Badlittlekitten

I like list. List is good. List order is complete, expect steady updates as of when I get time to write my thoughts about each LP. No tokenism, just an honest as I can get reflection of the albums I love (at this moment in 2012) including nostalgia picks. See if you can spot them.

I'll also list my favourite tracks from each release - usually five - in order of preference. First things first;

Honourable Mention
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
1979
Pop/Disco/Soul
Key tracks; ' Don't stop til you get enough', 'Get on the floor', 'Off the wall', 'Workin' day and night', 'Rock with you'.

A fitting way to begin, cos this is where it all began for me. If you were a kid in the 80s then you know how magical and mythical Jacko seemed (i'll pocket the kiddie fiddler jokes for now). This obviously had a lot to do with marketing and all that grown up stuff, but some of his music was too infectious, you just had to dance along. And Thriller doesn't come close to this slick pop / disco / soul joy of a record. Quincy Jone's production is masterful and Jackson's songs and, um, skin have yet to become diluted. A line as trite as 'If you take the chance and do it, then there ain't no one who's gonna put you down' is made life affirming through a ecstatic voice backed with exquisite disco pomp. As i grew older a lot of weird stuff went on with Jacko and it damaged his legacy, but this is still here. And its force don't stop.

Now we roll.




100
Various Artists - Gamelans De Bali
1964
Gamelan
Best Tracks; Le Gangdrung - 'Ouverture et Danse' and 'Air Sur le 3 Monde #2', Gamelon Djogéd Bungbung - 'Danse de L'eventail', Gamelan Saron - 'Musique Funéraire Pour le Lavement du Corps'.

And we'll start quietly, with this gentle pitter patter, chiming, smiling, beguiling. With this restless rattle and clang of percussion they call gamelan; an ancient music from Indonesia. It primarily consists of melodic/percussive xylophone type instruments, but there's also strings, flutes and voice. This is a lovely collection of recordings from various gamelan ensembles made in the early sixties. The first three tracks by the Gamelan Selunding sound like some kind of medieval reinterpretation of soundtracks from 80s sci-fi films. The two tracks by Le Gambuh feature bamboo flutes which sound like ghosts turning over furniture whilst storming through an ancient temple. Gamelan Saron's twelve minute 'Musique Funéraire Pour le Lavement du Corps' chugs gently along with its chocky - blocky metallophones, stopping occasionally for the heavy thump of a drum, a tranquil train journey set towards that moment in the past you try to revisit but never quite reach.

The best tracks are the numbers towards the end of the LP. The L'Angklung and Le Gangdrung tracks are played with a cheerful intensity, dance numbers that startle with their effortless syncopation and complexity, chirpy melodies and percussion. 'Ouverture et Danse' in particular is an unrestrained, rickety joy, shuffling like a quite storm until the clouds part and xylophones appear and drop softly like rain on the dry earth.

My favourite gamelan compilation, and if you're unfamiliar with the genre there's enough fun and variety here to make it a good starting point.

__________________
'Said do you feel it? Do you feel it when you TOUCH ME?. THERE'S A FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!' The Stooges. Dirt.

https://soundcloud.com/bad-little-kittens
My Top 100 LPs
My Top 52 Indie Tracks Of The 21st Century (incomplete)