Sign of the Times

I took a self-imposed break from K-Pop over the last month, giving myself time to explore other genres and styles of music. Well, I lasted a month. Now it’s back to Bubblegum-Pop-slop. But what did I find?

Prince - Sign o’ the Times

Ah, this is where all the samples that MTV played came from. Very good. Very good album. Honestly, the only beef I have with Prince is that his music occasionally sounds a bit uninspired. Like, random. He probably wrote 20 songs a day, just because. That’s the vibe I’m getting. A very stoic approach. Idk. Definitely good to get you going, but do you need to publish all that stuff? Maybe an EP would have been better. But publishing EPs like the K-Poppers nowadays wasn’t likely commercially viable back in the 80s and 90s. Anyways, great artist.

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Is this the perfect album? I mean… so many great songs. Every song works. No slumps. Musically excellent. African influence, or so I’m told. This is smart, playful, well produced. Wow. I love it.

Frank Zappa - Joe’s Garage

I always loved Zappa, particularly his Mothers of Invention and other early stuff. Never listened to his later output, something I’d like to fix over the coming months. Anyway, Joe’s Garage. Interesting. I like it. Some of his stuff comes across as pretty raunchy. Not sure how that would fly today. For example, let’s take Catholic Girls from Joe’s Garage:

[Verse 1: Joe]
All the way, that’s the way they go
Every day, and none of their mamas ever seem to know
Hip-hip-hooray, for all the class they show
There’s nothing like a Catholic girl
At the CYO when they learn to blow

[Refrain: Father Riley & Mary & Others]
They’re learning to blow all the catholic boys!
(Warren Cuccurullo)
Catholic boys! (Kinda young, kinda wow!)
Catholic boys! (Vinnie Colaiuta)
Where are they now? Did they all take the vow?

Cool cool.

Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette

Never listened to Grace Jones. Was only familiar with her from that one Renault commercial (Google it) and that one James Bond movie (View to a Kill with Christopher Walken, also OST by Duran Duran). She looks cool. But she can also sing! And she’s got style, and she’s got grace, to quote a Madonna line about someone else. Warm Leatherette is a cool album, especially the new version with extended song lenghts. Favourite track: Private Life (long version).

Morbid Angel - Covenant

Dl’d a bunch of Morbid Angel. Always thought they were one of the best when it comes to Death Metal. Great musicality. Gateways to Annihilation is probably my favourite Death Metal album. But their other stuff is supposed to be even better, so I need to do some catching up. Didn’t have a lot of time with Covenant, but seems solid.

The Gun Club - Miami

Never heard of this band before. Came across it on some Best Albums of 1981 list. The voice of the singer is something. So fragile. The opener is really touching, great to see when someone has the courage to be so vulnerable. And is able to express it in art.

Steely Dan - Royal Scam

Not bad. I always liked Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly, my favourite “one last track before you go to bed” album. Aja is supposedly a reference album if you want to test a new hifi-system, because it’s that well produced. For some reason I got stuck with Royal Scam instead. Maybe I like the vibe more? Idk.

The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup

Angie and Doo Doo Doo. Particularly Doo Doo Doo is really good. And as fate would have it, someone posted about it on social media yesterday, reminding everyone about the timeliness of the lyrics:

[Verse 1]
The police in New York City
They chased a boy right through the park
And in a case of mistaken identity
They put a bullet through his heart

[Chorus]
Heart breakers with your .44
I wanna tear your world apart
You a heart breaker with your .44
I wanna tear your world a part