(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: James Album Title: Whiplash Year released: 1997 Year reissued: 2017 Details: Double LP, Black vinyl, 180 gram
The skinny: James’s seventh studio album found itself a place at number four on the top albums of 1997 list I just wrapped a few weeks ago. The fact that I ranked it so high in a year that had so many quality releases shows highly I think of this album and how truly underrated I feel this band truly is. Always grand and deep, James is awesome and this copy of Whiplash will likely spend a lot of time on my turntable.
Pretty much whenever I hear Morrissey, I can’t help but think of my old friend John, whom I grew up alongside. I vaguely remember when his family moved into the neighbourhood, a handful of houses around the corner. We were both very young. We were in Boy Scouts together and though we went to different elementary schools and high schools, we hung out quite a bit after school and on weekends. Much later, when I was in university, he moved to Toronto too. We were housemates for a couple of years but grew apart after we all gave up the apartment and went in our separate directions. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time but will always remember that he introduced me to Morrissey. And looking back, it is obvious now that he emulated the Moz in many ways, was definitely as theatrical and put upon the image of tortured soul.
It was the “Kill uncle” CD that John first lent me, Morrissey’s second solo album. And though “Mute witness” was the first song on it that caught my ear, the song I would rewind over and over again on my cassette recorded copy of the album, “Sing your life” would grow on me to become my favourite on the album. It would also become my wife, Victoria’s gateway to Morrissey when I put it on one of the many mixed tapes I made for her in our early years together. And well, what a great tune it is, albeit slightly unrepresentative of Morrissey’s other work, given its upbeat nature. He appears to be instructing us on how to write songs, hinting that it isn’t all that hard.
“Any fool can think of words that rhyme. Many others do. Why don’t you?”
The funny thing is that I don’t think he ever used this template for his own songwriting. He definitely doesn’t just list the things he loves and loathes. Indeed, “Sing your life” might very well be his most straightforward written song, as if he was attempting a light pop song. But even here, he’s a little jaded.
“And make no mistake, my friend. Your pointless life will end.”
And oh yes, before I go, I’d be remiss and Andrew Rodriguez would have my head if I didn’t mention the rockabilly version Morrissey recorded after the fact with a different set of musicians than appeared on the album. Both are great in my opinion. Cheers.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 1991 list, click here.
Remember when I said a couple of weeks ago that there was another good reason I saw Radiohead live (and that I would get to that later)? Well, this band and this album is that other reason. I had seen Spiritualized perform at a small club a few months earlier on the same tour for this album and when I heard they were opening for Radiohead, I was sold.
In my opinion, “Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space” is one of the greatest breakup albums of all time. And though Pierce denies it, saying that most of the record was written before his breakup with Kate Radley, it has since come out that she had secretly married Richard Ashcroft in 1995. Yeah. So if you haven’t put two and two together yet, two of the best albums of 1997 (obviously, my two favourites) were directly or indirectly inspired by one woman: Kate Radley. I’ll just leave that there.
This album was lauded at the time and continues to be appreciated today. Much has been written, especially last year when celebrating its 20th anniversary, about how it is considered frontman and driving force, Jason Pierce’s masterpiece. Even he must’ve known it at the time. It was recorded relatively quickly but the production took several months, as if he knew he had to get it just right. The album is almost a symphony in its scope. The four main band members at the time (still including Kate Radley) were joined by contributions from string quartets, horn sections, gospel choirs, and even virtuoso session pianist, Dr. John. It has been performed live in full a number of times over the years, where Pierce manages to amass a massive cast of musicians on stage to recreate the album’s gigantic sound. Otherwise, plenty of electronic trickery is required.
But beneath all the madness and sounds on the album is Jason Pierce and his struggles. The emotion and insanity he imbues into the music reflects his perceived state of mind. He mixes metaphors and imagery, juggling drug addiction, religion, love, and love lost. A friend of mine from university once said to me that whenever she saw him perform live, or even just listened to this album, she just wanted to give Pierce a big hug and not let go. Indeed, for all the boldness of his compositions, he sounds so fragile when singing, like a strong gust of wind might take him down at a moment’s notice.
Yeah, so what is “Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space”? It is space rock, shoegaze, ambient, psychedelic rock, free jazz, and gospel, all packaged together in one album. It may sound scattered on paper but it works. And I’ll tell you, the two times I saw the band perform live on tour for this album, they were truly religious type experiences.
It just so happens that my three picks for you are the first three tracks on the album, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the album pales. Far from it. But these are as good a starting point as any. Enjoy.
“Come together”: It’s a droning beast. Heavy handed bass is relentless and the drums crash. Then come the wailing guitars and the crushing and ominous organs, flashes of horns, and a gospel choir somehow makes a jubilant appearance. Yes. All this happens in one song. It’s a chaotic cacophony but as ringmaster and orchestrator, Jason Pierce keeps it all together. It’s a perfect sample of this album, the structure, the sanity just seemingly on the verge of crumbling away. It’s a great tune for earphones because if you turned it up as loudly as you wanted without them, the neighbours would be complaining. Or not. I wouldn’t, if I was that neighbour.
“Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space”: The title track opens the album with the aforementioned Kate Radley saying the album’s title on the phone, presumably on an answering machine. There was a lot of conjecture and rumour about whether or not this was a real message left for Pierce but I think that would have been too much really. The song itself is a beauty. Lush strings play with Quindar tones while Pierce sings different lines and melodies in round. It sounds space age and classical (specifically, Pachelbel’s Canon) at the same time. Original versions had Pierce merging in parts of Elvis Presley’s “I can’t help falling in love with you” but they were taken out at the behest of Presley’s estate, though he usually adds them back in when performed live. Either way, it doesn’t get much more heart rending than this.
“I think I’m in love”: I don’t know how true it is but I’ve heard the only reason Jason Pierce let The Chemical Brothers remix this track was to somehow prove to them that the perfectly timed drum beat that wends through the song’s back end was recorded live, not by a machine. And while it is remarkable, that rhythm is only one piece of this fantastic masterpiece. Its eight minutes is divided in two parts or movements. The first is blissed out psychedelia: bass, washes, harmonicas, all floating in the ether with Pierce’s drugged up vocals. After about three minutes of this, the drums kick in and everything comes alive. Pierce’s vocals become a call and response, by turns, optimistic and cynical. “I think I can fly. Probably just falling.” So awesome. So sad. So brilliant.
In case you missed them, here are the previous albums in this list:
My (life in) music lists 