362. Music From the Penguin Cafe

Music From the Penguin Cafe
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
1976

Tracks
1. Penguin Cafe Single 
2. From The Colonies
3. In A Sydney Motel
4. Surface Tension (Where The Trees Meet The Sky) 
5. Milk 
6. Coronation 
7. Giles Farnaby's Dream 
8. Pigtail
9. The Sound Of Someone You Love Who's Going Away And It Doesn't Matter
10. Hugebaby
11. Chartered Flight

As I have been explaining (whining about) on my other blogs, I recently had ankle and foot surgery.  I am not allowed to put weight on my right leg for seven more weeks.  You would think that since I am in bed all day I would be posting three albums daily.  However, I have been napping and aching so much that I haven't really had time. Today, though, I was ready to give this album a try and I am so happy that I did.

"Penguin Cafe Single" immediately put me in a good mood.  I know I am always complaining about an album's lyrics, whether because they are incoherent or simply poorly written, but I was quite content that only a few of these tracks had words.  I am a huge fan of the cello and the violin, both of which were featured prominently.

The Book mentioned that this was an important album for the progression of pop.  Maybe that is why I liked it so much, since I love pop.  

I think this is an album that will please the music snobs and well...people like me.  I will say that I think the first half was a lot stronger than the second, but the entire album still deserves five stars.

I will try to get back on here soon; I am trying to do a rotation of books, movies, and albums since each post wears me out.

RATING: 5/5

361. Mothership Connection

Mothership Connection
Parliament
1976

Tracks
1. P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up) 
2. Mothership Connection (Starchild) 
3. Unfunky UFO 
4. Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication 
5. Handcuffs 
6. Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) 
7. Night Of The Thumpasorus People

I apologize for not posting in awhile.  It was partly due to personal stuff that I don't want to whine about here, but mostly due to the fact that listening to an album with a song called "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" on it didn't make it high on my to do list.  

This album really has nothing to offer but quintessential funk.  There is absolutely original in this album, which is perfectly fine if you are a funk fan.  I, however, am not and after five minutes of "Give Up The Funk" which essentially repeats the same verse over and over again, I was ready toss my laptop out of the conveniently open window next to me.

I simply don't like funk that much, so I was set against this album from the beginning.  However, I will not entirely excuse this album since I think great music transcends genres.  And believe me, there was nothing great about this album.

RATING: 2/5

360. Rocks

Rocks
Aerosmith
1976

Tracks
1. Back in the Saddle 
2. Last Child 
3. Rats in the Cellar 
4. Combination 
5. Sick as a Dog 
6. Nobody's Fault 
7. Get the Lead Out 
8. Lick and a Promise 
9. Home Tonight

This is Aerosmith's second chance to wow us.  The first time I was impressed by how catchy all the songs were but the lyrics left a bit to be desired.  This time, the songs were even less entertaining and there is even less meaning in the lyrics.

"Back in the Saddle" is about...what you would expect and is treated with as much delicacy and beauty as the movie American Pie treated women.  I am not saying that we have have to treat it with Victorian delicacy, but I was definitely cringing throughout the song.

Then we hit all the other points of general debauchery and overall, it is just quite boring.  I have heard that Aerosmith just gets worse and worse, but I was hoping we could put it off, at least for a little while.

RATING: 2/5

359. Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
1976

Tracks
1. Down To Zero
2. Help Yourself
3. Water With The Wine
4. Love And Affection
5. Save Me
6. Join The Boys
7. People
8. Somebody Who Loves You
9. Like Fire
10. Tall In The Saddle

As soon as I started listening to this album, I was smiling.  This is a really fantastic album and it is a shame that more people haven't heard of her.

I am going to make this review nice and short, since my stress level is starting to reach an alarming height.  

Upon the release of this album, it was said that "we now have a black artist in Britain with the same sort of vocal range, originality (in fact even greater originality in terms of musical influences) and lyrical sensitivity as Joni Mitchell".  It is exciting to listen to a black female artist (have we had one since Sarah Vaughn?) and even more exciting to hear her compared to one of my favorite female artists.

"Down to Zero" is, of course, a great track but I was really intrigued with "Water With The Wine".  It is extremely catchy, albeit a bit alarming.  Everything was consensual...right?

Just a beautiful album that deserves its place in our list and our hearts (groan, I hate that I wrote that!).

RATING: 5/5

358. Africa/Brasil

Africa/Brasil
Jorge Ben
1976

Tracks
1. Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)
2. Hermes Trimegisto Escreveu
3. O Filósofo
4. Meus Filhos, Meu Tesouro
5. O Plebeu
6. Taj Mahal
7. Xica da Silva
8. História de Jorge
9. Camisa 10 da Gávea
10. Cavaleiro Do Cavalo Imaculado
11. África Brasil (Zumbi)

I really trying hard to stick to my resolution of posting at least once a week, so I managed to squeeze this one in amidst the sea of paper work that I am attempting to wade through.  This will probably change come summer time, since I getting surgery that will bind me to my bed for a couple months.  I will try to post daily during that happy time.  Until then, we must content ourselves with rather sparse postings.

I really expected to not like this album.  I think my favorite part of listening to music is analyzing lyrics (which incidentally is why I can't stand the symphony).  However, since I don't speak Portuguese and can't seem to find a decent translation of these songs, I did not have high expectations for Jorge Ben (through no fault of his own I should add).

As often happens, though, I was pleasantly surprised.  Jorge Ben's songs are really catchy (The Book says insanely catchy; I think they need to take it easy a bit), particularly "O Plebeu".  It is just a reminder of how internationally appealing music is (wow, that sounds cheesy; also, how many times can I use parentheses in one post?).

Still, I haven't changed completely and would really appreciate it if someone left a link to a translation of the lyrics that I could obsess over.  Thanks!

RATING: 3/5

357. 2112

2112
Rush
1976

Tracks
1. '2112': I: Overture/II: The Temples Of Syrinx/III: Discovery/IV: Presentation/V: Oracle: The Dream/VI. Soliloquy/VII. Grand Finale
2. A Passage To Bangkok 
3. The Twilight Zone 
4. Lessons 
5. Tears 
6. Something For Nothing

It's been awhile since I have posted.  I have been out of the country and since I have been back I have been bogged down by an obscene amount of work. I was only able to fit this album in by playing it while cleaning my pet chinchilla's cage.  What a fun break that was.

Aren't we past this phase yet?  Honestly when I was listening to this, I felt like I was in 1965 again (in a list sense;  I am actually a lot younger than that, despite my somewhat elderly tastes).  Anyway, the beginning of this album sounds like someone experimenting with the sound effects on a keyboard for the first time.  Ooo you can make space sounds!  Color me impressed.

After that it turned around a little and I actually enjoyed the singing, although lyrically the songs were not that impressive and nothing that we haven't seen before.

RATING: 2/5

Sorry for the short and somewhat shallow review.  Lots to do and lots to stress eat.

356. Destroyer

Destroyer
Kiss
1976

Tracks
1. Detroit Rock City 
2. King Of The Night Time World 
3. God Of Thunder 
4. Great Expectations 
5. Flaming Youth 
6. Sweet Pain 
7. Shout It Out Loud 
8. Beth 
9. Do You Love Me
10. Untitled

So you know how in a romantic comedy the woman will be convinced throughout the film that a guy is a shallow jerk?  Then she sees him play with his niece/nephew and she realizes that the jerk thing is just an act and that he is actually a really sweet guy?  That is how I felt after listening to this album.

This album starts off with completely useless sound effects.  Why would you want to start your album with sounds of what seems like a busy restaurant?  I fail to see the relevance.  Anyway, we then continue through some pretty generic hard rock tracks that sounded vaguely familiar.  This could be because all those songs tend to sound the same to me (I know that is pretty genre-ist) or because Kiss is still referenced a lot in pop culture.  For example:

Then we actually hit a pretty beautiful song called "Beth".  Finally, I recognized that Gene Simmons actually some real talent beyond dressing up in stupid outfits (which I accomplished all through high school and never became famous for) and yelling into a microphone.  It is a wonderful song and one that I highly recommend listening to.

However, after that track we get back to more generic rock music that failed to impress me. In other words, Gene put down the baby and made a terrible penis joke.  Is anyone else following this analogy?  This might only make sense to my romantic comedy obsessed mind.

RATING: 3/5

Beth: