October 26th
album anniversaries

Bill Summers is credited with beer bottle on “Watermelon Man”, one of many percussion sounds on Head Hunters. The album was recorded in evening sessions in September 1973 at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur in San Francisco, produced by Herbie Hancock and David Rubinson.

Hancock plays Fender Rhodes, clavinet and ARP synthesisers, with Bennie Maupin on reeds, Paul Jackson on bass and Harvey Mason on drums. The four tracks open with the fifteen-minute “Chameleon”. The record peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200 and was added to the National Recording Registry in 2008.

John Leckie produced The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories, Felt’s third album, and Record Collector’s review notes how his production puts Lawrence’s vocals at the front. The ten tracks last under 28 minutes, and three of them, “Sempiternal Darkness”, “Imprint” and “Crucifix Heaven”, are instrumentals.

“Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow” had appeared as a single in July 1984, in a version different from the one heard here. The same review hears pop immediacy across the record and picks out “Dismantled King Is Off the Throne”, alongside that single, as songs that sound like potential hits.

“No Ordinary Love” went out as the lead single a month before Love Deluxe and opens the album at more than seven minutes. Sade recorded across four studios, Condulmer in Venice, Ridge Farm in Surrey, The Hit Factory in London and Image Recording in Los Angeles, with Mike Pela as co-producer.

“Feel No Pain”, “Kiss of Life” and “Cherish the Day” followed as singles into 1993, and the nine songs end with “Mermaid”. The album reached number one in France and number three on the Billboard 200, with its American release arriving on 3 November 1992.

Written for Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 film, Suspiria was arranged and produced by Thom Yorke with Sam Petts-Davies over about a year and a half. The London Contemporary Orchestra and Choir perform on it, with sessions at AIR Lyndhurst in Hampstead.

“Suspirium” was released first, in September 2018, and Consequence described it as the melodic theme that recurs through the film and score. “Has Ended”, “Open Again” and “Unmade” followed as singles, and Yorke’s son Noah plays drums on “Has Ended” and “Volk”.

Recorded in Milan at Officine Meccaniche and The Sound of Violins, Il ballo della vita is Måneskin’s debut studio album, produced by the band with Fabrizio Ferraguzzo. It mixes Italian and English lyrics, and “New Song”, “Fear for Nobody” and “Close to the Top” are among the five sung in English.

“Morirò da re”, the first single from March 2018, closes the twelve tracks, while “Torna a casa” followed a month before the album. Three more singles came out through 2019, including “L’altra dimensione” and “Le parole lontane”, and the record reached number one on the Italian albums chart.

Phù Sa studio in Hanoi, Vietnam, is where Unknown Mortal Orchestra recorded IC-01 Hanoi in 2017, after the music grew out of sessions for Sex & Food. Ruban Nielson plays guitar, Kody Nielson drums and Jake Portrait bass, while Ruban’s father, Chris Nielson, adds saxophone, flugelhorn and keyboards.

Minh Nguyen brings the đàn môi, sáo mèo and trống thanh into the sessions. The seven pieces are simply numbered, from “Hanoi 1” to “Hanoi 7”, and the longest, “Hanoi 6”, runs close to ten minutes. The whole album lasts just over 28 minutes.