Album talk

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

Just a place to discuss, review or recommend any album you want.

[burrunjor]

Some of my favourite albums. Not doing a top ten or ranking them in any order as undoubtedly some choices will always change, subject to time, but still

Back To Black



11/10. Best album of the entire 21st century. No contest. Every song on the album is an absolute classic, stellar production, beautiful lyrics, fantastic, powerful, yet understated performance and wonderful different mix of genres. I'd recommend the deluxe edition however, which has some of my favourite covers and sees Amy further stray into unusual territory from soul, to RnB, to reggae, to ska. (When you consider her first album was also Jazz, and hip hop and she even ventured into country and western she was definitely one of the most versatile artists of all time.) Also in a further example of her versatility not all of the songs in this are serious. Some are funny, sexy, witty and bitchy too, showing what a wide range she had emotionally. 

Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful




10/10. I hate to rate this as Paloma's best as that implies it was all downhill from her when it certainly wasn't the case. Still this is a very special album. It has some of my absolute favourite songs and I think it's fair to say a more whimsical, imaginative, quirky quality to it than a lot of her contemporaries as well as a slightly older at times, almost Andrew Sisters type of sound. It's lyrics may lack some of the depth of say Amy's but it makes up for it with the greater imagination. Also Paloma in the video for New York is the most beautiful woman who ever lived. (I know I say that about a lot of women, Shobna Gulati, Lady Gaga in ASIB,  Freema Agyeman in general etc, but I mean it this time. Until I see one of them again LOL, then I'll mean it again when I see New York.)

Joanne



10/10 The Fame is by far the most groundbreaking and important Gaga album, but personally I prefer Joanne. It's a little bit more lowkey and personal at times, and I think really demonstrates the power of Gaga's voice more. Don't get me wrong I'm NOT an Adele fan snob who thinks that if you dress up and dance around you're less of an artist. What a lot of pretentious shit. Obviously Gaga's costumes and stage persona from the early 10s was an incredible achievement in itself, but I don't know in this case I think I preferred this album, though granted that might also just be because I've heard it fewer times than the Fame. 

Lungs



10/10 Florence and the Machine's debut. This is an amazing album filled with a wide variety of songs, from powerhouse ballads, to dark comedies about domestic violence, to songs that read like the plot of an old Amicus horror film. (Seriously one track called the Bird Song sees Florence kill a young woman, only for a bird to witness it, with the bird repeating her victims last words that identify Florence as the killer, she captures the bird and when it won't say anything else she breaks its neck, only for her to start repeating her victims last words in her victims voice which leads to her being caught.) 

Florence's vocals are truly out of this world. There's a reason the album's called lungs, but sadly that has tended to overshadow a lot of other great things about the album, like its production, its lyrics and just overall style which is best described as Grace Slick meets Hammer Horror. 

Wild Young Hearts



10/10 The Noisettes second album. An absolute classic, which once again has not a single bad track. Shingai Shoniwa is an absolute star, with an incredibly unique look, style, persona and presence that just shines through the entire album, the songs are fast, catchy, and at times poignant and thoughtful like every now and then too.

(By the way Shingai is one of the nicest, sweetest, most down to earth awesome celebs I've ever chatted to on insta. Spoken with her more than a few times and she always remembered me, even asked how I had been doing. Amazing woman.) 

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

New Order's "Total" compilation is a good introduction to both Joy Division and New Order. The former was a post-punk band led by the late Ian Curtis. Their stuff was noticeably darker than New Order. I think some members may enjoy their music more. This is the pick of the bunch alongside the better known "Love Will Tear Us Apart."




A lot of the album is taken up by New Order tracks, the electronic rock group that proceeded Joy Division after the suicide of Ian Curtis. "Ceremony" shows a much more upbeat kind of song, but nevertheless retains the reflective nature of the previous band's work.

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band - Tough All Over

I have the original 1985 album on vinyl. Their work sort of sounds like something you'd here in the bar of a small American town.  Really nice mid 80s rock, just outside the mainstream.