He carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down

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

#173 : In Utero - Nirvana (1993)

After Nevermind went megaplatinum, Kurt Cobain detested how the band had drawn frat boys and homophobe fans — “plankton,” he called them, adding, “Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.” Nirvana hired indie-rock producer Steve Albini to record their new album, resulting in a record sonically forbidding enough that Geffen Records asked them to clean it up. In “Scentless Apprentice,” he screams, “Go away!” at no one and everyone, summarizing this powerfully unsettling third album. Melodies peak through the clouds of his wrath, especially on “All Apologies,” “Dumb,” and “Pennyroyal Tea,” but the prevailing mood is queasy, like a visit to the inside of Cobain’s aching stomach.

Do you remember that time you did something really great at work and everyone told you how good a job you'd done - even the twats you didn't like?  And so, just to show them, you did a really shit job next time - just to see if they'd still tell you how great you were.  And they did!  Ha - that showed them, eh?!?

No, of course you don't.  And neither do I.  But we're not Kurt Cobain, are we?

There are some redeeming tracks ("Heart Shaped Box", "Dumb", "No Apologies") but mostly this is just noise with some half decent guitarwork and some better drumming involved.  I'm perfectly happy if this is the album Nirvana wanted to record (and you can be sure it wasn't the album the record company were looking for) and I also suspect they'd be perfectly happy for me to declare I don't like it.  Or, more likely, just not care!

Amusingly, when you try to search for the album on Wikipedia you get redirected to the entry for "uterus", but when we get a bit more specific then we can read the nonsense the critics wrote about it, except for the odd brave soul - "In Utero is noxious noise with no redeeming value".  I'm also somewhat surprised that Wikipedia seems to view the commercial success as justification of the album's greatness - they literally could have released anything after Nevermind and it would have been successful.  And some people like myself might consider this album as proof of that argument.  I did like this snippet on the recording sessions though - "On occasions when work on a song mix was not producing desired results, the band and Albini took the rest of the day off to watch nature videos, set things on fire, and make prank phone calls for amusement" - it's good to see that even for Nirvana there's no problem big enough that it can't be addressed by setting some things on fire.

The band's Wikipedia entry is unsurprisingly somewhat lengthy - even more so when you get diverted to the entries for the band members.  It's interesting that one of the two surviving members plumped for continued global megastardom and the other one played in smaller bands before retiring to a farm - I guess we all have our own way of dealing with things.  And my way of dealing with this album is not read any further about the band until we get to Nevermind.

"Customers also listened to" Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and Blur, who pop in unexpected company surprisingly frequently.  But this is most definitely a "No" from me.

#172 : Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon And Garfunkel (1970)

On their fifth and final studio album, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were pulling away from each other: Simon assembled some of it while Garfunkel was in Mexico starting his acting career with a part in the film version of Catch-22. Garfunkel vetoed Simon’s song “Cuba Sí, Nixon No,” and Simon nixed Garfunkel’s idea for a Bach chorale. What remains is the partnership at its best: wry, wounded songs with healing harmonies such as “The Boxer,” though the gorgeous title track was sung by Garfunkel alone, despite his resistance. “He felt I should have done it,” Simon told Rolling Stone in 1972. “And many times, I’m sorry I didn’t do it.”

I'm not entirely sure I need to comment on this album - I suspect there's no-one out there that's going to like it that isn't already aware of it.  And I include myself amongst their number - all the tracks are pretty good, but "The Boxer", "Cecilia" and "The Only Living Boy In New York" stand out for me.  I must admit to "Bye, Bye Love" seeming somewhat incongruous though with it being the only obvious cover (although "El Condor Pasa" is also a cover, but with new lyrics) and the only live song - I don't really understand why they decided to do that.  But it's a very listenable album (unlike its immediate neighbours in the list).  Given how badly the pair were getting along at the time, I find the album cover interesting with Mr Simon blocking our view of Mr Garfunkel - possibly entirely coincidental, but who knows?

The Wikipedia entry is lengthy and contains a few nuggets of information in amongst the text, but you have to search for them.  It also notes that the critical reception for the album was mixed - overproduced seems to be the most common complaint.  Their Wikipedia entry is pretty interesting and includes a priceless publicity photo from 1957 - so young!  I scoured the entry to try and find out why they didn't get on and there doesn't appear to be any one reason - it just seems like they don't really like each other very much.

"Customers also listened to" American Pie by Don McLean - I have a suspicion we'll be seeing that album later in the list.  This is our only visit with the melodic duo on this list (although it won't surprise you to hear we'll be seeing Mr Simon again) which is a bit of a shame because people argue equally for "Bookends" as being their best album, which I've never listened to - maybe I'll find some time when this is all over.  I like this album - but if you don't know it, then the chances are you've been avoiding it because you know you won't, so I won't waste your time and mine trying to convince you otherwise.

#171 : Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth (1988)

Sonic Youth took an ecstatic, specifically New York sound created in the late 1970s by the band Television and by composers Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, and turned it into an international clamor. On this double album, they make a move away from doomy riddles about pop culture and toward joyful riddles about pop culture. Their unconventional guitar tunings result in jarring chords and overtones, but also an array of gnarled hooks. Thurston Moore’s and Lee Ranaldo’s guitars are like antennae picking up otherworldly signals and channeling them into the scuzzy urban haze of “Teen Age Riot” and “Eric’s Trip,” and on “The Sprawl,” bassist Kim Gordon sums up the album’s measured chaos: “Does ‘Fuck you’ sound simple enough?”

Our second visit with Sonic Youth on this list and last time things didn't end well - and apparently that was their most accessible album, so things aren't boding well for this, which is generally accepted to be their masterpiece.  But, dear reader, I listened to it anyway...

No.  Just no.  I didn't mind some of the music and there are strong rhythms throughout, but the vocal delivery is just soooo annoying and repetitive.  And a 70 minute double album was definitely not what I was in the mood for.  So no.

Wikipedia tells me I'm wrong and this was one of the greatest albums of the 80s, if not of all time.  Well, I don't usually argue with them but in this case, I'm telling them they're wrong.  End of.  And I'm not even going to revisit the band's page because I'm so annoyed with them.

"Customers also listened to" Pixies, Minutemen and Dinosaur Jr - well, at least we've been spared one of them on this list (although that's not fair on Minutemen, which I was quite surprised to like).  But I did not like this album one little bit.

So - can you guess who wins this round then?  Go on - I reckon you can...

#176-174 - Three albums I'm thoroughly unqualified to comment on
#170-168 - Expectations pleasantly surpassed