Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 10:50:17 GMT -5
#5 - Parklife by Blur Released in April '94, Blur's third album was really the first mainstream smash hit album of the Britpop era. For a lot of people, Parklife and its attendant hit singles were the first time that they'd ever heard the band or indie/Britpop music. It was also the album that took the whole Britpop movement from the murky columns of the NME and Melody Maker onto the front pages of the UK's tabloid press. As someone who had been a fan of Blur for a few years by this point, I regarded Parklife as something of a retread of their previous album Modern Life is Rubbish. But having said that, it's definitely a bolder, more confident, and more commercial sounding record than its predecessor, which is why it was such a success, of course. Overall, the album is quite an eclectic mix musically, from the Euro synth-pop of "Girls & Boys", the sophisticated Parisian romance and faux James Bond-theme stylings of "To the End", and the Cockney knees-up sing-along of the title track. Parklife is a very strong album, made by a band at the peak of their powers. I'm gonna pick the bouncy synth-driven smash hit "Girls & Boys" to highlight the album. Its tacky synths, Disco drumming, and '80s-style bass line perfectly captures the hedonistic, flesh market nightclubs of places like Falaraki and Corfu in Greece, or Ibiza, Benidorm or Magaluf in Spain, where young British holidaymakers go to binge-drink, load up on ecstasy pills, and f*ck anything that moves…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 11:34:18 GMT -5
#4 - Carnival of Light by Ride Between the years 1990 and 1994, Ride were my favourite current British band. Hailing from Oxford, they had first come to my attention with their early EPs, which were noisy shoegaze affairs: all chainsaw guitars and breathy, ethereal vocals buried low in the mix. But what made Ride special was that beneath the howling guitar squall, there were sublime Beatle-esque melodies, sung in ugly/beautiful harmony by two young men who sounded like choir boys with broken arms. For 1994's Carnival of Light, the band moved away from the noisy dreampop of their earlier career and towards a sound more indebted to late '60s West Coast folk-rock and bands like Pink Floyd, the Creation, and Hawkwind. The results divided fans, with some loving the new direction, while others were disappointed at the lack of that band's signature noisy guitars. Myself, I liked Carnival of Light almost as much as the band's earlier stuff, but I also felt that they had perhaps lost something by moving away from their shoegaze sound. It was maybe all a little too self-consciously retro sounding on this album, but then again, there was plenty of good music to be found here. Stand out tracks would be the weird and wonderful single, "Birdman", along with the Byrdsian jangle of "1000 Miles" and the Hawkwind-esque "Moonlight Medicine" and "From Time to Time". I'm going to choose the song "Only Now" to showcase the album. This is a gorgeously wistful and wasted ballad about the transience and impermanence of life spent travelling and those fleeting, but deeply significant inter-personal relationships you establish and lose along the way…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 11:41:35 GMT -5
#4 – Robert Earl Keen – Gringo Honeymoon
Ha! That "Merry Christmas From the Family" is great! Some very sharp social observation there, but all delivered with genuine affection and not a little nostalgic fondness. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 25, 2024 11:41:43 GMT -5
#4 - Carnival of Light by Ride Confessor continues to educate me on Brit music of which I've never heard. Which is a nice thing. And you can add your #5 to that as well. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 25, 2024 11:42:33 GMT -5
#4 – Robert Earl Keen – Gringo Honeymoon
Ha! That "Merry Christmas From the Family" is great! Some very sharp social observation there, but all delivered with genuine affection and not a little nostalgic fondness. I absolutely adore that song. Not least of which is that it is incredibly similar to Schneider family gatherings in the 70s. |
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Post by berkley on Apr 25, 2024 12:03:12 GMT -5
#4 - Carnival of Light by RideBetween the years 1990 and 1994, Ride were my favourite current British band. Hailing from Oxford, they had first come to my attention with their early EPs, which were noisy shoegaze affairs: all chainsaw guitars and breathy, ethereal vocals buried low in the mix. But what made Ride special was that beneath the howling guitar squall, there were sublime Beatle-esque melodies, sung in ugly/beautiful harmony by two young men who sounded like choir boys with broken arms. For 1994's Carnival of Light, the band moved away from the noisy dreampop of their earlier career and towards a sound more indebted to late '60s West Coast folk-rock and bands like Pink Floyd, the Creation, and Hawkwind. The results divided fans, with some loving the new direction, while others were disappointed at the lack of that bad's signature noisy guitars. Myself, I liked Carnival of Light almost as much as the band's earlier stuff, but I also felt that they had perhaps lost something by moving away from their shoegaze sound. It was maybe all a little too self-consciously retro sounding on this album, but then again, there was plenty of good music to be found here. Stand out tracks would be the weird and wonderful single, "Birdman", along with the Byrdsian jangle of "1000 Miles" and the Hawkwind-esque "Moonlight Medicine" and "From Time to Time". I'm going to choose the song "Only Now" to showcase the album. This is a gorgeously wistful and wasted ballad about the transience and impermanence of life spent travelling and those fleeting, but deeply significant inter-personal relationships you establish and lose along the way…
I really like that one. This is a totally new band to me, don't remember every hearing anything about them before now.That track sounds great, though.
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Post by commond on Apr 25, 2024 15:45:04 GMT -5
Pearl Jam were my favorite band as a teenager. I grew my hair out and wore corduroy jackets for a good part of the 90s. I bought Vitalogy the day it was released and instantly fell in love with it. It had more of a deliberate punk rock edge to it than their previous two records. Pearl Jam had gotten a lot of crap for being jock rock, and a lot those early grunge albums had slick production values designed to sell as many records as possible. Pearl Jam were looking to weed out a lot of the hangers-on and appeal to their core fanbase. Vitalogy came out in November of '94, and I saw them live in March of '95. That was my first big concert. I spent the entire time trying to survive the push of the crowd while struggling to get a glimpse of the stage. I remember my mom being pissed that I scuffed up my brand new pair of Doc Martens. The other thing I remember about Vitalogy was the weird album booklet with the quack, turn of the century medical stuff. I don't listen to Pearl Jam a lot these days, but I can still belt out the tunes and their music holds up. My sister got hugely into them during COVID as her husband is around the same age as me. They're going to see them live in November.
The grunge movement never moved me to the extent of buying any albums but I liked much of what I heard on the radio in a relatively mild way and I'd say Pearl Jam were my favourites of the acts generally associated with that tag. I liked their sound quite a lot more than I did Nirvana's, for example, who always felt a little over-rated to me, though Cobain certainly had a great hard-rock scream. I'm a bit surprised looking back that I never got around to buying at least one Pearl Jam cd, because if I was going to by something of that kind it would most likely have been one of theirs; but probably their over-exposure worked against them a little.
I was too young to appreciate grunge when it first hit. By the time I became a fan Cobain was already dead. However, it stretched on for a few years, not so much in regard to new releases but thanks to us kids buying the older records. I still listen to grunge every now and again, but at the time I had the sort of passionate devotion to it that you can only muster as a teenager. I reject the idea that the music you listened to as a teenager was shit. It's a special time in the life of a music fan and something that should be embraced. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2024 16:03:42 GMT -5
I lived the grunge years at probably a prime age for that music, I lean more towards the Nirvana side. Got a soft spot for In Utero (Scentless Apprentice, Heart-Shaped Box, etc.) even though Nevermind was the iconic classic.
But when I think grunge at its "grungiest" (whatever that might mean), Alice in Chains' Dirt is the one I think of. A haunting album that still hits me to this day, especially at 2 in the morning with headphones just staring into the dark (or probably more often a lava lamp).
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 16:18:24 GMT -5
As far as Grunge goes, it was only Nirvana and Pearl Jam that I was into enough to buy their albums. There was the odd song by other Grunge bands that I liked ("Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden and "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog come to mind), but other than that, I wasn't really into Grunge at all. I was much more into what was going on in the UK indie/alternative rock scene in the '90s (Madchester, Shoegaze, Baggy, Britpop etc). That stuff was much, much more interesting to me than Grunge.
As I noted in my comments on Vitalogy, I reckon Pearl Jam's first 5 albums are pretty faultless. Musically, they were like a classic rock band from the late '60s and early '70s, but it was Eddie Vedder's distinctive vocals and thought-provoking lyrics that really made them interesting, as far as I'm concerned.
Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, on the other hand, were something special. Really, really special. Cobain was one of the best and most unique songwriters and performers of my generation.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2024 16:22:44 GMT -5
Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, on the other hand, were simply something really special. Cobain was one of the best and most unique songwriters of my generation IMO. I can get behind this. I actually appreciate the whole diversity of music during the early 90's, it really did go beyond grunge. My aforementioned love of the acid jazz scene during that time, fresh stuff like Rage Against the Machine...there was so much going on. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 16:27:36 GMT -5
I reject the idea that the music you listened to as a teenager was shit. It's a special time in the life of a music fan and something that should be embraced. Yet again I find you speak words of wisdom. Myself, I've always had impeccable musical taste.  Even the bands I listened to and bought records by as a little kid are great and still get listened to round my house (Adam & The Ants, XTC, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears etc). |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 16:28:38 GMT -5
Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, on the other hand, were simply something really special. Cobain was one of the best and most unique songwriters of my generation IMO. I can get behind this. I actually appreciate the whole diversity of music during the early 90's, it really did go beyond grunge. My aforementioned love of the acid jazz scene during that time, fresh stuff like Rage Against the Machine...there was so much going on. I agree. The '90s were a very exciting time for popular music generally, I think. |
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Post by commond on Apr 25, 2024 16:30:11 GMT -5
I'm not sure that Pearl Jam have ever made a bad record. I stopped buying their records after Binaural as I was more into other types of music by then, but they continue to grind out the records and the impression I have of them is that they're a classic American rock band. A lot of that is thanks to Eddie, but one of the things I liked about Pearl Jam is that they let the other members of the band write songs too. They even let the drummer write some songs.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2024 16:37:01 GMT -5
Yet again I find you speak words of wisdom. Myself, I've always had impeccable musical taste. Even the bands I listened to and bought records by as a little kid are great and still get listened to round my house (Adam & The Ants, XTC, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears etc). The first two albums I bought in grade school as a little kid were some early Beatles albums...so I stand by the same statement haha I can dig all the artists you mentioned, but a particular shoutout to XTC (a later album for them, but I remember listening to Orange & Lemons over and over) and definitely Depeche Mode (similar thing with Music for the Masses, listened to over and over). |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2024 17:20:59 GMT -5
I'm not sure that Pearl Jam have ever made a bad record. I stopped buying their records after Binaural as I was more into other types of music by then, but they continue to grind out the records and the impression I have of them is that they're a classic American rock band. A lot of that is thanks to Eddie, but one of the things I liked about Pearl Jam is that they let the other members of the band write songs too. They even let the drummer write some songs. For me, Binaural was the first PJ album that didn't blow me away. It still had some very good songs on it, but it felt way patchier than, say, Yield. The first real inessential album in their discography was the follow-up Riot Act. I still own that album, but it's not an album that gets many listens. After that, there was the album with the sliced avocado on the cover, which I think was just called Pearl jam. That really wasn't a good album at all, although I kinda liked the single "World Wide Suicide". But after illegally downloading the avocado album, to try it out before I bought it, I decided that it wasn't good enough to bother purchasing. Another post- Binaural song I really like is "Just Breathe" from Backspacer, though that sounded more like an Eddie Vedder solo record TBH. But like I say, Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, and Yield are all pretty much faultless albums in my view. |
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Even the bands I listened to and bought records by as a little kid are great and still get listened to round my house (Adam & The Ants, XTC, Depeche Mode, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears etc).