The two hundred and thirty-fourth TV show: #38 The Army Game
I don't mind watching The Army Game. It's a bit dated, sure, but the comedy still works well and stays amusing enough - I'm giving it some extra episodes and while I've got some others to go back to, I'll keep the DVDs so I can drop an episode in every once in a while.
The six hundred and forty-seventh album: #647 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
The indie rock sound of 80s Manchester comes through here, with clear vocals mixed with a rock backing and some psychedilic moments in the music. It's an attractive and convincing sound, friendly and pleasant to listen to.
The six hundred and forty-sixth album: #646 John Zorn - Spy Vs. Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman
As music has diversified, jazz has taken on additional elements, to the point where Spy vs Spy creates a chaotic, aggressive atmosphere with little to let you in on it and not giving you much to go on. It's fine for a few tracks, but ends up wearing out its welcome.
The six hundred and forty-fifth album: #645 The Young Gods - L'Eau Rouge
Whiel the album doesn't start as outwardly hard, it pretty quickly descends into the industrial rock that more famously comes from bands like Rammstein. With the vocals loud and hoarse, the music becomes intrusive only for the few instruments it has been played with. The production is small, made up for with volume a lot of the time. It's absolutely doing its own thing, in a way that works.
The two hundred and thirty-ninth classical recording: #243 Franz Schubert - String Quartet in G major, D887
There is a certain intensity to this work, with a full on performance that doesn't need to fill the space, but gives you that feeling of being emotionally a bit off. It's not one that feels like it's letting up, instead pushing its emotions on you regardless of the speed of the work.
The six hundred and forty-fourth album: #644 Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
While praised as a great album that took a few years to find appreciation, I found Paul's Boutique to be a lesser entry for the Beastie Boys. The style is familiar, but in a way that feels sloppier than I associate with them, while the amount of sampling becomes too much for me, creating a bit of a dissonant sound that I don't think supports the rap lyrics quite as well.
And with these last ten songs - the recent songs that only appeared in the final edition of the book. Let's get this done!
The one thousand and twenty-second song: Drone Bomb Me - Anohni
While it has an electronic backing, there is the feeling of a pop ballad in Anohni's vocals, a darkness in a love song that's otherwise filled with desire. It leaves an incredibly strong impression that feels visceral even when there are a lot of effects that might lean the other way.
The one thousand and twenty-third song: You Want It Darker - Leonard Cohen
Looking at the gap between entries, this feels like one of the longest ranges of appearance on the list. Leonard Cohen shows how he stays relevant, the darker tone to his music and back up vocals pushing his songs to a modern height that works incredibly well. It's at times menacing and dark and while it's recognisably his, it's also a track that works as a modern song.
The one thousand and twenty-fourth song: The Numbers - Radiohead
I feel like I've mostly been hearing Radiohead in more thoughtful performances. Numbers isn't a hard rock track, it is a pop rock track that focuses on the lyrics, with a beautifully arranged track supporting thoem. It's lovely in the way it sets up and builds itself.
The one thousand and twenty-fifth song: We the People... - A Tribe Called Quest
As a clear reaction to the rise of right wing politics at this point, it's a clear anthem that hits close enough to send a political message. But while the structure and rapping feels like it refers back to earlier times, the music, like the message, is modern, a fusion of rock and rap that feels more common and a sound that has clearly been rising. Here, the track works.
The one thousand and twenty-sixth song: Man - Skepta
There is an odd side to English rap - while the lyrics clearly reference the same violence as American, the lyrics can feel very British while the sound sets itself apart, a clear rap set over a modern electronic backing track. This feels like a good example of it, but it's also a style that doesn't grab me and leaves me wanting a bit more of something else.
The one thousand and twenty-seventh song: Formation - Beyonce
I remember the impact of the release of Lemonade had. This is not a song I heard referenced a lot from it. For me, it mostly shows Beyonce's talents, whose vocals and sounds are great. The raps are fine, but the bouncy electronic effects that go through the song are distracting and off putting in a way that really stops me wanting to hear more.
The one thousand and twenty-eighth song: Lazarus - David Bowie
A clear headed farewell, from a man who knew what was coming, introduces a rock song that feels melancholic and downbeat. There's something inevitable in the track, a delay that hurts, and the effect of his biography is still powerful.
The one thousand and twenty-ninth song: Ultralight Beam - Kanye West
Kanye West's songs feels tainted by his more recent antics, and a song about his religion and life are hard to separate. There's something really emotional and personal in this song, an insight into a person I otherwise feel quite detached from.
The one thousand and thirtieth song: Tilted - Christine & The Queens
There's something perfectly measured in a lot of French pop songs. The music is precise and strong, the vocals on point and sung with just the right emotion to help the message - emotionally good but not quite balanced. It's a nice bit of art as a song.
The one thousand and thirty-first song: Million Reasons - Lady Gage
We're closing out the list with Lady Gaga at her best - a powerful ballad iwth a simple but deep enogh message, focusing on her magnificent voice without needing to use many other tricks. It sounds really good and feels that personal.
The six hundred forty-third album: #643 Firehose - Fromohio
Fromohio (or as it's styled, fROMOHIO) is a short alt rock album that has fourteen short tracks with quite different impacts. You rush through the sounds quite quickly and for the most part feature quite breezy rock tracks.
The two hundred and thirty-eighth classical recording: #1000 Wolfgang Rihm - Jagden und Formen
As one of the most modern pieces on the list, this feels like it follows a number of those examples - sounding hurried and discordant, not always pleasant to listen to. There's not much here for leaning back and listening, the anxiety for the world feels present in the performance. It's an era in classical music that just doesn't agree with me, I prefer something a bit more traditional.
The two hundred and thirty-third TV show: #36 Maverick
It's worth remembering that movies and serials were being made long before TV series became a thing. That means that, for a number of different series, there are enough examples on how to pace your stories, especially in established genres like the westerns Maverick draws on. While I wouldn't watch all of the episodes - even more when I consider a bunch are rewritten from scripts for other series, so there's some duplication there - the semi anthology format with only one of the leads appearing as repeating characters does a lot to keep it all fresh.