360 records from the year 2000: 199 - 196

Here we go again!

199. Prince: High

File under: brand loyalty

Prince grows older gracefully. This ain’t music to set the world on fire, but it’s way better than the ‘Rave…’ disaster, and it’s a shame it got such a limited release (website members only). Still, it’s hard to imagine a time when this is the first Prince record to grab.

Edit: It’s the last Prince music I found acceptable, I guess. It was all (even further) downhill from here. Objectively, even subjectively, this belongs quite a bit lower. But then, I’m keeping this record and not the records before.

[Given his legendary live-and-let-live attitude, there are no clips on Youtube]

At its best: Supercute, Underneath the cream.

198. Neil Young: Road rock Vol. 1

File under: brand loyalty

Neil’s holiday pictures. Because I like Neil, I may be a little bit interested in his holiday pictures. And if no other version was available, I’d gladly keep this rather lovely ‘Peace of mind’. But these holiday pictures wouldn’t get many people interested in Neil. Me either.

At its best: Peace of mind
At its worst: All along the watchtower – would you like it if Chrissie Hynde showed up on your holidays?

197. Anjali: Anjali

Gorgeous, string- and hornladen triphop with a Middle Eastern flavor. Certainly, it’s a joy to let this play in the background. Apart from the first 3 tracks and the last one, it doesn’t get out of the background though. Anajli doesn’t seem able to impact her personality on the listener.

Edit: Alright, I’ll give it another chance.

At its best: Lazy lagoon, Space lust (in the space dust), Kali came

196. Smog: Dongs of sevotion

I’ve never quite gotten the acclaim, but Bill Callahan must be doing something right to get to work with people like Jim O’Rourke and John McEntire. On this record, that something is a nice approximation of what the VU sounded like when Reed, Morrison and Tucker started jamming. Not the caricature you get from Jesus and Mary Chain albums, say, but that sweet, very American, rock’n’roll groove. I can listen to that for a long time. And on this record you will. But in the end, the realization dawns that all the VU-groove in the world can’t make up for the absence of a good song. Absence, now that’s something Bill Callahan knows about.

Edit: There’s something there. Bill, you’ve done it again.

At its best: Bloodflow