Author: coreyjwayne

Currently available for Technical Writing, Copywriting and Advertising projects. Past project samples and references available on request.

The National – Alligator (2005)

Format: CD Rip 16-44.1 FLAC | Size 313.6MB

The third album from The National, but the first to get them any major attention outside of their Brooklyn base, Alligator is the more polished, less drunken sounding set of their first three efforts.

Alligator was released in 2005 and ended up on a lot of Best of the Year lists (Uncut magazine, The LA Times, Pitchfork). Such acclaim was not surprising given there is something for everyone this time around from The National .

The somber, consoling sweetness of Daughters Of The Soho Riots; the ironic, playful, braggadocio of All The Wine; the raucous Lit Up; and the angered Abel are not so much part of a cohesive album as a grab bag of special National sounds that everyone can groove on at some level.

The boisterous and rallying Mr. November (actually written about John Kerry) even became an unofficial anthem for then Senator Barack Obama – and videos like this can still be found.

The opening track Secret Meeting has echoes of the unstructured rhythm sound The National have returned to lately on their Trouble Will Find Me LP. The drums and guitars seem to cut out at inconsistent intervals to Matt Berninger’s bass-laden vocals; but the intervals aren’t inconsistent and the song never quite loses it’s structure – a technique used impressively in 2013’s Fireproof.

Verdict: DENIED | Remaining  116,853MB

Alligator is an album I enjoy listening to. I have it on vinyl and CD and I carry it around on an iPod. For life on my Desert Island, however, I’d sooner reach for my favourite from The National, their 2001 self-titled debut. I would even accept the more recent Trouble Will Find Me or the exceptional High Violet over Alligator, so I can’t justify a spot for it.

by Categories: RockTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Big Star – #1 Record (1972)

Format: CD Rip 16-44.1 FLAC | Size 310mb

When lead singer / songwriter for Big Star, Alex Chilton died from a heart attack in 2010, there was renewed interest in the band and a rediscovery of this, their debut album. At the time of its release, #1 Record was widely acclaimed, but not very widely purchased – supposedly selling only 10,000 copies in the year of release.

Big Star’s remarkable debut LP contains an abundance of well-written and deftly produced (John Fry) rock songs which probably should have turned Big Star into big stars. Mostly co-written by Chilton and fellow founding member of the band, Chris Bell, the songs on #1 Record all benefit from the interplay of Chilton’s rock star raw talent and Bell’s penchant for more Pop sounds.

Most listeners today will know the teenage rebellion anthem In The Street from the hit television sitcom That 70s Show (where reference to wanting ‘a joint so bad’ was written out with an ad lib of ‘We’re all alright!’). The similarly themed Thirteen is also better known in other versions by Wilco, Elliot Smith and Evan Dando.

The heavier, noisier leanings of Chilton are on full display in Don’t Lie To Me and When My Baby’s Beside Me where fuzzy guitar riffs dominate, while Bell’s preference for sweet vocal crooners with acoustic sparkle is beautifully brought to the forefront in Give Me Another Chance sung by Chilton.

Arguably, the stand out track in this exceptional set is The Ballad Of El Goodo, written by Chilton alone before the pair formed Big Star (legend says thanks to a Beatles concert in their hometown of Memphis, Tennessee). The song’s simple chorus refrain (‘Ain’t no one going to turn me around’) swims over a sea of guitars that jangle like crystal bells; carried along by seraphic harmonies and Chilton’s artless, honest voice.

Big Star almost completely disbanded after #1 Record, with only two members (Chilton and Jody Stephens) remaining for the recording of Third/Sister Lovers. Before that third album was released, Big Star were no more. Chris Bell died in 1978 after losing control of his car and running off the road into a post. The band returned to touring in an altered form in 1993 and released In Space in 2005.

Verdict: Approved | Remaining: 116,853mb

This album is almost despairingly underrated and unknown. As a debut record from 1972, it still sounds hip and eternally listenable. #1 Record is power pop at its joyful best – aware, rebellious, singable and enduring. Please, buy this record; then buy it for someone else and tell them to do the same.

 

by Categories: Classic, Pop, RockTags: , , , Leave a comment

Michael Jackson – Off The Wall (1979)

FORMAT: VINYL RIP 24-96 FLAC | SIZE: 861MB

The first of Michael Jackson’s solo albums to be produced by Quincy Jones, Off The Wall is a disco record, sprinkled with funky bass licks, bubblegum pop lyrics, meticulously layered production and a tremendous amount of energy. Best estimates suggest Off The Wall has sold over 20 million copies and continues to be recognised as one of the finest LPs of all time – producing four hit singles and a Best Male R&B Vocal Grammy (Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough).

The Grammy Award-winning opener flicks the ON switch with a bass groove that makes it obvious the song is chomping at the bit to tear the roof off. Jackson’s introverted, effeminate speaking voice awkwardly asks the listener to ‘keep on’ because of the awesome power of ‘the force’ (a Star Wars reference, perhaps, given recording started in 1978; the year after Episode IV was the hottest film in the galaxy). With that, one of Michael’s falsetto exhalations and the kick of percussion and strings, Off The Wall is off and racing.

Besides the classic disco joints like Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough, Rock With You and the title track, Off The Wall gives us the sickly sweet croon of the Paul McCartney penned Girlfriend, the deep mellow groove of Stevie Wonder’s I Can’t Help It and the maudlin She’s Out Of My Life. Besides the superstar songwriters on board (including the prolific Carole Bayer Sager for It’s The Falling In Love). Jackson himself gave us the Grammy winner, funky dance smash Working Day and Night, and the generic disco jam Get On The Floor.

The title track is among the most underrated of Jackson’s songs. Opening Side B, Off The Wall is the last of the dance songs before the album breaks it down into Girlfriend and She’s Out Of My Life. Its good-vibe beats and ‘enjoy life’ lyrics are punctuated by vocal accentuation (the ‘dah’s and ‘ah’s and ‘hee’s and ‘woo’s) for which we soon came to know Michael so well.

Verdict: APPROVED | Remaining 117,163mb

As a five year old kid in 1977, The Jackson 5 (their music and Saturday morning cartoon) were an important part of my world. In a quite casually 1970s racist way, my grandparents and Uncles would buy me Chico Babies and tell me they were ‘Jackson 5s’. The gate-fold vinyl version of Off The Wall is the second LP I ever owned (the first being the Grease soundtrack), given to me by my then just 19 year old Uncle.

Today, there is not a Friday afternoon that can not be made groovier with a spin of Off The Wall. At just 43 minutes for 10 tracks, it has a distinctive sound (probably thanks to Quincy Jones) and it’s own vibe. The ballads in the centre of this superb disco set are maybe out of place to my ears; denying this LP the pop perfection of Thriller after it. I would still argue though that it is among the greatest Disco albums ever made – if you discount Grace Jones, Isaac Hayes and anything Nile Rodgers ever did.

With the benefit of hindsight, we know that Michael Jackson could and did do better than this just three short years later; but that doesn’t diminish the outstanding achievement of this solo effort.

by Categories: Disco, PopTags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Television – Marquee Moon (1977)

Format:  Vinyl Rip 24-96 FLAC | Size: 976Mb 

It hardly matters that nothing Television did after 1977 ever came close to the sparkling proto-new wave pop perfection of Marquee Moon. Bandmates Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine were always two egos too large to play together for long. Hell went on to form The Voidoids (who released the still anthemic Blank Generation), while Verlaine has produced and played on some superb LPs ranging from Patti Smith’s immense debut, Horses to Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha’s sophomore effort.

What these two left us with is the sound of New York’s Punk scene determined to show off it’s musicianship and intellect. While the Ramones were brash, big and bold, Television were the intelligentsia of the Downtown scene, riding with full punk mischief in the footsteps of The Velvet Underground: Verlaine, ever the accomplished, pop-sensible musician, Hell the noisy miscreant with an urge for chaos.

The album begins in the garage crunch of guitar on the left channel, quickly accentuated with the higher pitched repetitive drone of the lead riff. When Verlaine’s bratty cool punk vocals kick in, See No Evil is alive. The second track, Venus is more attitude dressed in a sort of frayed and worn, slacked-down version of Indie Pop that wasn’t even invented until the 80s.

The epic title track is a perfect distillation of the band and the album. Tightly checked musical interplay, pretty pop riffs and Verlaine sneering and waxing poetic like a bored rich kid playing in a punk band in the slums.

Marquee Moon is very much a product of its time – with the astounding immediacy of new music. The intelligent tunes of Talking Heads and U2, and the production and musical values of the entire Post Punk and Indie pop 80s are almost directly due to Television and to this, their one accomplished album. Even in the 2010s, bands have confessed to being influenced by Marquee Moon; and I believe you could put it on a turntable at a party full of hipsters and they’d call it the best release of the year.

Verdict: APPROVED | Remaining  118,024mb

There’s a very good reason I chose this LP to open my new blog. I would never go anywhere for an extended period of time where I didn’t have access to this amazing artifact of the incredible 1970s Downtown scene.

by Categories: PunkTags: , , Leave a comment