I'm a road runner honey and you can't keep up with me
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
20.08.17 : Franks Wild Years - Tom Waits (1987)
I love, love, love "Frank's Wild Years" (with the apostrophe) ever since I saw him play it on (I think) The Tube - "Frank put on a top forty station - got on the Hollywood Freeway, headed north. Never could stand that dog". And in my head, this translates into loving Tom Waits - and that stays true right up until the point where I actually listen to any other of his stuff . Like this. Or, in fact, this album - it's a load of old growly tinpot nonsense. And, confusingly, "Frank's Wild Years" isn't on Franks Wild Years, but Swordfishtrombones - which annoys me even further. I have a soft spot for "Down In The Hole" given its place as the theme music for The Wire, but different seasons used versions by different artists and Tom's version does not come off well in comparison - The Blind Boys Of Alabama version is particularly good.
The channel had one thumbs up and one comment on The Wire - I'm taking the rest as a tactful silence (as opposed to calling it "growly tinpot nonsense"). Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot to say but I did learn the songs were written for a play - which is not a play I'll be going to see. It also randomly tells me it got to #14 in Switzerland, #83 in Australia and #115 in the US - which surprised me because I thought it would have charted in the UK. And I checked and it did (#20) but Wikipedia just chose to ignore that fact.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people there's no danger of me listening to. Just not for me, I'm afraid.
20.08.18 : Honkin' On Bobo - Aerosmith (2004)
I'm not a huge fan of Aerosmith, finding their antics, posturing and feuding somewhat tiresome - but I'm also aware that the band have been around for "a bit" (51 years and counting) so it's slightly redactive to say "I don't like their stuff". And I had no idea which era this album came from, so I read up about it before starting - and I had some hope that an album of rock covers of 50s/60s blues songs might be different enough for me to not hate, at least. And yeah, I didn't mind it - obviously there's no danger of me ever listening to it again, but the songs are done well enough, there's enough skill on display to appreciate and it sounds like they're enjoying themselves. I would say however that if anyone else did this album absolutely no-one would have bought it - I can't quite decide whether that makes it a good thing or a bad thing though. It's also a terrible album name and has an awful album cover as well.
The channel had three thumbs up but not a lot more to say about it. Wikipedia has a fair bit on the album - noting that the band only recorded stuff when they were in a good mood (wouldn't it be great if we could all work on such a basis). It was well received both critically and commercially - one critic said "instead of making "respectable" cover versions, they make quite unrespectable cover versions". Another one said he "considers the album to be overdone, which is what Aerosmith is good at" - which seems a reasonable comment to me. It also tells us the band chose the album name because it sounded "jazzish/nastyish" and again I'd struggle to argue with that.
"Customers also listened to" Joe Perry and Steven Tyler albums - I wonder if they've ever been in a band together? I was all ready to hate this, but I actually didn't mind it at all.
20.08.19 : Plastic Beach - Gorillaz (2010)
I used to quite like Gorillaz and I seem to recall liking this album - and then I had the misfortune to see them play Glastonbury (instead of U2, who I really wanted to see). And omg, it was such a load of self-obsessed, pretentious twaddle that I have consciously avoided them ever since. Until now, anyway...
And yeah, putting aside my unpleasant experience, the album is actually fine - it's musically ambitious and generally works well enough. However, it wasn't good enough to expunge the memories from my mind, so I shall continue to avoid it, I'm afraid.
The channel gave this 8 "ok hand" emojis - I've no idea what the conversion rate from "ok hand" to "thumbs up" is though (safest to assume parity, methinks). A few comments about how "On Melancholy Hill" is a top track so I made sure I properly listened to it (meh, it's OK). This album strikes me as the sort of thing that someone would have gone overboard on Wikipedia about - and that's exactly what's happened (306 milliPeppers) Needless to say most of it is self-obsessed, pretentious twaddle, so I'll skip over it, but I will list the guest artists on the album - "Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bashy, Kano and Little Dragon". Which I think most people would agree is a pretty eclectic mix.
"Customers also listened to" MGMT, MIA, Foster The People and The White Stripes - none of which I'd overly see as a direct link, but all in the same area of some bits of the album. Overall, I grudgingly admit this isn't a terrible album but I still can't forgive them...
...which is why the round is going to Aerosmith, which isn't necessarily something I would have expected.
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