November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post Reply
User avatar
spiritualized
Full of Fire
Posts: 2848
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2012 4:45 pm
Location: Near Montpellier, France

November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by spiritualized »

So here we go - Album of the Week. When I saw the opportunity, I thought "great", a fantastic way to make others recognise that I have *some* taste in music after years of honing my varied preferences in the greatest art there is.
I quickly hastened to nominate one of my preferred albums, hit "randomise" and was disappointed at the result. I thought "Blimey, the AMFers are never going to buy into this one..."

Rewind back to 1998 and big beat is THE sound of the moment. Fatboy Slim is all over the place, placing Brighton firmly on the map. He is virtually everywhere on TV, festivals, omnipresent.
His flavour of dance surf-beats tap into the collective mind and "ravers" can't get enough.

And then a musical UFO lands from nowhere - Lo-Fidelity Allstars hail from the same stable as the stalwarts of Big Beat, Skint Records but they do not aim to make you dance with a smile on your face. They go for the jugular with a thick British accent. LFA are a seven-strong collective with menacing anger and a taste for P-Funk which they laid down on How To Operate With a Blown Mind. The "singing" is heavily reminiscent of Johnny Rotten's Sex Pistols.

The album is full of invention, moving from Funk to Ambient and Disco (listen to "Blisters on my Brain",), nodding to their roots (sampling Afrika Bambataa's Planet Rock on Kool Roc Bass, the first single). It's a blast which has aged reasonably well, although Big Beat will probably disappear under the radar within a decade. Nonetheless, the Lofis will remain a cornerstone of the genre, pushing its boundaries with this album. Excellent (9.0)

Highlights : Blisters on My Brain / Kasparov's Revenge / Vision Incision

https://open.spotify.com/album/47ZlUaIT7HQeEzOioXrRj6


*** can't seem to be able to link the album on spotify
Hymie
Running Up That Hill
Posts: 3330
Joined: Sat Jun 08, 2013 10:37 pm

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by Hymie »

First, spiritualized, let me say that no offense is intended here. I am just giving my honest appraisal of the album.

Warming Up the Brain Farm - I hate these spoken word openings. Let's get to the fucking music already......... I guess I should have been more careful about what I wished for. The music on this track is awful. It's just a bunch of noise to me.

Kool Roc Bass - Even worse. A lot of annoying scratching and beats with no hooks.

Kasparov's Revenge - Okay, a little better track with the electronic sound. But the (cough) vocals still blow. I don't know, maybe people like to party to this stuff when they are stoned and/or drunk, but I've never been either in my entire life.

Blisters On My Brain - Much faster beat on this one. Just the beat alone is not bad, but the vocal parts with the effects are just annoying.

How To Operate With A Blown Mind - Another fucking spoken world intro. This thing sounds like the old days when you would tune in a radio station and you'd be getting two different stations at once bleeding into each other.

I Used to Fall in Love - This would not be bad as a straight instrumental, but the vocal parts are just total nonsense.

Battleflag - This is a more catchy rap sound. I can see it packing the dance floor in the right club. I would guess that if this album had any kind of a hit on it that this track would be it.

Lazer Sheep Dip Funk - Noise that is giving me a splitting headache.

Will I Get Out of Jail? - Someone actually sang the first line. But then it goes into the muffled spoken word intro that is putting me to sleep.

Vision Incision - Yikes!

Nightime Story - This is very different from the rest of the album. An eerie ballad with a female voice in there. The second best track IMO.

Overall I give this album a 2, which on my scale means "bad."

I checked, and I was right. "Battle Flag" was the hit single. You may be right about the "singing" being like Johnny Rotten's Sex Pistols, but since I can't stand the Sex Pistols and never could, there was not much chance of me liking much of this album.

There's a review of this album on RYM that sums it up for me:

w00dchaz1965 Apr 19 2002
This album was a disappointment. Loved the hell out of the single, "Battle Flag," but the other songs are weak. Maybe it's just not my aesthetic, but this really flopped for me.
User avatar
spiritualized
Full of Fire
Posts: 2848
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2012 4:45 pm
Location: Near Montpellier, France

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by spiritualized »

Hey Hymie, don't feel bad. I was expecting this onslaught. This is definitely not for everyone and I never take it personally :)
Thanks for taking the time to listen !
User avatar
bonnielaurel
Keep On Movin'
Posts: 1662
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2013 2:48 pm

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by bonnielaurel »

It reminded me of The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and Moby. It sounds okay to me, typical for the dance music of that period, a bit in the shadow of those other artists. Those spoken introduction are indeed a bit tiresome, although sometimes sound effects are added to the speaking voice.
User avatar
Moonbeam
Full of Fire
Posts: 2543
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:40 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by Moonbeam »

I quite liked this. Having not listened to any full length albums by The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, and Moby, this is probably my first big beat album. The whole affair is a bit unsettling, like the inner thoughts of a man on edge riding a public bus on a hot summer day - there's a gritty tension that envelops the songs, making the squelching synths on a song like "Kasparov's Revenge" that bit more sweat-soaked. I wouldn't necessarily call this a huge favorite, but it is a nice find nonetheless. I like the strings in the title track and the pinao touches in "I Used to Fall in Love". The bass toward the end of "Battle Flag" is a real highlight, and the creepiness of "Nightime Story" is a great closer and probably my favorite.

Probably my favorite of the albums featured so far, though I have enjoyed them all.
jamieW
Keep On Movin'
Posts: 1938
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2012 9:19 pm

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by jamieW »

This was the first album that didn't really connect with me personally. I gave most songs a 6, which means I like them but they wouldn't be contenders for my top 200 of the year (which I reserve for songs I give a 7 or higher). My main issue with the album was that many songs began with a unique sound/style, but then went on a little too long, wearing out their welcome (for me) in the process. I wasn't even as high on "Battle Flag" as others, since it reminded me of a Happy Mondays song and I was never a big fan of the Madchester sound. The notable exception for me was the final track, "Nightime Story," which (being the dark bastard I am) I absolutely loved. Although the album as a whole isn't one of my favorites, I'm hugely grateful for this discovery, which will now be high up my list of 1998 favorite songs. (Overall album rating: 5.91; Favorite song: Nightime Story 9)
User avatar
spiritualized
Full of Fire
Posts: 2848
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2012 4:45 pm
Location: Near Montpellier, France

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by spiritualized »

Well thank you to all for having taken the time to listen to this album - it's no easy feat and I appreciate the effort. I will pay even more attention to Nightime Story as it seems to have struck a chord here.
DocBrown
Shake Some Action
Posts: 1255
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:15 am
Location: Edmonton, Canada

Re: November 12, 2017-Album of the Week- Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With a Blown Mind

Post by DocBrown »

The only song I knew from this album was "Battle Flag", so this was new territory for me. Like most dance music, Big Beat is really not album oriented and I am not, to say the least, a dancefloor kind of guy. And at 69 minutes there is one hell of a lot to process here. Fortunately for me I stuck it out because not only is "Nighttime Story" as good as everyone noted, my favourite track was the penultimate "Vision Incision", so this album finished with a nice one-two punch.

I agree with Jamie that a lot of these themes went on too long, but again that is looking at the album as a listening experience. If I were in the club, maybe they'd be just right. I could also see how the Lo-Fidelity All-stars had a huge influence on drum and bass bands like Death From Above 1979.

I lost track of all the influences and elements that this Big Beat album draws from, but certainly the punk elements, including those sneered vocals of Dave Randall, were my peak. Not my style of music really, but still a solid listening experience. I'm going to withhold a rating on this because it deserves a relisten before I put a number to it.
Post Reply

Return to “Music, Music, Music...”