So why is Tim Armstrong’s A Poet’s Life on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Tim Armstrong is one of my favorite musicians, so when I first learned that he put out a solo album in 2007 I was really excited.
A Poet’s Life both conforms to and eludes your expectations of what a Tim Armstrong solo record should sound like: it’s much mellower and often warmer-sounding versus Operation Ivy, Rancid, and the Transplants, and yet all of the elements of those bands, all of the elements of Armstrong’s core influences – ska, punk, roots reggae with catchy hooks and raspy yet soulful vocals – all shine through.*
* Those three bands right there… it’s just astounding that Armstrong has played a major role in producing some of my favorite punk rock and ska punk music of all time.
A Poet’s Life often feels like a journey – through Armstrong’s homeland of San Francisco’s East Bay and Los Angeles, into the deep late night haunts of those regions, and the pleasures and cautionary tales of hard living.
One of my favorite things about the album is how relaxed and lived in it feels. “Wake Up,” the opener, is a great example. And also of course you get hit straight away with the unique vocal and performance stylings of Armstrong’s voice and musical influences – in this case, laid way back and chilled out ska.
“Into Action” is Tim Armstrong at his most accessible short of “Ruby Soho.” It’s also a fun, bouncing, catchy, and rollicking good time skanking through Oakland’s late night scene.
We take the Trans-Bay tube on the Richmond line
Leave at seven and at East Bay by nine
We may run out of money tonight never out of time
Harmon street we kick, it going to Adeline
It’s anybody’s guess how late we’re gonna run
We go all night all right to midnight just begun
“Oh No” is a really cool and darker tinged number, a slow organ-driven ska number that’s both ode to Los Angeles while being wide eyed about its temptations.
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Tim Armstrong’s A Poet’s Life
I worked for a small digital agency in Los Angeles in 2007, and I specifically recall telling one of my co-workers that Tim Armstrong had just released a solo record. I knew he was going to be amped about it, and he was.
This co-worker had produced some underground music as a DJ in past years and was also the founder of one of the earliest social networks. We got along really well even though our personalities and personas were fairly different: he tattooed from the neck down and garbed generally in black hoodies and goth-y gear, me rocking a much preppier/nerdier side of the style spectrum.
My several years of working at that agency were some of the most challenging of my entire career, but I learned a hell of a lot and had a lot of laughs along the way. I also met one of my very best friends there, so for that reason alone I’m grateful for the experience.
In early 2009, right around the time President Obama was inaugurated and the financial crisis was entering its scariest months, I was laid off from that agency. The parting was amicable enough, and I was even able to stay at a hotel room paid for by the agency to attend the SXSW interactive conference in Austin, Texas shortly thereafter.
However, things soon turned contentious just after that between myself and the person who ran the agency. So much so that I eventually took legal action to protect myself. I’m being purposely vague about the details here, but suffice to say that my memories of those years are unfortunately tainted by what happened at the very end.
A Poet’s Life for some reason takes me back to the era when things were good there, though. I helped produce some exciting digital products, and it’s also a time period that I look back on very fondly in terms of what was going on with technology and the internet.*
* It was a much more innocent time online, when people would connect and (mostly!) get along on blogs, social networking meant checking out things like people’s top bands on MySpace profiles, and pranks like rick rolling were used for pure silliness and fun. I’m sure I’m blocking out some of the negative stuff, but that’s what my rose-colored rearview mirror sees!
Some stats & info about Tim Armstrong – A Poet’s Life
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Pop Punk, Ska Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was A Poet’s Life released? 2007
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #310 out of 1,000
Tim Armstrong’s A Poet’s Life on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Tim Armstrong’s A Poet’s Life that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Let’s get moving into action.
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.