Madonna [The Immaculate Collection] 

Well first off, about the cover, it's obviously not 'The Immaculate Collection', but i hate that cover, so i used this superb 'visual' album of hers to use as her Greatest Hits, and i'll talk about that below, this is a great album, one of the best i own, whatever anyone says, Madonna is a genius, her songs transcend time, these are 'old' now, and yet they're still fresh and lively, it's amazing how many times she really hit the spot, and i'm marvelling at her ability to play a number of different styles, and still be so consistent, i do play this regular, but with nearly 1600 disc in my collection, this gets in my player not as often as i would like, last time it was in my Blog was in 2010 [22nd June 2010].

Madonna, or Madonna Ciccone, is American, she's now 54, this album came out in 1990, and yes i admit it's getting old hat for a Greatest Hits collection, as there's another 20 years more material since then, but somehow i still feel it represents her at her best, she would delve into more electronic type music later, and i feel she's lost her sparkle of what she's very best at, plus the two disc 'Celebration' that came out in 2009 has a slight feel of 'filler' to it, yes even Madonna has a hard time filling two discs, i love this more, as i said above, the disc inside is 'The Immaculate Collection', but the booklet / back insert is from her album 'Ray Of Light', its visuals are superb, a stunning shot of Madonna on the front, golden haired, blowing around her face, and a blue PVC dress!, the booklet doesn't show the opposite side of the back insert, where more of her hair shows on the spine on the left, a great visual idea, i rubbed on transfers on the front cover for the title, and on the back i made a self adhesive sticker with lettering on, i think it looks fantastic, so much for the original visual issue.

Various Artists [Total Science - Drum & Bass] 

I played this for the first time at the end of last year [26th December 2011], and i found it a new and strange experience, but also there was an excitement that i had found another rich vein of music, and that feeling is solidified here, new tracks are opening up as possible new favourites, and the clump of clones are separating into individually unique tracks, this proves the very essence of my ideology, that we should be musical Octopi, and the only way to truly fall in love with any music is to fall in love with all music, there's a cross fertilisation in delving into many genres of music that can be attained in no other way.

This compilation was made in 1997, and is Volume 3 in the Total Science series, compiled i believe by Darren Jay, the front cover photograph is superb, a grainy black & white shot of an empty turntable deck, shot at a diagonal angle, i love all those concentric rings, reminds me of Saturn!, and the light in the grooves bottom left to top right really give it depth, the lettering in white is simple and effective, very sparse.

Just like last time, tracks 2 & 5 were sublime, but also tracks 1-6, 9 & 14 really opened up to me, i'm excited for the next time i hear this disc, it's becoming a little treasure already, because Drum & Bass doesn't really have words, these 14 tracks may blur into each other, but repeated and concentrated listening separates the Siamese twins into separate and distinct entities [actually in this case quadecaplets!, 14 identical songs, haha], here's a synopsis of these two tracks i liked the best,
2 Salsa Flavour - Icons, what makes this stand out from the pack are the drums, not merely machine drums, but drums of different sounds, like small drums hit by hard objects, and larger deeper drums hit by softer objects [0:02-0:22], and drums inbetween too [congas / bongos?], this intro is fantastically superb, and then we get the jungle cry, like some Tarzan or ape [0:23+], that intermittently keeps coming back just when it's perfect for another yodel, the bassy beats kick in too, but it's the ongoing intro drums that are so infectious, i like the echoing call right at the end [6:03-6:09], the whole thing is a delight to hear again.
5 Subtropic - E-Z Rollers, again the intro is fantastic, starts off like it's going to explode into some New Wave electronic hit, and there's some tree frog calling [0:07+], and when the sharp woodblock roll goes [0:22+], wow that's very atmospheric!, the trebleness blends into a louder baseness around the 2 minute mark, you can imagine someone pushing certain sliders up the scale in the mixing room, the cymbals ring throughout, but are also muffled nicely too, very hypnotic, halfway through the track there's softer electronic music, missing the beats, i must admit that at just over 10 minutes it slightly outstays its welcome, but it's such a great track, loved listening to this today.

Various Artists [32 Dynamic Disco Hits]

This was one of the very first things i ever bought on Ebay, i owned a double cassette of this, so i bought the double disc set to replace it, it's a great set of famous tunes if you love Seventies Disco music, while sitting down it wanted to get my feet moving, at least i was twitching and snapping my fingers, almost a perfect set of 32 tunes, play real loud!.

The tracks that really hit me were 1, 3, 6, 11-12, 15 & 32, and i must admit that i seem to gravitate to those songs that are a little over the top, and in a way almost seem like parodies of the Disco era, or was it just the naivete of the time?, so tracks 6, 15 & 32 were the ones that i would pick as the triptych that i would like to give a summary of,
6 Edwin Starr - Contact, the vocal stylings of Starr on this track are nicely over the top, it starts with a huge instrumental intro [0:00-1:35], which start as a sort of jungle bongos, and then the chorus of rhythmic clappers start up [0:08+], the rhythm changes to something more funky [0:52+], and i guess the same clapper chorus are the shouters of contact! throughout, with the most improbable story line of two lonely people making eye to eye contact through a maze of disco dancers, and the excellent Starr goes over the top, 'ow ow oh yeah' [2:11 & 3:17], and the laughs! [2:31], 'my heart was beating like a drum, as i fought my way over', yep, i can just imagine him with an invisible machete, slashing away the jungle of disco-ees to reach his beloved!, the laugh near the end is fantastic [3:42] 'hahahahahahaha-haaaar!', life's a jungle safari, glad Starr captured his prey.
15 Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music, another over the top vocal styling, sounds like he's high on drugs, i've mentioned before that i always thought he was black, he sounds so much like a black guy, but he's white, he got the idea of the title of the song when they were playing a gig, and the drummer shouted 'play some funky music white boy', with twangy guitar vibes at the beginning, and the spoken intro from the singer 'heyyyyy do it now' [0:06] is excellent, and almost on the end of every line he overemphasizes the last word, plus he speak comments on his own singing lines from time to time, at the end of the chorus he adds 'till you die, ohhh till die-high' [1:20 & 2:48], there's a screaming guitar solo in the middle [1:27-1:45], i like the lines 'i'm funking out in every waaaaay' [2:07], done really over the top, and right at the outro his says 'plaaaaay that funky music' [3:06], haha, it's not meant to be a parody or anything, it was the real thing back then, but now it sounds such a spoof, i love it more than when it originally came out!.
32 Change - Searching, a lovely intro, nice hits of the drums, and a rolling wave rhythm, i can almost feel myself on an inflatable bed out on a hypnotizing ocean roll, in the chorus the girl in the song says 'she said, stop, stop, stop, get out your heart, what i've got's hot stuff, the night is ours' [1:15-1:29 & 2:31-2:45], also there's an alto sax solo that takes us outro [2:47-3:13], another great song that i appreciate more on this listening.

Stereo MC's [Double Bubble] 

Well here's something different from the usual Classical music, i saw this on auction on Ebay, i was drawn to the stark colourful circles on the front cover, they seem to spin, it's a lovely simple idea, circles of red, green, blue, and yellow mix, with a yellow / mustard square box for the band name and album title, i got this brand new on Ebay for cheap, still in its cellophane, turns out to be an inspired purchase.

The Stereo MC's are an English Indie / Electronic Dance / Hip Hop band formed in 1985, it's somewhat hard to pigeonhole them, maybe they're more like the Stone Roses / The Shamen towards their Indie side, and the Fun Lovin Criminals / The Beastie Boys in their Hip Hop / Rap side, whatever, they're great.

However good the artwork is, it's the music i was gobsmacked by, i have never really listened to them before, so i wasn't sure what to expect, they are afforded a tremendous recorded sound, every blip and thud, zing and buzz can be heard caressing / abusing your lug-holes, at certain moments they're an Electronic band, others times they get into Rap, but most of the time they straddle genres, i played this loud, and it has a great effect, if this album can get me this excited on one listen, then what will i be getting into 5 years down the road?, plus i feel that these discs have opened a portal to another world of music, now i've got my eye on a number of similar bands, i guess it's the Stereo MC's change of direction during songs that is so appealing, i tried to second guess where they were going with each song, most of the time i was wrong, but they sound so right, some delicious G-forces abound the musical spectrum here.

The tracks i liked the most were 1, 4 & 11 on disc one, the organ like squealing synthesizer keyboard on track 1 'Get It On' is so inspired, and the zany bumbling double beat on track 4 'City Lights' is mesmerizing, but deep down it's track 11 'Human' that blew me away, starts off with a nice gentle chugging beat, with some nice electronic noises, but quickly explodes into a strong tuneful chorus [0:27], and what sounds like an electronic harp, but more likely of course a keyboard sound, but i love this harp sound, it really makes the song, and the boom boom boom, boom boom boom drums to accompany it are perfect, some of the chorus lyrics go,

All our brassic, in my pocket

is turning into vapours

all their skint-ness is just thin air i guess, however, right at the end as everything closes down, it's this 'harp' that has the closing word, as it twangs / strums away [3:25+], slowing down into a little solo tune [3:49-3:58], a stroke of genius!, a nice way to end the album, except there's a secret track!.

Here's the Stereo MC's playing 'Human' on YouTube.