#148 Frank Ocean, 'Channel Orange' (2012)
New Entry
One of the most remarkable new artists of the past 10 years, Frank Ocean presents us with his debut album, ‘Channel Orange.’ “The best song wasn’t even the single,” croons Ocean on ‘Sweet Life.’ That’s true, to an extent. This album has such depth that the best songs aren’t JUST the singles. Ocean rose to prominence with the Odd Future Collective, before going solo, first with a mixtape and then this album. Although primarily RnB, the album bears elements of Soul, electronica, Psychedelic Rock, Hip Hop; Ocean refuses to be pigeonholed. It’s an intelligent album that rewards the listener more and more on each listen. My favourite song, lyric-wise, is ‘Super Rich Kids,’ a song taking aim at the socialites, many who are famous for being famous; “Too many bottles of this wine we can't pronounce/Too many bowls of that green, no Lucky Charms/The maids come around too much/Parents ain't around enough/Too many joy rides in daddy's Jaguar/Too many white lies and white lines/Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends/Super rich kids with nothing but fake friends.”
As mentioned, the singles are strong, including the abovementioned there was also ‘Thinkin Bout You,’ ‘Pyramids,’ an almost 10-minute song which meanders through the various genres of the record, a song that takes you on a journey, perhaps a mini-album within the album; ‘Sweet Life’ and ‘Lost.’ I couldn’t even choose my favourites from those. But as I said, the best songs aren’t just the singles; ‘Crack Rock,’ ‘Forrest Gump,’ ‘Bad Religion’ and ‘Pink Matter’ are amongst some of the other greats. Ocean managed to assemble an eclectic and amazing bunch of musicians to play on the record, including John Mayer on ‘White’, Andre 3000 on ‘Pink Matter’, Matt Chamberlain, Lalah Hathaway on ‘Monk,’ Pharrell Williams on ‘Sweet Life’, and Odd Future bandmate, Earl Sweatshirt on ‘Super Rich Kids.’ The album peaked at #2 on the US charts. It was nominated for 4 Grammys for Album of the Year, Best New Artist, and Record of the Year (for ‘Thinkin Bout You’), including one win for Best Urban Contemporary Album. This will go down as a modern classic and influence so many for years to come.
#rs500albums