Lent you my favourite dictionary - came back with ripped out pages
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
Never heard of them, but it's got to be ambient-esque, surely? And it's not quite ambient, but it's certainly not far off - Wikipedia would probably call it "electronic music" if it had an entry for the album or the artist. It's not something I'd naturally choose to listen to (I do find instrumental albums don't float my boat quite as much as ones with words on them), but it's done well enough and paints quite a pleasing sonic landscape. And at 27 minutes, it fair rattled by so I couldn't accuse them of outstaying their welcome. And it's also a very pretty album cover!
The channel gave this seven thumbs up and a couple of positive comments. As I said, Wikipedia has nothing on album or artist - a quick check on Facebook tells me they're from Motherwell and they've been around for 9 years or so. They were also hoping that 2021 was going to be better than 2020 - I think the jury's still out on that one, I'm afraid.
"Customers also listened to" "no similar recommendations" - how rude! But I liked this more than I like similar offerings, so there was obviously something to it (even if I've no idea what that might be).
I've had a couple of visits with Blondie previously - one successful and one, well, not quite so much. So I went in not quite knowing what to expect, but the fact that I'd never heard of the album didn't exactly fill me with confidence. But looking at the track list, the presence of "The Tide Is High", "Rapture" and "Call Me" gave me hope!
Opening the album with an orchestral, instrumental track which finishes with a random monologue from Ms Harry seems an "interesting" choice - and the interesting choices continue with there being a strange mix of musical styles being deployed. Overall, I think it falls somewhere between my two previous visits - it's not generally horrible, but slightly jarring. However, when you listen to "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture" again, you remember exactly how odd they are - particularly that rap (which goes on forever!). So maybe "slightly jarring" isn't such a surprise.
The channel gave this seven thumbs up, one blonde haired woman (fine emoji selection!) and a couple of positive comments (including one on her fantastic voice - and believe me when I say that's most definitely no longer the case having seen her at Glasto about five years ago). Wikipedia has a reasonable amount on the album, noting it's a radical departure for the band and features a wide range of musical genres (although nowhere does it use the phrase "slightly jarring"). It also tells me that "The Tide Is High" is a cover (The Paragons from 1967) - I assume I must have known this at some point, but had totally forgotten about it. Critical reception is not discussed (I suspect they hated it) but it did OK commercially - #7 in the US and #3 in the UK.
"Customers also listened to" Katrina & The Waves, The Knack, Eddie Money and Pat Benatar - which seems a very odd mix indeed. An interesting rather than enjoyable album for me, I think.
I think I've heard of Low - it's kinda downbeat stuff, ain't it? And whilst I think I'm right, I can't help but wonder if I'm just thinking of "Low" by REM - so now I'm a bit confused and I guess I should probably listen to it. And yeah, it's pretty downbeat stuff - in fact, I reckon they'd do a good cover of "Low" (I checked - they haven't). But it's very beautiful downbeat stuff - I really liked this and was surprised I didn't pick up on it at the time. A most pleasing introduction indeed.
The channel gave this one thumbs up, one star and a few positive comments - I was expecting a bit more of an outpouring of nostalgia, if I'm honest. Wikipedia has the following on the album - "Long Division is the second studio album by American indie rock band Low. It was released on May 23, 1995 on Vernon Yard Recordings". So now you know as much as I do.
"Customers also listened to" Bark Psychosis, Nina Nastasia and Xiu Xiu - all of whom I can tell you absolutely nothing about! But, as I said earlier, I really liked this and will be making an effort to check more of their stuff out.
All of which means that Low run off with the round for me.
21.04.30 - A surprising winner
21.05.10 - One of my favourite albums by one of my favourite artists
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