Listen to an album you've never heard by an artist you never listen to and then tell us about it!

Jane Siberry - The Walking

Wow, the first thing you hear on the album is this reedy, untrained voice, just naked and out there: “There’s a red leaf that falls from a purple tree, it falls, it floats down”. I’m bracing myself for an hour of manic pixie dream-girl pop. My closest reference points here is Kate Bush and i recently gave away my only Kate Bush record.
Okay, a minute into the song there are finally some other instruments, and it sounds like mid-career Talk Talk is her backing band, and whoa the song is suddenly taking all kinds of unexpected turns and not standing still in any one place for long. And now at 3 minutes in there are these whimsical horn lines. Make that *synth* horns (this is 1987 after all). She keeps you on your toes, i’ll give her that. I was worried that a 9 minute opening song would be a slog, but it’s really like 36 15-second songs all segued together. I bet Eleanor Friedberger slept with this album under her pillow in junior high. This feels like “art” in the sense that I don’t think anyone could teach you how to write songs like this — you’d need to have unfettered access to your subconscious or be able to lucid dream.

The second song, “Red High Heels” seems like it has a more traditional song structure so far, it’s got a semblance of a regular chorus, but the verses(?) have a melodic line that is entirely unpredictable. And there are passages where the rhythm and time signature shifts around and unbalances you.

“Goodbye” sounds like it’s going to be a spacey ballad, but i don’t trust it to stay put. This could be the most Kate-Bush-like song, and also the most 80’s.

“Ingrid (and the Footman)” feels like it was her concession to the A&R guy pressuring her for something he could get on the radio. Bigger production, lots more studio polish, some backing vocals. I haven’t been paying close attention to the lyrics, but i’m suddenly realizing this may be an album that’s all about the lyrics. Except that now the lyrics on this polished song have turned into her literally singing “yada yada yada…” The melody still leaps and swoops like it's outsider art.

“Lena Is a White Table” - yeah i definitely should have been paying attention to the lyrics, the titles alone tell you that. As i’m listening I keep involuntarily picturing all the modern dance routines that must have been choreographed to this album over the years.

“The Walking (And Constantly)” starts off like a Bonnie Tyler power ballad but quickly gets ethereal. When her voice lifts into the higher register, it never fails to kick the song up a notch. The drums on this album are the secret weapon to prevent you from getting too comfortable - i bet this was fun to see performed live. Beautiful melody on this one. I wonder if she wasn’t worried that album title was too close to “The Dreaming” (surely critics were already comparing her to Kate Bush)

“The Lobby” is the slowest song yet… this one sounds like one of those minor transition songs from a musical (i.e. the part where you normally glance at the program to count how many songs are left before intermission). The horn fanfare adds a little variety, but this one is draggy. It feels twice as long as its 6-minute run time.

“The Bird In the Gravel” has some Laurie Anderson influence. There are spoken word interludes. The live show of this album must have been amazing - it feels like it was conceived to be performed on a stage, with a full cast.

Good suggestion, fgti — this is clearly the kind of album that benefits from close listening, probably actively resists passive listening.

(And also, now I know that Jane Siberry is not in fact the singer of the 90's hit "I Kissed A Girl")

My nomination, btw, is for someone to review Força Bruta by Jorge Ben.

wow, you make me want to listen to jane siberry! i kinda always thought of her as the proto-tori and i probably have unfairly avoided her records after seeing the speckless sky in every dollar bin in every record store for the past 30 years. but way to entice!

For anyone interested, Brian Culbertson is not jazz at all but new age, more like a glossier George Winston. I listened to “The Trilogy – Part 2: Blue = Melancholy.” Relentlessly pretty (and glacially paced) piano with programmed percussion and occasional washes of guitar and whooshes of wordless vocal. I had no idea stuff like this was still popular in 2024. He apparently has some “funky” releases as well, but I’m not going there.

Thanks for listening enochroot! I def recommend coming to The Walking after the two albums previous… it feels somewhat like an inversion of what came before; she had a minor hit in Canada and it’s not as weird as O Superman but it’s… close! as minor hit singles go

Gordon Raphael (producer of Is This It) is perhaps the most brilliant producer who never got the recognition he deserves. Is This It has all the sonics of a metal record but it’s mixed with resolute hard panning and tonnes of mono, it expands and contracts with metric precision. Nothing splashes across the stereo field, it’s so calculated and every element perfectly placed, all the noise is tamed by digital automation. There’s no record like it and you might not like it but it’s a technical marvel. Every other rock album sounds messy in comparison, it’s using the most aggressive sounds imaginable but they’re tidied up in a computer so brilliantly, god I love that album. The preceding EP doesn’t haven’t the same magic.

Lol this is so backwards. The EP was tinny, they perfected the sound on the album.

also prefer the EP versions. maybe like the album slightly more than you but not a lot, can't imagine choosing to listen to it. have a friend who is still a huge Strokes fan so I hear their songs when we are back at our friend's flat after the pub anyway

Taylor Swift - 1989

"Welcome To New York"

A VERY first track first track. Tourism board material. Not great? I dunno. She must have been really excited to be in New York. I can dig it. It’s also not about a guy! Which is noteworthy.

"Blank Space"

Fatalism. She knows it’s over before it starts. People say she’s insane. This song is pretty awesome. I have to admit. It’s like the perfect culmination of every trick in Shania Twain’s very large book of tricks. A nightmare dressed like a daydream! I’m totally stealing that. “AND YOU LOVE THE GAME!” That echo? I love that echo. If you can project vulnerability and still sound triumphant you will be rich and people will be jumping on their beds singing into hairbrushes across the globe. In my opinion.

"Style"

I have known “Blank Space”. I was friends with “Blank Space”. “Style” is no “Blank Space”. It’s okay though. It brings James Dean into the 21st century. That little mumblepuss had no idea! Did he? Maybe he did. He had someone take iconic black & white pictures of him 24 hours a day. Kinda like Ian Curtis.

"Out Of The Woods"

Lots of echo! I guess that’s her thing. Hey, it worked for New Kids On The Block. Breathy echo. The couch. Polaroids. Screaming color. The woods. December. Furniture. Paper airplanes. 20 stitches. Hospital rooms. Monsters. Trees. There is a lot going on here. You can’t fault the construction though. It’s sturdy. It’s a song made out of wood. So, it makes sense.

"All You Had To Do Was Stay"

More bouncing on the bed triumphalism. She’s sad but I don’t buy it because she’s building these shiny, sturdy Teutonic anthems celebrating her own strength like it ain’t no thing. Not a great one.

"Shake It Off"

I dunno. What do I even say? It’s faster than I remember. This song, Katy Perry, and Meghan Trainor were the soundtrack to my morning drive to my kids’ school when they were young. The same songs on the horrible robo-station EVERY morning for YEARS. It was crazy. They never stopped playing them. The Spice Girls break in this song hasn’t aged well but whatever. This song is built like a friggin’ tank. You could drop this song on Russia and Putin would be in shackles by morning. It’s Late Capitalism and Peak Oil and the Marshall Plan all rolled into a bright blonde ball. Still not as good as “Blank Space” though.

"I Wish You Would"

She says the word “hear” like a baby does. This is a dance routine at the mall. She can do catchy in her sleep.

"Bad Blood"

This song is brutal. Deep cuts. Wounds. Scars. Knives. Bullet holes. Damn. She wrote this with Kendrick Lamar!!?? I had no idea. This is the only song as good as “Blank Space”. It’s as perfect as pop gets!

"Wildest Dreams"

Made for television. Glossy teen television drama. Euphoria. Something like that.

"How You Get The Girl"

I’ve been thinking about the words girl and boy. I remember watching Friends and How I Met Your Mother with my kids when they were pretty young and it struck me how these adults always used the pop music terms boy and girl and never said man or woman. Like they were kids forever. Which is what a lot of pop music is obviously. Being a kid forever. And now I think it’s kinda normal for younger people to use those words? Am I wrong? I didn’t grow up in that world. When you were an adult you were doomed to adulthood. Which could be a little depressing. You can be a kid forever with Taylor. She was 25 when she made this album? She could be 12 on a song like this. She could be Debbie Gibson. Who was 16 when she hit it big. Debbie is probably close to my age. She’s not a girl anymore.

"This Love"

I forgot I was actually listening to this song when it was playing. It will space you out. You will not remember it. You will give Taylor all your money. You will vote for Joe Biden. Zzzzzzz………….

"I Know Places"

Did she invent the way she says the word “find”? Because so many female popsters do it and I don’t know if Taylor was first. Foiiind. It’s a hard way to say a really easy word. It’s almost like the way that Bjork would say something.

"Clean"

I swear I thought she said “like a Weinsteined dress” and I went ewww did she meet Harvey!!?? But she didn’t say that. This is really really good songwriting. You could teach a class on this song. For real! I mean it. Writers should hear it. Alcoholic writers. Damn. That is a top-notch ballad. A+. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it. I really only knew “Bad Blood” and “Shake It Off”. This is not a song sung by a 12 year old. Or a 25 year old going on 16. A woman wrote this song! Haha! Sorry. I can’t help it. I like adults. I mean, I like kid pop too. It’s all good.

"Wonderland"

I can’t even keep up with all the fucking hooks on this fucking record. Holy crap. That “ay ay ay” almost feels like a nod to Cranberries. No doubt Taylor is a Cranberries fan, right?

"You Are In Love"

Burnt toast. That’s what I get from this song. Is this song needed after FOURTEEN slabs of hook heaven? Maybe not. She just couldn’t help herself.

"New Romantics"

This is dope. I was hoping for some good dance beats. This is really the first great dance rhythm. There must be some good remixes of this. Has there ever been someone so addicted to being heartbroken? Just ecstatic about feeling bad! It’s a little nuts. But, hey, I used to dance with tears in my eyes to Ultravox. So, there ya go. Nice one, Taylor.

The pull quote:

If you can project vulnerability and still sound triumphant you will be rich and people will be jumping on their beds singing into hairbrushes across the globe.

amazing, scott *applause*

and yeah I love "Clean", my fave deep cut on that one

"clean" is top ten t swift

Wow I can't believe that scott seward made me want to listen to Taylor Swift, what is life

haha!

i listened to the original recipe, by the way. not the new version. don't really know how much of a difference there is.

when she goes “and you love the game” in blank space it is the most joyous mischievous feeling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtSVwrYdJwg

Not kidding at all but I have thought for years that Taylor could do a really great cover of “cut your hair”

1. I had never listened to Split Enz other than "I got you" on the radio/MTV, and today listened to Mental Notes and Second Thoughts: man, did they ever love Roxy Music. Did they have a big brother/little brother problem, when the little brother writes and sings the big hit, has a huge hit that everyone alive in 1987 heard with his next band, and the big brother comes hat in hand, "uh, let me do this with you (goddamn, it's humiliating to beg my piece of shit little brother for this)"…

2. I had never listened to Nellie Mckay until earlier this week: most of the time, artists in thrall to the great american songbook are like Michael Feinstein or John Pizzarelli, but she obviously appreciates later kinds of music and invests her songs with energy as such…I 'm sorry she hasn't been more successful…

i like nellie a lot. she gave a talk at a local library and spent an hour comically evading the interviewer's questions. she also said she fell asleep in her parking spot and got a parking ticket while she was in the car!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS2D5KozDg4

OK, I'm listening to Yanni's "Live at the Acropolis" now. I listen to some "new age" music but it's mostly kind of like... Berlin school-adjacent stuff. And this isn't, at all. I thought there would be pan pipes, or synthesizers, or something. There's definitely prog-rock time signatures but mostly it sounds like, I don't know. Crossover classical or something. There was this jazz fusion bass solo somewhere in there, but it's about the only solo I noticed. A lot of strings. Maybe a few Mannheim Steamroller-isms, but the strings are just way more prominent to my ears. I kind of thought of this stuff as being like "Synth Lords Live at the Acropolis" or whatever that Adult Swim sketch was like. And the percussionist is like... a tabla player or something. Oh, wait, now we're doing a tabla solo. Does he have someone out there playing a sruti box too? Haha.

that's getting into john tesh territory. i feel like i'm in safer hands with kitaro.

for real. the bass player kind of reminds me of mike gordon from phish! and one of the violinists reminds me a bit of sugarcane harris from the pure food and drug act. overall though i remember yanni and john tesh getting a lot of hate in the 90s and at least in yanni's case i'm not sure why... it's just kind of "there". i'm really struggling to have any sort of opinion on this record... i've already mostly forgotten it exists.

I listened to the first three Little Feat albums - a band I have, to the best of my knowledge, never heard before. Snap verdicts:

s/t - I like this, it's basically the Band played by the Rolling Stones and what's not to like about that? Great guitar playing. It's only let down by the bizarrely undercooked version of "Willin'" and the boring Howlin' Wolf medley, both of which sound like they belong on different albums.

Sailin' Shoes - well it has a good version of "Willin'" but beyond that I didn't like this as much. It's very well played - the rhythm section is great - and it's clever but I didn't think the songwriting was very memorable.

Dixie Chicken - I found this bland and really not the sort of thing I've got much interest in listening too. Fantastic drummer though!

i hate to say it because i'll sound like a phish fan but their double live album is their best album. to me. its exciting!

Best Little Feat thing is the 73/74 Ultrasonic Studios radio broadcasts. I like one better than the other (the one where they open by referring to Mo Ostin as "Chairman Mo" before launching into Apolitical Blues), but can never remember which one it is.

I finally listened to an ATCQ album, Midnight Marauders, never listened to them before

My intense rap obsession was just before this album I don’t know why I missed The Low End Theory entirely

I want to listen again, I feel like I was just slapped in the face with the Iliad or something. How many MPCs sold because of this thing? How many people became MCs as a result? Idk this was a lot to just listen to, I knew it was supposed to be good I didn’t know it was This Good

it is one of the very best albums ever made

Also, am I wrong or has Matt Berry based his whole look on Lowell George?

Midnight Marauders is a big step up from TLET imo

Speaking of rap, I've spent the week marinating in Enter The Wu-Tang for the first time. Yeah um

this probably doesn't count because I love Art Bears but I have never listened to Slapp Happy for some reason. I will get on that

― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 7 March 2024 19:58 bookmarkflaglink

I listened to Sort Of by Slapp Happy. I liked it! I also did not realise until now that Blue Flower by Mazzy Star was a cover. I didn't much like the Henry Cow I've listened to so not sure what their other stuff will be like but will give it a go

Oh wow, Midnight Marauders is so incredible.

Idk why recently but I've had a craving to check out some over-the-top fantasy-based Prog Metal, but I was pointed towards 'Into The Electric Castle' by Aryeon and shall report back.

That seems to be a 2 hour rock opera, so good luck. On the plus side it features a vocal appearance from Fish as 'Highlander'.

slapp happy's their other stuff is a lot more like sort of than like henry cow.

gotta be honest, when i want over the top fantasy based metal i tend to go more for euro power metal. something like domine's "stormbringer ruler: the legend of the power supreme"

Blind Guardian seems to be lots of folks' pick, but I'm a Rhapsody of Fire guy.

I loved Ayreon in high school (I was that kind of kid), but in my advanced age I go back to Iron Maiden's "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" for epic fantasy metal.

Iron Maiden would be a good one of these for me to do. I don't think I like them but tbh have never really listened to them, have heard maybe 3 of their songs?

Powerslave is kind of the most Iron Maiden ass Iron Maiden album I think, it's like an entire 3rd grade history/literature curriculum turned into an entire album of fist pumping metal. But I like Seventh Son better, it's like they took just the plot summary from the back cover of a book from the middle of some random fantasy series and turned that into an entire album of fist pumping metal.

Iron Maiden are amazing

I need to relisten to Slayer. I only listened to Reign In Blood once about a decade ago and thought “these guys needed to rehearse more if they wanted to pull this off, they sound so sloppy”. Maybe my mind has changed

that's a good one for me as well

Try South of Heaven or Seasons in the Abyss instead. They're a little more polished, but they still have the power and aggression you want from Slayer.

And yeah, if you're gonna listen to just one Iron Maiden album (my controversial opinion is that Iron Maiden are not actually a great album band, but are one of the greatest live acts ever), it should probably be Powerslave just to see if you make it through "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" with your sanity intact.

The Dwight Yoakam did not really grab me on first listen. It wasn't bad, but much like with a lot of Springsteen, I found myself thinking it was good while not feeling it. The songwriting is pretty strong and the lyrics have some interesting twists on typical country lyrics. Will try to give it a more focused listen and offer more thoughts.

Separately, I would like to propose someone else ITT tackle an album by an artist that I believe has never been mentioned before on ILM -- Larry Sparks. I would either suggest John Deere Tractor or Silver Reflections, and if you need any convincing just listen to either the title track of the first one or Blue Virginia Blues from the second.

someone who hasn't listened to a new hip-hop album this decade should listen to playboi carti's whole lotta red plz

I did announce I'd be listening to the Asha Bosle compilation. Having played some of it though I can't think of anything much to say about it other than "oh yeah this kind of thing, she has a very nice voice".

So instead I decided on NRBQ - At Yankee Stadium. This is a band that the likes of Byron Coley would rave about back in the day but I'd never really heard. I was expecting something kind of swampy, Dr John meets Little Feat meets The Band. In reality they're more of a power pop band! For the first half of the album anyway - you could mistake some of it for The Raspberries filtered through those American rock-soul bands of the era like J. Geils or Southside Johnny, all played by guys with proper jazz chops. Maybe it was the era (late 70s)?

It's actually really good, does this album have better songs than the others or did they keep the quality up? I can kind of see why they never got bigger than being a respected cult act though, it's too eclectic for mass appeal. Then again you could say the same thing about Todd Rundgren and he was popular. But he was pretty image-conscious, and these guys looked like a bunch of dads, so that was probably the difference.

So the verdict on NRBQ is (pretty much) a thumbs up!

great band yeah

Yankee Stadium is peak NRBQ. They have the same quality on a few other releases (1977 - 1980), but the signal-to-noise ratio drops off pretty quickly. There are several times I've had their records on at home, and my wife says "is this a children's album?"

its weird, i love metal but i do not love iron maiden. i like those first two albums but i don't even know if i've made it through an entire album after those. maybe i should listen to one! i like "the trooper". i even reviewed a bruce dickinson album for a metal magazine once. my brother used to bring their stuff home from his job at record world. i loved the covers. he would get the 12-inch singles too. but i was more fascinated by the motorhead albums he brought home. they were insane to me. at the time 1979/1980 all i wanted to hear was judas priest and black sabbath though. and rush.

i was actually thinking i should listen to a devo album for this thread. i know for a fact that i have never listened to an entire album by them. i mean obviously i know what devo sound like but maybe the entire album experience would be different.

terry of nrbq has been a good customer of mine over the years. he's fun to talk to. he's a weirdo. he loves weird 45s. he got the test pressing of one of their latter-day records (2014) with the newer line-up from germany and he played it at the store with me for the first time to hear how it sounded. that was fun. and he also introduced me to legendary record collector and nrbq drummer tom ardolino before he passed away. which was cool. i think byron got tom's records. speaking of byron. if you ever get a chance to listen to tom's Unknown Brain album i highly recommend it. tape recordings he made when he was a kid.

Tom T. Hall - In Search of a Song

I'd been interested in hearing one of Hall's records since his death a couple of years ago, and this 1971 album seemed to be his most highly regarded.

Lyrically, Hall relays stories and anecdotes he's picked up, memories, and some aphoristic parables. A number of songs end with a meta-commentary about how he ended up writing the very song you're listening to, which might have been too-clever in someone else's hands. It struck me as unusual that he often used an ABAB rhyme scheme; without it perhaps the words might have risked being doggerel. I tried to think of who else at the time outside of the country genre was writing about these sort of quotidian details and scenes: John Prine, Paul Simon sometimes, Ray Davies maybe?

As you'd expect, the songs are based on simple I - IV - V progressions with an occasional key change up a tone for the final verse to goose the song along, but when he tosses in a iv (on "Tulsa Telephone Book") or a ♭VII ("Kentucky, February 27, 1971") it adds some unexpected emotional colour. The songs kept up a peppy tempo but a slower, less arranged track might have made for a bit of variety.

I was unprepared for the mix: two completely discreet instrumental arrangements in either speaker with Tom alone dead-centre in a haze of reverb. Sometimes an instrument would bounce from one speaker to the other. Arrangements are provided by a low-key small group but once in a while there'd be a touch of vibes or dobro to fill things out. Didn't notice any strings or choirs. Overdubs of church organ (at the end of "The Little Lady Preacher") and electric sitar (in "L.A. Blues", not a Stooges cover) seem to be used for satirical purposes.