661. Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)

















Track Listing

1. Rhythm Nation
2. State Of The World
3. Knowledge
4. Miss You Much
5. Love Will Never Do (Without You)
6. Livin' In A World (They Didn't Make)
7. Alright Alright
8. Escapade
9. Black Cat
10. Lonely
11. Come Back To Me
12. Someday Is Tonight

Review

I am actually pleasantly surprised by this album, I wasn't really expecting much from Janet, but after some repeated listenings I would definitely put this in second place of the Jackson's catalogue, right after Off The Wall.

Janet starts off this pretty long album by getting the socio-political music out of the way in the first three tracks, and curiously these are also some of the best tracks in the album. The opener is pretty great.

Then the album meanders a bit, mixing some pretty good tracks and some more indifferent ones, but strangely it never gets dull or bad. So yeah, not a masterpiece of modern music but surprisingly not bad at all. So there.

Track Highlights

1. Rhythm Nation
2. Escapade
3. Alright
4. Miss You Much

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Departing from themes of independence present in Jackson's 1986 breakthrough album Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 is a concept album based on social injustice. Though A&M executives wanted an album similar to Control, Jackson insisted on addressing social issues. Jackson and her producers routinely watched television news reports—predominately from CNN—as a source of inspiration for the album's lyrics. Though Jackson understood she could not change social norms with a single album, she intended to create a socially conscious message strong enough for listeners to take notice of. Capitalizing off the rise of new jack swing, the album incorporates R&B, soul, funk and jazz, as well as use of sample loop and triple swing.

Rhythm Nation:

660. De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)

















Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Magic number
3. Change in speak
4. Cool breeze on the rocks
5. Can U keep a secret
6. Jenifa (taught me)
7. Ghetto thang
8. Transmitting live from Mars
9. Eye know
10. Take it off
11. Little bit of soap
12. Tread water
13. Potholes in my lawn
14. Say no go
15. Do as De La does
16. Plug tunin' (Last chance to comprehend)
17. De La orgee
18. Buddy
19. Description
20. Me myself and I
21. This is a recording 4 living in a fulltime era (LIFE)
22. I can do anything (Delacratic)
23. DAISY age
24. Plug tunin' (are you ready for this version)

Review

Happy Rap! And great happy rap, if we wonder what would have happened to the world if De La Soul style Rap had prevailed against Gangsta Rap we might have another summer of love going on, a perpetual one as well.

And then the music is great, catchy, and with an amazing use of all kinds of samples. The sampling is phenomenal, not only in the way it is used, but in the incredible variety of sources. De La Soul are truly an eclectic bunch.

So a fun filled, warm, humorous and actually quite deep album, presenting the world with an alternative to the gloom presented by Public Enemy for example. And even if this album does not reach the pinnacle of quality that is It Takes A Nation of Millions... it comes close.

Track Highlights

1. Magic Number
2. Eye Know
3. Me Myself and I
4. Potholes In My Lawn

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:


* Though the idea was quickly abandoned, the original concept behind the group was that Mase was PA and Posdnuos and Dove were the microphone plugs, transmitting messages from Mars. This is the origin of the nicknames for Posdnuos and Dove, Plug One and Plug Two, respectively.

* The Turtles won a lawsuit against De La Soul over the unauthorized sampling of "You Showed Me" on "Transmitting Live from Mars".

* The title 3 Feet High and Rising comes from a Johnny Cash song called "Five Feet High and Rising" ("How high's the water, Mama?/It's three feet high and rising"). This song is sampled on the album. Some have interpreted the title as a reference to drug abuse; De La Soul has not commented on this interpretation.

* The members of the group have said that the only thing they would change about 3 Feet High and Rising is the cover, because the light-hearted colors do not mesh well with their somber faces.

* De La Soul in collaboration with Nike Skateboarding created two SB Dunks (one low, one high) based on the 3 Feet High and Rising album cover.


Eye Know:

659. Soul II Soul - Club Classic Vol.1 (1989)
















Track Listing

1. Keep on movin'
2. Fairplay
3. Holdin' on Bambeleda
4. Feeling free
5. African Dance
6. Dance
7. Feel Free
8. Happiness
9. Back to life
10. Jazzie's Groove

Review

Soul II Soul (well, Jazzie B really) bring us a very good album of late 80's dance music. It moves slightly away from funk and into a more R&B region of dance music and they have some pretty good guest vocalists.

The definite stand-out is Back to Life, I had never heard the version in the album, and it is an a cappella version with the beat only kicking in towards the end as it meshes with the next track. This actually makes the song more powerful than the more popular single mix.

The way the tracks mesh is actually a pretty good thing, the album is structured as a DJ set, so it is a pretty good one to revive that late 80s club music experience. And really it wasn't that bad, it's not ecstasy music, it can be appreciated without drugs, yes it's not my style but it is still pretty good.

Track Highlights

1. Back To Life
2. Keep On Movin'
3. Jazzie's Grove
4. African Dance

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album was released to great critical acclaim following three top 20 singles - "Fairplay", "Keep On Movin'" and "Back To Life" (the latter was also a UK number 1).

The record spawned one more hit - "Jazzie's Groove" - before vocalist Caron Wheeler decided to leave the group. Like many other albums recorded around that time, such as Black Box's Dreamland, other songs from the record became club hits despite not being released as singles; "Holdin' On" was especially popular in London clubs.

In 2000 Q magazine placed Club Classics Vol. I at number 49 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

Here's the original version of Back To Life:

658. Fugazi - Repeater (1989)
















Track Listing

1. Turnover
2. Repeater
3. Brendan No 1
4. Merchandise
5. Blueprint
6. Sieve Fisted Find
7. Greed
8. Two Beats Off
9. Styrofoam
10. Reprovisional
11. Shut The Door

Review

In the course of time we saw the evolution of punk through proto-punk, punk, post-punk, hardcore and now we get to post-hardcore with Fugazi. And what does post-hardcore sound like? It has pretty much the same relation to hardcore as post-punk had with punk, the attitude is still there, if slightly toned down and the music is better, the melodies more complex.

So who better than Ian McKaye, formerly of Minor Threat to bring us into this new music? Very few people, that's who. And in the end the album is not perfect, some of it is a bit preachy, a bit shouty, and when you add the two it sounds like someone is preaching by shouting, which isn't particularly pleasant.

But I have to doff my hat to the rest of the band, some of the songs are really quite catchy, complex and appraoch a level similar to the Minutemen, in fact post-hardcore sounds very much like the Minutemen now that I think about it, but with more shouting. Oh well, can't always be original.

Track Highlights

1. Shut The Door
2. Repeater
3. Turnover
4. Styrofoam

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Repeater is the debut full-length album by the post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released in January 1990 as Repeater on LP, and in March 1990 on CD bundled with the "3 Songs" single as Repeater + 3 Songs. It is their debut full-length album as 13 Songs is a compilation of the band's first two EPs Fugazi and Margin Walker.

Shut The Door:

657. Bonnie Raitt - Nick Of Time (1989)

















Track Listing

1. Nick Of Time
2. Thing Called Love
3. Love Letters
4. Cry On My Shoulder
5. Real Man
6. Nobody's Girl
7. Have A Heart
8. Too Soon To Tell
9. I Will Not Be Denied
10. I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again
11. Road's My Middle Name

Review

Usually attempts to update country sound are not extremely successful. Bonnie Raitt is actually moderately successful with this album, although it does sound like it is from the late 80s it isn't terrible. And that is saying something.

There are some good collaborations, Crosby and Stills do backup vocals, Herbie Hancock plays the piano, but unfortunately their particular styles don't really come through in most of the time.

So I didn't love it, but I admit it wasn't terrible. The songs are quite catchy and there is some real fire to a lot of the music. I always liked things more toned down and bluegrassy myself, but hey, can't win every time.

Track Highlights

1. Love Letter
2. Thing Called Love
3. The Road's My Middle Name
4. Nick Of Time

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Before work began on Nick of Time, Raitt had been courted by several major labels.It was during this time that Raitt met producer Don Was through Hal Wilner, who was putting together Stay Awake, a tribute album to Disney music for A&M. Was and Wilner both wanted Raitt to sing lead on an adult-contemporary arrangement of "Baby Mine" (the lullaby from Dumbo) created by Was. Raitt was very pleased with the sessions, and she asked Was to produce her next album.

Dennis Quaid stars in the video for Thing Called Love: