1001 Albums Summary

Personal favourites were Visions & Living for the city. Higher Ground is a song I've heard a lot but I didn't know it was from this album, so it was nice to hear it in the context of this album. I'd give it a 4/5.

I hear a lot of Funk & Rap influences across the album, esp in The Equality of Power & If You Have To Ask, Sir Psycho Sexy, which picked my interest. The Basslines and guitar are super funky so it creates a brash pairing with the way the drums swing (in a good way). The funk element is so strong I had to look up the bands affiliation with the genre and I found that the were deeply influenced by parliament, James Brown etc. very cool. I have massive respect for artists that play like their music palette is broad and well research. I think it’s an interesting album to listen to and i can appreciate the musicality but I don’t think it suits my personal taste. The lyrics don’t really speak to me (I dont think it’s meant to tbh but I can see how it may speak to those who loved this album) I don’t listen to much rock music so my knowledge on the evolution of the genre is limited to understand the impact of this album/band.

What I found interesting was that I had heard so many of the songs from this album such as right here, right now, The rockafeller Skank, Gangster Skank, Praise You, as a kid and didn’t know these all came from this one album. I can probably attest this to being glued to MTV and the obvious fact that all those songs charted. It makes me think of how diverse ‘pop’ (popular music in this sense) was in comparison to what’s in the charts these days. Though the album was released in 1998, a characteristic that came to mind was Frutiger (2000s). If the aesthetic had a sound this album would be it, especially Kalifornia which sounds like it belongs in a PlayStation video game. The album sounds synonymous with technological advancements which the late 90s - early 2000s experienced with dial up + more people have personal computer systems at home. Sonically this such a dynamic album and I appreciate the how the textures marry each other. The rock brashness of the electric guitar, the DnB breaks, the werid and sometimes incoherent vocal samples. I also hear lot of 90s hip hop, I can imagine b-boys breakdancing on the street to tracks like You’re Not From Brighton. Apart from the singles my favourite track was probably Love Island, I think it’s a groovy festival track with nice sustained build ups that aren’t super aggressive. I think it’s the disco like synths that I really like, it’s quite atmospheric. I also really liked Acid 8000, I think this works great on the dancefloor too. Objectively this a well produced and seminal album. It’s the epitome of Dance music of the late 90s which I feel like Fatboy Slim intentionally created so make people move. so I’ll give it 4/5. I don’t think it’s an album I’d frequently reach for the listen to in its entirety but as a DJ a lot of the singles are on my usb that that says something.