My Life In Records

There are not that many albums I like to put on then put on again, and again after that. Ghost's darts were so sharp on here its incredible. Some of the best street tales ever told and a part of my mindset at the time as I was finally saying goodbye to certain people who couldn’t leave the street shit alone. It was like I knew the music was the way forward and the little career I had could be pushed enough to actually be able to eat from it. Ghost seemed to have that same approach, the big brother who had seen it all before. Apollo kids just gave you that stepped in the right frequency feeling. Even the skits were killing it, the same conversations we were having were right there on wax, 'who would you rather fuck?'  His delivery was so on point too showing how a higher register MC can still come off with authority. A very big album for me at that time indeed.  

The whole album is just sick. It was the obvious sound of a group fully becoming themselves. The songwriting had gone to such a level that it just seemed to be speaking to me about my life at the time. It was like we both could leave behind the Creep era and be able to see a little more. I was in a relationship at the time where we almost used to compete with music. I had Pablo Honey. She had The Bends. I had OK Computer so it was obvious who was winning. There was a lot of stuff we sat and listened to together and this album has some good times with it.  Melancholy but not totally depressing overcast days spent laying in bed listening and speaking in math.

A song that you just couldn’t avoid. wherever you went it was there. It was also a song I just really really fucking hated so much. It sickened me in such a way I’m surprised I didn’t hurt somebody. From the obviously madly overdubbed crap singing to the amount of times she said the word Lucky to the saccharine hallmark sweetness of the cardboard music, it was not all good in the hood. This was one of those times where the phrase ‘Pop Music' came to mean shitty commercial music that you can't hide from. I think even actors from those old 40's musicals would call it cheesy. It defined so much of what I was against in music from the ubiquity of someone who couldn’t sing or dance that well to how successful it was despite its awfulness. I’m so glad she managed to learn to sing better and make some decent tunes or else the crime rate might have increased.

I was enthralled in a way that I had never been before with this group and Bjork herself. From the coded words of veiled sexuality to the thin but powerful voice and music I was in a new world. I used to zone out to these tunes and a friend of mine would always joke that I liked her even though she was so different to any woman I had liked before. I think I kind of did. It was one of the first times I realised that a voice like this could be soulful. For me soul was entwined in the life, struggles and expressions of Black peoples and just the way we are. This was a time where I felt something a lot colder and less rhythmic but just as moving and heartfelt. Because of this I used to say that she could and should sing pretty much any style. Maybe I should have been an A&R. I have good memories of sneaking off to listen to the album and having little Sugarcube breaks in-between Hip Hop mixtape sessions.

This was a big tune for me as it was about the time I really started to buy my own records. At the same time I had also become such a massive Hip Hop head that I rarely had money or time for any other style of music. Prince was one of the only non-Hip Hop guys that I used to actually get round to purchasing. I was always a big fan but the Parade album had that strange retro French sound to it that gave the records a real different energy. It also made it such a coherent soundtrack too. With Girls and Boys it was something in the moments of French language and sax that really had a sexual and urgent sound to it. So great to sit with girlfriends and debate which tracks of the album were better. I actually have to thank Prince a lot for helping to be in touch with the female side and being able to express a little more than just aggression.

These guys really confused the hell out of me. I loved what they were saying but it didn’t seem to all make sense. I loved the fact it didn’t all make sense. I had a big interest in Rap from the first records I ever heard but it wasn’t till these guys, T-LaRock, G Rap and a few others that the wordplay became as advanced and futuristic as the music. In turn this really got me serious about writing songs myself. Their voices were so raw and unhinged yet totally convincing as local  street-level psycho scientists I wanted to travel at the Speed of Thought as well.  The break on 'Funky' was amazing in that kind of way where you found it hard to tell if the break had come from a Blues, Jazz, Gospel or even an old Reggae record. They had a great knack for using breaks before everyone else that didn’t become fully apparent till the Hip-House explosion started using the same breaks too. The first album was so much more of the same, genre defining business.

From the beginning screams it’s such a bugged out track. The lyrics had that message thing in there too with the don’t 'lower your standards' thing. Again another one where the video was big in its impact. Even though I already liked The Ants this promo had me doing the dance at a local disco with the girls. With most of the guys being a bit scared to dance it was a good way to interact with girls. Even his dress sense was bugged, only he Prince and Rick James were really killing the Pirate-Gent look. Respect yourself and others but always be yourself. Ridicule is nothing to be scared of. 

Where to begin with this album? So many influences and all of them working overtime. For me, I always imagine this as being the creme of the downtown meets uptown New York scenes. ‘Once in a Lifetime’ was something I didn’t take in till I saw the video. That was one of the first things that I would have called a 'Pop video'. I thought he was a crazy Indian guy with some kind of nervous condition. I didn’t know it was a performance. ‘Seen and Not Seen’ as well as ‘The Heat Goes On’ stayed in my head with me sometimes picking out the different parts. Sometimes I thought how Jazzy it was and other how poppy.  Then it would all come together again. I think it was one of the first records where my friends realised I liked 'weird' music.

Maybe the first protest song that struck a chord with me. I didn’t get all of it for years but the fire was certainly felt. Also it was one of only a few Marley tunes where you could hear the others take a turn at lead with Peter Tosh's voice coming into the mix. This was one of those tune that sort of gave you some backbone in situations with the police and others who seemed to be against us. Some of the words or rhythm would take over as you realised you were going to be caught up in a situation. “Preacher man don't tell me that Heaven is under the Earth“. A jewel in a great crown of work.

This song was one of the first songs I can remember because of it's repetition. I used to sing it out all the time, 'Blood, blood, blood and fiyah, blood and fiyah'. A real big skanking kinda tune. It was so good and the closest I could would be allowed to actual swearing. As hard  and big as the music was you had the added extra of it being a seven inch so just playing and playing it again was mad easy.  And then when you almost got tired of the song, you turned it over and listened to the version which was... Mud and Water. The fun never ended. I’m sure my parents were happy.