Frank Zappa / The Mothers "Over-Nite Sensation" (1973)

Over-Nite Sensation
release date: Sep. 7, 1973
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Track highlights: 1. "Camarillo Brillo" - 3. "Dirty Love" - 5. "Zoomby Woof" - 7. "Montana"

Released as 'Frank Zappa & the Mothers'. This was the last Mothers of Invention studio album, although, practically, it's the 17th Frank Zappa album! The album was probably the first big commercial success as it sold Gold in the US. Thematically, it's primarily about sex, and the music is experimental rock, art rock, and fusion rock.

Boney M "Mary's Boy Child" (1978) (single)

Mary's Boy Child, 7'' single

release date: Nov. 27, 1978

format: vinyl

[single rate: 2 / 5] [2,00]

producer: Frank Farian

label: Hansa International - nationality: (West) Germany

Tracklist: A) "Mary's Boy Child" (2 / 5) - - B) "Oh My Lord" (2 / 5)

Single release by Boney M with its cover version of a Harry Belafonte psalm. I have no recollection of how I came to own this particular single. I do recall listening to Boney M back in the late 70s, and I had recently purchased Nightflight to Venus (Jul. 1978), but this is so very different, and I never liked neither of the two songs included on this single. It may likely have been an extra Christmas present from my parents, who knew I listened to Boney M... But gospel and psalms have never been down my aisle and stylistically, it's far from their most recent album. Frankly, 2 out of 5 stars is a bit high, but as I don't feel sure of the difference between 1,5 and 2 stars, it's definitely not music that I enjoy.

Not recommended.

Francesco de Gregori "Rimmel" (1975)

Francesco De Gregori
Rimmel (1975)

"Pablo"

.  .  .

.  .

. 

BEST OF 1984:U2 "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984)

The Unforgettable Fire
release date: Oct. 1, 1984
format: vinyl (U25) / cd
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,72]
producer: Brian Eno / Daniel Lanois
label: Island Records - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "A Sort of Homecoming" (5 / 5) - 2. "Pride" (5 / 5) - 4. "The Unforgettable Fire" (5 / 5) - 6. "4th of July" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "Bad" (5 / 5)

4th studio album by U2 follows 1½ years after War (Feb. '83) is the band's first to be entirely produced by Eno and Lanois.
The album is not only seen as a cornerstone of modern rock music by its rich and varied production and arrangements, it also set new standards for a band in strong progress.
In my mind, this is the best album ever released by U2. It showcases their biggest progression as musicians, moving from traditional pop / rock roots into completely new territory of alt. rock that they define themselves. It's the first collaboration work with Eno and Lanois, a catalyst duo, who aids by giving birth to a sound that would be copied by almost everyone in the business in the late '80s.

1984 Favourite releases: 1. U2 The Unforgettable Fire - 2. The Smiths The Smiths - 3. The Blue Nile A Walk Across the Rooftops

Simple minds "Celebration" (1982)

Celebration (compilation)
release date: Feb. 1, 1982
format: cd (1989 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: John Leckie
label: Virgin Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Compilation album promoted as the best of Simple Minds originally released by Arista just after the band had signed with Virgin, hence the profitable idea to select songs from the band's first three albums and release it as their best songs. It contains ten compositions, two from Life in a Day, three from Real to Real Cacophony and three from Empires and Dance plus a B-side single track.
The album really shows how little the band was a singles band at the early stage. The album is almost remarkable for the lack of great compositions that could promote the sales. A sticker on the vinyl album read 'The Very Best of Simple Minds - includes "I Travel", "Chelsea Girl", "Life in a Day",' songs that in retrospect aren't among their very best.

Moral "And Life Is..." (1984)

own photo

And Life Is...
release date: 1984
format: vinyl (ARPLP 001)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,77]
producer: Ingolf Brown & Moral
label: Arp Grammofon - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: A) 2. "Lady Happiness" - 5. "Dance of the Dolls" - - B) 1. "Trees in November" - 3. "The Wedding" - 4. "Slottet i luften"

2nd studio album by Aarhus-founded Danish minimal synth trio Moral consisting of Hanne Winterberg on vocals, Marco de Andreis on guitar, and with Ingolf Brown on synthesizers.
The band released its debut album Whispering Sons (1982) on cassette only and with that mostly became associated with the album's title song, which had some airplay on the national radio DR P3, although, the band never was more than a mere cult-band. Moral disbanded in 1985, after which guitarist Andreis joined post-punk band Greene and Brown became keyboardist in the experimental jazz-fusion band Picnic and began working as a studio technician. Apparently, Winterberg stopped working with music.

The band appears on the fine Danish compilation Somewhereoutside - Etellerandetstedudenfor (1983).

[ collectors' item - ~ €70,- ]

R.E.M. "Document" (1987)

1993 bonus tracks reissue

Document
release date: Aug. 31, 1987
format: cd (1993 - The I.R.S. Years Vintage 1987)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Scott Litt & R.E.M.
label I.R.S. Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Finest Worksong" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Welcome to the Occupation" - 3. "Exhuming McCarthy" (4 / 5) - 4. "Disturbance at the Heron House" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Strange" (4 / 5) - 6. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" (5 / 5) (live) - 7. "The One I Love" (5 / 5) - 8. "Fireplace" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Lightnin' Hopkins" - 10. "King of Birds" - 11. "Oddfellows Local 151"
Bonus tracks on 1993 extended edition: 12. "Finest Worksong (Other Mix)" - 13. "Last Date" - 14. "The One I Love" (Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop) - 15. "Time After Time, Etc." (Live) - 16. "Disturbance at the Heron House" (Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop) - 17. "Finest Worksong" (Lengthy Club Mix)"

5th studio album by R.E.M. is the last studio album to be issued by I.R.S. Records before signing with Warner Bros. It's the first in a long series of successful albums (and probably also their best selling albums) to be co-produced by Scott Litt.
Michael Stipe was notoriously known for his incomprehensible and sometimes undecipherable lyrics - at least up until this album. In their early days he used his voice just like any other instrument, regardless grammar or meaning. Like Buck's guitar, Mills' bass and Berry's drums, his voice was a sound unit. One of the best examples of Stipe creating the vocal side by rambling stuff off is the song "It's the End of the World...", which became one of their best loved songs over the years. At live concerts he would add and replace verses, phrases, mixing things together, or simply forgetting words, thus creating the song anew.
Despite being a fan of theirs, I somehow managed to reject this album at the time of its release, and I didn't get hold of it until after purchasing [in chronological order]: Green (1988), the two compilation albums Dead Letter Office (Apr. 1987) and Eponymous (1988), and both Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992) - by then, I found this, the remastered 'Vintage' reissue, which I initially found a somewhat lesser release slightly in family with Fables of the / Reconstruction of the (1985). I recall the time when it came out, I was really fond of Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) and I had just only bought the band's first compilation album Dead Letter Office, which was really great, so I overlooked it as a studio album, misinterpreting the title Document as yet another compilation album - a 'document' of what they had so far issued. In fact, after finally purchasing it in '93, I mistakenly still thought of it as just another compilation album for some time.
When I finally came to realize its true significance, I also understood how great an album it really is. In my mind, it surely fits in among their 5 best albums ever. Deservedly, the album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and on my personal list it's in top 3 of R.E.M. studio albums.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 5 / 5 stars ]

vinyl cover

Top 5 albums by R.E.M.
1. Green
2. Lifes Rich Pageant
3. Document
4. Monster
5. Automatic for the People

Show lyrics <- click...

~ ~ ~
"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

"That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, an aeroplane, and Lenny Bruce is not afraid

Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs
Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt, no, strength
The ladder starts to clatter with a fear of height, down, height
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games
And a government for hire and a combat site
Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the Furies breathing down your neck

Team by team, reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped
Look at that low plane, fine, then
Uh-oh, overflow, population, common group
But it'll do, save yourself, serve yourself
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed
Tell me with the Rapture and the reverent in the right, right
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam fight, bright light
Feeling pretty psyched

It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

Six o'clock, TV hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crush, uh-oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline

It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)
I feel fine (I feel fine)

It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

The other night I dreamt a nice continental drift divide
Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein
Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce, and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right? Right

::::It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)
(It's time I had some time alone)"

~ ~ ~

Pink Floyd "The Wall" (2 lp) (1979)

vinyl cover

The Wall
release date: Nov. 30, 1979
format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold) / cd (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, James Guthrie
label: EMI / Harvest / EMI - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "In the Flesh?" - 2. "The Thin Ice" - 3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" - 4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" - 5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" - 6. "Mother" - - B) 1. "Goodbye Blue Sky" - 3. "Young Lust" - 4. "One of My Turns" - 6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" - - C) 1. "Hey You" - 2. "Is There Anybody Out There?" - 3. "Nobody Home" - 5. "Bring the Boys Back Home" - 6. "Comfortably Numb" - - D) 1. "The Show Must Go On" - 2. "In the Flesh" - 3. "Run Like Hell" - 4. "Waiting for the Worms" - 6. "The Trial"

11th studio album by Pink Floyd originally released on Harvest is released as a double gatefold album. Roger Waters continues his dominating position in the band, which also made this the last album with the original line-up, or at least what was the band since the second album (with David Gilmour replacing Syd Barrett). Waters has written all compositions (with the exception of three co-written with Gilmour, and one with Bob Ezrin) and exclusively put him and Gilmour in the production seat of band members, which was another new initiative. The recording of the album was a long enduring process in and out of studios on both sides of the Atlantic, which resulted in Richard Wright's departure of the band, apparently, feeling he had no part in the project anymore.
This was not the first album I listened to with the band but it was the first I purchased. I remember being in London in Mar. 1980 and having brought a list of albums to buy on behalf of my older brother with at least three Pink Floyd albums that I didn't know of. My brother already had The Wall, so I knew that, I really liked it, so I got myself a copy alongside albums with The Police, Dire Straits and what have you - I didn't even know of punk rock until I came back home and later in 1980/81 discovered a whole new world of fantastic music. The Wall is of course enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and, although, rating The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) higher, which has to do with its musical significance, The Wall is the Floyd album I have played the most and it's certainly my favourite Pink Floyd album if forced to pick just one.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Blondie "Parallel Lines" (1978)

Parallel Lines
release date: Sep. 1978
format: cd (2001 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Mike Chapman
label: Chrysalis records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Hanging on the Telephone" 4,5 / 5) - 2. "One Way or Another" (4 / 5) - 3. "Picture This" (4 / 5) - 4. "Fade Away and Radiate" (4 / 5) - 5. "Pretty Baby" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "I Know But I Don't Know" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "11:59" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Will Anything Happen?" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Sunday Girl" (3,5 / 5) - 10. "Heart of Glass" (5 / 5) - 11. "I'm Gonna Love You Too" (4 / 5) - 12. "Just Go Away" (3,5 / 5)

3rd studio album by Blondie and the first to be produced by Mike Chapman. The album has been reissued a number of times with various bonus tracks. My copy is a 2001 remaster with 4 bonus tracks. I think, the album was the second that I ever heard with the band, but it's undoubtedly the band's best ever. It's also the album that put Blondie on a primarily pop / rock shelf and not entirely in the new wave category. Although, the tracks have various writers and composers, this also remains the band's most uniform release, perhaps thanks to Mike Chapman who saw the band's potential in one genre or more precisely: helped finding and holding on to the style of Blondie and sending a clear message that the band is not dirty garage rock energetic 'up yours' attitudes of new wave but sophisticated and classy pop / rock. Not only does the album have several great tracks, it also has one mission instead of pointing in various directions. The album is the only by Blondie to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and it was the band's first album to make it all the way to number #1 in the UK.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars, Rolling Stone, Blender, Slant Magazine 4,5 / 5 ]

Ramones "Pleasant Dreams" (1981)

Pleasant Dreams
release date: Jul. 29, 1981
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Graham Gouldman
label: Sire Record - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "We Want the Airwaves" (3 / 5) - 2. "All's Quiet on the Easter Front" - 3. "The KKK Took My Baby Away" (3 / 5) - 4. "Don't Go" - 7. "She's a Sensation" (3 / 5)

6th studio album by Ramones featuring a new producer and once again a new sound. It seems the band was constantly searching for the right sound to go hand in hand with the power pop compositions that kept pointing in many directions, and once again they failed to come up with something great. Maybe due to internal controversy regarding what to play. It's a well-known tale that singer and lyrical composer Joey Ramone often wanted a more pop-minded sound whereas lead guitarist Johnny Ramone wanted to be in a hard rock band. At least on this album they make sure to show both sides of that coin, showing their interests for traditional rock & roll, ballads, power pop, and hard rock, but as an album, and despite several fine tracks, they don't succeed all that well.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Neil Young "On the Beach" (1974)

On the Beach
release date: Jul. 29, 1974
format: cd (2003 hdcd remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Neil Young; David Briggs; Mark Harman; Al Schmitt
label: Reprise Records, Germany - nationality: Canada

5th studio album by Neil Young with various producers is truly Neil back on top of... everything. Having released his 3 great folk rock singer / songwriter country rock albums, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest, this is his first real electrified blues rock album release in a singer / songwriter mode, almost in style with albums by Bob Dylan (whom he also was inspired by), only, this is so much better. The album wasn't a great contemporary success and soon seemed forgotten. In retrospect, however, the album is considered one of his true masterpieces and it has been included on many musical best of lists. It wasn't issued on cd until 2003 and had a long time featured as a cult album that everyone praised but only few actually knew of.
The album was recorded shortly after the recording sessions for Tonight's the Night and both albums are from a black period in Neil's personal life - he was himself a heavy heroin addict at the time and many of his friends and musical associates died from their drug abuse. Crazy Horse members feature on the studio recordings, as well as Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and the two The Band members: Rick Danko and Levon Helms.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". , and it's enlisted as number #5 on the "Readers' Poll: The Best Neil Young Albums of All Time" in Rolling Stone Magazine".
This album is one of my favourite Neil Young albums and of course highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

1974 Favourite releases: 1. Tom Waits The Heart of Saturday Night - 2. Neil Young On the Beach - 3. Mike Oldfield Hergest Ridge

Men At Work "Cargo" (1983)

Cargo

release date: Apr. 29, 1983

format: cd (1993 reissue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]

producer: Peter McIan

label: Columbia - nationality: Australia

2nd studio album by Australian pop / rock and new wave quintet Men At Work released 1½ years following the fine debut Business As Usual (Nov. '81). The band continues in the same style only with slightly more focus on the mainstream pop / rock and pop reggae part of its style. Men At Work play in a style that evokes memories of both The Police and Dire Straits only without emphasis on rock. In it's place the band plays melodic pop / rock with bonds to either reggae or new wave and heavily built on Hay's vocal harmonies. Cargo comes close to the sound of the debut but basically lacks strong singles.

The album was the band's last in its classic line-up.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Tom Waits "Foreign Affairs" (1977)

Foreign Affairs
release date: Sep. 24, 1977
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Bones Howe
label: Asylum Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Muriel" - 3. "I Never Talk to Strangers (feat. Bette Midler)" - 5. "A Sight for Sore Eyes" (4 / 5) - 6. "Potter's Field" - 7. "Burma-Shave" - 9. "Foreign Affair" (4 / 5)

5th studio album by Tom Waits following one year after his landmark album Small Change is also his fourth consecutive album with Bones Howe as producer.

Once again Waits produces a fine collection of songs, although my impression tells me that the album is a bit of a repeat of what he has released up until this point, which in a way might sound like he is stagnating, with no real musical development, but one could then argue that he is simply sticking to a highly original style, and why necessarily change what has proven to work?

The album differs from his other releases by being close to a concept album with a detective-narrator, Nickel, who is an eyewitness to a 'film-noir-Chandler-esque-murder-story' of sorts. Bette Midler and Waits formed a couple in the years '76 / 77 and she sings on track #3.

Some artists don't need to show much artistic development - especially when they continue to make fine and relevant songs, and this album do contain several fine compositions like the ones highlighted above.

Dominant Legs "Invitation" (2011)

Dominant Legs
Invitation (2011)
[debut album]
[album rate: 3 / 5]

"Take a Bow"

.  .  .

.  .

. 

St. Vincent "Krokodil" (2012) (single)

Krokodil, single
release date: Apr. 21, 2012
format: digital
[single rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: ? [Annie Clark] [uncredited]
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: A) "Krokodil" (live) - - B) "Grot"

Single release by St. Vincent released for Record Store Day 2012 and limited to 2.500 copies.
Both compositions differ somewhat from her usual style as they are both noise pop and especially the B-side track is loaded with progressive pop.

Saybia "The Second You Sleep" (2002)

The Second You Sleep [debut]
release date: Jan. 21, 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Andreas Ahlenius, Saybia
label: EMI-Medley - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "7 Demons" - 2. "Fools Corner" - 3. "The Second You Sleep" (4 / 5) - 4. "Snake Tounged Beast" - 5. "Joy" - 6. "Still Falling" - 7. "The Day After Tomorrow" - 8. "In Spite Of" - 9. "Empty Stairs" - 11. "The One for You"

Studio album debut by Danish quintet Saybia released on Medley Records (since 1992 bought by EMI Records and continued in Denmark as EMI-Medley). Saybia consists of primary songwriter and lead vocalist Søren Huss, lead guitarist Sebastian Sandstrøm, bassist Jeppe Langebek Knudsen, keyboardist Jess Jensen and drummer Palle Sørensen.
The band plays soft rock and pop / rock with obvious jangle pop and chamber pop influences.
The Second You Sleep is filed as the first Danish debut album to top the national chart list and at the Danish Music Awards 2003 Saybia won the prizes for Best Danish Album, Best Danish Band, and Søren Huss was handed the prize for Best Danish Vocalist.
Yes, the national hype around this band was tremendous, but they deserve all the acclaim. It truly is a great and surprisingly solid collection of songs for a debut. The style is not the most original one clearly building on britpop acts like Coldplay, Sleeper, Manic Street Preachers and Travis, but the production and the execution - the instrumental and vocal performances on these 11 songs lack nothing in comparison with their much more renowned British colleagues.
The album was never really a favourite of mine. I think, I tired too much of the musical exposure and also found it a bit too much on the softer side of rock to my liking - but my only regret was that I found it too close to music already made; however, there's no doubt that this is altogether a quite an impressive Danish debut where especially Søren Huss shines brightly as vocalist.
[ Gaffa.dk 4 / 6, SputnikMusic 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Gazebo "Lunatic" (1983) (single)

Lunatic, 7'' single
release date: 1983
format: vinyl (BR 50297)
[single rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,55]
producer: P. L. Giombini
label: Baby Records (Italy) - nationality: Italy

Tracklist: A) "Lunatic" - - B) "Lunatic (Instrumental)"

Single release by Beirut-born artist Gazebo (aka Paul Mazzolini [birth name], aka Pierluigi Giombini) taken from his debut album Gazebo (1983) and following his most successful single "I Like Chopin", also from the debut.

St. Vincent "4AD Session" (2012) (ep) (live)

4AD Session, ep (live)
release date: Apr. 10, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: ? [video directed by Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard]
label: 4AD - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Chloe in the Afternoon" - 2. "Surgeon" - 3. "Strange Mercy" - 4. "Cheerleader" - 5. "Year of the Tiger"
[ full session ]

5-track live ep by St. Vincent aka Annie Clark shot at Shangri-La Studios in Brooklyn and released on 4AD Records.
The 5 songs are all tracks from her most recent album Strange Mercy from 2011. The songs are not entirely performed as to resemble the album versions. Her guitar is much more unclean here, both more jazz- and rock-inspired, which adds that extra to the album versions that you want when listening to live versions of familiar songs.
This is great experimental art pop, and what a treat it is to see a woman play guitar like that. It's raw, energetic, and brilliantly unique. Love her voice and guitar sound.
Too bad she paired up with ex-Talking Heads 'big head', David Byrne later on in 2012 making Love This Giant (2012). Although, I haven't yet heard the album, as I cannot stand Mr. Byrne. One day, I have to give it a chance, though, and no matter what, Annie Clark do so well on her own.

Sort Sol "Glamourpuss" (1993)

Glamourpuss
release date: Nov. 16, 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]
producer: Sort Sol, Flemming Rasmussen
label: Columbia Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Dog Star Man" (4 / 5) (live) - 2. "Popcorn" (4 / 5) - 3. "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking" - 4. "Sleepwalker" - 5. "Shaheeba Bay" (4 / 5) (live) - 7. "Eileen Alphabet" - 9. "Lady of the Lake"

6th studio album by Sort Sol released 2½ years after the band's commercial breakthrough Flow My Firetear continues on the same stylistic path as the predecessor, which is something quite unusual for this band, who has always sought to renew its style going from one album to the next. The album is the last to feature founding member and lead guitarist Peter Peter [aka P. Schneidermann]. Like the '91 album, Glamourpuss contains nine songs and reaches a total running time at 40 mins.
Compared to the '91 album, the stylistic output has been polished even more on this, and it soon became the band's biggest commercial success, in part with thanks to the popular Danish movie "Nattevagten" from early '94 by Ole Bornedal (featuring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), which included several tracks from the album. Both band and album won several prizes at the Danish Grammy Award show in 1994 - the band won as Band of the Year, and the album was rewarded the two prizes: "Best Danish Album" and "Danish Rock Release", and producer Flemming Rasmussen won for "Danish Producer of the Year".
Glamourpuss both contains great energetic burst-outs like "Dog Star Man", "Popcorn", "Shaheeba Bay", and "Eileen Alphabet", as well as more subtle and harmonic ballads, and then it nearly doesn't contain any fillers, although it fades out a little towards the end. On top of that it's the band's most coherent and best produced album to date making it their best album, imho.
Despite both critics and fans' positive reception of the album founding member Peter Peter decided to leave the band after what he experienced as a negative turn to commercialism. After leaving Sort Sol he formed the band Bleeder (in 2000 reorganised and named The Bleeder Group).

The Prodigy "What Evil Lurks" (1991) (ep)

What Evil Lurks, ep
release date: Feb. 1991
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "What Evil Lurks" - 2. "We Gonna Rock" - 3. "Android" - 4. "Everybody in the Place"

Studio ep debut by The Prodigy, project name for producer and composer Liam Howlett who included Keith Flint and Maxim [aka Keith Palmer] on vocals, and as dancers when performing live. This is initial breakbeat hardcore or rave. The ep was released in only 7000 copies but reissued in 2004 as a 15th Anniversary edition celebrating XL Recordings.