ILM Top 100 2000-2004: ALBUMS

Shall I just leave work now, or will the action start tonight?

Is Club FT on tonight then? I might come along.

Speaking of which, here are the entries for the two albums on Wikipedia's concept albums page:

"Kid A - Radiohead (2000) - Homicidal genetically-engineered monstrosities (which represent capitalist exploitation) are let loose upon a complacent and denial-filled society."

"Amnesiac - Radiohead (2001) - Kid A narrator returns from death, and puts together his past life piece by piece"

Eh?

Of course.

I don't think I ever hated Radiohead. I actually liked OK Computer a lot for a while before I burnt out on it later, but just took my time to hear the next two. When I actually gave them a good listen I liked them.

Haven't heard ASMZ or SFtF. Is Shalabi in SFTF?

Points: 830
No. of votes: 38
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: BASEMENT JAXX
Title: ROOTY
Label: XL
Year: 2001

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/rooty.jpg

It seems that I really do believe there's no such thing as a bad Basement Jaxx track. They're either gobsmackingly phenomenal or 'still kinda cool' y'know. Rooty has tracks that fit both those descriptions, the thing being that everyone has a totally different opinion on which are which. I don't think there is any filler on this album - it rises and dips in the way a rollercoaster would, snaking in and out of impeccably crafted yet chaotic loops of inspired brilliance. More importantly it's quite possibly the most out and out FUN album on this entire list. You get the best of both worlds with Basement Jaxx in that respect. As the 'middle act' of what could be classed as a trilogy of dance music designed for this decade (and beyond) it retains a distinct formula albeit one so potent and loaded with (JAX)X factor that it's effects last longer than anything else out there for me. Viagrasonic.

Recommended tracks: Romeo, Breakaway, Where's Your Head At?, Broken Dreams

Points: 904
No. of votes: 44
No. of #1 votes: 3

Artist: INTERPOL
Title: TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS
Label: Matador
Year: 2003

ihttp://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/turnonthebrightlights.jpg

Dark and mournful and emotional and overwrought (not a criticism) and, yes, hugely reminiscent of *certain* bands in the same way Placebo's Without You I'm Nothing is all about The Cure and Jane's Addiction and SY but still has its own footprint at the end of it. Charlie

Recommended tracks: Roland, NYC, PDA, Obstacle#1

So I guess the typical person voting for Interpol thought it was about the 7th best record?

The okay-but-not-quite-yer-fave records will inherit the earth. :)

Points: 948
No. of votes: 40
No. of #1 votes: 3

Artist: JAY-Z
Title: THE BLUEPRINT
Label: Mercury
Year: 2002

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/theblueprint1.jpg

Jay-Z is like the rap Winston Churchill. I would\'ve died for him after The Blueprint came out. I just thought "this guy has it all". I don't listen to albums, and if I own an album I always skip. But not The Blueprint. It's actually the perfect thing to take with you on holiday in a rental car with only a tapedeck. Jacob

Recommended tracks: Girls Girls Girls, In The Heart Of The City, Renegade, Izzo (H.O.V.A.)

Points: 983
No. of votes: 38
No. of #1 votes: 0 (the highest ranked album to not score a #1 vote from anyone)

Artist: THE STREETS
Title: A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE
Label: 679
Year: 2004

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/agranddontcomeforfree.jpg

I have to confess not buying many artist albums, besides mixes, in the last 2 years or so. But this really is the most affecting album I've heard since Discovery or some of the 2002 classics. I think the production is far better than on OPM, it's smoother and smarter, and more varied. The piano driven tracks and the sentimental tracks seem to work fantastically well.

Basically Skinner seems to have mastered a sort of show don't tell style, so much of the album just highlights the glory of half-thought, and rubbishes the idea of distilling experiences and emotions into lyrics which fit a beat or which rhyme or can be used in a chorus. There are parts of the album where he reaches a total vernacular beauty, at the most emotional part, the climax perhaps, "Empty Cans", he says something like "My jeans felt too tight". This theme seems to go through the whole album, on "Could Well Be In" the chorus is "I saw this thing on ITV the other week, that says, if she plays with her hair I could well be in"!!!

It's a sort of slow burner this, but god it's worth it. "Empty Cans" is the most unpretentious yet effective assessment of life I've heard in any record, for a long time. Ronan

Recommended tracks: Blinded By The Light, Get Out Of My House, Dry Your Eyes, Empty Cans