Our Favorite Albums (371 – 380)
371. Chuck Berry – The London Chuck Berry Sessions [1972]
Nominated by Big Bent of Dub Revolution (and many more) who says: My ding-a-ling!
372. John Mayer – Room for Squares [2001]
Nominated by DJ Jagged Little Thrill of What the Funk & Word on the Street.
The album’s title is a reference to Hank Mobley’s No Room for Squares album. All songs from the album are written by Mayer; three songs, “No Such Thing”, “Neon”, and “Love Song for No One”, were co-written with Clay Cook. The first two of these, along with “My Stupid Mouth” and “Back to You”, originally appeared on Mayer’s 1999 EP Inside Wants Out. The songs are largely based on Mayer’s personal experiences. (wikipedia.org)
373. PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love [1995]
Nominated by DJ TJ of Punkadelic.
Recorded after the break-up of the PJ Harvey trio it stands as her first proper solo album. The songs on the album are heavily influenced by American blues music. Harvey co-produced the record with Flood and John Parish. To Bring You My Love would be the first of Harvey’s many collaborations with Flood and Parish. The music on the album was played largely by Harvey and Parish, with contributions from seasoned musicians Joe Gore, Mick Harvey, Jean-Marc Butty, and others. Many of the musicians who appeared on the album joined Harvey on tour to support it in 1995. (wikipedia.org)
374. Cloaks – Versus Grain [2009]
Nominated by Rick Reaction.
Filthy, noisy and almost disturbing are the first words that sprung to my mind when I first heard this album. This is not your everyday dose of Skream, Joker or any other name within Dubstep. This is one of the harshest records yet to be brought with hints of dubstep in it. The one artist that comes close to making so much noise, whilst “being dubstep”, would be Scorn and even he is a tad bit softer though. (Discogs Reviewer MangaCorps)
375. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues [2011]
Nominated by DJ AmorOso of WTF: What the Funk and Storytime.
Helplessness Blues is the band’s first studio album to feature bass guitarist Christian Wargo and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson. It is also the only Fleet Foxes album to feature drummer and backing vocalist Josh Tillman, who left the band in 2012 to pursue his solo career under the name Father John Misty. (wikipedia.org)
376. The Cure – Wish [1992]
Nominated by DJ Cheshire Cat of Wonderland who says: “Friday I’m in Love” is so damn treacly is hurts my head. I say that up front, because I love this album so much that I rank this among my personal favorites. Building on Robert Smith’s expanding sound from Disintegration, The Cure’s previous album, Wish is sonically engrossing and emotionally engaging. And I’ll gladly sit through 10 spins of “Friday I’m in Love” if I can just hear one spin of “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea”.
377. Tower of Power – Tower of Power [1973]
Nominated by Leith of The Light Fandango and Sir Jon of Pint O’ Comics. Sir Jon says: The third studio album by this potent horn band was the one that started it all for me. Show dominance!
378. Selda – Selda Bağcan [1976]
Nominated by Fluccs Capacitor of Time Moves Slow who says: Wow, this album blew my head open to Turkish Psyche funk. Once this was out of the bag, beat diggers mined the Turkish diaspora for the same percussive saz laden beats. Its almost as if this album was created to reconfigure if not for the deeply soulful folk singing of Selda herself which match the psyche -folk instrumentation.
379. Emmylou Harris – Bluebird [1989]
Nominated by DJ Livor Mortis of Word on the Street.
Featuring appearances from the McGarrigle Sisters, Bonnie Raitt, and Richard Bennett.
380. The Stepkids – The Stepkids
Nominated by Robbie of Homegrown.
The Stepkids is the eponymous debut album by American band The Stepkids from Connecticut. It was released on September 27, 2011 through Stones Throw Records. Production was handled by Dan Edinberg, Jeff Gitelman and Tim Walsh. (wikipedia.org)
