A Lifetime-Plus of Music

     Today is the 8^th installment of my son picking an album to be on the list, and this one will not go down as one of my favorites.  Featuring the debut album, “Since I Left You”, from the Australian electronic group The Avalanches, this is a record I tried to embrace as always, but just never really connected.  It does appear to be fairly well regarded within and beyond the genre, and I read that Questlove considers this to be one of his ten favorite albums of all time, but it just doesn’t have enough songs or musical content that make me want to come back for more.

     If I had to describe this album, it would be somewhere between chaotic and frenetic.  It is a constant menagerie of sounds that come at you from all directions, and I could never just comfortable with the blended result.  Mixing in hundreds, perhaps thousands of samples around some disjointed musical lines just made it difficult for me to get comfortable with the end product.  There is so much repetitive looping and automated sound that it becomes annoying and distracting every time I might come close to latching on to a particular track.

      As with hopefully all genres of music, I’m trying to keep an open mind as I expect there may be more of this along the way.  Electronic dance music (EDM) is a major sensation around the globe.  I have a friend and coworker who DJs in this element as her life’s passion, and each year as I drove past the EDM festival in Orlando after a night of teaching, I was intrigued and fascinated by the tight grip this world has on its audience.  That said, at least with this album, there isn’t enough of something, whether it be alluring hooks, bouncy bass lines, remarkable vocals, or thought-provoking lyrics to personally keep me interested.

      Even as I gave the title track and the other three singles from the album, “Frontier Psychiatrist”, “Radio” and “Electricity” another pass looking for something I could hold on to, it just didn’t stick.  I do love that the name of one of their songs, and also the working title of the album, is “Pablo’s Cruise”.  I can certainly acknowledge that it is a complex and demanding production, but I’m probably going to leave most of this behind me as I move forward here.

     I’m not sure if there is another artist that has consistently exceeded my expectations as much as OutKast.  Although I certainly enjoyed “Aquemini”, I find their next album “Stankonia” to be on an entirely different level.  I think this has quickly emerged as one of my favorite hip-hop albums, and perhaps overall albums I have ever enjoyed.  It has such a diversity of sound, and this makes more sense to me when I read that while working on this album, they essentially shut themselves off from the world of hip-hop and immersed themselves in Jimi Hendrix, Prince, George Clinton and a variety of different sounds.  What emerged was an album rich in musical complexity while retaining all of the fun and bounce one would hope for on an OutKast record.  “Stankonia” is ranked slightly lower than “Aquemini” on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, but both are classics, and I would reverse that sequence if I was voting.

     The album starts out somewhat uneventfully, but really kicks into motion with the funky kick of “So Fresh, So Clean”.  The more I listen to this song, the more I absolutely love it.  Next comes “Ms. Jackson”, which is probably the only other OutKast song I was familiar with prior to diving into these records.  It reminds of a Prince song, and I like it a lot, even though there are several others on this album I like even more.

     The next song that really hit me like a hammer (literally) was “Spaghetti Junction”.  On the right sound system, the bass thump of this track is truly filthy.  It reminds me of a summer night in a crowded beach town where A1A is packed with cars, and one ride shakes the entire foundation of the city with the wallop of its bassline.

     “Kim & Cookie” is one of the most hilarious interludes I have ever heard, and the “report card” every guy dreads.  I’ll leave it at that, but it certainly serves as an effective prelude to the next song, which is a funka-delic lesson on how to do things right.  Once again… I’ll leave it there.

     “B.O.B. – Bombs Over Baghdad” is an interesting song title for a tune that preceded our disaster in Iraq by several years.  On a much lighter note, the chorus features the Morris Brown College Gospel Choir on backing vocals, and somehow, they manage to sound just like a different set of Georgia natives, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson from the B-52s.  How unreal would it be for any hip-hop act to actually borrow the talents of these two for a song?  Oh well, even if my hopes were dashed, the Morris Brown choir does a fantastic job on this song, and I’d like to think they had an amazing experience working with Andre 3000 and Big Boi on this track.

     “Xplosion”, featuring B-Real, has another crazy bass beat and prominently features at Andre 3000 at his best.  My son is quick to rank Andre in his Top 5 of greatest MCs ever, and it is hard to argue with that after hearing a song like this.

     Erykah Badu, who had a child with Andre, makes an appearance on “Humble Mumble”, and the crushing funk-rap keeps flowing on “Red Velvet”.  One of the most powerfully unique song openings blows up on “Gangsta Sh*t”, which features Slimm Calhoun, C-Bone and T-Mo.  Aside from their own success, OutKast helped to define and raise the profile an entire generation of Atlanta-based hip-hop.

     As Andre 3000 pushed the boundaries of blending singing with rapping, one of the more compelling vocal tracks that also features Cee-Lo is “Slum Beautiful”.  Oddly enough, I don’t love the last track, the title song, but there is so much to truly savor on this amazing record, I can overlook one track amidst a blockbuster blend of my favorite music, to include funk, hip-hop, and psychedelia along with anything else you can mix in the potion.  This album is pure greatness.

     It always gets interesting when an established act decides they need to dramatically alter their sound and musical direction.  We have seen it with almost all of the recurring success stories we have addressed in this blog, and clearly Radiohead isn’t any different in this manner.  Not only does it create potential confusion and dissension within the fanbase, it can even strain the relationships and functionality of a working team.  I believe that both of those dynamics are in play on “Kid A”, their fourth album, even as it ultimately garnered extremely high praise from most critics and of course, their biggest champions at Rolling Stone, who have rated this album as #20 on their Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.  I personally would never rate it on the same level, as much of this album is a bit challenging for me to consume, but I know music is subjective, and that there are many out there who look at it differently than I do.

     For this record, Thom Yorke, who was continuing to combat mental health and wellness, took the lead role in shaping and defining the path for this record.  He was fairly consumed by electronic music at this point, and he certainly endeavored to reflect that influence on this album.  The album is nearly devoid of guitars, with minimal traditional percussion as well, as synthesizers, organs, strings and horns, among other instruments, filled in the sound.  Much of the band was confused by this altered path, although they all stayed on board to successfully complete the record.  Perhaps the best comparative I easily think of is the direction Brian Wilson took the Beach Boys with “Pet Sounds” and “Smile”.

     The music is very abstract, perhaps even cosmic, and perhaps best consumed in an altered state.  “Everything in its Right Place” and the title track are good openers, and the sound is fairly consistent across the record.  “The National Anthem” is a very unique sound, and the words chaos and cacophony best capture the assault of horns and strings in the second half of the song.  It is hard to listen to, and hard not to listen to, at the same time.

     An instrumental track like “Treefingers” once again takes me back to Orlando’s Mall of Millenia, staring in place at the colorful and evolving colored panels in the center of the mall.  (If you know, you know…).  “Optimistic” is a welcome respite of actual guitar within this monochromic landscape, and it is easily my favorite track with its warming collection of chords.  My next favorite track might be “Morning Bell”, particularly the opening segments of the song, but like many tracks, it tends to lose me along the way.      Two albums in, and I still don’t fully understand the fascination and hype with Radiohead.  It is highly complex and intellectual music, and maybe it is just too sophisticated and abstract for my relatively simple mind.  I did enjoy the overall tone of the haunting synths and strings, and the mid-album insertion of “Optimistic” is a highlight, but this one won’t be cracking any personal Top 20 list as I see it.  It feels a little bit like I’m looking for chicken tenders and being served some exotic meal that costs $75 and has 4 bites on the plate.  There is a target audience for this sound, but I don’t think I am included.

     The next album from Eminem, “The Marshall Mathers LP”, is one of the best examples I have heard of an artist progressing and getting stronger with a subsequent release.  Not that I didn’t like his last album, “The Slim Shady LP”, I just think this is a much deeper and better overall album.  This opinion is not really influenced that much by the darker and more serious content on this record, although that is definitely the case.  Primarily, it is a reflection on what I think is the continued evolution of his MC skills, and the ever-improving production results from Dr. Dre and Eminem on this record.  Apparently others heard this progress as well, as this album is probably his mostly highly regarded album and is rated #145 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     There is always plenty of inherent anger in his music, and sometimes I’m not quite sure why he’s quite this upset with the world, but it certainly comes out in “Kill You”.  Next comes the memorable story of “Stan”, the overly-obsessed fictional fan that probably most artists have to deal with in reality.  Beyond the obvious tragic examples of John Lennon, Dimebag Darrell from Pantera, and Selena, among others, there are lots of scary near-miss stories out there.  Built on the appropriately sad loop of “Thank You” by Dido, the give and take between “Stan” and Eminem is probably closer to truth than we want to imagine, particularly in today’s overly present world that lives out on social media platforms.

     “The Real Slim Shady” is the other centerpiece of this album, and this one is a natural favorite for most.  Properly centered between absurd, funky, quirky, and highly appealing, this song is definitely a signature song for Eminem’s brilliance on the microphone.  There is an obvious reason why Dre overlooked racial bias and pre-conceived expectations to throw his support behind Eminem, and this track is a clear example of both of their talents.

     Speaking of Dre, it is great to hear him on “Bitch Please II”, alongside Eminem and Snoop Dogg, along with Nate Dogg and Xzibit.  It is a welcome relief from some pretty heavy tunes and themes, and certainly is one of the most notable collaborations within Eminem’s catalog.

     Some songs on this album are almost too much to take.  “Kim”, a bizarre hate track about his wife at the time, is hard to process and even harder to listen to, even if it is just meant to serve as a love-hate example and not reality. 

     Thankfully, there are other tracks much more to my liking.  “The Way I Am”, “I’m Back”, and “Remember Me?”, featuring RBX and Sticky Fingaz, are my other three favorites on this record.  Again, I hear more intense music of quality, and less comical nonsense than the last record, and I think both Eminem and his production team, led by Dre, deserve a lot of credit.  There is more still to come from Eminem, but this album will always be looked at as perhaps his highest peak artistically

     In many ways, I could probably take the blog I wrote for “Millenium” and the Backstreet Boys, and cut and paste it here for “No Strings Attached” by NSYNC.  In both cases, it was their third album, and in both cases, they were massive commercial success stories.  “Millenium” was the best-selling album for 1999, and “No Strings Attached” claimed the same title for 2000.  In both cases, the acts were five-member “boy bands” founded by manager-turned-dirtbag Lou Pearlman, forming in the Orlando area.  Another similarity I think I knew but reinforced is that while each act is supposedly 5 equal members, both groups had two lead tenors that were not only on the prettier end of the scale, they also seemed to garner most of the lead vocals.  For Backstreet Boys, this was Brian Littrell and Nick Carter, with an honorable mention to Kevin Richardson, but the no-so-secret weapon of NSYNC was emerging superstar Justin Timberlake, along with the co-lead of JC Chasez.  Ultimately, Justin has emerged as the triumphant force from NSYNC, based on the combined forces of his natural talent, some well-timed collaborations, and the pop-media star power from his early relationship with fellow former Mouseketeer Britney Spears.  One last similarity, this record is also highly known for its lead single, “Bye Bye Bye”, although “It’s Gonna Be Me” also made it to number one.

     By comparison, if I had to pick a favorite, I think there is more energy and allure on this NSYNC album.  There aren’t quite as many emotionally draining lost-love ballads, and there is even a well-timed infusion of acapella on the last song, which is a nice change of pace.  With Timberlake’s ascension into superstar status beyond the group, NSYNC hasn’t maintained the same continuity or rhythm as Backstreet Boys, but even so, they all seem relatively well-adjusted and do make appearances as a group from time to time.  There have been others since, and there will surely be even more to follow, but with an evolving music industry that generates more revenue from live performance and less from recorded music sales, it is hard to imagine anything quite like the side-by-side phenomenon of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, even as acts from South Korea like BTS dominate the current genre and scene.

     Today is one of those days when I’m apparently on the other side of the discussion from not only my son, but most of the musical industry, it appears.  We start the 21^st century with “Voodoo” by New York R&B artist D’Angelo, loved by many, and it is the #28 rated album on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  I think it boils down to the fact that I’m just not a huge fan of slow-jam, overwrought R&B, and there is a lot of it on this album.  I know he is a very talented singer, and his collaboration with many is well-documented, but with the exception of a limited number of tracks, this just isn’t my cup of tea.

     Most people know this album for its lead single and provocative video for the song “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”, where an incredibly fit D’Angelo sings to us on a revolving, isolated soundstage, seemingly without a stitch of clothing on.  I have heard he had some regrets for that video format, as he felt it ultimately distracted the audience from the core of the message, which is his music, but from where I sit, he has nothing to regret.  The guy looked amazing and it was an emotionally exposed (physically as well) performance.  My issue is the song, which is similar to most of the content on this record.  It is slow, meandering, and while full of soulful emotion, just relies on an ever-building tempo of riffing and vocal histrionics that just doesn’t do it for me.  The other single from the album, “Send It On”, is pretty much in the same category, as are most of the tracks here.

     With a talent of his acclaim, it isn’t surprising that I found three takeaway tunes.  My favorite is definitely the second song, “Devil’s Pie”.  It has a funkier bass line and reminds me of some of my favorite low-key funk music from past and present.  I love both the main verse and the chorus; it is absolutely the highlight of this record for me.  “Left and Right” also opens with a funky descending guitar riff and features the hip-hop double-team of Method Man and Redman.  “Spanish Joint” has more of a jazz feel, and it is a very hypnotic blend of guitar and bass that sets the tone of this exotic track.  The vocals are very Wonder-esque, and with some well-timed horns, this one is an extremely well-performed song.

     This album won’t ever make my Top 28, but like almost always, I appreciate the art and the talent, and am glad I scratched beneath the surface to find songs I connected with more than the historically obvious singles.

     What the world deems as popular music ebbs and flows with trends and evolving sounds.  Nothing was as commercially successful in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the boy band, with both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC hitting it big.  Oddly enough, they were both formed in the Orlando area under the direction and management of Lou Pearlman.  Many serious music fans may dismiss the boy band sound, which isn’t any different than what we heard from the Spice Girls, other than the group is male and American, but I acknowledge the infectious nature of their biggest hits and also appreciate the role they had in introducing generations of music fans to their first concert or first record.  The boy band, or even in a larger sense, a pop ensemble of vocalists, goes back several decades, and thrives on today in 2022.  You may not find “Millenium”, the third album from the Backstreet Boys, on any Top 500 list, but the commercial marketability of these acts was remarkable, and this album was easily the #1 selling album of 1999.

     Not unlike the Spice Girls, most of this album is pretty forgettable, but it is all simple, formulaic pop songs, mixing up-tempo dance tracks with slower ballads, pulling the heartstrings of their mostly female fanbase.  However, like I said, each of these records comes with some major hits that have stuck with all of us for over twenty years, and there are two songs on this record, one in particular, that stand out to me.

     “I Want It That Way” is probably the definitive Backstreet Boys song, and anyone over the age of 25 and younger than 50 probably knows it and loves it.  I have no shame admitting I enjoy it immensely, even with a touch of sarcastic humor, but it is a truly magnetic pop ballad that pulls you in.  Mix in the video with visually appealing singer-dancers, and it is not hard to see how this music thrived in its time.  By the third album, the band was pulling back from the control of management and production somewhat, and fought hard to make this the first single, vs. an up-tempo track.  It is hard to argue with the results at all.

     The other song in question, which was the first on the record and the second song released, is “Larger Than Life”.  It is a pretty familiar formula, with a driving beat, a dramatic pause in the middle, followed by a stepped-up conclusion.  And yes… just like “I Want It That Way”, this song is pretty easy to latch on to.  

     Other than these two tracks, the rest of the record doesn’t do much for me, and I do find it amusing that two successive songs on the album are titled “Don’t Want You Back” and “Don’t Wanna Lose You Now”.  Mildly confusing perhaps, but both mirror the angst of pop idol relationship songs.  Being Mother’s Day, we have the Mom tribute song, co-written and primarily sung by Brian Littrell, “The Perfect Fan”.  I appreciate the good intentions of the Backstreet Boys, and for all that teen mania, they seem to have survived that surreal craziness fairly unscathed and continue to perform and record successfully to this day.

     As I listened several times to “Things Fall Apart” by The Roots, it was one of those albums that was relatively easy to listen to, and given their powerful pedigree and some other songs of theirs that I love that are not on this album, I really wanted to like it more than I actually did.  I think it comes down to this for me…  I think of Questlove and the band as such a musically gifted act, and while this is all good low-fi hip-hop, I think I was hoping for more musicality and catchy hooks.  This album is considered their breakthrough release, and it is rated #416 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     As one would expect, it is certainly a top-notch production, but perhaps it is slightly more stripped down than I would have liked.  As it turns out, I didn’t really know any of these songs in advance.  Therefore, it is nothing more than a big coincidence that my two favorite tracks on the album are the two tracks released as singles.  “The Next Movement”, featuring an unexpected appearance from DJ Jazzy Jeff, is probably the funkiest and most alluring track on the album.   On the opposite end of the spectrum is another track that is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to find on this record, “You Got Me”.  It is a slower-tempo song with an inviting acoustic guitar and a stunning vocal accompaniment from Erykah Badu.  I absolutely love how this New York hip-hop and musical community all collaborate to lift each other up.

     One of the more jarring tracks is “The Return to Innocence Lost”, a spoken word track featuring Ursula Rucker.  It is a sad tale of family dysfunction, betrayal, violence, and abuse, with a small sliver of hope.  You can tell throughout this entire record this is a band and collection of artists with substance and real impact, and again, why I have such respect for The Roots, even if I didn’t love this album quite as much as later performances, such as the song “The Seed (2.0)” that comes from the 2002 album Phrenology.  Like always, I’m better for the time spent here, and enjoyed hearing them as they ascended to superstar status.

     Listening to “The Slim Shady LP” by Marshall Mathers, known to most of us as Eminem, it almost feels like a good, raunchy comedy film more than a music project.  Even though he is a really talented MC and there are some mean beats on this album, a lot of what I appreciated the most were the lines and scenarios that had me laughing pretty hard.  Eminem rose to prominence under the tutelage and production of Dr. Dre, and Dre does make an appearance and is a co-producer on this record, which is rated #352 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     The absurdity starts right off with “Public Service Announcement”, which is followed up by the most recognizable track here, “My Name Is”.  It’s a funky groove, but it mostly just makes me laugh.  That sensation continues on the next song, “Guilty Conscience”, which is a back-and-forth between Dre and Eminem.  I don’t think I have ever heard this song before, even though it was one of the singles from the album.  Like every track on this record, this isn’t exactly radio friendly.  That said, one of the “anecdotes” and lines in this song from Eminem is one of the funniest things I have heard in music.  It’s pretty off-color and I’m not going to quote it here, but… poor Grady.

     Listening to this album is kind of like seeing a pretty extreme stand-up comic.  There are definitely moments on this record, including parts of “Guilty Conscience”, that make you cringe or shake your head given their extreme nature.  That said, I understand that is part of the approach, and in general, I find it all pretty entertaining with a few limited exceptions.  What else would you expect from an album that has two songs titled “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” and “Still Don’t Give a Fuck”.  Honestly, I enjoyed both of them just as I did the rest of this album.  You don’t have to take things too seriously all the time, and this album was a good escape for an hour plus.

     Like many artists, I have always maintained a highly simplified and limited view of OutKast.  As such, when I saw them surface on my list, I naively assumed that the album “Aquemini”, which is a hybrid of the two horoscope signs for Andre 3000 and Big Boi, would include “Hey Ya!”, their biggest commercial success.  This highly rated album actually was five years before “Hey Ya!”, and honestly, it is much more to my liking as well.  This record is rated #49 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     “Hey Ya!” is fine as a light and bouncy pop-rap song, but this record is so much better.  One of the biggest emerging acts from the Atlanta hip-hop scene, OutKast really hit my sweet spot with its incorporation of funk, slow groove and lyrical flow.  Like many hip-hop acts of the time, the lyrics are hard-hitting and rough-edged, with themes of city life and gang violence prominently featured.  They also found the right mix of visible featured artists like George Clinton, Raekwon from Wu-Tang Clan, and Cee-Lo among others, while retaining their own stamp on the album.  In fact, one of the biggest disputes between the two was which song to start the record (after the intro instrumental opener “Hold On, Be Strong”).  Andre 3000 ultimately prevailed by insisting on “Return of the “G””, which is just Andre & Big Boi front and center.  It has such a slow and powerful beat, accentuating the deliberate and dark world this lifestyle exists within.  This might be my favorite song on the album.

     Other favorites of mine include “Rosa Parks”, a more up-tempo flow, and “Skew It on the Bar-B”, which is the track that features Raekwon.  The lyrical and vocal flow on this track is remarkable; this is some of the smoothest hip-hop I have heard to date.  You can hear it just as effectively at a slower speed, on like the title track as well.  My son has always told me how much he loves OutKast, and this record gives me much more appreciation for their true sound at their very best.