The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project

Lee Newman said:
3/4/24
View attachment 196802Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet



www.allmusic.com

Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy | Album | AllMusic

Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy released in 1990. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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This was the first hip hop album I bought alongside Pauls Boutique in the early 90s. I still have my og vinyl of this from 1990, although I’ve sadly lost my Pauls Boutique. I found both Public Enemy and Beastie Boys through my love for thrash metal (Anthrax and Slayer) as a kid, and that probably opened the doors to rap and hip hop for me. Haven’t listened to this in a long time though so this will be fun!
 
This is still great! It sounds like pure energy. What stood out to me today is how totally insane the production by the Bomb Squad is. Like, I totally get why Sonic Youth referenced and collaborated with them. Sonically, this has just as much in common with 80s New York art- and noise rock as it has with hip hop of the era.

”It takes a nation…” might be a better album per se, but this will probably always have a special place in my heart.
 
….and I dug out my CD with Trout Mask Replica (don’t remember why or when I got it), aaand…..no. Still don’t understand it (or any other Captain Beefheart for that matter). But there is something there. I just can’t get hold of it long enough to understand it before I go mental.
 
This was the first rap album I ever bought on CD. I bought it at some big book store in Alexandria Virginia when I was at my grandfather’s for the summer. I had just gotten my first cd player the Christmas before and had it hooked to an all in one Magnavox system that my parents used to have. It was some bargain dime store player and had a hinged vertical door like a cassette player and a window on the cover let you see the cd spin. I had been listening to rap since LL, Run DMC, and the Beasties broke. I believe a cassette of 3 Feet High was my first rap purchase. But this was the first thing, mostly on the strength of Welcome to the Terrordome, that I felt was worth the premium of the CD over cassettes or vinyl which was much cheaper at the time. Apocalypse is my sentimental favorite though as that was the first tour I saw them on and was introduced to Tribe as a result. I’m fairly certain I had a very small collection of CDs at this time, an Uncle had given me Sting - The Soul Cages and Boston - Third Stage. I had bought Sargent Pepper which blew my little high school mind. This was just as mind blowing.
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Lee Newman said:
3/5/24

View attachment 196857
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted



www.allmusic.com

Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement | Album | AllMusic

Slanted and Enchanted by Pavement released in 1992. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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Now we’re talkin’! One of my all time favorites by one of my all time favorites.

This band basically encapsulates everything I love about Indie Rock. Noisy but with a pop sensibility. They are really good musicians but play like they are just fucking around.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
Best Fall album ever. 5/5
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I've never really got hooked on The Fall for some reason. I can absolutely hear the similarities and I don't really dislike the Fall, but I just don't love them the way I do Pavement. Could be a generational thing, as I heard Pavement first and therefore have them as a touchstone for The Fall and not the other way around?
 
Whiteout75 said:
I've never really got hooked on The Fall for some reason. I can absolutely hear the similarities and I don't really dislike the Fall, but I just don't love them the way I do Pavement. Could be a generational thing, as I heard Pavement first and therefore have them as a touchstone for The Fall and not the other way around?
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Just me being a smarty pants.

I really only hear The Fall on Two States. Sometimes Malkumus’ slacker singing style sounds like Mark E Smith but not overtly and sometimes he did it more as a joke
 
I remember this being a big deal when it came out in college. I never really spent a whole lot of time with it. It strikes me on first listen last night as a less focused Sonic Youth combined with the hooks of say later Bob Mould. Not a bad thing at all. Wish I had paid more attention to it when it came out and in the last 30+ years since. Oh well, no time like the present. I think I may have pulled this in the solo and the wife HATED it. I’ll give it another listen this evening.
 
Slanted and Enchanted may be the best album by Pavement (or ever made, depending on day and mood), but the best release is the "Watery, Domestic" EP that came out later the same year, and naturally a perfect companion. The guitar sound and playing on "Texas Never Whispers" and "Frontwards" is pure 🔥

 
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