This month we taxed our Picky Bastards team with thinking about the records they wish they could have been a fly on the wall for, the albums or songs that have always filled them with wonder and made them think about how they came to be. You can read what we chose below, but please share yours in the comments, too:
Rick Larson – The Clash, Sandinista!
he easy pick here would be London Calling in which the band didn’t just flirt with perfection, but romanced, married and settled down with it. London Calling is the greatest punk/rock album. But, the circumstances of writing and recording Sandinista in 1980, specifically the first stint at Electric Lady in Greenwich Village, make it my time-travel choice. Still humming from a lengthy international tour, the band took no holiday but immediately decamped to NYC, booking three weeks at the Hendrix-built studio. The studio became for that brief time a vibrant salon for a NYC scene that, among other things, was in the process of inventing hip-hop. Joe Strummer almost never left, sleeping under the piano. Strummer also had installed a “spliff bunker” in one corner of the studio where the band and many visitors could hang without blowing smoke on the engineer or spilling wine on his board. That bunker also became a creative crucible for an album that was written on the fly. The band members were all musical omnivores. Mick Jones in particular had a genius for arranging disparate elements—punk, dancehall, rock, New Orleans blues, reggae, dub, hip-hop– into what could only be Clash songs. Listen to a recording of Professor Longhair performing the standard ‘Junco Partner’ then listen to The Clash’s strange but appealing version.
Love it or hate it, Sandinista! sounds like nothing else. There is an echo-y dub atmosphere that pervades the whole thing, not just the straight dub tracks of which there are a few. London Calling sounded so immediate and proximate. Sandinista! sounds like it was beamed from a parallel, but obtuse universe. Reggae pioneer Mikey Dread was in the studio, stirring this pot. Most thrillingly, Strummer and Jones took the rhymes and beats they heard on the sidewalks and came up with ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ The band ventured into Grandmaster Flash’s territory and not only didn’t embarrass themselves but came out with a stone cold classic that still betters any rock/rap hybrid that came after.
The album was largely scorned critically in England, but embraced in the U.S. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice said, “If this is their worst—which it is, I think—they must be, er, the world’s greatest rock and roll band.” They were and are.
Joe Hoare – David Bowie, Let’s Dance
An age-old concern of musicians is where to place themselves on the continuum between the avant-garde and the commercial. How do you even measure success for yourself? Do you care more about achieving your artistic aims or the success of your work… or a mixture between the two? A man you may never have thought had contended with that question was David Bowie. He had been commercially successful. By 1980, he had 4 UK No. 1 albums and a US No.1. However, a lot of his work in the late 70s – his “Berlin years” – were an acquired taste. He wanted more: a global sensation. That is when he approached Nile Rodgers, of Chic fame, with the simple instruction – “I want to make a hit”.
Nile Rodgers was well-placed to help following huge success as a member of Chic whilst also producing Sister Sledge’s “We are family” and Diana Ross’ “diana” amongst others. He recalls Bowie approaching him with a 12-string guitar and the basic riff of what eventually became the song “Let’s Dance”.
As a massive fan of both Bowie and Rodgers, watching them collaborate would be intriguing and also historic. The album is anchored in distinctly Bowie-esque riffs and, of course, his vocals. But Rodgers brings the funk-pop in bucket-loads – keys, saxes, bass riffs, and backing vocals take Bowie’s work to different places. Watching the development of the arrangements (most of which are incredibly expansive) from simple riffs would be amazing. And being a fly on the wall whilst two masters of their craft work together would be a privilege. Was there ever tension about the sound? How much trust did Bowie put in Rodgers? Did he ever feel uncomfortable about how “pop” some of it sounded?
Ultimately, Bowie’s trust was repaid – and Let’s Dance became his most successful album.
Kate Burke – Boygenius, Boygenius
Out of morbid curiosity, I originally thought that I would have loved to be fly on the wall when Fleetwood Mac made Rumours. However, having been in bands with exes and had songs written about me (some more complimentary than others), I think my sensitive heart would not cope and I’d end up requiring an intervention. And that’s not to mention being in California in the 70s, which would likely need an intervention in itself.
Instead, I’d like to choose the 2018 Boygenius EP, Boygenius. I was already a fan of Phoebe Bridges and Julien Baker, and I’m thrilled to have been introduced to Lucy Dacus by this means, too. When I was on maternity leave with my daughter, NPR Tiny Desk Concerts got me through a lot of sleepless nights (and days!) and their performance in November 2018 was quietly beautiful, wearing matching / customised blazers, shyly swaying, and I was hooked. Watching each of the members’ careers blossom since has been incredibly well deserved. And while I am sure that seeing The Record be made (only five years later!) would be so much fun, witnessing three of my favourite artists come together for the first time to produce an EP in just four days, would pip it to the post.
Lisa Whiteman-Pearce – Fontaines DC, Dopamine Chamber
Augustines, bound to be isnt it? James, particularly Whiplash…surely? Nope, neither. I have surprised myself here. But, before I share that shock about, there are *obviously* hundreds of records I’d have loved to have seen made – including the aforementioned – but, I am calling Fontaines DC, Dopamine Chamber.
“What? You mad woman it’s not even out yet”. Have you managed to get an advance copy, maybe after spilling your KPOP soul?”. Neither of those things, I haven’t heard it people. I didnt even ‘get’ them properly until the last record. But, this is a band who’ve gone from opening up for Idles before Idles went large, to plonking themselves in Cardiff’s Blackweir Fields in front of 35,000 people who are predominantly younger than me, very quickly. This record feels critical: they are teetering on the cusp of genius with the potential to be around a looooong time, but if it goes too far, for example if the tracksuits AND loafers* combo isnt just stagewear and it made the studio, they may fall backwards into their own arses**.
I hope for the former, I fear for the latter, I’ll be in Blackweir next year. I need to know what they wore recording Dopamine Chamber, because it’ll tell me more than the music.
Thank you.
*Only Warren Ellis can do this
**AKA “doing a Kings Of Leon”.
Fran Slater – Radiohead, Kid A
Love them or hate them (and sadly there are probably more Bastards in the hate column than the love column these days), it is hard to argue that Kid A was not only a massive about turn for Radiohead, but also one of the biggest leaps in musical history.
As a The Bends and OK Computer addict, I remember the first time I listened to Kid A. Or, I should say, the first time I listened to half of it before giving up and retiring to a corner to cry.
What happened to my beloved band?
Later years would see me grow to appreciate it, then to love it, then to see it as the moment that the band went from good to truly special. This was such a daring move, so bold, so creative, that I have always wanted to know what the conversations that led to it were like. Who was pissed off? Who got it straight away? Who led the charge for this monumental change?
And then what happened when they came to recording? Going from a band that rocked out on guitars, to one that was using all manner of matter to make their sound – I would just love to have been there to see it all come together.
Kid A is not my favourite Radiohead album. It might not even be in my top 3. But it is the most important moment in the history of the band that are, to me, the most important band of my lifetime.
