Five Albums to Consider
There's a bit of music in this one. (The Bus 4.48)
Welcome aboard The Bus!
The Stop
Today’s Stop is a selection of five suggested albums. All of them are long-time favourites of mine - which I think might explain a lot about what goes on in my head! They’re all brilliant, in my opinion, and each holds a special place in my musical journey. Let me know what you think - but, more importantly, let me know your list of five.1
Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd (1970)
Pink Floyd’s fifth studio album contains five songs: ‘Atom Heart Mother Suite’ (23:44), formed of several instrumental pieces composed during the band’s soundtrack recording for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film, Zabriskie Point (1970), three shorter tracks, and ‘Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast’ (13:00) - a track created from musical figures interspersed with dialogue and various sound effects. Though a commercial success on its release (it reached Number One in the UK), the band have largely discounted its importance. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most influential psychedelic rock albums of its time, presaging the band’s immense success which would follow with 1971’s Meddle and, of course, the juggernaut that is 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon. It’s also my favourite Pink Floyd album - and, considering how much I like them, that’s saying a lot.
Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin (1970)
Released three days after Atom Heart Mother, Led Zeppelin’s third album starts with the hard rock Viking howl of ‘Immigrant Song’ before progressing into the band’s take on blues, folk and acoustic tracks. One of the most anticipated albums of the year, it was a huge commercial success, topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and showing off the band’s virtuosity. A brilliant album from start to finish, it represents a ‘milestone in the band's history and a turning point in their music.’ If you haven’t heard it in awhile, put it on and listen from start to finish. And then listen again. And if you’ve never heard it, well ….
Call Me, Al Green (1973)
Considered by many as not only his masterpiece, but one of the best soul albums ever made, Al Green’s sixth album produced three Top Ten hits - ‘You Ought to Be With Me,’ ‘Here I Am (Come and Take Me), and the ‘shimmering’ ‘Call Me.’ Commercial success notwithstanding, it is without question the ‘most inventive and assured album of his career.’ It’s been one of my favourites since I first heard it, though when I started writing today’s Stop I realised I’d not listened in a while. Suffice it to say, that mistake has been rectified.
Chocolate and Cheese, Ween (199)
When I first saw Ween live at The Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina on 25 November 1994, they were touring in support of this - their fourth album - which had been released a couple of months before. I had only the faintest idea of the band’s existence, but - thanks to my friends David and Heather - that quickly changed, along with my fundamental understanding of music. Truly, I had never heard anything like them. The first of their albums to be produced in a professional studio, Chocolate and Cheese added numerous tracks to the band’s ‘irreverent, highly eclectic catalogue of songs inspired by funk, soul, country, gospel, prog, psychedelia, R&B, heavy metal, and punk rock’. If you want to know what was going on in my head in late ‘94/early ‘95, this album will give you a major clue.2
Endtroducing ….., DJ Shadow (1996)
Composed entirely from samples, Endtroducing ….. took its creator over two years to complete his debut release. Sampling numerous genres of music, including jazz, funk, rock, drum and bass, classical and psychedelia - in addition to obscure dialogue from films and interviews - DJ Shadow ‘programmed, chopped, and layered samples to create tracks’ on what would become one of my favourite albums of all time. A soundscape unlike any other, this deserves a serious listen - preferably alone, with some quality headphones. You’ll hear amazing things.
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to If Contemporary Fiction Was Written Like Science Fiction, a short (3:42) very well-observed spoof of dystopian sci-fi. And eerily accurate, in fact. Definitely worth a look.
If Contemporary Fiction Was Written Like Science Fiction
The Recommendation
Today’s Recommendation is to The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir (2014). A documentary about the other guitarist and singer in The Grateful Dead, it’s filled with interviews from counter-culture figures from the day, surviving members of the band, and incredible - some never before seen - footage of concerts and events from the heyday of the era. If you’re interested, it’s worth a watch.
The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir (2014) Trailer
The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir streams on Netflix.
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is a selection of five representative tracks from each of the albums under consideration: ‘Summer ‘68’ (Pink Floyd, 1970), ‘That’s the Way’ (Led Zeppelin, 1970), ‘Stand Up’ (Al Green, 1973), ‘Freedom of ‘76’ (Ween, 1994) and ‘Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain - Medley’ (1996). Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from the French philosopher, novelist and playwright Albert Camus:3
‘You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.’
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this Stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!
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Until the next Stop …
I hadn’t intended to do another ‘Five to Consider’ Stop so soon after Issue 4.45’s one two weeks ago on books, but it’s been unusually manic at school this week and I had to bring forward something that was planned for a bit later. Thanks for humouring me! Sources for today’s Stop include Call Me (Allmusic), eponymous Wikipedia pages and just general knowledge I’ve accumulated about these albums over years of listening and reading about them.
To further explain what was going on in my head you can add to this the album’s predecessors GodWeenSatan: The Oneness (1990), The Pod (1991) and Pure Guava (1992) - which collectively are my favourite Ween albums and which soundtracked the writing of my Master’s thesis on paradox. Go figure.
For more about Camus, see: Albert Camus (Britannica).
Screw caps just ensure the contents disappear more quickly!
Laughing out loud at that "cork" memory. Failed attempt by a middle-of-the-road wine producer circa 1999. But we were not deterred.
Lots of good memories of listening to Let It Bleed. Monkey Man in many of them. Foremost is the days I lived upstairs above a pizza/sub joint in downtown Atlanta during the college days. The stairwell to the rear entrance to the place passed directly in front of the exhaust fan above the pizza oven - a direct portal to the kitchen. There was one semester when night time singing of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" into the fan as loud as we could (myself and whomever I was with) occurred weekly. The cooks did not like that reminder that they were making pies while we were not!