She came from Greece - she had a thirst for knowledge

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

#164 : At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash (1968)

By the late Sixties, Cash was ignored by country radio and struggling for a comeback. At Folsom Prison was a million-seller that reignited his career. A year later, he was writing liner notes for Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline and logging four weeks at Number One with his second prison album, At San Quentin. But Folsom Prison is essential Cash. Backed by a tough touring band, including fellow Sun Records alum Carl Perkins on guitar, Cash guffaws his way through “Cocaine Blues,” “25 Minutes to Go” (a countdown to an execution), and “Folsom Prison Blues,” with its line about shooting a man just to watch him die. The 2,000 inmates in attendance roar their approval.

I'm not a huge Cash fan - I find his vocal style somewhat annoying, although early Cash can be bearable at times.  And seeing as how this album is older than me, I think it's safe to call it early - but I still wasn't expecting too much.  But whilst it's not entirely up my street, I didn't mind it - it feels more like a strange bootleg tape than a fully fledged album with some of the interesting choices it makes - the inclusion of the announcer, the first tracks on the album not featuring Johnny at all and various places where he just seems to get the giggles.  It also managed to make me laugh, which I wasn't expecting - "Just to let you know, this is being recorded live to be released on Columbia Records, so we can't say 'hell' or 'shit' or anything like that".  I even liked some of the tracks as well - "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Cocaine Blues" stood out for me - and I also liked the combination of his and June Carter's (his soon-to-be second wife) voice.  It's a cool picture of him on the album cover as well.

Wikipedia tells us this was the first in a series of 4 prison albums - I guess he found something that worked for him and stuck with it.  Although, to be fair, he'd actually been performing in prisons since 1957 after his recording of "Folsom Prison Blues" resulted in requests from prisoners for him to do so.  It definitely turned his career around though - sales of over 3 million in the US.  His Wikipedia entry is impressive - the man certainly lived a full life and whilst he was certainly no angel, his heart seems like it was in the right place.  He also released over 60 albums and I suspect his fans will be somewhat disappointed that this is his only entry on the list - I know his American albums are very highly regarded, if not by me (sorry, folks!).

"Customers also listened to" other Johnny albums, The Highwaymen (featuring one Mr J Cash) and, that well known classic album, The Dukes Of Hazzard Original Soundtrack (he was good mates with Waylon Jennings - apparently they once shared an apartment, which I imagine was an "interesting" time).  Personally, I liked this and found more humour there than I was expecting - not enough to revisit it, I suspect.

#163 : Saturday Night Fever - Various Artists (1977)

In the mid-Seventies, the Bee Gees swept away the arch pop of their Sixties hits and applied their silvery-helium harmonies to the creamy syncopation of disco. They made great albums in their new incarnation (such as 1975’s Main Course), but none bigger or more influential than this movie soundtrack. Over the decades, Saturday Night Fever sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and its musical worth justifies the numbers. The Bee Gees dominate (“Stayin’ Alive” is the pulse of the picture as well as the album), but the Trammps’ hot-funk assault “Disco Inferno” and Tavares’ yearning “More Than a Woman” affirm disco’s black-R&B roots.

Unsurprisingly, I was aware of the main tracks from this album - how many people out there aren't?  I don't mind them, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy a full album's worth of even high quality disco - I just find I get to the point I've had enough of it.  And it turned out pretty much as expected - I think a single album featuring just The Bee Gees tracks would have probably hit the spot much more for me because, no matter what you think of disco, they are classic tracks.  But a 75 minute double album is way more than I needed though, I'm afraid.

Given how pivotal The Bee Gees music is to the soundtrack, the news from WIkipedia that they weren't involved in the film until post-production is somewhat surprising.  Apparently, Travolta was filmed dancing to "Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs but they couldn't clear the track for use, so David Shire (who had scored the film) wrote something else which fit with the moves, but that wasn't used because The Bee Gees got involved and knocked out all the songs over a weekend - not a bad effort, I guess.  The album was #1 in the US for 24 weeks straight but only 18 weeks straight in the UK - global sales well in excess of 40 million copies.  It's weird that you are told 1977/78 was the time of punk, but all the time disco was ruling the roost.  Not for long though - although the album won the Grammy for Album Of The Year, it's the only disco album to do so.  So far, anyway :-). And whilst it's not a Bee Gees album, it's worth mentioning their lengthy Wikipedia entry in passing - they did a surprising amount in their time!

"Customers also listened to" a random mix of disco people and male singer-songwriters - I'm not entirely sure what draws a Bill Withers fan to this album, but hey.  It features some fine tracks which are top examples of the disco genre, but the whole album is far too much for me, I'm afraid.

#162 : Different Class - Pulp (1995)

Pulp blew up in the Brit-pop scene of the 1990s, yet Jarvis Cocker outclassed all his rivals as a master storyteller and wit. This man was a born rock star in the Bowie mode, striking a pose in his thrift-shop razzmatazz, but with his own sly sense of compassion. On Different Class, he croons his breathy tales of working-class lust, envy, and dread, over the swishy, trash-disco grooves of “Common People” and “Disco 2000.” You can hear the shabby glamour in his voice when he sighs, “I’ve kissed your mother twice/And now I’m working on your dad.” But in the finale, “Bar Italia,” he makes a post-clubbing hangover sound like the most romantic adventure in the world.

Well, like the last round, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise to any Johnny Cash or Bee Gee fans who thought they were in with a chance of winning this round, coz you too are shit out of luck.  I've always thought of myself as an 80's album kinda guy because they were my formative years, but what we're finding here is that I'm maybe more of a mid 90's album kinda guy - although it's possible the fact that I had more money to buy stuff plays a big part in this.

In true "I was there before every one else" mode, I'd bought and liked their previous album His'n'Hers (which was their 3rd album, 15 years after they'd formed - so I can't claim to be too much of early adopter), but Different Class is - well, what would be a good phrase for an album which is a step up in quality?  I don't know, something like "it's way better" seems to cover it.  "Common People" and "Disco 2000" are obvious highlights, but there is much well observed beauty and ugliness to be found throughout the album - I'd nominate "Misshapes" and "Underwear" as my lesser-known highlights.  I suspect most people that are going to like the album already know it, but if you've somehow missed it then check it out - what's the worst that can happen?  Apart from maybe leaving an important part of your brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire?

Wikipedia agrees with me (of course!) and includes a comment from a critic (and a US one at that!) which isn't the usual nonsense - "a brilliant, eccentric, irresistible pop album about fucking and fucking up" - this seems pretty accurate to me.  Despite this kind comment, the album didn't exactly blow up in the US - sales of 40,000 as opposed to over a million here.  Wikipedia also includes a fine story about the album cover - the couple were trying to do their wedding on the cheap and asked a photographer friend to do it, but he was too busy doing stuff for Pulp.  Until he rang back saying "I'll do it for free, provided I can bring along cardboard cutouts of the group" - and they had no idea it was going to be the cover until they saw the adverts.  

As you'd expect, their Wikipedia page is a thing of beauty featuring sentences such as "The new incarnation of Pulp survived a number of ill-fated gigs (including one at a rugby club at Brunel University which ended in a riot)", "recognised Cocker from his charismatic sales techniques in his part-time job at the local fish market", "Cocker fell out of a window while trying to impress a girl with a Spider-man impression" and "However, with British comedian and former solicitor Bob Mortimer acting as legal representation, he was released without charge".  What more motivation do you need to read it?

"Customers also listened to" Parklife - that was always going to be the case, wasn't it?  Also, a load of the "second tier" Britpop bands - Manics, Suede, Supergrass, Catatonia - and there are some fine efforts in there.  But this exceeds them all - it's a very fine album indeed.

A mostly enjoyable and mixed selection covering a wide range of time and styles, but there's only one winner in my eyes - so well done, Jarvis and co.

#167-165 - Just slightly biased
#161-159 - So the winner is the album you liked the least?