The general idea of a compilation album is to deliver a variety of music to the listener in one package – or at least to present an array of artists of any given genre while mixing things up a little. Indeed it was the compilation LP that inspired today’s ubiquitous ‘mix tape’.
When it comes to presenting such variety, Triple J’s newest compilation album 40 Years Of Music is quite possibly the best example I’ve seen and heard. Traversing the fields of punk, rock, soul, pop, electro, hip-hop, trip-hop and more, no musical stone appears to be left unturned.
Firstly, as if to want to keep critics at bay who commented on the station’s lack of female presence in their annual Hot 100s, two of the four CDs kick off with brilliant female artistry: CD One with Patti Smith’s Gloria and CD Three with Garbage’s Vow. And insisting that girls make a great variety of pop/rock, all four discs feature killer tracks by solo females or bands fronted by ballsy gals: Divinyls, The Slits, Romeo Void, PJ Harvey, Moloko, Tori Amos, Missy Elliott, Cocteau Twins, Lorde, L7, the list goes on…
The general idea of a compilation album is to deliver a variety of music to the listener in one package – or at least to present an array of artists of any given genre while mixing things up a little. Indeed it was the compilation LP that inspired today’s ubiquitous ‘mix tape’.
When it comes to presenting such variety, Triple J’s newest compilation album 40 Years Of Music is quite possibly the best example I’ve seen and heard. Traversing the fields of punk, rock, soul, pop, electro, hip-hop, trip-hop and more, no musical stone appears to be left unturned.
Firstly, as if to want to keep critics at bay who commented on the station’s lack of female presence in their annual Hot 100s, two of the four CDs kick off with brilliant female artistry: CD One with Patti Smith’s Gloria and CD Three with Garbage’s Vow. And insisting that girls make a great variety of pop/rock, all four discs feature killer tracks by solo females or bands fronted by ballsy gals: Divinyls, The Slits, Romeo Void, PJ Harvey, Moloko, Tori Amos, Missy Elliott, Cocteau Twins, Lorde, L7, the list goes on…
There is a healthy dose of Australian artistry, too, be it from our early days of garage punk (The Saints, pre-top 40 Models), the halcyon days of Aussie rock in the 1980s (Midnight Oil, Hunters & Collectors), artists that celebrate our indigenous history (Yothu Yindi), right through to now-international favourites like Tame Impala and Chet Faker.
40 Years Of Music boasts 80 tracks in total – some of them the most obvious example of the artist’s ouvre from which they stem (eg: New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, NWA’s ‘Fuck The Police’) but for the most part, tracks have been picked that best typify the era or genre from which they were born.
The basic gist of the selection is music that was played right from the beginning of Triple J’s early days (as Double J) and over the course of the four decades since the station first aired. You can imagine, then, why a punk track can suddenly cut to a soul track and still feel quite at home on the one collection.
If you’ve got a varity of people coming ’round for Chrissy or New Year and wanted to deliver an eclectic platter of music for your guests’ discerning ears, THIS is the compilation album to do that with. Antonino Tati
Courtesy of ABC and Universal Music, Cream has 10 copies of Triple J’s ’40 Years Of Music’ to give away. To try winning one, email to cream@pobox.com your name, address and the title and artist of one of your favourite songs of all-time. Please key ’40 Years’ in your Subject heading, and get your entry in (one entry only per person) no later than 5pm AWST, Wednesday 30th December.
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