V/A - "20th Century Noise - A Millennial Soundtrack" (2000)

I've been reading Uncut Magazine for ten years, but I'm not sure why.

It's good but not that good, at least not as good as the cover usually promises. But I buy it regularly, even though I don't really read much of it. I flip through it on the bus (and marvel at the dozens of pages of reviews of albums and bands I've never heard of and will never hear of again) then when I get home I put it on top of the Uncut pile and never look at it again.

It's expensive as hell in Sweden, but I keep doing it. I may be an idiot, but at least I'm a persistent idiot. I think the reason I started buying it was for the free CDs included. These vary greatly in quality, but the good ones are top notch - like this one, from the January 2000 issue.

Pretty self-explanatory, it's a chronological collection of recordings covering the last seventy years of the last century. You could argue forever that there's essential stuff missing, but it's not like they could include everything, it's just one disc after all. There's also the issues of copyright and production costs, which I assume is the reason why we get a Beatles interview instead of a Beatles song. And a John Cale solo song instead of something by Velvet Undergound, The 101'ers instead of The Clash etc.

This also means there's some lesser heard (read: cheaper) cuts to enjoy, as opposed the usual studio versions. Such as the groin-throbbing performance of Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel from the legendary Louisiana Hayride radio show, and a live take of Jimi Hendrix's Fire that smokes (pun intended) any studio version. And let's not forget the raging demo version of the Pistols' Anarchy In The U.K..

You could also argue that it's a bit too focused on British music towards the end - would an American magazine include Suede, The Specials and Underworld? Hardly. But this is a British magazine, and they show it from their perspective, simple as that. Being the anglophile that I am, I wouldn't want it any other way. Underworld's Born Slippy is the song defined the 1990s for me, along with an Oasis song or two.

Some would see these things as flaws, but I just think they give this compilation a different edge, and this is a cd I must have listened to hundreds of time.

All in all, this pretty much sums up the last century nicely. My favorite part is the vintage media soundbites inserted inbetween some of the tracks - track 3 for example finishes with the reporting of the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Track 6 contains Ol' Blue Eyes singing to the U.S. forces during World War II, and ends with a radio bulletin about the bombing of Hiroshima.

Track 9 ends with a reporter's real-time reactions to the JFK assasination. Country Joe's anti-Vietnam classic ends with guns fire and bombs from the war, Neil Armstrong's "one step for a man" line finds its way into Hendrix's Fire, just like Martin Luther King's famous "dream speech" bleeds into The Staples Singers' Respect Yourself. Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton also show up, as well as reports on John Lennon's murder.

And so on and so forth. A lovely iniative in my opinion, and a great way to put historic moments in a context that someone like myself, who loves music but knows nothing about history, can appreciate.

If you take the time to listen to this from beginning to end, it's highly, highly recommended.

1. Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - Cornet chop suey
2. Robert Johnson - Cross road blues
3. Glenn Miller/Duke Ellington/Benny Goodman feat. Gene Krupa - Jeep jockey jump/Mainstem/Sing sing sing
4. Billie Holiday - Strange fruit
5. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five/The Nat King Cole Trio/Illinois Jacquet - Caldonia/Little Joe from Chicago/The blues
6. Frank Sinatra - All of me
7. Woody Guthrie/Hank Williams - This land is your land/Move it on over
8. Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel (live)
9. Jack Kerouac/Chet Baker - Extract from poems of the unpublished "Book Of The Blues"/Let's get lost
10. The Beach Boys - California girls
11. The Beatles - U.S. interview, August 27, 1964
12. The Grateful Dead/Jefferson Airplane - Sugar magnolia/White rabbit
13. Country Joe & The Fish - The fish cheer/I-feel-like-I'm-fixin'-to-die-rag
14. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Fire (live)
15. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Selassie is the chapel
16. The Staples Singers - Respect yourself
17. Marvin Gaye - What's going on
18. Marc Bolan & T-Rex - Hot love (U.S. version)
19. John Cale - Leaving it up to you
20. The 101'ers - Keys to your heart
21. The Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the U.K.
22. The Specials - Ghost town
23. Ice-T - Retaliation
24. Suede - The drowners
25. Underworld - Born slippy

(zip) 20th Century Noise - A Millennial Soundtrack

Buy all of it @ Amazon.com.