My first brush with The Human League came from my old music-guru roommate who said, “I love the Human League, but that’s only because I have a soft spot for crappy 80s pop.” And sure, the Human League lived in the same sort of post-punk/new-wave synthpop that the 80s loved, and true, Don’t You Want Me (the anthem of creepy exes everywhere) is a favorite on my local “inoffensive hits of yesterday and today” station. But Dare! is far from a straightforward pop record. There’s enough synthesized dissonance to make the most avant-garde music fan (see: my former roommate) happy.
Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald
Record #273: Chicago – Chicago VII (1974)
To the uninitiated (me), Chicago VII can seem like one of the group’s most impenetrable work. While Chicago has always seemed like two separate bands, one given to funky jazz fusion, the other firmly planted in radio-friendly soft rock, those two groups have always cooperated with eachother, trading off tracks. Here, the two camps are at odds.
Record #272: Chicago – Chicago XI (1977)
Strange as it sounds, Chicago evades comprehension. Just when you think they’re a group that splits their time evenly between prog-tinged fusion and radio-friendly soft rock, they release Chicago XI, an album mostly entrenched in the middle of those two camps (and sadly, their last with guitarist Terry Kath before his death).
Record #271: Chicago – Chicago VI (1973)
Like I mentioned in my last Chicago record, I’m a newbie to Chicago’s immense discography. It is my basic understanding that Chicago started out as an ambitious prog/fusion rock group and moved more towards the middle of the road as time went on, making millions on record sales at the expense of critical credibility. However, the more time I spend with the group, the more I realize that that dichotomy is not so neatly divided.
Record #270: Chicago – Chicago III (1971)
I’ve never really given Chicago too much of a chance. Maybe because I’ve always considered Electric Light Orchestra to be superior in terms of lushly orchestrated pop groups. Or maybe because I’ve always thought jazz-rock fusion was a lot better when it came from the jazz side. But, I’ve been trying to be a better poptimist, and seventies soft rock has been getting the better of me. And, I recently found four Chicago albums for a buck, so you can’t beat that.
Record #269: The Beach Boys – Endless Summer (1974)
The way the stories are told, it’s almost like there were two separate bands in the 1960s called the Beach Boys. One was a lush psychedelic chamber pop group that created some of the most ambitious and beautifully orchestrated pop music ever recorded led by a genius named Brian Wilson. The other was a chart-topping surf group that played easy pop tunes that almost guaranteed commercial success, and they were led by a master of showmanship named Mike Love.
Record #268: Body Futures – Brand New Silhouettes (2014)
I hadn’t heard Milwaukee’s art punk acolytes Body Futures until last night when my band played with them and were blown away. Taking the best lessons punk and new wave can teach them, they create a fusion of the two that is bursting with power and fury. Their live show was a whirlwind of guitars and autoharp and “HEY” bgvs, and the record is just as good. See you around, Body Futures.
Record #265: Chuck Berry – Chuck Berry’s Golden Hits (1967)
I don’t care what Back to the Future says: rock n roll was not invented by Marty McFly. It was invented by Mr. Charles Berry, who here offers newly recorded versions of his previous hits.
Record #263: American Football – American Football (1999)
Time for another confession: I never listened to American Football until this year.
Record #262: Imperiet – Blå Himlen Blues (1985)
In Stockholm, there is a record store called Pet Sounds which is listed on numerous “best record shops in the world” lists. It was at this shop that I asked the man working there for something distinctly Swedish. He told me of a Stockholm based punk band called Ebba Grön who broke up and became a post punk band called Imperiet, and suggested this record, translated as Blue Heaven Blues. I took him at his word, and did not return void. Were their lyrics in English, it’s doubtless that Imperiet would have been canonized among New Order, Psychedelic Furs, Duran Duran, and other post punk/new wave patron saints.