Posts Tagged 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
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March 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 133: Drive Like Jehu – “Yank Crime”
Elsewhere you might read all about how Drive Like Jehu was this classic, underrated or seminal band and that their second and final album Yank Crime was just absolutely the one – a forgotten or lost classic, a gem, a must-have, a must-hear. Etc… But you will not hear that hear. This is landfill-hardcore of a time and place. That time […]Archive
March 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 132: Jeru The Damaja – “The Sun Rises In The East”
Now I knew about this album – maybe not quite at the time, but sometime shortly after, and I just never quite made it through to it. A shame. And good to be there now. Because not only is Jeru The Damaja great, and certainly career-best here on this debut, but also I was into all the stuff that came up around this time […]Archive
March 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 131: Girls Against Boys – “Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby”
So, every now and then when I’m wondering why I’m still going through this book and trying to listen to every album listed that I haven’t previously heard something genuinely surprising will come along. There’s been albums that are great by artists I thought I didn’t care about, there’s been some things, too, that I’d […]Archive
March 6, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 130: William Orbit – “Strange Cargo III”
In the early-90s William Orbit made three albums with the same title, well three volumes, culiminating then with this – “Strange Cargo III”. He of course made plenty of other great things, including lots of key remixes and production work (I was, for a time, rather besotted with his Pieces In A Modern Style). He was all the rage when I was working […]Archive
March 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 129: Ice Cube – “The Predator”
I rate Ice Cube – big time. Made it work for him in acting (wasn’t/isn’t great, yet isn’t flat out terrible, etc…) but really his true strength, apart from building a business empire, a brand, is his rapping, or even – actually – his writing. Dude is one of the great lyricists in hip-hop. A pioneer even. […]Archive
February 25, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 128: Stereo MC’s – “Connected”
There’s a wince of nostalgia at the title track and though I know a few more songs on here and by Stereo MC’s this is my first time hearing the Connected album. And I definitely didn’t need to hear this. It’s a bit like – I imagine – recommending something by Ronny Jordan or The Seahorses or Ocean Colour Scene. Just dated shit from a time when you had […]Archive
February 20, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 127: Spiritualized – “Lazer Guided Melodies”
Maybe I’m that very rare thing…a “casual” Spiritualized fan… Look, I know about Spacemen 3 (and Jason Pierce) but I really only know the great trilogy (to me at least, and who am I kidding, it won’t just be me) of Spiritualized albums: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Let It Come Down and Amazing Grace. And it’s only here, now, seeing […]Archive
February 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 126: Koffi Olomide – “Haut De Gamme”
Probably couldn’t have picked a worse time to ‘discover’ Koffi Olomide. I’d never heard his music, not sure I’d even heard of the Congolese singer and musician, if I’m honest. But in a routine-Googling to find the cover image and any background guff to add to this – I found out he’s accused of multiple sexual assaults and is generally […]Archive
February 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 125: Gang Starr – “Step In The Arena”
This is the sort of straight-up banger that makes me pleased I signed up for and carried on this ridiculous ‘Challenge’. Here I am going through old albums I missed at the time. Mostly finding gems. A few duds. A few ‘who really cares’, a few ‘you had to be theres/time/place’ but mostly finding gems…then there’s something like this. You’d […]Archive
February 13, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 124: Happy Mondays – “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches”
I was just slightly too young to really get into much of the British music from the very late 80s and into the early 90s; there was some, sure. But the whole Second Summer of Love-thing didn’t mean a great deal to me – I liked some music videos I saw on music TV and […]Archive
February 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman