Five albums to buy before you die

WARNING: This is only my opinion! I do not think these are the best albums in the world but they are certainly amongst my favourites! If you have favs of your own, lay 'um on me!

5. White Blood Cells (The White Stripes)

Beautiful album, just beautiful. The White Stripes have been called the 'biggest little band in the world', and it's not because they amount to two whole people, but because they happen to be one of the greatest music duos of the 21st century and yet, some how, they just don't have the kind of recognition they should. This is a shame. And White Blood Cells corroborates that. Most WS fans would agree that Elephant was their best effort, but I prefer White Blood Cells. There's just something so tragic and romantic and breathtaking about it, like nostalgically gazing into your past and reliving your first kiss. It also has pep, pep enough to ignore Meg White's... average drum skills.

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4. Doom (Mood)

If any arsehole EVER comes up to you and tells you rap isn't intelligent, that it's solely a mass of bigotries rolled into a shell of bravado, point them to this album. Pound for pound this is one of the most unique, ethereal, avant-garde rap albums you're ever likely to hear. It's damn near spiritual (and I'm agnostic, so you know I'm not gonna throw words like that around unless it meant it). I think their choice of name, Mood, is a good one, because that's what they did. With sharp lyrics and the chilling beats of Hi-Tek (more on him later) they cultivate a 'mood', a kind of distant tension, a cold strength that rises in you when you ascertain something beyond the mortality your social environment forces you to confront. It's really hard to explain the emotions you're gonna feel if you sit back and REALLY listen to this album, but if you do, I think you'll know what I'm talking about. Doom was made in '97 but it keenly spits in the face of any stereotypical misgiving you could have about rap music. I've seen PUBLISHED PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS with less depth than this (I'm looking at YOU, AC Grayling! Grrr!).

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3. Betty (Helmet)

If you follow this blog with any degree of regularity, then you'll have probably figured out by now that I'm crazy about Helmet. I was lucky to discover them because they aren't particularly well known, and I thank the stars I did, and if I were forced to pick out a crowning glory from their discography, Betty has to be it. There isn't a single album that comes this close to defining nihilism. There just isn't. Yet what's remarkable is that they managed to invoke this nihilistic picture amid some strong metal. Every facet of this album reinforces this; not just the cold lyrics and the deceptive album art, but the pounding melodies that flirt from drudging metal to flowery 'muzak' (sometimes even in the same song, 'Beautiful Love'). This is philosophy in motion, love and live it.

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2. Train of Thought (Reflection Eternal = Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek)

I don't know what it is about Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Hi-Tek; but if you put more than one of these guys in a room they have this disturbingly consistent tendency to produce masterpieces. They all have brilliant solo albums (Black on Both Sides, Quality, Hi-Teknology, etc) but when they collaborate they'll blow your mind. In this case it's Train of Thought, one of the best albums no one's ever heard of. If you look at hip-hop as a historiography then gangsta rap sort of seems like revisionism (it would take ages to explain that so I can't right now) and if that's the case then Train of Thought feels like counter-revisionism, a return to basics, a return to an essence, and that is hip-hop as expression, protest, art, beauty. I know it's hard to see that the way rap has been daemonized by the modern world and to be fair some of those criticisms (misogyny, homophobia, glorification of violence, materialism) aren't unwarranted. But you can't paint all rap music with that brush. It's a lot like online stories. 70% of it is complete and utter bullshit. I've seen some of the WORST writing you can imagine on the internet. But if you keep loooking, if you look hard enough, every once in a while, you'll find a gem. You'll find something really worth reading -- and Train of Thought is an equivalent of that. Not only does it contain some of the most moving melodies I've ever heard (courtesy of producer Hi-Tek) but Kweli raps hard. He's not some lame conscious rapper out to lecture people into doing the right thing, he's about four things; strength, intellect, dignity and respect. He's the guy who wrote lines like this...

"If one of us ain't free then we all to blame"

and this...

"These cats drink champagne, toast death and pain -- like slaves on a ship talking 'bout who got the flyest chains"

and THIS...

"Life without knowledge is death in disguise"

...which I think says it all.

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1. Dirt (Alice in Chains)

Helmet is my favourite band ever so you know if one of their albums isn't number one then there must be something really special about this CD. Alice in Chains is, as I've said time and time and time again, the most underrated band of the nineties. I don't give a damn what anyone else has to the contrary. They were IT. And Dirt was their crowning glory. This entire album reads like the biography of a drug abuser. It moves from an existential overview ('Them Bones') to recognition of the problem ('Sickman') to defiance ('Junkhead') to the self-immolation of the abuse ('Dirt') to rock bottom (Down in a Hole) and finally, most chilling of all, emotional appeal ('Would?'). Despite the numerous changes in tone between each song (angry, sad, reflective, joyful, poignant) the dusky and dreary mood of Dirt never changes. It's always present. The entire album reflects the bleakness of the cover, the dead maiden in the sand, and as far as I'm concerned Dirt validated Grunge music unequivocally. Just listen to it. It reflects and encapsulates all of the sentiments Kierkegaard tried so hard to pimp to us, but NONE of it is fake. Dirt isn't just about angst -- it's about existence. It takes responsibility for the choices made in life not by burying them but pondering them. Dirt, this blueprint of the life of a drug user, actually ASKS you to empathise with the drug abuser;

"You can't understand a user's mind, but try with your books and degrees, if you let yourself go and open your mind, I'll bet you'd be doing like me -- and it ain't so bad" ('Junkhead')

I like music that makes me FEEL. Not just something I can bop my head to but something I really feel and Dirt is something that I feel. There isn't a single throwaway track on the album, everything forges a heartbreaking whole. It's not showy, it's unrepentant, it's hard and it's direct. Some people have wondered if AIC wrote this with Layne Staley (their vocalist) in mind. He died in 2002 of an overdose so I think it's safe to say they did. As sad as his death is, it adds to the realism of Dirt; existential reflections without posing or showmanship. BUY THIS ALBUM. If you can't find it at your local store, download it free off Rapidshare or Megaupload and burn the money you would've spent to buy it. Whatever you do, get your hands on a copy. Trust me -- you NEED this album.