Outshined (Soundgarden) (LP 3836 - 3841)

Soundgarden  Badmotorfinger (CD, A&M Records, 1991) ***** 

Soundgarden  Superunknown (CD, A&M Records, 1994) *****

Soundgarden  Live on I-5 (CD, A&M Records, 2011) ***

Soundgarden  King Animal (CD, Vertigo Records, 2012) ****

Soundgarden  Live from the Artist's Den (2CD, Universal Records, 2019) *** 

Soundgarden  A-Sides (CD, A&M Records, 1997) ***** 

Genre: Grunge, rock, Heavy Metal

Places I remember: Music shop in Nelson, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Outshined (Badmotorfinger)

Gear costume: Holy Water (Badmotorfinger), Jesus Christ Pose (Live on I-5), Attrition (King Animal)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: This is another band that I first heard thanks to my neighbour in Nelson - Sam Sivak! Go you good thing! I fell for Soundgarden the moment I heard Outshined and then Jesus Christ Pose on a compilation he had. I immediately got the Heavy Metal/ Black Sabbath riffarama vibe.

I especially remember Badmotorfinger forming the soundtrack as I worked on the Waimean magazine with Peter Joyce and Sam's sister - Leda at Waimea College in the early nineties. I played it a lot!

As well as the two mentioned above, there are so many other great songs on it: Rusty Cage, Holy Water, Searching with My Good Eye Closed, Drawing Flies...A nineties classic!

They retained the heaviness for the follow-up - Superunknown, but there is also a tendency to introduce some variety in approach. Fell on Black Days, Black Hole Sun, and Spoonman are almost pop! Those songs helped make this their breakthrough album. 

For me those two albums form the peak of their achievement.

It's no surprise, then, that my favourite bits of Live on I-5 (released in 2011 but recorded on a tour in 1996) come from those two albums. Thankfully they also make up much of the set!

Versions of Helter Skelter and Search and Destroy are also highlights, but the album feels just a tad sluggish - even though Chris Cornell is in fine form (when was he not?).

King Animal (2012) was their sixth studio effort and their last. Sadly, Chris Cornell died in 2016 and the band was dissolved in 2018. King Animal is a fitting tribute to his powers. It's not an immediately stunning set of songs like Badmotorfinger/ Superunknown, but it is a consistently good set of songs. It's certainly way better than Down on the Upside.

Live from the Artist's Den is a sprawling double CD set that is waaay too long (29 songs!). I get it that it's a nice memento of Chris Cornell's later years in Soundgarden (this is from 2013 so post King Animal), but I struggle to listen to this in one setting.

A better bet is the best of compilation of studio 'hits' - A-Sides (great title). In fact, the band was a great singles band - so many classic moments are on this compilation that takes in all their efforts before the band called it a day after Down on the Upside.

As AllMusic put it: Almost every one of the group's best-known songs are here, including "Hands All Over," "Loud Love," "Jesus Christ Pose," "Outshined," "Rusty Cage," "Black Hole Sun," "The Day I Tried to Live," "Spoonman," "Fell on Black Days," "Pretty Noose," "Burden in My Hand," and "Blow Up the Outside World," resulting in a near-definitive summary of one of the most important and influential bands of the '90s.

Where do they all belong? I used to have their follow up to Superunknown - Down on the Upside but I was disappointed with it, so sold it off. No regrets with that decision.

Pleasure (Soord/ Renkse) (LP 3834 - 3835)

Bruce Soord with Jonas Renkse  Wisdom of Crowds (CD, KScope Records, 2013) ***  

Bruce Soord  Bruce Soord (CD, KScope Records, 2015) ***  

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: HMV, Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: A Thousand Daggers (Bruce Soord)

Gear costume: Pleasure (Wisdom of Crowds)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: In prog circles both names are well known through their work with The Pineapple Thief and Katatonia respectively (both bands are two of my favourite prog bands - I'll get to The Pineapple Thief when I reach the T's).

Wisdom of Crowds is a collaboration between the two and its combination of electronica and prog has been described as "an album of exquisite melodies and wildly inventive arrangements... this is the sound of two supremely talented artists snatching magic from the ether" (Metal Hammer).

Bruce Soord is his first solo album proper - symbolised by that cover image of him out standing in his field (ha ha). It's a low-key debut as he has decided, quite rightly, not to replicate the sound and approach he has for The Pineapple Thief albums. In summary, it's "less intense and less dramatic than what fans of Pineapple Thief might be accustomed to, but elegant creations with a melancholic, emotional feel to them that should still come across as familiar, especially due to Soord's vocals" (Windhawk).

Where do they all belong? As I say - will get to The Pineapple Thief albums asap (I have a lot of them!)

The beat goes on (Sonny & Cher) (LP 3833)

Sonny & Cher  In Case You're In Love (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1967) ***  

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Record Fair

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Beat Goes On

Gear costume: Little Man

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I love that cover! This was a great find - a mint copy of an album from 1967 - are you kidding me?

I'm not a huge fan of either Sonny or Cher, but this album was too good to pass up, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It's largely a collection of cover songs including Stand by Me and We'll Sing in the Sunshine. 

The few songs that Sonny sings on his own don't work for me, but thc couple's sense of goofy fun comes across well throughout the remainder of the songs.  

The big hit is, of course, The Beat Goes On - it's now reached iconic status!

Where do they all belong? A fun addition.

Simple pleasures (Soaked Oats) (LP 3832)

Soaked Oats Working Title (Vinyl, Dot Dash Records, 2022) ****  

Genre: NZ Music, alt rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pink Beach

Gear costume: Day To Day 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I had this as my MNAC album of the week but the guys weren't too impressed. 

It was fun listening to this and spotting the influences. In the end I think I came up with Britpop (as influenced by Revolver era Beatles) mixed with Kraut-rock, New Order style synth pop, and Lou Reed - all put into a blender so that what emerges is something like a Dunedin version of Tame Impala.

I liked a lot of things about the album - helps that I love to varying degrees all those individual influences, and only two tracks became ones I skipped on the third run through.

It's a sign of a good album that I changed my mind a number of times around which track to feature- The Way It Works, Something, Headline Opinion, Simple Pleasures and Day To Day (great closing track) were all in the running but I went with Pink Frost. Sorry - Pink Beach.

Call me crazy but apart from the title which alludes to it - I heard echoes of that kiwi classic in the music and that guitar.

Those two tracks I skipped? Third track, Divide Symbol, which kills the momentum and Daemon is a lengthy indulgence which tries to be deep and meaningful but is just tedious.

So, a four-star triumph, even if I added the extra star to reward the Soaked Porridge blokes (I think they are all blokes) for being adventurous with that cocktail of influences and daring to venture into new sonic pastures.

Where do they all belong? An interesting Kiwi blend.

Hands open (Snow Patrol) (LP 3831)

Snow Patrol  Eyes Open (CD, Polydor Records, 2006) ****  

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Morrisons

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Chasing Cars

Gear costume: Open Your Eyes, You're All I Have

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: For me, their best album (and I used to have them all). This is the only album I kept during a purge a few years back.

Mr Lightbody's vocals are perfect on this album, and the melancholy is balanced with wide eyed presence. It contains the classic Chasing Cars that everyone knows, but each of the songs are worthy. When I lived in the UK this album was massive and, fittingly, I bought it from the local Morrisons supermarket. That just seemed appropriate really. 

Gary Lightbody's vocals are so warm/comfortable and the production is of high quality. It's a great package.

Where do they all belong? I won't be adding to the Snow Patrol collection. This one, however, has earned its place.

Man from Mars (Shade Smith) (LP 3830)

Shade Smith Our World (CD, Frenzy Music, 2022) ****  

Genre: NZ Music, pop 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Man from Mars

Gear costume: Our World

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Legends of NZ music don't come much more, erm, legendary, than John 'Shade' Smith. I think of him as NZ's Brian Wilson. For Shade, his Beach Boys was The Rumour (we'll get to them in the T's eventually).

Shade provided the enigmatic songs for this band of harmonic generators. But he also had a solo side, like Brian.

Our World is his latest solo album. A digital only album - Optimistic Sun, came out in 2019, and Our World continues the idea of covering one of his world famous in NZ songs. On Optimistic Sun it was Sunshine Through a Prism. Our World has a new take on L'Amour Est L'Enfant De La Liberte.

Although shortish, only ten songs, it's a beautiful album - full of his customary warm, pop hooks, fine singing and calmness.

Where do they all belong? I have all of The Rumour's albums but always on the lookout for Shade Smith items.

Strange stars (Forenzics) (LP 3829)

Forenzics  Shades and Echoes (Vinyl, Warner Music, 2021) ***  

Genre: NZ Music, alt pop, art rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Chances Are

Gear costume: Abandoned

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I went to JB Hi Fi on my birthday to find a record and this one leapt out at me from the under $30 bin (I like a bargain).

Tim Finn and Eddie Rayner are of course well-known names in Nu Zild, being members of Split Enz back in the day. This album reunited the pair along with Noel Crombie (percussion and drums) for a set of new songs (written by the pair), some of which contain echoes of old Split Enz songs. It's a fun activity, listening out for them.

It works pretty well, too. Although I'm not a huge fan of Tim's spoken vocal style that he's adopted of late. Best bits are the ones with those echoes, but Eddie's band - called Double Life, also provide some stellar backing on some songs.

Where do they all belong? A nice addition to the Tim Finn collection.

Dancing barefoot (Patti Smith) (LP 3821 - 3828)

Patti Smith  CBGB's 1979 (2CD, Leftfield Media, 2021) ***  

Patti Smith  Gone Again (CD, Arista Records, 1996) ****  

Patti Smith  Peace and Noise (CD, Arista Records, 1997) **** 

Patti Smith  Gung Ho (CD, Arista Records, 2000) **** 

Patti Smith  Trampin' (CD, Columbia Records, 2004) **** 

Patti Smith  Twelve (CD, Columbia Records, 2007) **** 

Patti Smith  Banga (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) **** 

Patti Smith  Land 1975 - 2002 (2CD, Arista Records, 2002) **** 

Genre: Punk rock, alt rock, art rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records,  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: 1959 (Peace and Noise)

Gear costume: Upright Come (Gung Ho), Midnight Rider (Twelve)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: The earlier albums have been covered already: Horses to Teenage Perversity; Easter to Easter Rising; Wave to Dream of Life. Now attention turns to all the rest of her albums, starting with a recap back to 1979 and a live double recorded at CBGB's. Patti is in good form, and although her voice is showing the strains of repeated performance, she gives it her all.

I've recently read Lenny Kaye's Lightning Strikes, and he mentions CBGB's in his chapter titled New York 1975. A legendary venue and Lenny's book is warmly recommended to the blogosphere.

She kicks this clear-as-a-bell recording off with a great spindly version of Land. Other random highlights - Lenny's take on John Lennon's Cold Turkey and The Yardbird's For You Love, her telling off of an 18-year-old for smoking. 

Her return to the studio after eight years away, was Gone Again. It came with some heavy baggage as many of her close friends and family had passed away, including her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith, her brother Todd, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Sohl and Kurt Cobain.

Regardless of this, the album is an uplifting experience, as Patti deals with mortality. It sounds more like poetry set to music, rather than song lyrics and she sounds awesome!

Peace and Noise utilises the same new approach (and deals with the same territory as well) and for me it shades Gone Again. She sounds revitalised and a bit looser on this album, even the music is a bit sparser and accessible to my ears. It has a lovely single on it - 1959, as well.

Gung Ho was her final album for Arista and it's another strong effort. As AllMusic summarises: it's another handsome, shaded, and satisfying work from an artist who has reconnected with her muse. It was also the first album not to feature her on the cover - that fine looking gentleman is her father - Grant Smith. 

The band is in fine form on Gung Ho - in total command. Lenny!! He's joined by long term drummer - Jay Dee Daugherty, and new comers - Oliver Ray (guitar) and Tony Shanahan on bass. 

Next album, Trampin' also met Patti and the band's high standards. Their first album for new label, Columbia, has some terrific extended work outs - Ghandi and Radio Baghdad add up to 20 minutes plus and both are exceptional Patti Smith songs. She also provides songs that range from garage rock to poetic ballads. 

Twelve has Patti and the band working through twelve cover songs. This isn't a new concept for her - Horses starts off brilliantly with Van the man's Gloria, her concerts often featured cover versions (My Generation and others) and Wave had her take on The Byrds' So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star. 

It's a fun romp through some iconic rock songs and rock icons - Mick Jagger, Grace Slick, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Neil Young, The Beatles, Jim Morrison and others. My favourite versions on Twelve are songs originally by Nirvana, Tears For Fears and Gregg Allman.

Banga is her last album, from 2012. Its concerns are again of lofty matters. Banga's subjects are - '[the] environmental crisis, the dominion of art as man's greatest gift to the divine -- as well as its own species -- homages, elegies, and love songs, all offered with authority and tenderness' (AllMusic).

Land is a 2CD compilation from Arista. It's an excellent place to start - disc one covers songs from Horses to Gung Ho, and the package offers a number of interesting rarities for collectors on the second disc - with a selection of B sides and unreleased songs.

Where do they all belong? I have a lot of Patti's work - poetry, non-fiction books, CD's, albums, singles, bootlegs, DVDs. She is incredible. She has been a cornerstone of the collection since Piss Factory. Long may she continue.

Oh well, okay (Elliott Smith) (LP 3818 - 3820)

Elliott Smith  XO (CD, Dreamworks Records, 1998) *****  

Elliott Smith  Figure 8 (CD, Dreamworks Records, 2000) ****  

Elliott Smith  From a Basement on the Hill (CD, Anti Records, 2004) ***  

Genre: Indie pop, indie folk  

Places I remember: HMV, Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Bottle Up and Explode! (XO)

Gear costume: Better Be Quiet Now (Figure 8)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Elliott Smith was a gifted musician who tragically took his own life in 2003. He was a member of Heatmiser for five years before embarking on a solo career in 1993/94. I don't have his first few solo albums, so we start with album #4 - XO, and the first for a major label - Dreamworks.

It's a gorgeous pop record - full of great tunes with Elliott's terrific lead vocals (often multi-tracked) providing an immediate dreaminess to the sound. Those inspired Beatley harmonies are a strong factor in my appreciation as well (try I Didn't Understand for instance).

Figure 8 was the last album released in his lifetime. He described it as "more fragmented and dreamlike", so it's hard not to hear it in those terms. Aside from those amazing harmony sequences, it sounds tougher to me, rather than dreamlike, but that's just me, I guess. 

The first posthumous release was From a Basement on the Hill. Planned as a double album, it was incomplete at his death. AllMusic says:  All of his trademarks are here -- his soft, sad voice, a fixation on '60s pop, a warm sense of melancholy -- delivered in a strong set of songs that stands among his best.

It certainly is the heaviest sounding of the three.

Where do they all belong? Elliott Smith was a creative guy who suffered in his short life - drugs and depression, and his death was tragic. He'd left behind an amazing sequence of albums. I'll be on the lookout for those first four albums for comparison to these last three. Plus: Heatmiser, an interesting alt rock band, have their own catalogue that is worth looking out for.

I am one (Smashing Pumpkins) (LP 3809 - 3817)

Smashing Pumpkins  Gish  (CD, Hut Records, 1991) ***  

Smashing Pumpkins   Siamese Dream (CD, Virgin Records, 1993)  ***** 

Smashing Pumpkins   Pisces Iscariot (CD, Virgin Records, 1994) ***

Smashing Pumpkins   Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (CD, Virgin Records, 1995) ****

Smashing Pumpkins   Adore (CD, Virgin Records, 1998) *****

Smashing Pumpkins   MACHINA/The Machines of God (CD, Virgin Records, 2000) **

Smashing Pumpkins   Zeitgeist (CD, Reprise Records, 2007) ***

Smashing Pumpkins   Oceania (CD, Martha's Music, 2012) ***

Smashing Pumpkins   Monuments to an Elegy (CD, Martha's Music, 2014) **

Genre: Grunge, rock, alt rock, prog rock 

Places I remember: Music store in Nelson (up to Adore), Marbecks Records (Adore)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: 1979 (Mellon Collie)

Gear costume: Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Mellon Collie), Today (Siamese Dream)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I first heard Gish via our neighbour's eldest son - Sam Sivak, in Nelson. He had a sampler and Gish was represented. I was knocked sideways by the tuneful, heavy, melodic rock music. The drummer was amazing, the bassist was fluid, the singer was unusual, the guitars were multi-layered and riff friendly. They sounded like a cross between Black Sabbath and The Beatles. I was sold.

Turned out the band had a cool name - Smashing Pumpkins. There's a hint of violence there but also cartoon like humour in smashing a pumpkin. Gish didn't disappoint when I bought a copy in Nelson. It's not perfect - a few of the end songs don't quite hit the heights of side 1 but side 1 is brilliant.

Who are Smashing Pumpkins? Billy Corgan is the frontman on guitar, vocals, James Iha is also on guitar, D'arcy Wretzky on that fluid bass, and Jimmy Chamberlin is the drummer.  

Their second album, Siamese Dream came with a great video clip for Today - the band (or maybe just main man Billy Corgan) knew Zabriskie Point! Excellent.

Siamese Dream is a more sustained/ coherent album. Butch Vig again produces a superb collection of sounds.

Pisces Iscariot is a collection of B-sides and outtakes recorded over several years, dating back as far as 1989. Billy Corgan is a prolific guy, and it was good to get these songs out there before they got too old. It also cleared the decks for their next album and the band's creative peak.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a tour de force - an embarrassment of riches as the band takes on a variety of looks over a long double CD album (28 songs over 2 hours plus). You have to admire the ambition, cheek and reach that emanates from the album.

All that plus it had a very commercial aspect - five singles were released from it - all very different in approach. It went multi-platinum, so the appeal of the band was vast and worldwide.

Adore was made under difficult circumstances - Billy Corgan's mother died during the sessions, and he was also going through a divorce, plus Jimmy Chamberlin left over his increased heroin habit. He was replaced by various drummers and a drum machine.

Given all that, how Adore turned out so well is beyond me, but it did. In many ways it's my favourite Smashing Pumpkin's album. There is plenty of gothic darkness but it's also done in an acoustic style some of the time which gives the album a real point of difference and an overall cohesive feel. 

MACHINA/The Machines of God became a bridge too far for me. It's a concept album and typically the band were in progressive mood but I feel they over-reached this time. Jimmy was back in the band, but D'arcy was gone (replaced by Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur), and the band was in the process of breaking up at this point.

There are certainly some excellent moments on the album like single The Everlasting Gaze, but there aren't enough of them to sustain my attention, and the concept ideas are baffling to me.

Better was Zeitgeist which came after a seven-year gap (that included Zwan - we'll get to that one eventually). Only Billy and Jimmy returned for the album, and although it got a mixed response from the critics, I actually liked the more mainstream rock moves on the album.

The next album on my list is the eighth Smashing Pumpkins studio album - Oceania. By this time, Billy Corgan is the only original member - with a variety of others filling in the drums/bass/guitar support roles. 

Critics saw it as a return to form (but it doesn't sound too different to Zeitgeist to my ears). It does return to more prog metal sounds (like Siamese Dream) and the songs are marginally more memorable, but I still like Zeitgeist!

The final album on my list is their ninth - Monuments to an Elegy. It's more of a solo album though, with Corgan employing electronica again. I find it annoying - it's not like Adore, so I won't be playing this one again much.

Where do they all belong? I'm not a completist, although at one time I could have been. I certainly own a lot of their CD singles up to MACHINA/The Machines of God. But beyond that album my interest waned. So I don't own a copy of their final album - Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. Nor do I have the albums that have followed it.