Day 16 - Please mum, no more!

Marianne Faithful - Broken English
Okay so I had heard of Marianne Faithful before listening to this, and I know all about why her voice is the way it is, but I really do not like it. I think I am supposed to see past it and see a visionary songwriter and performer, but all I hear is the scratchy voice of a woman who can barely sing. Still, if you can get past all that, the music is pretty okay. It's got a washed out 70s feel, not enough bass and too much treble on the guitars. But Ms Faithful is so morose throughout that it's hard to separate her own troubles from the music - which I suppose is the idea. Nah ... not a highlight.
Standout Tracks: Guilt, Working class hero,


The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
Hard to drop this album into a particular category as its all a bit on the different side. I don't mind that actually, each song is its own little genre fusing blues, a bit of synth, and a lot of imagination. It's indie music I suppose, in the sense that you can't pin it down. The sense of humour of the band comes through in certain songs (the kazoo I heard in Up in the North for example) which is refreshing, and all the songs are little pocket affairs that pack lots of interesting things into a short amount of time. Oh yes, plenty of very cool guitar on this record. Enjoyed it quite a lot.
Standout Tracks: Leaky Tunnel, Crystal Clear, Bow Wow (Just for its quirkiness!)


Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
The labels on these MP3's said "jazz". I disagree, it's cheesy 80s synthesiser pop. It's the type of music they might play to you in the menswear section of Asda, about as inspiring as a 9p tin of beans. Occasionally there is some sweet jazz piano thrown in, and the odd bit of blues guitar, but other than that it's very dull. I apologise in advance to any fans of this album or, as I have learned from an esteemed and learned colleague this morning, fans of Steely Dan, but this is seriously making me want to defenestrate myself. That means throw myself out of the window ... sounds more sinister than it actually is. When will it stop!
Standout Tracks: Walk between the raindrops. Just....

Day 15 - It's folk folks

Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
I've heard of these of course, just never listened, so here's another first for 1man. Sounds like people with accordians and acoustic guitars dancing around a tree. And an inexplicable song in French? Still, the singer has a sweet voice that I like a lot, and though the music is not so much my taste it's not bad in places. One of the highlights is "A Sailors Life" with its celtic, folksy feel and tense undercurrent. All told though, not one of my favourites, despite a couple of tracks that I enjoyed (a bit!)
Standout tracks: Autopsy, A Sailors Life



John Fahey - Days have gone by
This album has started pretty well with some very cool laid back blues style acoustic guitar (the amusingly titled "Revolt of the Dyke Brigade"). Reminds me so far of an acoustic riff I learned once to improve fingerstyle. It's good playing, but so far not totally blown me away in the way a Phil Keaggy acoustic album would. It does get a little more pacy at a later stage, with the standout Night Train of Valhalla. Overall a very good guitar album, but not a *great* one. Sadly I felt while listening that there were large parts of this album I could sit and play myself, and I don't consider myself a *great* guitarist, although I must be fair and admit there are many parts I couldn't possibly play.
Standout Tracks: Night Train of Valhalla



Ibrahim Ferrer - Buenos Hermanos
More world music, and I rather like it. It sounds a little to me that it's influenced by both African roots and South American roots. The latin style is more prevalent, but there's enough African style percussion for me to think of this as a fusion of two styles. There's some super piano in La Musica Cubana that brought a smile to my face (as does the whole record. It's hard not to smile when listening to Latin music). All in all a fun album, I always enjoy a little latin stuff!
Standout Tracks: Buenos Hermanos, La Musica Cubana, Naufragio

Falling in love again ...

I do. From time to time, I fall in and out of love with this blog and this project, as you will be able to see from a cursory glance at the index to the left (nothing for October). I am not sure why either, since I love listening to new music and discovering new things that I like. Mainly, I was spurred on to listen to some more albums by the fact that scouting through my existing collection made me realise I was rather bored with large portions of it.

So off I went and got some more albums. I guess I'm back in love with the 1man1000albums project again (and it should be fun, right?). Perhaps reaching the magical 50 in my last post mentally got to me and I needed the rest. Who knows. Anyway, I'll be posting up some reviews shortly for the next three that I listened to today.

Thanks for reading!