So why is Transplants on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
As a massive Rancid fan, I’ll admit I’m biased in thinking that while the Transplants are often referred to as a “supergroup,” I tend to think of them more as yet another superior project spearheaded by Tim Armstrong*.
* Also see: Operation Ivy and his outstanding solo album, A Poet’s Life (#310 of best 1,000 albums ever).
The other members of Transplants include Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and the gravel-and-sandpaper-voiced rap stylings of Rob Aston.
Here’s what I wrote about Aston in the entry for Transplant’s Haunted Cities (#683):
I interviewed Rob Aston around the time Haunted Cities was released for Blogcritics, a blogging community I was helping to run at the time. The interview is no longer available on the web unfortunately, lost to the sands of time and technology.
The thing that I remember most is that Aston espoused a “get yours before they take yours” attitude about life. And the way he described that attitude was literal: if someone has something that you want and can get it, you should go ahead and take it. It’s hard to tell if he was playing a role or character in terms of this interview, but he certainly seemed quite serious and genuine to me.
Transplants’ self-titled debut album from 2002 channels Armstrong’s The Clash-meets-quirky Bay Area punk rock vibes perfectly. There’s all kinds of wild experimentation going on throughout the album, and almost all of it works really well.
That being said, the best song that the band has produced to date, “Down in Oakland,” could easily be mistaken for a late era Rancid gem and notably does not include Aston at all.
There’s a strange, almost Western-tinged foreboding to “Down in Oakland,” and at the same time it’s super catchy with an incredible guitar hook. And like The Clash before them, Armstrong has an amazing capacity to explore the full canvas of what’s possible with punk rock – in this case a moody and atmospheric stunner.
Much of Transplants is upbeat, though it maintains that oddly effective combination of menace and excitement. “Diamonds and Guns” is a great example, with its looping piano and Armstrong’s oddball punk/rap mixture. And then Rob Aston’s gruff shouty rap section is a pretty bracing change-up here as well.
“California Babylon” traipses dangerously close to dance music territory, while “Tall Cans in the Air,” prominently featuring Aston, tiptoes (almost) into frat (punk) rock. I have a soft spot especially for the latter – it’s very exciting and catchy both.
“D.R.E.A.M.” plays off of Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” (drugs replacing cash), filtered through a massive bong with a Sublime sticker on it, I’d think.
Some stats & info about Transplants
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? SoCal Bands, Rap Rock, Alternative Rock, Punk Revival, Punk Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Transplants released? 2002
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #177 out of 1,000
Transplants on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Transplants that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
This is the city that’ll make all your dreams come true, so pay attention.
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.