TDDS - 2020 Shelter-in-Place on a Desert Island Music Draft - BONUS 5

[Spike]

1. "In the Beginning"
2. "Shout at the Devil"
3. "Looks That Kill"
4. "Bastard"
5. "God Bless the Children of the Beast"
6. "Helter Skelter" (The Beatles cover)
7. "Red Hot"
8. "Too Young to Fall in Love"
9. "Knock 'Em Dead, Kid"
10. "Ten Seconds to Love"
11. "Danger"

I feel like this album is Mötley Crüe at their most metal. Mick Mars is an underrated shredder, and Vince Neil both floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. Tommy Lee is Tommy Lee, and Nikki Sixx not only ties everything together on bass, but was (if you didn't know) the primary writer for most of Crüe's songs...Check out "Looks That Kill" and "Too Young to Fall in Love."

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The fun thing about picking after @pdxKingsFan and @Spike is that I can pretty much start the write-up for my next pick, as soon as @hrdboild makes his pick, because there's basically no threat of either of them selecting anything from my draft board:

No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (1995)


While I was stationed in Italy, our only connection to pop culture stateside, at the time, was AFRTS. They had a radio channel that almost exclusively broadcast Billboard Top 100 songs, so it should come as no surprise that I heard "Don't Speak" a lot... like, a lot. When Tragic Kingdom showed up at the NEX, my then-girlfriend talked me into going halfsies on the CD, even only having heard not even a quarter of it. When our relationship ended, she got "custody" of the CD, but I ended up purchasing a copy of my own. Tragic Kingdom peaked at Number One on the US Charts, and was certified platinum or better in thirteen countries (including Diamond in the US and Canada).


Track listing (links provided to songs released as singles):

1. "Spiderwebs"
2. "Excuse Me Mr."
3. "Just a Girl"
4. "Happy Now?"
5. "Different People"
6. "Hey You!"
7. "The Climb"
8. "Sixteen"
9. "Sunday Morning"
10. "Don't Speak"
11. "You Can Do It"
12. "World Go 'Round"
13. "End It on This"
14. "Tragic Kingdom"

Source: Wikipedia

 

[Spike]

The fun thing about picking after @pdxKingsFan and @Spike is that I can pretty much start the write-up for my next pick, as soon as @hrdboild makes his pick, because there's basically no threat of either of them selecting anything from my draft board:

Not so fast there, good sir. Tragic Kingdom was definitely on my list.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Not so fast there, good sir. Tragic Kingdom was definitely on my list.

Well, I guess that's one less thing you've got to worry about.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

With my tenth pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album Draft, I select:

Drums and Wires - XTC (1979)

Track Listing:
1 Making Plans for Nigel
2 Helicopter
3 Day In Day Out
4 When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty
5 Ten Feet Tall
6 Roads Girdle the Globe
7 Real By Reel
8 Millions
9 That is the Way
10 Outside World
11 Scissor Man
12 Complicated Game
13 Life Begins at the Hop
14 Chain of Command
15 Limelight

There was a discussion earlier in the thread about music that is overproduced and "too perfect" where some here expressed a taste for music that is a bit more raw. This selection ought to be right up their alley. Early XTC appear to be as unskilled as they were eager. Now, they were probably a bit more skilled than that, but this album sounds quite a bit more like making music than making perfection and Andy Partridge's not-winning-American-Idol voice is a big part of it. After having their keyboardist leave the band in the middle of the tour for their second album, XTC regrouped for this one by adding a second guitar and crunching their way through it (hence the album title - no keyboard, just drums and wires), and in my opinion put together the best album in a career that ultimately spanned 22 years and 14 albums.

An obvious standout is the lead single "Making Plans for Nigel", which still gets some radio play now and then. "Ten Feet Tall" is their first acoustic song, and apparently there was some argument that it be left off the album because of it. And I think we can all empathize at least a little bit with the frantic insecurity of "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty".

But the track that most strikes me from the album is "Complicated Game" - not so much for its lyrical content, but because when I first heard it I was convinced that it was a bad-ass avant-garde cover of somebody else's song, and I looked into it only to find that it's an original. Well done, XTC, well done.

(PM Sent)

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Not so fast there, good sir. Tragic Kingdom was definitely on my list.

It wasn't on mine but I certainly appreciated them - it is weird because I did go down a 3rd wave rabbit hole earlier this week and for whatever reason had forgotten all about them. Maybe they need to make some corona isolation videos

 

[Cojc]

I had a few different albums I was going to list here getting to the middle of this draft. Loud, sad or something to give me some good memories.
But after thinking about it I thought I would do a album that always leaves me with a pretty good smile while listening and for these times its needed.

My 10th pick is from cat Stevens (tea for the tillerman).



Where do the children play

Hard headed woman

Wild world

Sad Lisa

Miles from nowhere

But I might die tonight

Longer boats

Into white

On the road to find out

Father and son

Tea for the tillerman

 

[VF21]

Tickets as cheap as $40!

https://www1.ticketmaster.com/cher-...-california-10-14-2020/event/1C005759922537D8

We are going to be over in Section 210.

I had dropped multiple hints to KG4 to no avail. Now that it's been rescheduled and is close to my birthday, I might try again!

 

[VF21]

I had a few different albums I was going to list here getting to the middle of this draft. Loud, sad or something to give me some good memories.
But after thinking about it I thought I would do a album that always leaves me with a pretty good smile while listening and for these times its needed.

My 10th pick is from cat Stevens (tea for the tillerman).

View attachment 9721

Where do the children play

Hard headed woman

Wild world

Sad Lisa

Miles from nowhere

But I might die tonight

Longer boats

Into white

On the road to find out

Father and son

Tea for the tillerman

I was reviewing his discography last night. It's a good thing you picked this now because it wouldn't have made it much further down.

 

[VF21]

The fun thing about picking after @pdxKingsFan and @Spike is that I can pretty much start the write-up for my next pick, as soon as @hrdboild makes his pick, because there's basically no threat of either of them selecting anything from my draft board:

No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (1995)


While I was stationed in Italy, our only connection to pop culture stateside, at the time, was AFRTS. They had a radio channel that almost exclusively broadcast Billboard Top 100 songs, so it should come as no surprise that I heard "Don't Speak" a lot... like, a lot. When Tragic Kingdom showed up at the NEX, my then-girlfriend talked me into going halfsies on the CD, even only having heard not even a quarter of it. When our relationship ended, she got "custody" of the CD, but I ended up purchasing a copy of my own. Tragic Kingdom peaked at Number One on the US Charts, and was certified platinum or better in thirteen countries (including Diamond in the US and Canada).


Track listing (links provided to songs released as singles):

1. "Spiderwebs"
2. "Excuse Me Mr."
3. "Just a Girl"
4. "Happy Now?"
5. "Different People"
6. "Hey You!"
7. "The Climb"
8. "Sixteen"
9. "Sunday Morning"
10. "Don't Speak"
11. "You Can Do It"
12. "World Go 'Round"
13. "End It on This"
14. "Tragic Kingdom"

Source: Wikipedia

I'd never heard of this group...or at least I don't remember them. Having listened to "Don't Speak," I think I might have to listen to all the tracks you've linked.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I'd never heard of this group...or at least I don't remember them. Having listened to "Don't Speak," I think I might have to listen to all the tracks you've linked.

Spiderwebs and Just A Girl were the other radio hits, if you want to start there.

 

[Warhawk]

I had dropped multiple hints to KG4 to no avail. Now that it's been rescheduled and is close to my birthday, I might try again!

The original concert date was two days after my birthday. I was looking forward to it, but now it's out another 6 months. Argh.

 

[Turgenev]

Gonna break away from recent picks and go with:

Tracy Chapman. Tracy Chapman. 1988.



Every Sunday evening my mum used to listen to albums like this.

 

[Warhawk]

Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway (2004)



https://www.allmusic.com/album/breakaway-mw0000633392

We caught her Piece By Piece tour in Wheatland in 2015 and it was funny to me to realize how many songs of hers I really liked and knew, but didn't know it was her singing them! Breakaway is the album that really put her on the map and Since U Been Gone and Breakaway are two of my favorite songs of hers.

From Wikipedia:

Breakaway received a positive response from music critics, with many commending the album's new-found pop rock sound and Clarkson's vocal performances. It received several awards and nominations, including winning two Grammy Awards and receiving a nomination for a Juno Award. The album became a commercial success worldwide. By selling over 12 million copies worldwide, Breakaway is Clarkson's best selling album of her career so far, and one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 in the United States, it stayed on the top twenty of the chart for more than a year, eventually being certified 6× multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of more than six million copies.

Breakaway's singles "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", "Because of You", "Walk Away", and "Breakaway" became worldwide hits and have become some of Clarkson's signature songs. Their successes prompted Billboard to credit her for landscaping the core sound of mainstream pop music as an uptempo dance-oriented sound in the 2000s. Furthermore, Breakaway established Clarkson as one of the four highest-selling acts of Sony BMG in the 2000s. Internationally, the album topped the music charts of Ireland and the Netherlands and became the world's 7th biggest-selling release of 2005, eventually being certified platinum in over 17 countries.

Track List:
1. Breakaway
2. Since U Been Gone
3. Behind These Hazel Eyes
4. Because of You
5. Gone
6. Addicted
7. Where is Your Heart
8. Walk Away
9. You Found Me
10. I Hate Myself for Losing You
11. Hear Me
12. Beautiful Disaster

 

[Löwenherz]

I AM here. This IS happening.

Kid A - Radiohead (2000)

I'd rather not take two albums from the same artist, especially when those artists are Thom Yorke and Radiohead. "Painfully one-dimensional" would be the least pejorative label one could slap on my forehead for such a move. Type "Radiohead Fans Are" and let the magic of Google fill you in on the rest.*

However, OK Computer and Kid A are so different, they might as well be from different bands. Radiohead scrapped everything they had done on OK Computer and started from scratch, practically shifting genres from rock to electronica, to create this eerie, alien exploration of a fragmented and artificial future.

In fact, it is so different, the first time I listened to Kid A, I hated it. HATED IT. Did not like it at all. Found it overly weird and pretentious, as though Radiohead was trying way too hard to be explicitly experimental, outlandishly different, and proving some stereotypes. I read a description of Radiohead music as "elaborate moaning and whining over ringtone sounds" that encapsulated my feelings of Kid A at the time fairly well. And, to be quite honest, I still find pretty funny.

So what changed my opinion on Kid A so drastically? Two things: First - unlike the popular meme of Radiohead fans, I openly admit to not knowing the difference between a B-cord and a B-side (hyperbole for effect and alliteration). That gives me the freedom to know my initial reactions and opinions of an album are not law, and I'll revisit works to see if there's something I'm missing. Most times it comes down to a simple issue of style preference, but with Kid A, I started to appreciate the ambition, complexity, and depth of the sounds and the intention behind them to evoke the emotions I mentioned above.

Second, and much more simply, I eventually listened to Kid A with headphones. Completely different experience.

Now comes the hard part. How to post a song from an album that purposely had no singles, and is sometimes described as music for a mental breakdown.

I'm just going to post The National Anthem, and tell you the ending is somewhere between freeform jazz and a traffic jam. On purpose.

Tracklist

"Everything in Its Right Place"
"Kid A"
"The National Anthem"
"How to Disappear Completely"
"Treefingers"
"Optimistic"
"In Limbo"
"Idioteque"
"Morning Bell"
"Motion Picture Soundtrack"

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway (2004)

Not generally my genre of music, but from spending many many lunchtimes in a fast food joint near my work I've been exposed to a lot of it. I can think of three songs off the top of my head that I've said to myself, "Actually, I kinda like that song" over the years, but never really dug into who sang them. Apparently, TWO of those three are on this album, in "Since U Been Gone" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes". If I remember my lore correctly, Clarkson was a very early American Idol winner, and that's how she burst onto the scene. Well, no wonder she won, because she's got a fantastic voice.

 

[Warhawk]

Not generally my genre of music, but from spending many many lunchtimes in a fast food joint near my work I've been exposed to a lot of it. I can think of three songs off the top of my head that I've said to myself, "Actually, I kinda like that song" over the years, but never really dug into who sang them. Apparently, TWO of those three are on this album, in "Since U Been Gone" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes". If I remember my lore correctly, Clarkson was a very early American Idol winner, and that's how she burst onto the scene. Well, no wonder she won, because she's got a fantastic voice.

Yeah, my wife was a big fan when she won that show. She's an amazing talent. The concert was great, too! And that's what I meant about going to her concert - I was listening to song after song where I had heard it on the radio but had no idea she was who sang it.

Edit - I added that other song video link in case anyone is interested.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Not generally my genre of music, but from spending many many lunchtimes in a fast food joint near my work I've been exposed to a lot of it. I can think of three songs off the top of my head that I've said to myself, "Actually, I kinda like that song" over the years, but never really dug into who sang them. Apparently, TWO of those three are on this album, in "Since U Been Gone" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes". If I remember my lore correctly, Clarkson was a very early American Idol winner, and that's how she burst onto the scene. Well, no wonder she won, because she's got a fantastic voice.

Not a big fan but Since U Been Gone is a huge song.

She was the original American Idol winner and I know that one other winner went on to more relevant success but Kelly is by far the best of the bunch to me.

 

[Padrino]

I am here. And this is happening.

Just not yet. I'll be back to fill in more later.

Kid A - Radiohead (2000)


Tracklist

"Everything in Its Right Place"
"Kid A"
"The National Anthem"
"How to Disappear Completely"
"Treefingers"
"Optimistic"
"In Limbo"
"Idioteque"
"Morning Bell"
"Motion Picture Soundtrack"

And there it is! My #4 album from the year 2000. Great pick. Hugely influential. Still vital today, as well.

 

[Löwenherz]

And there it is! My #4 album from the year 2000. Great pick. Hugely influential. Still vital today, as well.

I KNEW it!

Had planned to make it my last pick, until your little logic puzzle convinced me I needed to grab it now.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It is much to my consternation and grief that I discovered the lousy, overly loud red dial Fender amp and Marshall Shred Master pedal I had in the early 90s and could not get a decent sound out of to save my life became Jonny Greenwood's signature sound only after I had finally rid myself of these useless devices.

 

[VF21]

Not a big fan but Since U Been Gone is a huge song.

She was the original American Idol winner and I know that one other winner went on to more relevant success but Kelly is by far the best of the bunch to me.

I think there are TWO AI winners who arguably have met with bigger success but we'll have to stick a pin in this until the draft is over (or they've both been drafted).

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think there are TWO AI winners who arguably have met with bigger success but we'll have to stick a pin in this until the draft is over (or they've both been drafted).

really? I guess I have to go look at who the other is. I know more than a few non-winners that had considerably more success than most of the winners combined. It almost felt like the winner was destined to flop.

eta: I looked over the list and besides the one I'm sure we all know, I can't see anyone on that list (of winners) that had a song as big as Since U Been Gone plus their own daytime talk show (plus let's not forget the terrible feature film as a starring vehicle for the winner and runner up )

 

[VF21]

Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In - Loggins and Messina - 1971

Track list:
1. Nobody But You
2. Danny's Song
3. Vahevala
4. Trilogy (Lovin' Me, To Make a Woman Feel Wanted, Peace of Mind)
5. Back to Georgia
6. House at Pooh Corner
7. Listen to a Country Song
8. Same Old Win
9. Rock n Roll Mood

When this album started production, Loggins was the artist and Messina was a producer. By the time it was completed, Messina had collaborated on the writing of six of the songs, in addition to providing backup vocals and guitar.

from allmusic.com:
The only thing wrong with this record is that it was too perfect -- with their infectious blend of country, folk, rock, and Caribbean music, L&M started out at the top of their game, and although they were able to match some of the material and performances on later records, the team never got any better than this.

I've shared the live concert version of Vahevala because...well, because it doesn't get much better than that. I did get to see them once in SF - it might have been the last concert I went to in the Bay Area.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Not really my jam but Danny's Song is truly wonderful.

When this album started production, Loggins was the artist and Messina was a producer. By the time it was completed, Messina had collaborated on the writing of six of the songs, in addition to providing backup vocals and guitar.

FF to 2020 where the producer writes all the songs.

 

[VF21]

really? I guess I have to go look at who the other is. I know more than a few non-winners that had considerably more success than most of the winners combined. It almost felt like the winner was destined to flop.

eta: I looked over the list and besides the one I'm sure we all know, I can't see anyone on that list (of winners) that had a song as big as Since U Been Gone plus their own daytime talk show (plus let's not forget the terrible feature film as a starring vehicle for the winner and runner up )

Okay, I concede the point - based on our private convo.

 

[VF21]

Not really my jam but Danny's Song is truly wonderful.


FF to 2020 where the producer writes all the songs.

I thought I had included the YouTube clip on that...I've now rectified the error.

Also, if you haven't heard it, listen to the long version of Vahevala above. It's truly infectious, with some incredible instrumental work.

 

[Padrino]

I KNEW it!

Had planned to make it my last pick, until your little logic puzzle convinced me I needed to grab it now.

I approach these drafts as an opportunity to share a little bit of what I care about with the only online community I remain a part of to this day, so it's less important to me that certain albums end up on my island as long as they get selected. I'm stoked Kid A is no longer on the board. OK Computer remains the album most often hailed as Radiohead's masterpiece, but for my money, nothing in their discography touches Kid A.

In the context of its moment, it was wildly ambitious and tremendously inventive. A lot of guitar bands have tried shifting gears into electronic experimentation in an attempt to deliver their own Kid A, and many (most?) of them have failed. That Radiohead departed so thoroughly and so quickly from the sound that made them, and with such success, is a testament to their all-time-great-ness.

 

[Padrino]

Cat Power - You Are Free (2003):

01 I Don't Blame You
02 Free
03 Good Woman
04 Speak for Me
05 Werewolf
06 Fool
07 He War
08 Shaking Paper
09 Babydoll
10 Maybe Not
11 Names
12 Half of You
13 Keep on Runnin'
14 Evolution

Genre(s): Indie folk, indie rock, neo-soul, electric blues, lo-fi

Apart from Chromatics' lovely vocalist Ruth Radelet, and the pitch-shifted female vox on Burial's Untrue, my island is missing a bit of feminine energy. So my next couple picks will highlight female artists that I adore.

I encountered Cat Power (real name Chan Marshall) when I was in high school, shortly after the release of her sixth album, You Are Free. I saw her at a concert in San Francisco, and even several albums into her career, she remained a petrified performer, barely able to face the audience or even finish entire songs. Alcoholism played its part in her skittishness and erratic on-stage behavior, but without knowing the source, I found her stage presence deeply endearing, and the songs themselves struck a chord with 16-year-old me. I was an anxious and sensitive teenager, just starting to write poetry, just beginning to understand myself, just beginning to develop a sense of taste in film and music, broadening my horizons, trying new things.

Marshall is known for the husky sensuality of her voice. Imagine Stevie Nicks on the wrong side of a bender, and you end up in Cat Power country. The nakedness that Chan exhibits in these songs is stark and simmering. As a writer, she's like a female response to Ernest Hemingway, bare, elemental, stripped of varnish, with a shot of whiskey (or two... or three). With the occasional vocal assist from Eddie Vedder, and the occasional assist behind the kit from Dave Grohl, You Are Free is an indie folk record that will resonate with those who aren't necessarily inclined towards minimal singer-songwriter fare.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Cat Power - You Are Free (2003)

Padrino, you're slipping! That's two artists in a row that I actually have in my own collection.