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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 2, 2023 9:52:18 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003
#5 - Reckless Kelly – Under the Table and Above the Sun
For a band that's basically local it took me a long time to discover and then appreciate Reckless Kelly. This is their first album for Sugar Hill and where they really took off after a couple of indy releases. Whatever you want to call them, alt-country, roots rock, they're pretty firmly Americana now...and they're pretty darn good. And this was the start of a hell of a run.
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Post by commond on Jun 3, 2023 17:34:16 GMT -5
More from '83...
Hellhammer's Triumph of Death.. another demo tape from the Swiss band, Hellhammer. There wasn't a lot of extreme metal being recorded in '83, so kids like Hellhammer had to turn to hardcore punk for inspiration. Poorly received at the time, their demos were later recognized as some of the earliest examples of black metal and became highly influential. Two of their members went on to form Celtic Frost. Pretty cool in retrospect.
Nile Rodgers' Adventures in the Land of the Good Groove... Nile Rodgers was in a tough spot in '83. The backlash against disco had crippled his career, and he was still transitioning into his role as a writer-producer. He disowned this album later on, claiming he was doped up and unsure about what he wanted to do musically, but Bowie liked it enough to have Rodgers produce Let's Dance. More interesting than good, but not a bad LP.
Johnny Thunders' In Cold Blood... they sure were putting out a lot of Johnny Thunder records in '83, including this cobbled together double album (a mix of studio and live recordings), but that's okay because I freakin' love Johnny Thunders and spent a couple of days with You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory stuck in my head. Quintessential rock and roller, died young and left behind a brilliant catalogue of music. Love all of his stuff.
Cybotron's Enter... important electro album. Bit of a mixed bag. I've never been a huge techno fan so take my words with a grain of salt. Could be a classic LP for all I know.
Change's This is Your Time.. Change were kind of middle of the road as far as funk bands go, but they always produced highly quality boogie/synth funk records and this was no exception. Like many of the better r&b acts from this era, they were able to mix it up with male and female vocalists, and the songs get better with every spin.
Pulp's It... it's crazy to think that Pulp were around in '83. This has its fans, but I found it to be largely forgettable. I don't know if Cocker was aping Morrisey, but it sounded that way to me and I found it annoying.
Social Distortion's Mommy's Little Monster... this did nothing for me. I dunno why. It's been a long time since I've been on a punk kick, but I did love that Dicks album. I guess I don't really care about the things bands like Social Distortion are rallying against.
Toy Dolls' Dig That Groove Baby... humor based punk is the worst punk if you ask me.
Bow Wow Wow's When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going... I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. The opening track, Aphrodisiac, is such a great song and sets the tone for the rest of the LP. I love Annabella Lwin's vocals. Hard to believe she was 16 or 17 at the time and wrote all of the lyrics.
Husker Du's Everything Falls Apart... I absolutely love Husker Du's debut record. I don't know why this doesn't get more love. It kicks so much ass.
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Post by commond on Jun 4, 2023 17:57:09 GMT -5
1983...
Gary Moore's Victims of the Future... man, this was 80s sounding. There were a number of tracks that could have easily been in a movie soundtrack. I much prefer the grittier, less commercial Japan release from this year.
Crass' Yes Sir, I Will. -- noisy anarcho-punk. Lots of bitching about Thatcher's England. I've had my fill of bitching about Thatcher over the years, and to be honest, this was completely over the top.
Mariah's Utakata no Hibi... Mariah were a group of well-known Japanese studio musicians who formed a jazz-fusion group that dabbled in progressive rock and other genres. Here they go totally art-pop with an avantgarde mix of Japanese synth pop and Armenian folk songs. This is the kind of thing you'll either appreciate as an interesting LP or disregard as hipster crap. I can't see much middle ground myself.
Subhumans' The Day the Country Died... more anarcho-punk. I liked this better than the Crass album. It was recorded in 5 days and mostly plays off George Orwell's 1984. I'm not an anarchist, so the message here doesn't mean a lot to me. I'm in it for the music, and personally this wasn't hardcore enough to really excite me.
Randy Newman's Trouble in Paradise... this was a solid Randy Newman album. It was pretty much what you'd expect from him -- strong songs, clever song-writing, and witty lyrics.
African Head Charge's Drastic Season... dub fans think this is amazing. I found it monotonous. Not my favorite genre of music.
The Barracudas' Mean Time... Now we're talking... garage rock with a mix of power pop and jangle pop... how could I not love this? Looking at the music landscape as a whole in '83, there was definitely room for revival acts to have a little fun with their music and The Barracudas are tops.
Los Abuelos de la Nada's Vasos y besos... Argentinian new wave, pop rock, yes please! I'm totally aware that I have an unfair bias towards this because it's Spanish and from another country, but I love it anyway. Lyrically it could be the shits, but musically it pricked up my ears.
Tracey Ullman's You Broke My Heart in 17 Places... I'm old enough that i remember when Tracey Ullman was popular. I read a neat quote from Ullman about how she likes visiting record stores and finding her old LPs mixed in with far more famous records. She was going for a retro Girl Group vibe here, but she does a comedy bit on the version I listened to where she does different accents, which was a specialty of hers, and I swear she would have made a better punk rock vocalist than a Ronette.
Malcolm McLaren's Duck Rock... this basically alternates between hip hop and African music. It was an important LP at the time of its release, as it helped spread both forms of music to a wider audience. I liked it, but I'd argue it's more famous than good.
Herbie Hancock's Future Shock... this album doesn't have a great rep. I don't know if that's because jazz fans hate it. It's not as bad as its rep suggests, although there's nothing on the record that matches the brilliance of Rockit. If it had been entirely scratch based and more of a turntablism LP, I probably would have liked it more, but Hancock was also embracing the emerging electro and synth funk scenes, and those tracks don't work as well.
Willie Nelson's Tougher Than Leather... Willie Nelson is a National Treasure and one of the greatest living American songwriters. He wrote this while he was in hospital with a collapsed lung and meditating on reincarnation. It's a followup album in a way to Red-Headed Stranger, just not as good. Basically, it's Willie Nelson, and if you can't find something to enjoy here, I don't know what to tell you.
Was (Was Not)'s Born to Laugh at Tornadoes... this didn't sound like any Was (Was Not) that I've heard. So weird. I listened to this a few times, and I began to appreciate how clever it was lyrically and dig some of the songs, like "Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball)" with its brilliant low budget music video, and "Zaz Turned Blue," an awesome cocktail jazz blues song that they get Mel Torme to sing. I think it's the guest vocalists that threw me off on the first listen, as they get a ton of people to sing on this, including Ozzy Osbourne, Marshall Crenshaw, and the Knacks' Doug Fieger. It's not really the art funk from their first LP, but art pop. Commercially unsuccessful, but I'm glad I gave this another shot because it gets more rewarding with each listen.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 6, 2023 14:21:56 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003
#3 - Johnny Cash - Unearthed
I was going to talk about this one separately. But then I discovered that what I had slotted in to my #3 slot probably shouldn't be there and so what was I going to do? So here is were we have a discussion about "big ass boxed sets."
I try not to get nostalgic very often. I don't succeed, but I try...so good for me. One thing I do get nostalgic about, though, are big ass boxed sets. The first one I got was the Robert Johnson box on cassette as a present from my brother-in-law Victor (and maybe Patricia Schneider...it's been a while). That was only two cassettes (later CDs) so it wasn't so big. But it had a great booklet and a box and it was pretty damn spiffy. Things like the Chess Boxes, the Crescent City Soul Box, the Complete Stax-Volt boxes, any of the huge boxes from Bear Family, etc. were just amazing deep dives in to music that was hard to find and definitely not available in one package in any other way.
This is a pretty big box. Five CDs. Three were outtakes from the American Recording sessions. One was a new gospel album. The fifth was a compilation of some of the best tracks from the American Recording albums. Just an amazing collection and the kind of release that, as best I can tell, is incredibly rare nowadays.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,601
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Post by Confessor on Jun 6, 2023 16:34:09 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003 #3 - Johnny Cash - UnearthedI was going to talk about this one separately. But then I discovered that what I had slotted in to my #3 slot probably shouldn't be there and so what was I going to do? So here is were we have a discussion about "big ass boxed sets." I try not to get nostalgic very often. I don't succeed, but I try...so good for me. One thing I do get nostalgic about, though, are big ass boxed sets. The first one I got was the Robert Johnson box on cassette as a present from my brother-in-law Victor (and maybe Patricia Schneider...it's been a while). That was only two cassettes (later CDs) so it wasn't so big. But it had a great booklet and a box and it was pretty damn spiffy. Things like the Chess Boxes, the Crescent City Soul Box, the Complete Stax-Volt boxes, any of the huge boxes from Bear Family, etc. were just amazing deep dives in to music that was hard to find and definitely not available in one package in any other way. This is a pretty big box. Five CDs. Three were outtakes from the American Recording sessions. One was a new gospel album. The fifth was a compilation of some of the best tracks from the American Recording albums. Just an amazing collection and the kind of release that, as best I can tell, is incredibly rare nowadays. I bought that "Roots 'n' Blues" Robert Johnson box set on cassette in 1990 too (though I replaced it with the CD edition a few years later). It was called The Complete Recordings, but actually another alternate take of "Traveling Riverside Blues" was discovered in the late '90s and was eventually released as a bonus track on the CD reissue of King of the Delta Blues Singers. Like you, I also miss great big CD box sets. Some of my favourites are Bob Dylan's Biograph and The Bootleg Collection Vols 1-3, along with the first Byrds box set, the Sun Records box set, and the two big 4CD Nuggets box sets. I also have a 4CD box set of recordings from the Monterey Pop Festival and a 6CD box set of recordings from the Woodstock festival, the latter of which is arguably overkill (though I believe a 10CD version of the Woodstock set has come out in more recent years).
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Post by tartanphantom on Jun 6, 2023 16:43:22 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003 #3 - Johnny Cash - UnearthedI was going to talk about this one separately. But then I discovered that what I had slotted in to my #3 slot probably shouldn't be there and so what was I going to do? So here is were we have a discussion about "big ass boxed sets." I try not to get nostalgic very often. I don't succeed, but I try...so good for me. One thing I do get nostalgic about, though, are big ass boxed sets. The first one I got was the Robert Johnson box on cassette as a present from my brother-in-law Victor (and maybe Patricia Schneider...it's been a while). That was only two cassettes (later CDs) so it wasn't so big. But it had a great booklet and a box and it was pretty damn spiffy. Things like the Chess Boxes, the Crescent City Soul Box, the Complete Stax-Volt boxes, any of the huge boxes from Bear Family, etc. were just amazing deep dives in to music that was hard to find and definitely not available in one package in any other way. This is a pretty big box. Five CDs. Three were outtakes from the American Recording sessions. One was a new gospel album. The fifth was a compilation of some of the best tracks from the American Recording albums. Just an amazing collection and the kind of release that, as best I can tell, is incredibly rare nowadays.
American Music I and IV are my favorites out of the lot.
And not to go completely off the rails, but the Complete Stax/Volt set that you mentioned is essential for anyone who is still breathing and is not deaf. And speaking of Bear Family sets, the Marty Robbins 1960-1966 set is way under the radar for most folks, but an absolute gem.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 6, 2023 16:54:13 GMT -5
The early days of eBay and the early days of Amazon Marketplace were a freakin' gold-mine for buying CD boxed sets. I picked up a ton of them for huge discounts.
I'll admit that some were far from essential. And some of them were overly comprehensive (Bear Family was bad about that). But I get far more nostalgic about them than I do much of anything else.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 7, 2023 9:40:44 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003
#2 - Dwight Yoakam – Population Me
There's no such thing as a bad Dwight Yoakam album. And this is a very good Dwight Yoakam album. It's just not one of his albums that I absolutely love and reach for with as much regularity as others. There's a lot to love here. Yoakam's writing just gets more mature. His choice of material to cover has only gotten more interesting over the years. Here, for instance, he turns Burt Bacharach & Hal David's "Trains and Boats and Planes" into a great bluegrass song. For many artists this would be an album near the top of their discography. For Yoakam...it's a Thursday.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 7, 2023 11:06:20 GMT -5
First concert tickets of the summer are in the books. Going with Number Three Son to see American Aquarium and Mike & the Moonpies on Saturday. Super stoked to see both bands.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 7, 2023 11:38:23 GMT -5
And the second set of concert tickets for the summer are purchased. Going to see Dale Watson on Aug. 21. That's a BIG tick off my list of acts I want to see.
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Post by tartanphantom on Jun 7, 2023 14:08:11 GMT -5
And the second set of concert tickets for the summer are purchased. Going to see Dale Watson on Aug. 21. That's a BIG tick off my list of acts I want to see. There's nothing quite like getting a big tick off of Dale Watson. He's probably not as cooperative as your average golden retriever.
Be sure to bring your tweezers and alcohol. And take care not to expose yourself to Lyme or RMSTF.
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Post by commond on Jun 7, 2023 19:10:00 GMT -5
The Rain Parade's Emergency Third Rail Power Trip... okay, so I've finally found a Paisley Underground album that I think is amazing. This was a fantastic record, and could have easily been an indie release in any decade since. Unfortunately, The Rain Parade doesn't have a huge catalogue of work, so I may have to settle for this gem alone, but definitely the best of its genre in '83.
The Cure's Japanese Whispers... I've never been a huge Cure fan. I mean, I like them enough to listen to their records, but they strike me as the kind of band that attract fanatics and I don't find them that appealing. If I'm being honest, Robert Smith annoys me a bit. I used to have a co-worker from the UK who'd give me endless shit for liking Morrisey and the daffodil in his back pocket, and Smith is kind of like that for me. This record did nothing to change my opinion on any of that. Some decent tunes, though.
Big Boys' Lullabies Help the Brain Grow... This sounded more like punk rock/funk than hardcore to me, but not a bad record.
Peter Tosh's Mamma Africa... fairly standard Peter Tosh album. Nothing remarkable about it. An easy listen if that counts for anything.
Billy Idol's Rebel Yell... Rebel Yell is a great song. Nothing else on this LP compares to Rebel Yell, however the rest of the tracks are extremely interesting considering Billy Idol was being positioned as a guy with high commercial appeal. I imagine that if you bought this record in '83 and listened to it until you wore it out that you would love the other tracks on this LP in the way that only a true fan of any album does.
Yello's You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess... LOVE the album name, love the painting of the gorilla on the LP cover, and that's about it... European synthpop. Probably sounded good in the clubs, who knows.
Ramones' Subterranean Jungle... I really wanted to come out all guns blazing about what an underrated record this, but the truth is it's not very good. A couple of catchy tunes but highly mediocre by Ramones standards.
The S.O.S Band's On the Rise... I'm a big S.O.S Band fan, and think Take Your Time (Do it Right) is just about the best song ever, but this LP has one great song on it (Just Be Good to Me) and a bunch of filler.
Hellhammer's Death Fiend... I felt like this was the weakest of the Hellhammer demos. Rough production and the songs didn't feel shaped yet.
Sparks' In Outer Space... So, because it's the early 80s, there are a lot of great 70s acts producing lesser works, not only because creativity has a short shelf life, but because the music business had changed so dramatically in such a short span of time. This could easily be written off as an inferior Sparks record, but I thought it was a perfectly enjoyable slice of new wave synthpop. Certainly not worth getting your knickers in a twist over.
Black Uhuru's The Dub Factor... Black Uhuru released two LPs in 1983, a roots reggae album, Anthem, and this dub record. I'll give you two guesses as to which I liked better. You got it.
The Dickies' Stukas Over Disneyland... this was something of a comeback record for The Dickies and a very good LP. I particularly liked the song about having a hunchback girlfriend.
G.I.S.M.'s Detestation... now here's a record I haven't listened to in a while. I was surprised by how metal this sounded. It almost sounded like a thrashcore record at times. Very few things are as cool as Japanese hardcore even if G.I.S.M are a bit immature at times.
Teena Marie's Robbery... Teena Marie hanging in there with her version of contemporary r&b. A nice record but nothing earth shaking.
The Comes' No Side... Japanese hardcore record with a screeching female vocalist. How can this not rule?
The F.U.'s My America... Now this is what I call a hardcore record... About 15 minutes long and punchy as heck. Excellent.
Depeche Mode's Construction Time Again... this almost comes across as a concept album. I love Everything Counts in Small Amounts (one of my favorite songs of '83), but a grew a little tired of Dave Gahan singing about saving the earth.
The Triffids' Treeless Plain... I'm not sure if people overseas realize how strong the Australian and New Zealand music scenes were during this era. That said, there's always a tinge of cultural cringe when you hear an Australasian band trying to sound like they're The Fall. I know I shouldn't feel that way but it's hard to shrug that feeling, especially when the band is from Perth of all places. BUT, this is an excellent record and David McComb seems like a fine songwriter, so cultural cringe be damned. Check this out if you're curious.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 8, 2023 9:34:43 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003
#1 - Drive-By Truckers – Decoration Day
The follow-up to 2001s "Southern Rock Opera" (which I talked about two years ago) is a much more listenable album. It's not as ambitious. But I like it a lot better. It also gave notice that Jason Isbell was going to be a force to be reckoned with, as he wrote the two best songs on the album. While not a concept album this one still looks at the trials and travails of Southern life. Patterson Hood wrote three songs about the fallout from his divorce. I've never quite been able to decide on a favorite Truckers album, but this one would be in the running.
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Post by tartanphantom on Jun 8, 2023 10:20:07 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003 #1 - Drive-By Truckers – Decoration DayThe follow-up to 2001s "Southern Rock Opera" (which I talked about two years ago) is a much more listenable album. It's not as ambitious. But I like it a lot better. It also gave notice that Jason Isbell was going to be a force to be reckoned with, as he wrote the two best songs on the album. While not a concept album this one still looks at the trials and travails of Southern life. Patterson Hood wrote three songs about the fallout from his divorce. I've never quite been able to decide on a favorite Truckers album, but this one would be in the running.
Love this album, as well as Southern Rock Opera.
But my all-time favorite is still The Dirty South. Not a mediocre song on the record and the pacing is damn near perfect.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 8, 2023 10:23:43 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2003 #1 - Drive-By Truckers – Decoration DayThe follow-up to 2001s "Southern Rock Opera" (which I talked about two years ago) is a much more listenable album. It's not as ambitious. But I like it a lot better. It also gave notice that Jason Isbell was going to be a force to be reckoned with, as he wrote the two best songs on the album. While not a concept album this one still looks at the trials and travails of Southern life. Patterson Hood wrote three songs about the fallout from his divorce. I've never quite been able to decide on a favorite Truckers album, but this one would be in the running.
Love this album, as well as Southern Rock Opera.
But my all-time favorite is still The Dirty South. Not a mediocre song on the record.
I love The Dirty South also. I'm also super fond of Go-Go Boots. Honestly just a big fan of the band. Their two 2020 albums were outstanding. They just keep on truckin'.
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