Urban's Never-ending A to Z

L

ldyblucpl

New member
Lately i've been incredibly busy and not really had any time to be able to write or review stuff like I would normally want to and it's incredibly frustrating coming here knowing I don't really have time to sit down , listen to a whole album and then spend an hour or 2 writing up something about it. And I miss not being able to do that.

So this is my solution.

I shall be going through my entire list of albums .. yes ALL of them from A to Z . and writing a few sentences about each. It's pretty straight forward. I listen to a couple of albums at work , come home. and then spend 10/15 mins writing a few worRAB about each.... simple.

According to my Rateyourmusic page I have 3200 albums on my HD , I know it's more than that , with bootlegs and CRAB not on my HD the total is nearer 4000 so it should keep me going for a while.

According to the list the first album up is Let's Get Professional by The 012
 
Well i have this song and it says 'feat Trent Reznor', certainly sounRAB like him, i can wing it your way if you want?
Great song, by the by.
 
794242.jpg

65daysofstatic - The Destruction Of Small Ideas - 2007

I think I may be in possession of this due to someone from this site telling me to check it out but I can't remeraber for the life of me who it was.
I'm a bit undecided what to make of this album. I didn't mind it but I began to tire of it pretty quickly. to me a huge majority of the songs just sounded like something in between Trail Of Dead & At the Drive In but without lyrics. I couldn't see an awful lot of originality on this album. There are a few electronic bits scattered around and a load of orchestral bits but they don't really do anything to add to it. To be honest the whole soft / loud /soft / loud thing bores me to death and on this album it seems to be in abundance. And why is it that virtually every track neeRAB a minute or two to warm up?
There seems to be an abundance of this kind of Math rock / Post rock (Not my label so no genre arguments please , I really don't care) hybrid sort of thing around at the moment and to me they nearly all sound as anonymous as this does. I'm not entirely sure how you listen to this stuff. It's far too abrasive & noisy to listen to as background music but on the other hand it's a bit too dull & repetitive to actually listen to as you would say a commercial rock or pop record. Not that I can't listen to that kind of stuff like that but I need a hook or a rhythm to keep me interested. There are lots of guitars but they just seem to drone on & on. there are lots of drums too but no memorable rhythms .If fact this whole album seems to be devoid of any hooks or rhythm .
I can see why people like this stuff but it just isn't for me. The only songs that really stood out for me was 'Music is Music as Devices are Kisses is Everything' which sounded more like an epic film score than anything.And 'The Distant & Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties' was a nice little electronica song in the same vein as Radiohead's Idoiteque. If the rest of the material on the album was up to this standard of these two songs I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

2/10
 
7807.jpg

13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic SounRAB Of The 13th Floor Elevators - 1966

Only 3 albums into this and I get to my first bona fide classic already.
Although the 13th Floor Elevators are considered to be one of the first , if not THE first psychedelia band that isn't really a good representation of their sound. The band called themselves psychedelic and took shedloaRAB of LSD , but thats really where to comparisons to the psychedelia that we know and love today end. They're much rawer and more of a garage band than say something like Barrett era Floyd. To me their sound is kind of sandwiched somewhere between the MC5 ( Even though they came afterwarRAB) and The Rolling Stones.
The two things that really make them sound out is the use of an electric jug , which makes it sound like someone is being obscene with a cookoo clock in the background. The other thing is a genuine fruitcake acid casualty vocalist in Roky Erikson who screams and shrieks his way though the album. Although on the slower tracks such as Don't Fall Down and Splash 1 he calms down and does a good job on them.
This album is stuffed with classic songs , the opener You're Gonna Miss Me the song that opens the album also opens the movie High Fidelity , if you know one song by the 13th Floor Elevators then it's probably that one. Roller Coaster is virtually identical to a Primal Scream song. Reverberation (Doubt) sounRAB like it could be a JAMC song. In fact listening to this album you begin to wonder which 80s guitar band you'll hear in the next song. Fire Engine is pure garage rock. You Don't Know (How Young You Are) reminRAB me of an early ballad by The Who , slow but with lots of energy behind it. Kingdom Of Heaven & Monkey Island keep the album at a high standard. The former being a slow droning song the latter being skewed pop with Erikson screeching away to his hearts content. The final song on the album Tried To Hide wants to be The Beatles in one aspect and The Rolling Stones in another , it's also the poppiest song on the album.
This album is solid the whole way through and deserves it's classic status. It's influenced far more music that it's ever credited for and in my opinion Roky Erikson was one of the best frontmen of that era and much better than some others who are almost revered today by some people.

Rating 10/10

Favourite songs - You're Gonna Miss Me , Rollercoaster , Splash 1 ,Reverberation (Doubt) , Kingdom Of Heaven , Tried To Hide
 
The 012 were the band that later became World Domination Enterprises. "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" was re-recorded for the album after the name change, Let's Play Domination (if the song title rings a bell, it's because Meat Beat Manifesto covered it on their Subliminal Sandwich album). A new(er) version of "Funkytown" is also on that album, without the asides putting down the song.
 
Computer died on me and I had to buy a new one. Once i've got this one all sorted out i'll start again.



Not in my thread you ain't
Allow me to start one for you
 
376973.jpg

The 012 - Let's Get Professional - 1984

"The 012 would like it to be generally known that they have now sold out completely, but will be doing all they can to maintain that urban guerilla pop star image in the future."
So says the album sleeve

I know very little about this band but some digging around I discovered it was recorded in 1981 but not released until 1984 on some obscure label called Flicknife RecorRAB.
Their lead singer is the wonderfully named Kif Kif Le Batter. Playing on bass on some of the tracks on this album is a guy called Granto Showbiz , and i'm wondering if this is the same guy as Fall producer Grant Showbiz.

At first this album sounRAB like your typical post punk album with A Certain Ratio basslines , JAMC type guitars and Fall like vocals. But it's when the covers kick in where things either really get started or totally fall apart depending on your point of view.

There's a brilliant cover of Bob Marley's Three Little BirRAB which sounRAB like it's done by an English Captain Beefheart and with no melody whatsoever. After that Funky Town by Lipps INC is massacred with vocalist Le Batter proclaiming how shit the song is at regular intervals.

The band's own material stanRAB up very well and a lot better than you'd expect if you'd only heard the covers. There's a couple of throwaway tracks but if abrasive post punk is your thing (And it is mine) then this is well worth a listen.

Rating 6/10

Favourite Songs - Let's Get Professional , Asbestos Lead Asbestos , Live Fast Die Young , Meltdown Situation
 
Yeah, think I read that somewhere already and forgot. Bummer about your computer, but YAY for getting a new one! Now post some more albums dammit!


Look, I was really scared there for a minute...:p:
 
2/10 for 65daysofstatic :( . The lack of hooks are why I like them personally and I find the heavier approach coupled with the odd elctronic beats sets them apart from many other banRAB. When I listen to this sort of thing I imagine it as film soundtrack music that fits certain mooRAB and scenarios and may not neccessarily be a cohesive whole. I know the review was last year but I must have missed it first time around.

I can also definitely see people being completely nonplussed with them too.
 
If that's the only 65daysofstatic you've heard, I'd recommend at least giving The Fall of Math a listen. IMO it's much better than Destruction of Small Ideas.
 
7808.jpg

13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere - 1967

The 13th Floor Elevators second album Easter Everywhere pretty much carries on where the debut album left off. A few of the rough edges of the debut have been smoothed out production wise , and the manic rawness of the debut seems to be replaced with a kind of laid back confidence.
The album begins with the 8 minute epic Slip Inside This House , as covered by Primal Scream on their Screamadelica album. Whereas Primal Scream's version was dubbed up to the max with the throbbing bass dominating the track this version is all about the rhythm complimented by a simple guitar riff layered over the top. Totally different but both versions are good in their own ways.
Slide Machine is another highlight of the album , a glorious laid back white boy R&B nuraber that floats along effortlessly.
The next couple of songs She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own) and Nobody To Love are pure British invasion style pop.
Next up is a cover of Bob Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue , It's not all that bad actually. From what I can recall it seems pretty faithful to the original , albeit as faithfully as possible for essentially what is a garage band's cover of it. You can even hear Erikson attempt a couple of Dylan's vocal mannerisms too.
Sadly the second half of the album is where things begin to fall apart a little.
Earthquake is a bit of a throwback to the first album and hearing it makes you appreciate how far the banRAB songwriting has improved since then. It sticks out a bit from the rest of the material on this album up till this point as it has a much more primitive feel to it but then as you carry on listening to the rest of the album you wonder if they ran out of ideas and just went back to what they know I've Got Levitation which comes a bit later on the album suffers from the same problem.
Dust is the banRAB first attempt at an acoustic ballad. I'm not sure it totally works but it doesn't really seem out of place on this record , it just doesn't really work. I Had To Tell You is pretty much the same thing , A folky ballad that's part Dylan part Simon & Garfunkel. It's better than Dust , but only just. The final song on the album is Pictures (Leave Your Body Behind) which finishes the album on a low key note , it's an improvement on the rest of the second half of the album but it can't save it.
This is an album of two halves , the first half is brilliant , the second half just sort of slips away into averageness as you listen to it. It's probably fair to say this is the point the band began to run out of steam

Rating 6/10

Favourite Songs - Slip Inside This House , Slide Machine , She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own) , It's All Over Now Baby Blue
 
42296.jpg

1000 Homo Djs - Supernaut EP - 1990

I used to own this on vinyl and I loved it, But that was 10/12 years ago.

1000 Homo Dj's is yet another Al Jourgensen side project. Jello Biafra is also involved in there somewhere although everybody involved used aliases, not all of which have ever been revealed.
It was rumored that Trent Reznor sung on this but it's not true. His record company refused clearance and in the end Jourgensen recorded the vocals himself. Reznor's version has seen the light of day since but i've never heard it.
The version of Supernaut here is my favourite Sabbath cover i've heard. It takes all the good things from the original and just cranks it up to borderline noise.
Hey Asshole is a novelty , an 8 minute long song about getting pulled over by the police , but it's far too repetetive to sustain the length on repeated listens and just gets boring.
The EP finishes with 2 songs originally recorded for Ministry's The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste album. Releasing these two songs were originally the reason this EP was conceived , and they're not bad. Apathy is pretty decent with it's stomping drums and it's off kilter horns wailing away in the background.
The final song Better Ways is just your typical slow 80s industrial metal dirge and really does nothing for me.
A mixed bag really , two good songs , one song thats OK the first time you hear it , and one boring song. Only the Sabbath cover could really be considered essential.

Rating 5/10
 
Back
Top