Sonic Youth's "Dirty" (1992)

I don't know what to say about Sonic Youth's "Dirty", or rather, I don't know how to express my feelings about the album in such a way that it meets my minimum word count for reviews. When I reviewed 4 Non Blonde's "Bigger, Better, Faster, More!" I was able to creatively express how poor the album was, and how much it bored me. Sonic Youth's "Dirty" isn't a bad album, but I am bored by it, and that's the pickle I'm in right now.

How do I go about talking about the finer points and parts of an album that really just doesn't make me feel anything? Do I examine song by song, describing each like an exhibit in a museum of apathy? "Here, you can see how guitars are played in a fast, sloppy, distorted fashion - over vocals that are not altogether pleasant to hear... and up next you can see the exact same thing."

Okay, that's a bit harsh. I do like a song on the album, "Theresa's Sound-World", so I can't chalk up the whole album as unpleasant noise. I fail to understand what's so great about Sonic Youth, but I comprehend that the album isn't "just a bunch of noise". What I can say for certain, is that there's nothing about Sonic Youth's "Dirty" as a whole that will have me coming back any time soon. I'm glad I listened to it, I'm glad I now know what Sonic Youth sounds likes, but I found the album boring and hard to care about.

Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" (1998)

Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" is an eerie, funky, and uniquely melodic album. The drums and bass are almost always keeping a slow pace, educing a head-rocking syncopation  - which is accompanied by distorted guitars, choral chants, distant vocals, and other special effects that drape the catchy rhythms in sheets of dissonance. Hence, eerie and funky.

"Mezzanine" might be one of the most cohesive albums I've ever listened to. The songs don't fade into each other or anything like that - but the tone of each complements another - every song sounds like it belongs on this album, every song sounds "Mezzanine".  "Teardrop", the recognizable theme to House MD is relaxing, emotional, and complete with a spine-tingling, haunting vocal performance by the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser. "Teardrop" is worlds away from the album's next song, "Inertia Creeps"; which mixes Arabic sounds with soft-spoken rap, and yet despite this the two songs sound very fitting next to each other. I also attribute the album's composure to Massive Attack's "Exchange" and "(Exchange)", the song and it's reprise sample Quincy Jones and Isaac Hayes. There's something extremely refreshing about the pair, which are located at the album's middle and end.

In any case Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" is an incredible album every song is excellent whether or not you're listening to the album straight-through, so if album cohesion isn't your thing - go listen to the emotional release that is "Dissolved Girl" or the catchy vocals of "Risingson", or maybe the lyrical volley of "Group Four" is more your thing. "Mezzanine" is awesome, and you should give it a try.

Jodeci's "Forever My Lady" (1991)

I've never really listened to a whole lot of R&B, and I can't say that after listening to Jodeci's 1991 debut album, "Forever My Lady", that I want to listen to more R&B. That's not to say there's anything wrong with the genre, or Jodeci's album - its just that neither really clicks with me.

The album clocks just seven minutes under an hour, and it's not at all an unpleasant hour. The vocals here are pretty sweet, whether Jodeci is in full quartet harmony, or somebody's singing solo. I particularly like the instruments on display here too - hard to describe but very much a staple for the time. Keyboard effects and oscillations that probably sounded cool then, and "cheesy" now. I enjoy them in a very much non-ironic way.

What really keeps me from fully being able to embrace Jodeci is just their lyrical content. It's an almost-hour long musical trip about love, break-ups, make-ups, and making love. All fine lyrical topics if done right and sparsely - but this is a full album of static lyrical topics. It's a shame, because if I were reviewing Jodeci song-by-song I might have lots of really good things to say about each song, but I'm reviewing the album as a whole - and I find it hard to praise one long song above another love song.

Jodeci's "Forver My Lady" is worth listening to, and I'm glad I took the time to listen to them - but lyrics that don't go anywhere hold down great voices and nice beats.

Beastie Boys' "Ill Communication" (1994)

I think the world might have given me the wrong impression of the Beastie Boys. An unfortunate series of events in my youth just created this unfounded dislike of the Beastie Boys within me. A science teacher who I looked up to and respected called them out as being a stupid, sexist band (based on “Girls”). A girl I didn’t care for embraced “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)” as the temporary anthem for a club I didn’t care for. “Sabotage” appeared in Guitar Hero III, and I look back at my Guitar Hero years in mild disgust – which is enough for me to feel weird about the song. Long-short is that a bunch of things that didn’t have to do with the Beastie Boys made me dislike the Beastie Boys, but college is a fresh start, so let’s throw all by past experiences out the door and look at Beastie Boys’ “Ill Communication” (1994).

The world never told me how relaxing the Beastie Boys were. The distant vocal quality, the down-low jazz samples; it doesn’t matter what they’re singing about, or how exciting and funky some of the songs can get – I’m very relaxed during “Ill Communication” (Sans “Tough Guy”, and “Sabotage”, and “Heart Attack Man”). The Beastie Boys made a pretty incredible album here with generous servings of wah-pedal, catchy-songs, smile-inducing lyrics and although it might contradict the whole “relaxing” statement I made before, I found it very easy to “feel” the album. “Ill Communication” lends itself to head-nodding and foot-tapping, it’s very rhythmic, which you could argue is a horrible quality to attribute to music, so I’ll elaborate.

What makes the Beastie Boys’ “Ill Communication” rhythmic? Everything underneath the rapping is infectiously catchy, and while I’ll forget what was being sung and by whom, I’ll never forget the instrumentals of “Ill Communication”. The backing jazz samples, the original backing tracks, the record scratches, the wah-guitars. It’s very unique, to me at least, I’ve never listened to anything like this before – and I love it. What makes it rhythmic? Well, there’s a quality to their music that would make me want to add a little bob to my walk, no matter how embarrassing I might look. Only so many albums can make me actually want to put the security of my outer appearance at risk to further my enjoyment of the music by moving to it.

“Ill Communication” makes me want to move. It’s relaxing, it’s therapeutic, it’s catchy, it’s fun. It’s a great album. 

Pearl Jam's "Ten" (1991)

Pearl Jam's "Ten". This album is a goldmine. It's chock full of amazing songs that really strike an emotional chord for me. If you're the type of person who can't get used to or appreciate Eddie Vedder's voice; you're missing out.

This album has got thoroughly banging rhythms, a generous heaping of wet guitar solos, and most importantly: memorable and meaningful lyrics delivered by the one of a kind voice of Eddie Vedder. A voice capable of rallying spirits to the sky, and plunging them back into the lowest darkness. The emotional back and forth I experience while listening to "Ten" is special, not many albums do that to me.

Take a listen to the song "Black" and tell me that you don't recall feelings of loss and hopelessness. It's beautiful. And then songs like "Even Flow" are full of this energizing positive energy.  "Ten" is an emotional volley where nothing falls flat and it is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Björk's "Debut" (1993)

Björk is a strange musician, that's the first thing I knew about her, and that's the first thing I'll tell you about her. The second would be that she is an amazing, talented musician. So by no surprise, her 1993 "Debut" is both strange and wonderful.

The Wonderful: "Venus As A Boy" &  "Like Someone I Love" : these two tracks are masterpieces, works that embrace the tones of oldschool love songs and manage to sound like works of their own era.

The Fun: "Human Behaviour" & "Big Time Sensuality" : tracks where Björk's signature twist on punctuation and "growl" really shine, generally upbeat if not unsettling at times, and an assembly of instruments and sounds that speak to the style of the decade.

The "What Just Happened?": "There's More To Life Than This". After three unsettling yet fun and beautiful songs, this live track just invites itself onto the album. It's closer to house music than anything on the album prior to, and after it. During the middle of the song the live track fades out, and Björk starts to sing to us - and then the live track fades back in and - what is even happening?

"Debut" feels like an album of two types of songs - either the song is very minimalist; just a few instruments to accompany Björk's voice - or on the other side of the coin, you have songs where Björk's voice is accompanied by loads of synths, catchy bass guitars, drum machines - crowded songs. Not to say that the crowded songs are bad - but I prefer the minimalist.

Songs like "Human Behaviour" and "Big Time Sensuality" are fun, but I prefer songs like "Venus As A Boy" & "Like Someone I Love" - songs where Björk's voice can shine almost on its own. That "Debut" allows Björk to be both fun and wonderful - and let's not forget strange - is a blessing, because the album is all the better and unique for it.

But "There's More To Life Than This" still stands out like a sore thumb. 

The Cranberries' "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?" (1993)

This is a great album.

And now the hard part: why is the debut album of Irish band, The Cranberries, so great? 

There are a lot of elements on this album that reminded me of the album I listened to last week, Cocteau Twins' "Heaven or Las Vegas" (1990) . Each of the bands expertly layer velvety vocals on top of smooth, light guitars and bass - the end result being really relaxing, melodic music. However, the vocals of Cranberries' lead Dolores O'Riordan are coherent, carrying lyrics of anger, happiness, dreams, disappointment, and defiance. The Cranberries' brought substance that I felt was lacking from Cocteau Twins, and managed to sound just as beautiful. One band painted with vivid, bright colors, but few contrasts or focal points;  the other painted with colorful highlights, and used darker colors as shadows to give us something to focus on, think about. 

This is a great album, because it delivers substance and the right balance of black and white.