The 500 - #393 - Kala - M.I.A.

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 393

Album Title: Kala
Artist: M.I.A.
Genre:  Dance, World, Hip Hop
Recorded: 2006-2007 (Multiple Global Locations)
Released: August, 2007
My age at release: 42
How familiar was I with it before this week: Two songs
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Boyz

Kala by M.I.A. (2007)

In 2009, it was virtually impossible to escape the infectiously catchy single Paper Planes from Kala, the second studio release by British singer, songwriter, producer and activist M.I.A. Paper Planes first crossed my radar when I saw the trailer for the film Pineapple Express. The song began with a cleverly remixed sample from Straight to Hell, a 1982 single from The Clash.

EP single of Straight to Hell by The Clash (1982) 

The jarring chorus demands attention. Singing children are interrupted by three gun shots punctuated by the familiar ring of a mechanical cash register. A few months later, Paper Planes was featured prominently in the Academy Award winning film, Slumdog Millionaire and I wanted to learn more.  

In 2008, YouTube was still in its infancy. In fact, the free video sharing website was not yet showing commercials. "Surfing the Tube" became a popular pastime as viewers switched from televisions to computer screens for their entertainment. 

I was among the converts, regularly plugging in my headphones to allow my shift-working wife her much needed sleep. Hours were spent down this virtual rabbit-hole, watching videos or listening to music while simultaneously researching information on corresponding web pages.

It was on one of these auditory and informational explorations that I learned more about M.I.A. and her incredible journey from the Sri Lankan Civil War to refugee status in London, England, to global superstardom. Her music included powerful political messages about illegal immigration, poverty, capitalism and violence. All of this, cleverly hidden among catchy riffs, dance-hall beats and hip-hop-inspired melodies borrowed and remixed from a array of eclectic sources, including Bollywood film, punk rock, playground rhyme and even the Australian aboriginal wind instrument, the digeridoo. 

M.I.A. (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasm) 2013 

Summarizing the fascinating life of M.I.A. (born Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasm) in a short blog post is a challenge. However, there is one interesting snippet worth sharing.

Maya was born in London, England, in 1975 to Arul Pragasam, an engineer, writer and activist, and his wife, a seamstress, Kala, who is the namesake of this record. The family moved back to Sri Lanka when Maya was six months old. Her father became a significant figure in a militant organization struggling for an independent state for Tamils within Sri Lanka. His group was connected to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Logo for the LTTE

Eventually, the family were forced into hiding, assuming false identities. Maya, now eight, attended a Catholic school where she gravitated to the arts. Surprisingly, she recalls this as a "happy time", despite poverty, hunger and the ever-present threat posed by the Sri Lankan military. Students were trained to dive to the floor when passing soldiers were inclined to fire bullets through the school house windows. Her father visited sporadically, but to protect the family, he was introduced to Maya as an uncle. She was in her mid-teens when she learned that her uncle was, in fact, her dad.

Maya and her father Arul (2007)

In 1986, the family returned to London as refugees, living in a public housing project called Phipps Bridge Estates. The area was plagued by crime and, as one of the few Asian families living there, she faced racism daily. 

In an amazing quirk of fate, her mother secured employment as a seamstress with the Royal Family. Her duties included the intricate sewing required for medals which were worn by the Royals and also awarded to citizens.

M.I.A. receiving her M.B.E from Prince William

In 2019, Maya, was recognized with an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for her contributions to the arts. The medal presented to her by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, was hand-stitched by her mother. 

M.I.A. and her mother Kala following the MBE ceremony.

Maya, now 45, continues to make music and is involved in numerous charitable causes -- including efforts to bring justice to Tamils for alleged war crimes perpetrated during the decades-long Sri Lankan Civil War.

The 500 - #399 - Rain Dogs - Tom Waits

 I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 399

Album Title: Rain Dogs
Artist: Tom Waits 
Genre: Experimental Eclectic Everything
Recorded: RCA Studios
Released: September, 1985
My age at release: 20
How familiar was I with it before this week: One song
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Clap Hands

Rain Dogs Cover - Tom Waits (1985)

There was a small rush of dopamine that accompanied the keystrokes that placed "Album #399" into the header of this post. When this marathon journey began in January, 2019, there was certainly some trepidation on my part that this was a "fool's errand" that would fizzle-out. However, with 100 records in the rear view mirror, completion of this nine-year task seems far more likely.

Tom Waits (1985)

What a phenomenal record was waiting at #399. Tom Waits' Rain Dogs is the middle album in a trilogy of experimental music that began with Swordfishtrombone (1983) and would conclude with Franks Wild Years (1987). All three records are notable for Tom's embrace of a broad spectrum of musical styles and wide range of instrumentation, as well as the use of eclectic background sounds gathered through natural sources rather than studio trickery. Indeed, Waits prides himself on being a Luddite who eschews technological sleight of hand in the studio, wonderfully captured by this somewhat salty, but perfectly Waits-ian, quote:

"If I want a sound, I usually feel better if I've chased it and killed it, skinned it and cooked it. Most things you can get with a button nowadays. So, if I was trying for a certain drum sound, my engineer would say, 'Oh, for Christ's sake, why are we wasting our time? Let's just hit this little cup with a stick here and make it bigger in the mix.' I'd say, 'No, I would rather go in the bathroom and hit the door with a piece of two-by-four very hard.'"

Much of the record was composed in a squalid, basement apartment at the corner of Washington and Horatio Street in the West Village of Manhattan. 

Washington & Horatio Streets, NYC

It was, as one might expect of New York City in the mid-eighties, a rough area, frequented by a diverse group of wandering artists, addicts, sex workers, pimps, hoodlums and the homeless. It was from this landscape that Waits drew his inspiration for both the music and his extraordinary lyrics. These urban vagabonds also provided inspiration for the album's title. As Waits put it:

"I kept thinking about people who live outdoors. You know how after the rain you see all these dogs that seem lost, wandering around. The rain washes away all their scent, all their direction. So all the people on the album are knit together, by some corporeal way of sharing pain and discomfort."

However, I couldn't help but think how this applies to all of us. We are all wandering the face of the earth, knit together by invisible forces. Fortunately, for many of us, we have the solace and comfort of a home and the ties that bind us are often love and belonging. Perhaps Waits is just reminding us to eschew the hectic whirlwind of our world and embrace the eclectic background. Maybe that will grant us a little more sympathy for the rain dogs in our world.

The 500 - The First 100 Albums

 

Milestone One has been reached!

I recently published my blog post about album #401 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. I am officially 1/5 of the way through my journey. 

This venture began on January 29, 2019, after discovering that comedian Josh Adam Meyer had made the decision to podcast about each record. I had maintained this blog for about four years and, formerly, the topics were usually gleaned from the world of education. However, I wanted to write weekly and when I heard about Josh's podcast, I decided to listen to and write about each record. The initial, goal of two posts a week was unsustainable, however, I'm currently on a pace of a blog post every 6.24 days.

Rather than review each record or give a track-by-track analysis, I wanted to uncover something different about the stories behind the music. As I looked over The 500 List, I felt that I had some personal anecdotes to share; however, there were many albums with which I had little familiarity. My goal was to "find the story" within. I don't think there is a better example of this than my Gram Parson's post from May, 2020.

Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons (1973)

Just as I was approaching the 100th record, Rolling Stone released an updated list. Consequently, albums I have written about have been removed from the list and, in some cases, rated higher. The Nas record, Illmatic, which I recently wrote about, has been (justifiably) moved from position #402 to #44. I have decided to stick with the 2012 list and, if I get to the end of this journey, I may double-back and write about the records that were added to the 2020 list, but that decision is seven years away.

September, 2020 edition of Rolling Stone Magazine 
with the updated 500 list.

Speaking of lists...here are a few of my own.

A big shout-out to the ten people who generously "guest blogged" with me...

• Nick Bishop - My Morning Jacket, Z (#457)
• Rob Hodson - John Prine, Debut (#452)
• Jay Dubois - Beck, Sea Change (#436)
• Oscar Macedo - The Police, Outlandos D'Amour (#428)
• Jeff Lewis - Bruce Springsteen, The Rising (#424)
• Steve "Lumpy" Sullivan U2, Boy (#417)
• Glen "Archie" Gamble - Van Halen, Debut (#415)
• Claudio Sossi - The Minutemen, Double Nickles On The Dime (#413)
• Karen Snell - PJ Harvey, Rid of Me (#406)
• My Dad - Who has proofread every blog post since the beginning. I love our weekly chats.

My Top 5 discoveries while on this journey and the albums that got the most plays after first hearing them are...

• Beck - Sea Change (#436)
• The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs (#465)
• My Morning Jacket - Z (#457)
• Gang of Four - Entertainment (#483)
• Manu Chao - Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (#474)

It is gratifying that my readership has grown since I began this project. Some of my first posts garnered 30-40 readers and I now average 80. Some posts are more popular than others. It might be the record or the artist.  It might just be fortuitous timing on my part and when I chose to promote the blog. Regardless, these five posts had the most readers:

1. Kiss - Destroyer - 143 readers, Published 19/03/2019
2. Nas - Illmatic - 118 readers, Published 03/10/2020
3. George Michael - Faith - 114 readers,  Published 02/07/2019
4. Loretta Lynn - All Time Greatest Hits - 101 readers, Published 20/05/2019
5. Portishead - Dummy - 98 readers, Published 27/06/2020

Here are the stats on the dates of the first 100 records:

• Two from the 1950s
• Eight from the 1960s
• 38 from the 1970s
• 22 from the 1980s
• 16 from the 1990s
• 14 from the 2000s

A few highlights on my journey:

• Getting to meet Josh Adam Meyers when he was in Toronto for the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival and seeing him record an episode of The 500 Podcast live. Episode #448 - The Police, Synchronicity. 
• Getting likes and Twitter mentions from comedians, actors and musicians that I admire, including Russell Peters, LL Cool J, Joe Satriani, Zainab Johnson and Wayne Federman.
• Receiving the comment "A brilliant essay" from actor and comedian Jay Mohr (SNL, Jerry Maguire, Action, Gary Unmarried) who read my blog post about Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love. (#467)

There are five artists who are not on The 500 list and deserve recognition. In each case:

• They were commercially successful
• The musicianship is excellent
• The record is considered influential by many other artists
• And, I really like them and I'm disappointed they are not on the list

In no particular order:

• Rush - Moving Pictures (This record is on the 2020 list at #379)
• Supertramp - Crime of the Century or Breakfast in America
• Boston - Debut
• Duran Duran - Rio
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

What do you think? I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts, feel free to post in the comment section below. 

Finally, thank you for reading and joining me on this journey through The 500 greatest albums of all time.  Next up: The Temptations Anthology at #400