So why is The Rapture’s Echoes on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
My entry point to The Rapture comes via the opening theme music of a highly quirky and often funny British science fiction show called Misfits. I loved the theme music so much that I tracked down that it’s the title track on this album – both are called “Echoes.”
Like Misfits, “Echoes” is odd and striking and a bit funny all at the same time. Plus, it kind of rocks, too. All of these qualities apply to The Rapture and Echoes as a whole even as the album is fairly eclectic from one track to another.
“I Need Your Love” has a nice pulsing, electronic dance flavor with a little bit of an echo (to borrow the word again here) of the disco era by way of the vocals.
“The Coming of Spring” has a wild, thumping bass groove and a ringing, slightly dissonant guitar part that becomes compelling and head bob-worthy at the same time.
And then meanwhile “Infatuation” is a melancholy, introspective journey that reminds slightly of Radiohead circa The Bends. Echoes is a trip, all told.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to The Rapture’s Echoes
I have a strong sense that most Americans haven’t heard of Iwan Rheon. However, Game of Thrones fans worldwide will automatically know the name of the character he played, Ramsay Bolton (also known as the Bastard of Bolton). And a true bastard he was in the sense that he was one of the cruelest and most evil characters to ever be on a television show*. But all will readily agree that Rheon did a tremendous job in the role.
* I mean, just ask Reek… or better yet, leave poor Reek alone.
However, most Americans won’t not know that Rheon was also on Misfits, playing an incredibly different role in the form of Simon Bellamy. And without giving too much away, Simon goes through an enormous transformation so that in some ways Rheon plays two different characters, both as different from the Bastard of Bolton as it’s possible to get.
So this is all to say that Iwan Rheon is a great actor, and any production that involves his presence becomes immediately more interesting for it.
Some stats & info about The Rapture – Echoes
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Post Punk Revival, Electronic Music, Indie Rock, New York Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3 of 5 stars
- When was Echoes released? 2003
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #602 out of 1,000
The Rapture’s Echoes on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Rapture’s Echoes that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
The city breathing, the people churning, the conversating. The price is what?
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 review of 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.