Favorite Albums: 150 - 149

So, it's the first post of the new list, and I'm already contradicting myself. In the intro, I said I'd only be doing one album per post, but... well... One album per post, three posts per week, 150 albums equals fifty weeks before this list is done. Yeah, not taking until the end of next January to finish it. Therefore, I'll be doing 2 albums per post. 25 weeks is a lot more doable, plus with how bored I get sometimes I may do more than 3 posts a week.
Oh, and the reason I've started this as a separate blog from the songs list is just to keep it separate, really. Give it its own feel and character, if you will.
So here's how this one's going to work. I will do a basic review of the album, then share videos of what I think are the 3 best songs on that album. Was going to do 5, but not with 2 albums per post. I'll still list the 5 best, but only put videos for the top 3. Other than that, same basic rule applies - they have to be albums I actually own. Other than that, live albums, greatest hits albums, studio albums, soundtracks - all fair game. And away we go.

150. Hack by Information Society (1990)

This album is actually kind of a mess. The debut Information Society album had a couple decently popular singles, "Walking Away" and "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)," but they kind of fucked around on this album too much to let the several good songs shine. "Think," the only song that got much radio time at all, is a pretty groovy dance tune that would have fit very well on the debut, and "Come With Me" and "How Long" could have done quite well as singles if it weren't for the massive overproduction of the album in general.
The biggest problem with this album is the lack of focus. It seems like they couldn't decide if they wanted to be a techno band or a pop band, so they just kind of fused the two to the point where they don't even sing on about a third of the songs, instead just using samples and repetitive hooks.
Also a problem is that the entire album is a bit cluttered with little filler pieces between nearly every song, stuff ranging from computer samples (still a hot-shit kind of thing in the late '80s/early '90s) to fake radio ads to random babble. However, in the end, it's still a fun album to throw on every once in a while. Just wouldn't be able to listen to it daily.
5 best songs:
5. "If Only"
4. "Chemistry"
3. "Slipping Away"
2. "Come With Me"
1. "How Long"

"Slipping Away"
Not the best quality, since it's live, but not the worst either.


"Come With Me"
Same here.


"How Long"
And again. At least this one's from '91, when he was still skinny. Ha.


149. Wah Wah by James (1994)

This was another cluster fuck type album. Basically, while James were in the studio recording Laid, producer Brian Eno decided to try capturing the band in a more intimate setting, pretty much just recording their jam sessions in studio. The result is... interesting. There are 23 songs on the album, varying in length from 4 seconds (seriously) to almost seven minutes. Some of them are full songs, but most are just little experiments. There's even one song, called "Laughter," that is, indeed, just 30 seconds of someone laughing with a hint of guitar in the background.
Throughout the whole album, though, you can hear hints and echos of songs either from Laid itself or later albums. The most obvious is the song "Tomorrow." It shows up in a pretty raw, and much more powerful, form here, then again on Laid's follow up, Whiplash. One of the highlights on Wah Wah is "Pressure's On." It is one of the few completed songs, and could have fit in very well on Laid. "Say Say Something" is a companion to the song "Say Something" that appeared on Laid. "Bottom Of the Well" was an interesting little piece that could have really been something had it been developed a little more. In the end, this could have been an absolute disaster of an album, just because it was so absurd an idea. There were two things that kept that from happening though. First, it was a pretty limited release, so there wasn't too much money going into it. Second, it was actually really good, overall. It may have had its fair share of "what the hell" type moments, but, really, what albums don't? Very good stuff.
5 best songs:
5. "Frequency Dip"
4. "Jam J"
3. "Bottom Of the Well"
2. "Pressure's On"
1. "Tomorrow"

Couldn't find videos for songs 3-5, so there are only two videos for this album.
"Pressure's On"


"Tomorrow"
Again, this is the version off Whiplash, not Wah Wah. He messes up the words too much in live versions, though.