61 Albums - #1

1/ Radiohead - Kid A - 2000

And so we come to the conclusion of this far too long list that I decided to begin posting.  I've relived a ton of fantastic memories with this list but it all comes to that #1 album.  That album that just blows you away every single time you listen to it.

This is that album.

It took me 2 years to realize it.  At the time, I was more interested in the other album that I bought along with this one: Fatboy Slim's You've Come A Long Way, Baby.  But I did listen to this album first in the car on the way back from the music store.  The moment I heard the descending notes of the opening chord of "Everything in its Right Place," I knew that I was about to listen to something so completely different, so completely unique that I wouldn't be sure if I would like it.  Sure enough, I had nitpicked about 3 songs from the album (at the time they came to be #1, #4, and #8 instead of song names) that I could listen to and enjoy.  But after a couple of weeks, I put it down in favor of music more supplemental to my teenage hormones.

Two full years later, I bought Hail To The Thief while at an FYE in a mall in Hilton Head Island, SC, a family vacation spot.  I listened to that thing day in and day out while we were vacationing.  It was my new favorite album for sure.  When I got home I knew that I had another Radiohead album and I dug it out of a box in my closet.  I put in Kid A for the first time in 2 years and immediately listened to my 3 favorites.  #1, then #4, then #8.  But then I started listening to the others... I noticed that there were styles and things within the music that I had heard in other albums that I enjoyed.  I loved the horns in "The National Anthem."  I loved the rock guitars in "Optimistic."  I enjoyed the Disney movie harp in "Motion Picture Soundtrack."  Listen after listen, I gathered more and more that I enjoyed.  I heard new thing after new thing.  And then it hit me: Radiohead was now my favorite band.  They were my first favorite band that I enjoyed not only because of how their music made me feel but also because of the complexity and differentiating qualities of it.

Shortly after this I bought the rest of the discography for cheap through a music club.  I grew fond of OK Computer immediately but continued to stick with Kid A.  Just something about it made me know that it was my most favorite album.  It was an album I could always come back to and always find something new.  I'm still finding new things within the album.  It wasn't until 4 years after I bought the album that I finally heard the 3rd harmony part on "Idioteque."  It is just incredible how layered this album is.  You think you've found everything and then some generous person comes along and isolates the left and right channels from the center and gives you a completely different experience and you find EVEN MORE.

Not only is the album incredible but the album's artwork blows me away.  Desolate icy tundras created with pixelated lines and fiery skies run rampant across the paper sheet.  But when you hear a song like "Treefingers" and look at this album you just know... The connection between Stanley Donwood (who has created the artwork for every album since OK Computer I believe) and the band is one that's brought upon by an understanding of the most natural emotions that show up while listening to their albums.  And to have such a dramatic change as "Treefingers" into "Optimistic" and yet have the artwork fit both sounds is just breathtaking.

I still haven't put my finger on it yet.  Whether it's Thom Yorke's naturally morose style of singing or just the sound of the band as whole, I'm not sure, but somehow this band brings as many styles as possible to the table and then they make them fit together.  How anyone else could make electric-jazz ("The National Anthem") flow flawlessly into an epic orchestral ballad ("How to Disappear Completely") is anyone's guess but Radiohead did it.

But I won't keep this to just how incredibly complex and musically-incredible this album is.  This album makes me happier than any other while I'm listening to it.  This is my "desert island" album.  In the end, I think that's what people look for.  Music that makes them happy.  I'm glad that I can still hold onto music that makes me happy while I continue to grow in my knowledge of music as a whole.  I'm glad that I can continue to listen to albums like Take Off Your Pants And Jacket and still enjoy it and not feel like I've compromised my musical IQ.  But when I combine these two things (my knowledge of music and what makes me happy regardless of complexity), Kid A wins out in the end.  When I began to decide upon my top 10 for this list, the combination of these two things was a huge factor.  This album is just the perfect combination of happiness and complexity.  It came at exactly the right time in my life and helped open my world to more music.  This album is the reason I have the band Animal Collective (and quite a few others) to call a favorite.  I can't find any flaw in the album.  Even the instrumental track is perfectly crafted.  Listening to one song from the album doesn't feel right.  I have to listen to all of the songs as they were put together.

I leave you all with this one last thought... I might have 4 beers in me but I think it's an important thought nonetheless....

Music completes life.  If there's anyone that says they don't listen to music... well... they aren't human.  Music is what nourishes us.  It's something that can perk us up on a sad day.  Something that can supplement a perfect day.  Something that can drive another action.  It's the perfect, harmonious thing with almost anything in the world.  Get drunk with it.  Get high with it.  Have sex with it.  Get in fights with it.  Fall in love with it.  Are you in a relationship?  Make a song "your song."  There's something out there made by some band that fits any mood.  It's the most subjective thing out there because it's completely driven by human nature.  For the religious, it's inspired by God.  It's inspired by anything.

I hope that this list inspired some of you in some way.  I don't know if it inspired anybody at all but I don't really care.  I want to share it with anybody that will read it because it's important to me.  It feels good to say "Hey guys, this is what my life is all about."  I don't care if anybody thinks that I spent too much time doing something like this.  Music is probably the closest thing I keep to my heart apart from my family and friends.  The one thing I hold most dear to me in all my life is that my late mother and I shared the same band as our favorite.  I shared so much music with my Mom since she was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer.  Radiohead was our favorite band.  We both saw our first Radiohead concert together.  A few nights after she died I had a SPIRITUALLY-CONFIRMING EXPERIENCE connected with Radiohead and my fondest memories of her.