Listening To The Lost, Part 3 (G-H-I)

 The trip through the unlistened smart play list continues. Now up G H I.

X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents (1978)

I know they are part of the late 70s punk scene, British, led by a singer named Poly Styrene (probably not her real name), debut (and only album??) and that this album is always listed among the greatest punk albums of all-time.

First of all, never let any one tell you that saxophone does not belong on a punk album. It can be as punk as any instrument. Second, the gals from Sleater-Kinney clearly listened to this album growing up as they stole their vocal stylings from Poly and her wails and screeches. Third, this album fuckin' rocks.

"The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" is one of the best openers, and least punk-titled song, ever. The album plows along with four more sub 3-minute rockers, including the wonderful "Identity", until its runs up against the title track, which slows things down, probably so listeners can catch their breath.

Good thing as "Art-I-Ficial" and "Let's Submerge" get things ripping again. "Warrior In Woolworths" would fit nicely on London Calling with its bouncy bassline and Beatle chords. The chorus of "I Can't Do Anything" harkens back to 50s rock, while "Plastic Bag" see-saws back and forth across tempos like a drunk on the Titanic post-iceberg.

"I Am A Cliche" and then "Oh Bondage, Up Yours" close the album in a fury, with the best vocal and sax work on the entire album. You would be hard pressed to find a pair of upbeat closing songs as perfect as these two. [No album closes better than REMs Automatic For The People with "Nightswimming" and "Find The River". I will fight you on this.]

After looking it up, I found out that I had the 1991 Caroline re-release with 4 extra tracks and a different running order than the 1978 EMI original release; which didn't include "Oh Bondage" and had "Day-Glo" as the last track, not first. Also learned that original sax player Laura Logic only appears on the final two songs of the Caroline release, which explains the more pronounced sax inclusion.

This is going in my rotation, already listened to it three times, the first must get of the Listening to the Lost records.

Hospitality - Hospitality (2012)

Absolutely no idea what to expect, although based on the year of release, it was probably downloaded because it appears on 'best of year end'. I scanned the 'H's a few times before settling on this record. I could have gone with the last alphabetical 'H' album Hysteria by Def Leppard, but I'll save that for a different post, or Here's To The Losers by Love Jones; both of which I wore out as a younger man. The Hogyssey by Spacehog or How Strange, Innocence by Explosions In The Sky were also in the running, but I had a good idea what each was going to sound like. Instead I went with something I have not even the vaguest idea about.

Lo-fi? Indie pop? Post punk? Math rock? And that's just after the first two songs.

At first it sounds like standard early 2010s indie pop, but repeated listens opens up more than just standard whine, strum and repeat. "Birthday" and "The Right Profession" show a maturity not expected on a debut record, but as I found out, two of the three band members had released multiple solo records.

Next, vocalist Amber Papini's voice is different than the breathy, oversung vocalization that Family Guy made fun of brilliantly; and Brooklyn-based would have been my last guess for where they are from. Her voice is light and whimsical and fits the tunes well. Her name, Amber Papini, also conjures up other Brooklyn exports, like a specialty sandwich or an IPA microbrew.

"Friends of Friends" is the best song and has "Cannonball"-esque energy. Lots going on, sparse and jagged and noisy all at once. The album closes with "All Day Today", which sounds like a Feelies 45 played at 33rpm.

A good record, quick and to the point, 10 songs, just over 32 minutes. Perfect for Thursday morning trip to the grocery store and back.

The Strokes - Is This It? (2001)

'I' was going to be Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, but that's also a record for another post. Instead I went with a record that I cannot explain why it shows zero plays since 2016.

I know exactly who the Strokes are and what they sound like (thanks Rock Band!). I know this record was the shit for a while, the band led an early 2000s revival in snarly rock and the lead singer is/was? a model or something. Finally, that it was hyped to the nth degree, but also that it lived up to the hype, a rare thing in rock music.

So, the answer is 'yes'. This is it. This is the shit. Although leading off the album with the title track is a bit odd, especially since they follow it up with "The Modern Age", "Soma" and "Barely Legal". Ten minutes of some of the best music of the entire decade. The last song of that trifecta made the jump right to '7stars' and also made playlist entitled 'songs I want my band to play'.

The rest of the album doesn't slow down, so its doubly odd that they started the record with the slowest song. It's also front loaded and after "Last Nite", it settles down with four 'just good' songs. Granted they had already made their point on the first seven and the overall song quality was better than everything else that came out in 2001. [In case you forgot, 2001 was the year of Linkin Park Hybrid Theory and "Drops of Jupiter" by Train.]

Another one to add to my rotation, and another must get (if you don't already have). Sadly, its the only Strokes on the hard drive, will need to add more. Overall, the best triad of albums, and at not even two hours of music for the three records, you can't afford to miss any.