Behind You!

Number 36

'Get Behind Me Satan' by The White Stripes

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 3 in 2005

UK Chart high : 3 in 2005

'Prolific' in the dictionary has a picture of Jack White next to it.  As well as writing and recording four White Stripes albums in the Noughties he also formed two other bands -  The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and produced a ton of albums (we won't mention the Bond theme tune!).  Sometimes, you could tell Jack was spreading himself too thin or rushing things through but you can't fault him for his creativity and work ethic.  This album was a bit of a jolt from the previous electric guitar-led 'Elephant'.  In fact it only has electric guitar on three of the tracks (including lead single 'Blue Orchid' where the busy man met his future wife) and so took a while to get under your skin.  'Take Take Take' is my favourite track on the album, a kind of retro-take on Eminem's 'Stan' where a greedy fan demands more and more of Rita Hayworth when she enters the same bar.  It's a genius slow build of a song with the lyrics painting a beautifully detailed picture of the scene.  Because it wasn't a single there's no video for it but it's well worth a listen.  A wilfully challenging album then, when a lesser band could have started to churn out stadium-fillers.

Look at Blue Orchid ; My Doorbell ; The Denial Twist

Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

This one'll start a war...

Number 37

'Franz Ferdinand' by Franz Ferdinand

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 8 in 2004

UK Chart high : 3 in 2004


I damned this with faint praise back in 2004 when I said the 'album's not as great as their singles' but going back and listening to their debut I was surprised at how many singles (or songs that were so familiar) there are on it.  There's much more strength in depth here than I originally gave the poor lads credit for, so it's actually made it far higher in this end of decade countdown than I'd initially reckoned.  People tend to forget what a big impact 'Take Me Out' had on music at the time, crossing effortlessly into the mainstream and high up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.  I also admired the fact that they revelled in making intellegent pop that was both catchy and boundary-pushing (case in point 'Michael') in a way not really seen since Pulp's heyday - with a similarly quotable frontman.  Typically British, with tongue firmly in cheek but brain definitely engaged, they were a breath of fresh air when most indie bands were trying their best to appear laddish and thick (whether they were or not).  With 'Take Me Out' they not only wrote one of the best tempo changes in modern music but surely made one of the most iconic videos of the decade.  They also were responsible for improving GCSE History grades across the country by making the 'Whose death triggered WWI?' question an absolute doddle.

Look at Take Me Out ; The Dark of the Matinee ; Darts of Pleasure ; Michael
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Top 50 Cheat!

Number 38

'Ladyhawke' by Ladyhawke

Trotter’s Top Ten position : n/a in 2008

UK Chart high : 16 in 2009

My Top 50, my rules.  When I said the Top 50 was made up of albums from previous annual Top Tens I kind of lied.  Ladyhawke didn't make it on the 2008 list.  It fell victim to the curse of being released in the autumn and not being listened to enough to make it into the Ten of that year (sad face).  In early 2009 though it repeatedly kept being chosen for a listen round Trotter Towers and so deserves its place here.  It's also worth mentioning the brilliant single 'My Delirium' did make the Ten singles of that year so it was almost there by proxy!  There, enough sorry excuses, why is this album here then?  Well, there's a venn diagram with Ladyhawke in the centre  of circles containing Joan Jett, Peaches, Bat for Lashes, La Roux and ELO and variants thereof - that should be enough.  An album that rode the 80's revival but without an ironically arched eyebrow and just a clear love of the tunes - oh and great watercolours in the video for 'My Delirium'.   That'll do nicely.

Look at My Delirium ; Magic ; Paris is Burning
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

The Late 30's (know how they feel)

Number 39

'Santogold' by Santogold

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 5 in 2008

UK Chart high : 26 in 2008

Everyone banged on about how uncategorisable Santi White was, so they made it easy and compared her to equally unboxable M.I.A.  Lazy - I did it meself!  There was even a bit of a backlash with critics saying that the album was just a load of different musical stylings with nothing holding it together - ska, dub, rock, 80's electronics, bit of Pixies, bit of Neneh Cherry.  That would be true apart from the sublime, catchy pop melodies running throughout (something M.I.A. deliberately and too conciously seems to run from) and the self-assured delivery of someone who knows their own mind and that's not to be any one thing.  Lord knows what happens next but if it's half as good as this debut then...er, it'll be at 78 in my next decade countdown.  Bonus points for employing the 'abrupt album ending in the middle of a song'  technique which still sometimes gets me checking my stereo's not gone on the blink.  Oh and the 'Lights Out' video (strangely absent from youtube) takes the wallpaper/shirt scene from 'Garden State' and milks it for all it's worth...

Look at L.E.S. Artistes ; Creator ; Lights Out
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Top Fifty Albums of the Noughties : 41-50

Thankfully no-one was paying enough attention to spot I'd managed to put two Number 45's in the countdown so we've actually got as far as Number 40 rather than Number 41.  Here's how things have shaped up - a bit metal, a bit indie, a bit dancey, a bit folky - business as usual then! And strangely nothing from after 2004 so far...

50 'Deftones' by Deftones (2003)
49 'XTRMNTR' by Primal Scream (2000)
48 'Toxicity' by System of a Down (2000)
47 'Highly Evolved’ by The Vines (2002)
46 'Lost Souls' by Doves (2000)
45 'Relationship of Command' by At the Drive-In (2000)
44 'Auf der Maur' by Melissa Auf der Maur (2004)
43 'Finelines' by My Vitriol (2001)
42 ‘The Optimist LP’ by Turin Brakes (2001)
41 ‘Parachutes’ by Coldplay (2000)
40 ‘Come Away With Me’ by Norah Jones (2002)

As well as the Spotify playlist with a selection from each album (41-50) which you can link to here, there's also a shorter one for those of you like me with short attention spans (Noughties Shorts) here.

More to come, if you're still all following, that is!

Another Treble

Number 40

‘Come Away With Me’ by Norah Jones

Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2002

UK Chart high : 1 in 2002

Might as well complete this 'fairly-easy listening' triptych with the ultimate example of the decade.  Ever so slowly this album took over the world in the same way as it's atmospheric, velvet vocalising and smokey-late night bar strummings crept into my head.  It's so laid back, dreamy and chocolatey that it might as well be advertising Cadbury's Flake (actually it probably did at some point).  I'm no big fan of jazz, country and western or the blues (understatement alert!) but the songs on display here shied away from self-indulgence and just were...well, indulgent in the best sense.  Norah, no doubt, will spend the rest of her life trying to get out of the shadow cast by this debut and the public may question whether they need more than one Norah Jones album in their collection.  But everyone certainly has this one anyway.  I'm no record producer but every now and then a piece comes out that makes you marvel at exactly _how_ a certain mood was captured and put down for the listener to feel transported elsewhere effortlessly - this is one of the finest examples of that at work.  It's an old cliche, but even the spaces between the notes seem to be laden with atmosphere and the video for 'Come Away With Me' captures that wide, expansiveness beautifully without a coffee table in sight.

Look at Come Away With Me ; Don't Know Why

Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go

Number 41

‘Parachutes’ by Coldplay

Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2000

UK Chart high : 1 in 2000

Okay, I can hear your trendy groans from here, but before Chris cut his curly hair, took up a macrobiotic diet and married a weeping actress, Coldplay released a fine atmospheric, moody debut that promised much and delivered a fine array of indie anthems, not least the universal 'Yellow' which is unarguably the student disco-crossover hit of the decade (tm) despite it's wilfully discordant guitars.  It was their appearance at Glasto in 2000 showcasing songs from their debut that hinted at the stadium-filling future to come.  'Shiver' was the track that made me take notice of these unremarkable-looking indie posho's and demonstrates the 'you either like it or you don't' nature of Mr Paltrow's falsetto warblings to a tee.  For those who can't stand the band, you'll enjoy the video for 'Trouble' which has Chris tied to a chair and beaten up.  See!  I cater for all your tastes here.

Look at Yellow ; Trouble ; Shiver
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go

Number 42

‘The Optimist LP’ by Turin Brakes

Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2001

UK Chart high : 27 in 2001

Balham's finest as Mr Teasdale would no doubt remind us.  They were (unfairly) highlighted in a renowned music mag's review of the decade as exactly the sort of band that were swept aside by the arrival of a certain set of New Yorkers in the early days of the new century.  However, with Mumford and Sons and recently Bombay Bicycle Club taking an acoustic folk angle into the top ten it seems as timely as ever to sing the praises of Turin Brakes.  'The Optimist LP' is another great example of an album standing up to scrutiny as a whole, not just having a few hits and album fillers.  They'd get a bigger hit with Ether Song's 'Painkiller' a few years later, but their debut is better if you ask me - particularly 'Slack' (even with a terrible 'story' video) and 'Mind Over Money' - still a favourite track of mine ten years on complete with it's 'windy day at Center Parcs' video.  And we haven't even mentioned the force of nature that is Olly's hair!

Look at Mind Over Money ; Underdog (Save Me) ; Slack
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go

Just the one for Monday...

Number 43

'Finelines' by My Vitriol

Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2001

UK Chart high : 24 in 2001

Can you remember when there were plenty of post-grunge British indie bands at the baby-end of the 21st century (probably far too many really) all with their moody expressions and effects pedals but very little else?  Then you're as old as me - congratulations!  My Vitriol could have easily been bracketed into that fledgling 'indie-landfill' especially with their rockstar good looks and hip connections like bad boy du jour Vincent Gallo (who starred in their Grounded video).  Fortunately they had talent and melodies to back up the hype and caused a little bit of a stir in the NME hallways.  A few years later though, even before they could release a second album, they went on 'hiatus' and have only recently started rumblings of returning.  The actual album's not even on Spotify for feck's sake!  Here's hoping for a comeback - and in the meantime give them a bit of love by checking them out below.

Look at Always: Your Way ; Grounded ; Losing Touch
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go