This one was a disappointment. I don’t know much about the Ohio-based Afghan Whigs, but I have their 1998 album 1965 and really like it. It’s a muscular blend of soul and rock that hits on all cylinders.
So when I saw that 1993 was the release year of the band’s most celebrated album, Gentlemen, I was excited. Here was a chance to dive deeper into a band that had grabbed my interest already with a “lesser” work.
It seems there was a lot of band crossover in the early 90s. People jumping from one band to another, starting a new band while still playing in their first band, that kind of thing.
The Breeders is one such example. Formed in 1989 by Kim Deal (bassist for The Pixies), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses guitarist), and Carrie Bradley (vocalist/violinist for Ed’s Redeeming Qualities), the band was initially called Boston Girl Super-Group. They changed their name to The Breeders and recorded a debut album, Pod, which was cited by Kurt Cobain as a big influence on Nirvana’s sound.
Bob Dylan is back this month with Rough and Rowdy Ways, his first collection of original material in eight years. I’ve listened to it just once so far, enough to know it’s a very strong collection.
Perhaps in honor of that new release, the Random iTunes Fairy decided to dip back into Dylan’s previous album, 2017’s Triplicate, a three-disc tour through the Great American Songbook, and Dylan’s third straight album spent covering standards.
I love when the Random iTunes Fairy dials up a song I’m sure I must have featured on the blog before, a song I truly love, and it turns out I’ve never written about it.
‘We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37)’ is the sixth song I’ve featured from Peter Gabriel’s excellent 1986 album, So, an album that has only nine songs in total. It’s a largely instrumental cut but for some background chanting of the title phrase and a brief outro by Gabriel.
While Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre were honing the West Coast sound over in Los Angeles, the Wu-Tang Clan pioneered a hardcore rap sound that led to the East Coast Renaissance. Artists such as Nas, Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G. drew inspiration from their work.
Wu-Tang’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), was produced by band leader RZA, who mashed up clips from kung-fu movies, old soul tracks, and dirty drum beats, creating a street-smart soundscape over which the band’s nine members could spit their rhymes.
Meet Me In Montauk 