Category: Reviews

If you tried to pinpoint the exact moment that Aretha Franklin ascended to her throne as the undisputed Queen of Soul, her 1967 LP “Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You” is ground zero. After a stifling run at Columbia Records, A 25 year old Franklin signed with Atlantic, teamed up with gifted producer Jerry Wexler (Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield) and cut Never Loves a Man at the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio in Alabama. The result was astonishing. At times, the record feels almost spiritual, (Do Right Woman, A Change Is Gonna Come) but at the same time it is packed with bonafide party starters like the title track, Good Times, Save Me and the anthemic Respect. Never Loved a Man is a landmark album in pop music, shuddering with equal parts agony and ecstasy. Long live the Queen!

The Sex Pistols’ debut and only full studio album, Never Mind The Bollocks was a game changer. Riding the rising tide of the punk explosion and the seemingly endless wave of negative publicity associated with the bands insurgent behaviour, Bollocks created a perfect storm of hype and anticipation and was rewarded with its debut atop the UK charts at #1. Amid the filth and fury surrounding Never Mind the Bollocks’ release, the Sex Pistols managed to transcend the hype surrounding the record by creating an iconoclastic masterpiece that redefined everything that a rock n’ roll album should be, similar to Nirvana’s Nevermind purging hair metal from the rock zeitgeist in 1991. Featuring a diss track about the Queen and odes to anarchy and abortion, Never Mind the Bollocks punched a hole through the Saturday Night Fever flavoured saccharine of 1977 and Johnny Rotten’s wicked snarl gave a voice to a new generation of disenfranchised youth.

Remain in Light is a crystallisation of elements that, at a glance, do not seem to add up to a rock masterpiece. The album is underpinned by the ebb and flow of afrobeat inspired rhythm, ornamented by the avant-garde, laser focused production of Brian Eno and punctuated with the urbane strangeness of David Byrne’s lyrics. Intriguing as these individual elements may be, on Remain in Light they combine, seemingly by pure alchemy, to create a record that is so much more than the sum of its parts. This record moves. Sometimes it moves smoothly and sinuously, sometimes with an awkward stutter but it is its state of perpetual motion which defines it. Talking Heads have one foot in dance and one foot in punk – the two dominant genres of the late 70’s New York scene that spawned them – yet they wilfully defy both in this bold meeting of head and heart that leaves the senses reeling.

Springsteen’s previous six albums were dominated by themes of working class struggle and tales of down-and-out underdogs. The lyrical content here is no different, but slick production values, the explosion of MTV and the looming shadow of Ronald Reagan created a perfect storm which allowed Born in the USA to spawn no less than seven top ten hits. In a much derided political misstep, Reagan tried to use Born in the USA – intended by Springsteen as an ode to downtrodden Vietnam veterans – as his campaign song. Springsteen had never been more relevant. Born in the USA perfectly encapsulated the temperament of mid 80’s America and the relatively new medium of MTV exposed Springsteen to a wider audience than ever – it is Springsteen’s most commercially successful record and one of the best selling of all time. Bruce’s writing is on point, as always – rich with the gut-wrenching sincerity that makes him so relatable. However it is the sizzle of the E Street band that offers a valuable counterpoint to the often dark, desperate lyrical content and helped give this album such a broad appeal. Born in the USA is deservedly a high point in the Boss’ oeuvre and the record that cemented him as a bonafide pop star.

While Johnny Cash was already a towering figure in country music, At Folsom Prison sees his metamorphosis into the notorious Man in Black. Recorded live at Folsom prison in front of a rowdy assemblage of California’s hardest inmates, the material Cash selects is very much in line with his working man reputation. From the amphetamine fulled Cocaine Blues and the rowdy Folsom Prison Blues to the melancholy of ballads like the Long Black Veil, At Folsom Prison underlines Johnny’s gift for storytelling. Sometimes bawdy, sometimes funny, sometimes tender, this is that rare live album where an artist truly bonds with an audience. As an interesting side note, Cash was arrested several times over the years but never actually served any hard time. The fact that a bunch of hardened prisoners so readily buy into his romantic outlaw myth-making is truly a testament to Cash’s easy charisma and his velvety drawl, cementing At Folsom Prison as milestone in Cash’s career, as well as one of the most moving live albums ever cut to wax.

Hendrix’s groundbreaking debut Are You Experienced shook pop music to its very core. In 1967 nobody had ever heard a rock n roll outfit sound so nasty and seductive. At this point, nothing even remotely as heavy had cracked the top ten but Are You Experienced rocketed all the way to number 2 in the UK charts upon its release, blocked from number 1 only by Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Jimi’s fusion of blues, feedback and distortion changed the game for everyone. Listening to its perfectly honed waves of fuzz and sonic experimentation, one easily forgets that this record dropped relatively early in the Hard Rock piece – during the Summer of Love – before Led Zeppelin had even formed. Are You Experienced duly wrote the blueprint for 70’s rock n’ roll and heavy metal and stands as perhaps the most robust debut in pop music history. The track list reads like a greatest hits, it’s scary that Jimi only continued to evolve after this. Best listened to at extremely high volume. Now, excuse me while I kiss the sky!

Of all the personas that Bowie inhabited throughout his career, none resonated in pop culture quite like Ziggy Stardust. Part alien and part rock god, Ziggy was Bowie’s androgynous charm made flesh, sparking the public imagination and moving records like nobody had since the Beatles. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars marks Bowie’s ascent to superstardom and has remained a rite of passage for rock n’ rollers the world over since its 1972 release. Bowie’s gift for melody and lyric is showcased here but the Spiders from Mars, particularly lead guitarist and serial Bowie collaborator Mick Ronson also shine brightly. Album highlights: all of it! From the apocalyptic opener Five Years to the hip shaking closer Suffragette City this album is all killer and no filler – a glam rock masterpiece. Wham bam thank you ma’am!

Janis Joplin’s major label debut is an acid soaked polaroid of the psychedelic hedonism of San Fransisco in 1968. The band is smoking hot – intertwining, fuzzed out guitars and swaggering blues jams aplenty – but it is Joplin’s performance that truly sets this record apart from the myriad of psychedelic blues bands that followed in the wake of Jimi Hendrix’s arrival. Highlights include the barnstorming “Piece of My Heart” and a jaw-dropping rendition of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Also worthy of note is cartoonist Robert Crumb’s characteristically kooky cover art. Turn on, tune in, drop out, let your freak flag fly, don’t take the brown acid and dig it!

The soundtrack to the Coen brothers’ 1998 ode-to-slackerdom The Big Lebowski is as endearing and absurd as the film that shares its title. There’s an eclectic mix of genres here – rock n’ roll, folk, jazz, blues and opera – but don’t be alarmed by the disparity of these genres if you haven’t seen the film. The Coens have curated a mixtape that, whilst broad in spectrum, is strung together by the same thread of good-natured malaise that runs through the film. Highlights include the Gypsy Kings’ spicy cover of the Eagles’ Hotel California and a rare Kenny Rogers’ expedition into psychedelia on Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In). What are you waiting for? Throw this bad boy on your turntable and mix up a couple of White Russians! The dude abides.

After the demise of the Velvet Underground and an underwhelming initial solo outing, Lou Reed’s career was resurrected in 1972 by David Bowie. Bowie and Spiders from Mars band-leader Mick Ronson collaborate on production here, infusing the streetwise New York strut of Reed’s songs with the larger than life grandeur of the British Invasion. These two elements entwine seamlessly on Transformer’s smash hit “Walk on the Wild Side” where Reed utilised cutting edge slang and clever word play to evade censors and make a song explicitly about sex and drugs a UK top ten hit. Transformer is Reed at his most playful, insightful and acerbic – an absolute classic.