Desk Ark, Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker!
A very interesting record. A study in contrast and contradiction. Emotionally gripping. Pretty much tailor made for my ears. Des Ark put funny titles on serious music. They play fragile, haunting melodies that give way to raucous rock music and then recede again, like a wave. The vocals seem intentionally obscured much of the time, delivering extremely personal stories in a hushed whisper or buried in the mix, which only make the frequent huge choruses and chants that more powerful, while making the listener turn it up and play the record again immediately. The whole album must be taken together, with recurring themes both musical and lyrical and the end of one song blurring into the beginning of another. This is a record that really engages you.
Des Ark, “Bonne Chance, Asshole”
De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead
De La Soul’s second album was an odd choice on their part. Also, one of the finest hip hop albums of the era. But on this record, they seemed to mock and refute the “Daisy Age” peace and love mentality they turned into a brief phenomenon with their debut, 3 Feet High & Rising. This album is framed by a series of skits where some kids find the album itself in the trash, and then some bullies make them play it, hating it. The cover of the album is a knocked over flower pot full of daisies. It would seem a shocking about face for any group. The songs themselves seem to take the stance that everything they were talking about on the first album is played out, maybe overreacting to criticism of its sort of neo hippie mentality. But the album they replaced the Daisy Age with is at least as engaging, a sprawling, experimental record with some of the silliest songs they would ever record, some of the most serious songs they would ever record, and everything in between. Prince Paul keeps the production as diverse and unpredictable as the group’s ambitions, and they get in one of the last great sampled hip hop albums before the law caught up with the genre. From serious topics like sexual abuse and drug addiction to ridiculous nonsense dissing house music and overeager up and comers to a weird little play about relationships set in a Burger King to straight up party songs (Including one of my all-time favorite songs by anybody, “A Rollerskating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’”), there’s nothing they wouldn’t try here. It’s the De La album I revisit the most, for sure.
De La Soul, “Keepin’ The Faith”
Elvis Costello & The Attractions, This Year's Model
My favorite Elvis Costello record, hands down. His 2nd, and his most punk-influenced for sure, This Year’s Model is a pure burst of energy from start to finish. Elvis at his most vicious and sarcastic, excellent performances, some of his most memorable songs... it’s just a can’t miss package.
Elvis Costello, “No Action”
Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush The Show
It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back is held up as the PE classic, and for good reason. It’s the best expression of their politics, the best example of the Bomb Squad’s wall of noise, it deserves its place as a classic. But in all honesty, I think I might personally prefer their debut. There’s a lot less political content. I mean, obviously, the politics are as integral to Public Enemy as anything, but it’s fun and almost refreshing to hear Chuck D just talking about his car, in a way. It’s just a consistent, fun album from a group that would go on to be a lot more. And there’s still a lot of social and political content, it’s just not presented with that all-consuming focus that would come later. It’s a unique album in their catalog.
Public Enemy, “You’re Gonna Get Yours”
At The Drive-In, Acrobatic Tenement
This album’s always kind of amused me. It sounds like they recorded a whole record without realizing they forgot to hit their distortion pedals. It’s got all the signature elements of ATDI, the screaming and the manic energy mixed with more tender moments that still manage to sound kind of ragged, the album would fit right in with their catalog... except for the clean guitars throughout. I’m not really sure what they were going for. If it happened live, I’d assume it was a mistake, but... here it is. I actually like this album a lot, weird or not. Here’s hoping the band’s long-hoped-for reunion is more than just a concert or two.
At the Drive-In, “Initiation”
Outkast, ATLiens
My introduction to Outkast was “Elevators (Me And You).” I won’t pretend I was on board from the beginning, dear reader, I was but a high school student in a podunk town. But “Elevators” made it to my local hip hop station, and that was all the incentive I needed to check this group out. I’ve been on board ever since. And, yeah, Outkast has come to be known for their ambition and their “weirdness,” I guess, which wouldn’t really being until the next record, but there’s still plenty to love on their first two albums. ATLiens is wall-to-wall great songs, virtuosos rapping and crowd-pleasing choruses. I still love it.
Outkast, “Elevators (Me & You)”
Al Green, Call Me
It doesn’t get much better than classic-era Al Green. With long time producer Willie Mitchell, he made some of the finest soul songs ever made by anybody. Those rolling drums, those perfectly-timed horn hits, and Green’s undeniable voice tying it all together. The most insane thing is the vast majority of his famous songs were recording between 1971 and 1975, a period when he produced seven albums(!). Prolific is an understatement. Call Me comes right in the middle of that flurry of activity. It features the essential hits “You Oughta Be With Me,” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, and the title track, but it has a lot more to offer beyond the hits. Green displays his range with masterful conversions of two classic country songs into R&B numbers (“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Funny How Time Slips Away”). Album cuts “Have You Been Making Out OK” and “Stand Up” could easily have been hits in their own right. The sheer amount of quality material Green & Mitchell turned out in their golden era is staggering.
Al Green, “Have You Been Making Out OK?”
Cecil Otter, False Hopes 7
False Hopes is an on-going series of material from Doomtree. Alone or as a collective, they self-release these records. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to “count,” as opposed to records with their own name, but they should, because a ton of great stuff has been released under the False Hopes banner, and this is no exception. People who know Cecil from recent Doomtree material or his excellent Rebel Yellow album are in for a surprise from the stylistic difference on display here. His delivery is a lot more brash and sarcastic, more exuberant. More alone the lines of POS or Sims, in fact. This difference is most striking on “Matchbook Diaries,” a far more somber version of which appeared on Rebel Yellow. But different isn’t a bad thing, and there’s a lot to love in the more fiery Cecil Otter of old. In all honesty, I tend to go for this one more often, just because it’s not as heavy a listen.
Cecil Otter, “Lake Shore Drifter”
There you go.
--D
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