Still Must Hear?

[Albums 833 – 837 / 1001]

Going into 2021, I had 5 albums left to review from the 2000s:

Lightning Bolt – Wonderful Rainbow (2003)
Mylo – Destroy Rock & Roll (2004)
Icarus Line – Penance Soirée (2004)
Ozamatli – Street Signs (2004)
M.I.A. – Arular (2005)

I should note, I’m going through the original edition of the ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ book, first published in 2005.

And by book, I mean 6 spreadsheets organized chronologically by decade (50s/60s/70s/80s/90s/2000s); I loaned my physical copy of the book out years ago!

Since the original publication, I understand that there have been several revised editions of the 1001 list.

Which means that, in order to make room for albums released after the year 2005 (whilst keeping the list at a brand-consistent 1001 albums), several of the albums that I’ve been listening to are no longer deemed ‘Must Hear.’

And of the 5 remaining reviews from the 2000s, apparently only 1 of the above albums is still in the 1001 club.

The question is / questions are:

Which of the remaining quintet do the editors still consider to be a ‘Must Hear’ album?

Of somewhat less global importance, which one(s) do I believe should stay on the list?

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Lightning Bolt – Wonderful Rainbow (2003)

“Thunderbolt & lightning, very very frightening me”
– Rhetorical question: do I even need to source this quote?

I wouldn’t say Wonderful Rainbow is all that frightening.

But on tunes like Crown of Storms, I was reminded of a variety of other wonderful sounds & songs:

The distorted voice brought back memories of Big Sugar’s Diggin’ a Hole.

The thundering bass quarter notes, maybe a bit of Runnin’ With the Devil?

The snare sound is about as tight as any I’ve heard on the 1001 list (or maybe a close second behind ?uestlove’s snare on Erykah Badu’s, Penitentiary Philosophy).

And I suppose it’s possible to hear the opening guitar finger-tapping and not think of AC (Lightning Bolt) DC’s Thunderstruck…but perhaps not probable.

In any event, those are all very very favourable associations, me.

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Mylo – Destroy Rock & Roll (2004)

“Now who’d have thought, that after all
Something as simple as Rock & Roll could save us all”
– Frank Turner, I Still Believe

Destroy Rock & Roll? What a terrible idea, I scoffed!

And it’s an electronica album to boot? Oh dear.

But then…I heard the title track here and learned the plan for the destruction of Rock &/or Roll.

And it’s amazing.

For how does one Destroy Rock & Roll?

Why, by rhyming off a list of musicians that were popular in 1984 and calling for “the judgement of the sacred fire of this hour before the throne of almighty god,” of course!

Bonus marks for the delightful mispronunciation of several artist names (such as Cyndi ‘Looper’) & for referencing Purple Rain not once (Prince), not twice (Morris Day & The Time), but thrice (Appolonia 6).

I was somewhat disappointed to learn that the speech was an actual 1984 recording of a new age spiritual organization speech that Mylo merely sampled; I was hoping it was an original diatribe, where the plan to Destroy Rock & Roll hinged upon delayed judgement of artists 2+ decades after the fact!

Until now, I have struggled to feel, well, much of anything when listening to Electronic Dance Music (EDM).

But to my pleasant surprise, I really enjoyed & looked forward to repeated listens of this album.

Perhaps the secret to my enjoyment of EDM rests in creating an upbeat ’80s vibe, most notably in songs like Drop The Pressure, In My Arms, Guilty of Love, and the aforementioned title track.

Great stuff!

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Icarus Line – Penance Soirée (2004)

“Are you familiar with the story of Icarus? He didn’t want to quit, he flew too close to the sun, his wax wings melted and he died.”
– Brooklyn 99, S1E15

I’m sure there’s a parallel here with The Icarus Line, possibly going too far with the distortion and burying the melodies on Penance Soirée. But it would be a stretch, as tunes like Spike Island or Big Sleep are still quite, um, tuneful.

Of the 5 remaining albums from the 2000s, this would be the closest to my usual cuppa.

So I’m not offended that it was included on the original list, not necessarily surprised it ended up being trimmed in future editions.

Perhaps the editors felt that the other remaining albums by similar-sounding late ’90s/early 2000s artists would be sufficient?

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Ozomatli – Street Signs (2004)

20-odd years ago, I made a road-trip with a few friends to see The Hip in Philadelphia (in a club with a few hundred people, amazing!) and to see a taping of David Letterman in NYC.

The musical guest at that episode?

W-e-e (oh my goodness, it’s going to be W-e-e-z-e-r?!!) – n.

Oh, Ween? Oh, OK.

And you know what, they were good too.

Fast forward 20-odd years.

Oh look, there’s an artist from the early 2000s on the list, O-z-_-m-a (oh my goodness, could it really be Ozma?!!)-t-l-i.

Oh, Ozomatli? Oh, OK.

And you know what, they were good too.

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M.I.A. – Arular (2005)

Though M.I.A.’s song, Paper Planes, is not on this album, hearing Arular inevitably made me think of that song.

And that song makes me think of Pineapple Express & Slumdog Millionaire, a pair of good movies from 2008.

Though I thought both films were well done, I haven’t seen either again since.

And I imagine that might be the same fate for Arular as well.

Overall, it was well done; I’m just not sure if I’ll end up hearing it again.

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Of the 5 albums above, if I could only keep 1, which would I keep on the 1001 list?

Well, the list editors chose Mylo’s Destroy Rock & Roll.

And though I wouldn’t have guessed I’d go with the EDM album, I think they got it right!

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Verbalize the Positive

EDM can be really enjoyable, who knew?!