Sound of The Week: Albums

So, this week I've been listening to one artist overall above all else: The Velvet Underground. I first heard some tracks from The Velvet Underground & Nico a few months ago and I didn't know what to make of it. Much like Hounds of Love by Kate Bush it was a challenging listen on first play, but there was a mystique about the music that made me want to explore it further. I guess that was Lou Reed's voice initially; I've heard his Transformer album and I think its a great album. A few weeks ago my interested in Velvet Underground restarted when I heard the track Rock and Roll (I'm actually listening to it now as I type this post). It was a brilliant and addictive song and I decided to get their greatest hits; which I fortunately found last week at the record fair. I've been playing it non stop all week! With the exception of I Heard Her Call My Name I love every song on it already. My favourites being Herion, Rock and Roll, I'm Beginning To See The Light and Some Kinda Love. It's just a brilliant listen. I've managed to listen to two of their albums so far too, these being The Velvet Underground and The Velvet Underground & Nico. I've really enjoyed both so much too, I've got a strong feeling The Velvet Underground are going to become one of my all time favourite bands!

Honourable mention: I also this week finally listened to my copy of Nirvana's live album From The Muddy Banks of The Wishkah. A brilliant album and this is coming from someone who doesn't tend to listen to live albums so often. There's so much energy in the performances compiled on the CD though, absolutely brilliant and I prefer that version of Smells Like Teen Spirit to the studio version. For new albums I've heard the best one this week has to be Little Boot's brilliant second offering, called Nocturnes and scheduled for release tomorrow. Check it out electronic/synthpop fans!

In terms of re listens, I also played Madonna's Music album. This was always one of my least favourite Madonna albums... until now. I'm not even sure why it was one of my least favorite Madonna albums really. I think its because the album does have a weird schizophrenic electronic acoustic hybrid. Truth be told I'm no great lover of acoustic style material: albums in this vein tend to always be my lesser played albums of artists even if I'd consider the artist an all time favorite. That said, I love how there's a variety of electronic sounds to be heard on Music: Electropop on the title track, slightly trance sounds on Runaway Girl and triphop on What It Feels Like For A Girl. The latter two tracks in particular I have a new found love for. Its definitely becoming one of my favorite Madonna albums now!