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7 Chillout Albums To Hear Before You Die
Feb 13th
Right, so here’s the deal: I’m going to list 7 of my favourite chillout albums but I want you to know that this isn’t an arbitrary number plucked out of nowhere. It’s like all those fashion magazines with “109 tips to a sexier, healthier you” – why not 108 or 110? No, the number of albums listed here are all the albums I listen to first thing in the morning or last thing at night – especially if the day’s been a flat out disaster.
1) Rise – Samantha James
This album is first for a reason: it is the best of the lot. Light, dance-pop music that washes over you and takes all of your troubles away like a cool breeze on a blue sky day. Samantha James doesn’t wail or demand you take notice of her vowel prowess; she tells you to keep on truckin’ and lightens the load.
Standouts: Rise, Enchanted Life, Rain, Come Through, Deep Sunrise
2) Come Away With Me – Norah Jones
I have literally done more work to this album than any other music in my life. The melodies are mellow; the voice warm with an underlining gravel tone. If you want some company whilst you work, Norah is good company to keep. The jazz and acoustic feel never hurt either.
Standouts: Don’t Know Why, Shoot the Moon, The Long Day Is Over, Come Away With Me, Nightingale, Feelin’ The Same Way
3) Soldier of Love – Sade
Not typical chillout music on this one but soulful, R ‘n’ B fare. Half of the album channels a melancholy sound; the other half features a playful and content side of Sade, happy to sit back and groove a little. This mix of material enables a cathartic process to take place inside of you and returns your balance after a long day of hassles and stress.
Standouts: The Moon And The Sky, Morning Bird, Skin, The Safest Place
4) Songs of Sanctuary – Adiemus
A rainbow-coloured African elephant, charging forth alongside an army of giraffes, lions and gazelles, rides through the Serengeti toward the bluest oasis you’ll ever see.
Weird, I know, but that’s what the eponymous first track, Adiemus, conjures up in my mind. Gospel hymns aside, this album will not be background music for a day’s activities. The orchestral crescendos and African, gospel harmonies on Songs of Sanctuary will excite your creative neurons and send a buzz around your skull ‘til you have a few fresh ideas.
Standouts: Adiemus, In Caelum Fero, Kayama, Tintinnabulum
5) Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel – Mariah Carey
I can hear the ‘X’ at the top of this window being clicked already. Please, hear me out. This album was a pretty major commercial disaster. Critics aren’t exactly calling it a masterpiece either. To top it off, it’s had more singles than a speed dating event on Valentine’s Day.
However, Memoirs is Mariah’s least earpiercing album since Billboard starting tracking whale sounds. Whether it’s the ever-flowing champagne or the new husband, Mariah has produced a chilled-out, relaxing album worthy of bedtime listening (I would skip Ribbon, Obsessed and Up Out My Face if you’re listening to it for that purpose, though).
The theme is fixated around past lovers and relationships – good or bad – from a bygone era of life. Give this album a spin once in a while if you want to reminisce.
Standouts: Betcha Gon Know, H.A.T.E.U., Candy Bling, The Impossible, Languishing
6) Moon Safari – Air
Of all the 7 albums listed, this one is likely to have slipped in and out of your consciousness the most. You will probably know Sexy Boy but the funny thing is that this song is not indicative of the rest of the album, which is akin to easy-listening lounge music with fewer vocals. Moon Safari gets you in a chilled mood without you ever knowing.
Standouts: Sexy Boy, All I Need, Ce Matin La, Remember
7) The Very Best Of Enya – Enya
(This features the majority of her best work, hence why I am listing it over a specific album.)
Research needs to be conducted on Enya’s music. I think she’s found the secret to send people to sleep, buried deep in the bowels of her Irish castle. If you can’t get any shut-eye because of thoughts swirling round your head or loud, drunken neighbours are keeping you awake at night – often my main problem – then do as I do and put on Enya. I guarantee you those eyelids will be drooping before you can say, ‘Sail Away’.
Standouts: Orinoco Flow, Only Time, May It Be, Caribbean Blue
101 Classics: In Cold Blood
Feb 10th
Possibly the first non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood details a multiple homicide case in 1960’s Holcomb, a small Kansas city with a population of around 2,000 residents. The premeditated murder of a wealthy, well-respected farming family in their home shakes the tight-knit community to its core – particularly considering there was no obvious motive.
"They shared a doom against which virtue was no defense."
The novel goes to great lengths to detail each piece of salacious town gossip and every minor relationship. At first, this entrenches the reader in the mindset of a Kansan, community member. You can practically smell the diner’s black coffee and peach cobblers; the waft of tall, golden wheat fields in summer winds. After their arrest, the viewpoint shifts to that of the killers. Trapped and slowly realising they would die for their crimes, Capote provides insight enough to keep the reader hooked but never attempts to justify their crimes.
In Cold Blood owes as much to its source material as its writer, who succeeds in blending fact with shrewd fictional embellishments. Though Capote claimed that every word of his novel was true, I tend to agree with the critics who claim otherwise. Unlike them, however, I believe that a man of such intellect and thought as he treaded this line with grave caution.
Almost half a century later, In Cold Blood remains a testament to the true power of the written word – if wrought by skilful hands.
101 Classics: Alias
Feb 9th
Sydney Bristow = ♥
So, I was going through some (mainly self-inflicted) tough times in college. Yeah, I know, apparently so was everyone. But watching Sydney Bristow deal with bad guys, bad grades and one badass mom week after week made me feel that maybe my problems paled in comparison.
I always thought to myself when confronted with a problem I couldn’t handle, “What would Sydney Bristow do?” She could defuse nukes in a booby-trapped coffin, learn to trust and love a woman who shot her, work alongside another who was married to the man she loved, and still have time to save the world alongside her long-lost sister in a 28 Days Later-like, zombie-filled finale.
Alias plunged depths no TV show has come close to since (although What Katie Did Next did hit an all-time low for broadcast television). Side characters were not fodder to be disposed of at the earliest opportunity – they were often as interesting to the viewer as the main protagonist. Dixon’s downward spiral after the death of Diane; Jack’s battle with his heart and head over doing what’s best for Syd; and, of course, the limitless mysteries and paradoxes of Sloane and Irina’s minds. These all gripped us as much as any major Rambaldi story arc.
I forgive J.J. Abrams for abandoning the show for commercial and critical darling Lost, but a part of me cannot forgive him for allowing her to come to such an ignoble end. I have blotted Season 5 from my mind. Hey, with four prior fantastic and addictive seasons, this is easy to do. Alias was like sugar to a schoolkid or crack to his chavvy, council estate friend; there was always someone hooked to it somewhere but, like any good covert operation, you didn’t know until it was long over.
Perhaps that was the problem with Alias. The intricate details behind the façade of costumes and codenames were lost on casual viewers, yet provided enough sustenance to maintain a sizable cult following even to this day.
Never mind. I’m more than happy to take memory of this secret gem to the grave.
