Madness to magnet keeps attracting me

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

#461 : For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver (2008)

Justin Vernon didn’t plan on reshaping a generation’s understanding of love-torn folk music when he retreated to the Wisconsin woods to record his first album (“I was very sad and very lonely”), but that’s exactly what happened. What’s even more staggering is the way Vernon’s Auto-Tune and falsetto-laden DIY debut, which centered around the heartsick “Skinny Love,” would reshape the contours of the pop mainstream — from Ed Sheeran and Kanye West to James Blake and Taylor Swift — for years to come.

When I first read the reviews for this album back in the day, I was fully expecting to love it but for some reason took my time to get around to listening to it.  Unfortunately, when I finally managed it, I was somewhat underwhelmed - I remember thinking it just showed how fine the line between heartbreakingly beautiful and heartbreakingly dull was.  But, if anything, time has only increased the reputation and influence of this album (and me, of course!) so I was actually looking forward to being forced to relisten to it.

And I'm pleased to say I liked it a lot more than I remembered.  "Skinny Love" was the obvious standout to me but all the tracks seemed to gel together well to give a good sense of melancholic heartache (and if you check out the Wikipedia entry for the album, the man was really not having a great time when he recorded it).  So maybe I was just in a bad mood last time I listened to it - and maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to reject it, which is unfortunately even easier to do now, despite (or maybe because of) music being much more accessible.

"Customers also listened to" Jose Gonzalez, which I can totally see but to be honest you can feel this album's influence across a wide range of artists working today - it's definitely worth checking out if you're not aware of it and I'm glad I got the opportunity to re-evaluate my opinion.

#460 : Melodrama - Lorde (2017)

Lorde was 16 when the blockbuster hit “Royals” earned her acclaim as the voice of a generation. As her second album showed, that wasn’t quite accurate — she’s more like the voice of smart, self-conscious, neurotic people of all generations. “I think that you might be the same as me/Behave abnormally,” she sings on “Homemade Dynamite.” The sound is bigger-sounding and more club-friendly than the spare sound of her 2016 debut (especially on the single “Green Light”), and she’s even more impressive on a big stage. 

And whilst we're on the subject of music I was expecting to like but underwhelmed me, let's discuss Lorde's first album.  I loved "Royals" so was looking forward to listening to the album, but I suspect you can probably guess what happened next.  And I didn't particularly like "Green Light" (too Lana Del Ray for me - who happens to be another artist I've recently re-evaluated) so I never checked out this album.  Until now...

And again, I'm pleased I did.  It is indeed a "bigger-sounding sound" (you can tell that Rolling Stone are professional wordsmiths, unlike me) and although the lyrics are sometimes a bit too "look at how fucked up I am", there's no doubting she has a fine turn of phrase ("I'll love you 'til my breathing stops.  I'll love you 'til you call the cops on me").  

"Customers also listened to" Birdy, who is someone I like and doesn't get as much attention as I feel she should.  I suspect the album would benefit from multiple listens - the Wikipedia entry on the album goes into great detail around the concepts behind the album, although I must say very little of it jumped out at me on first listen. However, whilst I liked the album, I'm not sure I feel entirely prepared to invest the time - but at least I now view Lorde more positively than I did previously.

#459 : Man On The Moon:The End Of The Day - Kid Cudi (2009)

Kid Cudi helped Kanye West shape his introspective R&B/hip-hop hybrid 808s & Heartbreak. On his debut LP, the Cleveland rapper took that sound further and deeper, merging emo and psychedelic rock with hip-hop bombast. His introspect runs the gamut from the severe depression of “Day ‘n’ Nite” to the sweet contentment of “Pursuit of Happiness,” both of which became unlikely hits. A decade after Man on the Moon, every chart is dominated by Kudi’s sad children.

I'd never even heard of Kid Cudi, which considering some of the contributors to this album (Kanye, Common) and the fact that he's toured with Lady Gaga appears to be a somewhat strange gap in my knowledge.  Either way, expectations were minimal for this album - although the description of "merging emo and psychedelic rock with hip-hop bombast" didn't exactly fill me with optimism.  

I'm pleased to say it turns out I had nothing to fear - this is a fine album indeed.  "Day'n'Nite" and "Make Her Say" are most likely to be the tracks that you've heard but the quality throughout is high.  The emo/hip-hop description is not unreasonable and it's a sound I particularly like - I'll definitely revisit this album.  "Customers also listened to" Kanye West - particularly his later albums which I'm not familiar with, so I'm looking forward to meeting them later (apparently there's a lot of Kanye on this list!).  I like Rolling Stone's comment that "every chart is dominated by Kudi's sad children" (even if they spell his name wrong!) and can totally see where they're coming from - if you have a similar Kid Cudi shaped hole in your knowledge that I used to have then I thoroughly recommend you fill it!

Well, we're on a good run here, aren't we?  I liked all of these albums - particularly since expectations were pretty low for all of them - and it's completely unreasonable to pick one of them as a winner.  So, well done to Kid Cudi and commiserations to the other two who would have easily won many of the previous rounds.

#464-462 - The win is earned for potential greatness
#458-456 - One pleasant surprise at least