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

[Padrino]

Chromatics - Kill for Love (2012):

01 Into the Black (Neil Young cover)
02 Kill for Love
03 Back from the Grave
04 The Page
05 Lady
06 These Streets Will Never Look the Same
07 Broken Mirrors
08 Candy
09 The Eleventh Hour
10 Running from the Sun
11 Dust to Dust
12 Birds of Paradise
13 A Matter of Time
14 At Your Door
15 There's a Light Out on the Horizon
16 The River

Genre(s): Dream pop, synth pop, indie rock

This draft is moving at a rather speedy pace! In one sense, it's quite freeing. Ordinarily I would be very deliberate in the curation of my draft order. Now I'm just kind of flipping through my record collection and selecting albums that I adore, but that don't necessarily fit any particular pattern or represent any kind of thematic arc.

I've selected this next album because it is nearing 1:00am as I write this, and I felt like listening to something perfectly suited to the hour. Chromatics are the sound of driving through rain-soaked, neon-lit streets late at night. Their 2012 album Kill for Love is perhaps the best distillation of their sonic palette. This is cinematic music, a film score with no film attached to it. But it's not hard to conjure up Capital-R Romantic imagery from films like Michael Mann's Thief and Manhunter as a backdrop for these big, glassy soundscapes.

Johnny Jewel, the mastermind behind Chromatics, is a notoriously fussy musician. He has an ear for bending the hazily-remembered nostalgia of the 1980's into cavernous, lonely productions that evoke a kind of existential ache somewhere on the edge of the listener's subconscious. You don't even really know why it feels like your heart's been cracked open as Kill for Love closes, but it's a beautiful kind of pain, like being visited by the ghost of your childhood.

 

[whitechocolate]

Not Available - The Residents (1978)



https://www.discogs.com/The-Residents-Not-Available/release/101814
​

The Residents are my favorite band. They are truly groundbreaking, and legends in the world of experimental music. Sadly not nearly enough people are familiar with them, but their influence is widespread. Their records range from deconstructionist takes on pop music to high concept albums. I love everything they do, but Not Available is my favorite record of theirs. It's an experimental rock opera that showcases many of their strengths including melodic themes, poetic lyrics, and unique quirkiness. Listening to it is an experience like no other.

Tracklist

01 - Part One: Edweena
02 - Part Two: The Making of a Soul
03 - Part Three: Ship's a' Going Down
04 - Part Four: Never Know Questions
05 - Epilogue

 

[hrdboild]

Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (1973)​

(https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-wild-the-innocent-and-the-e-street-shuffle-mw0000195809)

01. The E Street Shuffle
02. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
03. Kitty's Back
04. Wild Billy's Circus Story
05. Incident on 57th Street
06. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
07. New York City Serenade​

Bruce Springsteen and his incredible cast of backing musicians would follow this album up just two years later with the smash hit that broke him into the mainstream but in 1973 he was still a hustler writing operatic street poems about the decaying New Jersey suburbs he hoped to escape. And oh my lord are these poems great! There's only 7 songs on the album but every single one of them is a little miracle of songcraft. I really struggled with which Bruce album to pick for this spot but I'm going with quality over quantity here and taking the album with my favorite collection of Bruce songs.

Anyone interested in songwriting needs to sit down with this album and deconstruct these songs. There's breakdowns on top of breakdowns, lyrics that pile up and dangle past the end of the bar with reckless abandon, shouty sing-a-long interludes that appear out of nowhere and then fade away just as quickly, and that's before we even talk about the musical arrangements which often sound like 6 musicians all showing off at once. Pianist David Sancious and saxophonist Clarence Clemons in particular are great throughout and lend a jazzy unpredictability to the showstopping closer New York City Serenade. And I have to shout out the album's secret weapon: Vini 'Mad Dog' Lopez behind the kit, who thunders through these songs like a coked up Keith Moon disciple who's getting paid by the stroke.

If this all sounds like a chaotic mess to you, you're probably right. The album came and went without attracting much attention. Over the course of the next decade Bruce gradually stripped all the excess away until he arrived at a leaner and more focused voice with sharper hooks that courted universal appeal in classic pop fashion: by allowing the listener to fill in some of the blanks for themselves. As a professional songwriter Bruce has stronger work in his catalog but you can't top this album for youthful enthusiasm and complete disregard for convention or anything resembling measured restraint. And vocally, I don't think Bruce has ever sounded better.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

About to jump on a conference call so will be an hour or two. @Spike I think you will be displeased.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Megadeth - Rust in Peace

In the age of covid-19 distancing, I posted "Make me choose between two bands" on my facebook wall. The very first one was Metallica vs. Megadeth. I picked the 'tallica boys with the caveat that they had the best first 4 records and 2 eps but Megadeth released the best album. This is that album. It is probably the greatest thrash/speed metal album ever recorded, though I have at least one other personal favorite I may draft in a late round.

From about 87-93 I temporarily left my little punk rock happy place to grow my hair out and be a full time metal dude. I even once owned a BC Rich Warlock guitar. I traded it for an HM Strat which I still own.

Formed by Dave Mustaine after he was unceremoniously dumped by Metallica for being too much of a drunk, Megadeth released three varying quality albums throughout the remainder of the 80s before being joined by Shrapnel recording artist® Marty Friedman. This put them over the top and what resulted was this album of speed metal precision and some of the greatest guitar solos the genre would ever have. If you were a guitar hero/rock band fan you may recall Hangar 18 in practice mode would be like "Solo 18 r". (at least this is how I remember it, I probably don't count them this way).

Safe to say this pick will satiate 13-20 year old me entirely. The first two tracks are the standouts but it doesn't really stop there as every one represents the band at it's peak technically and creatively.

Side One
1. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
2. Hangar 18
3. Take No Prisoners
4. Five Magics

Side Two
5. Poison Was the Cure
6. Lucretia
7. Tornado of Souls
8. Dawn Patrol
9. Rust in Peace... Polaris

For the benefit of non-rock America I have always enjoyed these guys listening experience.

 

[Spike]

Yup. There it went.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

 

[Spike]

I guess I can go a variety of different ways here. This draft is definitely moving a little differently than the last time I did it. Having pdx picking right before me every round is rough, but then there are curveballs like Slim stealing RHCP. Nevertheless, I press on. I'm not sure how long this one will last, so I may be picking it a little early, but here is my next choice:



Side one
1. "Foxy Lady"
2. "Manic Depression"
3. "Red House"
4. "Can You See Me"
5. "Love or Confusion"
6. "I Don't Live Today"

Side two
1. "May This Be Love"
2. "Fire"
3. "3rd Stone from the Sun"
4. "Remember"
5. "Are You Experienced"

I just love grooving to this album. Finding some live tracks to insert as links, just so you can hear the raw energy and emotion.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

^Can't go wrong there.

 

[Cojc]

I guess I can go a variety of different ways here. This draft is definitely moving a little differently than the last time I did it. Having pdx picking right before me every round is rough, but then there are curveballs like Slim stealing RHCP. Nevertheless, I press on. I'm not sure how long this one will last, so I may be picking it a little early, but here is my next choice:

View attachment 9657

Side one
1. "Foxy Lady"
2. "Manic Depression"
3. "Red House"
4. "Can You See Me"
5. "Love or Confusion"
6. "I Don't Live Today"

Side two
1. "May This Be Love"
2. "Fire"
3. "3rd Stone from the Sun"
4. "Remember"
5. "Are You Experienced"

I just love grooving to this album. Finding some live tracks to insert as links, just so you can hear the raw energy and emotion.

I guarantee it never would of made it past the 5th round. I remember buying that album many years ago and listened to it often. Are you experienced is one the best songs to come out of that era!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

So, I got my first CD player when I was twenty years old. Straight out of boot camp, duty-free weekend at my first training command. In addition to the CD player, I bought my first four CD's. This was one of them:

Prince and the New Power Generation - Diamonds and Pearls (1991)



His thirteenth studio release, this album is strong throughout, and contains one of my Top Three favorite Prince songs, "Gett Off." This is also the first Prince album to feature The New Power Generation as his backing band. Several of the songs on this album featured prominently on mixtapes I made throughout the nineties, including the first mixtape I made for my ex-wife. Suffice it to say, my fondness for the album has endured long after my fondness for her has faded. Diamonds and Pearls peaked at Number Three on the US charts, and was certified double platinum by the RIAA

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

1. "Thunder"
2. "Daddy Pop"
3. "Diamonds and Pearls"
4. "Cream"
5. "Strollin'"
6. "Willing and Able"
7. "Gett Off"
8. "Walk Don't Walk"
9. "Jughead"
10. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night"
11. "Push"
12. "Insatiable"
13. "Live 4 Love (Last Words from the Cockpit)"

Source: Wikipedia

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Prince and the New Power Generation - Diamonds and Pearls (1991)

1991 strikes yet again!

 

[Löwenherz]

1991 strikes yet again!

"It could mean that that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum. On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence."

 

[Capt. Factorial]

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

Ten - Pearl Jam (1991)

Track List:
1 Once
2 Even Flow
3 Alive
4 Why Go
5 Black
6 Jeremy
7 Oceans
8 Porch
9 Garden
10 Deep
11 Release

I feel like I have woefully missed getting on the 1991 train in this draft, so I'm going to fix that right now with my own personal favorite album to come out of the grunge movement, Pearl Jam's Ten. Although it was released a full year before then, it seemed like it was on full-time rotation in the dorms my freshman year of college. It's hard to overstate how influential this record was - not just because it was one of the forerunners of the Seattle Era, not just because it had not only four singles but additionally two songs ("Once", "Black") that weren't singles but still got huge radio rotation (somehow "Black" reached #3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart without being a single!), but also because Eddie's voice went a long way towards redefining what was expected from a front-line rock voice. His rich, deep baritone was a departure from what was common for at least the decade prior, and welcome for it.

One of the great things about Ten is that every track is great. There's just not a let down on the entire album, front to back, and while it's not my favorite album closer ever, Release was the first song I can remember that jumped up and said to me, "This is how you close out an album!" Every album has a last song; Ten has a closer.

(PM sent)

 

[pdxKingsFan]

For me I don't really care for the last 3 tracks after Porch but it is a great album. I was blasting it in the school parking lot when it came out and falling asleep to it every night - usually by the end of Porch so I guess that colors how I feel. A little surprised it lasted this long. I don't revisit it very often but agree it probably was the best album of the bunch. I was partial to some of the Seattle bands outside of the Big 4 though. It would put a smile on my face to see some of those picked since I probably won't be doing it. I haven't decided what I'm doing here though so who knows?

 

[Cojc]

With my 4th pick




Now that’s my favorite Hendrix album is gone.(but great choice)

Surrealistic pillow
Jefferson airplane.
This is one that I could listen to forever. Cruising down J street with this blasting from my 8 track on a Friday or Saturday night. Wow just thinking about it puts a big smile on my face.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I saw that cover and had no idea who that was until I saw the band name in the right corner. And come to find it is the name of the album with their two most recognizable tracks?

Crazy.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

1991 strikes yet again!

Ten - Pearl Jam (1991)

Indeed.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

This pick reminds me of an anecdote that I wanted to share, but I can't do so without mentioning the names of artists who haven't been picked yet, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, at least this gives me the opportunity to tell an abbreviated version of the anecdote I wanted to share: some dope was on Twitter last week, being loud and wrong about Prince being overrated, and had the audacity to say that Pearl Jam was more memorable than Prince... And I was sitting there, like, "Dude, Pearl Jam might not be one of the three most memorable bands to come out of Seattle, and you've got the audacity to say that they're more memorable than Prince? Eddie Vedder doesn't even believe that!

 

[Turgenev]

The OOZ. King Krule. 2017.



King Krule, aka Archie Marshall, is a moody English kid that frequently dives into the deep blue sea on this effort. Genuinely an all influences album - with punk, jazz, and hip-hop tones most obvious. I had read that the stage name King Krule was taken from a Donkey Kong character but wiki says it was an Elvis movie.

 

[Warhawk]

Sorry, I know I'm dipping into the same artist well again. They are my favorite band and I couldn't stop with just one - this one is different enough to justify another selection. Rest assured, although I've seen them 7 times I'm not taking 7 of their albums.

Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983)

https://www.allmusic.com/album/pyromania-mw0000189739



While Hysteria was their most popular album, this one was the one that really got the ball rolling to begin with. This may have been the first "rock" cassette tape I ever listened to - one of my best friends (known him since kindergarten!) played this while we were hanging out one time and I was hooked.

Funny thing is, although I have seen them in concert several times, my friend who introduced me to them had never been able to. So in 2015 I bought both of us tickets to go see them at Shoreline Amphitheater for the Bone Bash XVI tour and had a blast! It was great being able to "share" the same music back with him in that way three decades later.

From allmusic:

While Def Leppard had obviously wanted to write big-sounding anthems on their previous records, Pyromania was where the band's vision coalesced and gelled into something more. More than ever before, the band's songs on Pyromania are driven by catchy, shiny melodic hooks instead of heavy guitar riffs, although the latter do pop up once in a while. But it wasn't just this newly intensified focus on melody and consistent songwriting (and heavy MTV exposure) that made Pyromania a massive success -- and the catalyst for the '80s pop-metal movement. Robert John "Mutt" Lange's buffed-to-a-sheen production -- polished drum and guitar sounds, multi-tracked layers of vocal harmonies, a general sanding of any and all musical rough edges, and a perfectionistic attention to detail -- set the style for much of the melodic hard rock that followed. It wasn't a raw or spontaneous sound, but the performances were still energetic and committed. Leppard's quest for huge, transcendent hard rock perfection on Pyromania was surprisingly successful; their reach never exceeded their grasp, which makes the album an enduring (and massively influential) classic.

From Wikipedia:

With its melodic hooks and heavy MTV exposure, Pyromania became a massive success, and was a major catalyst for the 1980s melodic hard rock movement. The album sold six million copies in the US in its original release (about 100,000 copies per week for much of the year). It has since sold over ten million there and been certified diamond.

"Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'" became top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, with the first two reaching the top 20. "Photograph" (6 weeks) and "Rock of Ages" (1 week) both topped the Billboard Top Rock Tracks while "Foolin'" and "Too Late for Love" made the Top 10. "Comin' Under Fire", "Billy's Got a Gun" and "Action! Not Words" made the top 40 of the Top Rock Tracks chart.

Rock Rock ('Til You Drop), Photograph, Foolin', and Rock of Ages are the stars here, and are still as good today as they were in 1983. Some of the videos from that time frame are just horrible though.

Track List:
1. Rock Rock ('Til You Drop)
2. Photograph
3. Stagefright
4. Too Late For Love
5. Die Hard the Hunter
6. Foolin'
7. Rock of Ages
8. Comin' Under Fire
9. Action! Not Words
10. Billy's Got a Gun

 

[Löwenherz]

... diordnA cinaissem gnilevart-emit a tuoba mubla na rof gnittiF .worromot erom dda lliW

A core thematic reason for me coming back to this draft is centered on this album. It was available. No one took it. I had no idea it existed at the time.

But if I could turn back the clock to 2013, I would have taken OK Computer first and The ArchAndroid second. Of course, as any time-traveler in sci-fi, I got briefly side-tracked from my primary mission, but no more! We have to focus on the reason we came here in the first place, Ms. Mayweather. There's a future to save.

So fire-up the flux capacitor, Cindi, and let's quantum leap our way back to the past; we must deliver the masses to the mechanical messiah.



The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monáe (2010)

Monáe is a phenomenally immense talent. Full stop.

But you don't really need me to tell you that. She has certainly blown-up since dropping this album, her first full LP, and rightfully so. Monáe has received numerous mainstream accolades and awards for her entire discography predominantly with her more recent work, preformed at the Grammy's and Oscars, even appeared in Moonlight and Hidden Figures among others as a solid actress. But it took a few years for her critical fawning to translate into popular appeal.

This was my introduction to her, and while I appreciate her later work, and even consider it to be a needed expansion of and break from her more restrained (if you can call it that) sci-fi-centric themes, I continue to position this one as my personal favorite.

What first attracted me to this is the cover art, with it's bold use of the divine color palette and obvious allusions to Metropolis. When I read up about it and found it to be a superbly produced concept album* of Funk, R&B, psychedelic soul, and hip hop with a story inspired by among others the afore mentioned Metropolis, The Wizard of Oz, and Blade Runner, I was all the way in.

And it fully delivers on all I was expecting. Suite II is the most accessible with mostly up-beat and powerful R&B, Funk, and Hip Hop stylized anthems that blend seamlessly into one another, including the singles Cold War and Tightrope (included below).

Suite III gets more into the psychedelic soul (although there are elements of that sprinkled throughout) and becomes difficult to define. In fact, I can't think of which songs to post here because everything is so incredibly diverse, nothing on its own is representative of anything else.

For example, Neon Gumbo, is explicitly a single from Monáe's preceding EP played backwards with an accompanying thunderstorm expressing main character, Cindi Mayweather, either having her memory erased or traveling back in time ... or neither of those. It's left for interpretation.

Regardless, I implore you to check out Monáe's work. The future may depend on it.

Neon Gumbo as is on the album AND reversed

Tracklist

Suite II
1."Suite II Overture"
2."Dance or Die" (featuring Saul Williams)
3."Faster"
4."Locked Inside"
5."Sir Greendown"
6."Cold War"
7."Tightrope" (featuring Big Boi)
8."Neon Gumbo"
9."Oh, Maker"
10."Come Alive (The War of the Roses)"
11."Mushrooms & Roses"

Suite III
12."Suite III Overture"
13."Neon Valley Street"
14."Make the Bus" (featuring Of Montreal)
15."Wondaland"
16."57821" (featuring Deep Cotton)
17."Say You'll Go"
18."BabopbyeYa"

*Did I say concept album? How quiant. This is actually suites II and III of the currently unfinished seven-part Metropolis concept anthology series. Wrap your mind around that.

 

[VF21]

I guess I can go a variety of different ways here. This draft is definitely moving a little differently than the last time I did it. Having pdx picking right before me every round is rough, but then there are curveballs like Slim stealing RHCP. Nevertheless, I press on. I'm not sure how long this one will last, so I may be picking it a little early, but here is my next choice:

View attachment 9657

Side one
1. "Foxy Lady"
2. "Manic Depression"
3. "Red House"
4. "Can You See Me"
5. "Love or Confusion"
6. "I Don't Live Today"

Side two
1. "May This Be Love"
2. "Fire"
3. "3rd Stone from the Sun"
4. "Remember"
5. "Are You Experienced"

I just love grooving to this album. Finding some live tracks to insert as links, just so you can hear the raw energy and emotion.

You would have been very angry if you had let that slip one more round. I had an interesting story about Jimi Hendrix and Cal Expo...

 

[Capt. Factorial]

And I was sitting there, like, "Dude, Pearl Jam might not be one of the three most memorable bands to come out of Seattle, and you've got the audacity to say that they're more memorable than Prince?

When you say that, do you mean the Seattle grunge movement, or Seattle all time? I have a very hard time seeing a case for Pearl Jam not being one of the two most memorable bands to come out of the Seattle grunge movement (along with, of course, Nirvana). Soundgarden likely comes in a distant third, with a band who hasn't had an album selected in the draft yet giving them a serious run for their money, but I don't see how either threaten Pearl Jam.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

...an album about a time-traveling messianic Android.

OK, you have my attention.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

When you say that, do you mean the Seattle grunge movement, or Seattle all time? I have a very hard time seeing a case for Pearl Jam not being one of the two most memorable bands to come out of the Seattle grunge movement (along with, of course, Nirvana). Soundgarden likely comes in a distant third, with a band who hasn't had an album selected in the draft yet giving them a serious run for their money, but I don't see how either threaten Pearl Jam.

In the general populace I think you are right among the big 4 it is a bigger 2. And Hendrix could then conceivably bump them to 3. I can think of one big post grunge band with more staying power. And one big act from the 70s/80s plus several more that aren't rock oriented. And even with all of those acts I still would have to put PJ in the 2-3 spot. Even though I like a few of those acts best. Might be fun to revisit at the end of the draft, I know at least 3 acts I am thinking of will be taken.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Sorry, I know I'm dipping into the same artist well again. They are my favorite band and I couldn't stop with just one - this one is different enough to justify another selection. Rest assured, although I've seen them 7 times I'm not taking 7 of their albums.

Def Leppard - Pyromania (1983)

Well they are your favorite band, so I'd be a bit disappointed for you if you didn't get both, especially since I think this is the better album.

That said, the Classic Albums series covers both albums and they are streaming on Prime and are definitely two of the better episodes in the series. A whole ton of studio tricks went into these albums and they are covered in great depth which make them very interesting from a kid who once tried to play these songs perspective.

 

[VF21]

With my 4th pick

View attachment 9658


Now that’s my favorite Hendrix album is gone.(but great choice)

Surrealistic pillow
Jefferson airplane.
This is one that I could listen to forever. Cruising down J street with this blasting from my 8 track on a Friday or Saturday night. Wow just thinking about it puts a big smile on my face.

TWO major hits to my list in one round? Hrm. I have to do a bit of rethinking. I'll post my pick shortly...

 

[hrdboild]

I guess I can go a variety of different ways here. This draft is definitely moving a little differently than the last time I did it. Having pdx picking right before me every round is rough, but then there are curveballs like Slim stealing RHCP. Nevertheless, I press on. I'm not sure how long this one will last, so I may be picking it a little early, but here is my next choice:

View attachment 9657

Side one
1. "Foxy Lady"
2. "Manic Depression"
3. "Red House"
4. "Can You See Me"
5. "Love or Confusion"
6. "I Don't Live Today"

Side two
1. "May This Be Love"
2. "Fire"
3. "3rd Stone from the Sun"
4. "Remember"
5. "Are You Experienced"

I just love grooving to this album. Finding some live tracks to insert as links, just so you can hear the raw energy and emotion.

Is that the LP cover? I just realized that I've only ever seen this album in it's extended reissue format. You're telling me the original release didn't even have Purple Haze on it? That's track 1 on the version I have!

 

[hrdboild]

View attachment 9662

The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monáe (2010)

Will add more tomorrow. Fitting for an album about a time-traveling messianic Android.

This album is fantastic! Nice pick!