June 2020 Anniversaries

Written By RockOdyssey



Here are the albums released on dates in 5 year intervals from June 1965 through to June 2020 and therefore celebrating a reasonably significant anniversary in June 2020. Selection criteria is fairly aribitrary but they can be categorized as follows.

1. An album I have covered in a full discography post elsewhere (e.g. Dream Of The Blue Turtles by Sting). In these cases I've included the original review. As a result the post here may be missing some context and would make more sense if read as part of the whole sequence.

2. An album or artist that I haven't covered before but which/who is generally regarded as 'classic' (e.g. Cultösaurus Erectus by Blue Öyster Cult). For these I've just done a quick summary and a track list.

3. Something I just fancied including.

Older reviews were unparagraphed and had no track listing, so I've fixed that here but not in the original post.

I've either included a link to the full post if the review comes from an existing discography or an indication of how likely I am to cover the full discography in the future.

Released: 1st June 1985

THE DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLES
Sting

I remember this being quite a big deal. Sting also made an impact with his vocal on Dire Straits 'Money For Nothing' at around the same time. It's a fair departure from the Police stuff, much easier on the ear. He starts with 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free' which sets the jazzier tone with some saxophone twiddles near the end. It then moves onto the gentle calypso of 'Love Is The Seventh Wave'. It's nice and light and he has his little joke at the end by breaking into Every Breath You Take at the end ('Every cake you bake, Every egg you break' - he's a real card isn't he?). 

 'Russians' solves the Cold War in 3 minutes 58 seconds. We just have to realize that that they don't want to be blown off the face of the earth either. Pop music went to town on the threat of nuclear Armageddon in the mid-eighties, let's not forget errr..  Frankie's and Culture Club's contributions to the debate. 

 He re-does the Police song 'Shadows In The Rain' which seems a bit lazy for a debut solo album. 'We Work The Black Seam' draws on his extensive experience down a coalmine (sorry - no sarcasm smiley available) to comment on the miner's strike. 

 You do get the impression that he was on the lookout for a cause at the time, thank God he disappeared up the Amazon for a while and got it off his chest. 'Consider Me Gone' is smooth jazz, quite nice but is followed by the rather irritating, but mercifully short modern jazz title track. It ends with some off-mic laughter - glad they enjoyed it. 'Moon Over Bourbon Street' is a bit bland and it finishes with 'Fortress Around Your Heart', which I rather like, especially the little bugle insertions.

 Post Status: /andysrockodysseys/2014/03/sting-from-turtles-to-ship.html

If  You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Love Is The Seventh Wave
Russians
Children's Crusade
Shadows In The Rain
We Work The Black Seam
Consider Me Gone
The Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Moon Over Bourbon Street
Fortress Around Your Hear



Released 3rd June 1970

DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK

Pioneers of Heavy Metal? The Purps were four albums in before Black Sabbath started troubling the world. Some classics on here, Speed King comes in like a tangled mess before starting to sort itself out, almost like the crash precedes the speeding and Gillan goes all tender on Child In Time before getting a bad case of the screams and John Lord starts knocking seven bells out of his keyboards.

Post Status: One for the future.

Speed King
Bloodsucker
Child In Time
Flight Of The Rat
Into The Fire
Living Wreck
Hard Lovin' Man

Released 4th June 1965

BEATLES FOR SALE No. 2
The Beatles

The second EP extracted from Beatles For Sale. There's a clue in the title. This is harder to find on Spotify than #1. Slightly oddly, Wikipedia classifies the genre as 'Folk Rock'. I'll concede that McCartney's 'I'll Follow The Sun' has a folky lilt and maybe their cover of Buddy Holly's 'Words Of Love' has been given a moderate organic makeover, but it's still mainly light beat music.


I'll Follow The Sun
Baby's In Black
Words Of Love
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party



Released 6th June 2005

X&Y
Coldplay

We all have to pretend to despise Coldplay, and Chris Martin in particular, for being a virtue-signalling conscious-uncoupling neo-hippy, but they aren't as big as they are by accident. This isn't quite as good as it's predecessor 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' and you might even go so far as to say that nicking the hook from Kraftwerk's 'Computer Love' on 'Talk' is tantamount to cultural misappropriation (but it's a bloody good hook after all). I do have a soft spot for 'Fix You'. We always put lights on our house at Christmas and when I come home from work for the last time each year it always pops into my head as they guide me home.

Post Status: No time soon.

Square One
What If
White Shadows
Fix You
Talk
X&Y
Speed Of Sound
A Message
Low
The Hardest Part
Swallowed In The Sea
Twisted Logic
Til Kingdom Come

Released May15th or June 7th or June 15th 1995

STANLEY ROAD
Paul Weller

It comes as no surprise to me that even finding the release date of a Paul Weller album makes you feel you are the victim of chippy cussedness. He's well liked by his fans and there are some great songs on here, but he lost me when he turned up at Band Aid with floppy centre-parted hair and a walking stick. There's a feeling of contrivance about everything he does and even this album feels like it was made and designed off the back of reading 'Classic Albums For Dummies'.  

Post Status: Probably never, although The Jam might make for a nice short run-through.

The Changingman
Porcelain Gods - Part One
I Walk On Gilded Splinters
You Do Something To Me
Woodcutter's Son
Time Passes
Stanley Road
Broken Stones
Out Of The Sinking
Pink On White Walls
Whirlpool's End
Wings Of Speed
Released: 7th June 2005
CHOOSE LOVE
Ringo Starr

Maybe I'm just getting de-mob happy, I've only got 9 more albums to go after this one, but this and Ringo Rama before it have been perfectly fine albums. This may be a little forthright and unimaginative, but the opening 'Fading In And Out' is not only inoffensive but upbeat and cheery. I mean, he's playing his Beatle cards to the full, but who can blame him? 'Give Me Back The Beat' is so reminiscent of the fab four heyday that you kind of have to admire him for getting it so spot on, even considering who he is. 'Oh My Lord' lays on the rock organ (presumably Billy Preston) and choir to the full and is really quite joyous. There's a nice sixties jangle to 'Some People' and 'Choose Love' itself is heavily self referential with a clear 'Day Tripper' opening riff and mentions of 'The Long And Winding Road' among others. 'Wrong All The Time' stops just short of being maudlin and there's also a collaboration with Chrissie Hynde, 'Don't Hang Up', which has a rather disconcerting break right in the middle (Bugger! Has my bluetooth connection just gone?), as Chrissie, errm, hangs up the phone. No-one ever accused Ringo of being scared of the literal. 

 It's not all slightly above average, 'Me And You' is a bit of a dirge and he won't give up the 'comedic' asides completely, but the closing 'Free Drinks' is almost..edgy?


The album photo brings me to address something that's been niggling me in the background about Ringo all this time. I follow him on Facebook, as a kind of nod to proper research, and he is invariably pictured flicking the V-sign and wishing us Peace and Love. I'm not sure why this puzzles me as much as it does, but it just seems a rather lame piece of schtick that he won't give up on. 


Fading In And Out
Give Me Back The Beat
Oh My Lord
Hard To Be True
Some People
Wrong All The Time
Don't Hang Up
Choose Love
Me And You
Satisfied
Turnaround
Free Drinks

Released 8th June 1970

SELF PORTRAIT
Bob Dylan

All I know about this going into it was from a reference in Loudon Wainwright III's song 'Talking New Bob Dylan', as he lists out the Dylan classic albums, he struggles to remember one that came in the middle, "Oh yes. Self Portrait. Well it was an interesting effort". 

But it's not bad at all is it? There's a supposed problem with the 'country crooner' voice, but it sounds like it could be an improvement to me. He even lets someone else have a go on the opening All The Tired Horses'. The live tracks come from the Isle Of Wight festival in 1969. 

Post Status: I'll get there eventually

All The Tired Horses
Alberta #1
I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
Days Of '49
Early Mornin' Rain
In Search Of Little Sadie
Let It Be Me
Little Sadie
Woogie Boogie
Belle Isle
Living The Blues
Like  A Rolling Stone - Live
Copper Kettle
Gotta Travel On
Blue Moon
The Boxer
(Quinn The Eskimo) The Mighty Quinn - Live
Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)
Take A Message To Mary
It Hurts Me Too
Minstrel Boy - Live
She Belongs To Me - Live
Wigwam
Alberta #2


Released: 10th June 1985
LITTLE CREATURES
Talking Heads

It would be tempting to accuse Talking Heads of sacrificing their new wave/art pop credentials on the altar of shifting units with this, but I reckon that they probably had no problem with making catchy pop records and that the motivation was never to gain chart success. If you realize that you're basically trying to engage an audience whilst presenting something a little different then you need to have a few earworms in there to catch the attention. Talking Heads did have significant hits from this album, 'And She Was' and 'Road To Nowhere' being the most obvious. But their real strength was that they had the right product for the times - which was great music supported by great, innovative videos that could ride the crest of the early MTV wave.

From the previous piece on Speaking In Tongues you'll know that I have recent, first hand evidence of what an intensely visual artist David Byrne is. However in some ways the videos for the two big hits are quite literal. Roads, Dave running endlessly, a flying girl, although admittedly they are complemented by lots of inventive, animated material. These two songs bookend the entire album, but the rest of it is all exceptional too. From the beeping vocal on 'The Lady Don't Mind' to the funky madness of 'Television Man'. And should we read anything into 'Stay Up Late'. Is some poor baby is being subject to sleep deprivation or is it just what it seems - a bit of nonsense parodying how people go ga-ga over babies? I'd prefer to think the latter, it's too much fun to be spoiled by a dark edge.

'Creatures Of Love' also seems to be a contemplation on the production of offspring, set against a gentle country beat, and once again, it's probably as innocent as face-value suggests. The squishy-squashy feel of 'Swamp' from the previous album is suggested again on 'Walk It Down' but they somehow manage to throw in a bit of gospel and a killer chorus.

This is definitely the most even and consistent of their albums so far, but for this band, that might not necessarily be a recommendation, the sudden lurches into leftfield were often part of the joy of it all.

 Post Status: /andysrockodysseys/2018/10/talking-heads-and-david-byrne-making.html
And She Was
Give Me Back My Name
Creatures Of Love
The Lady Don't Mind
Perfect World
Stay Up Late
Walk It Down
Television Man
Road To Nowhere

Released 10th June 1985

FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION (1985)
REM

Those of you looking for evidence to support Nirvana's claim that REM were an influence, need go no further than the opening track of this album - 'Feeling Gravitys Pull'. The lack of an apostrophe appears to be deliberate, indicating that there are several Gravitys exerting an influence. It has the echoey plucked guitar and understated moany vocal that characterizes some of Cobain and co's work. However that riff also has a distinct resemblance to Metallica ('Enter Sandman' I think). 

This is actually a gem of an album, showing all of REM's repertoire of styles in the first few tracks, overlaid vocals on 'Maps and Legends', twangy menacing bass on 'Driver 8' and even a messy misfire on 'Life And How To Live It'. They even indulge in some jagged pop with 'Can't Get There From Here'. At least it would be pop if it wasn't for Stipe's voice, which is remarkable for it's quality. I would say that most rock vocalists go for a tenor style (if any) i.e. moderately screechy and at the high end of the register. Stipe is a genuine baritone with a good degree of control. When he does go higher pitched the natural Southern drawl starts to come out more. I think it's probably an overlooked aspect of REM's work that he is such a great, characterful singer. 

Not the hoped-for Rabbie Burns cover on 'Green Grow The Rushes' but a reflection on the daily grind (I think). Having been complimentary about his singing, I find it way, way, way back in the mix on 'Kohoutek'. That was a comet wasn't it? Turned up in the mid seventies. "Michael built a bridge, Michael tore it down" he sings, so this one is at least partly about himself. 

The last track is the sorry tale of 'Wendell Gee', who dies while trying to save the tree in his backyard with chicken wire. 

I'm guessing there's a theme around this album, indicated in the first place by the title. There seems to be a lot about starting over, leaving the past behind etc etc. It certainly seems to be transitional and in general shows growing confidence from the band in what they are all about. They still seem more interested in the songs as a whole, rather than as a vehicle for lyrical ideas.


Feelinhg Gravitys Pull
Maps and Legends
Driver 8
Life And How To Live It
Old Man Kensey
Can't Get There From Here
Green Grow The Rushes
Kohoutek
Auctioneer (Another Engine)
Good Advices
Wendell Gee

Released 11th June 1965

GOT LIVE IF YOU WANT IT
The Rolling Stones

As with most early Beatles and Stones EPs, this one has fallen into a fog of confusion in the internet age. There's a full live album with the same name and cover, but none of the tracks and the EP itself has not made it to Spotify. But you can listen to it here (https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhkih2) if you're interested in badly recorded but quite energetic early Stones. Wikipedia casts suspicions that  the two tracks on Side 2 are not quite as authentic as you might believe, with substantial studio backing tracks and overdubs, but it does capture something nonetheless. 

The title is a play on Slim Harpo's 'Got Love If You Want It', which doesn't really work does it?


We Want The Stones (audience chant)
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
Pain In My Heart
Route 66
I'm Movin On
I'm Alright

Released 12th June 1970

GASOLINE ALLEY
Rod Stewart

There's something about Rod that leaves me cold. It might be the weedy voice, the towering self-regard or even the laddish devotion to Glasgow Celtic. This is fairly non-surprising stuff. However nice to see Stoke City and Blackpool legend Stanley Matthews on mandolin.

Post Status: Unlikley. He's done 30 including all those American Songbook albums. One for my retirement.

Gasoline Alley
It's All Over Now
Only A Hobo
My Way Of Giving
Country Comfort
Cut Across Shortly
Lady Day
Jo's Lament
You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It)

Released 13th June 1995

JAGGED LITTLE PILL
Alanis Morissette

I didn't think it was particularly ironic when it threatened to rain on my wedding day, but the shortcomings of the lyrics to that particular song have been done to death, so I won't dwell. It's a bit of a genuine banger of an album really, jam-packed with memorable and hearfelt songs. The radio edit that changed "I'm brave but I'm chickenshit" to "I'm brave but I'm chicken", kind of ruined the whole line on 'One Hand In My Pocket'.

Morissette was at her height with this album when I and the future missus had just got together. She said at the time that 'Head Over Feet' made her think of me, which was nice. Alternatively I might have just made that up in my head. Good job it wasn't You Oughta Know' right?

Post Status: At time of writing she's released 9 albums, inlcuding the first two that established her as a chart act in Canada. Depends if she remains this angry all the way through.

All I Really Want
You Oughta Know
Perfect
Hand In My Pocket
Right Through You
Forgiven
You Learn
Head Over Feet
Mary Jane
Ironic
Not The Doctor
Wake Up

Released 14th June 1965

BEATLES VI
The Beatles

Draw a Venn Diagram of Beatles For Sale and Help and you get this US release in the overlapping segment, plus a couple of additional tracks in 'Bad Boy' (screamy Lennon) and 'Yes It Is' (dirgy Lennon). It didn't exist on Spotify until now, when I created this playlist. Do I get royalties? 

Post Status: Well, it's not there, I did UK releases, but here's the Beatles post.. /andysrockodysseys/2016/05/the-beatles-please-please-let-it-be-me.html

Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey - Medley
Eight Days A Week
You Like Me Too Much
Bad Boy
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
Words Of Love
What You're Doing
Yes It Is
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Every Little Thing

Released 14th June 1980

CULTÖSAURUS ERECTUS
Blue Öyster Cult

Look, I read a lot of Michael Moorcock in my youth, and I thought the concept of an eternal champion operating in various incarnations across the dimensions of Chaos was a pretty cool idea too. But I was 14 years old and had no prospect of a girlfriend at all. And anyway, my Moorcock inspired album of choice is Chronicles of The Black Sword by Hawkwind. This one benefits from superb cover art and I'll accept that it's an album you could grow to love if you're that way inclined, but really, this sort of thing gave prog rock a bad name.

Post Status: 14 albums and nothing since 2001? That's actually within the ballpark of consideration, but I'd worry they'd be a bit samey all the way through.

Black Blade
Monsters
Divine Wind
Deadline
The Marshall Plan
Hungry Boys
Fallen Angel
Lips In The Hills
Unknown Tongue

Released 17th June 1985

MISPLACED CHILDHOOD
Marillion

I wonder how many 29 year old women called Kayleigh there are wandering about? It was a bona fide hit and the fans started getting the grumps because everyone was all over their favourite band who had sold out to The Man. Me? It didn't bother me all that much. It was good to see them on Top Of The Pops. However it did take me a while to absorb the album. I think it arrived pretty much on the day of release in our house. 

It's a concept album, but if I'm honest, I'm not sure what that concept is, and strictly speaking it has 2 tracks, Side 1 and Side 2. There's a number of spoken bits throughout and Fish, quite rightly, makes no attempt to hide the Scottish accent. After the quiet, synthy intro we get straight into 'Kayleigh', kept off number one by 'You'll Never Walk Alone' by The Crowd, in aid of the Hillsborough disaster. I suppose it places it amongst the great number 2's of UK pop history, alongside Vienna. After that, onto the next big hit, 'Lavender'. Fish was always having trouble with his voice and he'd lost it by the time they had to perform on the Pops so he mimed with the words on idiot boards. Of course he could've just got away with it since everyone mimed on TOTP in those days, but it showed he was capable of sending himself up. 

The next bit is a 7 minute segue, 'Bitter Suite' having about 5 different titled sections. It starts a bit like Assassing before we get a little spoken ditty about a spider, mist currrling in from the canal and "a cascade of neon pollen" before delivering possibly Fish's worst lyric of the Marillion period. "A train sleeps in a siding, the driver guzzles another can of lager". I dunno, it was just so....unpoetic. There's a reprise of the musical theme of 'Lavender' before we hear about an encounter with a prostitute in Lyon. Some nice wordplay on road features (no, really) in the final 'Windswept Thumb' part before launching into the third single, 'Heart Of Lothian'. I love the line "It's six o'clock in the tower block, the stalagmites of culture shock, and the trippers of the light fantastic bow down hoe down, spray the pheremones on". You don't get that with your One Directions. 

Side 2 starts with 'Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)' which is much harder edged than what has come before. Really complex xylophone-style instrumentation along with really complex Fish-type lyrics. It calms down as it moves into 'Lords Of The Backstage'. "I just wanted you to be the first one" pleads the piscine one. We then drift into another extended suite, 'Blind Curve'. He touches on one of the main themes of the whole album, the price of fame and the hotel-hopping life of the modern rockstar. In 'Perimeter Walk' he mumbles on in the background. About the only thing you can make out is "Wasted, I've never been so wasted, I've never been this far out before". he works himself up going on about his misplaced childhood before howling "Oh please. Give it back to me!". This is followed by a list of all the awful things Fish has witnessed. "Convoys, kerb-crawling West German autobahns, trying to pick up a war". There's abused kids, napalm and so on. "They call us civilized?" - calm down dear, it's just a Cold War. 

Back to the Heart of Lothian theme before going into the more upbeat 'Childhood's End' where Fish seems to achieve some kind of redemption, getting back in touch with his childhood self. It's quite uplifting and he concludes that there is no childhood's end. Finally he gets some backbone and asserts that he won't wear a white feather and is proud to own his heart. Considering Script ended with dead soldiers and Fugazi with apocalyptic hopelessness, I think you're really making progress, well done Mr Dick. 

The cover: a child in a military uniform holding a magpie (cf Fugazi), the jester is exiting through a window and the chameleon is still there too in a gilded cage.


Pseudo Silk Kimono
Kayleigh
Lavender
Bitter Suite
Heart Of Lothian
Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)
Lords Of The Backstage
Blind Curve
Childhood's End?
White Feather

Released 19th June 2000

POP TRASH
Duran Duran

In this game you've gotta take the rough with the smooth, so for every Suzanne Vega debut, there's something Duran Duran dashed off in the late nineties/early noughties. Imagine my relief therefore that this is not available in any form on Spotify and I never covered it in the original blog post. I imagine it's messy, badly sung and instantly forgettable, but who knows?

Post Status: Excluding this and Medazzaland, here it is: I'll not be going back to fill in the gaps. Ever.


Someone Else Not Me
Lava Lamp
Playing With Uranium
Hallucinating Elvis
Starting To Remember
Pop Trash Movie
Fragment
Mars Meets Venus
Lady Xanax
The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever
Kiss Goodbye
The Last Day On Earth

Released 20th June 1980

EMOTIONAL RESCUE (1980)
The Rolling Stones

Everyone can do a Mick Jagger impression. You stand pigeon chested, raise your chin and pout your lips. Now raise your hands to the side of your left ear and give a double clap. Mince about (a lot) and shout in a parody of the most extreme cockney accent, with just a hint of public school poshness, things like "Keef. Keef. C'mere!" (for a masterclass just Google "Trip To Italy Mick Jagger'). But from whence did this grotesque emerge? Well it's a fair bet that Mick's fully established stereotype was finally completed on Emotional Rescue. In fact the opening track here, 'Dance (pt 1)', (of course there is no pt 2 - at least on this album, there never is), sees him executing all of the above (no - I really can hear him doing all the physical stuff too). Anyway, he just about gets away with the whole act since the song itself has a good soulful groove of the Nile Rogers variety. The monkey sounds really push the envelope of acceptability though. 

If possible, the whole thing is a gutsier sound than what has gone before. Sometimes this strays too far, 'Where The Boys Go' is more Sham 69 than anything else. Nothing wrong with that but it sounds like they're trying too hard. But elsewhere it's a good thing, like on the inevitable reggae entry 'Send It To Me' or the rockabilly rumble of 'Let Me Go'. 'Down In The Hole' is a weird mix of swampy blues and Mick's more bizarre vocal tics, but it works despite that, not least because of the spiralling guitar-work. 

Musically the title track is led by Wyman and Watts, with Jagger cranking up the falsetto. It's a standout track if only for its unusualness. W

e're treated to Richards on lead vocals again on the final track, 'All About You'. No one is going to claim he has the greatest voice, but there is a pleasing world-weary quality to it. 

The cover photos are some kind of thermal images thing of the band. It's not the best they've done.

Summer Romance
Send It To Me
Let Me Go
Indian Girl
Where The Boys Go
Down In The Hole
Emotional Rescue
She's So Cold
All About You
Released 21st June 1965

MR TAMBOURINE MAN
The Byrds

Naming your band after an animal with a single letter change was quite a thing for a while in the sixties, but The Monkees were really just aping (geddit?) The Beatles anyway. It's a mix mainly Dylan folk covers and their own songs which are a bit more beat-y. As a debut it's quite impressive, lots to enjoy and that is instantly familiar.

Quite pleasingly, in the week that Dame Vera Lynne died, there's a very pleasant, twangy, Byrds-ey cover of 'We'll Meet Again'. 

Post Status: They hammered out 12 studio albums between 1965 and 1973, then no more, so they're a possibility and certainly important enough to consider.

 Mr Tambourine Man
I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
Spanish Harlem Incident
You Won't Have To Cry
Here Without You
The Bells Of Rhymney
All I Really Want To Do
I Knew I'd Want You
It's No Use
Don't Doubt Yourself Babe
Chimes Of Freedom
We'll Meet Again
She Has A Way

 Released 22nd June 2015
MY LOVE IS COOL
Wolf Alice

 Is it a play on words: Wolf Alice/Wool Phallus? Even if it is I'm not sure what the significance of a knitted fertility symbol would be. I wasn't hopeful about this, despite them being hot favourites for taking the prize. They were on Jools a few weeks back and came across as fairly standard grunge-mongers. In addition one performance was followed by an interview with Duran's Le Bon and John Taylor, the latter of whom rather lasciviously talked about "girls with guitars". At 23, lead singer Ellie Rowsell really is young enough to be his daughter and not even as an afterthought, so that was all a bit icky. 

 Anyway, my doubts were unfounded, they actually come across as an amalgamation of The Cranberries, Elastica and The Cocteau Twins and are consistently original and interesting throughout this album. However, I cannot decide if the complete stops in 'Your Loves Whore' are great or simply annoying. And on 'Silk' she even sounds like Sophie Ellis Bextor. Some welly is given on 'Giant Peach' and one of the blerks has a go on the contemplative 'Swallowtail' although it ends in a complete thrash-fest. '

 Soapy Water' is Cocteau-ish in title and sound and the final 'Fluffy' which was one they did on Later... is fairly straight-on grunge. There's a hidden track following 'The Wonderwhy', although it's not well hidden on Spotify, being listed as 'Hidden Track' in brackets. 

 Until now I was backing Benjamin Clementine, but it's the bookies business to know these things and I can see no reason why this shouldn't take the award. As a debut it is astonishingly accomplished. However, I still have Jamie xx to go whose style, according to Wikipedia is Electronica, Future Garage (?), post-dubstep, house, UK garage and trip hop. Don't hold your breath folks.

 Post Status: This is from one of two run-throughs of the Mercury Mucis Prize that I've done, 2015 and 2018. I predicted Wolf Alice would win in 2015 and they didn't, although I should have stuck to my instincts and picked Benjamin Clementine. In 2018 I didn't fancy them and they won it, which tells you everything you need to know about my musical nous.

 /andysrockodysseys/2015/11/mercury-music-prize-nominees-2016.html

Turn To Dust
Bros
Your Loves Whore
You're A Germ
Lisbon
Silk
Freazy
Giant Peach
Swallowtail
Soapy Water
Fluffy
The Wonderwhy
Released 26th June 1975

THE BASEMENT TAPES
Bob Dylan and The Band

...Although actually recorded between '67 and '68. It's probably one of those where the history is as important as the content. I'm unlikely to ever really appreciate Dylan's vocal approach, but it is all very deeply authentic and the purely Band tracks offset the rest pretty effectively.

Post Status: See Self Portrait above. Dylan is a challenge, but the Band and its various offshoots could be and interesting journey.

Odds and Ends
Orange Juice Blues
Million Dollar Bash
Yazoo Street Scandal
Goin' To Acapulco
Katie's Been Gone
Lo And Behold!
Bessie Smith
Clothes Line Saga
Apple Suckling Tree
Please Mrs. Henry
Tears Of Rage
Too Much Of Nothing
Yea! Heavy and a Bottle Of Bread
Ain't No More Cane
Crash On The Levee
Ruben Remus
Tiny Montgomery
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 
Don't Ya Tell Henry
Nothing Was Delivered
Open The Door, Homer
Long Distance Operator
This Wheel's On Fire





Released 30th June 1980



THE GAME
Queen



Is it fun to smoke marijuana? I ask because I've never touched the stuff, on the basis that if inhaling particulates from tobacco into your lungs is probably going to kill you, particulates from burning a different plant are probably not going to be much better. The closest I've come is (i) an episode in a small Parisian flat involving two reasonably dissolute Frenchmen and a small nugget of resin; (ii) pretty much every time I've been in Brixton for a gig and, (iii) these days, the fact that every residential suburb of London, including my own, smells like an Amsterdam coffee shop. You know where I'm going with this: 'Another One Bites The Dust', which allegedly promotes the enjoyment of the old whacky baccy via back masking.



Before we examine the evidence, what exactly do we mean by the 'back-masking' term? As I see it there are three approaches. First, you can record your youth-corrupting message, then add it it to your song backwards. Second, you can attempt to create a message by saying it as it would sound backwards - this seems to be the basis of the 'Another One Bites The Dust' case, Freddie is clearly singing the words we know, it doesn't have that abrupt start and swooping quality that a voice run backwards has. Third - and most unlikely - is that you sing the words but say them as it they were spelt backwards. There was a guy who used to appear on what-the-middle-class-kids-who-weren't-allowed-to-watch-Tiswas-watched Saturday morning TV show 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop', who sang well known songs in this way. One was 'Yellow Bird', which was rendered as "Drib Wolley, Yaw pu ni ananab eert". They tried running it backwards to see if it made sense, but of course it didn't. I couldn't find any evidence for it on YouTube, which is a pretty strong argument that I might have dreamed the whole thing.



So anyway, here it is. I'm not convinced, if only because you have to accept that not only is it intentional, but that they would have had to manage to do it with an already well-known phrase.





But I'm glad the 'controversy' exists, because otherwise I'd be struggling to come up with anything substantial about an album that is notable only for it's well-known high points, which are 'Another One Bites The Dust' which counts as pop-funk and has some very nice little soul-groove guitar chops and 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' which is ultimately, just an Elvis pastiche. That ultimate reliable source, Wikipedia tells me that these were the only American number ones that Queen had. 

The rest maintains the Queen tendency to mix it up a bit and try out different musical styles but not in a spectacular fashion. 'Dragon Attack' is a ponderous old rock and roll ramble and 'Need Your Loving Tonight' feels as dashed-off as it's title suggests. In fact, there's quite a lot of Queen not really pushing the envelope here, 'Rock It (Prime Jive)' is a song that any band hiring themselves out for weddings would turn to quite quickly. 



They return to the theme of 'Keep Yourself Alive' with the equally straightforward message of 'Don't Try Suicide'. Weirdly enough it starts like the Police's 'Walking On The Moon'. I'm sure their hearts are in the right place with regard to setting a good example to their young fans, but it's all rather messily done. The rest is equally fillersome.



Right. I suddenly have the urge to go up the road and knock on the door of my neighbour who is into 'hydroponics' and frequently has the police knocking at his door.



Play The Game
Dragon Attack
Another One Bites The Dust
Need Your Loving Tonight
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Rock It (Prime Jive)
Don't Try Suicide
Sail Away Sweet Sister
Coming Soon
Save Me
RockOdyssey
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