Prince - Dirty Mind (1980)

Before strutting around on a purple motorcycle, flamboyantly wearing frilly shirts and challenging Charlie Murphy to hilarious games of basketball, Prince Rogers Nelson once was, believe it or not, a fairly normal and modest guy, if a little eccentric. Nearing the end of his three-record contract with Warner Bros. in 1980, the ambitious young musician from Minneapolis released his first significant effort, Dirty Mind.

After dropping two commercially successful albums that confirmed his talent but not quite his ability, Prince assembled the core of what would eventually become his backup band The Revolution, with fellow Minneapolitans Dr. Fink (keyboards, synthesiser) and Lisa Coleman (keyboards, vocals, sitar) having their first feature credits on Dirty Mind. Combining spritely, overhead synth riffs with bass-heavy, underground funk rhythms, Dirty Mind is arguably one of the first, if not the first truly consistent ‘synth funk’ release, despite previous artists such as Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang and Parliament initiating the stylistic fusion earlier in the 1970s.

A fairly budgeted album in terms of production, the sounds in Dirty Mind may not be terribly complex or as lavish as in Purple Rain, yet it was undoubtedly the correct approach, accommodating Prince’s developing capabilities as a songwriter at this point in his career. However Dirty Mind’s simplicity is more than matched by its substance, with near-perfect displays of the burgeoning synth-funk style as in “Do It All Night”, which immediately kicks off with an energetic glissando by Dr. Fink that transitions into unrelentingly incessant keyboard chords, and only continues to build with Prince continually feeding thick, heavy funky bass lines throughout, culminating with a superb synth solo. Yet the album breaks from that particular mold on the very next track “Gotta Broken Heart Again”, a soulful ballad that strips away Dr. Fink’s synthesisers in order for Prince to brandish his undeniably impressive guitar skills, even managing to slot in a solo despite its brief 2 minute duration.

Having just turned 22 during the recording of Dirty Mind, Prince flaunts a kind of sexually frustrated exuberance typical of a guy that was yet to “make it” in the music industry, most notably on the title track where he begs a woman to sleep with him, and that just being around her gives him a “dirty mind”. There’s also the sorrowful “Gotta Broken Heart Again” where Prince laments being broke, having spent all of his money on a long-distance call to his ex, as well as the way he kicks off the infectious track “Do It All Night” by politely singing “Pardon me, I wanna talk to you”, not yet having the confidence or brashness he would later be famous for. The track’s refrain, “I wanna do it / Do it all night” again reflects Prince’s desire for sex, as opposed to actually getting it. In a way, these moments help to preserve a humbler time in Prince’s career, when he didn’t have it all.

Dirty Mind would prove to be Prince’s breakthrough release, kicking off a decade where future artists would try to imitate its style. It also saw Prince’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live, and determined to make an impact, rather than promoting one of the album’s singles he played the anti-war, provocative number “Partyup”, which in many ways has the same party-in-the-face-of-adversity message as his later hit “1999”. Wearing a combination of his trademark purple jacket adorned with silver buttons, black stockings and eyeliner (similar to his getup on the album cover), Prince certainly looked like a man set to solidify his identity, however ambiguous. As the song finished with the obstinate line “We don’t wanna fight no more”, Prince threw the microphone stand down and rushed off stage, the tremors already rolling through American audiences. Prince had arrived.

Funky, danceable and timeless, Dirty Mind is ideal for those unfamiliar with Prince, a suitable starting point among his formidably large discography. Just running in at a mere 30 minutes, it’s a quick yet remarkably substantial listen that is essential for anyone interested as to what helped shape the sound of the 80s.

A-

-Karl

Listen to Dirty Mind on Grooveshark

Tricky - Abbaon Fat Track (1995)

Tricky - Maxinquaye (1995)

Maxinquaye was the 1995 debut album of English trip hop musician Tricky, following in the wake of pioneering albums by the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead. Trip hop was a style of music that emerged out of Bristol in the UK during the early 1990s as a variant of backbeat that contained elements of soul, funk and jazz. Given the term trip hop by the music press, the genre was described as being a fusion of hip hop and electronica until neither genre is recognisable, and after having listened to this album, that is a description which is very appropriate and is the reason why trip hop is such a unique music style.  

Before I listened to this album I was expecting a poor man’s Massive Attack, or an average Portishead spin-off, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this album was neither of these, and stands up pretty well in comparison to great albums such as Blue Lines and Dummy. Musically, Maxinquaye is quite dark and mysterious in places and at times has a very eerie feel to it, much like a lot of trip hop I guess. Stylistically, it also sticks largely to the trip hop script of fusing hip-hop, soul, electronica, and even rock together. The album is notable in that it features Tricky’s then girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird on vocals who is a definite standout on the album mixing up her performances between cheeky cockney-like vocals on songs such as “Ponderosa”, with lighter almost subtle jazzy vocals on tracks like “Pumpkin”. Although she doesn’t have a large range, her voice very much lends itself to this style of music in that her voice doesn’t dominate the songs, but instead floats gently over the top of the backing track and samples.

The production on here is of great quality. It’s not too busy, or indeed overpowering, but at the same time is definitely not minimal by any means. Tricky had three other producers working on this album with him, and without personally being an expert on trip hop production it’s hard to tell how much influence he had on the production given his experience, and that it was his first album. One of the aspects of the production that I enjoyed the most and something that I like a lot about trip hop acts is the use of samples, particularly the way in which they blend samples into the track to the point that it is often unrecognisable, or not noticeable. This I feel is a good thing, and in the case of this album allowed the tracks to stand on their own musically without being dominated by the sample alone. Isaac Hayes, The Smashing Pumpkins and Marvin Gaye are all sampled on Maxinquaye but I couldn’t tell this when listening. The subtle use of samples is something I feel distinguishes trip hop from other genres such as hip hop, which at times has a tendency to let the sample dominate too much on tracks, but that’s just my view.

Maxinquaye came out to rave reviews from music critics and reached number three in the charts in the UK, an amazing feat considering Brit pop was in full swing by 1995. NME also named it their best album of 1995. It seemed that on the back of Maxinquaye and work by Portishead and Massive Attack, trip hop was very much in vogue in the UK and Europe, especially amongst music connoisseurs and those who wanted something different out of electronic styles. Trip hop unsurprisingly also proved worthy of being film soundtrack material, with seven songs from Maxinquaye appearing in various films since its release eighteen years ago.

Maxinquaye is a great trip hop album and holds up extremely well alongside the other notable albums from that early trip hop period. Despite its dark undertones, it is an album you can easily recline to and is very good chill out/lazy Sunday music. This album should be listenable for anyone into trip hop, ambient music, or electronica and might even be worthy background dinner music? But I’ll leave that up to you to decide. I dug it, I’m sure you will to.

- A-

- Sam

 

Alabama Shakes - I Found You (2012)

Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls (2012)

Boys & Girls is the debut album from Alabama Shakes, a band from Athens, Alabama that formed in 2009. Led by the effervescent singer/rhythm guitarist Brittney Howard whose voice just bleeds soul, the Shakes style of music is a rough and ready fusion of southern rock, soul, blues and R&B, and that is pretty much what is on show throughout this album.

The album kicks off with the all out stomping rocker “Hold On” and continues with songs such as the Motown-influenced “I Found Out” and Stax-sounding “Hang Loose”. These songs are examples of the more up-tempo numbers on the album, songs that are driven along by pounding backing tracks with Howard’s gravelly voice coming to the fore strongly. Mixed in with these tracks are a few slower soulful ballads where the quality of Howard voice, in particular her range shines through immensely. Songs such as “I Ain’t Alone” and “Be Mine” contain shades of Otis and even Aretha, with the emotion and soul in Howard’s voice taking these songs home strongly. Howard is definitely the shining light on this record with her raspy soulful vocals taking centre stage throughout, often to the point of overshadowing the other band members who are almost reduced to being a support act to her vocal prowess and brilliance. I say this with no disrespect to their contributions on the album, as they themselves sound fantastic and show outstanding glimpses of musicianship in their playing.

The production on this album is very low key with the sound stripped back to its bare bones. This is a good thing considering the material on show and the bands influences, while it ensures that every ounce of soul the band possesses comes through. The rawness of the recordings not only makes the album sound as if it could have been recorded in the mid-60s in Detroit or Memphis, but it all gives the album a certain live feel, with some of the songs sounding like they were performed live in the studio in one take.

Boys & Girls is a very solid first up effort from these Alabamians, and I expect we will be hearing a lot more of them. I expect them to expand on this first release and grow their sound even more on their next album; while in the process continue what seems to have been a blues/soul revival in music that has been going on over the last decade or so.

 

- A-

 

- Sam