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Tuesday, Sep 24 2019, 6AM
#329 Released October 2nd, 1995.
Longtime Oasis drummer Alan White agreed to join the band only one week before recording began on (What’s the Story).
“We went out for a beer, came back and had a jam, and that was it,” White, who had previously walked out of an Oasis concert because he was unhappy with the drumming, told Rolling Stone in 1996. “I thought they’d be a bunch of nutses, but they weren’t really.”‘
#329 Released October 2nd, 1995
Speaking to Radio X's John Kennedy for a special program celebrating his life and work, Noel Gallagher said he feels this song was given to him. "I don't ever sit there and think that I wrote that, you know, the Oasis songwriter explained. "I think it came from somewhere else. I think it was a song that was there somewhere, and if I hadn't have written it, you know, Bono would have written it. You know, it's like those great songs, 'One' and 'Let It Be' and yeah, I did just compare myself to Paul McCartney there. You know, they're there. If they fall out the sky and land on your lap, then lucky you."
#328 Released October 18th, 2011, Gonzalez described the album's sound as a mix between the synthpop of Saturdays = Youth and the more ambient work of Before the Dawn Heals Us. The album uses instruments not found on previous M83 albums, such as acoustic guitar, flute and saxophone.
#327 Released May 13th, 1985. In an interview, Peter Hook was asked about his thoughts on “Love Vigilantes”, the opening track on Low-Life:
“I like the lyrics of “Love Vigilantes” because it really tells a story and takes the listener on a journey as the song goes on; you feel like you are emotionally involved in the track. Then, of course, there is a big twist at the end, when it is revealed that the protagonist died at war. I don’t know – there’s just something about that track and that story that strikes a chord with me.”
#326 Released October 24th, 1994. Toward the Within was recorded in one take in November 1993 at the Mayfair Theatre in Santa Monica, California and was released by 4AD as an album and a video (VHS and LaserDisc!) a year later. It was the last major event to take place in the Mayfair Theatre before it was severely damaged in the Northridge earthquake and had to be closed.
#325 Released March 21st, 2006. Discussing the album's sound, band leader Ben Bridwell said, "I thought before recording that I really wanted an ELO-sounding record, with strings and keyboards and synths, but then, as we got closer to it, we wanted to take a more raw approach. A lot of these songs didn't really come from any lyric writing, let alone any singing ability. A lot of the ways the words are sung were meant to hide or mask what's being said. But there are definitely words. I wrote 'em down on paper and everything."
#324 Released November 4th, 2003. "Your Hand in Mine" was adapted for inclusion in the Friday Night Lights soundtrack; it was shortened from its album length of over eight minutes to just over four, and was embellished with string accompaniment.
#322 Released July 11th, 1988. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was written as a cynical response to "Love Will Keep Us Together" by The Captain & Tennille.
#321 Released November 1968. Some critics thought the album's snapshots of village life were part inspired by performances by the Kinks in rustic Devon. However Davies explained to The Independent June 19, 2009 this was not the case. Instead they were based on memories of his growing up in London. He explained: "You have to remember that North London was my village green, my version of the countryside. The street [and district] I grew up in was called Fortis Green, and then there was Waterlow Park and the little lake. I sang in the choir at St James's Primary School until I was about 10, then I trained myself to sing out of tune so I could hang around with a gang called the Crooners instead. Our Scottish singing teacher Mrs Lewis said, 'Never mind, Davies - I hear crooners are making a lot of money these days.'"
#320 Released September 16th, 1977 This was one of the first songs that David Byrne ever wrote; it convinced him that he could write more. He told Mojo: "Chris and Tina helped me with some of the French stuff. I realized, 'That holds up. That's a song.' I may have been inspired by other things when I was writing it, but I hadn't heard anything quite like it before. I was also writing completely from the character's point of view. We played it. People liked it. I thought, 'Oh, I can do more.'"
#319 Released September 7th, 1999. The album was originally conceived as a music revue. Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt was sitting in a piano bar in Manhattan, listening to the pianist's interpretations of Stephen Sondheim songs, when he decided he ought to get into theatre music because he felt he had an aptitude for it. "I decided I'd write one hundred love songs as a way of introducing myself to the world. Then I realized how long that would be. So I settled on sixty-nine. I'd have a theatrical revue with four drag queens. And whoever the audience liked best at the end of the night would get paid."
#318 Released August 25, 1998. This was Smith's first solo record on a major record label, though he had previously released music on a major label with his band Heatmiser's final album, Mic City Sons (1996).
#317 Released August 8, 1988. Critics accused the group of glorifying the gangsta lifestyle, but Ice Cube insists they are merely documentarians. He told the Sunday Correspondent Magazine in 1989: "The parents, the police and the people of the local community are scared of what we say. We use the same kind of language as the kids use every day. In the black community, the ministers and teachers don't deny that the problems we rap about exist, but they'd rather sweep it under the rug. Maybe that's why we sell so many records because the people in the community all tell the kids what to do, the police are watching them 24-7, so when they party, they don't want to hear, 'Don't do this and don't do that.' Our raps are documentary. We don't take sides."
#316 Released December 6th, 1968. In the US, this was released as a single on August 31, 1968, just a few days after the Democratic National Convention, which took place August 26-29. The convention was marred by violence, as Chicago police clashed with protesters. When the song was released, every radio station in Chicago (and most in the rest of the country), refused to play it for fear that it would incite more violence. There was no official ban in America or Chicago, but stations knew it was in their best interest to shun the song, which accounts for its meager chart position of #48.
Mick Jagger later said: "The radio stations that banned the song told me that 'Street Fighting Man' was subversive. 'Of course it's subversive,' we said. It's stupid to think you can start a revolution with a record. I wish you could!"
#315 Released February 2nd, 2005 Bloc Party are out on a U.S. tour where they’re playing this album, Silent Alarm. Closest they'll be to Seattle is San Francisco on November 20th. On April 12th, Bloc Party will release a live edition of Silent Alarm. The live album was recorded during the band’s European Silent Alarm tour that took place in October 2018.
#314 Released September 2nd, 1980. The photo on the front cover, showing several police cars on fire, was taken during the White Night riots of May 1979, that resulted from the light sentence given to former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White for the murder of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. When Dead Kennedys lead vocalist Jello Biafra ran for mayor, one of his policies had been for a statue to be erected to Dan White, and for eggs, tomatoes and stones to be available nearby for pelting it.
#313 Released January, 1974. Eno directed the musicians by using body language and dancing, as well as through verbal suggestion, to influence their playing and the sounds they would emit. He felt at the time that this was a good way to communicate with musicians. The album credits Eno with instruments such as "snake guitar", "simplistic piano" and "electric larynx". These terms were used to describe the sound's character or the means of production used to treat the instruments. After recording the individual tracks, Eno condensed and mixed the instrumentation deeply, resulting in some of the tracks bearing little resemblance to what the musicians recorded during the session.
#313 Released January, 1974. In an interview with Mojo magazine in 1996, Eno said that the album title came from a description he wrote for the treated guitar on the title track; he called it "warm jet guitar ... because the guitar sounded like a tuned jet."
#312 Released November 5th, 2002. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor admitted that he was initially "flattered" but worried that "the idea of Cash covering 'Hurt' sounded a bit gimmicky," but when he heard the song and saw the video for the first time, Reznor said he was deeply moved and found Cash's cover beautiful and meaningful, going as far as to say "that song isn't mine anymore."
#312 Released November 5th, 2002. American IV was the final album Johnny Cash released during his lifetime; though the Unearthed box set was compiled prior to his death, with Cash choosing the tracks and writing liner notes. American IV: The Man Comes Around was Cash's first non-compilation album to go gold in thirty years. Additionally, the album won "Album of the Year" award at the 2003 CMA Awards. It was certified gold on March 24, 2003 and platinum on November 21, 2003 by the R.I.A.A.
#311 Released July 5th, 1993. Björk (from Rolling Stone, September 1993): "Human Behaviour is an animal's point of view on humans. And the animals are definitely supposed to win in the end. So why, one might ask, is the conquering bear presented as a man-made toy? I don't know. I guess I just didn't think it would be fair to force an animal to act in a video. I mean, that would be an extension of what I'm against. I told him (Michel Gondry the video's director), 'I want a bear and textures like handmade wood and leaves and earth, and I want it to seem like animation.' Then I backed out."
#310 Released September 23rd, 1978. Finding words to rhyme to "glass" that fit in a song can be... a pain in the ass.
In the last chorus, following "Once I had a love and it was a gas," Debbie Harry takes a different tack, singing "Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass."
Unfortunately, American radio was generally ass-free at this time, so to ensure airplay stations were sent an edited version with the offending line replaced with "soon turned out I had a heart of glass."
#309 Released September 22nd, 2008. Kyp Malone said that the title came from "a note that Dave [Sitek] wrote in the studio that said,
"Dear Science, please start solving problems and curing diseases or shut the fuck up."
#308 Released August 29th, 1994. Liam couldn't understand why anyone bothered to release a re-mastered edition of Definitely Maybe to celebrate its 20th anniversary. When the news was announced, Liam took to Twitter to say: "HOW CAN YOU REMASTER SOMETHING THAT'S ALREADY BEEN MASTERED. DON'T BUY INTO IT. LET IT BE LG X"
#307 Released May 10th, 1994. The album was released on CD, vinyl and cassette. The vinyl has been released in three limited edition pressings, all of which are out of print. The first was a multi-colored splatter vinyl, released on "Glitterhouse Records" in Germany. The second was a black vinyl pressing on Sub Pop. A repress followed on green vinyl (and possibly a second black pressing), but the label for this second pressing states "Edition II" under the Sub Pop logo. All three vinyl pressings are missing 3 songs that are present on the CD, possibly due to the time constraints of vinyl, as the album clocks in at 53 minutes. The missing songs are "Round", "48" and "Grendel". The 2009 double LP re-issue contains all 11 songs from the original album, and two bonus tracks.
#306 Released April 8th, 1997. Sleater-Kinney are playing two nights at the Paramount, November 23rd & 24th. The 23rd is already sold out so hurry up!
#305 Released February 12th, 1982. English Settlement marked a turn towards the more pastoral pop songs that would dominate later XTC releases, with an emphasis on acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitar and fretless bass. Frontman Andy Partridge believed that if he "wrote an album with a sound less geared towards touring then maybe there would be less pressure to tour."
#304 Released June 19th, 2001. Oh, Inverted World is the debut studio album by The Shins. Omnibus Records put out an initial run of vinyl distributed by Darla. Sub Pop Records reprinted the vinyl, but the Sub Pop logo only appears on later pressings.
#304 Released June 19th, 2001. This album got a high-profile shout-out in Zach Braff’s beloved 2004 film Garden State. In one great scene, Natalie Portman’s character plays ‘New Slang’ for Braff and tells him “this song will change your life.”