellows such as “Stormy Weather” and Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” injecting them with rock & roll heart. She hit the pop and R&B charts with three of the songs here and, in the process, created a new vocal model: the crossover diva. 

Etta James was a name I was aware of but that was about it - I knew her version of "I Just Want To..." but don't believe I would have been able to tell you it was by her.  Bizarrely though, either through the above description or through forgotten knowledge, this album sounded exactly like I was expecting it to - smoky vocals over lush orchestration backed by a strong beat.  I liked it but it all sounds pretty normal now - tune in to The Voice and you'll no doubt hear several fine examples of this sort of thing.  However, whilst I can't claim to be an expert of the time period, I can quite believe this was a breath of fresh air at the time for people wanting something a bit different.

Wikipedia has very little to say about the album other than people liked it and quite a few people have covered the title track, including Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Cyndi Lauper, Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera - which a reasonably talented bunch of singers.  Her Wikipedia entry is more forthcoming and starts by telling me her real name was Jamesetta, but goes sharply downhill after that including stories of abuse, addiction and prison time.  However, she did share the stage with many famous names over a long period of time and she also sang at the opening of the 1984 Olympics - it feels like I should have known more about her than I did.

"Customers also listened to" Aretha, Dusty, Nina, Ray, Otis and Louis - and Etta feels like she earned her place in such exalted company.  All in all, I found this an enjoyable listen and a worthwhile education.

#190 : Tommy - The Who (1969)

“Rock opera” is one way to describe the pioneering ambition in Pete Townshend’s musical exploration of childhood trauma, sexual abuse, repression, and spiritual release (after all, it does have an overture). Here’s another way: the slash and thunder of “My Generation” blown wide open. Driven by the hellbent drumming of Keith Moon, the Who surge and shine, igniting the drama in Townshend’s melodies (“Pinball Wizard,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It”). “We worked out the sociological implications, the religious implications, the rock implications,” Townshend said. “When we’d done that, we went into the studio, got smashed out of our brains, and made it.”

Our third visit with The Who and I'd obviously heard "Pinball Wizard", but I wasn't aware of hearing any of the other tracks, so it was my only frame of reference for this album.  Which made listening to the first half of this album a somewhat strange experience because it never seemed to get going - it just meandered around for a bit between "Overture" and "Underture" (yes, seriously) and then we were done.  There were more tracks in the second half that stood out for me (including, unsurprisingly, "Pinball Wizard") but they didn't hugely grab me - it feels like the album would take some work to fully get into.  Whether it would be worth the effort is impossible to say, but I can say I feel there's little chance of me putting in the effort to find out.  It won't surprise you to hear that I think it really didn't need to be a 75 minute double album.

Wikipedia describes the plot of the album and all I can think to say is "errr - yeah.  OK.".  It went down well though and they played it at Woodstock and The Isle Of Wight festival to great acclaim.  The "Other Incarnations" section is interesting and includes details of ballet, opera, orchestral, film and musical versions.  The orchestral version sounds particularly bizarre, with cast members being involved at various times including Steve Winwood, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, Richard Harris, Peter Sellars, David Essex, Elkie Brooks, Vivian Stanshall and Jon Pertwee.  The mind boggles - it makes the film cast look perfectly normal, including as it does such understated characters as Elton John, Oliver Reed, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Arthur Brown and Jack Nicholson.  All in all, the whole thing feels like an experiment that escaped from the lab and evolved in ways that people weren't necessarily expecting.

I've covered The Who and their feuding several times already, so we'll skip over that and look at what "customers also listened to" - a load of people we've already seen so far in this list, most of whom I have had unfavourable opinions on.  And I'm afraid this didn't really do it for me either.

#189 : Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney (1997)

“I wanna be your Joey Ramone,” Corin Tucker promised on Sleater-Kinney’s 1996 album, Call the Doctor. Their next record made good on that mythic ambition. When drummer Janet Weiss joined singer-guitarists Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, a riot-grrrl force of nature became one of the world’s most potent rock bands. Tucker’s indelible vibrato takes off with avenging-angel ferocity on songs like the almost impossibly explosive title track and “Words and Guitar,” an awe-inspiring statement of rock & roll’s power to transform a broken world.

I was aware of Sleater-Kinney more because of the numerous people that claim them as influences/inspiration rather than any particular awareness of their music.  Which is odd, because from what I understand they're right up my street - so I was really hoping to like this.  And, on an initial listen, I think there's potential for me to like it but it's not quite there yet.  I generally enjoyed the songs with their strong guitar/drum driven rhythm, but the vocal delivery was a little too quirky at first listen.  However, I often have nothing against quirk after a few listens, so I can see that I could grow to like it - it reminded me of both The Go-Gos and The Throwing Muses, both of whom I have a lot of time for (particularly the Muses) so I suspect I might try to revisit at some point.  But, for now, it's a possible rather than a definite like, although I'd have to say I enjoyed "One More Hour" and "Jenny".

The Wikipedia entry for the album is longer than you might expect for probably one of the lesser-known albums on the list, but the first half basically says "Finally, they found a decent drummer!" and the second half says "Which meant they made a decent record".  The band's entry is somewhat disappointing, basically just listing the albums as they made them although I was tickled to find out they got their name from Sleater Kinney Road, where their first practice room was sited.

"Customers also listened to" a LOAD of people I've never heard of, some albums I've met through this list which I don't see any similarity with and finally (when I scroll a long way down) The Breeders and The Throwing Muses (so I'm not going completely mad).  As I previously said, it's a possible rather than a definite like, but I'm interested to check out some of their other stuff - both the early stuff and the couple of albums they've put out in the last five years.

So, I can't go for the album that everyone else agrees is great and have to pick between the ladies.  My suspicion is that I probably will grow to at least like the Sleater-Kinney album, but I feel that Etta probably pips the round at the minute.

#194-192 - Well, not good, certainly
#188-186 - No girls allowed!