Lunchtime Aspergers - Part deux

So here we are again, time for some more albums from my all time top 50! Without further ado (and still in no particular order):

8. Front 242 - 05:22:09:12 Off
Its a real humdinger ladies and gentlemen. Barry played a tape of this album to death back in his room at college. It was my first exposure to the belgian electro body musicians. I liked it a lot then and its really stood the test of time - this was my first experience of F242, and I worked backwards with their previous albums, none quite match its standard, although Front by Front and Tradgedy for You come close. This one has the edge in terms of variety and sound. The production just seems to leap hugely, and we are treated to a variety of vocalists including, for a change some guest female artists. Its distorted and noisy, everything that 'industrial' should be, but its still warm, lush, melodic, moody and emotional at the same time - a rare thing. I recall when I played this album to a chum, who for the moment will remain nameless, he told me it 'sounded like someone singing through a £5 Tandy microphone'. 18 months later, him and every other daft bugger in the country went out and bought the Prodigy's Fat of the Land CD, the first track of which is a direct lift of Off's Animal track, except it isn't as good, and features copious tracks with Keith Flint seemingly singing through a £5 Tandy microphone. Apparently, this was a brave step for pop music, although those of us in the know appreciate that it is nothing of the sort. At least Liam Howlett had the decency to name check them on the sleeve, which is more than he did when he chopped up 'Hey Poor' and dumped it into a remix of Jericho. In fairness to said chum, he'd probably had a bad day...

9. The The - Dusk
The The are a band I really shouldn't like and do so entirely despite myself! Barry introduced them to me, and Lee consolidated my love for all things Matt Johnson some 10 years later. I honestly don't think he's released a bad album, but this one becomes my toppermost. Yes its bedsit music, yes its hardly cheery, but every track speaks to me in one way or another, unlike albums like Infected or Burning Blue Soul, and whats more the instrumentation and production match the clever lyrics in quality. A smoking, fuggy, 'on my own' masterpiece. Notable tracks for me are 'Slow Emotion Reply' and 'Dogs of Lust'.

10. 808 State - Ex:cel
I know Rich will agree with me on this one. One of the first CD's I ever bought and so good I can barely say anything about it!! Its possibly the most electronic and the least acoustic album I own! Its actually amazing now, considering its 'electonicness', how popular this album was at the time of is release, I can't recall its chart position, but I know it was higher than you would think. I remember I played it extensively through my 18th birthday celebrations - I have the video footage to prove it!

11. Kraftwerk - Computer World
Like Front 242, I came to Kraftwerk very late. I won't bore you with their history or status as 'all music begins with Kraftwerk' innovators. Most people know that tale, and how they pretty much created techno and all it electronicic subsets 30 years earlier than the name was invented. We all know that. This is the last of their good albums I'm sorry to say, after this point they were stuck in an impossible paradox of their own making, trying hard to sound like Kraftwerk, whilst trying to do something new. This to me is Kraftwerk at their most obvious 'godfather' stage. Sure, its slightly simplistic, some of the vocals border on naive, but the tunes are catchy and the bass lines and beats can be heard in every electronic or pop album since 1981 AND they still sound fresh! Exceptional. Think you've never heard any of their tracks? Well aside from The Model - surely their most popular single, there's always Coldplay's latest single, a reworking of Computer World.

12. Brian Eno - Apollo
Good ole Brian, its not everyone who invents a genre! There are a plethora of Eno albums out there, some brilliant, some pretty good, some that have aged, some that are still 'modern works'. This is my favourite of his 'ambient albums'. Ambient 4 On Land came close, but this is the one that does it for me. It stands out from the others, by virtue of its Texan feel. There are people who read this blog who are better able to describe what that means, but from where I'm standing, Eno and collaborators Daniel Lanois and brother Roger Eno have got it bang on. Much of this album was written for a film about the Apollo moon landings, so we are treated to a mixture of smokey southern guitar and huge, reverbarating soundscapes wonderfully evocative of travel from Houston, through the deep, empty, slightly scary void of space and back again in time for some Texmex bbq action.