CLASSIC ALBUMS: The Breeders - Last Splash (1993)

1. New Year
2. Cannonball
3. Invisible Man
4. No Aloha
5. Roi
6. Do You Love Me Now ?
7. Flipside
8. I Just Wanna Get Along
9. Mad Lucas
10. Divine Hammer
11. S.O.S.
12. Hag
13. Saints
14. Drivin' On 9
15. Roi (reprise)

This is certainly one of the classic indie albums of the 1990's, the second studio album by The Breeders, featuring Kim Deal in the best of her post-Pixies incarnations. This album is most famous for its second track, the gorgeous indie classic Cannonball, which is definitely the best track on the album. But Last Splash isn't a one-track pony either. As a matter of fact, there isn't a bad track on it.

Cannonball is one of the more core commercial tracks, but there are also a few other very catchy songs on the album. I Just Wanna Get Along (very MC5 in parts), Divine Hammer and Flipside are among the best of these, although the others are pretty good also.

There are also a number of excellent weirder or heavier mood pieces, which grow on you with repeated listens. Roi is my favourite of these, although I quite liked Do You Love Me Now?, New Year, S.O.S., Invisible Man (very Jesus & Mary Chain) and No Aloha.

Even my least favourite tracks on the album such as Mad Lucas, Drivin' On 9 and Hag are pretty decent tracks. Overall, a very good album.

MUSIC BIOGRAPHY: Blondie - Parallel Lives

I haven't posted to this blog in a while, so I reckon it's time to get the ball rolling again. So far, I've been posting about my favourite songs and albums, so this time I'll do something a little different. Over the Christmas holiday period, I picked up the following book in a local bookstore:

BLONDIE: PARALLEL LIVES by Dick Porter and Kris Needs (trade paperback, Omnibus Press, London, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-78305-746-7)

PARALLEL LIVES is billed as (on the back cover blurb) as "the definitive biography of BLONDIE, the iconic New York band led by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein", and is based on interviews with Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and drummer, Clem Burke. The book has come about as a result of what was to be an ongoing friendship between co-author Kris Needs and the band, which began during their first UK tour in 1977.

The book is centred around the relationship between Harry and Stein, through all the personal and financial problems, right up to the present day - despite all those problems, Blondie are still going strong. It gives a great background picture of the crazy New York rock scene of the Seventies which is worth the price of the book alone.

Fascinating book, and highly recommended for all Blondie fans.