The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

[BlueHammer85]

Speaking of his voice, there used to he a debate like 20+ years ago that Kelly Jones of Stereophonics sounded a lot like Rod Stewart. I kind of did not really agree, till I heard their cover of Handbags and Gladrags. Which then, I could no longer unhear.

Yeh a little for sure, especially that cover. Do like Stereophonics , seeing them a week before Oasis next year.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Can you remind us of the format, and timing, and how this is to work? Maybe *I* missed the details and rules.

What if we don't have 10 albums from 2024?

I've got a best song of 2024, but 10 albums? Not so sure there.

My whole year has been listening to the nominated albums on this thread only

 

[LGWIO]

Bravo to @Saddleworth2 (and Rod of course) for being the new King of the castle.
Look forward to reconvening in the new year...still have to work out what my next pick will be...and hope you all have a jolly Christmas, you all eat drink and be merry..... but dont fall down as easily as Kyle

 

[bennyboy]

Only the second pick with more than an average of 8.
Cracking pick.
Enjoying listen to Rod,Faces and Ronnie Lane good years again

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

There is a thread on it, but basically PM me your top 10 (or ehat you can manage) albums released in 2024. 10 for no.1 9 for 2 etc. By Christmas eve.

Found it, links are always helpful, especially to those of us who are creatures of habit of our favorite tabs here for the most part.

Album Of The Year - 2024

A few of us have, on the various threads here, remarked that 2024 has been a good year for music and albums. So worth putting to the test, with a list. If interested simply PM me a list of your top 10 albums of the year (they have to have been released in 2024) by Christmas eve. And we'll see...

forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk

My whole year has been listening to the nominated albums on this thread only

I almost added that note in addition to being "stuck in the 60s" and on instrumentals at the moment, but I digress...

 

[Blue Mist]

I only found this thread because I saw Rod Stewart EPTAS as the headline. I probably missed it because like Rod, all bar a couple are white and therefore not really my genre. The reason I noticed Rod is because he was the first big influence on my white life. Within a few years I was into soul, reggae and the various derivatives of the two, blues, funk, rap, ska.
I can see is Robert Cray, Strong Persuader is in the list. By chance I played this yesterday on Spotify having heard and purchased the original many years ago. It is a brilliant album with typical Blues stories. His wife left him, he left his wife or he bonked the neighbour and her husband has just left her.
The reason for the post though is Marvin Gaye, What's Going On got a criminal 6.75.
If Rod can get an 8, Marvin is a 10. That album is superb and I will be writing to individual posters later to seek an explanation. If ever an overall score should be changed this is the time.
I demand justice for one of the greatest albums ever.

 

[Blue Mist]

This is another album from before I was born.

I've always maintained that whilst the 60s were where modern music was forged, it was in the 70s where it blossomed producing a myriad of styles - rock, heavy metal, fusion, prog rock, funk, hip hop, disco, Philly soul, glam rock and the first fully electronic music. An incredible menu of music in just 10 years! So, choosing an album from that decade is next to impossible, but one stands out to me.

For some reason there seems to be this idea that if you want to protest and be angry then your music needs to be angry. We're talking aggressive, loud, fast, provocative and sometimes just offensive. Maybe it's a punk influence, I really don't know, but the album I've chosen is the absolute opposite. It's a beautiful, soulful angry masterpiece and is one of the best protest albums I've ever heard.

The reason I've picked this is that when I first heard it I was blown away by how good it is, but also how different it was to albums I'd heard before. There's no real structure to the songs - they feel like the singer is talking to you almost, and there's no chorus! Surely every song needs a chorus? It was also these ultra cool backing singers, grooves and quite honestly just how beautiful it sounds. As much as I love soul/funk etc, quite honestly this album is head and shoulders above any other that I've heard in that genre.

It's "What's Goin On" by Marvin Gaye.

To understand the album, you have to know a bit about the context in which it's written. It was written around 1970 by Gaye and tells the story of a soldier coming back from the Vietnam War. His own brother was a veteran and the album number of themes that a veteran deals with.

The US wasn't a 'winner' in the Vietnam war and the veterans who fought there didn't come back as heroes. Not only that, the economy was struggling with high unemployment and jobs were hard to find and people were struggling. Not much of a welcome home. For black people it was FAR harder as they had harder economic problems and racism, social injustice and police violence too. Imagine giving service to your country and coming back to treated like this? As you can imagine, people were angry. Marvin Gaye tells the world about these problems in this album.

As well as the economic and social problems, they were dealing with the effects of war at a time when things like PTSD weren't acknowledged. Many of the young men who went to Vietnam came back with heroin addictions.

Imagine being in this position - a young, poor, black war veteran who's no hero, no job, no prospects and no future. Imagine how it must've felt knowing that your country is happy to spend billions sending people to the moon a couple of years before when on Earth it's a mess? I'll come back to this point later.

We also have to remember that for Motown, Marvin Gaye was a big star - he was a great soul singer who sold a lot of records. They would be soulful, catchy and, really, nothing to get too bothered about. In reality, whilst The Beatles had made music about albums Motown was about singles. This album changes all that and changes Motown. It also leads to some of the great albums of the 70s from Stevie Wonder and others because he shows Motown that you can give artists some control over what they want to do.

What's Goin On is a straight up political/social/environmental protest album and his message is simple - what is going on? This album nearly didn't get realised as the bosses at Motown felt it wasn't in keeping with their sound. Motown didn't want to release it, but once it was released it sold over 2million copies worldwide. As a result, it gave the likes of Stevie Wonder, Lionel Ritchie and others artistic license to express themselves. Without this album, they might have still been making "Heard it through the grapevine" and "Uptight" type singles well into mid-70s oblivion. Without question, as well as being one of the best protest albums of all time, it's influence on others is colossal.

It staggers me that just a decade before, a 'pop' album with this level of musical complexity, production and topics were simply unthinkable. This album in 1961 simply wouldn't have been imagined or made. The changes in music through the 60s allowed this magnificent piece of music to be written. And I genuinely think that this album will still be being played 100 years from now as it will resonate with anyone who's being oppressed.

The album opens with "What's Goin On", an anti-war song sung so beautifully it could be about his new girlfriend. The production of the whole album is just sumptious - it's so smooth and jazz-influenced, but on this song it just shines through. The bass is perfect - who else would play that but James Jamerson? The way it moves seamlessly moves into "What's Happening Brother" and the rest of the album is just fantastic. The whole album just sounds just like he's met his old mate in the street and again, he's asking what is going on. It's effortless for Gaye but there's so much complexity behind it all.

Flyin High sees the veteran going to look for his heroin, finding it and then zoning out. Many Vietnam veterans went as young men to war and came back with heroin addictions. It's an absolute masterpiece - how can you sing a song about drug addiction and make it sound so beautiful?

Save The Childen might sound a little twee, but again the production, his delivery and overall sound is just beautiful. It's a genuine concern for the future. Remember, for the people coming back from Vietnam they'd soon be having families and you'd be worrying about what the future held for them. It then moves again into God Is Love and what a belter it is - upbeat, joyous and if heaven is half as good as this sounds, I want in.

Again, it seamlessly moves into Mercy Mercy Me. I'm not sure about this, but I'm going to credit Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi as the first environmental song and Mercy Mercy Me as the second. It's raging about pollution, treating the earth with contempt. This song is 50 years old now and every line in the song is as true now as it was then.

Right On is a nod to the phrase used as part of the civil rights movement. It's got a touch of funk and just has that groove about it that runs through the whole album. Wholy Holy is a straight up plea to basically live your life religiously. Again, it's just absolutely beautiful and brings that middle part to an end.

Finally, the last track is another utter masterpiece, maybe the best track on the album - Inner City Blues. It kicks off with the piano and drums before that unmistakable Jamerson bass kicks in. Then Gaye starts singing. Just wow. The whole track is phenomenal.

When the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings were shown on TV, I assumed that everyone around the world was avidly watching and wanting to be part of it. Many were, but in the poor black areas of inner city America, sending "whities to the moon" was the last of their worries. "Rockets, moon shots, spend it all, on have nots". It's absolutely clear where he stands on this.

Interestingly, and to my shame I can't remember who said this, but there was a chat on here a few months ago about whether "Taxman" from my previous nomination "Revolver" had contributed to the idea that taxes needed to come down and maybe that idea contributed to the rise of Thatcher/Reagan. In Inner City Blues, Gaye says "Money, we make it, Before we see it, you take it" and "Natural fact is honey that I can't pay my taxes". Again, this could be another album which kind of set the scene for politics 10 years later. Incidentally, despite huge sales, he ended up broke a few years after this album was made he went bankrupt!

My take on this album is that it bristles with anger, but is delivered with such a stunning beauty that I've not heard in any another protest album. You could easily slip this album on on a Sunday morning with a hangover just to listen to those beautiful harmonies, yet it's a masterful snapshot of a period in history. Gaye's delivery makes this one of the finest soul albums of all time - I can't think of a better soul singer than him. He wrote a lot of the album, sung it, did the melodies - it's truly from the heart.

When I listen to this album, I find it astonishing the same pop singer who did Grapevine would - a few years later - write a progressive soul album protesting about war, social injustice and environmental problems. After that, he'd slip back to doing the likes of Sexual Healing. How did he manage to make this album with distinctly jazzy and soul vibes about it to the point where the record company thought it wouldn't sell. Would this happen nowadays? Or even in the last 20 years? I'm not so sure. Would anyone so successful risk their careers to deliver a 'difficult' message like he did?

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this album as much as I do! I've listened to it hundreds of times since discovering it as an Indie kid in my early 20s.

It is, without question, an absolute masterpiece in my opinion and one of the greatest albums of all time.

What an excellent write up this is.
It covers every aspect of the album so eloquently and @GoatersLeftShin says it far better than I ever could.
6.75 huh.

 

[threespires]

I only found this thread because I saw Rod Stewart EPTAS as the headline. I probably missed it because like Rod, all bar a couple are white and therefore not really my genre. The reason I noticed Rod is because he was the first big influence on my white life. Within a few years I was into soul, reggae and the various derivatives of the two, blues, funk, rap, ska.
I can see is Robert Cray, Strong Persuader is in the list. By chance I played this yesterday on Spotify having heard and purchased the original many years ago. It is a brilliant album with typical Blues stories. His wife left him, he left his wife or he bonked the neighbour and her husband has just left her.
The reason for the post though is Marvin Gaye, What's Going On got a criminal 6.75.
If Rod can get an 8, Marvin is a 10. That album is superb and I will be writing to individual posters later to seek an explanation. If ever an overall score should be changed this is the time.
I demand justice for one of the greatest albums ever.

Don't get me started on this!!! My first nomination on here was Sly and The Family Stone and I could tell from the score it got that they were all wrong uns. Trouble is you stick around and you find out they are a very decent bunch with interesting and considered views on music so you stay but then every now and then you look at the board and stuff like What's Going On and the cognitive dissonance kicks in ;-)

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

I only found this thread because I saw Rod Stewart EPTAS as the headline. I probably missed it because like Rod, all bar a couple are white and therefore not really my genre. The reason I noticed Rod is because he was the first big influence on my white life. Within a few years I was into soul, reggae and the various derivatives of the two, blues, funk, rap, ska.
I can see is Robert Cray, Strong Persuader is in the list. By chance I played this yesterday on Spotify having heard and purchased the original many years ago. It is a brilliant album with typical Blues stories. His wife left him, he left his wife or he bonked the neighbour and her husband has just left her.

Great album, got that when it came out in the 80s. Wasn't around here when it was reviewed...

The reason for the post though is Marvin Gaye, What's Going On got a criminal 6.75.
If Rod can get an 8, Marvin is a 10. That album is superb and I will be writing to individual posters later to seek an explanation. If ever an overall score should be changed this is the time.
I demand justice for one of the greatest albums ever.

Oh good, another album reviewed before my time here, so the Angel of Death is passing me over again.

 

[threespires]

Going to wrap this up, looks like most have given their views and scores.

Well well well, how the turntables.

Along with some good broad discussion, Rod gets in 14 votes, with an average score of 8.39.

Which means, ladies and gentlemen, we have a new all time high, and I in Rob's absence randomly get the coincidental privilege of crowning a new current winner.

Replacing JJ Cale at no.1, good old 240v- haired celtic-supporting jock-loving still active jolly Rod Stewart, takes the top spot. Who would have thought it. Take a bow Sadds.

I'll let that sit for a minute.

Blimey.

So can Rod, like the inverse of an East German 400m runner who is off their granite like tits on PEDs, be stripped of the crown in his case for future rather than past misdemeanours ? Because Lord knows there's been enough of them :-)

In fairness if I think of this as basically a Faces album, which I do, then I'm not quite as sad that JJ Cale has been usurped.