2024 Album-A-Day: Week 27

Over the halfway mark, still a long way to go. Click here for the playlist, and feel free to recommend me albums to listen to in this project.

June 1st: Diamond Life by Sade

This was one of those "I know one song" albums. I knew "Smooth Operator" and virtually nothing else. I'm glad to have corrected that. The singer Sade and the band Sade craft these infectious grooves, with smooth keys, sexy sax, and Sade's distinctive voice. Obviously "Smooth Operator" is amazing, but I also love "Your Love is King," "When Am I Going to Make a Living," and the cover of Timmy Thomas' "Why Can't We Live Together." My favorite is "Hang On to You Love."

June 2nd: Abraxas by Santana

I've probably been dismissive of the works of Carlos Santana in the past, mostly because of his 1999-2001 comeback, but this album challenged that preconception. The opening track "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" in an engaging improvisational exercise, jumping straight into the band's biggest pre-1999 hit "Black Magic Woman," which was better than I remembered, as was "Oye Como Va," and I had fun with the songs that were new to me, most notably "Mother's Daughter" and "Hope You're Feeling Better." My favorite was "Incident at Neshabur."

June 3rd: The Specials by The Specials

After years of first- third- and fourth-wave ska, I'm finally learning more about the second wave. Interestingly, this record was produced by Elvis Costello, which makes sense, as this style of ska-punk has shares both the attitude and wardrobe of the angry young man style that Elvis Costello and his peers were doing around that time. The Specials are also notable for having both black and white members, which is part of why the second wave is called "two-tone ska." Some of my favorites are "Nite Club," "Do the Dog," and my absolute favorite, "Concrete Jungle."

June 4th: Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices

Guided by Voices was a name I knew, but I couldn't tell you the name of a single song before this week. This album mostly consists of shorter songs, saying what they need to say and then getting out. I generally don't understand what any of the lyrics mean, but I really enjoy this lo-fi grungy indie rock. If I listened again, I might understand what it's trying to say more, because it does feel like there's an intended theme, but I do not yet understand that theme. As of now, my favorite song is "Tractor Rape Chain."

June 5th: Graceland by Paul Simon

A man walks down the street and he says, "Why have I never listened to the entirety of Paul Simon's Graceland?" MAN this album rules. Paul Simon infuses his past folk-rocking with South African vocal styles (which I've read are called isicathamiya and mbaqanga) as well as zydeco, and the ensuing songs are a blast. The grooves are infectious, the featured artists have great chemistry with Simon, and the lyrics range from lighthearted to very thought-provoking. I'm sure to relisten to this. I already knew "You Can Call Me Al," so I chose "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" for the playlist.

June 6th: Otis Blue by Otis Redding

Otis Redding kicks ass. I don't know what else to say. He had the swagger, the energy, the HORNS. Whether he's singing songs he wrote or covering Sam Cooke and the Rolling Stones, he delivers it with panache. This is also the album with the original version of "Respect," which is very different from Aretha's version. Both are good, but I, like all of humanity, prefer Aretha's version. My favorite song on this album was his rendition of "A Change is Gonna Come"

June 7th: Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A.

Going into this, I expected for the production to be good but for the lyrics to not have aged all that well. When I actually listened, however, there was far less objectionable lyrics (although there was enough 80's homophobia to make me tug at my collar a few times), and my actual problem was... some of it is kinda boring. The first three songs, of course, are classics, with Cube and Ren and Eazy-E all bringing it over Dre's production, but as it goes on, the anger kinda peters out, but the lyrical content remains the same as the beats get less interesting, which leaves me with "8-Ball" and "Dopeman" and a few other songs I don't really care for. But when this album hits, it fucking HITS. The title track is the most famous example, "Quiet on tha Set" is fun, and my favorite track is "Express Yourself." Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go lament Ice Cube's weird turn towards the Fox News audience.