40 Records In 40 Years (28/40 - 2001)

2001 was the year that changed everything in our whole life. If we thought that everything's easy and don't bother us we were interrupted by the attack to the Twin Towers in NYC in September 2001. Nothing was before since than. George W. Bush declared the war on terrorism and all the secret services started to collect informations where ever they could get. As John Orwell told us in his novel we got our Big Brother throughout the years. And the last we knew from Mr. Snowden was that we were close to Orwells thoughts about controlling us all. Like NSA and all the secret services in the whole world will do. We ought to krype our messages and think what we probably think about every word we say or post in the Internet, we have to think about what we talk when we call our friends via mobile phones and so on. But do we feel more safe than before or are the services taken more part of our life than they ought to? I don't really know but this is what I think right now when I look back to 2001. Surely there was a lot of more things in this year that I might remember very well without setting 9/11 in the middle of it.

I still remember when I got the news of this horrible crash into the WTC. It was at the time when I used to finish work and I took a last click on the news. I read about a plane got crashed into the building and thought that this must be a joke and couldn't be true. Later this evening we went to friends to invite them to our wedding (yes there was one thing this year without the shadow of 9/11 on it) - one of those things that was brighter than this terrorism attack. We visited several friends and at all their places the TV was running. I think we saw this pictures 100 times this evening and so they were burned inside our brains. We have refused to marry ecclesiastically and to celebrate a party instead of this with our narrow friends and the family. In our neighborhood there was a villa that was pursued a bar and we rented this location for a whole Friday night. All of them made us an unforgettable night.

As usual - some records that are worth to remember

• The Strokes - This is it: The return of Indie Rock with a sensational debut album
• Jan Delay - Searching for the Jan Soul Rebels: Fantastic reggae with German lyrics
• Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the New Loud: Beautiful Indie folk pop from Norway
• Spiritualized - Let it Come Down: Another great record from them
• Fun Lovin Criminals - Loco: Eclectic mixture of hip hop, rock, blues and a little bit of jazz
• Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy: Very good songs from the Welsh alternative band
• India.Arie - Acoustic Soul: Perfect combination of hip hop and R&B
• Diana Krall - The Look of Love: As good as her album before
• Robbie Williams - Swing When You're Winning: Great songs never die

Here some songs that are typical for this year:

• Monster's Ball: Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in a great drama
• Memento: Crazy idea to tell a story from the end
• The Lord of the Rings: I didn't like the novels and don't like the movies (but it was a chart buster)
• Amélie: Wonderful movie about a good person (only could made in France)
• Enemy at the Gates: Fantastic story about two snipers in Stalingrad
• Blow: Based on a real story Johnny Depp tells us about smuggling  drugs
• From Hell: Johnny Depp (again) try to tell his version of Jack the Ripper
• Black Hawk Down: First good movie about a useless war

I renounce this time out to mention something else that has happened in the world.

I seldom listened to a record that combines so many influences from the last 40 years in music to a very own sound. It's like you have a grab bag of music in front of you. Open this fund has the magical Welsh band Super Furry Animals. And they take all of the best. Of course they have studied the mid Beatles work and the Beach Boys as well. You can hear also Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra in a song and in the next one sounds like a Barry White inspired song. You might call this retro but the retro case still not snaps, plus the band sounds ultimately to their own. It is opulent instrumented with big melodies and pomp.

Super Furry Animals - Alternate Road to Vulcan Street

Super Furry Animals - Juxtaposed With U

Super Furry Animals - Run! Christian, Run!

Super Furry Animals - No Sympathy