The five hundred and eighty-second album: #582 Bad Brains - I Against I
There's a strong punk rock album here, combined with some very heavy metal guitars. Lead singer H.R.'s voice manages to do it all - loud metal screaming, almost jovial punk sounds and a lot of other tricks in between. It's immediately engaging, more so than you would expect it to be, and the album pulls off what it wants really well.
The seven hundred seventh song: Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Although there's an emotional ballad in Wicked Game, it's one that I can't get on board with as much. The country twang feels unnecessary, but I don't get much more out of it regardless.
The seven hundred eighth song: Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
The added pop energy of Personal Jesus really helps after the last track. The dark drum influences it a lot of as well, but there's just a lot of energy and feels really strong.
The seven hundred ninth song: Soy Gitano - Camaron de la Isla
The Spanish stylings of this track feel very traditional - even the sound feels like it's from an earlier time. It's quite good at what it is, but as much as I appreciate the diversity of music, I feel like there's more to explore than just this - there's not much here that I don't feel I've heard before.
The seven hundred tenth song: I Am the Resurrection - The Stone Roses
While a fine rock song, I Am the Resurrection's long outro doesn't really lend much to the track - it's a good coda to the album, which this is the last track of, but as a standalone item it doesn't offer much. It really makes it a fine track - something tighter could. be better.
The seven hundred eleventh song: Me Myself and I - De La Soul
Tis is an even clearer late eighties, early nineties hip hop song - a lot of upbeat synths, feeling like an artificial, neon-styled track. The lyrics are pretty good, the hook is incredibly catchy but it feels very produced as well - not as real as the lyrics want it to be.
The seven hundred twelfth song: Epic - Faith No More
This is a properly anthemic rock song, the tight rap really contrasting positively with the longer, slower chorus that feels more like the standard rock sound. It's an incredibly effective combination, creating an epic and powerful song.
The seven hundred thirteenth song: Like a Prayer - Madonna
It feels like we already have Madonna reinventing herself again. Like a Prayer is an incredibly effective song, really engaging and good to listen to. It's catchy, it's meaningful, and just about controversial enough to get your attention.
The seven hundred fourteenth song: W.F.L. (Think about the Future) - Happy Mondays
W.F.L. is an odd, avant garde punk song, drifting through the music over its continuing beat, not really settling in as a song. It's not bad, just difficult to grasp.
The seven hundred fifteenth song: Getting Away with It - Electronic
The influence of Pet Shop Boys on this electropop track goes beyond the lyrics - the feel and vibe of it are the same, even as it becomes less brash and intrusive, instead having a tentative feel to it that lends it a different emotion, although I struggle to really make that feel in the context of the song.
The seven hundred sixteenth song: Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies
With Monkey Gone to Heaven, the Pixies have created a weirdly ambiguous song. On one hand, it has an environmental message it pushes forward quite well. On the other, the lyrics are esoteric enough to give you quite a different feeling for a lot of it. It hits some really good, pleasant notes, having some engaging lyrics while also forcing you to think further.
The five hundred and eighty-first album: #581 Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Guitar Town is an unapologetic country rock album, telling stories of hitting the road and small town life. There's not a lot of really in depth content that I could determine, which left me cold - there's not much to connect to here and the music doesn't really work for me either - the classic rock sound becomes too classic.
The five hundred and eightieth album: #580 XTC - Skylarking
The entirety of Skylarking feels a bit like a dream, a lazy weekend day with gray weather and a world that's slowly going on around you. It's both well thought and enigmatic in its energy, while sketching out the basics really quickly so you don't need all of them as much. It's theatrical, but that's the feeling that works well in this context and the album is more powerful for it as a result.
The six hundred ninety-eighth song: Opel - Syd Barrett
Six minutes of maudlin folk isn't a great place to start, and while bigger critics see merit in this, I found this track to have little more to offer. Syd Barrett's vocals don't feel strong enough to sustain the track or emotion and the guitar playing doesn't add enough to make it work.
The six hundred ninety-ninth song: Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey
That other side here is a nice, calm rock song, a work that doesn't get aggressive, but has that chill Sunday feeling the title invokes. It's so simple and straightforward, it works incredibly well. Yeah, it might be silent and grey, but there's some comfort in that too.
The seven hundredth song: Orinoco Flow - Enya
Enya still feels like a rare example of this type of new age pop to make it mainstream. I've always loved this sound and Enya is one of the best known with it. There's something magical about the travels described here, something otherworldly that encourages all of this. It's a lovely pearl of a song and it's a shame I won't get more of it for these lists.
The seven hundred first song: One - Metallica
Metallica's metal ballads are among their strongest tracks, imparting an emotion and darkness that's hard to reach otherwise. One has this, a lamenting track encouraged along by the underlying guitars. It's dark and the pleas for god to help hit ever harder because of it. There's a real beauty in it.
The seven hundred second song: The Mercy Seat - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
There are a lot of layers to this song from the start. The dark, gothic rock sets that atmosphere from the start, while the competing vocals add to a sense of uncertainty and imbalance. It's not a restful song, keeping you focused on it all the way through, and it doesn't let go.
The seven hundred third song: Ederlezi - Goran Bregovic
While I've enjoyed previous adaptations of local folk songs, this adaptation doesn't work for the time it was released in. It doesn't lift or elevate it. The performance is capable, but it doesn't have much that it stands out with.
The seven hundred fourth song: Ale Brider - Klezmatics
Sadly, something similar applies here. The upbeat music appeals more naturally, but there's not as much that it offers. It's a fine song.
The seven hundred fifth song: Love Shack - The B-52’s
Love Shack is a pretty standard pop rock song, one that really feels summery to me. The joy, as artificially big as it can be at times, is infectious and it feels like a joy in a way that I don't think you get from many songs in the late eighties, a nice celebration that's just as welcome.
The seven hundred sixth song: A Little Respect - Erasure
We finish 1988 with a nice synth pop track, a nicely composed unrequited love song that manages to hit home that more closely than the basics of the song might indicate. It shows the depths that I've been discovering more in synth pop tracks, digging deeper than they normally would, with this a great example of that.
The five hundred and seventy-ninth album: #579 Run-DMC - Raising Hell
I've mentioned enjoying Run-DMC's music before and I think Raising Hell takes it another step in that direction. The rock background feels stronger - their collaboration with Aerosmith feels really natural between the other tracks - which really grabs me. Lyrically the music is a mixed bag - I think I've now had my fill of raps boasting about their rap skills - but at least it feels like there's more variation in some of them even as I end up enjoying the rhythms and sounds more without paying too much attention to the lyrics.
The two hundred and tenth classical recording: #754 William Walton - Belshazzar's Feast
This piece really felt like it just hit everything. The at times jubilant music sets the tone wherever it leads you, the vocals, whether jubilant or more oppressive, enforcing more of that whether supported by the music or standing on their own. It's a magnificent piece, big in most places but in a way that fits the narrative it aims for.
The one hundred and twentieth book: #91 The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allen Poe
After a holiday, I managed to come back to a short story to make for a quick turnaround while I get back to blogging.
The Fall of the House of Usher is incredibly efficient, its speed a real step up from what we read before. We get a lot of background information and build up, but it also feels relevant and thematic, making the whole story that much snappier. It was really effective, the twist was one I knew from two centuries of it having happened, but it's all been done so well that it stays effective here.
The five hundred and seventy-eighth album: #578 Paul Simon - Graceland
Something feels a bit off about this album - while Paul Simon might have been inspired by African music, I'm not sure it always matches his own style as much as this album might want. It feels like it never quite manages to marry the two styles together.
The six hundred eighty-ninth song: Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr.
Freak Scene combines this heavily energetic music with slow, chill vocals that put you at rest even as the guitars are screeching. It's a nice little alternative rock song that doesn't demand too much, but gives a lot musically.
The six hundred ninetieth song: Follow the Leader - Eric B. & Rakim
As hip hop is still rising, we've had a lot of happier dance tracks. Here, however, we get the darker side, with a deep, oppressive beat and lyrics that sound more oppressive. There's a lot of talent in it and its grown up feeling really resonates that much more.
The six hundred ninety-first song: Where Is My Mind? - The Pixies
Inspired by Dinosaur Jr., The Pixies have similar slower vocals, with lyrics that match that slower delivery. The music moves along a lot faster and the combination jives well, a nice rock song that keeps moving along.
The six hundred ninety-second song: Waiting Room - Fugazi
Although this track has a clear metal influence, its music goes that much slower, lessening its intensity instead. The vocals are that bit more stripped down as well, with the real power coming as much from the larger choruses joining in instead. The music builds to being more celebrating in places, but the step down from metal does make it that much more accessible and listenable when you come across it like this.
The six hundred ninety-third song: Touch Me I’m Sick - Mudhoney
Following that, Touch me I'm Sick really brings the volume to the point where it becomes incredibly distorated. The repeating, simple chords and drum beat emphasize that further, while the screamed lyrics seem like they're needed just to get through them. It's a lot of energy and a lot of aggression, working to create that full atmosphere.
The six hundred ninety-fourth song: Feed Me with Your Kiss - My Bloody Valentine
Feed Me With Your Kiss loses its lyrics almost completely in its music, heavy guitars almost completely drowning out the lyrics. It's a bit too much for me - without the lyrics, this feels like a repeated chord that wears out its welcome quick enough, lacking the variation that's meant to sustain its four minutes.
The six hundred ninety-fifth song: Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Buffalo Stance has that classic hip hop build, with a build of energy, lyrics about life on the street, that quickly build into an R&B track for part of it, mixing both together with the samples and DJ stylings. It's a nice combination, not too innocent but also not going as grim in these. It's a pretty nice hip hop pop song that stands out for its own energy.
The six hundred ninety-sixth song: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
Fast Car is a straight forward folk rock song. Its focused lyrics really sell this point, an appeal to leave, both discussing the life they want to escape (get out of the shelter) and the feeling of freedom when they travel. It's touching and really hits you with every aspect of it. Nothing is underperformed, but the music hits at just the right points.
The six hundred ninety-seventh song: Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A.
And if the previous hip hop tracks weren't enough, we really start getting the gangsta rap in. This feels like a song declaring war on other gangs and others they don't like. It's aggressive and dark, the beat really becoming secondary to the lyrics. The rappers on this album come back in bigger places later, and that's the rap legacy that I feel we see rise in the next two decades.