Released: 1986
Tracks: The Boy in the Bubble; Graceland; I Know What I Know; Gumboots; Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes; You Can Call Me Al; Under African Skies; Homeless; Crazy Love, Vol. II; That Was Your Mother; All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints
Best track: You Can Call Me Al
Track to skip: none!
Somehow I picked this and Peter Gabriel’s
So for review back to back. I talked about the whole “world music” thing on the So review, so I won’t go into it here as much. Didn’t this win the Grammy for Album of the Year in ’86? I think it did. Yup, it totally deserves it. While for my ears it’s not the best thing to come out in 1986 (my all time favorite album came out the same year) I’d say it’s second best. And since this was popular and Somewhere in Time wasn’t noticed by the mainstream, I’ll happily accept Graceland’s Album of the Year win.
This is another of those albums, like Bob Marley’s Legend and Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, that I think everyone should own. Eclecticism obviously has something to do with it, but it goes past that. The songs and performances and bounce and overall feeling really make Graceland essential. All the songs on here are great and this is a fantastic album. It’s really hard to pick a best track as they’re all excellent, but I chose You Can Call Me Al probably because of the cool half forwards/half backwards bass solo. That’s cool as hell. Just go buy this thing and smile.
Rating: 97
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