Hundred Reasons pointed out yesterday that it has now been 10 years (and one day) since Ideas Above Our Station came out, and my list tells me that it's exactly 10 years ago today that I bought the cd (I guess I couldn't make it down to MVC on the Monday). A bunch of us bought it when it came out, we'd been listening to the band for nearly two years by this point already by the way of their incredible first 3 EPs and having been introduced by a demo of Different on a Rock Sound cd. It was clearly going to be a big album; they were getting a lot of press and I still remember the huge poster in the Joiners advertising the album. The fact that 10 years later I'm still listening to the album is an indication of quite how massive it was.
The very start of I'll Find You is one of those moments that instantly puts a smile on my face. Partly because it's a great little riff, but mostly because I know the next 40 minutes will keep me smiling. There's not a song on this album I don't love. The singles all had plenty of play before the record came out, but songs like What Thought Did and Drowning are as catchy and brilliant themselves. Much like the first Deftones album, I have no idea what Colin is singing half of the time, but I still sung along as best I could every time I saw them.
A few years later Hugh and I were off to see This Is Menace in the LA2 (supported by Colin's other band, The Lucky Nine) and had a browse of Selectadisc beforehand (now called Sister Ray, but always Selectadisc to me). This was back when they used to have stupidly cheap LPs and we found Ideas Above Our Station for £1 in the racks. We both owned the cd from the week it came out, but it's nice to have the classics on vinyl. The records survived the gig and now sits proudly on my shelves.
The fact it had been 10 years since this came out didn't surprise me, I knew the anniversary was coming up. A short while back they announced they were going to be playing Ideas in full at Banquet's Big Day Out. I had planned to go anyway, but with Hundred Reasons playing I had to. I'm pretty sure it will be the highlight of the whole summer, let alone the festival. I've mentioned before, and I'm sure I will again, how much I love shows where bands play an album in full. Two of the best were Full Collapse and Fever To Tell, but I'm saving a space in the top 3 for this one. We saw them countless times back in the day and throughout their career. I always had such a good time. If I could choose my ideal HR setlist, it would probably just be this album (maybe with Remmus too) so it suffices to say that I'm pretty excited. The BDO show is going to be a very special way to remember such an awesome album.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £1 new
Bought: Selectadisc London
When: 18/12/05
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
