October 29th
album anniversaries

Record Plant East in New York hosted the Mind Games sessions in July and August 1973, and John Lennon produced the album alone, his first without Phil Spector. He jokingly called the musicians the Plastic U.F.Ono Band; they included Jim Keltner, David Spinozza and pedal-steel player ‘Sneaky’ Pete Kleinow.

The recording came while Lennon was in difficulties with US immigration and at the start of his 18-month separation from Yoko Ono. “Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)” keeps some of his political edge, and “Nutopian International Anthem” takes its name from Nutopia, the conceptual country John and Yoko declared that April.

“The Death Side: a mirror image of where we are today; The Life Side: a vision of where we need to go.” That was how Ice Cube explained the two halves of Death Certificate, his second solo album, recorded at Paramount in Los Angeles during 1991.

Sir Jinx shared production with him, and the funk-heavy tracks sample Zapp, P-Funk and James Brown. “Steady Mobbin’” and “True To The Game” were released as singles. The album’s racially and politically charged content brought controversy as well as acclaim, and it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.

RZA produced Ironman, Ghostface Killah’s debut solo album, and its music draws heavily on blaxploitation films and soul samples. Raekwon and Cappadonna take prominent guest roles, and the lyrics carry references to the Nation of Gods and Earths, as other Wu-Tang Clan solo debuts did.

Ghostface later said he was in a poor state of mind while making the record, dealing with depression, a recent diabetes diagnosis and a close friend’s imprisonment. The sequence runs from “Iron Maiden” through tracks such as “Daytona 500” and “Motherless Child”. Ironman peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum.

Jeff Tweedy struck a deal with Reprise so that Being There, a double album, could sell at a single-album price. Wilco produced it themselves and took the title from the 1979 film. The writing turned more surreal and introspective than on A.M., partly because of changes in Tweedy’s life, including the birth of his first child.

“Misunderstood” opens the first disc, and across both discs the songs move between alternative country close to Uncle Tupelo and stranger, psychedelic material. It was the only Wilco album with steel guitarist Bob Egan, and it improved on A.M. in both sales and critical reception.

Seven studios, from Electric Lady to Sound City, and roughly three years of work went into I Don’t Live Here Anymore. Adam Granduciel produced it with Shawn Everett, and when the pandemic pushed the 2020 sessions into file-sharing, he encouraged the band to take more ownership of their parts.

Robbie Bennett improvised the synth line on “Harmonia’s Dream”, and Anthony LaMarca moved “Change” onto a driving backbeat. Lucius sing on the title track, which Everett and Granduciel ran through a Roland JC-120 amp at Sound City. “Living Proof” was the first single.

Turning 30, becoming a father and losing a friend all feed into =, which Ed Sheeran began with Johnny McDaid in Los Angeles in June 2017 and finished in July 2021. “Tides” opens with a rush of noise that stops abruptly, standing for the moment his career gave way to fatherhood.

“Bad Habits” and “Shivers” both reached number one in the UK. “Visiting Hours” was written after the death of his friend Michael Gudinski and performed at his memorial, while “Sandman” is a lullaby for his daughter, written before she was born. The album topped the charts in the UK and the US.