717. k. d. lang - Ingénue (1992)

Track Listing

1. Save Me
2. Mind Of Love
3. Miss Chatelaine
4. Wash Me Clean
5. So It Shall Be
6. Still Thrives This Love
7. Seasons Of Hollow Soul
8. Outside Myself
9. Tear Of Love's Recall
10. Constant Craving

Review

Ms. lang had a busy year in 1992, making a big departure in musical terms and coming out of the closet. Let's focus on the first part here, though, lang moves away from her Nashville roots here into something more singer-songwriter like, a mix between some kind of Western Cabaret and Joni Mitchell. It is good.

lang's writing is the best that she had ever done before, and probably would ever do again, the lyrics are more personal and intimate, smarter. Her voice is as great as ever, but the new musical direction permits her to do a more Joni Mitchell thing, there are moments here where it is actually difficult to tell the difference, particularly in The Mind of Love.

We've been having a good streak of albums here later. You can thank Dr. Dre for fucking it up tomorrow, but then we are back to good things. If you are into female singer song-writers, you have exhausted all the good Joni Mitchell albums, want a bit more of a countrified flavour with beautiful orchestrations and arrangements, this is the album for you.

Track Highlights

1. Constant Craving
2. Still Thrives This Love
3. Miss Chatelaine
4. Save Me

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Rolling Stones later unwittingly used a refrain very similar to "Constant Craving"'s in their 1997 single "Anybody Seen My Baby?". After discovering this, they gave writing credits on that song to k.d. lang and Mink, shared with the original authors Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Constant Craving:

716. Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury (1992)

Track Listing

1. Satanic Reverses
2. Famous And Dandy (Like Amos 'N' Andy)
3. Television The Drug Of The Nation
4. Language Of Violence
5. The Winter Of The Long Hot Summer
6. Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury
7. Everyday Life Has Become A Health Risk
8. INS Greencard A-19 191 500
9. Socio-Genetic Experiment
10. Music And Politics
11. Financial Leprosy
12. California Uber Alles
13. Water Pistol Man

Review

The first and most immediate reaction to this album is to see just how prescient it is... well maybe not prescient, but just that the world has not changed much since 1992. The first track has a chorus which starts "Bail Out The Banks". Hah!

From then on you realise that it is not only very smartly written but the music is pretty amazing too. It sounds like the love-child of Gil Scott Heron and Public Enemy and if you know those two artists then you know you are in for something good.

So the best thing about it are the lyrics. But then they show amazing subtelty in the arrangements, they even have an almost jazzy ballad track in Music and Politics, another of the greatest songs in the album. It is angry hip hop of the best kind, with a social and political consciousness. This is particularly rare coming out of the West Coast where Gangsta Rap was all the rage. So cherish this.

Track Highlights

1. Music And Politics
2. Satanic Reverses
3. Socio-Genetic Experiment
4. Language Of Violence

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Their debut album, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, received critical and underground acclaim upon its release in 1992, but was never commercially successful. Franti's lyrics address a wide range of issues, from Mass Media bias and abuse on "Television, the Drug of the Nation" to racial equality on "Socio-Genetic Experiment", in large part inspired by his own childhood, and Homophobia, in the song "Language of Violence". The album also included a cover of the Dead Kennedys track "California Über Alles" (with updated lyrics about Governor Pete Wilson). "Television," which received wide airplay on college and alternative radio stations, had previously been recorded by Michael Franti's first band, The Beatnigs. "Language of Violence" tells the story of a 15 year old boy who is beaten to death for his being gay by homophobes, and the subsequent ironic treatment of the murderers once sent to prison as a form of natural justice. The chorus contains an intricate commentary on how language can be used to dehumanize an individual, transforming them into an "inanimate entity", and thus rendering them disposable and easy to discriminate against.


Television The Drug Of The Nation... again great lyrics:

715. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (1992)

Track Listing

1. Bombtrack
2. Killing in the Name
3. Take the Power Back
4. Settle for Nothing
5. Bullet in the Head
6. Know Your Enemy
7. Wake Up
8. Fistful of Steel
9. Township Rebellion
10. Freedom

Review

This is one of those albums that everyone had when I was growing up... everyone but me. I liked classical music... if I could I would go back and punch my snobby little skull in. I still wonder why no-one ever did it... I didn't even get bullied, shit I bullied people. And no grown-up ever touched me wrong :( What was wrong with me?!

That cathartic moment out of the way I can now say that I have since learned to enjoy Rage Against the Machine. I particularly like their lyrics as the communist baby-eater that I am. I also think wealth should be spread around, I know you Americans probably think I am an Ayrahb communist Muslim Nazi by now.

If this review sounds weird it is because I have been writing a literature review on the problems facing the study of Western Esotericism in Academia, and it is driving me crazy. I have a little wall of books in front of me between me and you dear readers, in front of the screen.

How can you not love an album with the lyrics "Some of those who work forces, are the same that burn crosses". Rage's combination of fury, rap and slow-burning retro metal makes them one of the most effective agit-prop bands in history, and thank fuck for that. We need more agit-prop of the good kind.

Francisco HUSSEIN Silva

P.S. I have just endorsed Obama, eat your heart out Powell!


Track Highlights

1. Killing In The Name Of
2. Wake Up
3. Take The Power Back
4. Bombtrack

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In 2001 Q magazine named Rage Against the Machine as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2003, the album was ranked number 368 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album is known for its high production values, which are almost to the strictest audiophile standards. Some audiophile sites and magazines even go as far as using the album — in particular the song "Take the Power Back" — to test amplifiers and speakers.

Killing In the Name Of:

714. Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray (1992)

Track Listing

1. Rockin' Stroll
2. Confetti
3. It's A Shame About Ray
4. Rudderless
5. My Drug Buddy
6. Turnpike Down
7. Bit Part
8. Alison's Starting To Happen
9. Hannah And Gabi
10. Kitchen
11. Ceiling Fan In My Spoon
12. Frank Mills
13. Mrs Robinson

Review

First time I listened to this album I thought it was just jangly light rock/pop. Now I think it is very good jangly light rock/pop. The album is one of those slow burners that isn't very impressive the first couple of times but then the songs get into your head, as do some of the lyrics.

I think one of the best things of the album is a sense of euphony, Even Dando is a great lyricist with a great notion of what words sound good with other words. There is actually a deliberate nod to the whole theory of euphony with the use of the word "cellar-door" in the album, the word mix that Tolkien famously considered the most beautiful one in the English language. Neil Young and The Mountain Goats also use it in their songs.

So the album really works, the songs are short enough that it never bores, and the album is actually a bit too short, and at the end Dando adds two covers: the surprisingly Wainwright-like Frank Mills and a good cover of Mrs. Robinson that feels a little out of place. So yeah I liked it.

Track Highlights

1. Rudderless
2. My Drug Buddy
3. Turnpike Down
4. Frank Mills

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

After its initial release, the album was re-issued with a cover of "Mrs. Robinson", originally by Simon & Garfunkel, which was released as a single. The song had been recorded after the other tracks, with a different bass player. Pressure from the record label also caused the title of the song "My Drug Buddy" to be reduced to the less-provocative "Buddy" when the album was reissued.

The album and its title track was inspired partially from a club owner who called everyone Ray. Band leader Evan Dando later saw the actual line "It's A Shame About Ray" in a Sydney newspaper article about something that happened to a child named Ray.

"Alison's Starting to Happen" refers to Alison Galloway, the drummer for Smudge.
The album also includes a cover of the song "Frank Mills" from the musical Hair.

Drug Buddy:

713. Baaba Maal - Lam Toro (1992)

Track Listing

1. Hamady Boiro (Yelle)
2. Daande Lenol
3. Lem Gi (Le Miel)
4. Ndelorel
5. Yela
6. Toro (Tioulel l'Oiseau)
7. Daniibe (Les Exilés)
8. Olel (I'écho)
9. Sy Sawande
10. Hamady Bogle

Review

I really like Senegalese music. The two previous Senegalese albums we've had here were winners, and this one is also pretty good. Frankly I would prefer this album to have been a bit more traditional, some of the syths date the album in a way that is totally unnecessary.

That said there are great sounds here, Baaba Maal has a great voice, as we had seen before in his album with Mansour Seck. Then there is some very good instrumentation, I particularly love the sound of the Kora, which works strangely well with Uillean Pipes on the second track.

If you manage to ignore some of the "innovations" to the album, which are not that prevalent really, so it is easy to ignore them, this is a highly enjoyable album. Not as good as the previous Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck album but not far behind it. So give it a go.

Track Highlights

1. Daande Lenol
2. Daniibe
3. Toro
4. Sy Sawande

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Born 12 November 1953. Since his father was a fisherman, Baaba Maal was expected to become a fisherman as well. However, under the influence of his life long friend Mansour Seck, Baaba Maal devoted himself to learning music from his mother and his school's headmaster. He went on to study music at the university in Dakar before leaving for postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has become quite famous in Africa and is also the most internationally famous musician from Senegal, with the possible exception of Yossou N'Dour.


Very Long version of Hamady Boiro: