Road Album Top 5: #4
David Gray - White Ladder
For #4 on the all-time Road Album list, I decided to go with a proven great in an underappreciated sub-genre of Road Albums: Night Driving Albums. During the more reflective quiet of a midnight drive through nowhere, you need an album that adds to the mood. The heavy beat of the white lines turns into a soft, almost inaudible, pulse.
You know the story: In 1998, after three albums that met as much critical acclaim as commercial indifference, David Gray retreated into his home with the last of his record contract money to record what became White Ladder. The album reflects the isolation of the recording process, and on a dark night, you can let the opening beat of "Please Forgive Me" carry you to your destination. By the time the second version* of "Babylon" comes on, I'm in deep concentration.
When this album had just come out, one of my roommates and I would go drive "the Loop" around Austin(Mopac to 2222 to 360 to Bee Caves and back to Mopac) and listen to White Ladder at midnight. I have too many memories associated with this album to list.
Here's a version of "Please Forgive Me" Live in San Francisco 5/22/01.
*Usually, I find it a weak move to include two versions of the same song on an album. Wilco does it on Being There (Outta Sight/Outta Mind) and Summer Teeth (A Shot in the Arm (Alternate Take) - incorrectly labeled "In A Future Age (Alternate Take)), The Flaming Lips do it on The Soft Bulletin (Waiting for a Superman). Actually, that's a list of some pretty strong albums, though. I would have more of a problem with it on White Ladder if the rest of the album weren't so strong and "Babylon II" wasn't so much better than the first version.
posted by paul @ 8:59 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks. You have just put me in the mood for David Grey. I'm going to go and listen to White Ladder now.
(It may not be midnight, but it's 7.20am and that is practically the middle of the night... At least it feels like it is.)
*Gray
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