We are the synchronizers - send messages through time code

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts.

03/06/01 : 10 000 Hz Legend - Air


This is another one we own (seven for the year) and I remember thinking it was OK, but it was no Moon Safari (how have we not met that yet?). So it got listened to a couple of times and never revisited - I suspect I'm going to find it bearable, but all it's going to do is make me want to listen to their debut. 

Yeah, it's not terrible but it's really not all that great either. It often sounds a bit "this'll do", is very lazy in places and a lot of the tracks meander on unnecessarily, but I did like "Radian" and "Lucky And Unhappy". I've no idea what they thought they were doing with "Radio #1" though where they muck about with the levels to make only the vocal or the drums audible in places - it's not a good sound. If you're looking for some Air to experience then Moon Safari or Talkie Walkie are much better options than this imho.

We're at #7 with a new entry in the charts this week on the start of a brief five week run.  Amusingly, Moon Safari has had seven runs longer than this album managed, including an eight week run at the same time - which was probably just people investigating what they'd missed by starting with the wrong album. The top five this week were Shaggy, Dido, an Eddy Grant best-of, R.E.M. and an Eagles best-of (another new entry) with the next highest new entry being Oxide & Neutrino (#11). 

Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot on the album - it reminds me that although it's their second studio album, they actually released the soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides between Moon Safari and this (apparently the sound is closer to this album, so I can't say I'm going to bother checking it out). They got quite a few guest artists involved here including Beck and Corky Hale (the US jazz harpist who's had QUITE the life) and the fun pop quiz trivia fact is that Stereogum, the US music website, took its name from lyrics in "Radio #1". The critics mostly took the same view as me, except for NME who gave it 9/10 (but they would, wouldn't they?) and commercially, it peaked in the top ten in quite a few European countries, but I imagine it didn't show any particular longevity.

discogs.com tells us this is a £1.50 album but if you want the original double vinyl version then it's going to set you back £60. Which, you can probably guess, it's very much not worth shelling out for - there just so much better stuff out there in this genre, not least by Air themselves. 

So yes, all this really did is make me want to listen to Moon Safari.

10/06/01 - An enjoyable first visit

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