Even in the fifty-four years since this record’s release, there has been no one like Elvis Presley. And there is absolutely no mistaking that strong and warbling voice as it seems to permeate from every part of him. And Elvis’ Golden Records, a collection of his #1 singles up to that time, shows just how indelible The King’s mark on popular music is.
Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald
Record #151: Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Armed Forces (1979)
From the Jackson Pollock style cover to Costello’s crooning, Armed Forces is an album as cool as Costello himself, what with his thick rimmed glasses, pompadour, and suit-and-tie–a coolness that comes from practically eschewing the whole idea of coolness.
Record #150: Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
The word you need to understand here is “magnum opus.” It refers to an artist’s masterpiece, the work that becomes synonymous with the artist themselves, like Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Beethoven’s 9th Sympthony, or Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. For Sir Elton John, this work is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Record #149: Elton John – Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (1973)
There is only one Elton John. Even when he is mimicking Bobby Vee (Crocodile Rock) or Van Morrison (High Flying Bird) or T-Rex (I’m Gonna Be a Teenage Idol), there is no mistaking his pounding piano chords or his smooth-as-smoke singing voice. Even between the hard rock of Midnight Creeper, the Caribbean opener Daniel, and the over-the-top symphonic blues of Have Mercy on the Criminal, every track is distinctly Sir Elton, even on an album that pushes the limits of what “distinctily Elton” means.
Record #148: Elton John – Honky Château (1972)
The legend’s fifth album, Honkey Château sees Elton John moving away from his soft rock singer songwriter phase that brought us songs like Tiny Dancer and Your Song and towards the high glam rock of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Record #147: Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue (1977)
What is pop music? Is it vapid, unchallenging, artless? Few would make an argument that most pop music is not those things. But can pop be more than that? Can pop music be ambitious? Sophisticated? Enduring? Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra make a certainly convincing argument for that stance on their magnum opus, Out of the Blue.
Record #146: Efterklang – Magic Chairs (2010)
Like 2007’s Parades, Magic Chairs can also be likened to its album cover. Where as Parades Escher-esque cover was meandering and intricate and climbing and falling (as was the music therein), Magic Chairs’s steady structure and floating ribbons hits the music on the mark.
Record #145: Efterklang – Parades (2007)
If the cover is any indication, you can expect Parades to be an intricately arranged, multi-faceted affair that diverts off one direction then another then another then another. And you’d be right. Continue reading
Record #144: The Eagles – Hotel California (1976)
Let me tell you about Hell, my friends.
Hell is not a lake of fire. It is not ceaseless torture. No, Hell is a place where everyone is a musician, and everyone is good, and everyone is supportive of eachother. Everyone is always writing new songs and performing them for eachother, and everyone is dabbling in new genres and techniques, and everyone loves it.
But every song, despite how it starts, EVERY song turns into Hotel California, with that obnoxious, top-of-the-range, “welcome to the ‘otell Caaaaalifornia!”
Record #143: Duran Duran – Rio (1982)
The most immediate things you notice about Rio is how the album cover looks like a cheesy travel brochure, the frantic bass lines, dancy rhythm guitars, atmospheric synths, saxophone solos, and vocals that sound like an Elvis Costello caricature.