Why is Ben L’Oncle Soul on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
A seven nation army shouldn’t hold you back from checking out this retro soul gem.
Some stats & info about Ben L’Oncle Soul
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Soul, Retro Soul, R&B
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Ben L’Oncle Soul released? 2010
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #878 out of 1,000
Ben L’Oncle’s Ben L’Oncle Soul on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
What does Ben L’Oncle Soul mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
An incredible reimagining of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” into a sexy retro soul pop song with an incredibly bouncy, near ska beat is an absolute smasher. The organ and horn flourishes are simply fantastic, and L’Oncle’s interpretation of the lyrics makes this sound and feel like a completely ingenious song that stands apart from Jack and Meg White’s great in its own respect original.
“Soulman” fully succeeds, as AllMusic puts it, in producing a style akin to “Motown and Stax sounds of the ’60s,” horns aplenty, lush R&B production, and L’Oncle’s vocals blending wonderfully with backing singers. But most of all it’s got a great hook and beat and really swings.
“Ain’t Off to the Back” is a really fun experiment that combines that retro soul vibe before handing off to Beat Assailant for a hip hop verse in the middle. Wild drums and rousing organs make this a rousing, upbeat number.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to Ben L’Oncle Soul
“Seven Nation Army” is a very popular song to cover as it turns out. Here’s the fantastic original White Stripes version.
SecondHandSongs lists some 96 cover versions. Here’s a really wild and honestly kind of strange and forbidden version by The Flaming Lips.
I’m also reminded that the last time I was in Los Angeles, in the pre-pandemic Before Times, my wife and I caught an outstanding little band that played their own outstanding lounge version of “Seven Nation Army” at one of our favorite downtown restaurants, called Perch.