Ambition makes you look pretty ugly

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

#43 : The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest (1991)

“We wanted the longevity of Earth, Wind, and Fire, and Prince, and people of that nature,” Phife Dawg told Rolling Stone. “We wanted to be known for full-length albums.” Other people connected the dots between hip-hop and jazz , but A Tribe Called Quest’s second album drew the entire picture. The sound is dominated by the low end of the title — they even recruited legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter (who’d worked with Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis). As Carter gets dope on the double bass, the Tribe discourse on matters ranging from the music industry (“Show Business”) to sexual politics (“The Infamous Date Rape”). Each time Q-Tip rhymes over Carter’s bass lines, the groove just gets deeper.

Our second visit with the Tribe from St Albans (no, not that one) and last time I liked the fact that they weren't so obsessed with shooting people or effing them bees, but I found it a bit dull - and I'm not sure the description above gave me any great expectations that things were going to improve.  But actually, I think I preferred this one - although they went overboard on the double bass a little too much for my tastes.  It reminded me a lot of De La Soul with the same bouncy delivery of reasonably intelligent lyrics with accessible refrains - "What?" was the only track that really stood out for me on first listen though.  Will I ever listen to it again?  No - but I didn't hate it either.  "Infamous Date Rape" gets a mention for being the second song on this list so far to mention Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - them crazy cats are popping up everywhere! 10 points if you can remember where we saw them last time...

Wikipedia tells me that people REALLY like this album - I'm guessing that's probably going to be a theme over the rest of the list, but people really do like it a lot.  That's about all there is to say about it really - it didn't do particularly well commercially at the time but has sold a few more since it's reputation has grown.  I did like this comment about the inspiration for the lyrics - "The Low End Theory is regarded for its socially conscious lyrics, which include subjects such as relationships, date rape, the hip hop industry and consumerism. Other lyrics are devoted to word play, humor and "showing off.""  Top marks for honesty there.  Last time, I read the band's Wikipedia entry but didn't really understand any of it - and you'll be pleased to hear that 159 albums later I'm not really any the wiser.  I'd also missed this - "In 2017, the group was awarded the Brit Award For Best International Group" - this was in response to their final album, released after Phife Dawg's death.  They come across as a decent enough bunch with no room for feuds on their Wikipedia page - so I hope they're enjoying their retirement.

"Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of, but I do like the sound of Digable Planets.  Two trips with A Tribe Called Quest and I got the impression that they were a decent bunch of fellas but I never really got with their vibe, I'm afraid.

#42 : OK Computer - Radiohead (1997)

Radiohead recorded their third album in the mansion of actress Jane Seymour while she was filming Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. OK is where the band began pulling at its sound like taffy, seeing what happened, not worrying if it was still “rock.” What resulted is a slow, haunting album with unforgettable tracks such as “Karma Police.” Guitarist Jonny Greenwood said, “I got very excited at the prospect of doing string parts that didn’t sound like ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ which is what all string parts have sounded like for the past 30 years.… We used violins to make frightening white-noise stuff, like the last chord of ‘Climbing Up the Walls.’”

Reading the description above, it makes me sad when you think there are loads of kids out there with huge gaps in their education - they just won't have the faintest idea who Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman is.  How are they coping, I wonder?  Anyways, I know and like this album so was perfectly pleased at the prospect of listening to it again.

And it's an album that comes at you in waves - two cracking tracks to start with in "Airbag" and "Paranoid Android" and then you get a couple of tracks to calm you down.  The middle of this album then goes on a great run - "Let Down", "Karma Police", "Fitter Happier" - all of which really sound like they have an important message for you, if only you could understand what the fuck they were going on about.  Then a couple more to calm you down before "No Surprises" and "Lucky" kick in.  There are just loads of unusual sounds on this album - Thom's voice is always interesting, but the other members of the group step up massively here (and at no point does it sound like "Eleanor Rigby").  Although I realise it's completely subjective, I think this album is just the right level of challenge and variety whilst still remaining accessible - and the album's success suggests I'm not entirely alone in this opinion.  I also think it's an interesting evolution from The Bends - and later on we'll get to discuss what I think about what they evolved into next...

The album's Wikipedia entry is super-long and well worth a read if you like Radiohead - maybe not so much if you don't though, but you're still getting a random selection of facts here (although the breakdown of the album by track involves a frankly terrifying amount of useless information, so I'll spare you anything from that).  But what better way to start off than with a pop quiz question - "Exit Music (For a Film)" is the exit music to which film (but not included on the film's soundtrack)?  Apparently 80% of the album was recorded live - which you'd have to say it really doesn't sound like and, during the recording of this album, they took a break to tour the US, where they opened for Alanis Morissette.  I can only imagine this resulted in some very confused Alanis fans.  

Apparently "the songs of OK Computer do not have a coherent narrative, and the album's lyrics are generally considered abstract or oblique" - however, that didn't stop them spending TWO WEEKS deciding the track order.  And once they'd got it all sorted, the record label listened to it once and lowered their sales expectations from 2 million to 500,000 - it's safe to say it did slightly better than that though, selling something like 8 million copies globally.  It's interesting to note that there are several paragraphs along the lines of "Is it REALLY all that good though?" - "in a poll surveying thousands conducted by BBC Radio Six Music, OK Computer was named the sixth most overrated album "in the world"" - of the ten albums listed, we've had 5 of them (this, The Joshua Tree, Never Mind The Bollocks, Definitely Maybe and The Queen Is Dead), have 3 still to come (I'll let you know which ones if I remember when writing them up) and are thankfully spared X&Y and The Libertines (I saw The Libertines live once - it was not a good experience).

The band's Wikipedia entry is still long and impenetrable - for a successful band they're really remarkably anonymous (except for when Thom decides to have a whine about something).  I'll probably manage to extract something of interest next time we visit them because (spoiler alert) I'm not going to feel like saying much about the album.  "Customers also listened to" Ben Folds Five, Jeff Buckley, Eels and Smashing Pumpkins - now there's an odd mix if ever I saw one (the Eels album is OK though).  I'd go for this album over any of that lot though - I think there are some great noises on it.

And it was "Romeo+Juliet".

#41 : Let It Bleed - Rolling Stones (1967)

The record kicks off with the terrifying “Gimme Shelter,” the song that came to symbolize not only the catastrophe of the Stones’ free show at Altamont but also the death of the utopian spirit of the 1960s. And the entire album burns with apocalyptic cohesion: the sex-mad desperation of “Live With Me”; the murderous blues of “Midnight Rambler”; Keith Richards’ lethal, biting guitar on “Monkey Man”; the epic moralism, with honky-tonk piano and massed vocal chorus, of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” which Mick Jagger wrote on acoustic guitar in his bedroom. “Somebody said that we could get the London Bach Choir,” Jagger recalled, “and we said, ‘That will be a laugh.'”

I think we can safely say that The Rolling Stones have, for me, emerged from this exercise with most credit (with the exception of their first entry on the list) so I was looking forward to this, their penultimate entry on the list, with minimal familiarity except for "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want".  And having said that, I wasn't as familiar with "Gimme Shelter" as I thought I was - it's a cracking opening track.  And "You Can't..." is a cracking closing track - but what about all the stuff in between?  I enjoyed it - there's plenty of variation throughout the album and several of the songs feature changes rhythm or tone halfway through so they certainly like to keep you on your toes.  There is also very fine guitar work throughout (nearly all by Keith Richards apparently).  It does at times get a bit too blues and/or country for my liking, but it tends to rescue it quickly enough - and actually "Country Honk" is quite an interesting track being a country version of "Honky Tonk Women" which sounds like it would have been the starting point for the single, but actually the album came after that single.  "Let It Bleed" is also worth a mention for its particularly bizarre lyrics

I was dreaming of a steel guitar engagement
When you drunk my health in scented jasmine tea
But you knifed me in my dirty filthy basement
With that jaded, faded, junky nurse - oh what pleasant company

I should warn you - the following paragraph contains a sentence that will BLOW YOUR MIND.  Be ready.  The Wikipedia entry for the album is mostly interested in the fact that Brian Jones was fired during the recording of this album - apparently his inability to do anything (which was mentioned on Beggars Banquet) other than crash his motorbike meant they just lost patience with him and unfortunately he was dead at the bottom of his swimming pool a month later.  Lots of critics noted the sense of dread on the album - which I'd have to say didn't really jump out at me (although I wouldn't have described it as upbeat party music either).  "You Can't Always Get What You Want" has a peculiar story relating to it - despite requests from The Stones not to do so, Donald Trump took to using it to close his campaign rallies (which seems an odd message giving that he was basically asking people to give him what he wanted).  Various avenues were investigated and they obviously found some way to stop him in the end - so, obviously, he took to using Village People's "YMCA" instead.  Oh yes, and there's this about the album cover - "the cake parts of the construction were prepared by then-unknown cookery writer Delia Smith".

The band's Wikipedia entry is still massive - I did try to read some of it, honest but there's just too much.  Oh well, we still have one more entry left for me to make more of an effort (ie some).  "Customers also listened to" all them early 70s groups but The Stones are way out in front for me - even though I won't be rushing back to this album.  I enjoyed it enough, just not as much as some of their others I've been introduced to.

So not A Tribe Called Quest - it wasn't the worst example of its kind but I think I'm just hip-hopped out (still 7 or 8 to go, depending upon your classification).  And I quite liked The Stones effort (although not as much as some of their others) but, to be honest, it was always going to be OK Computer as the winner for me.  Two easy decisions in a row!

And seeing as we've made it to the top 40, I'm changing the rules to prevent me ever saying "I'm not sure what to say about this after only one listen" again. I'm moving to 2 albums per write-up with at least 2 listens for each - unless I know the album really well, in which case I won't have to listen to it twice, but I'll probably be happy to do so.  And if I'm unable to form an opinion after 2 listens, then I'll go for a third listen - and if I still can't form an opinion, it can't be that great really, can it?  I will still, of course, though arbitrarily declare a winner just for the purposes of annoying people.

#46-44 - Three more men for your consideration
#40-39 - What?  One of these album actually has a woman on it!