Album: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Warner, 1978) Chart pos:N/A
No thier not the flower pot men in boiler suits.
For a band that pissed off metalheads with thier cover of Satisfaction its a wonder that Devo is loved by punks and metalheads alike. Henry Rollins is a massive Devo fan even releasing some of thier albums on his Infinite Zero label when thier record label couldn't give a shit about releasing them on CD. A look on Spotify for weird Devo covers led me to some cover of Girl U Want by some obsure hardcore band and a slower version by Soundgarden. Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana also covered some of thier songs. The funniest though is a thrash metal cover of Mongoloid by Sepultura which is fucking odd (but not as odd as thier U2 cover).
But listening to Mongoloid from thier debut its easier to understand why punks liked Devo as in thier early Devo's sound was raw and minimalistc as punk rock. But after thier third album Freedom of Choice they seemed to lean towards being a synth pop band rather than a rock band who used synths which was a pity.
www.megaupload.com/?d=8TNBEV1D
Friday, 13 August 2010
Thursday, 12 August 2010
MGMT - Song for Dan Trecey
Album: Congratulations (Columbia, 2010) Chart Pos: N/A
MGMT's second album Congratulations was an album i expected to dislike, this is down to the fact that Oracular Spectacular was one of the most disappointing albums i ever bought and lets say was soon sold on EBay. Outside Time to Pretend and Electric Feel the only other song i liked was Weekend Wars which with its stylistic shifts kind of showcased the direction the band headed for their second album. With 2010's Congratulations they moved away from obvious radio hits. Despite going to extremes with Siberian Breaks which felt like many different songs shoddily thrown together the rest of the album worked. Song for Dan Treacy is an uptempo psychedelic number that pays tribute to the troubled Television Personalities front man is possibly the main standout track from the album.
MGMT's second album Congratulations was an album i expected to dislike, this is down to the fact that Oracular Spectacular was one of the most disappointing albums i ever bought and lets say was soon sold on EBay. Outside Time to Pretend and Electric Feel the only other song i liked was Weekend Wars which with its stylistic shifts kind of showcased the direction the band headed for their second album. With 2010's Congratulations they moved away from obvious radio hits. Despite going to extremes with Siberian Breaks which felt like many different songs shoddily thrown together the rest of the album worked. Song for Dan Treacy is an uptempo psychedelic number that pays tribute to the troubled Television Personalities front man is possibly the main standout track from the album.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full
Album: Paid in Full (4th & Broadway/Island, 1987)
One listen to Paid In Full and it's easy to realise where a great deal of modern day rappers from 50 Cent to Eminem pilfered their ideas from. Even though Paid in Full didn't shift a great deal of units it managed to inspire many MC's. Although i think the average Eminem fan may find Paid in Full a little to spartan for their tastes and i think Rakim's status is more of a rapper's rapper than a mainstream star.
www.megaupload.com/?d=l9wdawo4
One listen to Paid In Full and it's easy to realise where a great deal of modern day rappers from 50 Cent to Eminem pilfered their ideas from. Even though Paid in Full didn't shift a great deal of units it managed to inspire many MC's. Although i think the average Eminem fan may find Paid in Full a little to spartan for their tastes and i think Rakim's status is more of a rapper's rapper than a mainstream star.
www.megaupload.com/?d=l9wdawo4
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Slowdive - Alison
Album: Sovulaki (Creation, 1993) Chart pos:N/A
In 1994 Shoegazing was dismissed as music for bourgeoisie students, much of this was down to the fact that by this time working-class bands like Pulp and Oasis were the order of the day. Looking back years after Britpop it's easy to see that the scene became too bloody conservative for its own good and deserved to die a swift death. Nowadays it seems that time has been quite kind to bands like Slowdive as the whole Shoegaze scene seems to be going for a revival and at a time where we've been spoon fed second rate Strokes copyists this can't be a bad thing. Alison from the 1993 album Sovulaki is one of their finest finest moment even though it sounds like nearly every other Shoegaze band with its reverby guitars and ethereal vocals it manages to be the nearest the band ever did to a genuine pop song. Unfortunately the band did one more album (1995's sparse Pgymalion) before splitting and reforming as folk/alt-country band Mojave 3.
Unfortunately the album is OOP at the time of writing but there is the possibility of their albums being re-released soon.
www.megaupload.com/?d=UHT2QJND
In 1994 Shoegazing was dismissed as music for bourgeoisie students, much of this was down to the fact that by this time working-class bands like Pulp and Oasis were the order of the day. Looking back years after Britpop it's easy to see that the scene became too bloody conservative for its own good and deserved to die a swift death. Nowadays it seems that time has been quite kind to bands like Slowdive as the whole Shoegaze scene seems to be going for a revival and at a time where we've been spoon fed second rate Strokes copyists this can't be a bad thing. Alison from the 1993 album Sovulaki is one of their finest finest moment even though it sounds like nearly every other Shoegaze band with its reverby guitars and ethereal vocals it manages to be the nearest the band ever did to a genuine pop song. Unfortunately the band did one more album (1995's sparse Pgymalion) before splitting and reforming as folk/alt-country band Mojave 3.
Unfortunately the album is OOP at the time of writing but there is the possibility of their albums being re-released soon.
www.megaupload.com/?d=UHT2QJND
Monday, 9 August 2010
The Contours - A Little Misunderstnading
Album: N/A (Gordy,1966) Chart Pos: #85 US/ #31 UK (1970 re-issue)
The Contours were one of the multitude of Motown acts that slipped through the net. Their sole hit was 'Do you Love Me' which reached #4 in the US and the only other time they troubled the charts was with the same song more than a quarter of a century later after it was used in Dirty Dancing. The thing is if it wasn't for the Northern Soul scene much of their oeuvre would have been forgotten. This number which was co-written by a teenage Stevie Wonder became a hit in the UK four years after its initial release due the fact that this song was a staple of Northern Soul all-nighters. It's a song that should have been big but for reasons unknown it slipped into obscurity.
The Contours were one of the multitude of Motown acts that slipped through the net. Their sole hit was 'Do you Love Me' which reached #4 in the US and the only other time they troubled the charts was with the same song more than a quarter of a century later after it was used in Dirty Dancing. The thing is if it wasn't for the Northern Soul scene much of their oeuvre would have been forgotten. This number which was co-written by a teenage Stevie Wonder became a hit in the UK four years after its initial release due the fact that this song was a staple of Northern Soul all-nighters. It's a song that should have been big but for reasons unknown it slipped into obscurity.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Cymande - Brothers on the Slide
Album:Promised Heights (Janus,1974) Chart Pos:N/A
Like Curtis Mayfield gone rasta.
Cymande(pronounced Sah-mahn-day)came from Brixton via West Indies, their musical output was mostly ignored until the rare groves scene of the late 70's/early 80's. The song Brothers on the Slide has one of the funkiest bass lines ever committed to tape. Its no wonder that hip-hop acts like De La Soul and The Fugees went on to sample their material.
Unfortunately much of their materiel is OOP but some compilations available second-hand for under a tenner.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=wylxif0i
Like Curtis Mayfield gone rasta.
Cymande(pronounced Sah-mahn-day)came from Brixton via West Indies, their musical output was mostly ignored until the rare groves scene of the late 70's/early 80's. The song Brothers on the Slide has one of the funkiest bass lines ever committed to tape. Its no wonder that hip-hop acts like De La Soul and The Fugees went on to sample their material.
Unfortunately much of their materiel is OOP but some compilations available second-hand for under a tenner.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=wylxif0i
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Suicide - Frankie Teardrop
Album Suicide (Red Star,1977) Chart Pos: You must be joking!
This is an odd post seeing that I've never listened to this song the whole way though. I usually get to the four minute mark when Alan Vega begins let out a high pitched scream over the minimalist electro, 9 times out of ten this scares the bejesus out of me and i reach for the stop button. From what I've heard after this point the ten minute epic becomes more of a primal scream therapy session caught on tape rather than a fully fledged song. That said Suicide's debut album isn't a bad album in a Lou Reed goes electro way but bloody hell is it claustrophobic.
http://rapidshare.com/files/9523706/Suicide__First_Album_.zip
This is an odd post seeing that I've never listened to this song the whole way though. I usually get to the four minute mark when Alan Vega begins let out a high pitched scream over the minimalist electro, 9 times out of ten this scares the bejesus out of me and i reach for the stop button. From what I've heard after this point the ten minute epic becomes more of a primal scream therapy session caught on tape rather than a fully fledged song. That said Suicide's debut album isn't a bad album in a Lou Reed goes electro way but bloody hell is it claustrophobic.
http://rapidshare.com/files/9523706/Suicide__First_Album_.zip
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