#katt wade

[top50albums]

24. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)

I already knew a head of time this was meant to be a great album, though I've only heard a few tracks off of it. Welcome To The Jungle is a great starting track - the introduction to the song itself is a really nice lead in, and it's a great dance along/sing along track. It's So Easy sounds really dark and interesting - Guns N' Roses have a really grungey sound in certain tracks, that really appeals to me. This song especially sounds very much like Alice In Chains, which I think is cool. It's interesting to me though how it goes between what I consider to be a 'grungey' sound, to a more classic/glam rock sound. Nightrain is very bouncey and fun sounding, much more like Van Halen or bands of that kind. 

One thing I will say, is that the songs on the album are all somewhat similar. On only a few listens, there's not too much distinction between songs that makes any particularly memorable. The only ones I remember are the ones I knew before - though if I listened to this a lot, perhaps that'd be different. Weirdly though, the ones I knew previously ARE the ones that stand out - they seem to be constructed differently. Paradise City is slap bang in the middle of the album, and really does give off a different sound and feel to most other songs - until Sweet Child O' Mine. My Michelle starts off quietly and calmly, but then sounds somewhat similar to some of the other 'rockier' tracks. 

My stand out track of the album is: Sweet Child O' Mine

There's a lot to love about this song. The memorable riff, the bass line, the lyrics - it's just a really lovely song, and you can't help but enjoy it. And as the only song on the album that sounds like this, it really does stand out. The band on the whole are all very talented musicians, Slash specifically is just fantastic, and I think that really adds to the solid grounding they already have. As well as the main riff, Sweet Child O' Mine also has a really great solo that just keeps going and building, before breaking down and building up again to match Axl's vocals. Really powerful. 

Rocket Queen is a somewhat good end to the album - but I'd actually have liked more from it. It's 6 minutes long, and does all come together at a finish - it just doesn't quite pack the punch I'd have liked it to. 

On the whole though, a very good album, and I'll be listening to a few of the tracks I didn't know again in the future.

Next week I'll be listening to Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (1985)

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

25. Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Having never heard of Iron Butterfly or this album, I had no idea what to expect. You can really tell that the album is from the late 60s - the instruments give it away. I’m not sure what instrument it is that makes the iconic sound, but it’s used with bands such as The Doors, and it’s a really familiar, fun sound. The main vocal is lovely though, and again does have a certain 60s sound to it.

The album is a relatively short one, with only 6 songs on side one and 1 extra song ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ on side two - though this song is 17 minutes in length. The length of it makes it feel fairly contained, and the songs all have a very similar feel and vibe. The harmonies throughout give a kind of Beatles-esque feel to the vocal, and gives a much fuller sound. 

My stand out track of the album is: Termination

It was kind of difficult to pick a stand out actually - I feel like all of the songs are fairly strong, but this one particularly interested me as it had a bit more depth and playfulness to it. 

The guitar work throughout is very impressive, and the solo that finishes side one on ‘Are You Happy’ is reminiscent of Hendrix for me, which I love. 

Moving on to the second side, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is really cool. It takes such a journey, and a psychedelic sounding one at that. This is definitely a track I’d leave on in the background of doing household chores, as you can dance around to it and let it take your mind off stresses. At 17 minutes, that does feel a little long for a song - and I personally think this could be cut down by a few minutes atleast, as some sections go on for quite a while. I’m not adverse to long songs - I know some great 7 or 9 minute songs, but 17 seems to be taking it a tad far when the content doesn’t change all that much. The first section ends around the 6 minute mark where there’s then 6 or so minutes of quiet instrumental. As I said, this just feels a little much, it seems to go on for that bit too long. Even after this, it builds up to a fuller ending, which is still instrumental. 

I like it, it’s well done, but I’d have liked a little more. The first side is definitely my preference.

Next week I’ll be listening to Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction We’re half way!

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

27. Madonna - The Immaculate Collection (1990)

I’ll admit right from the get go that I was not as into this album – even just taking the time to sit down and really listen to it felt like a chore. I’ve been very busy, and listening to old school Madonna didn’t appeal much. Having listened now, it still doesn’t appeal too much. That’s not to say there aren’t some good tracks on there – there’s all the classics from that era on there, but considering it’s a collection of some of her ‘best’, it feels a little lacking.

Everything sounds very samey, which bothers me, but what I consider the ‘in between tracks’ just feel slow, lacklustre, and don’t show much of her vocal range or talent. The thing I do enjoy about the album, however, is the overall 80s pop sound. In that respect it shares some of the elements I enjoyed about Whitney Houston’s albums – I just lack a connection to the songs for the most part. One song I didn’t know but ended up enjoying a lot was ‘Open Your Heart’ – the little repeated twinkle is fairly charming, and Madonna’s voice does sound stronger in this in comparison to others.

At 17 tracks long, I feel like the album drags a lot. I really like albums to be much more concise, as this feels excessive, especially when the songs are samey and not that... ‘full’.

My stand out track of the album is: Like A Prayer

This is the only song I feel packs some punch to it, and even then it’s not masses. I’m sorry to sound so unfulfilled by this album, but I really was. I’m not a huge Madonna fan to begin with, but you have to sing along to certain songs, don’t you? I feel like a lot of what I have enjoyed about her came later in her career, so this album just doesn’t do it for me.

Saying all that though, you can tell why it was popular at the time and sold so many copies. Madonna did a lot of cool and risky things early on in her career, and she is an enjoyable artist to listen to – she’s just not for me.

Next week I’ll be listening to Titanic - Music from the Motion Picture (1997)

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

29. Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)

If you know me even the smallest amount you’ll know that I’m a huge Nirvana fan. From the age of about 12 I was introduced to their music by my cousin, which sparked a love that hasn’t faded in almost 10 years. So, let’s get on with this love letter to my favourite band.

The album begins with Smells Like Teen Spirit - this is the song that everyone knows and everyone considers Nirvana’s ‘most famous’ song. I used to be slightly adverse to it for some reason, but I’ve grown to love it over time. Maybe there was part of me that wanted to like the lesser known songs, who knows. The introduction to the song of just the lone power chords, before the hard hitting drums is not only great when getting into the song itself, but also to the entire album. It feels like a beginning - like a build up. The song itself is fairly powerful, but only in the choruses; as is the same with the following song In Bloom. Cobain loved a calm verse with a powerful chorus, and it works fantastically with these first tracks. By track 3, you’re feeling pretty pumped, then Come As You Are gets you a bit more mellow, featuring a memorable echoey riff that stands out against the other two. The power of the vocal and choruses remains however, with some really beautifully haunting harmonies from Dave Grohl (who harmonises on most songs of this album). Lyrics from the song were also referenced in the Blink 182’s ‘Adam’s Song’ - Take your time, hurry up, choice is yours don’t be late / I took my time, I hurried up, the choice was mine I didn’t think enough.

Breed packs a lot of punch and just doesn’t quit - the whole song is high energy, which you can see when they perform it live. For me it also has a similar vibe to track 10 ‘Stay Away’, with a lot of fast drumming and interesting chord progressions. Lithium brings it back down to a more mellow point, giving you more focus on the memorable lyrics - “I’m so happy, ‘cause today I found my friends, they’re in my head”. I’ve always felt that as a songwriter Kurt Cobain excelled, both musically and lyrically. There’s a lot of deeper meaning and thought that’s gone into the songs he created, which is shown wonderfully in Polly. The song is based on a story of an abducted girl who earned the trust of her captor by convincing him that she enjoyed it, before escaping at a petrol station when his guard was down. The song is written from the perspective of the rapist/captor, giving a slightly uncomfortable but interesting point of view written in a poetic way. The line that always stuck with me is ‘It amazes me, the will of instinct’ - describing how he feels about how the girl acted in that awful time.

Following Polly is Territorial Pissings, which begins with a weird screechy take on ‘Get Together’ (‘Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now’) before blasting into the song, which is another example of how great Dave Grohl is at drumming. Nirvana famously played this song on TV instead of playing In Bloom, before also trashing the set - it’s the most ‘punk’ of their songs, really. Again lyrically I think it’s really interesting, though the words are slurred and screamed most of the way through. The best line for me is “just because you’re paranoid, don’t mean they’re not after you”. The song builds and builds and builds before Kurt literally screams the ending. Even if you don’t like Nirvana, you can’t deny the power that he put into his songs and performances. Kurt seems somewhat renowned for his screaming - if you’ve ever seen or heard the MTV Unplugged sessions, you’ll know how hard at Where Did You Sleep Last Night he went. I’ve heard countless times that the reason they didn’t return to do an encore was because he pretty much destroyed his voice from that performance, and couldn’t top it.

Now we get to number 8. So I’m going to say,

My stand out track of the album is: Drain You

This song is genuinely one of my favourite songs, ever. It might even be my favourite song. To me it's entirely perfect - from the clean opening with no introduction to the build up and scream in the middle, before dropping back into that powerful chord progression. I just fucking adore this song - excuse the language, but it should give you an idea of how strongly I feel about it. It’s actually somewhat difficult to describe in words exactly what it is about it, it’s a feeling, and it just speaks to me in some way.

Lounge Act and Stay Away are the songs I'm less bothered by on this album, though I still think they're great songs, so they're not a let down or anything close to it. On A Plain has the strongest harmonies of the entire album for me, especially right at the end with harmonised ‘oohs/mms’ and no music. I also kind of feel the end of the song being so quiet helps before going into the REALLY quiet Something In The Way. Apparently when recording this song, Kurt was struggling with how it sounded as it wasn’t how he pictured it. He began to play it quietly alone on his guitar, and Butch Vig just brought over the recording equipment and let him do it like that, giving it such a distinctive sound, just how it was meant to sound. It’s a beautiful end to an album (not counting hidden tracks which I won’t add in here) which I’ve loved for many years. The 20th anniversary edition of Nevermind featured lots of different mixes and recordings of the songs, which after such a while was refreshing and interesting to listen to.

This is probably one of the most in depth reviews you’ll get on here, though I honestly could’ve said more.

Next week I’ll be listening to Metallica - Metallica/The Black Album (1991)

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

31. Santana - Supernatural (1999)

Having only heard a few tracks previously, this album pretty much delivered on what I was expecting - a smooth latin jazz funk feel with technical and impressively played guitar. For me, majority of the songs kind of merge into one as they have a very similar sound in both music and vocals - though that makes for perfect background listening. 

'Put Your Lights On' was a song I really enjoyed, which I think is down to the vocal sounding so different to the rest. To some extent the songs don't seem to 'go anywhere', in that they repeat sections or never really take it up on a notch, but that means they become familiar and relaxing to have on. On the whole, I've really enjoyed listening to Supernatural - and it's definitely a summer sort of album.

My stand out track of the album is: Smooth

I LOVE this song. It's one of the only tracks I knew off the album and it really does stand out amongst the rest. The vocal is strong and has you singing along by the first chorus, the guitar is such a memorable riff and really shows off the prowess of Carlos Santana. It's a funky sounding song with a lot to love, and I think it really encapsulates what this album is all about.

Next week I'll be listening to Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

33. Backstreet Boys - Backstreet's Back (1997)

Initially I was quite looking forward to this album, especially after last weeks, and knowing the first couple of songs and LOVING THEM. I have to say though, I’m slightly disappointed with the rest of the album. Beginning with ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ is fun, but also slightly misleading. It packs a lot of punch as an opening, with a very 90s sound and sing-along feel. The second track is ‘As Long As You Love Me’, another favourite of mine, which always has me singing along and working out the harmonies. In the last post I linked to a clip from Sabrina The Teenage Witch, which shows the boys doing the song acapella briefly - and it is so beautiful.

It’s when we get to the end of those first 2 tracks that it went a bit downhill for me. Majority of the remaining songs are ballads, and those that aren’t are weird dancey tracks that just don’t sit right with me. It’s not great feeling disappointed with a band you like, but having not heard the rest of the songs before I assumed majority would be fairly good - especially since Millennium had a good amount of interesting songs.

The one real positive is that the boys sing so well - though I may be somewhat disappointed with the songs themselves I’m not disappointed with their talents.

My stand out track of the album is: As Long As You Love Me

I’ve always loved this song, and I’ve even thought about covering it a few times. The harmonies just sit so well together and create a really interesting piece of music, and presents a lovely message too. As I mentioned before, take a look at the clip from Sabrina to see how the boys voices really fit together - it’s definitely a song that I’ve taken inspiration from when it comes to learning to harmonise.

On the whole - meh. I’d have liked to be impressed, but I’m not, which is a shame. It doesn’t change my view of the band really, but it’d have been nice to find some hidden gems that I wasn’t aware of before.

Next week I’ll be listening to ABBA - ABBA Gold: Greatest hits

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

34. Backstreet Boys - Millennium (1999)

I'm going to have some serious bias towards this album since I grew up listening to them. Saying that, I still genuinely choose to listen to a few of their songs now. The album starts off with a great track - Larger Than Life - really bringing out the fun/dancier side of the boy band, before leading into a couple of mellow ballads including the brilliant 'I Want It That Way'. There's a good mix of typical 90s boy band dance songs and typical 90s boy band ballads - it's very indulgent. If you love a good 'guilty pleasure' album, this has to be it. 

The boys themselves are great singers, with really beautiful harmonies that work effortlessly together. If you don't believe me and think the boys are just autotuned, I'd direct you to this clip from Sabrina The Teenage Witch, where the boys sing acapella https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSqn8ZwsfHY - it's really good. As well as the harmonies working so well, the distinctive voice of each member gives them each their time to impress, instead of it all being about one member. 

My stand out track of the album is: Larger Than Life

I'm a sucker for this song, and for its video. I miss the days when being in a boy band meant you had to be awesome at dancing - it meant that they were very talented (and very fit) young men. I digress; the song itself is easy to sing along to, has really nice harmonies, and has a lot of punch to it. I can see why they decided this should be the opener for the album - it shows a lot of what they do and really gets you going before hearing the rest of the songs. 

I really enjoy the Backstreet Boys. If you're around my age you'll likely love them too for the nostalgia. 

Next week I'll be listening to Backstreet Boys - Backstreet's Back (1997)

Thanks for reading x

[top50albums]

40. Bob Marley and The Wailers - Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers (1984)

'Best of' albums are really difficult to write about. As I said before with Queen and Journey, there's a certain amount of 'mismatch', since the songs weren't originally intended to go together in this order/together on one album. Since Bob Marley and The Wailers have a certain 'sound' anyway, this 'best of' album works really well. As someone who wouldn't necessarily say I was a fan of his - though that's not to say I dislike his music - I knew almost every song. With the time of year especially, I really enjoy albums like this. It has a really upbeat and enjoyable sound; the songs flow well and each have their own memorable melodies to sing along to. 

The album has a lot of his best known songs, and as I said earlier, I knew almost all of them. With this in mind, it means you can sit back and enjoy the whole album, whilst knowing the songs enough to bob your head and occasionally sing along when you know the words. 

My stand out track of the album is: Could You Be Loved

I feel like most people's favourite Bob Marley song is either Three Little Birds or Jamming, and whilst these are both really good songs, there's a certain attraction I have towards 'Could You Be Loved'. It's very upbeat, and there's lots of vocal layers and harmonies which give a fuller sound to the song. I also really like 'Redemption Song', of which I have a wonderful cover by Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer on my iTunes - so that song definitely appeals somewhat too. 

I feel like pretty much anyone would like this album, it's tough to find people who don't enjoy Three Little Birds, and a lot of his songs have a very similar vibe. They just sound happy, and they make you happy when listening.

I'll definitely be listening to this album again, and I feel like lots of other people should, especially over the summer period.

Next week I'll be listening to Adele - 21

Thanks for reading x