107. The Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet (December 1968)

1. Sympathy for the Devil*

2. No Expectations

3. Dear Doctor

4. Parachute Woman

5. Jigsaw Puzzle*

6. Street Fighting Man*

7. Prodigal Son

8. Stray Cat Blues

9. Factory Girl

10. Salt of the Earth

A-

So in a lot of ways this album captures the best and worst of the Rolling Stones. Things open with the jaw-dropping "Sympathy for the Devil", arguably the coolest song ever recorded. Inspired in part by one of my favourite books, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, it sets lyrics about the progress of Satan throughout human history and  the complicity everyone has in the presence of evil in the world to a driving blues-meets-Afro-Latin beat. It's an astonishing song, especially coming from Mick Jagger of all people. Then you have the brilliant "Jigsaw Puzzle", which locks into a hypnotic groove as Jagger gets his Dylan on. It's great, because the song just keeps building and building, getting more and more surreal and densely layered until all that's holding it together is the refrain of "I'm just trying to do this jigsaw puzzle". It's an underrated classic, and would play great over the closing credits of a film. And then finally you have "Street Fighting Man", easily the hardest rocking number we've had up to this point. Apparently the guitar and drums were recorded in a hotel room through an overdriven cassette recorded, and the rest of the song was built around it. Jagger is again in fine form here, with ambiguous lyrics about the protests rocking the world at the time, contrasted with the relative quietude of the UK and his own frustrations about not being able to contribute in any meaningful way except to sing in a rock and roll band. It's great.

Unfortunately, the rest of the songs on this album largely ignore the possibilities of the standout tracks, and instead opt for MOR white boy blues. I guess when this album came out it was a fresh new sounds, but almost sixty years on a song like "Parachute Woman" just sounds stupid. And the less said about the fucking dreadful "Stray Cat Blues", the better. I mean, aside from pointing out that it's another of Jagger's charming odes to fucking an underage girl. Which is a pity, because it rocks pretty hard.

The last two songs on the album are quite nice, however, and show an interesting side of the group. It's often overlooked, but the Richards/Jagger partnership were quite good at producing pretty ballads. "Factory Girl" is a lovely folk/blues number with great drumming by Watts, all about the simple joys of dating a simple woman and getting drunk together on a Friday night. And "Salt of the Earth" goes big with the simple message that we should all raise a glass to, well, the salt of the Earth.

So in a lot of ways this album sums up my view of the Stones - I would happily buy their Greatest Hits collections, but I don't have much time for their albums. That said, the high points on this album have rarely been bettered. I just wish it was good all the way through.

106. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (March 1967)

1. Respect*

2. Drown in My Own Tears

3. I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)

4. Soul Serenade*

5. Don't Let Me Lose This Dream

6. Baby, Baby, Baby

7. Dr. Feelgood

8. Good Times

9. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man*

10. Save Me

11. A Change Is Gonna Come

A-

So I guess I'm the odd man out. As I said back with Otis: Blue, I don't really like this style of music. I like soul well enough, but not big, brassy singers who wander all over the place. And Aretha Franklin is very much the archetypal "big, brassy, wander all over the place" singer. I mean, just look at what she does to Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" - she twists and warbles and testifies and basically ruins what was originally a very beautiful and direct piece of music.

Still, I can't help but rate this highly. I don't care for Aretha Franklin's style, but a lot of people do, and I can see why. And there are some beautiful songs here. She may have murdered Cooke, but Franklin's version of Otis Redding's "Respect" takes a mediocre song and transforms it into something utterly brilliant - a feminist anthem, really. And when Franklin starts belting out "R-E-S-P-E-C-T!" it's one of the great moments in pop music. 

Also gorgeous is "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man". Franklin reins things in a bit, vocally, and delivers a song that manages to be both sexy and smart, encouraging the listener to practice respect for oneself and others because if you can't do that, you're not going to get very far.

The rest of the album is very solid, but I'm not sure why people get so excited about it. I guess when it first came out, this album's approach was pretty novel. But then again, contemporary reviews didn't think much of it, and it's really only over time that its reputation has grown. Maybe this made it ahead of its time, or maybe it's just a solid collection of soul music with a couple of truly great songs jammed in for good measure. I tend towards the latter view, but that's just me. I mean, on one song Franklin tries and completely fails to be Dionne Warwick. Is this really the greatest album by a female of all time? I could name at least half a dozen better ones without even trying. Which isn't to say it's not a great album.

I guess it had a big impact, though. I don't know. I guess if you're glad Beyoncé and Mariah Carey exist, you have this album to thank. Make of that what you will.

105. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love (December 1967)

1. EXP

2. Up from the Skies

3. Spanish Castle Magic

4. Wait Until Tomorrow

5. Ain't No Telling

6. Little Wing*

7. If Six Was Nine

8. You've Got Me Floating

9. Castles Made of Sand*

10. She's So Fine

11. One Rainy Wish

12. Little Miss Lover

13. Bold as Love*

A

Are You Experienced? was a fascinating album for the way it strained against the limitations of studio technology. Axis: Bold as Love sees the Experience flourishing as studio musicians, creating countless new sounds and crafting complex songs in what would have to be one of the most polished albums to date.

Thankfully, though, this is Jimi Hendrix. "Polished" in no way means "safe" or "anemic". There are plenty of fuzzed-out rockers here ("Spanish Castle Magic" and the title track are particular highlights). But there's also a move towards a more soulful, lyrical approach in Hendrix's songwriting. The very best songs here - "Little Wing" and "Castles Made of Sand" - engage the listener with an abstract beauty, and an awareness of the poignant transience of things, that's truly breathtaking.

I know "Little Wing" is the one that gets the most love (and fair enough), but I really do think "Castles Made of Sand" is my favourite Hendrix song. In a lot of ways, it's everything good about Hendrix packed into two and a half minutes. The strange, backwards guitar riff that opens and closes the song. The gentle R&B-influenced main riff. And of course, the lyrics and melody. Divided into sections, it tells the story of a drunk falling out with his wife and accepting that his marriage has died, a Native American boy dreaming of becoming a warrior only to get killed in a sneak attack, and then it subverts the whole thing with a crippled girl who can't speak setting-out to commit suicide only to be rescued by a fantastical vision of a flying ship. This combination of melancholy and optimism is at the heart of the best songs on Axis, and really sets Hendrix apart as one smart cookie.

Overall, though, this is a fun and upbeat album. The opener is a real goof - a radio interview with a guy who turns-out to be a space alien, that devolves into roaring guitar effects imitating the sound of a spaceship. Bass player Noel Redding makes a very solid contribution with the more British and classically psychedelic "She's So Fine". "If Six Was Nine" is an admirably strange freak-out with some excellent work from the rhythm section.

I guess I said I was on the fence about Axis, back when I spoke about AYE?. Coming back to it, in many ways I prefer it to their debut. There's a lot more variety in the songs, and it's extremely pretty. Most of the tracks don't really leap out at you, but this is very much an album you have to embrace as more than the sum of its parts. True, there's no "All Along the Watchtower" or anything, but this is a very enjoyable listen and admirable for its upbeat tone. It's a tonic.

104. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (January 1968)

1. White Light/White Heat

2. The Gift*

3. Lady Godiva's Operation*

4. Here She Comes*

5. I Heard Her Call My Name

6. Sister Ray

A

Few albums are as well-represented by their cover art and title. This album is a long, strange blast of proto-industrial skronk, only really leavened by the pretty psychedelia of "Here She Comes". It's easily the VU's most "out there" album, and sort of a last hurrah for the John Cale era before Lou Reed turned the band more towards gentler (though still warped) pop music. 

The opener is a garage stomp about speed, and probably the most conventional song what with its steady beat and call-and-response vocals. Everything is distorted and in the red, though, and Mo Tucker's drumming is so simple and heavy that it's brilliant. Things really get weird with the next two songs. "The Gift" features the band playing a sludgy groove in one channel while John Cale reads a story Reed wrote in the other, a funny little tale with a macabre ending about a young man who posts himself to his girlfriend. "Lady Godiva's Operation", featuring quite a pretty melody, tells the story of a sexually rapacious transsexual who is either subjected to a lobotomy or a botched sex-change operation (the lyrics are rather vague), and features the odd trick of Cale's gentle vocals being intercut with Lou Reed's nasal speak-singing. It's a strange song, but one of my favourites. "Here She Comes" is a delicate piece of psychedelia featuring a neat bit of slide guitar, and another gem.

Side two is, in my opinion, less successful but more obviously influential. "I Heard Her Call My Name" again mines "Waiting for the Man"'s primal garage stomp, but races along at breakneck speed and features astonishing guitar solos from Reed. No, these aren't Eddie Hazel-style flights of virtuoso playing, but they are atonal and wild and jazzy and have had an obvious impact on generations of guitarists from punk all the way through to someone like Ira Kaplan. Apparently Reed was influenced by Ornette Coleman, and it kind of shows.

The big attention getter on this album, of course, is the seventeen minute long closer. "Sister Ray" is, on one level, and incredibly stupid song. It's basically just a dirty two chord riff that serves as a base for Cale's wild organ work, Reed's experiments in feedback, and some appropriately confrontational lyrics about a bunch of drag queens partaking in a drug-fueled orgy. Pretty much every droney song with a farfisa in it owes a debt to "Sister Ray". At the same time, though, I find that it quickly wears out its welcome. I mean, it's fun to have on in the background, but actually sitting down and listening to the whole thing is kind of a chore. Bearing in mind that I've done so both drunk and sober (sorry, I'm not taking drugs again just so I can appropriately experience some stupid song). 

So this album went down like a lead balloon, and it's not hard to see why. It's wild and dangerous, vulgar and in-your-face, and sounds like it was recorded by a mental patient through a cardboard box. Even members of the band were unhappy with how it turned out. But it's that unhinged, try-anything approach that's so endeared it to subsequent generations. The glorification of drugs and debauchery is on the one hand unfortunate, but on the other it helped expand the vocabulary of popular music to include parts of life which real people inhabit, and gave a voice to the voiceless. Unfortunately the Velvet Underground also led a lot of people into making some pretty stupid choices, but I guess those mistakes had to be made so that we could all learn from them (sorry for being a narc, but I'm not going to glorify an album that encourages shooting-up speed).

Anyway, this is a pretty great album. It sounded like nothing else at the time and still retains the power to shock and awe with its harsh tone and deep commitment to weirdness. And without it, half my favourite bands probably wouldn't exist. 

103. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Brij Bhushan Kabra, and Shivkumar Sharma - Call of the Valley (1968)

1. Ahir Bhairav/Nat Bhairav 

2. Rag Piloo

3. Bhoop

4. Rag Des

5. Rag Pahadi

A-

Well this was a pretty album. I know absolutely nothing about Indian classical music. In fact, my knowledge of India is limited to a couple of Amitabh Bachan films, a fondness for lamb biryani, and owning an Ashe Bhosle compilation CD. What I've gathered from this album is that, whereas Western classical music tends to put a big emphasis on melody and theme, Hindustani classical music is more about harmony, drones, and the groove. 

I really don't know what to say about this, except that it's a lovely album. Apparently it's telling a day in the life of a Kashmiri shepherd? Not something that's apparent from the music, although I do know from a Paul Scott novel that the Indians have ragas for different times of the day, and so someone more knowledgeable than I might have picked-up on that without having to read the Wikipedia article. 

Obviously, Indian music had a big impact on pop and rock in the late 60s. Ever since the Beatles dropped "Norwegian Wood", the presence of a sitar has signalled that you about to hear some pretty trippy shit. And honestly, I could listen to the tablas all day. Especially that one that makes a weird, watery "boing" sound, kind of like an emu. This album isn't really trippy, but it is very pretty and relaxing. The way the different instruments wander and complement each other, jazzy and free but perfectly in sync, all anchored by some wonderful drumming, is just great. There isn't really a single melody you could hum afterwards, but that's not really the point. This album is about sustained mood, really. You sort of drop into this idealised world and inhabit it for a little while, and come out feeling like you've just taken a shower.

So, a good album about which I am thoroughly unqualified to speak. Definitely worth tracking down.

102. Loretta Lynn - Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind) (February 1967)

1. Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)*

2. I Really Don't Want to Know

3. Tomorrow Never Comes

4. There Goes My Everything

5. The Shoe Goes on the Other Foot Tonight

6. Saint to a Sinner*

7. The Devil Gets His Dues

8. I Can't Keep Away from You

9. I'm Living in Two Worlds*

10. Get Watcha Got and Go

11. Making Plans

12. I Got Caught

A-

Well the country album selections just keep going from strength to strength. This is a short album of short songs (none even reach the three minute mark) but it packs a lot of punch. The sound is lean but rich, a complex intertwining of elaborate lead guitar work and pedal steel, with occasional piano flourishes. The drums more often than not stick to a country clip-clop, but they serve the material. And Loretta Lynn has one of the all time great voices, capable of giving someone a dressing down, carrying a fun little rocker, or evoking a great deal of tenderness, and even sadness.

The songs are mostly covers, but there are a couple of Lynn co-writes. The attention getter is the brilliant title track, which the Book insists is about marital rape. I think that's a valid interpretation, although there's a bit more going on and it's more generally just about the travails of being married to a drunk. Still, it's an upbeat number musically with some pretty dark lyrics, and pretty edgy stuff for the times. 

Most of the other songs are typical country fare about losing in life and love, but they're all from a woman's perspective - which makes them pretty interesting. The stand-outs, for me, are "Saint to a Sinner" and "I'm Living in Two Worlds". The first is about a fallen woman, whose lover has abandoned her out of disgust, and who's trying to explain that he led her down this dark path, and doesn't he understand how hard it was for her to fall. The second is a beautiful song about someone who's fallen for someone who, for lack of a better word, belongs to a different scene. Try as she might, the narrator can't fit in, but she doesn't want to abandon her lover and go back to the loneliness of her prior existence. These are some pretty complex songs and it shows how clever Lynn was in choosing her material. 

Other highlights are "The Shoe Goes on the Other Foot Tonight", about a woman who's sick of her partner's rowdy ways and is going to go out and raise some hell her self for a change, and "I Got Caught", about a woman who got caught cheating but makes the point that the only difference between her and her partner is that she got caught.

Really this is a great album. We haven't had nearly enough female vocalists, which annoys me as I generally prefer them. And the material here is just excellently chosen. Every time I see a country album coming up I get worried, and every time I'm pleasantly surprised.