101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life But I Really Like and You Might Too

I've had this since Stu posted about it a while back but like sidewinder I haven't fallen in love til recently. There's definitely some nifty tunes on here, but I find it a very difficult album to categorize. It's shoegazey, noisy and lyrically bold, and yet there's some punk aesthetic to the immediacy of the drums.

Looking forward to the rest.
 
I will admit that their albums do follow a similar sound, but I believe that to be more about trying to fulfill a desired tone that they didn't quite hone in on on their previous albums. I do have to commend them for managing to become a mainstream act without trying to sound like The Tragically Hip or becoming the Canadian version of Bush (although to be fair there already was a Canadian band called Bush at the time so all of the British Bush CD's have an X at the end of their name in Canada). They found a style that suited their sound and Jeff Martin's vocals, but if it makes you feel any better I have far better underground Canadian rock groups higher up on my list.
 
76. Jay Munly - Jimmy Carter Syndrome (2002)
Genre: Gothic Country, Neofolk, Gospel


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Tracklisting

My Darling Sarabo
Circle Round My BeRABide
Cooney vs. Munly
Haggie Hennies Almost Dirty Dress
Censer From the Footlights
Spill the Wine
The Denver Boot
Weegee, The Uninvited Blues #2
Dar He Done
Cattle, I Will Hang
Chant Down Cap'n
The Fabulous History of the Churchill Falls Barrel Races
​

Jimmy Carter Syndrome has been album I've been really looking forward to reviewing because there's a lot to say about it. For one it's incredibly layered, very dark, and disturbing to say the least. Munly is no stranger to writing controversial lyrics, however he shows no remorse, fear, or ill intent towarRAB the people he sings about, he just kind of says them. This is best illustrated in the song "The Denver Boot" in which he talks about how his demon spawn child lay between his true love's bloody thighs and how he needed to feed it goats milk from his "Denver Boot". Wholesome topics all around on this album.

One of the great things about Munly is that he seriously looks like the personification of death, I mean just look:

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Even next to Steve Buscemi he wouldn't win a beauty contest, but besides looking the part, he plays the part quite well. His vocal delivery is varied enough from a mournful wail to a very deep drawl. Lyrically he draws a lot of inspiration from various places he's lived, Canada gets mentioned a few times, as was California and the Southern United States. You get the sense he is a well traveled man, which would make sense because he traveled quite a bit with the band Slim Cessna's Auto Club. It can also be noticed that Munly has amassed quite a wide array of musically inclined frienRAB by the sheer nuraber of guest musicians on this album. I haven't found an exact listing, but with the sheer nuraber of female backing vocalists and unique instruments featured in each song, the list is quite grand.

Giving this album a genre label has also proven to be quite hard. I mean obviously it's a country album to the core, features instruments popular in that genre and the dark lyrical focus common in Gothic Country, but even then... it doesn't seem quite right. Two songs in particular, "Chant Down Cap'n" and "HaggieHennies Almost Dirty Dress" feature a quite hypnotic banjo, drum, and electric guitar corabination that really draws you in, similar to the way the downbeat tempo of trip-hop sucks you in. Still the album contains elements of folk and country so for now that would be the best way to describe it, but if you harbor any disdain for either of those two genres don't let it deter you from checking out Jimmy Carter Syndrome because it really goes beyond the limitations of those two genres.

Going back to the lyrics, it can be hard to really tell what Munly is saying because of his drawl, but the lyrics are often non-secular. The two exceptions are "The Denver Boot" and "The Fabulous History of the Churchill Falls Barrel Races" which are very story driven songs, however each of the songs on the album seem to stem from a story, I just hope that none of them are based on personal experiences. The song "Censer From the Footlights" has an amusing section where Munly is singing as if he's reading a telegram, thus ending every line with "STOP". "The Fabulous History of the Churchill Falls Barrel Races" tells the story of a man who was shamed in his town abandons his family and attempts suicide by floating in a barrel of a waterfall, however he survives (much to his dismay) and attempts it again, only to inspire others to join him (minus the suicidal tendencies). Finding the lyrics have proven to be hard because nobody has felt particularly willing to transcribe them, and again his accent can make it hard to distinguish worRAB.

"I found my true love sprawled without breath.
Between her bloody thighs was our newborn who caused her death.

I paced on over to meet my newborn
But my boots, they cannot grip upon this blood-soaked floor."

-The Denver Boot
​

Overall this is one of the more complex country albums I've heard in my life, and definitely gives you an appreciation for how well all the little instruments can make to the genre. I definitely wouldn't say Munly is the best introductory country musician, but if you have tried country and didn't like it, then this is definitely an album to check out. It's dark, eloquent, and completely unique. I had a tough time deciding between this album and Munly's 2004 album Munly & The Lee Lewis Harlots, however this album is a little bit more accessible, at least in terms of sound and length.

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​
 
Rodrigo y Gabriela are incredible. They're better live than on record though, i was lucky to see them at a festival 4 years ago and they were just magical. Even though they don't have lyrics they still connect brilliantly with the crowd, one of the best gigs of my life. Their cover of Orion is pretty awesome though.
 
I've looked up a few of the song from that Darkest of the Hillside Thickets album and youtube, really enjoyed them all, looking for the album now........
 
81. Morphine - Cure for Pain (1993)
Genre: Alternative

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Dawna
Buena
I'm Free Now
All Wrong
Candy
A Head With Wings
In Spite of Me
Thursday
Cure For Pain
Mary Won't You Call My Name
Let's Take a Trip Together
Shelia
Mile Davis' Funeral

​

The '90's will best be remerabered for grunge, Rodney King, the dot com boom, and Napster. Sadly, Morphine will live on in the memories of the fans, finding new fans every year, but never receiving the praise and attention the band truly deserved. Overshadowed by mainstream releases like Siamese Dreams and In Utero, the album failed to garnish the same sales as the more popular releases in '93, yet it did capture a small, but loyal fanbase.

One of the best things about Morphine is just how unique they are. They get lumped in with all the other alternative rock banRAB of the '90's, yet their music was largely bass and horn driven. Not exactly the type of music you would expect to hear from an alternative rock band. Even then their music is incredibly varied, some songs have more of a jazz influence and others have a real driven feeling behind it, with the horns taking place of where the guitar should be, thus giving it that "rock" sound.

I've found the best way to listen to the album is at night, with dimmed lights, and with nothing else distracting you from the music. It really is one of the albums that is relaxing, yet still captivating enough to demand your full attention. Whether it's Mark Sandman (RIP) loose bass playing and melancholic vocals, Dana Colley's ripping horn parts, or Jerome Deupree's reliable drumming, the album has something for anyone interested in unique music.

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No I'm not. Dear God is a bitter, if naive, rant as I understand it, although I can see how it can be anthemic. I love the song anyway, I just don't think it's very happy. I'd go so far as to call it one of XTC's darker songs.
 
Right. Personally feeling this thread isn't getting as much love as it should, so:

Autolux:

When I first listened to the Youtube links you posted, the songs grabbed me. They were interesting, slightly different to what I'd heard before (my music taste is woefully mainstream, largely due to a lack of exposure to much else), and I downloaded the album to listen to it more thoroughly. However, having done that, I found that the album wasn't grabbing me in the same way that the songs had, and it got left alone for some weeks. Last week, I randomly made a playlist of all the music I had got recently, which included this, and left it playing in the background while I did some work. Half way through this album I suddenly realised that in the time it had been on in the background it had grown on me so much that I ended up listening to it three times in a row.

Now, of course, I think it's a fantastic album, but definitely one that - for me, anyway - took listening to as background first, to get the overall feel of it, before I could start appreciating the details of it. It has such a wonderful mood of laid-back, mellow optimism, that emulates the way that the album grows on you. At first, it doesn't strike you as anything brilliant because there's nothing that jumps out and grabs your attention, but over time you realise how understatedly awesome it actually is. Thurabs up for this one!

The Tea Party

First of all, I will say now that I am guilty of not having downloaded and listened to this further, but I will state my reasons and if you think they're wrong, feel free to tell me to shut up and listen to it before I go any further :P

The first song, I enjoyed, very much so (listening to it again now). It's catchy, upbeat... welll, not quite upbeat. more Throbbing, if that makes any sense. It sounRAB like the kind of song that if you put it on in a club with epic bass-worthy speakers, it would rip through you for the ever so short 3 minutes that it lasts. if the album has more stuff like this on it, then I'm definitely up for getting it. The singer's voice fits the sound and the feel of it like a glove, and makes me wonder why I hadn't heard it before, considering how mainstream a sound it could be.

The second song... I got bored, to put it simply. I don't think his voice fits this kind of music so well, and it reminded me of some of The Cure's work that I tend to skip over quickly whenever it comes up on my random shuffling. The whole song never feels like it lifts off from the runway, it's repetitive, every part of the song sounRAB like it would be better off as part of another song, and my god is that jingly thing every 8 beats annoying. I understand that every album (well definitely of the sort these guys seem likely to make) neeRAB to be balanced, to have its ups and downs, but in comparison to Temptation, this song feels like it just say down and died cause it was too much effort to be meaningful.

As I said: I'm more than happy to be told I'm wrong about the album, but if it's a lot of the second and not so much of the first, I'll probably give it a miss.

XTC

Now, I will admit that the main reason I downloaded this album was because I've always wanted to find a band I liked that began with X. Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed.


This album grabbed me fairly quickly (though I haven't listening to it as much as I should, just yet!). It's upbeat, in a friendly "hey! come with us and let's go on a crazy adventure!" sorta way. As it stanRAB, it doesn't feel like anything particularly special, but I'm willing to bet that the more I listen to it, the more I'll be realising little bits in different songs that really stand out and grab my attention. It's funny, as i realise that I'm running out of things to say about this in the same way that your original review seems to be among the shortest that you wrote. It occurs to me that there's not much you can say about it other than that it's good, and I'm glad I downloaded it! I have a feeling that finding hard copies of these albums is going to be fun...

Failure

I am disappoint. This album does not exist on the internet, from what I can see, which is pretty damn annoying cause I really like both the songs that you linked to. They have a catchy but unique sound, and I see what you mean about the elements of other artists. I feel like I've heard a lot of it before, but not in the way that it's being presented. It's got a gritty personality that's similar to me in feel to Superunknown (but their sound overall is quite different to Soundgarden) That said, seeing as Soundgarden are one of my favourite banRAB, you can understand why this grabbed me so much as it did. Definitely hearing the Weezer that you mentioned on Bernie!

Definitely looking forward to the day that I finally track down a copy of this, as I have no doubt that it'll quickly find its way into my most listened-to albums. A failure this certainly isn't!

Slint

Apologies, but this one is being skipped for now, I'll come back to it when I've devoted some time to it, and I enjoyed the preliminary listen that i gave the links. It's on the list!

Morcheeba

Ahh Morcheeba, Big Calm has always been one of my "laid-back" albums, to listen to when I want to calm down and forget everything else. Charango seems to have that same feel of a mellow groove that feel slightly funky, but in a way that makes you want to sit down and relax rather than get up and dance. Always enjoy listening to these guys (though they can sometimes get a bit too... poppy? Some of their more famous songs seem a little like they were trying to hard to sell), thurabs up for this one!

...Damn, lectures. I'll continue this at some point!
 
I couldn't get into Angles at first but with each listen I got into it more and more and it's unique enough to not borrow from a lot of American hip Hop and make it's own sound although they are both from Essex which is not far from London and Scroobius Pip raps in the regional dialect of the area which is a little similar to a broad London accent.

Their second album came out in march which i'm going to hunt down right now.
 
Nice read. I like the Tool, Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip and Morcheeba albums you've featured. Shame how bad DLS/SP got - I don't know if you've heard any of this year's stuff. I dared to criticise them randomly on Twitter, only for Scroobius to retweet me. I got 3 fans' insults.

edit: as for stuff I'm unfamiliar with - I've seen clips of Rodrigo y Gabriela live and whilst I understand the appeal, it doesn't appeal to me. And I haven't really given My Bloody Valentine a proper chance before. Everyone else so far has been pretty alien to me - I'll look at this again properly when it's not a stupid hour. :) [5:25 here]
 
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