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April March – Chrominance Decoder
This is the US version of the Japanese only release of the album Superbanyair. I chose to review this album over the Japanese version because there are more songs on the US release. I own both versions because you could not get the US version until 2 years after the japanese version was released. I found out about the Japanese version of this album from my friend who purchased the album when I purchased the Japanese release for Eggstone – In San Diego. We made this purchase directly from a vendor in Japan. It was the first and only purchase that I was able to make directly from Japan. When our two CDs came in from Japan we each took turns listening to our CDs on my friends stereo (at the time his stereo was a lot nicer than mine). I had no idea what was going to be on the disc since I had never heard anything from this person before. The time that we had sharing this music with each other was a special moment for the both of us. I can remember sitting next to him in his tiny office taking turns listening to our new CDs. I later bought Chrominance Decoder some time after it was released. I really liked the album but always had it in my mind that I wanted to get Superbanyair. I later found it at a discounted price and still new in the shrink wrap through Amazon.
April March, actual name Elinor Blake, was an animator for the cartoon Ren & Stimpy. She later turned to making pop music with a heavy influence from the early 60s French pop sound. This album features songs sung in both French and English. Some of the songs are duplicated on the album. One version sung in English and one sung in French. This is also the reason for having nineteen songs on the CD. The paired up songs are never set up back to back on the CD so that you don’t get board with the music. The lineup was carefully thought out for that reason. I don’t understand French so I couldn’t say for sure if the lyrics for the English songs that pair up with the French songs are exactly converted. The English lyrics may be just something that she wanted to write and sing. I would need to confer with someone that spoke French to be sure.
Blur – M.O.R single (CD/7’)
This single comes from the self titled release from 1997. The acronym stands for “middle of the road”. The group pulled from the experiment that David Bowie and Brian Eno did on the album Lodger for the songs Boys Keep Swinging and Fantastic Voyage. They used the same chord progression on these songs in this experiment. Blur liked the idea and used the same chord progression that these songs used. Consequently, the group were forced to give partial credit for the song to both David Bowie and Brian Eno after legal intervention.
This is not my favorite song off the album but I came across the 7” at a record store. It was one of my first 7” records that I came across when I was starting to get into music a little heavier. I also had some money at the time and it was a band that I really liked. The 7” was a pretty swirl of white and orange. The color of the vinyl looked really nice with the cover. The cover is a cloudy orange sunset/rise with a single jet screaming across the picture. The jet has a huge smoke plume coming out the back to help it stand out on the picture.
The B-side on the 7” (UK single) , Swallows In The Heatwave, is a interesting song. I remember it as a nice song that is slow and reminds me of the cover of the album but in reality the vocals are distorted (on purpose) and don’t do the song justice. If the vocals would have been clean the song would have been so much better. It sill has a late summer sunset feel but it could have been so much better. I think this eluded the group because they have a tendency to do B-sides as joke tracks.
The CD (US single) single has a couple of live tracks and a different B-side than the 7”. The B-side on the CD is Bustin’ + Dronin’. This song is also very distorted but coming in at a slower pace it really fits the song. It is as it says a droning song.
The funny thing about the title track on the singles is that they are two different mixes. The two songs are labels with the same title but they are mixed slightly different. This could be because they are on two different mediums or it could be that they are mixed differently to appeal to the two very different cultures of the US and the UK.
The Dodos – No Color
I listened to this album first on NPR’s first listen. I just recently purchased it on vinyl; it was released on March fifteenth. I really like this group and have since the track that was used on the lime beer commercial. The vibraphone is not as present on this album as it was on the previous album. I think there is only one track where the instrument stands out on this album. Neko Case gets backing vocals on the album too. Except for the two points mentioned the album is really just drums, guitar and vocals from the two primary guys who make up the group. I think that it is a good album but there was so much more depth on the previous album with the addition of the vibraphone. The guy that played the vibes on the last album is not credited as a part of the band on this album either. He does get credit for the song that he is a part of on the album though. This group reminds me of the early Black Keys work where they felt that they did not need more instruments and were happy with their sound. Where The Black Keys are concerned they learned that depth is a good thing through the now famed producer Danger Mouse. The Dodos, sadly, have not yet learned that lesson. This does not make this album any less spectacular. It is a great album but it could be a lot better with some added depth.
Pat Benatar – Crimes of Passion
This is the second album from Pat Benatar, released in 1980. The hits from this album and the reason that I bought the album are Hit Me With Your Best Shot and later Hell Is For Children. Hell Is For Children was actually never released as a single. It was released as the B-side for Love Is A Battle Field and got some air play on radio stations that way. This is probably how I heard the song. Hell Is For Children was actually inspired by a few articles in the New York Times about child abuse in America. The album also had the single You Better Run. This song has some fame as the second video to ever be played on MTV. The first being the video for Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. I remember this song vaguely from the chorus but it did not stick with me over the years as a song to remember. I remember Hell Is For Children better than this song.
The Who – Face Dances
I remember the single from this album, You Better You Bet, from the radio station that my father listened to. This album was released in 1981. It is the first album to be released after Keith Moon’s death. Kenney Jones replaced Moon with this album. I remember hearing the aforementioned single on the radio in the garage as my father worked and I watched him work on cars. This single was also one of the first videos to air on MTV. There were not any other singles released from this album that I am aware of. The album has some good songs on it that could have been singles in my opinion. I am sure that, with the state of rock at the time the group was afraid to be considered light rock and did not release anything else. There were also problems with the guitarist, Pete Townshend, and drug addiction. This was actually a surprise considering his stance on drugs in the past.
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