Our Favorite Albums (391 – 400)
391. Ariana Grande – Sweetener [2018]
Nominated by DJ Lukey G of The Guest List.
The album is a pop, R&B and trap album, with production from Charles Anderson, Hit-Boy, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Max Martin and Pharrell Williams. Sweetener also contains guest vocals by Williams, Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott. (wikipedia.org)
392. Amanaz – Africa [1975]
Nominated by Fluccs Capacitor of Time Moves Slow who says: When I first heard this album I was floored. It sounds like Sabbath and Fela performed at the same show. Before Now Again records was releasing Zam Rock gems, Shadocks out of Germany released this monster and it shook me. Not only is there plenty of fuzz feed back and Geezer riffs but the soulful singing of lead vocalist Keith Kabwe makes this music transcendent. Along with Hawkwind, this is great space travel music.
393. Mickey Hart – Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box [1996]
Nominated by Karen Stein of Imagine who says: Joyous, well-played, thickly produced with lots of musicians and singers in the room. Hart was The Grateful Dead’s drummer (but you knew that) and has a doctorate in musicology and has written books on world music (maybe you didn’t know that). If l need to pull myself out of a funk, this is what l listen to.
394. The Pogues – Rum Sodomy and the Lash [1985]
Nominated by Sir Jon of Pint O’ Comics who says: My absolute favourite Pogues album, ever. From the cover image to the final track, it’s the best.
395. Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Love Bad News [2004]
Nominated by DJ Cheshire Cat of Wonderland who says: After a brief instrumental intro, Modest Mouse stacks the album with 3 radio-friendly. upbeat singles (“The World at Large”, “Float On”, and “The Ocean Breathes Salty”). If you’ve been suckered into thinking this album was going keep the positive vibes going, the 13 second “Dig Your Grave” with its mumbles of “I’m really digging, I hope you’re dead” should disabuse you of the notion immediately. Anger and loathing seethe through the majority of the album, culminating with the world-weary “The Good Times Are Killing Me”.
“Have one, have twenty more ‘one mores’ and oh it does not relent/The good times are killing me”
396. Haley Heynderickx – I Need to Start a Garden [2018]
Nominated by DJ AmorOso of WTF: What the Funk & Storytime.
In an interview, Haley Heynderickx explained it took three attempts to record the album. Her first attempt was at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon, with musician Colyn Cameron, however a horse had passed away during one of her songs. She explained “I lost faith in the songs and myself. The horse died”. The second was at a conventional studio, but Heynderickx felt inhibited by insecurity and worries about money from the cost of the studio, “It doesn’t feel like a labour of love when every moment you’re in a studio it feels like you’re losing money. The last thing I want to think about when capturing songs that were made from a place of love, is money.”. Her third attempt was made at Nomah Studios – an in-house licensing studio set up by Heynderickx’s friends. (wikipedia.org)
397. Massive Attack – Mezzanine [1998]
Nominated by Rick Reaction.
The production of Mezzanine was a stressful process. With tensions arising within the group, it almost split the band. They disagreed about the musical direction for the new material. Robert Del Naja first started making samples from new wave records, from the likes of Wire and Gang of Four: it was the music he’d listened to in his early teens. Del Naja wanted Massive Attack to make an album having an atmosphere of edginess and paranoia present in the music of the late 1970s. Grant Marshall, also a new wave fan himself, supported this idea, as he wanted to get away from the “urban soul” of their previous work, Protection, but Andrew Vowles was sceptical. The sessions continued with Vowles and Marshall working on bass and drum loops, while Del Naja carried on experimenting from new wave records. (wikipedia.org)
398. Janis Joplin – Pearl [1971]
Nominated by Psychedelic Rick of The Psychedelicatessen.
Pearl is the second and final solo studio album by Janis Joplin, released posthumously in January 11, 1971, three months after her death on October 4, 1970. It was the final album with her direct participation, and the only Joplin album recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, her final touring unit.(wikipedia.org)
399. Los Panchos – The Bolero Anthology with Mari Trini [2015]
Nominated by DJ Livor Mortis of Word on the Street.
400. Steely Dan – The Royal Scam [1976]
Nominated by Leith of The Light Fandango.
The Royal Scam features more prominent guitar work than the prior Steely Dan album, Katy Lied, which had been the first without founding guitarist Jeff Baxter. Guitarists on the recording include Walter Becker, Denny Dias, Larry Carlton, Elliott Randall and Dean Parks. (wikipedia.org)
