(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)
Artist: Suede Album Title: Suede Year released: 1993 Year reissued: 2018 Details: Gatefold sleeve, Limited edition, 25th anniversary, 180 gram, Double LP, silver vinyl, Record Store Day exclusive
The skinny: Along with Blur’s “Modern life is rubbish”, Suede’s debut, self-titled LP set the groundwork and etched out the blueprints for the Britpop phenomenon of the mid-1990s. The deadly duo of Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler made for sleazy and salacious glam rock, the likes of which we will never see again. This 25th anniversary silver edition comes with 9 B-side tracks released during the era on the second disc of the set, which spells bonus, any way you slice it.
So I’ve never been a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
My friend Elliott tried back in the day, playing their fourth album, 1989’s “Mother’s milk”, for me incessantly. I understood that it was different and in some ways innovative, but it never spoke to me. Then, when the first single from “Blood sugar sex magik” came out and my friend was all over it, I was not. In fact, “Give it away” drove me nuts. The rest of the album wasn’t my thing either but there was one song (and I’m sure you can guess which) that caught my ear and I’ll get back to that in a sec.
Since then, the LA-based funk rock band led by founding members Anthony Kiedis and Flea has reached legendary status, becoming one of the more successful bands to come out of the early 90s alt-rock explosion. But because I’ve never really paid that much attention, I hadn’t really grasped the true extent. That is, until they were slotted to play Ottawa Bluesfest a couple of years ago and the night they were headlining sold out, the first time a night has sold out in the festival’s history.
Of course I would like “Under the bridge” out of all of RHCP”s songs up to that point. At first listen, it didn’t really sound like them. In fact, when Kiedis wrote it, he didn’t want to bring it to the band because he didn’t think it fit in with the rest of their work. It was a deeply personal piece for him, expressing his loneliness and reflections on his history with drugs. “Blood sugar sex magik”’s producer, Rick Rubin convinced Kiedis to share it with the rest of the band and he was right to do so.
That now famous guitar intro by John Frusciante is just beautiful. You know the one where he is standing solo on a pedestal, wearing a chullo, like he is a misfit angel casting glory on us all before Kiedis lays down his heavy weight.
“Sometimes I feel
Like I don’t have a partner
Sometimes I feel
Like my only friend
Is the city I live in
The city of angels
Lonely as I am
Together we cry”
Though the feel is completely different than, say “Suck my kiss”, the sound is still definitely Red Hot Chili Peppers. The drumming is somewhat more restrained but Flea’s bassline is still muscular and funk heavy. Frusciante’s guitar through the rest of the song tempers Kiedis’s mood and almost eases him into a faster tempo. Then, the choirs joins in and it is epic.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 1991 list, click here.
We moved Victoria and our cat Lucy up to Ottawa from Toronto, as well as the majority of my stuff, at the end of July 2001. I remained in Toronto to close up the rental store I was running at the time and moved up at the end of August. Pretty much right away, I started in at my new job with Enbridge gas and Victoria started her master’s studies. Victoria had a few friends but I didn’t really know anyone. She was almost immediately immersed and busy in her studies so I was left to my own devices quite a bit. And since we weren’t exactly rich either, I stuck around the house quite a bit, reading or surfing the Internet, searching for new music. And I spent hours doing this last.
It was during these hours of searching and surfing that I came across Lupine Howl. It probably won’t surprise you that it was the fact that the band was formed by ex-members of Spiritualized that first attracted my attention. There are plenty of stories about how it went down but apparently Jason Pierce sacked bassist Sean Cook, guitarist Mike Mooney, and drummer Damon Reece after the gruelling tour in support of “Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space”. (You might remember that this was my number one album in my best albums of 1997 list.) The trio quickly formed a new band and got right to work writing new material.
“Vaporizer” was released as a single in 2000 but appeared on their debut album, “The carnivorous lunar activities of Lupine Howl”, in 2001. It is also the first song I heard by the band and caught my ear right away. Partially because it actually sounded nothing like Spiritualized but also because it is catchy as all get out. The sound is psych rock but not spacey. Instead, they look back in time, manifesting a funk and jive. It’s got a grooving bass line and funky guitar flourishes. It’s a song for sunglasses and cruising the mean streets real slow, the windows open and the volume cranked.
It’s one of those songs that begs repeat listens so I have played it and continue to play it in bunches. Enjoy.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 2001 list, click here.
My (life in) music lists 