Blog Project 2009 : Every Album (Part 12)
Let's do some more, eh? I've got some seriously good albums that start with the letter "F", you know. And there are still a load more to come after this. Incidentally, it's the 97th day of the year, and we've hit 94 albums. IT'S IN SIGHT.
86. They Might Be Giants - Factory Showroom (1996)
This was my favourite TMBG album for a little while, although apparently it’s not that highly regarded among fans. It’s true that it takes a little while to get going, but when it does so, with the likes of “XTC Vs Adam Ant” and “How Can I Sing Like A Girl?”, there’s some of the catchiest pure pop songs the Johns have written. Plus you get a history lesson (“James K Polk”) and a quite superb bit of experimentation (“I Can Hear You” was recorded using no electricity whatsoever, engraved onto wax cylinder at the Edison Laboratory). That said, it took me ages to discover that my favourite track, “New York City”, is actually a cover…
87. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Darker than the first album, but all the better for it - this is a twisted little record that feels like something of an antidote to most of the band’s peers. It’s already easy to write off “the Arctics”, but while I wouldn’t call them one of my favourite bands, you can’t deny that Turner is a bloody great songwriter. When he hits, he really hits - the spiraling “If You Were There, Beware” is marvellously sinister, and “Brianstorm” is nothing short of poundingly magnificent. Even if it is basically just a rock cover of the title song from Life of Brian.
88. Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors (2000)
You’d expect that I might own more Bright Eyes albums than this. You’d also expect that I might have listened to this one more frequently than I actually have. Anyway, having given it a bit more of a proper chance recently, it is of course great. I already knew and loved “The Calendar Hung Itself”, the best slice of terrifyingly obsessive stalker longing since Elvis Costello’s “I Want You”, but the album really peaks at around the two-third-way point with “Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh” and the superb “The Center of the World”. Oh, and the spoof radio interview in “An Attempt to Tip the Scales” is really funny.
89. Hefner - The Fidelity Wars (1999)
Oh god, I seriously, seriously love this album. So much about it feels wrong - Hayman’s voice, the moments of “hang-on-is-that-out-of-tune?”ness, the sheer raw nature of most of the lyrics making you feel like you’re intruding on something you shouldn’t be… but there’s also something about it that gets inside you like a claw, and when you’re hooked on it, you can’t get away. I’ve never really been grabbed by Hefner’s other stuff, but this record has vaulted its way into my top ten list over the past few years. It’s devastatingly good. And also quite devastating, in fact.
90. Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)
I’ll always have a tremendous soft spot for this album, since it’s the first Elliott record that I owned, but it’s true that it doesn’t stand up hugely well against the ones either side of it. Littered with a good number of absolutely wonderful moments - “Son of Sam”, “Everything Reminds Me of Her”, “Everything Means Nothing To Me”, “I Better Be Quiet Now”, “Happiness” - the problem is really just that they’re strung out over too long a running time. There are enough good songs that if you take them alone, you’d have a stellar album, but it’s padded out with a little too much in the way of repetitive filler to make it the most satisfying start-to-finish listen.
91. The Divine Comedy - Fin de Siecle (1998)
File under “failed experiment”, I suppose. It’s just a bit too messy and overblown - and even the sheer unadulterated magnificence of “The Certainty of Chance” isn’t enough to rescue it. It tries to apply the arch humour of Casanova to the weighty sound of A Short Album…, but it doesn’t come off. As daft as it is, though, I rather like “Here Comes The Flood”. But not “National Express”. Bleh.
92. Architecture in Helsinki - Fingers Crossed (2003)
I’ve only got into AiH recently, and haven’t listened to this record as much as its follow-up, In Case We Die. But it’s all rather lovely - if a little breezy and inconsequential. “Fumble” is the gorgeous little standout, but the whole thing surfs by on a wave of goodwill generated by the inventive and kitchen-sink approach to instrumentation and voice.
93. The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth (2005)
Remember when the Strokes were THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW BAND IN THE WORLD? Seems a long time ago, doesn’t it? Everyone hyped them over a quite decent debut album, and then completely ignored their absolutely fantastic follow-up. This… well, this is alright. It’s at its best when it falls back on Room on Fire-esque pure tunefulness (“Razorblade” is superb, although… it’s “Mandy”, isn’t it?), but far too often it all blends in to one. I’m still interested enough in what they might do next (largely on the wave of goodwill from the second album, which I really do love)
94. Nobuo Uematsu - Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec (1999)
Er, yeah. This is… well, this is a special orchestral recording of some of the music from the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack. It’s completely meaningless if you don’t know the game (although, that said, purely objectively I think some of it’s utterly lovely music), but it absolutely strikes my heart in multiple places thanks to the way I fell head over heels for the game and its story while I was at uni. The entire, thirteen-minute ending theme (featuring the better version of the song “Eyes on Me”, although the regular version is on there as well) is present and correct, but some of the best tracks are the varied interpretations of tunes from the game - “Fisherman’s Horizon”, “Fragments of Memories”, “Love Grows” and the absolutely stunning “The Oath” are the standouts. I may as well have just been saying “blah de bloo blah blah” for all that will have meant to anyone, mightn’t I?
86. They Might Be Giants - Factory Showroom (1996)
This was my favourite TMBG album for a little while, although apparently it’s not that highly regarded among fans. It’s true that it takes a little while to get going, but when it does so, with the likes of “XTC Vs Adam Ant” and “How Can I Sing Like A Girl?”, there’s some of the catchiest pure pop songs the Johns have written. Plus you get a history lesson (“James K Polk”) and a quite superb bit of experimentation (“I Can Hear You” was recorded using no electricity whatsoever, engraved onto wax cylinder at the Edison Laboratory). That said, it took me ages to discover that my favourite track, “New York City”, is actually a cover…
87. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Darker than the first album, but all the better for it - this is a twisted little record that feels like something of an antidote to most of the band’s peers. It’s already easy to write off “the Arctics”, but while I wouldn’t call them one of my favourite bands, you can’t deny that Turner is a bloody great songwriter. When he hits, he really hits - the spiraling “If You Were There, Beware” is marvellously sinister, and “Brianstorm” is nothing short of poundingly magnificent. Even if it is basically just a rock cover of the title song from Life of Brian.
88. Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors (2000)
You’d expect that I might own more Bright Eyes albums than this. You’d also expect that I might have listened to this one more frequently than I actually have. Anyway, having given it a bit more of a proper chance recently, it is of course great. I already knew and loved “The Calendar Hung Itself”, the best slice of terrifyingly obsessive stalker longing since Elvis Costello’s “I Want You”, but the album really peaks at around the two-third-way point with “Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh” and the superb “The Center of the World”. Oh, and the spoof radio interview in “An Attempt to Tip the Scales” is really funny.
89. Hefner - The Fidelity Wars (1999)
Oh god, I seriously, seriously love this album. So much about it feels wrong - Hayman’s voice, the moments of “hang-on-is-that-out-of-tune?”ness, the sheer raw nature of most of the lyrics making you feel like you’re intruding on something you shouldn’t be… but there’s also something about it that gets inside you like a claw, and when you’re hooked on it, you can’t get away. I’ve never really been grabbed by Hefner’s other stuff, but this record has vaulted its way into my top ten list over the past few years. It’s devastatingly good. And also quite devastating, in fact.
90. Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)
I’ll always have a tremendous soft spot for this album, since it’s the first Elliott record that I owned, but it’s true that it doesn’t stand up hugely well against the ones either side of it. Littered with a good number of absolutely wonderful moments - “Son of Sam”, “Everything Reminds Me of Her”, “Everything Means Nothing To Me”, “I Better Be Quiet Now”, “Happiness” - the problem is really just that they’re strung out over too long a running time. There are enough good songs that if you take them alone, you’d have a stellar album, but it’s padded out with a little too much in the way of repetitive filler to make it the most satisfying start-to-finish listen.
91. The Divine Comedy - Fin de Siecle (1998)
File under “failed experiment”, I suppose. It’s just a bit too messy and overblown - and even the sheer unadulterated magnificence of “The Certainty of Chance” isn’t enough to rescue it. It tries to apply the arch humour of Casanova to the weighty sound of A Short Album…, but it doesn’t come off. As daft as it is, though, I rather like “Here Comes The Flood”. But not “National Express”. Bleh.
92. Architecture in Helsinki - Fingers Crossed (2003)
I’ve only got into AiH recently, and haven’t listened to this record as much as its follow-up, In Case We Die. But it’s all rather lovely - if a little breezy and inconsequential. “Fumble” is the gorgeous little standout, but the whole thing surfs by on a wave of goodwill generated by the inventive and kitchen-sink approach to instrumentation and voice.
93. The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth (2005)
Remember when the Strokes were THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW BAND IN THE WORLD? Seems a long time ago, doesn’t it? Everyone hyped them over a quite decent debut album, and then completely ignored their absolutely fantastic follow-up. This… well, this is alright. It’s at its best when it falls back on Room on Fire-esque pure tunefulness (“Razorblade” is superb, although… it’s “Mandy”, isn’t it?), but far too often it all blends in to one. I’m still interested enough in what they might do next (largely on the wave of goodwill from the second album, which I really do love)
94. Nobuo Uematsu - Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec (1999)
Er, yeah. This is… well, this is a special orchestral recording of some of the music from the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack. It’s completely meaningless if you don’t know the game (although, that said, purely objectively I think some of it’s utterly lovely music), but it absolutely strikes my heart in multiple places thanks to the way I fell head over heels for the game and its story while I was at uni. The entire, thirteen-minute ending theme (featuring the better version of the song “Eyes on Me”, although the regular version is on there as well) is present and correct, but some of the best tracks are the varied interpretations of tunes from the game - “Fisherman’s Horizon”, “Fragments of Memories”, “Love Grows” and the absolutely stunning “The Oath” are the standouts. I may as well have just been saying “blah de bloo blah blah” for all that will have meant to anyone, mightn’t I?