Badlittlekitten

Hello all. Welcome to my journal thingie. I apologise for the pathetic title (a twist on a Smiths lyric). I wanted to call it Talk About The Passion but that's already been used (dam him/her!). This is good for me, as I find writing about music quite therapeutic, plus it's nice to do something more proactive with all this music I surround myself with. Occasionally you might find me ranting and rambling about something. In this case just bear with me!

Aaaaaaaanyway . . . lets look at an album.

Album Review





R.E.M. - Green
Warner Bros, 1988

Best tracks; 'Stand', 'You Are The Everything', 'Orange Crush', 'Get Up', 'The Wrong Child'.

For no rational reason I can think of, I stuck this on the other night and was surprised to find that it was hitting all the senses that only a new record you haven't heard before usually does. I'm a huge R.E.M. fan. Have been for donkeys. But I only really listen to their jangly, Byrd's inspired, folk - punk early stuff. What I have discovered is that this is the only R.E.M album that sees me repeatedly grinning like a buffoon, be it the beguiling beauty of' 'You are Everything' or the musical jokes played on 'Stand' (cheesy fairground organ intro, impromptu slap bass- BAMM! "stand in the place where you are", cue Beach Boys pastiche harmonies, wah-wah wanky solo... key change!).

Fully shaking off their cult college rock days and confident in their non ambiguous, non mumbley direction, also with a nice new major label deal, this is the sound of a band having fun, before they grew too wise and too stinking rich. On 'Orange Crush' and 'Turn You Inside Out' they rock out in their restrained trad way, but it's alright cos the chorus to 'Orange Crush'- which is a song about the herbicide, Agent Orange, used in the Vietnam war- is immense. It's only singer Micheal Stipe yelling something nonsensical into a megaphone, and bassist Mike Mills going "Oooooo", but it's powerful; partly because of the killer rhythm sections backbone, partly because Stipe sounds so full of irritation, and mainly because of the androgynous beauty of Mill's voice. 'Pop song 89' is a goofy throwaway that wears it name on its sleeve. 'Get Up' thwacks you from under the duvet with its chugging verses, giddy harmonies and a solo played on music boxes.

The more serious moments pack a hefty punch. 'World Leader Pretend' is ripe with images of weaponry and conflict, and the opening line, "I sit at this table and wage war on myself, it seems like its all . . . its all for nothing", hits me hardest, as Stipe goes to battle with his very being. The song is sung in a sombre, almost intimidating tone that I've never heard in any other R.E.M song. The band seemed to acknowledge the relevance of the words as it was the only song lyrics they printed on sleeve until 1998s 'Up'.

For years Stipe was used to mumbling 'enigmatic' stuff into his fringe, but his burgeoning confidence as a vocalist and lyricist is obvious, especially on 'You Are Everything', where he finds comfort in the mundane with lines like "here's a scene, your in the back seat laying down, the windows wrap around to the sound of the travel and the engine". In the background, crickets chirp and an accordion drifts lazily on the breeze. The second verse is even better,"'I think about this world a lot and i cry and I've seen the films and the eyes, and I'm in this kitchen, everything is beautiful and she is so beautiful". When he does go cryptic, on 'Hairshirt', his vocals carry the emotional weight. Only Stipe can sing guff like "and i can hang my hair shirt away up high in the attic of the wrong dogs like chest" and produce a wee lump in my throat.

And I haven't even mentioned the mandolins! A couple of these tracks have dated poorly, but Peter Buck's chords and beatific plucking on 'The Wrong Child', the aforementioned 'Hairshirt' and 'You are the Everything' is stunning, lending some of this album a timeless quality.

After this R.E.M embarked on a big stadium tour - the natural conclusion to this record, and took an unprecedented (for them) two years break before recording their next album. In that time they lost some of their hunger and never quite regained their verve. But If your curious about this once great band, this is probably the album I'd recommend; it's more accessible than their early 80s stuff, and less of a sedative than their later records. Yeah, save yourself some energy. Choose to go Green.

8/10

Might have to rock out these dance moves next time I'm in town.

__________________
'Said do you feel it? Do you feel it when you TOUCH ME?. THERE'S A FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!' The Stooges. Dirt.

https://soundcloud.com/bad-little-kittens
My Top 100 LPs
My Top 52 Indie Tracks Of The 21st Century (incomplete)

Janszoon

Nice review Badlittlekitten! It's great to see a promising new journal in here. I'm looking forward to reading more.

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Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Dr_Rez

Not my favorite REM stuff but you made up for it with good review and great thread title.

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Badlittlekitten

Thanks peeps

Glad at least one person likes the thread title. Was debating that for ages ha.
Next up I'm gonna write up a Badlittle overview of the best albums from 1994. I have a few albums I need to listen to first but hopefully it will be up sometime tonight (yeah I get up to some CRAZY business on Friday nights )

__________________
'Said do you feel it? Do you feel it when you TOUCH ME?. THERE'S A FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!' The Stooges. Dirt.

https://soundcloud.com/bad-little-kittens
My Top 100 LPs
My Top 52 Indie Tracks Of The 21st Century (incomplete)

Badlittlekitten

Over the course of my journalistic blabbering I intend to look at albums from certain years, and highlight the good, the bad and the ugly. My reviews will be kept short as I will save the rambles for individual reviews. The best albums are highly recommended, and there should be something here for everyone. “Why am you doing this?” I hear you murmur. Well cos it’s fun, and it cures some ocd symptoms and cos I love you dear humble reader.

I shall start with the year 1994, for no other reason than that the numbers were floating around inside my skullbox.

Pictures Of Me
Badlittlekittens Significant Albums Of A Randomly Picked Year - 1st Edition.

Kurt Cobain shot his brains to death in 1994. This was quite a significant event, especially in the UK, as not only was a hero to many now gone for good, but it signalled grunges death knell. Throughout the early 90s the British rock charts were cluttered with grungey misery merchants and charisma free, post-shoegaze bands. Now the grunge poster boy was gone, new rules could be written, and kids started looking closer to home for their musical nourishment. Groups like Suede and Blur’s reaction to the wounded grunge scene was to revel in their Englishness. And so begat Britpop. . . which was **** really wasn’t it? A few good bands, and a landfill of pub-rock, retro dullards. It was a lame press term for anything white, English and sporting a bowl cut. I mean groups like Massive Attack and The Prodigy meant more to the average kid on the street than most of the rock dinosaurs. But heaven forbid we class multi-racial acts as British pop.

America had its own strain of retro dullards in the form of Guided By Voices etc. But there were some interesting noises about too, especially in the Slint inspired post-rock of Tortoise. Outside of Britpop there were also a handful of lost British post-rock acts like Pram, Bark Psychosis and Laika sticking at it, despite knowing that the Britpop obsessed press/public/major labels weren't interested.

In hip-hop land, Dr. Dre’s sleazy, stoned G-funk sound was ubiquitous and peaked with Warren G’s superb ‘Renegade’ single. Nas ensured that the east coast scene stopped receiving a bitch slapping from the west in commercial terms, with the classic Illmatic. Actually, the most interesting hip-hop record, sonically, in 1994, isn’t really a hip-hop record at all – Portishead’s Dummy.

Henceforth, the pleasantries . . . .

Honourable Mentions:
Notorious BIG – Ready to Die
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Vol 2
The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation
Pavement – Crooked Crooked Rain
Nick Cave – Let Love In

Best Albums Of 1994

(In order of letters)


I only very recently, ahem, ‘acquired’ this album. A post–rock master class in the Talk Talk vain. A good album to go to sleep to. Its atmosphere and deep bass tones will creep up and consume you and send you into a dreamy, meditative state.




There was never any doubt in Parklife’s placing. After all, it was Blur that got me obsessed with music in the first place. What strikes me after all these years is how much depth it has. From the sneering satire of ‘Girls and Boys’ and ‘Tracey Jacks’ to the emotional sincerity of ‘This Is A Low’ and ‘Badhead’, to the daft radio jingles of ‘Debt Collector’ and ‘Lot 101. The diversity in Damon Albarn’s songwriting skills became apparent with this album, yet it sounds de-fragmented and ornate. Blur revived a British pop tradition that went something like Beatles>Kinks>Barret>Bowie>XTC>Smiths and injected cheery, sharp and snappy songs back into rocks veins. Musically it’s exquisite, a ****tail of strings, sax, horns, keyboards, a flute, and of course Grahams Coxon’s frantic guitar, making things that little bit messier. Finally, the lyrics are a classic evocation of Brit escapism in lottery tickets, cheap holidays, cheap sex, binge-drinking, casual violence and err . . . cross dressing. Maybe that’s just me then.




A delightful sampledelic fusion of pirate radio sounds (jungle, drum and bass) and Future Days era Can. With added chanteuse vocals and flutes. What more could you possibly want?







Tight, concise and a perfect artefact of street poetry. One of the best albums of any genre, and one its maker couldn’t live up to. It’s got everything you could want from a hip-hop record – articulate lyrics and imagery, killer jazz/soul/funk beats (courtesy of DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Q tip) and some of the greatest rapping ever recorded. Honourable mention has to go to A.Z, whose verse on ‘Life’s A Bitch’ is magical in its head spinning complexity. Also ‘Halftime’ is one of my favourite songs of all time; funky, sexy, mean and hilarious.





I’ve seen this described as “Hip-hop on life support”, which is great but overlooks the tortured ghostly vocals of Beth Gibbons. She’s like a lady Thom Yorke. I’m sure, humble reader, that you’ve heard this album by now. If not, what are you thinking?? Dummy.


Yes, retro pub-rock dullards perhaps, but oooh! what a noise! And what a thrill. Because for fifty minutes, lightning was captured in a bottle and the Gallagher’s and co’s hunger burns bright for the one and only time. The excitement, the agro, and the working class ennui is neatly summed up with the line, “Is is worth the aggrevatiiiiiiioonnn to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for”. The fact that the rhythm section’s crap and that most of their riffs have been nicked from Berry/Keef/Bolan is irrelevant, because when Liam sings “You make me laaaaf, give me ya autograaaf”, and Noel plays a stoopid, bleeding, swaggering hooligan guitar solo to end ‘Supersonic’, you feel like the coolest, meanest, sexiest son of a bitch alive. And that’s good rock n’ rolls job.


For me, the pinnacle of modern RnB. A treasure trove of treats, from the lush and sensual ‘Digging On You’, to the bubbly, ‘controlled frenzy’ beats of anti-gangsta classic ‘Waterfalls’ and infidelity anthem ‘Creep’. Smooth, funky and sexual in all the right places.

Tortoise – Tortoise

Jazz and dub tinged post-rock classic. Like Spiderland but even quieter. Allmusic.com's Glenn Swan will do this album better justice than me with his description; “Tortoise sounds like a dark and wonderful garage full of dusty instruments. It's like looking at Avedon photographs -- the crevices and quirky imperfections are so richly explored that they become things of beauty”. That’s it in a eggshell. Its minimalism and subtlety will bind you in a spell, until closing track ‘Cornpone Brunch’ rises to a crescendo and launches you into the stratosphere.

Dishonorable Mentions

I don’t know you, but I think I hate you . . .

Green Day – Dookie
So basically Green Day made a ‘punk’ album that airbrushed away any challenging/interesting/disturbing bits and coated it with inane teen angst lyrics and sold billions. Cue record companies signing up every Tom, Dick and Harry with a punk riff, dumbing down their sound, and cynically marketing it to every bullied middle class geek in town until this trash was now what was considered ‘punk’.
But do you want to know what really makes Dookie such an evil record? (deep breath) It’s enjoyable! How can you resist the hooks of ‘Burnout’, ‘The She’ or ‘Pulling Teeth.’ How can you not relate to lyrics like ‘Masturbations lost its fun and I’m fucking lazy!!” That was the point of course, and they did their job well, them evil bastards.

I Swear To Ya Son, They Were Good Back In The Day!

The Stone Roses - Second Comming
The Roses sink into the pub-rock puddle that they were partly responsible for. 'Daybreak' is mega though.

R.E.M. - Monster
They sound knackered already. I wish they gave it up around this point. Mike Mills would make a great bank clerk.

Frankly, My Dear, I Don’t Give A Damn . . . .

Nirvana – Unplugged In New York

Jeff Buckley – Grace
I know some people that would literally die for this record, but it’s never done it for me. There’s the odd flash of guitar brilliance from Jeff but it doesn’t compensate for the session muso dullness and the choir boy mewling. He's old man was better.

Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral
Just a slick version of what the Young Gods/Big Black had done so much better. Also I despise Trent whatever his name is and his faux-angst, misery-for-a-profit persona.

.................................................. .................................................. ....


And that’s it chaps and chapettes, my significant albums of the randomly picked year of 1994! (must change title). Hope you'll join us next time on this rollercoaster ride of pain and pleasure, praise and damnation.

Feel free to let us know if I’ve missed anything, or to recommend something I haven’t mentioned, or to call me a dick head.

__________________
'Said do you feel it? Do you feel it when you TOUCH ME?. THERE'S A FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!' The Stooges. Dirt.

https://soundcloud.com/bad-little-kittens
My Top 100 LPs
My Top 52 Indie Tracks Of The 21st Century (incomplete)

Badlittlekitten

I'm currently playing through Zelda Link To The Past (first time none the less!). It's a hard but bloody good game. Anyway, when I went into the Dersert dungeon, my ten year old brother sitting beside me tensed up and said, "this is gonna be scary". And I agreed, such is the ghostly power of the first couple of bars of the dungeon music. It reminded me of all the spooky drag/witch house stuff thats about at the moment from the likes of White Ring and oOoOO etc.





Compare.







Ok, their not quite the same. But you get the point.

__________________
'Said do you feel it? Do you feel it when you TOUCH ME?. THERE'S A FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!' The Stooges. Dirt.

https://soundcloud.com/bad-little-kittens
My Top 100 LPs
My Top 52 Indie Tracks Of The 21st Century (incomplete)

Alexb

Thanks for the review!!

Badlittlekitten

Album Review

Bjork -Homogenic
1997 One Little Indian.


Key tracks; 'Unravel', 'Alarm Call', 'Joga', '5 Years', 'Hunter'.


After spending several years in the fast lane, enjoying the trendiest clubs London had to offer, and happy to cooperate with the incessant attention of the British press, Bjork discovered that fame wasn't worth her life. After some mentalist fan had failed in his attempt to blow our sweet pixie goddess's brains out, Bjork fled back to her homeland with new found appreciation for Iceland's nature and geometry and took to a mountain top "with a radio and good batteries", to "play a joyous tune, and free the human race from suffering".

'Hunter', is a perfect opener, it's transfixing military beats underlining her mission statement of home bound comfort after limelight regret, and she memorable sings, "I thought I could organise freedom, how Scandinavian of me"
For much of Homogenic, her third album, Bjork envisioned a auditory version of the landscapes that surrounded her - erupting volcanoes as beats, shimmering glaciers as strings. Impossible perhaps, but something best exemplified by 'Joga', where she sings, "Emotional landscapes they puzzle me and push me up to this state of emergency" while the music backing her sounds as if it's constantly on the rise, until producer Mark Bell's (of LFO) bass line comes in and we find ourselves at the peak of the mountain, "how beautiful to be!". I'm gonna get all music geeky on ya for a moment cos, for me, the moment in this song is that ascending B chord played on a violin at 2:54. It only lasts a second, but the timing and the context and its space within the song lend it some kind of majestic power - adoration, melancholia, Utopia, sense of relief - some of the various feelings that this haunting, mysterious note has somehow transmitted to me. The closing seconds to the track are extraordinary too. There's some reverbed keyboard notes ripping at the fabric as Bjork lays on the mountain top, relaxed and relieved, wailing sensually, and a weeping accordion brings us back to Earth.
Beneath the bumbling lava and jagged rocks of distorted percussion, there's a lot of heart in this album. Bjork had just had a messy break up from a famous relationship with Tricky, and the remaining scars penetrate '5 Years', 'Immature' and the albums watery core 'Unravel'. Over a beat that sounds like it's drowning in an ocean, a doleful, sighing synth chord lurks like a whale around the emotional wreckage, and threatens to swallow it whole. Bjork pores every bit of herself into the words of the verse only to find a smiling devil thieving her heart and that, "he'll never return it". 'Unravel' is Bjorks finest song, and from front to back it's a perfect expression of dead hope and love beyond grasp. On the brighter side, the gleeful 'Alarm Call', is a great elastic pop song. Bjork sounds over the moon, especially during those lovely Icelandic/nonsense ad libs she likes to do. And the bit where Bjork turns into Tracy from Dagenham and goes' "I'm no fackin' Buddhist, but this is enlightenment", is one of the greatest music moments ever.

Say what you want about them two Sgt Pepper omissions, for me the greatest misjudgement and musical tragedy is the inclusion of the legless Howie Bernstein version of "All Is Full Of Love" to close this album. It's so dull that the stop button has usually been pressed already, and Bjork's beautiful take on the 'love is all around' cliché gathers moss. When you put this album onto your I Pod, do yourself a favour and stick on the remixed single version of 'All Is Full Of Love' as a replacement, and marvel in awe at what could've been.

(8/10)

__________________
'Said do you feel it? Do you feel it when you TOUCH ME?. THERE'S A FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!' The Stooges. Dirt.

https://soundcloud.com/bad-little-kittens
My Top 100 LPs
My Top 52 Indie Tracks Of The 21st Century (incomplete)

Gavin B.

Talk about syncronicity... I had just posted this (below) Sonos cover of Björk's song, Jóga on my YouTube channel & then surfed over to Music Banter and the first music diary I selected contained your newly posted review of Homogenic. While Sonos is no match for Björk's original recording, I think Sonos adds their own unique perspective to the original with the 6 person acappella interpretation without any musical instruments.



Thanks for the review of Homogenic which along with Debut, Post and Vespertine are as brilliant a quartet of albums as any pop music artist of the '90s eras.

Björk was one of a handful of visionary artists & groups that brought electronica to the musical mainstream in the early '90s. After seeing Björk & Saint Etienne at the 1994 Glastonbury festival & then traveling to London to see Massive Attack & Portishead perform live in separate concerts, I became a true believer in the emerging European electronica movement. I think a lot of the current indie artists are just now catching up with some of the bold ideas of the early '90s, second generation of electronic music artists.

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Sneer

'kin yes on the Bark Psychosis mention, Hex gets nowhere near the credit it deserves.

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