Jeroen's Micro Blog

2019-12-01 00:00:00

• The one hundred seventy-eighth album: #178 Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus While the album has a lofty title, Spirit's fourth album doesn't quite have the ambition or storytelling to make up for it - there's no Dr. Sardonicus through line or anything exciting like that. Instead this is a solid prog rock album, well produced but mostly with a solid musical core that lends itself to some good music. It's good early 70s rock, with some experimentation but toning down the psychedelic rock that came before - it's still in there, but it's mostly well produced, entertaining rock. No tracks stand out individually, for good or bad, but they combine into a really good one.

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• The four hundred and eighty-fourth song: Human Fly - The Cramps While the influence of punk on Human Fly is clear, its country roots are as obvious and interesting. The music is calmer, more suiting to country if not for the harder guitars and the hissed vocals that stay clipped through. It's a different, unsettling sound that I don't think we've heard as often, but creates an atmosphere of its own. The four hundred and eighty-fifth song: Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) - The Jacksons While we move into disco here, for me this Michael and Randy Jackson-penned work falls flat. There's often a big push on repetitive calls to dance in disco, with a comparatively simple song surrounding it, but the fact that this has an eight minute version that, I suspect, repeats itself a lot, grates. I was hoping there'd be more to the song, but it stays where it starts and doesn't really seem worth it. The four hundred and eighty-sixth song: (I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea - Elvis Costello & The Attractions Even without the title, there's something quite British about this song, with Elvis Costello's vocal performance standing out as being that bit different. It's a nice, almost happy song that talks as much about the movies set in Chelsea as the desire to stay away. There's something quite entrancing and good about it - I'll get to more one day. The four hundred and eighty-seventh song: One Nation Under a Groove - Funkadelic There's somethign a bit lackluster about this batch, and as much as Funkadelic tries to set up a world to dance away, the music is too mellow to really get me going. It's a fine beat, but the whole thing again feels a bit flimsy without offering much to enjoy. It picks up halfway through the song, where it picks up and brings in a nice bridge, but it struggles to really get out of the funk it starts with The four hundred and eighty-eighth song: Das Model - Kraftwerk There is something incredibly German about this song. We already expect the electronic melodies of Kraftwerk - in fact, I'd argue this is more melodic than other songs of theirs - but the almost-monotone, deadpan delivery of the lyrics by Emil Schult is exactly what you'd expect, creating a distance between you and the song and making it feel more mechanical. It's what suits the Kraftwerk style and brand, but there is also some humanity that comes through the otherwise dispassionate observations. The four hundred and eighty-ninth song: Shot by Both Sides - Magazine There's a darkness throughout this song, a commentary originally based on DeVoto's political beliefs, but possibly something that applies now. It's a hard, angry punk song that works well for me and works as a punk brand. The four hundred and ninetieth song: Public Image - Public Image Ltd As a follow up to the Sex Pistols, here John Lydon tries to make a statement on his own public image changing, with the expectations others have of him. I'm not sure musically that's entirely successful - while the song feels lighter than their work, there is so much punk in there that it's hard to separate out. As a message, however, it's quite effective, and the song stays good to listen to regardless of its origins. The four hundred and ninety-first song: Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers While we have another punk number here, the Northern Irish lens the music is filtered through makes for an interesting point of view. Stiff Little Fingers writes about the Troubles, but is formed by people from both sides, and there's a lot of substance here talking about the problems that are happening. It's a powerful number that really brings out what's happening and shows how music can comment on the world around it. The four hundred and ninety-second song: (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais - The Clash Fusing punk with reggae, it feels like the Clash is trying to make a statement about commercialization with a bit of scattershot approach, addressing several different places. It's not the most powerful as a song - the nearly shouted lyrics not fitting in with the relaxed reggae rhythm. While it's a bold experiment, it doesn't create a working whole through the song.

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• The one hundred seventy-seventh album: #177 Miles Davis - Bitches Brew In my effort to get a last album in before the end of the year, I've ended up with a 90 minute jazz classic.Perfect, I suppose, to work to, but not quite the upbeat album I was hoping for. Bitches Brew does swing in places, running faster than some other jazz arrangements, but while the energy is there, it doesn't grab your attention or elevate things. What it does manage to pull off more than most jazz albums is variation. There's a lot going on in here and while parts riff on the same chord, there's so much variation in here that it gives you new things often enough.

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• The seventy-third classical recording: #98 Johann Sebastian Bach - Christmas Oratorio As Christmas is approaching, it seems appropriate to listen to a Christmas-themed work. An oratorio doesn't feel quite like a classical Christmas work - the German lyrics alone make it harder to get into that - but the music is lovely, with the instruments creating a decent variation as well - it's not over two hours of the same thing.

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• The eighty-third book: #70 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen I've previously said many good things about the television adaptation of this show, but also knew the book was still coming up. When reading it, the characters and visuals of that show come to mind, but there's a definite difference between the two. While humorous, the books don't aim for comedy as much as some of the characters on the TV show do, and by its nature feels a lot more introspective. It means it doesn't have the visual set pieces, but creates an even more natural growth of love, slower and with some more variation. It's still a fairly light book, but at times more subtle. It feels like Austen's revelation, compared to many earlier novels, is that the stories stay as complex, but the writing feels more accessible. It's an easy read and I enjoyed myself, with some shorter letters and a focused storylines - we see a lot of the world, but in the end the digressions aren't major and it all feels relevant. It's a really fun book, with a different view form the tv series, but it's clear why this is a classic.

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• The eighty-second book: #1013 The Absentee - Maria Edgeworth There are two sides to the Absentee. One is the by now known narrative of a family down on their luck through some fault of their own, having to deal with debtors and rebuild themselves, with shades of the author's earlier Castle Rackrent coming through - with a love story/scandal added in. That is mixed in with a commentary of Irish society some time after Great Britain took control. There's a lot of social commentary through the story, both on how the Irish nobility wants to align themselves with London and seem fashionable there, while draining the peasants working for them. It's not quite that subtle about it, but it feels like the more interesting half of the novel, while the other side felt like a retreat with a slightly wondrous solution of the love story near the end. It's decent, but with Jane Austen around at this time, it fell flat for me.

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• The eighty-first book: #195 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy Quite out of order, but that's down to the (for me) unusual way in which I experienced this book. Rather than reading it myself, I started listening to the Obscure podcast by Michael Ian Black about a year and a half ago. In it, he not only reads the novel (like an audiobook), but he comments on it as he goes along. It's a good way to experience the book. Michael Ian Black is, obviously, smart and quite well read, so his insights are quite valuable and add a lot of context to the book, but he also does enough to clarify the book where it's unclear, in part because he needs it. It's a good balance and I feel it made reading the book more enjoyable - I got a lot more out of it. The book itself is, obviously, quite sad and tragic. Jude has a rough start in life and while he has lofty ambitions that he aims for, in the end it gets taken away from him. Love and marriage are to blame for a lot of it and it's clear Thomas Hardy had some issues there, but the tragic story works well, with a clear arc to positivity that gets cut down. It's flowery in places - having it read out helps - but it didn't try to put too much into its plots. It's possible and easy to track everything, which makes the impact of it that much greater. All in all, I enjoyed the experience of listening to the book, and I'm actually going to look for some more of these. It also means I'm more comfortable jumping around the book list, so expect to see more of that!

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• The one hundred twenty-fifth TV show: #738 Torchwood After the modern Doctor Who, Torchwood is a good companion piece to complete the set. Again, I've seen the show before, multiple times, and have felt the urge to keep up with it even as the later special seasons turned into something different. The first two, billed as a dark, mature Doctor Who succeed well at creating some interesting plots, not forced into the optimistic tone that Doctor Who has but still having an ultimate streak of good at its heart. The dark and edgy side probably goes wrong most often, with some misjudged episodes, but the show's bigger freedom in subject matter works well to have more serious stakes as well - there's no magic wand to fix things, people die and there are - often - consequences. Sadly, this results in them killing off characters as well - necessary to maintain stakes but getting rid of the strength of the ensemble, which doesn't really have any weak spots. The second season's death of Owen and Tosh is bad enough - something the actors didn't want, but was done to heighten the suspense - but with Ianto having the same thing in the third season means that by that point, the core of the entire show seems lost. The mini series has a good plot, with a great role from Peter Capaldi before he got deeper in the franchise, but it doesn't seem to be the same while the others aren't there. It's certainly flawed, but I still enjoy watching the show.

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• The seventy-seventh comic: #353 Jenifer Jenifer is one story in an issue of Creepy, a horror anthology series we've yet to get to, and it's incredibly effective. The story of this hideous girl, saved from murder by our protagonist, becomes haunting, and it feels like the obsession he feels with her comes through in the entire work as he tries to protect her for some unclear reason. It's a satisfying story, nothing entirely unpredictable at this point but it builds itself well. The art feels appropriately grotesque and adds to the feeling of horror in there. It does what it wants to do well, doesn't outstay its welcome but delivers a good, satisfying story.

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• The seventy-sixth comic: #438 The Nikopol Trilogy Sometimes, you really need to look at different parts of a work to appreciate what it does well. The Nikopol Trilogy creates an interesting world, a grim near-future world where fascism has taken root, technology has changed lives, but many people are still suppressed. Your partial entry into this world is the titular Nikopol, who comes back from suspended animation thirty years later. He gets possessed by Horus, the Egyptian god, fighting the others. It's an odd story and while the first part of the trilogy makes some sense with it, later parts set up a plot that doesn't really go anywhere. There are no explanations - which is fine - or resolution - which can be fine - but I also felt there was no point to it, like the creator didn't bother with the plot and just wanted to draw nice images. It's an interesting world and I was happy to see it, but it would have been nice if we could have gone deeper.

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2019-11-01 00:00:00

• The one hundred seventy-sixth album: #176 Derek & The Dominos -Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs On the other side of our rock developments, it feels like this is 1970s rock settling into its blues rock element. The Eric Clapton-fronted album is full of blues rock songs that sound good, with well written love songs (although the songs also draw on other topics - it makes for a catchier title though). It comes with some good ballads, as well as more powerful songs, although even the latter feels somewhat subdued and don't have the full rock impact. Instead, it works well as something to drift along on, rather than being in your face. It's pleasant and works well for the themes it's trying to set up, especially when the longer songs come in. The eightieth book: #69 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen List-wise, this really enters the era of Austen, with a bunch of them clustered together interspersed with a few others. Having seen Pride and Prejudice, but not being familiar with the rest of her work, this was the work to partially tell me how I'd do on this one. In the end, I came away with this fairly well. I've sometimes struggled with these romantic novels and I'm glad Austen abandoned her planned epistolary format for this as the action made it a lot more readable. It kept me quite engaged, with good dialogue, some fun observations and a good set up for the full story. So far, this felt like a good introduction and I hope it will keep up.

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• The one hundred twenty-fourth TV show: #713 Doctor Who (2005) Like so many, this version was the one that really introduced me to Doctor Who. Even now, by most measures, this is the more successful version and, indeed, one of BBC's biggest exports. Originally I started watching a few episodes on TV at random, after which I bought a DVD of the first season. The cast changes confused me and the the whole tone was a bit odd, but I enjoyed it and starting watching the other series after that. I've obviously stuck with it, even as Moffat's cleverness led to some less interesting episodes and not everything gelled. As with the original, the series is uneven, there are issues and it can get exhausting, but at the same time it's amazing what they end up doing. One of the main things they still manage to get right is the casting of the main characters. They've not cast a bad Doctor yet - and introducing John Hurt as an in between Doctor is probably the best of them - and most of the companions work too. Each episode still brings something new and that's still exciting. It works most of the time, looks good and the show still keeps drawing me in, even after the weaker bits.

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• The seventy-second classical recording: #120 Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice As always, when dealing with operas in a foreign language, it helps to know the story. Here, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is well known and the acts distinguish themselves quite well, the descent into Hades changing from the higher arias of the first act into something darker and deeper, away from the pure sopranos. The other settings have similar changes in music, which work well to create a setting rather than a theme. The opera having almost only parts for sopranos or high tenors, with other voices limited to the choirs, appears to have been the Italian fashion o the time. Itl imits the character building a bit, but it starts working soon enough once you begin to learn the characters. Musically it doesn't matter much, and makes the piece flow well. The other side are the ballets that were included in the version I listened to. They don't add much musically - in part because it seems they were added in later - but they work as a nice bridge between pieces. All in all, this doesn't quite have the high flying moments of other pieces, but as a full performance it flows well, keeping consistent while setting up some good location building in its music.

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• The one hundred seventy-fifth album: #175 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory Cosmo's Factory is a clear throwback, an album of old style rockers before the experiments that psychedelic rock brought in, before the Beatles did their thing and before it diversified. The blues elements are in here, the instruments are standard and it doesn't try to do things different. The songs are quite tightly crafted, with some good rock ballads in here and some good solo pieces. It sounds good, fulfilling its purpose well, which is what it does best fo rthe most part.

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• The four hundred and seventy-fifth song: Non-Alignment Pact - Pere Ubu This song starts with a high-pitched squeal that becomes off putting quickly and feels like an odd contrast with the punk Pere Ubu plays. They mix in some other sounds, but as experimental as the punk is sometimes, it is a basic song with some odd sounds rather than fully embracing it - a decent experiment, but not much more. The four hundred and seventy-sixth song: Blue Valentines - Tom Waits There's something quite bluesy about this track, a darkly voiced song with some sparse guitar playing that comes through in some soft soloes, but mostly underscore the story Tom Waits is telling of an ill-fated relationship. It's quite effective as the emotion of the track is open in his voice, telling its own, raw story. The four hundred and seventy-seventh song: Heart of Glass - Blondie For a band that was known for their punk outlook, it sounds like this shift to disco was quite a departure, full of electronic music and a full-on production while Debbie Harry's voice almost sits on top, feeling minimal in there. It's a lovely sound, that works incredibly well here, and feels like another step to a more modern pop rock feel. The four hundred and seventy-eighth song: Ever Fallen in Love… (with Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) - Buzzcocks While it feels like punk has very much falling into a specific sound, with related riffs and usually more aggressive lyrics, Ever Fallen In Love turns that around, with the tenor vocals having more musicality and variation that continues to sound quite good through here. It draws on pop rock, with a catchy riff and chorus that keeps feeling delightful to listen to and could easily get stuck in your head. The four hundred and seventy-ninth song: Le Freak - Chic It feels like we're alternating punk and disco for a bit - and Le Freak really feels like the quintessential disco song. The lyrics are mostly about dancing and going out partying, there are extended dance sequences (which do drag), and it embodies the aesthetic through and through (and it's no wonder it's been used on RuPaul's Drag Race). It's catchy and infectious and feels like a perfect example of the genre. The four hundred and eightieth song: Milk and Alcohol - Dr. Feelgood Milk and Alcohol feels like a throwback to garage rock and proto pink, hard guitars playing while the vocals are growled on top. The protagonist isn't having a good time, living on milk and alcohol, and the song seems to cover a meaningless life that you need to drudge through. It's an aggressively angry song about a personal problem and the problems that inspired these genres of rock years ago are still around, with the anger still there. The four hundred and eighty-first song: Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen There's something very personal about this song, at a very odd level - more than anything, this describes Freddie Mercury's lifestyle at the time. It's celebratory, gloriously indulgent and the energy feels quite infectious, while at times referencing the danger of it as well. It's a hedonistic anthem and it keeps rolling forward no matter what. It's perfectly put together, with the right breaks and solos to keep up that energy. The four hundred and eighty-second song: Teenage Kicks - The Undertones There is something quite simple in the guitar line of this song, still keeping the song firmly in punk territory, with a more conventional rock solo, but the vocals make this feel somewhat different - the younger punk voice mixing in with something rougher to create a short, upbeat song that's enough punk to work, but is close enough to pop to stay listenable. The four hundred and eighty-third song: You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) - Sylvester We finish the first third of 1978 with some disco, with a gay anthem of sorts that stays away from the repetition other disco songs provide, instead moving through far more sounds in a big production that keeps building through the song. It's effective to listen to and sounds like a good disco song throughout.

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• The one hundred twenty-third TV show: #650 Arrested Development Back when this list was made, the first three seasons were the only ones that existed. The fourth season is a mess that came together okay at the end of the season, but needs a rewatch to make sense, while the fifth had a weak start, but was fine at the end - with some cast issues that meant it didn't work. I'm writing this after we finished that season, but it feels off to a point that it doesn't count. Arrested Development thrives on long-running setups and jokes, both benefiting from repeating and building on them, but also gaining from things set up episodes earlier that pays off half a season later. Ron Howard's narration adds to it, contradicting what people say and explaining further, often to the point of additional jokes (sometimes quite meta jokes as the narration is wrong too). The "next week in Arrested Development" segments add to that - showing things that don't happen in the next episode, but are canonical to the point where you need to have seen them to understand the later episodes. It requires you to keep track of a lot more than most sitcoms, which probably explains why it was never as much of a success, but it works in this era of binge watching when watching multiple episodes at the time makes sense and going back and forth is possible. Aside from the clever scripts and smart editing, the acting helps a great deal. Jessica Walters slowly changes Lucille Bluth as she knows more about the sinister dealings, Tony Hale makes a comedic character more poignant and Alia Shawkat as Maebe Funke is criminally underused early on - something resolved in the later seasons. It didn't get a chance to resolve itself until much later, but it's a great set of seasons that stand out as an amazing TV show even now.

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• The one hundred seventy-fourth album: #174 Frank Zappa - Hot Rats Hot Rats consists mostly of lengthy jam sessions, with some more carefully arranged tunes. Most of them are purely instrumental, with only a Willie the Pimp featuring a more noticeable vocal performance. There's a psychedelic feel to how some of the songs are set up, the lack of vocals inviting that further, and while the lengthy jam sessions drag, they all create a soundscape that is incredibly appealing - I didn't get bored, I just got pulled into a mindset that was quite effective. Considering who Zappa worked with, I was worried about what we'd get, but while this isn't grounded, it's quite a lovely tune that worked marvelously here. And with that, I finish the sixties. On to the next decade! The songs has shown me how that decade really upped the variety of music, so I'm looking forward for what comes.

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• The one hundred seventy-third album: #173 Alexander Spence - Oar Oar is a folk rock album mostly written in a mental hospital. There are elements of country in here, but on the whole the album features a bunch of songs with, at times, odd lyrics, not always sung clearly enough to make out in the first place. As the album progresses, it introduces more psychedelic elements, all in all creating a journey into the mind of a man who was clearly struggling and making sense of the world. As much as I can't quite make sense of all parts of the album, the result drifts from mellow and relaxing to unsettling.When it's country or folk rock, the songs are fine, competent but not amazing. When it shifts from there, though, there's something special about the album, all put together by one man and creating an odd experience that I haven't seen replicated quite like this - psychedelic, but without needing drugs, using this man's troubles instead.

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2019-10-01 00:00:00

• The seventy-ninth book: #68 Michael Kohlhaas - Heinrich von Kleist Today's book made for a nice change of pace. A fictionalized account of a possible real story, it tells the tale of Michael Kohlhaas (originally Hans Kohlhase), who starts a rebellion against the German nobility at the time in response to injustices that led to the horses he was trading being stolen from him. There's a feeling of indignation throughout, where he was clearly wronged and is taking revenge - excessive revenge, but one with popular support by commoner while the nobility gets scared. It's well written and engaging, with less interpersonal drama, but also a throughline that was easier to follow. It's a nice break from the romance drama I had and that I know I'll get more of. Instead, the wheeling and dealing, and broadly drawn, but realistic characters keep this engaging as a character study and action story.

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• The seventy-eighth book: #67 Elective Affinities - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Known for his drama, I wasn't expecting Elective Affinities to be what Goethe wrote. The thesis, about how chemical elements have preferences in what they combine with, extends to a love sotry where a husband and wife have two friends live with them for a while, and how it changes the relationships and how they interact. The couple end up splitting up and get involved with their friends, as they turn out to be their better partners. This is foreshadowed early in the book, as part of a scientific discussion, but comes back as the plot of the novel - something that makes there be a point to the story, and an exploration of the concept. It does create a 19th century romance novel after that, that doesn't necessarily always kept my interest (with a translation that didn't feel the most engaging), but works well to get to the point - it's a good novel, but I felt a bit out of touch with its setting.

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• The seventy-seventh book: #66 Rameau's Nephew - Denis Diderot Like the book itself, I feel this post can be short. Rather than a novel with a story, this is a philosophical dialogue between, supposedly, the writer and the (I assume) fictional nephew of composer Rameau. It talks about life and art and the philosophy surrounding it and it's all, to be honest, somewhat boring. It doesn't really register and while I pick up on some points, for the most part there's not enough of a line through that works to explain it. Luckily there aren't too many of these for a while, but yeah, this isn't worth noting.

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• The one hundred seventy-second album: #172 The Stooges - The Stooges We're seeing punk approach as one of the genres that follows 60s rock. The Stooges live in this era, taking off the route the Stones took, mixing in garage rock and generally have a raw, dirty sound. Iggy Pop's clear vocals sit on top of it, creating a contrast that works especially well in We Will Fall, a darker number that has dark vocals and very constrained guitars playing as Iggy Pop performs over it. It's all a lot more focused and prepared than the looser style from punk and garage rock and it creates something with more of a vision through that. It may sound wrong to some, but this level of polish is the way I prefer my (proto) punk to sound.

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• The seventy-sixth book: #65 Henry Von Ofterdingen - Novalis Every once in a while, I wonder whether the different translations I get for these are really the best - often the Gutenberg edition comes along as the most accessible, but then there are others that aren't on there and have a different source. Novalis' Henry Von Ofterdingen seems to be marred by this, with a story I didn't really track much of and an explosion of words that didn't lead anywhere for me. It seemed like I wasn't the only person to struggle with following this and I think it's probably good this just flew me by.

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2019-09-01 00:00:00

• The one hundred seventy-first album: #171 Scott Walker - Scott 4 While, at mentioned when I discussed Scott 2, he previously covered the likes of Jacques Brel songs as well as his own songs, on his fifth solo album he recorded only songs he wrote himself. They're the same type of chansons (or related), with the baroque production of the previous album applying here. However, as the songs were written for it, they blend even better - big sounds that support the erudite vocals, with Scott Walker's deep voice forming a base line for the track. While there is some similarity in the speed and feel of most of these songs, it's mixed up in Hero Of the War, which feel far more upbeat and surprises at the change of pace. It helps to make a more aggressive statement as well, but also serves as an introduction to that side's more powerful songs. It doesn't keep up the pace, but it's a gradual fall. The album is a fairly big production, but it hides it by blending it and keeping a few elements to the front rather than overwhelming it. It's a lovely album and the type of singer songwriter album that I hope I'll keep hearing as other, louder genres rise to the front.

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• The one hundred twenty-second TV show: #6 What's My Line While I don't think I hold much hope for a lot of these early shows, when we were looking for What's My Line, we tried some fragments and enjoyed it. It became an easy pick now and we've been thoroughly enjoying it now. The idea is somewhat simple - celebrities attempt to guess a person's job or line, or try to determine the identity of a celebrity guest. They do this through asking yes or no questions and lose their turn if they say no. Ten no answers and the guest wins, which happens often enough. What sets the show apart is both that the panel plays incredibly seriously - at times they know exactly what to go for - and how they interact. It feels like a pretty formal show - male guests wear dinner jackets and the ladies lovely dresses, at times with gloves. The panel is addressed as Mr. ... or Mrs. ... by the moderator. At the same time, they are familiar enough with each other to banter and tease each other. It's a lot of fun to watch, both to see the game being played and see these players in action and it's all a great feel good show... available on Youtube right now to make it easier. The seventy-fifth comic: #695 Yu Gi Oh In the mean time, I've been reading Yu Gi Oh, which has been an interesting experience. I've only seen bits of the anime series and so came into it knowing there's a card game and some of the cards it features, but I've never paid too much attention and would be more familiar with games like Magic the Gathering that this is based on. Reading the manga is an odd experience then, as the card game barely appears in the first set of volumes. Instead, Yugi, the title character, solves an ancient puzzle that awakens a second personality in him that's good at games, and can trigger punishments for losing games. The first set of episodes is about him taking revenge on bad people and righting wrongs through games as he slowly takes on longer arcs and develops a set of recurring antagonists, as well as a mythology. Around the tenth volume, this picks up further as the card game takes over in the longer Duelist Kingdom arc, which revolves around these themes all using the card game, which pretty much has the only focus at this point. The division is quite clear in my mind, and as the popular card game becomes the focus on the series, my interest goes down. There's something interesting about the different variations and parodies of popular games that appear and how they get visualized, as well as the punishments related to that. The card game starts off quite interesting, especially when the rules are quite loose, but they quickly start following a similar pattern: the opponent has a trick or somewhat of a cheat they use, Yugi or another protagonist is forced in a corner because of it, but because they trust in the cards they draw a card that wins them the game at the last moment. It's a fine device when used occasionally, but here it feels exhausting, with nobody playing fair and the flow of the series becoming predictable. I gave up at the start of the second arc, as it seemed clear that's how it continued, and I think that's the right point to do it if that arc doesn't interest you. Start at the beginning, but be prepared for the story's quality to drop.

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• The one hundred seventieth album: #170 The Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief The second Fairport Convention album on the list starts off with what feels like a statement. While Come All Ye has its folk origins musically, the lyrics feel like they hide more modern concepts - rolling minstrels not being a phrase I'd expect in a folk song - which also defines the presence of rock instruments in the traditional-sounding music. Most of the remaining songs are traditional poems arranged by (part of) the band, which works well - the lyrics are mostly from poems I don't know, but the soft rock sound combines well with them and we get a nice tune overall. It's quite relaxing music, but in a way that hits deeper, and in a way that I can stomach better than pure folk.

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• The one hundred sixty-ninth album: #169 Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room There's something sweet and melancholic about the folk music on this album. Recently, the folk music has mostly been folk rock, with some throwbacks from Fairport Convention, but Leonard Cohen takes us back to a man and a guitar (and some other instruments). The songs feel modern, but unadorned, gentle, with a message, and incredibly pleasant to listen to. It's nothing complex, but the lyrics work well with a calm confidence that I really felt.

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• The one hundred sixty-eighth album: #168 King Crimson - In the Court Of the Crimson King After listening to the title track of this album for the songs list, I have been looking forward to this album - the evocative song made me look forward to a full album of that. The collection of five lengthier prog rock songs, each of which invokes its own mood and creates a small story, complete with named subsections like chapters of a story. Moonchild, for example, starts with Dream, an ethereal song that feels like floating in a dream, then leads into a lengthy improvised section called The Illusion - the first part working better than the improvised second half. The album is effective in its setting of mood and it kept me interested throughout, bringing in different elements each time. The final track, Court of the Crimson King, stays the most effective. This is both because of its use of the storytelling to its best effect, and because it avoids the vocal distortion some other tracks have that dilute the message. It feels well constructed - like the rest of the album, but even tighter, and it really is the best example of what the album can do.

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• The one hundred twenty-first TV show: #864 The Walking Dead I feel like the TV show's Walking Dead has much of the same failings as its comic counterpart. While it starts off as an interesting take on the genre, it gets quite involved in its own hype and goes for violence and shock over story telling. For that, it feels like it starts off interesting, but some people are too easily killed while we stick with others I don't care about. It's well done, but after a while just doesn't hold up.

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• The one hundred twentieth TV show: #866 Maison Close Some shows just never connect with you. Maison Close is a show recommended as [art of the revival of French high quality drama, coincidentally launching around the same time as Game of Thrones. It has the same propensity of soft core pornography, as you'd expect from a show set in a brothel. However, it never really captured us like Game of Thrones did or, indeed, as its contemporary Les Revenants did. I don't care about the characters - most of them aren't unlikeable, but there's nothing that I find myself connecting to. The circumstances are, at times, dire, but I view it with some sort of emotional detachment. There are horrible scenes and people are abused, but it's done to tell a story I can't get invested in.

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• The one hundred sixty-seventh album: #167 The Kinks - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) There's an odd anti-authoritarian bent through the songs of the Kinks. Where previously we saw them somewhat celebrate/mock village life, this album feels like a commentary on society - the subtitle is quite accurate in how the album feels.There's an underlying story in here, but feels like a strong commentary on the decline of the Britsh empire going on at the time, unavoidable trends that were happening and how people deal with it. It's not a criticism on them, but it feels like it's unavoidable while they try to live their life in a way that makes them comfortable (which includes some denial). Although some of the songs have a Dylan influence, the music is closer to rock music, sounding more up beat and bigger. Some songs use a lot of sound effects, while the guitar melodies feel more evocative. In the end there's a good, happy feeling from it - sometimes masking, I suppose, the real problems, but it makes for a more pleasant casual listne. It's never too dark, but that's not the tone I'd expect from the Kinks anyway. Instead, it's fine and fun, serving the lyrics well without making it feel too serious.

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• The seventy-fifth book: #64 Castle Rackrent - Maria Edgeworth Reading up about the history behind the novel puts a bunch of it into perspective. The novel describes the life of four owners of the titular Castle Rackrent and its nearby lands and their walk through life, through the eyes of their steward's father who both works to keep things together and, in the end, ends up profiting from it as well. It takes a bit of time to get used to - I didn't really really get a hold of it until the second owner, a litigous figure whose life has some interesting descriptions as a result, and it draws you in more as we go through time as Jason, the steward, gains control. What's interesting isn't just the story of these people, but the insight into landowners of the day, filled with traditon that both exploited tenants a titme, but also caused hardship on the landowners. It didn't help that it seems like it was updated to support the union between the Ireland and the UK, which made this group look rather more foolish. Even so, as a historical document with some truth behind it, reading it was interesting enough to make you get a good insight in what was going at the time and how different members of landowners treated their responsibilities.

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• The one hundred sixty-sixth album: #166 The Grateful Dead - Live/Dead The Grateful Dead's Live/Dead clocks in at a "healthy" 75 minutes, with the first track, Dark Star, clocking in at 23 minutes. It's an extended jam around the original two minute song that has a tendency to fade into the background after a while. Althought this would have been different on vinyl, I didn't spot the change between this and St. Stephen, which also has a longer jam session included in the song. St. Stephen's lyrics, at least, stand out more and make for a more interesting story. The nature of the jams meansthat the songs continue to blur together - while their core may be more unique, there aren't enough tricks in here to separate one ten minute jam from another fifteen minute jam. Perhaps it doesn't help that this is fairly jazzy rock as well, not the best of genres if you want to make an impression. While the core of each song stands out - Turn On Your Love Light even has some crowd sounds - it just doesn''t work as an album unless you already know you're into it.

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• The seventy-fourth book: #63 Hyperion - Friedrich Holderlin Here's another one for my theory that epistolaries are really hard to do, and terrible when not done right, combined with the general desire to show off rather than entertain or tell a story. Hyperion is a number of letters from the titular Hyperion, who is living in Greece during the late 1700s. In part he gets involved in the wars and troubles of that era, but you need to know the situation closely to be able to tell from the clues in the letters, as I barely noticed. There are love stories, but with the one sided telling, there wasn't much there that I managed to work out. Instead, there are references to mythology and to works I don't recognise, in a flowery language that makes it hard to follow any real through line. Holderlin was a poet, and that shows in places, but it leads to a work that needs to be interpreted - and I don't think I actually got it at any point.

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• The one hundred sixty-fifth album: #165 Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul Before starting the album, I had to check I'd actually copied everything for my ipod. Hot Buttered Soul only has four tracks, two of which are long (turning the 3 minute walk on by into a 12 minute song that keeps strentching and going through different versions of the rhythm, quite tightly composed but also maybe a bit too much of that thing. It's followed by Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic, which follows this same pattern, meandering through the song and exploring a number of different angles. It feels jazz-like, but not quite as loose and with a far bigger group of musicians and instruments. In contrast, One Woman feels the most constrained. It's still over five minutes long, but all content, and probably the best example of the core of one of Hayes' songs. It's still quite sweet and gentle and works well. It's followed by By The Time I Get To Phoenix, which kills me with the long monologue that introduces it - it then goes into the same vamping song that the other songs offer. At times it works and sounds good enough, but too often it drags it out in a way that doesn't add much and it feels like a more constrained form, as we'll get from soul at other times, will work better. At the same time, with the way it defines soul, it takes a step forward, so I guess you win some and lose some here.

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• The seventy-fourth comic: #3 Max und Moritz Max und Moritz is a fairly short morality tale, showing seven pranks by the two boys played on various people in the village they live in - usually to their own benefit, in particular to fill their bellies. It's mostly done told in rhyming couplets combined with a few drawings - at most one or two per page, to enhance the story but not as a vital part of it. In that sense, it's more an illustrated children's book than a full comic, but knowing how there is a version of comics that uses these (Tom Poes comes to mind for me) it is part of the heritage. The boys get away with some pretty horrible stuff, ruining people's lives, but they get the violent comeuppance that feels like the hallmark of the time. It's not the most complicated stories, but there's some variety in the different setups and it makes for a nice diversion. The full story is available online, if you want to read it yourself with an English translation.

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• The one hundred sixty-fourth album: #164 The Youngbloods - Elephant Mountain Although this album opens with violins, setting a country vibe, by the time On Sir Francis Drake, the third track comes around, it has settled more into a jazz rhythm, nice gentle songs that sometimes have a bit of a country background but mostly fall into the easy listening category - nothing here that works you up or stresses you out, it's pretty simple and sweet, nothing complex, but it's good at doing its job.

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• The one hundred nineteenth TV show: #860 Sherlock I covered this show by watching the fourth season, the one I hadn't seen yet. I think it's partially the way the stories developed. Early on, the show feels like it's adapting Sherlock Holmes stories, or at least stories based on it, and in the first two season the through storyline is fairly constrained. Then the season finale of the second season hit, with the death of Sherlock. He survives - there are more seasons after all - but it never gets resolved how he did it. Partially, that doesn't matter - I get that it's just to heighten stakes. It feels arrogant and off-putting though. First because the show actively invites you to work it out, and not getting an answer becomes a problem. The other side is that the show doesn't shut up about it through the episode. It dangles solutions in front of you and keeps telling you off about it and it feels incredibly smug. It's frustrating and signals a change in the series where, perhaps, the character interactions matter a bit more, but it also really gets full of itself, with riddles turning into showing off how clever they are and a lot of patting Sherlock on the back. It doesn't work and feels too obnoxious to stay entertaining. I watched season 4 now, but I can't say I got much out of it, it just doesn't have enough.

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• The seventy-third book: #62 The Nun - Denis Diderot I was quite worried about this one. Jacques the Fatalist was okay, but had some issues with its style that rubbed me the wrong way. At the same time, epistolaries like this book sort-of is don't appeal to me as much. The Nun pleasantly surprised me, though. While the novel isn't universally without trouble, it's quite a compelling story for the most part. Suzanne's journey, from being forced into a convent by her parents and forced to take her vows, to dealing with several different mother superiors who sometimes hate, sometimes love her, is compelling and well told. I felt for her and there's plenty of time for her own mistakes. She's active within the agency she has. There are still a few speeches that might be slightly too long, but it works well enough and it feels like there's a shift in protagonists here that makes these novels a lot more entertaining.

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• The one hundred sixty-third album: #163 Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking The two albums of Fairport Convention - this and the upcoming Liege and Lief - are set to have advanced British folk rock and have put it on the map for most people. There's something welcome about the back to basics charm with these, using enough electric guitars to feel bulkier. Sandy Denny's vocals help a lot with that, lending it that lighter sound you get with female vocalists. The album alternates a bit, with Cajun Woman being a straight rock song - perhaps the only one that feels purely rock, but others straying closer to pure folk, like Percy's Song, a Bob Dylan-penned song that stays close to those origins. It's well performed with some beautiful songs, but the folk isn't quite what I'm into.

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• The one hundred eighteenth TV show: #613 Teachers Some shows struggle more with losing cast members than others. A show like Doctor Who thrives on it, and probably wouldn't have survived without changing cast members. Soaps wouldn't be able to keep up without it, either. Teachers, however, is not so lucky, and it's at the top of my mind as the twenty episode cut off is at the start of season 3, after some major cast changes have taken place. Andrew Lincoln and Raquel Graves leave, and while their replacements do fine, they don't do quite as well. It's not helped by some of the supporting characters not working as well when they are given bigger roles - the focus on finding other people to 'shag' and other focuses like that don't work as well when they're more of a focus. Putting that aside, Teachers creates an odd mix of absurd humour bits, mostly in the background or in short sketches at the start of the beginning of a scene or day, and some very real topics based on the life of teachers. It probably glamourises the life a bit compared to what I've seen of real life, but it works to tell these stories of life. There are plenty of times where it gets quite affecting and real and brings some good storylines. At its best though, it does that while staying funny. One other standout is the soundtrack - the rock songs work really well to set an atmosphere and emphasize the slight punk mood they want to create for the teachers. The only issue is that you want to go to the first two seasons, after which it gets a bit too indulgent with its own tendencies.

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• The four hundred and sixty-fifth song: Stayin’ Alive - The Bee Gees Running the albums list about a decade behind the songs list leads to some pretty schizophrenic takes on some bands. I suppose Jive Talkin' was in between anyway, but Stayin' Alive is a sign of the disco the Bee Gees are known for while the album list showed us the original prog rock they were known for. It's clear to see why Stayin' Alive feels like it endured, it sounds oog, feels unique and it swings. It's one of the big songs of the big reinventions of a band in music and it keeps entertaining. The four hundred and sixty-sixth song: Wonderous Stories - Yes Wonderous Stories is a decent prog rock track, bells and all, with some vocals whose profoundness get lost in the mix of all the other instruments playing - creating, I suppose, an otherworldly feel, but on the whole feeling a bit much for me. It sounds like this is one of their more accessible songs, but it's one where a bit less could have meant a lot more, as I got lost in the layers on this one. The four hundred and sixty-seventh song: Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac There is something classic about Go Your Own Way's chorus. While it feels like you could loud with it (and I am sure many karaoke performers would have done so), the restraint on it in this song feels more effective. There's a heavy drum and bass riff that keeps playing, but the lyrics stay away from the aggression of the break up lyrics, which creates the right atmosphere to keep it a bit more than that. The four hundred and sixty-eighth song: “Heroes“ - David Bowie Moving on to another classic song, Heroes is a song of strength and positivity instead. It's a song of conquering, moving forward and doing the right thing. It's inspiring, perhaps at times cheesy in the lyrics, but the music brings out the message that much better. Its link to the Berlin wall, when a meeting there inspired this song, grounds it in a way that brings some reality to the song. It may not always immediately change the world, but it somehow works to feel inspirational. The four hundred and sixty-ninth song: Exodus - Bob Marley & The Wailers While I struggle with the sound of reggae, there is also something inspiring about the way it is not afraid to involve politics and social issues in its lyrics - an approach that, at least at the time, was rare in other genres, with the obviously punk exception. Here, Exodus starts off with a fine rhythm and sounding fine, bringing across its message of political opponents of the regime being driven out. However, it soon comes down to being repetitive - well performed and tight enough, but still not enough to fill the seven and a half minutes this song brings. I would have preferred a radio edit. The four hundred and seventieth song: River Song - Dennis Wilson I'm still not quite sure what this song is. There are some wall of sound elements in the full sound of the track, clearly coming from a Beach Boys member, but at the same time the song rejcts that for a more natural life. It's beautiful in its adoration of nature, but also feels a bit disconnected at times, in a way I can't quite fathom. It's good, but different from where it came from. The four hundred and seventy-first song: Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC Unlike these last few songs, AC/DC has no pretensions of making music about anything deep. Whole Lotta Rosie is a hard rock song about a one night stand with Rosie, a big woman who is, to quote the book, has "the enthusiasm and endurance to do it (...) around the clock". It's not ambitious, it's a song that works in stadium, giving room for guitars and heavy drumming and drives forward. It's not sophisticated or special, but it comes in and does what it needs to do. The four hundred and seventy-second song: Black Generation - Richard Hell & The Voidoids Looking at punk, it feels like a lot of it was dominated by British bands. Richard Hell & The Voidoids, however, were based in New York and Blank Generation ties into the tradition. Going against the media and their peers, rather than authority, it feels like more of a commentary on how people go through their life. There's a happier beat to it even if the lyrics are more dismissive and there's something that really appeals to me in here. The four hundred and seventy-third song: Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf In the book, this is described as being not so much a heavy meatal song as it's a symphony. While built out of several parts, Bat out of Hell works as a single whole, leading from one section to another as it tells its story. It feels suitably epic and while there were rock songs before and after that do this, the way it's constructed makes it a short story told in song. Meat Loaf's I'd Do Anything For Love is similar to this (and can be referenced by this) but it all has this symphonic rock feel, fusing Meat Loaf's operatic performance with these metal songs to create something amazing and big. The four hundred and seventy-fourth song: Lust for Life - Iggy Pop As trite as it sounds, the titular lust for life feels like it comes through in the music. Iggy Pop's darker vocals subdues it, putting some doubt on it, but there's some sort of excitement in them. Perhaps it's the music written by David Bowie, sounding upbeat while still recognisably punk, that creates this, but there's something that riles you up and brings up this feeling. It's a classic, maybe not how you'd expect, but as a song to close out the write up of 1977, this says a lot about the year.

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• The seventy-first classical recording: #649 Karol Szymanowski - Myths Myths is a set of three works, each telling a story from Greek mythology. The Fountain of Arethusa stands out most with the way the piano imitates the sound of water, including the sound of a water falling down from a spring. It's lovely and evocative and the music alone tells you the basics. Narcissus feels the most traditional, with a dreamy violin and enough buildup but nothing quite as special. The final piece, Dryads and Pan, creates its own sound though, and while the score calls for no wind instruments, the violin evokes the sound of flutes far more than I would have expected. It's tantalizing, drawn out and creates a hypnotic effect that you would associate with Pan's flutes. It's all beautiful, but the first and last pieces feel like they stand out for me with what they bring out of the instruments, in the way they evoke mood and setting of the stories these are meant to score. The one hundred sixty-second album: #162 Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago Transit Authority I don't think I ever really thought of jazz rock as a genre before starting this list, but it seems like we've solidly entered the time period where it has become a thing. I don't mind it too much, although Chicago Transit Authority (now known as Chicago)'s self-titled album doesn't do massive favours. As it is over an hour of music, it needs to justify itself, and it's highly variable whether it manages to do so. At its most inventive, there is a variation and sound to a song that's interesting to listen to. At its most indulgent, such as during parts of Poem 58, it's a jazz improv using rock stylingsthat doesn't go anywhere and doesn't do anything. Free Form Guitar was actually quite painful to listen to and it feels like it shouldn't have been on here in the first place - to the point where I skipped it and didn't look back. It's a mixed bag of an album, with some good songs, a few terrible ones and beyond that mostly decent ones. The jazz rock fusion works well, but I feel like it loses me when it strays too far away from rock - the jazzier songs just don't work as well and it feels liek the band needs structure in its songs.

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• The seventy-second book: #61 Jacques the Fatalist - Denis Diderot In writing Jacques the Fatalist, it felt like Diderot wanted to be clever. The novel leads with a lot of imaginary conversations with the reader about how the writer isn't going to explain things or skips the boring bits, in a way that I found quite off putting. On the other side, when we get to hear the stories (and stories in stories) Jacques, his master and his compatriots tell, as well as the few bits we get told off that they experience, they are amusing and interesting. There are a lot of digressions and not all the stories actually finishes, but it tells enough that you need to know. It works when Diderot doesn't try to be too clever, but in the end it ends up feeling a bit unsatisfying as a whole - an okay experience, but done better elsewhere.

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• The one hundred seventeenth TV show: #876 Portlandia We started watching Portlandia when it first came out - mostly from seeing Fred Armisen on SNL and wondering what else he'd do. We took a break from watching after the fifth season, until we came back to the show recently, which seems like a break that's done us well. There is something specific about the Portland (Oregon) shown here, based on the reputation the city has but obviously exaggerated. It's a pastiche of liberal characters, though not maliciously, and what appeals mostly is the world it creates - recognisable, but absurd enough that it can get away with a lot. It commits to its bits, which is part of the same appeal. Not all of the episodes are winners - they're at their best when they juggle a few storylines and combine them, rather than focus on a single one, but on the whole the series pulls it off, and it wouldn't work as well without that world building.

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• The one hundred and sixty-first album: #161 Tim Buckley - Happy Sad Unlike his first album, TIm Buckley's Happy Sad starts off with a jazz chord, a bass being played until it fades into a jazzy number with folk rock vocals.While the jazz influences stay, these get dialled back to more common folk rock, with some emotional and affecting songs. They are long, but the folk rock/jazz fusion mean that the songs don't outstay their welcome even at ten minutes - there's not enough repetition to get boring. Instead, it gets you into this flow state that's quite appealing and feels good throughout.

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• The one hundred sixtieth album: #160 Sly & The Family Stone - Stand! As we keep up on the non-rock bands, Sly & The Family Stone's funk works for me. It did when I came across it for the songs list and here, too, the upbeat music works well while avoiding the repitition that bores me with other funk artists. There's a lot to each of these songs, in a way that works both for intense listening and when it fades into the background. The oddity is on side B, where Sex Machine is a lengthy jam that goes it some pretty weird places, using distortion to create some weird sounds. It's not something that holds up for thirteen minutes, and mostly detracts from the sound of the rest of the album, but I can see why they might want to try.

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• The seventy-first book: #60 Camilla - Fanny Burney Reading Camilla was a struggle for me - a bit unfortunate, perhaps, knowing the book's reputation, but I struggled to feel it. In parts, this is the stereotypical romance novel I've disliked before, where the main protagonist is perfect, surrounded by wicked people, and led down the wrong path. Camilla isn't quite that, but she doesn't come across as that interesting - everything seems to happen around her or to her. As annoying is that halfway through, the book turns into a lesson on why everyone needs to be taught personal finance. Camilla seems to be perpetually poor and rather than sorting that issue, she keeps borrowing so she can keep spending... it feels so stupid, I found it quite off putting. Its length just doesn't seem worth it.

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• The one hundred fifty-ninth album: #159 The Temptations - Cloud Nine While rock still seems to be dominating the list, a break for something else is always welcome and the soul from the Temptations is a welcome change.The vocals are strong throughout the album, the five leads working well together through the record. What pushses the soul further here is the soundtrack - while at times rather standard for soul, from time to time it moves further with its sounds and creates what's called psychedelic soul. It means we get some good, strong soul songs with the occasional oddity, which works well as the more psychedelic sounds blend well.

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• The one hundred sixteenth TV show: #640 Peep Show For some series, it feels like it's easier to judge when you reach the end of them - and in this case having had a break before watching the final season. While it starts off as mostly covering two loser friends trying to make their way through life, the main thread now is how terrible these people are. A lot of it stems from the filming style. Everything is filmed from the point of view from characters in the scene. We hear the inner monologue of Mark and Jeremy, the two leads played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb. It shows the double layers of all of their decisions and in particular how manipulative Mark is (Jeremy being misguided more often). The filming style defines a lot of the feel of the show. Not only is a lot of the acting focused on the face as characters talk to each other, the way their gaze changes tells stories as well - both zooming in and out, but also looking up and down from time to time. If nothing else, the status differences that come from it are portrayed so much better than anything else would. It feels very intimate, which makes these depraved stories become a lot more human - bad behaviour feels more acceptable but also comes out of their motivations far better. It's a unique show, with a good arc throughout that works well, and played well - you care about the characters, as much as you hate them. Not unlike Sunny, but coming from a different type of motivations.

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• The seventieth classical recording: #82 Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat There is something majestic about choral music backed up by a fuller orchestra. While I think the music here would work well on its own, the sound is somewhat soft in places and the choir's voices work layered on top of it, some of it adding some "punch" to it where that's quite welcome. It builds and falls nicely and where, of course, I don't get the full impression of the lyrics as I listen, it works well both as a nice piece of music to listen to and to convey its message of praise.

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• The one hundred fifty-eighth album: #158 MC5 - Kick Out The Jams It feels like it's been a while since we've had some decent garage rock on the list, with both folksier and more eclectic sounds taking center stage. There's been plenty of hard rock, but the looseness has been missing in an era that seems very studio based. Kick Out The Jams atarts with Ramblin Rose, which is mostly a bunch of noise while the lyrics were shouted over it, the introduction creating the political message. These are part of the album's set up as a live album - a brief introduction, some crowd reactions and songs that it seems the room can barely handle, but work better in this section. The album is politically charged, radically left and trying to make a point. The songs show this best in Motor City Is Burning, a bluesier number that's directly about the oppression and focuses its lyrics more than before. It's effective, more than the rest of the album is. The songs on the album are better constructed than it sounds above - Starship, for example, plays with quite a few structural elements and has specific points it meets, but it's less precise and heavily produced, instead having an energy and life to it that garage rock, and to some extent the punk that will follow, has as well. It's music made to be enjoyed and I'm hoping I can get more of it.

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• The one hundred fifty-seventh album: #157 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II It's probably more a coincidence than anything else that we get two albums from the same band this close to each other. Led Zeppelin II feels like it has more of the songs I know the band for. Whole Lotta Love opens the album and its sound and effects make it stand out more than the blues-based hard rock of the previous album, with this setting up more of its own sound - and making its own statement that way. The album continues into a bunch of rock songs that keep up the beat and energy. It's a bit faster than their original album, a bit harder and focused on the louder guitars, with some parts written to show off that in particular. Lyrically it isn't always as strong. Ramble On referencing the Lord of the Rings is interesting enough, but even there it feels like it doesn't do as much with it, and the music always feels more important than the content of the songs.

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• The one hundred fifteenth TV show: #660 State of Play There is something luxurious about these BBC mini series. Not because they're necessarily high budget - State of Play doesn't look cheap, but the budget probably didn't go that high either. Instead, it makes the best use it can of the full hour each episode can run for - not wasting time, but giving scenes and the story time to breathe and creating a natural flow for the plot. It might not be strictly needed, but it makes the story work so much better. Then there's the acting. Looking at the list of names, it shows what talent is working on this. John Simm, Bill Nighy and others were somewhat known at this point and deliver the strong performance you'd expect, but there's also an impressive job by James McAvoy, who was just starting to arrive on the scene. It feels like they all give it their best and live through their roles. It's a joy to watch and they sell all of it. In everything else, everyone is also at the top, down to the use of handheld, shaky cameras for some key scenes that feel slightly disorienting and important. All these choices feel considered and just right to create the atmosphere. The way the story comes together at the end is satisfying, while keeping parts of its decision close to the vest. It's a great show, from start to finish, and the six hours feel just right for it.

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• The one hundred fifty-sixth album: #156 The Band - The Band So I guess we're in the era of self titled bands now, and especially those who draw from blues or, in this case, country to define their sound. They're some pretty relaxed songs, straightforward without tricks. The lyrics are well written - set in its own western world, but it works well as some relatively simple sounds.It's a good sounding album, present without being in your face and it feels it delivers all the way through. If anything, it's music you don't have to think about - leaving you more of a chance to think about the lyrics where you want to - and that's something that's been suiting my mood lately.

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• The one hundred fifty-fifth album: #155 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin As I've mentioned several times before, this is the time period where rock starts to evolve. With the Beatles' influence waining, we see other bands step up and create their own sound. The Rolling Stones were still around and it feels like they influenced Led Zeppelin more than anything, with a hard rock soudn that draws heavily on blues as well. There are more eclectic touches, and Black Mountain Side feels quick different, but there's a unifying sound that ties the album together, while still keeping the songs distinguishable. It's a good, solid rock album, living up to what it wants to be without unnecessary flourishes or additions.

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• The one hundred fifty-fourth album: #154 Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails Happy Trails feels like a pretty experimental album, with an experience that's clearly divided in two halves. The first takes the song "Who Do You Love" and creates several movements out of it, with the band members each improvising or creating a "movement" around it in an almost solo piece. The solos are good and while some of the more improvised pieces take it a bit far, the ocncept and execution of this are good to listen to. The other side of the album are classic rock songs - mostly instrumentals or with light vocals, focusing on harder guitar riffs with some odd sounds - some more leaning towards the psychedelic than others, leaning more towards some hard rock rather than being as experimental as the first half.

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2019-07-01 00:00:00

• The seventieth comic: #218 Asterix the Gladiator The seventy-first comic: #245 Asterix in Britain The seventy-second comic: #274 Asterix at the Olympic Games The seventy-third comic: #341 Asterix in Corsica We've got four entries on the comics list from Asterix. While there are four different books on the list, there are quite a few similarities. Besides, I've read a lot more entries in the series, so it makes sense to treat it as a whole. There are a couple of layers to the books. The first times I read it, I just saw the basic jokes and had a comic book set in the past. As I grew up I started to understand some of the history jokes and the juxtaposition of the two worked. Now, the broad jokes may not land as well, but understanding the mafia subtext in Asterix in Corsica becomes a lot more amusing. The books deal in pretty broad stereotypes, but it only becomes amusing when you get deeper in it. Obviously, the books play fast and loose with history, but at the same time there are enough reference sin there that it feels like it tries - using the history without it getting in the way. At the same time, there are times where the plotting isn't as tight. It can take a while to get going and the action is pretty constrained through parts of it - the diversions for jokes don't always seem worth it, while they leave the final resolution to the last two pages, which feels like a letdown. It's unsubstantial, which I felt some books did better than the other, but which I also remember being good elsewhere. This may not have been helped by the four stories being journeys away from the main village, where that village works as a better base. It means that at this point, the books were fine, but at my age, and having read more, not amazing.

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• The one hundred fifty-third album: #153 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground For me, the first song on this album starts off as strongly as anything. Candy Says is a lovely ballad about Candy Darling, a trans woman, and how she's unhappy with how she was born. It feels touching and effective, immediately reaching me. While not all the subsequent songs make as much of an impact on me emotionally, the other songs remain good pop ballads, with enough rock sounds to qualify as such but not going as experimental or weird. The album clearly sets out to make good songs rather than be experimental. Murder Mystery is the one exception to this, and it stands out for not fitting quite as much into the rest of the album. Even here, though, it mostly comes from the spoken verses interrupting the sweeter chorus, drawing from the contrast of the sounds of this album and these frantic interruptions. It just feels incredibly appropriate for the entire album - some lovely pop songs with that bit of art mixed in.

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• The four hundred and fifty-fifth song: Black Betty - Ram Jam Probably one of the oddest covers on the list, Black Betty has a white rock band covering a work song - mostly keeping the lyrics, of course, but it's nonetheless interesting. The high speed drive of the song is quite a stand out in how it becomes form over function, a driving rock song over the contets of the lyrics, working to create its own classic. The four hundred and fifty-sixth song: Born for a Purpose - Dr. Alimantado & The Rebels There's an odd juxtaposition to this song. I can't say I've credited reggae songs with much meaning or value, but here the sound I started to find obnoxious fade to the background and the lyrics take more of a front stage, which feel like they have more meaning than in previous songs, giving the song more power. It clearly feels like it's intended to be more palatable for a larger audience, who would want to take the message on board, and despite my concerns at the start, this worked out really well. The four hundred and fifty-seventh song: Zombie - Fela Kuti & Africa 70 I always dread it when a twelve minute song comes it. When it does, I hope for something that has a good reason to be that length and knows how to hold your attention. This being a song that draws on jazz that, of course, isn't guaranteed, and it takes over five minutes for any lyrics to come in, instead starting with a long introduction that manages to fade into the background quite effectively. After the lyrics come in, the song takes on more energy and the driving refrain of "zombie" works well to support the rest of the music. The drawn back instruments make sense as Fela Kuti's lyrics drive through. I only pick up words here and there, but there's something frantic about his delivery, shouting "fallout" and putting on a performance that, if you were involved in the conflict that was happening at the time, would have inspired me. The four hundred and fifty-eighth song: Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush Having been reading a lot of gothic novels recently, it feels appropriate that this song comes up during it. Based on a gothic novel itself, Wuthering Heights has its own sense of mystery and the supernatural in it. Kate Bush's ethereal, slightly distant vocals have a lot of power, but also feels ghostlike enough that it's not quite clear what going on and the music supports that as much - it's not quite as timeless as the lyrics, but still helps create that same sense of mystery that the vocals bring in. There's not been something quite like it, and it feels up there with the most experimental artists as almost creating its own new corner of music. The four hundred and fifty-ninth song: Uptown Top Ranking - Althea & Donna Here's a new version - reggae with two female vocalists. It creates a slightly different sound the song that feels a bit out of place. Many of the same elements are still there, but it feels like the song is recorded more for fun rather than to tell a story, creating a friendlier vibe. It still feels like it doesn't give me that much more, but at least it feels like a twist on the genre. The four hundred and sixtieth song: I Feel Love - Donna Summer Reading up to prep for these songs, I saw that this is where electronic music really starts. Aside from Donna Summer's vocals (and a kick drum) everything is electronic and it just stands out how different this song sounds from everything before it. Sure, Kraftwerk has some of these elements, but here it is obvious and in your face and the sound is different from beginning to end. Donna Summer's vocals work great for the song and fit in smoothly, but they don't stand out as much as the ongoing electronic beat and sounds that you hear throughout, sounds that must have sounded alien at the time. There is so much musically that I can trace back to this idea and again, we see new options in music open up. The four hundred and sixty-first song: Peg - Steely Dan And after some genre-breaking works, Peg is a pretty standard soft rock song. There's nothing wrong with that - it works well here anyway - but in a revolutionary year this moves along as it should, a jazzy song that sounds good, has a good beat and gives a bit of a chance to sing along. It's a competent respite and probably does more to solidify the solid rock genre than it does anything more remarkable. Sometimes that's what you need, anyway, and it's a good prep before starting another long one. The four hundred and sixty-second song: Marquee Moon - Television Although Television is considered a punk band, Marquee Moon leans more towards the glam rock and art rock end of the scale, a decent but straight forward rock riff combined with lyrics with their own symbolism, but vocals that don't go too complicated. There are no screeching guitars, no loudness for the sake of being loud and subdued drums. There are times in the song where it shines through, but there's a restraint that you don't really here in other punk songs. Instead, it's a well constructed song, building to its moments well and capable of enough variation in its music to keep you interested, but that wears off about seven minutes in - there's just one solo too many in there, which feels like it goes against the way the rest of the song is set up. The four hundred and sixty-third song: Like a Hurricane - Neil Young I feel like I've heard most from Neil Young from his collaborations, which led me to be more disappointed by this solo song than I expected. I was hoping for something a bit more lyrics-driven than this is, with the vocals not convincing me while they feel combined here with a fairly standard rock track. It's not necessarily bad, but it doesn't feel as big or fresh as it could be, which is mostly what's disappointing about it. It's a bit uninspiring, in a year where there are so many more standouts. The four hundred and sixty-fourth song: The Passenger - Iggy Pop There's this weird side-genre to songs of travel songs. It has a driving beat, like a train racing along or trees passing your car as you race down the motorway. The Passenger is one of these, a rock song with an on going beat and chorus and Iggy Pop's low voice singing about his travels along some road or tracks. David Bowie's backing vocals are one of the things that break up the monotony of the trip. It's well executed as it all fits together, but also creating something that's a bit of an anthem and that feels layered enough to not belabour the metaphor - there is enough variation for that and all of the song works here.

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• The sixty-ninth classical recording: #59 Henry Purcell - The Fairy Queen With today's classical peace we're looking at a Shakespeare play turned into a musical by Henry Purcell. It's fairly early in the list and shows how much movement classical music goes through in these early stages - these aren't the monk's chants we got 30 earlier. Instead, this full-on opera has a lot of musical interludes. It has decent music - not quite the otherworldly charm the title implies, but it sounds decent regardless, with some decent songs but mostly as its own orchestral piece that would, I assume, normally accompany the spoken word. I don't think this is one where I felt I really missed out by seeing the performance - it all stood out well enough on its own.

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• The sixty-ninth comic: #205 Jungle Book Not based on the Kipling novel, this Jungle Book is a collection of stories by early MAD's Harvey Kurtzman. Some of these four are pastiches of popular genres at the time, while The Organization Man in the Gray Flannel Executive Suit is a satire based on his early experiences with publishing. It's probably the most interesting story, even though it's a fairly straight forward satire the structure is good and it doesn't work out its welcome. This works with Thelonius Violence's take on detective stories as well, playing with the jazzy noir stories while still delivering a strong story - it feels like it holds up well. The other two story don't work as well though. The western story gets repetitive and boring while the southern story never quite grabbed me - I think it's the one where I really didn't know enough A mixed bag in the end - with a clearly stronger first half.

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• The seventieth book: #59 The Monk - M.G. Lewis We've really arrived in the era of the gothic novel. The Monk has a fairly convoluted plot with a lot of characters who often have their own side stories and go off for a chapter or two to give some change of direction. The core character, the titular monk, is Ambrosio, a devout monk (raised by the monks after being left at the door as a baby) who through the novel descends into sin and becomes a definite villain, even until he's literally taken away by Lucifer at the end. I found it hard to focus enough to keep track of the story. There are plenty of diversions that I lost tracks of parts of the story and the prose was overwrought enough that it started to bore me. I can see how it would inspire others, but I am looking forward to this developing a bit further.

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• The one hundred fifty-second album:#152 Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis While we heard more from him in the early parts of this list, we now come to his last album on the list in what I guess was his revival period. One of the big changes that I felt straight away is the larger influence of soul in this - while I'm sure there were some, it feels like there are more choirs and tambourines as the album starts. That veers a bit more into rocky blues songs - sometimes fully into blues (maybe with some violins playing) although something like Power Of My Love In The Ghetto goes the other way. Elvis still sounds good and his performances are as powerful as ever, while the large production suits his voice well. It's an impressive combination and in the end, I feel the album worked far better than I would have expected based on when this was in Elvis's career.

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• The one hundred fourteenth TV show: #111 Batman We wanted to put a simpler, fun show against the heavier subject matter of the other show that we'll get to in a few weeks and Batman's 1960s iteration felt like it fit the bill best. The show is cheesy by today's standards, although in a way this is probably one of the shows that defined it. Sure, it's tame and not as dark as we envision Batman (especially these days), but this was meant as a family show in the sixties, almost focused on working for the kids. The effects aren't the best, the fights predictable (with cartoon sound effects overlaid to hide hits not actually connecting) and there are plenty of other things that look cheap now. However, the formula still works. There are enough fun bits in there to keep enjoying the show and the performances are delightful - hacked, at times, sure, but delightfully campy and hammy. It gets a bit less interesting after twenty episodes, but it's been good to watch for some fun, some predictable but fun story and always keeping you guess what weird thing they came up with for the story this time. Somehow, there's something here that still holds up and stays fun.

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• The one hundred fifty-first album: #151 Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis We return to Dusty Springfield's vocals about a hundred albums after the previous one. It's a lovely pop album, with some soul influences, giving us some influential songs but also a general sound that really works - the orchestra adds enough swing but Dusty Springfield's voice holds up well on its own and it's worked great a music to work to. Son of a Preacherman, of course, stands out as the big song, a clear soul song that sounds a bit more subdued here than it normally does, but it works well in its original context. In the previous write up, I mentioned that album really starting to feel like pop, and I feel that's set up more here - no big focus on country, no rock elements, and while there are some clear R&B songs as well, on the whole there's a sound that works on its own.

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• The one hundred fiftieth album: #150 Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left Musically, Nick Drake's folk rock is decent, mostly a simple guitar rhythm but regularly introducing violins and other instruments. Add to that vocals that are a bit slow and careful and I get a feeling of distance, symbolizing the depression that plagued him and that comes through. It's introspective, and while there's a lot going on at times, the core vocals dominate. I needed to move myself away from the feeling of this being standard, as there's a depth to it that only came out slowly. It's beautiful, but something feels ephemeral about what it's trying to express.

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• The sixty-ninth book: #58 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe For what's meant to be an ironic commentary on a Bildungsroman, I feel like it was just as often a fairly boring examination of theatrical aspects. I lost track of the plot through these diversions and I guess I just got bored with the book early and never quite got myself back into it. It's impressive, that's for sure... but I guess too intelligent for me to read on my morning commute. And yeah, there's just no hook that caught me.

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• The one hundred fourty-ninth album: #149 The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed At this point, I feel I know the typical Rolling Stones sound, something they've reached here. It's a hard rock sound with a strong blues influence, the vocals especially inspired by the latter. It sounds, creating some powerful songs with a decent impact. There are some creative attempts at different things, but in the end the core stays solid, more variations on their sound than getting as much variations as the Beatles did in the day. That's probably the best thing though, I knew what I'd get, and I got what I wanted.

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• The one hundred fourteenth show: #636 Top Gear I've struggled to decide how many episodes of this I need to watch. I've seen more than plenty over the years (with the main original presenter group, which is what the book was obviously still going for) and watching more episodes I think I'm there anyway. I don't care that much for cars. This is sacrilege in my family (well, not quite, but it's true I never really took after my father that way, although I still neared some things because of it). But then, you need to for this show anyway - it might go into some detail, but that's a small part of the show and they know it. You get your car news and all that, but it's set up about the banter between Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. It's laddish, often aimed at cutting each other down and usually amusing, but the vague elitism and resulting insults feel a bit much - aiming at a masculine audience that probably doesn't apply as much ten years on. And that's why I stop caring. We saw something similar in Infinite Challenge, but there's it's so much less about showing up each other and instead about being amusing. And that's what's off putting. There are some good segments that are incredibly entertaining and most of it is probably fine, but I just can't get past that. I mean, they're at their best when the attitude is pierced, but it doesn't quite get there. It's a worthwhile watch and quite fun at times, but I'm at the point where I feel I can't stomach as much of it.

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• The one hundred fourty-eighth album: #148 Pentangle - Basket of Light It always feels odd to hear folk on this album, in particular the type Pentangle played, using acoustic instruments and mostly sounding quite traditional rather than featuring the faster speed of Bob Dylan and the like. In fact, it feels like some of it could belong to the more folksy songs we've seen in the classical list a handful of times. Some of the songs on this album adapt traditional songs, which shows through as well. The music sounds good. There are a couple of places with good harmonies, and the vocals really stand out, but the music works well too. It sounds magical and ethereal, but it's more listenable than the hymns we've had before - the adjustment to modern times works incredibly well. It feels like it sits outside the musical timeline, but I hope we can get more of this occasionally.

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• The sixty-eighth comic: #528 A Treasury of Victorian Murder There's something fascinating about tales of (unsolved) crimes, murders with clues that are ambiguous enough that you don't know what's going on. Rick Geary's set of stories examines a number of Victorian (and early 20th century) murders. In some cases, these remain unsolved, while with others we know what happened but the perpetrators disappeared, while in the case of Guiteau we know what happened. As always, in a way the journey is more interesting than the solution and the way these stories are examined - sometimes through a (fictional?) contemporary account, or other devices. The art style is fairly simple but the black and white drawings have a lot of character, leaving identities vague enough while still letting you identify characters, it fits the slightly unclear nature of these cases, especially as it brings across the facts well. I devoured these in a few days, and that was for a good reason.

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• The one hundred fourty-seventh album: #147 The Bee Gees - Odessa It feels odd to think about this album coming before the disco sound that I associate with the Bee Gees came into play. In fact, the title track Odessa that opens the album is far away from it, with its long run time, deep harmonies that from time to time sound like monks chanting, and far more portraying that feeling of being lost at sea than you'd expect. What we have here are a number of prog rock tracks, very accessible, taking cues from country in some songs, both in sound and lyrics, and on the whole it feels like the album uses a number of different sounds. The lyrics are excentric, not deep, but an ode to Edison feels like a theme I'm unlikely to encounter again on this list and even that is well put together - the partially electric orchestration works well for the song. Again, the harmonies work well, and as much as they're a feature of the band's output, they are always amazing to listen to when they appear.

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• The one hundred fourty-sixth album: #146 Miles Davis - In A Silent Way I can't say I've missed jazz on this list. Miles Davis creates some nice lounge music here, nice as an acoustic background, but when focusing on listening to it, the album doesn't really give me a great feeling. It doesn't go somewhere and do much that's interesting and lacks a bit of spark. I get that it works well for the atmosphere it's trying to create - and the album creates a relaxed atmosphere for sure - but it doesn't feel like there's much here to listen out for.

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2019-06-01 00:00:00

• The one hundred thirteenth TV show: #877 Episodes Episodes is another show we stopped watching after a while, although I'm less clear on why that was. We enjoyed the first season, and rewatching it it's still amazing, but it faded out a bit around the third season for us. I think that for us, it was more about the amount of shows we're watching, and how it gets slightly darker. The concept of two British comedy writers bringing their award winning sitcom to the US, getting annoyed with the system they have to deal with. The two writers are played by Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig, both giants in the British comedy scenes. We loved both in Green Wing and in particular saw Tamsin Greig in both Friday Night Dinner and Black Books in great parts as well. They have great chemistry and get their performances right on all levels. They bicker immensely well, which works great for the show. The third side of the triangle, during the show partially a love triangle, is Matt LeBlanc. Although he's obviously known mostly for his role as Joey in Friends, in this series he shows that he can do more than that. He plays what you'd expect him to be like - wise in the ways of US showbiz, but also vapid standard celeb. It's quite self aware and his confidence in making a fool of himself works well. He manages to flirt with both of the other characters and comes across as incredibly charming, which means he can get away with the antics on the show. Although not singled out as often, Kathleen Rose Perkins' performance is just as good, both piling on to the showbiz vapidness while also be aware enough of it that he can get the Lincolns through all of it. Rewatching it, the show moves quite quickly through the first season. A lot happens, and while some of the twists are a bit obvious, there are enough layers to it that they work. It feels like a British sitcom made in Hollywood, avoiding the obvious pitfalls that the show shows would happen if it was a network comedy rather than on Showtime. The way it skewers both side works well and the actors apply themselves well enough that the performances raises it even further. Perhaps not perfect in places and the show may not hold up, but it's worth watching the show's take off.

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• The one hundred fourty-fifth album: #145 The Who - Tommy We've had a few albums that try to tell a story before, but this feels like the first major one we get, on a scale I don't think I've quite seen before. Having seen the movie before, I roughly know the beats even if the album doesn't quite have it. The album as a whole concept is quite interesting - the storytelling isn't always subtle, but it sort of works to give an idea of what's going on. Pinball Wizard, as a tentpole song, works as something everything else runs around. It's not the most amazing songs, but a lot of darkness culminates in the more upbeat song while we reach the first climax of the story, leading into Go to the Mirror as the second triumph that's linked to it. As a standalone album, it works well too, in part because a lot of songs get the right intros. Having this buildup works, but on the whole the band sounds good, with deent writing and a decent variation in melody that still stays like a coherent whole. It's a good album, complemented with a decent story, and even without any further performance elements stands on its own.

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• The one hundred twelfth TV show: #342 Widows It's interesting how again, there's a split between seasons here on how good the show is. The first season of Widows is excellent. After their husbands die in a heist, three widows (and a fourth companion) decide to replicate the heist to gain the money their husbands would have gotten, while holding off others who are after the same plans for the heist. It's an interesting drama, both for the way the women interact and how they pull off the heist - a few times getting closer to discovery, but usually getting away - the way they manage to weave their way through, sometimes using their supposed innocence to make it out, works incredibly well. It was an incredibly engaging season. The second season abandons that in favour of a revenge story. It takes a while to start this in the first place, it never works quite as consistently. It's often not as compelling, and it's mostly the third and final episodes that deliver the best moments. In between, it can spin its wheels a bit. Second, and more frustrating, is how some of the characters develop. Some of them haven't grown, while I feel like some of the widows go back in their growth, losing the strength they've shown in the first season. It revolves around Dolly, played by Ann Mitchell, who delivers a stellar performance where she is capable, not always likeable but works as a strong core performer around which everything revolves. Her story dominates in the second season, to the detriment of others, but the story itself works. We didn't watch the third season, released about a decade later, for that reason, but the first season is more than worth it.

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• The sixty-fourth comic: #88 Superman Looking through the list of comics left to do, it seemed to make sense to tackle another superhero. Superman was the obvious choice - the first major one that still resonates today and the first the list explicitly defines as a superhero comic rather than an action comic. Even so, with Captain America it was hard to narrow down what to read. Here, however, the list helped by calling out three additional arcs that were spread around different times the comic was around. So we started at the beginning, with Superman as an action hero. Not having the patriotic background of Captain America means the stories were more interesting from the start, with a set cast, even if Lois Lane doesn't come across as strong. Still, it was interesting if not as engaging long term. The sixty-fifth comic: #211 Death of Superman So we jumped to the sixties, with what feels like the first event story line. All throughout these, each comic book contained multiple stories - three to four, depending on book length - which is even the case in the issues surrounding this. But here, the entire book is devoted to a what-if scenario: What if Superman died? How would people react? There are plenty of cameos and continuity references and it's a neat story. There's a second arc by the same name, published in the nineties, where Superman actually dies. It's a fifty-part story (or so), spread out across multiple lines. Everything is more updated - Lois Lane is the better reporter, Jimmy Olsen is more interesting and on the whole the world feels richer, with characters that are flawed and have trouble. It's quite good, with the three decades showing story telling came on with leaps and bounds. The sixty-sixth comic: #725 Superman For All Seasons Superman For All Seasons is a bit later, and is the first standalone arc - set in a similar world, but telling its own story. The way it's set up, following seasons (both in the world and metaphorically) makes sense and gets predictive - spring being Superman's blossoming, summer his growth to be a hero, autumn being his fall (nicely foreshadowed) and leading to a winter of accepting the fall and moving on. Rather than filling it with action, it's contemplative, with a lot of conversations and a deliberation of what you can do. It's really well executed and emotional, and it feels, again, like it's pushed the story telling even further. The sixty-seventh comic: #871 All Star Superman The relatively recent standalone series draws on a lot of past Superman characters - it feels like it contains a lot of callbacks to older series. The twelve books become twelve stories with a larger arc in the background that starts playing. Again, the relationships Superman has get examined more than the action sequences, even if this has some good ones, and how he interacts with Lois Lane is the most important. It's interesting how she's developed and how this defines the times - from a damsel in distress who tries to do well but is always beaten by Clark Kent, to always beating him out. His cowardice in the early issues becomes clusiness later, all of which make him into a more interesting character that fits in with a more modern definition of the character. But mainly, he's a lot more complex, dealing with the consequences of his actions in these last two stories, and how he inspires everyone else. All Star Superman especially doesn't shirk from showing consequences, and it makes for an amazing read.

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• The one hundred fourty-fourth album: #144 The Beatles - Abbey Road I've reached the final Beatles album on the list, which feels like a monumental moment - as seen in the songs list, the band towers over popular music in the sixties and there are a bunch of big shifts in music that'll happen now they are out of the picture.They sound good - just at the start, Something is beautiful and is an amazing song, while Maxwell's Silver Song harkens back to the early days, but has dark lyrics that go in the different direction - not a complex song, but impressive from a songwriting perspective. I don't feel Abbey Road quite has the innovation I associate with the Beatles - it feels like it's going back to basics, sounding good and containing good songs, but nothing that pushes the envelope quite as much. It's a satisfying whole, a good way to end things (especially with the supposed ending song, named "The End", setting up for it) and while it might not have been intended, it works as a good round up of the Beatles' work

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• The sixty-eighth classical recording: #21 William Byrd - My Ladye Nevells Book This set of works - a book with 40-something organ works and a run time of about four hours - creates an opportunity to hear a set of works that plays with an instrument in a way that goes broader than a single work. The "march before the battel" shows this off best, a aggressive, harder number with, it feels, some percussion that really adds power to the music in a way that we don't quite hear earlier. At the same time, a lot of it stays similar to what it has been the whole time and fades in the background after a while.

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• The four hundred and fourty-fifth song: God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols I think it's hard to separate this song from the controversy, as it's the song's point to court that. It's an attack on the establishment, accused of holding down the country and the world where there is no future for the common people. In that sense, it's a strong statement that gets overshadowed by its headline lyrics, which is more a general statement than a specific attack. It's a weird bit of symoblism that mirrors the aggression of the song and it's clearly incredibly effective. The four hundred and fourty-sixth song: Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk Kraftwerk's electronic music feels years ahead of the curve, the driving track here with its subdued vocals feel avant garde, not something to dance or sing along to or even to perform, but something to appreciate and enjoy. Everything builds systematically while there is a more chaotic rhythm track in between. It sounds good, giving a nice beat to go with the track, It would be bizarre, but even now it feels like a highlight of electronic music. The four hundred and fourty-seventh song: Sweet Gene Vincent - Ian Dury There's something odd about this song. It starts off as quite a standard ballad, has an old fashioned early sixties rock and roll feel to it but brings in some punk guitars from time to time to contrast it. I'm not sure what to think of it - it's good, but it's a bit of everything, I guess combining his own punk style with Gene Vincent's rockabilly, creating this very good but weird hybrid that doesn't feel like it entirely makes sense. The four hundred and fourty-eighth song: By This River - Brian Eno Does it feel right to describe something as ambient music if it has these clear lyrics? There's a message in here, poetry in the lyrics that is quite impressive, but it's layered on top of ambient music that clearly belongs together, sounding good that way, but not as clearcut essential as other tracks might be. It's lovely to listen to, really setting its atmosphere well, and feels like a good crafted pieces of music. The four hundred and fourty-ninth song: Dum Dum Boys - Iggy Pop A lengthy seven minute song, Dum Dum Boys is a difficult one. There's something about the heavy guitars, the drums and the distortion that makes it feel like the song moves forward slowly, dragging its feet and struggling. It's a reflection on the lyrics, Iggy Pop looking back on his time in the Stooges that feels like he's held back and dragged back to it. There's a heavy rock feel to it, but rather than going for volume, it goes for fullness, creating a different atmosphere that tells a story on its own. The four hundred and fiftieth song: Com’e profondo il mare - Lucio Dalla Listening to this song, it feels like I'm listening to an Italian Bob Dylan - maybe not in the sound of his voice, but in the way he comes cross. There are the fast lyrics that comment on something, quite a bit of life in the vocals while the music stays simple, a straight forward happy tune that doesn't quite come across in Lucio Dalla's voice. There's more urgency to it, which makes it sound uncomfortable and slightly off even without knowing the lyrics. The four hundred and fifty-first song: Ghost Rider - Suicide We've seen punk come in and it'll soon go - post punk having a far longer tail than punk itself - but here it gives rise to another odd variation. With electronic music mixing in, the drive and aggression of the synthesizer feels perfect for the genre and creates an odd atmosphere. Driven by a bass line that feels like a bike driving down the motorway, ghostly vocals and effects create a produced track with an eerie, almost off putting atmosphere that invokes a feeling of dread that suits the Marvel character this was based on. It's another different sound, in a year where genres explode, and it's fascinating - even frustrating in cutting off early before you get a chance to process it all. The four hundred and fifty-second song: Orgasm Addict - Buzzcocks While the Sex Pistols are the big punk bad, the Buzzcocks here sound more like what I've come to expect from standard punk - a standard two minute song with a younger sounding vocal and in this case a rather gimmicky amount of panting and moaning. It feels silly, less aggressive, and more about fun - what I later get to know from bands like Blink-182. The sexual content is cringy, but the sound itself appeals to me. The four hundred and fifty-third song: Holidays in the Sun - Sex Pistols And with this, we see the end of the Sex Pistols - they came in, played hard, and in the span of two weeks of our write-ups, they fall apart. Anarchy and keeping a band together don't mix. Even the subject of holidays gets a bit politicised here, comparing it to the communists looking in and the oppressive atmosphere they felt elsewhere. West Berlin's party atmosphere and decadence appealed to them and it shows in the enthusiasm of the lyrics and fervour with which they go for it. It's their lightest song on the list, but possibly also their complex, and sounds good here. The four hundred and fifty-fourth song: Peaches - The Stranglers Here we have a song that has bunch of things going against it. Its reggae influence means it has a heavy bass line that creates a dark sound that combines with fairly misogynistic lyrics - possibly parodying them, but they sound fairly serious and harsh. It's enjoying the bodies on the beach, describing it in a vulgar that doesn't quite work for me, and while I can see how it could be a commentary, it just doesn't work. The weirdness in sounds - especially the weird effects at the end - work against it, and on the whole it creates a product that, in a different light, might have worked, but here combines a number of things in a way that don't.

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• The one hundred fourty-third album: #143 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River It hasn't been long since I last listened to an album by them, the first that was released in 1969, with this being the second (the third doesn't seem to be on the list, but we'll come back to them in the future). The album offers more gentle rock, more classical than the country rock from before but still keeping it calmer. Lodi especially stands out as adding a nice bit of energy to the track and an interesting structure - the melancholy of the lyrics feel like they really suit the band, while others like Cross-Tie Walker feel a bit more generic. Another stand out track - the second side features more of these - is Sinister Purpose, which feels closer to a harder rock song, far more drawing your attention than turning into something that is nice to have on while you're working, and I appreciated that here. It shows some variety in the band that feels more important than I'd expect for a band I don't think I'd heard of before this list.

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• The one hundred fourty-second album: #142 Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash at San Quentin After Folsom prison, Johnny Cash's next performance on this list returns to another prison, basically recording another concert that was edited into an album. This has more decent country, some of which were on the previous album with a bunch of new and and updated songs. Again, the crowd reaction stands out and adds to the performance - possibly more than before - and they get quite rowdy in places. The banter with the crowd helps as well - Cash comes across as quite charismatic, connecting with the crowd and it feels like he's having a good time. The music itself is good, I enjoyed listening to the music even though I wasn't wowed by it - it's the same as always, but Cash is a good performer and makes it all sound good.

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• The four hundred and thirty-fifth song: Hotel California - The Eagles How fairly can you judge a song as famous as this? Hotel California is a song I've been anticipating for a few years at this point. It's a classic, one that has a supernatural reading, but just as much can be interpreted to be about a place in life, something political or some other type of commentary, and all those readings work on some level.The relaxed rock makes it unintrusive, giving the feeling of that feeling that'd make you happy to stay in a place, prisoners of your own device where you're happy to stay in a place like that. It's lengthy, maybe not in a way that it should always be, but it sounds good, with enough of a message to make you wonder. The four hundred and thirty-sixth song: Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers While I would normally associate punk with a more political message, anti establishment and aggressive, Roadrunner (which would be classed as proto punk) is a lot simpler, instead focusing on the love of driving through American suburbs. It's not that deep, musically or lyrically, but just talks about an enjoyment of driving and being on the road. It's fine, infectious in a way, but doesn't feel like it offers me that much more. The four hundred and thirty-seventh song: American Girl - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers We've got a nice poppy rock song here, the fun of the song perhaps slightly betraying its lyrics about wanting more out of life. There's something exciting about it, as the song plays on, while Tom Petty's slower vocals create a contrast that adds something slower to it. It works well, staying positive while it doesn't have quite all of that in the lyrics. The four hundred and thirty-eighth song: Detroit Rock City - Kiss Kiss's on stage persona is a big enough part of the band that it's hard for me to separate myself from them without a deeper dive into the music. Here in the songs it shows that too: While we have a hard rock number here, the additions of the sounds of traffic and the original album setting creates something theatrical as well. It is quite an exciting number that builds here, with some triumphant moments in there that makes for a good sounding song. The four hundred and thirty-ninth song: Young Harts Run Free - Candi Staton It's hard for me to point at where this song is special. It's disco, but quite standard disco at that. It is nice to dance to, but while there is a message int here, this doesn't feel like the genre of music to tell it in - especially as it feels like Candi Staton doesn't need all the production this number adds to it. The four hundred and fourtieth song: Chase The Devil - Max Romeo There is something unsettling and different about this song. While reggae generally doesn't work that well for me, there's something about the way the music works here that adds an unearthly feeling to it. The fact that it works better when sampled in other songs is probably the most telling - there's some good qualities here, but it's missing some things to really make the song work. The four hundred and fourty-first song: New Rose- The Damned Apparently this might be the first punk single. The aggression in the song goes through and it's a weird combination of the aggressive, noise filled punk sound and something fun in a joy of something new in life that feels like it goes missing a bit from punk as it becomes more political. It's loud and full, but enjoys things as well. The four hundred and fourty-second song: Anarchy in the U.K. - Sex Pistols In contrast, while released a few weeks after New Rose, Anarchy in the U.K. feels like it defines the punk attitude far more - anarchy, destruction and anger at the world. We'll get more of that, but here the attitude from the band members come through and this is as much a statement as anything, a "wall of sound" that fits underneath the vocals quite rightly, emphasizing the call for anarchy that would continue for some time. It feels like a statement, as well as a way in which the way the landscape shifted. The four hundred and fourty-third song: Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Warren Zevon Sometimes you can feel the sarcasm come through in the song title. It's a song about everything going wrong - down to failed suicide attempts, but the country rock song (far better than the country I've covered for the albums list so far) is sardonic enough that it feels amusing and funny instead. From not having heard of him, I'm actually quite curious to hear what else he has done, as there's something clever in these lyrics that I really enjoy. The four hundred and fourty-fourth song: Underground - The Upsetters While I've dunked on reggae a bit before, a lot of that felt like it came from the repetitive nature of the lyrics and how that influenced the song. Freed from those constraints, Lee "Scratch" Perry, the record producer, creates a more interesting sound as the repetition goes and we get a far more interesting mix of sounds instead. It's a soundscape that is created, with interesting scratches and different effects that make for something slightly otherworldly. While technically reggae, the instrumentals here move away from that genre's flaws into something quite appealing.

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• The one hundred fourty-first album: #141 The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin As an off shoot of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers use their followup to move further in a country direction. Here we get melancholic country rock, the time that still doesn't do much for me. It's fine music, possibly a bit more enjoyable for me than other country albums, but it doesn't really have the depth or spirit other albums have had. Some write ups promise a fusion in this album of other types of rock into this, but I'm not hearing it as much - if it had experimented more, this album may have been worht a bit more.

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• The one hundred fourtieth album: #140 Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears, almost in defiance of other groups, takes its rock in a far jazzier direction - to the point where a number of these songs feel more like jazz, with some country influences, with the occasional break that speeds up the song and adds something harder to it. The effect is used well - songs with a melancholic feel in the likes of God Bless the Child, which build up to a more triumphant section. It's also, obviously, a cover, which feels rare for the time, but also creates a song that feels unique, and quite different from the original. It's a nice sound to listen to, more interesting than pure jazz album would be to me but at the same time far easier to listen to.

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• The sixty-seventh classical recording: #694 Peter Warlock - The Curfew There's some melancholic to this collection of songs, with its use of strings and an eerie flut, sung with short phrases that give you time to contemplate. It feels set at night (although that's unlikely with the birds referenced) and has this gloom over it. It's not an unpleasant one, just contemplative and quiet, and it worked well to get me relaxing and focused.

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• The one hundred eleventh TV show: #494 Kommisar Rex There are plenty of crime shows out there and while some may get by on sheer talent, you'll usually need some sort of hook to get people interested. In the case of Kommisar Rex, it's the titular Rex, a police dog who joins Vienna's homocide unit after his handler is killed in an explosion. He gets adopted by the charismatic Moser and the two form a crime fighting team. The dog himself is the obvious star - while he may not be able to speak, he's been trained to make sure he can convey a lot of different emotions - it's a real actor and you can feel for him from the first time you see him on screen, depressed about what happened to his owner. He comes across as clever - as smart as any human - and the show is at its best when he really gets to show off. The second star - Moser at first, although he leaves later and gets competently replaced with quite a different character - works well, as a fairly competent cop with the occasional blind spot Rex helps him solve. It stands out from the beginning how much chemistry he has with the dog. The story goes that this was a normal crime show, but Tobias Moretti showed up to his audition with a dog and that worked well enough that they decided to work it into the show. It shows in how he always interacts with Rex, even when it's not scripted - he's always encouraging him and connecting and it works really well. Add to that how the secondary cast works well - they're competent, with the comic relief coming from their interactions with Rex. Not as an enemy (and they are shown to care a lot for each other) but by annoying each other and, in particular, a lot of theft and sharing of ham rolls. Both the dogs and the characters in the show love them, and they're often comedic beats that occasionally turn into more touching moments. There are a lot of these episodes, and the quality ones are mostly in the early seasons, but during this the show is immensely entertaining, while not shying away from the more difficult topics - there's plenty of deaths, bomb threats and hostages to stay busy.

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• The sixty-eighth book: #57 The Mysteries of Udolpho - Ann Radcliffe We've entered the era where the gothic novel is really becoming popular, and Udolpho seems to be one of the well known ones that was used in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, a satire of the genre. There are a lot of common parts, mysterious, (seemingly) supernatural happenings, with a dark villain and the innocent lead character who gets involved in these dealings. We had the pure protagonist before, but here she's not perfect, just standing out in this dark world where people keep secrets. The novel flows best in the middle third, while we're in the titular Udolpho castle. The novel gets a lot of set up - in a way that pays off really nicely, but perhaps feels a bit longer than needed - and while the resolution works well and is satisfying in the last few chapters, there are some dealings surrounding Emily getting her freedom that takes a while longer. It's mostly a compelling read, with three dimensional characters that you can change around on. While there are some big twists, they're mostly set off well and pay off, and while there's hints of supernatural involvement, for the most part we get more satisfying explanations later. It's a decent read and it feels like we're getting better versions of these narratives.

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• The one hundred thirty-ninth album: #139 Crosby, Stills and Nash - Crosby, Stills and Nash There's something to be said for competent, mainstream folk rock. While Crosby, Stills & Nash (and other permutations) have their heavier, message-filled songs, something like Marrakech Express is a nice, gentle song that fits all the tropes you'd expect, while sounding good throughout. It's a delight to listen to. It describes the rest of the album as well - easy to listen to, flowing nicely, and staying away from the harder side the other parts of rock flow to. They're gentle and because of that nice enough to listen to.

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• The one hundred thirty-eighth album: #138 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country I get a bit lost in all the different rock definitions, but Creedence Clearwater Revival sets itself apart from the other rock of the era by being a bit calmer - fewer screeching guitars - but still more musically active than some folk rock. There are some country references, and Proud Mary feels like a song that leans on that feeling especially, as well as Keep On Chooglin', while Born on the Bayou (perhaps ironically) feels far more like a normal a normal rock song. It feels like it's part of a shift, exploring this sound, and it makes it sound really good already.

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• The sixty-sixth classical recording: #20 Claudio Monteverdi - Madrigals One of the reasons to do these recordings chronologically is that it gives an insight into how these evolve. The content is still lost on me - although as secular songs, I assume they are more basic than what we get with other songs. Monteverdi's madrigals, at least in the version we have here, is accompanied by a lute, but is mostly given shape as a polyphonic song, two voices building together.There is something romantic about the sound, where it feels more grounded than the motets we've had before, and it feels closer to more modern songs at time - though still slower and clearly influenced by motets. They're also more affected than 'folk' music, more developed than what I'm sure they felt the commoners would sing, and the combination of that makes for something effective to listen to.

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• The one hundred thirty-seventh album: #137 Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica I was worried about this album. I've heard bits and both its sound and the way it was created feel off putting. It doesn't sound sane, and while there can be virtue in that, I'm not sure how that would pay off. At times it feels unpolished or unfinished - someone singing into a microphone, messing up, but not creating something that feels right to put out. At its best, this feels like passable rock - nothing that excites me, to be quite honest - at the worst an unpolished mess.

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• The four hundred and twenty-fifth song: (Don’t Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult Starting with a famous riff, the psychedelic roots of Blue Oyster Cult come through in this haunting song, relentlessly moving on while there's a haunting sound to this song as well - ready for death rather than fearing it. It's frightening on some levle, the impact of the emotions making themselves known throughout. The four hundred and twenty-sixth song: More Than a Feeling - Boston Some songs really get disadvantaged by their placement on the list and More Than a Feeling pales next to The Reaper. It's a lighter piece of classic rock, a rock ballad that does well in expressing a sentiment but through overexposure feels a bit emptier as well - and with a bridge that doesn't seem quite as needed. It's a nice and sweet song. The four hundred and twenty-seventh song: Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder My connection to this song is a bit different from others, as I've studied performing it a capella when I actually got some singing lessons. There's something varied in the different funk parts it drifts through, with what feels like more shifts than normal, constantly moving between swing and funk. At the same time, I didn't quite appreciate the lyrics at the time, paying tribute to many different deceased musicians, and how it covers their music is probably more impressive and important. The four hundred and twenty-eighth song: The Killing of Georgie (Parts 1 & 2) - Rod Stewart While still a rock song, this soft rock number describes the life of Georgie, a gay man in a time where that was far more of a problem. While his death, mentioend in the song, doesn't come from his sexuality, his abandonment and the way he moves through life does and that is what really has the impact here. The second part is more longing and angry, having a more emotional impact, but it wouldn't work without the more upbeat, narrative first half to contrast against. The four hundred and twenty-ninth song: Dancing Queen - Abba After four quite emotional numbers, Dancing Queen makes for a real palate cleanser - no complicated emotions or lyrics, just admiration of these seventeen year olds enjoying going out and dancing. Musically it's more complex, making for a good song to dance to, and that's where its real strengths come in, reinforcing its lyrics and building on them while maintaining its joy - in a way the perfect pop song. The four hundred and thirtieth song: Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones This is where you're almost hoping punk to end up, and where more bands took from - not just the dark political stuff, but joy in there as well - joy with a dark undertone, but there's some enthusiasm in here as well. Apparently, bubblegum music was their inspiration, and this bubblegum punk means it's not taken too seriously - it creates a fun song, for the most part, with the title and some references showing it's not all that. The four hundred and thirty-first song: Love Hangover - Diana Ross This song starts off slow, an R&B song that's well performed but not that special. When the disco break starts, everything loosens up a bit and the atmosphere changes. The structure of the lyrics is lost and you get a nice tune with some improvisation on top, but at that point it seems too far gone to recover any momentum. The four hundred and thirty-second song: Cokane in My Brain - Dillinger I still don't know what's going on with this song. I think this is Dillinger talking to himself, while he's not very responsive. He also keeps not realizing how not to spell New York, apparently, and there are a lot of other weird references, but mostly it feels nonsensical, weird lyrics over a repetitive riff, and whatever side it's on, it's clear he was on drugs when this was written. The four hundred and thirty-third song: Police and Thieves - Junior Murvin In response, we get some more conventional reggae, a song sung in falsetto that has a similar repetitive melody and tries to make a political point but doesn't seem to quite pull off what it's trying to do and say. I'm still not quite sure what point it's trying to make here, although that depends on me knowing Jamaican history anyway. The four hundred and thirty-fourth song: (I’m) Stranded - The Saints While we've talked about punk songs before, in this batch of ten this feels like the real punk song - hard driving guitars, an angry message and while there's an attempt at a catchy chorus it's just not that type of song or band. Compared to the previous song, there's a similar dislike and distrust of the government, but it manages to articulate it better and puts in a feeling of personal loneliness

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• The sixty-fifth classical recording: #537 Hubert Parry - I Was Glad Quite a short piece, with a history that shows as much, this is a choral arrangement that feels like a psalm, not too complex but quite pleasing. It's a nice piece, well put together, and while I could see it outstaying its welcome if it was longer, this feels like a solid six minutes.

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• The sixty-seventh book: #56 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano - Olaudah Equiano Some books make for a more impressive read than others. After I've complained about flowery language from previous English books, Equiano's autobiography is simple and readable, maybe a bit too peppered with bible verses, but ultimately writing an interesting story that has a point, that moves and angers you and keeps you along for the entire ride. Being a driving force for the abolition of slavery in the UK, this work tells the story of a former slave, how he lived before he was captured, how his life progressed as a slave and how he eventually won his freedom. It also goes into the hardships of his life after that, with several threats of becoming a slave again, and losing plenty of money as his word still counted as less than a white man. There's a lot of bias that, maybe, we still see, but that was especially pronounced in this era. It shows how dire the circumstances were, but also puts a very human face on a slave, something a lot of people of the time might not have seen. It made me think. It made me glad that we've moved on from here, and it really gave a good impression of how bad things were, even when some people tried.

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• The sixty-fourth classical recording: #648 Richard Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie Sometimes, a choice of instrument really can invoke a setting, and the bells that come into the symphony, clattering seemingly randomly, seem the best way to give the impression you're in an alpine field . Nature is present and big, it's not a quiet walk in nature but gives the impression of grander sights. There's something epic about the music, sweeping, a grandeur that works to describe the mountain range. The settings the piece move through are quite evocative - not always quite enough to identify the piece, but close enough that you can get some idea of the feeling of it - things like a thunderstorm are still quite obvious. It's an imporessive piece and one that I wish I could have some visuals for - the landscapes that inspired it felt like they must have been breathtaking.

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• The one hundred tenth TV show: #891 Game of Thrones As it was getting closer, it made sense to discuss this show as the final episode aired. As a reader of the books before I started watching - almost making a point of that - I probably watched it differently than most, down to questioning some characters more than others might have done (and so being less surprised at certain later decisions). I saw some of the shocking moments coming, and was able to speculate on them before the show only viewers did, and for me it enhanced the series. It's hard to argue that the show was uneven in places - a few characters might have turned out a bit miscast, but so many others, especially the younger, grew so much more than we expected. The later's seasons rush to get through felt unnecessary, but the series delight in taking time with its characters, exploring them and explaining what they want and what they're like was delightful. Sure, there's some good action, but in the end that's not where this show excels. The verbal jousting, especially with some of the heavyweight actors, stands out, and in part that's because they feel like such fully realized characters. The show doesn't, for me, focus just on the amazing moments - there are some there and I didn't see all of them coming - but works because it takes its time to explore what happens after, faltering when it doesn't take that time, and that's the lesson more shows should take from it.

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• The one hundred thirty-sixth album: #136 Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere One of the things I've been struggling with when doing some of these list write ups is whether "a good album" or "a good game" is enough to go with. Part of the things I expect from the list is that it isn't just the 1001 best - it's the ones you have to experience because they offer you something different. You don't add all the Beatles albums because they're the best, you offer the best of those, and focus on what other bands do well in that era. However, you do get an album like this, which is just a good rock album. It's well written, well performed, and the long jam-like numbers are a pleasure to listen to, not wearing out their welcome despite their length (something I'm more comfortable with for an album than I would be listening to individual songs). I can't tell you what makes it unique, though, or give you a moment that stands out.

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• The sixty-sixth book: #55 Caleb Williams - William Godwin Hmmm. So this novel is trying to make a point about British justice in the 18th century, how wealth and power influenced how everything went and how everyone treated you, and how the justice systems could ruin people's lives, send them into a downwards spiral as they can't get back up, and how corruption could appear easily. It's a good point, and the author is fond of making his point using flowery language that obscure the point he's trying to make - I missed several important plot points that way, because they felt buried in long speeches. It's a good effort, but ultimately I don't think the author quite gets to make the point he wants to make.

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• The one hundred ninth TV show: #750 Heroes Watching the third season of Heroes for this write up - the one where I must have stopped watching originally - it's hard to see what made the show so good. I guess some of it might have been that superheroes were mostly forgotten in popular culture originally, when this brought it back, while superhero shows are more common now. At the same time, the original was a mature, grown up drama that explored the issues that would arise from this, figuring out how it all fits in. It feels like the frequency of resets was probably a big issue - it seems like time travel is an excuse to show big scenes that don't impact the plot - but at the same time, it went from being relatively small powers that need to be hidden to an escalation where everything got bigger and more action focused. Likeable characters got annoying and the reluctance to kill off people that ought to be doesn't help. I know Sylar makes for a great character, but the constant turns in the character got exhausting. I struggle to put up with it now. The characters are gone. The spectacle and extra characters dominate too much. It's boring, and it wasn't that before. The first season is convincing and a good set piece. Just realise it won't carry on.

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• The sixty-third comic: #310 Yoko Tsuno Although I grew up with Belgian adventure stories, the likes of Spirou and Suzke en Wiske, Yoko Tsuno never crossed my path. It's a bit of a surprise, as this fits in with the magazines I used to read - to the point where I think I might have just missed out on the right issues a few times. Here, our main protagonist is Yoko Tsuno, a Japanese electrical engineer who is skilled in a remarkably large number of things. Most of the stories deal with some sci fi element - about a third covering the alien Vineans, a number of time travel stories and some elixyrs of life and the stuff. There are some more natural adventures as well, where it's merely some advanced robotics that rule the day, although the series starts to enjoy using the sci fi elements to create plots, rather than hinging as much of it. Still, the most interesting parts are the historic stories or those set in the real world, in lovely locales. The cities are well researched and the areas really look lovely. The cast is pretty strong - early on especially, the core three work well, although the ever growing group can be a bit too much sometimes and I wish we wouldn't have as many of the later characters show up constantly. Still, it's well done, and some of the contemporary stories are great mysteries that are out there. Just, maybe, when avoiding some of the Vinean stories.

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• The one hundred thirty-fifth album: #135 The Mothers of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money While I wasn't keen on the start of the Mothers of Invention's first album, the third album starts off better. It starts off weirdly - an ASMR-like section first that leads into some decent rock. We Don't Need the Peace Corps sends up hippies and their uninformed beliefs with a rant that feels semi-improvised. It goes on a lot like that - while this is psychedlic rock, it feels like it critiques a lot of those who would be into that music. It's mostly about caring about it - parodying shallow followers who mostly just say the words. It's a critique that doesn't strike hard because of the distance we have from it. Musically then it sounds weird and experimental, modern (post modern even, in the sense that it examines and critiques the music) and sometimes questionable, but there's something undeniable interesting about the music they makewhen it tries to be good, it's good, but sometimes it just doesn't want to be. Almost like the rebelling, questioning teenager they seem to try to be.

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• The one hundred eighth TV show: #81 The Judy Garland Show We've been getting a couple of episodes of this show in, a variety show that for the most part focuses on the songs by Judy Garland and her guests, punctuated by occasional conversations and short sketches. It's not the most complicated formula, and as you'd expect relies heavily on the charisma of the host. And the best parts of the show are when Judy Garland can be herself - performing a great song, doing a monologue about her time in showbusiness (the trunk sections show she's a good storyteller and they lead into songs well) or enjoying everyone around. It's probably partially faked, sure, but it feels like she's having a good time when she's on stage and it really makes her come across well. Where it gets marred is when the show feels the need to put her down. While it's not Jerry van Dyke's fault, the segments he's in tend to drag the show down - there's nothing funny about the way they keep putting her down in it, and some of it drags too long anyway. He doesn't stick around, but the Christmas special especially shows how charming Judy can be when she gets the chance to do what she seemed to love doing (and enjoy it when others are doing the same)

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• The one hundred thirty-fourth album: #134 The Beatles - White Album Where the Beatles' previous albums consisted of good songs, there's something more self aware about the White Album. There are self aware references like in Glass Onion, but even something like Dear Prudence seem more aimed at their own circumstances than before, delving deeper than they might have done before. And Revolution 9 is just... out there. Of course, that's not universal, and Ob-La-Di is closer to the original type of songs, but the lyrics and wait it's sung feels like it mocks what they did before, a feeling I get from more songs. What all of this leads to is that the songs have become more complex, more so than any of the other eras, and can feel layered in their meaning, the lyrics and music, in a way that I feel isn't that common. There are simpler songs to break the tedium, but there's something to find in there, and even if it feels quite disparate rather than a cohesive whole, the individual parts are good enough by themselves to make this be a good album. Its incoherency, in part thanks to the troubled history making this, feels like it holds the album back from being great - too much filler because everyone wanted to do their bit.

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• The one hundred thirty-third album: #133 The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo I appreciated the Byrds' psychedelic folk rock a few months ago, but at this point in their career they'd made a shift into country, pushing forward to country rock. I'm not sure it's for me - the steel sound of country hasn't been the most appealing to me and I've preferred what rock shifted into. The bluesy numbers suffer most, lacking energy and not connecting with me at the moment. When it goes a bit more towards rock it works better, but I don't feel the shift has been worth it for them.

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2019-04-01 00:00:00

• The four hundred and eighteenth song: Time of the Preacher - Willie Nelson There's something bittersweet in the sound of most country song and this, the opening statement of a country album about a preacher who kills his wife and lover, adds to that feeling by leaning into it. There's that melancholy that shines through in the feelings for it. At the same time, reading about the album, we're missing out on the context of the work, not pulling it beyond being a nice country song in the first place. The four hundred and nineteenth song: Rimmel - Francesco De Gregori In the mean time, abroad the songs that get acclaim (and, I guess, aren't just performed in English) are folk songs like this. Drawing a lot in sound from the French chansoniers, this is a folk sing, mimicking the likes of Dylan, but by the choice of language more romantic sounding, slightly more dreamlike, as a sweet love song. The four hundred and twentieth song: Born to Be With You - Dion I've always had mixed feelings about Phil Specter tracks and it feels like he's almost getting held in check here by Dion - while the music wants to go big, the vocals still dominate, grounding and binding the music to create a slightly more contemplative track. I don't really know Dion's work, but as a rock and blues artists, it feels like a counterpoint to the music and the track is then at its best when Dion is singing - a long trumpet interlude feeling unnecessary and making me wish for Dion to come back in. It's a weird combination, a departure, it feels, for both, even if it's ultimately a dead end. The four hundred and twenty-first song: Musica ribelle - Eugenio Finardi Here's something I want to hear when I get foreign songs - Italian rock that feels like it never made it out there, but created its own local sound. Here this is a folk rock song, more so than Rimmel, but with an Italian influence that creates a distinct sound, electric mandolins to sound somewhat different from guitars. There's something uplifting in the music, a call to action that transcends language but comes out here. These days it might not be out of place at Eurovision, but for this time it creates the feeling of an anthem, which is seems to have become in Italy, and I enjoy hearing that here. The four hundred and twenty-second song: Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen Speaking of anthems, Born to Run is certainly one as well. The song immediately evokes driving a motorbike down the highway, looking for freedom and getting away from everything else. It's sweeping, strong and feels fast, creating that drive, and it feels like it could be the soundtrack of many road movies. It's rousing, big and through that incredibly effective at creating a mood and feeling - even out-Spectoring Phil Spector. The four hundred and twenty-third song: Leb’ Wohl - NEU! Having an eight minute track gives you a lot more leeway to set up a song and Leb' Wohl takes its time getting anywhere, as an ambient track that starts slowly and leads into a contemplative sound not ages away from meditative tracks made to help you relax. There's always something in there that stops it from getting quite as repetitive, but it keeps everything low key and gentle. It's intriguing and a nice antidote to the hard rock and louder music elsewhere, as a good break or ending to wind down anywhere. The four hundred and twenty-fourthsong: Legalize It - Peter Tosh I guess it took over fourty years for this wish to come true - weed legalization, which this song obviously calls for - it's not surprising this is more reggae. Even as that it feels a bit hollow, there's not much in the song that I feel I see in it that goes beyond the same set of lyrics and sounds, a statemtn that for me doesn't come across as well in this form, and even if it makes a good point, the nature of the music keeps it from actually doing much for me.

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• The one hundred thirty-second album: #132 Van Morrison - Astral Weeks I always hold my breath when it comes to folk rock, as it feels like it has a higher hurdle to clear - the lyrics matter more, as the music feels like it doesn't hold up as well. Astral Weeks leaves a good taste behind in that sense, as the music sounds good, not just setting a mood but feeling well enough put together. This seems to be in part because Van Morrison trusted the musicians to come up with something good, and it feels like it adds a lot here. The lyrics aren't tight, but the loose impressions it leaves work far better in setting the scene. Even The Way That Young Lovers Do, not liked by all, tells a lot by having a swingy music set to lyrics that suggest a more gentle setting. It makes for an album that sets up the emotions well - joy at times, but often wistfulness from looking back at the past and moving forward.

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• The sixty-fifth book: #54 The Dream of the Red Chamber - Cao Xueqin I've had a love-hate relationship with this book. It obviously took me a while to finish, as I read through all 120 chapters - the last 40 are less canonical, but it sounds like they have a basis in the original story, even if they were edited or rewritten by someone else. There's a definite tonal shift that would have been to be able to end up with a "good" ending, but at the same time it's a continuation as published. Jia Bao-yu is a Chinese noble's version of a rebellious teenager - rather than study nad go to school, he hangs around home with the women, writing poetry and studying art. The novel follows him growing up, as well as what happens to his family arounds them - their interactions with the imperial court and their declining fortunes, unable to keep up the lifestyle they're accustomed to. It can drag a bit - the poetry is not something that appeals to me in the way it gets presented - and there are more amusing vignettes that appeal to me more. When the story starts taking off and stuff happens, it's at its best, but for the most part this feels like an insight into the life of Chinese nobility at the time. That's good in the final part, when there are resolutions, and at times in the first parts, when the set up happens, but I also feel I miss a bit of context for the more social events. I get mixed up and bored, but luckily there are enough scenes here that did interest me that, on the whole, I had a good reason to make my way through.

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• The one hundred thirty-first album: #131 The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle Reading up on the album, I saw that this was recorded in Abbey Road studios, which feels notable. The psychedelic rock sound is on the slower side, more reminiscent of some of the Beatles work but often with out the spark and energy the bigger band offers. Instead, we're getting rock ballads that feel dreamlike and lovely at times, with the dubbing effects working well, but at the same time I don't feel the harder messages always reach me because of it. It feels like you're in a constant haze listening to it and I don't think it pays off a lot of the time. Smething like Butcher's Tale stands out a bit in how much weirder it sounds, but all together it feels the album doesn't come together into something I enjoy.

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• The one hundred thirtieth album: #130 Scott Walker - Scott 2 Scott 2 starts off with a Jacques Brel song, Jackie, the music pushed further to sound grander rather than the more delicate sound I'd expect from Brel. That's how the album continues, these baroque numbers that draw from the chansonroots but go grander, creating a show. It ties into the indulgent nature of the lyrics, describing the decadent lifestyle with sexual undertones in several songs. The album feels jubilant, any dirty undertones overwhelmed by the lavish production, which sounds incredibly good. It takes some attention to go deeper on what the songs cover, but that's what works especially well here. There's something raw about the darkness, something that really comes through in parts of Walker's performance, and so the production feels as much of a statement about that as it's done to make the album feel epic.

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• The sixty-second comic: #952 Metro Metro was banned in Egypt, where it was written, for its political content - it is incredibly critical of Mubarak's regime, painting the regime as oppressing the poorer masses and showing the conflicts at play that led to the Arab spring - something more interesting in hindsight. It also tells the story of a bank robbery, what leads up to it and the aftermath - involving quite a bit of murder and violence. It highlights these class differences and shows the effects of them. The framing idea of using metro stops doesn't work well. I guess I'm not familiar enough with the Cairo metro for the stops to make sense, but as it is they're just there. It's a bit of a setting, but not, I think, strongly so. They might have indicated time jumps but for me those, too, were difficult to follow. The art is nice, I quite like the style, and there were some shocks, but on the whole I feel like I missed something here - I guess this is more known for the history behind it.

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2019-03-01 00:00:00

• The sixty-third classical recording: #390 Johan Strauss II - Fledermaus It’s always better - though not always feasible - to see operas and ballets live. Even when they’re in German with French subtitles, the performance adds enough to draw you in. The youthful performance from the French national opera that we saw in Paris did so. I have some knowledge of both languages - enough to keep up with the main plot through both - and enjoyed myself. Fledermaus is a lighter operetta, with a lot of humour written into the libretto and more opportunities for the performers to show off. The music isn’t as whimsical, but the at times bombastic score sets the tone quite well. The waltzes are instantly familiar and it’s amazing to see how many of them are pieces we knew. It sounded amazing, and the younger performers’ energy is what suits it perfectly.

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• The sixty-first comic: #676 Stray Bullets Stray Bullets is one of those comics that feel a bit weird reading on the train. Not as much the cartoon boobs - they're rare and easily hidden - but it gets incredibly violent. Probably more interesting is the psychological arc of Ginny, a girl who doesn't get along with her mother, runs away and gets involved with organized crime soon after she witnesses a murder and, a bit later, her father passes away. It's clear a bunch of bad things happen to her that makes her withdraw into her fantasy world, but at the same time for parts it's unclear what's fantasy and what's real. The simpler art style is effective at conveying that misdirection by treating it all equally and these passages are probably the best. Later issues becomes more grounded and, at the same time, more serious, with a grounded setting but messed up things that happen. It's a breathtaking read that we rushed through.

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• The one hundred seventh TV show: #833 Glee We gave up Glee somewhere in season three, some time after we stopped really liking it. Returning to it didn't sit well with me. The songs feel more and more forced in, the presentation a bit off and not necessarily entertaining - probably an after effect of the setting in a high school, with typical high school drama that we've seen before and beats that feel like they get repeated here. The unique glee club hook feels like it doesn't hold up for longer - in part because the setting means characters have to move on, but don't get that chance. It gets too meta with some themed episodes, its messages are so banal they barely land for it and perhaps it's a show I'm too old for - I prefer a bit more nuance these days.

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• The one hundred twenty-ninth album: #129 Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso I wasn't quite sure how to fit Os Mutantes into things here, but it feels clearer for Caetano Veloso. A lot of these songs feel like Bossa Nova, jazzy numbers with a more Brazilian sound, here sometimes drawing on psychedelic rock but it often feels calmer than that. It's nice, it works well as swinging in places, but doesn't feels as out there as some of the write up led me to believe. Eles, in particular, does feel different, but even then it layers an electric organ on top of an existing song - it feels like it's there to be odd, rather than to be an integral part. The songs all sound good, but I'm not sure the "foreign" additions really benefit the songs.

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• The one hundred sixth TV show: #871 Bob's Burgers "How have you not written up Bob's Burgers, we watch it every week?" Because I hadn't thought about it, to be honest. It's an easy thing to fix though, going through some classic episodes on a Sunday morning. The show is both quite grounded with the normal problems that (mostly) affect families - no celebrities, no trips into space or anything else like that. You instead get weirdly heightened and bizarre storylines that feel quite grounded, anchored by some excellent voice acting and weird characters. Even despite that, the show keeps its heart with a family that cares for each other and characters that continue to help each other. It always feels on and somehow keeps at the same level for a long time and I'm more wondering where else they can go with it.

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• The one hundred fifth TV show: #624 Winter Sonata For this random pick, we ended up diving into another Korean show - we're a bit ahead on that now, but that's fine. It's a show that made us think about what we'd do in these circumstances and a show that made us feel a lot of things as we went through. It's a love story told over twenty episodes that has multiple car accidents, a big amnesia storyline and a few other twists that feel a bit bigger, but there is enough foreshadowing that it builds all of this quite well it works in context. Along there are a bunch of characters that we learn to love and hate. A lot of the conflict comes down from a lack of communication - possibly also the way relationships are dealt with in Korean culture. The main thing that stands out from other dramas is the pace of plot and reveals. Just as your interest might be starting to fade a bit, the next step comes along - sometimes a big revelation, sometimes something smaller, but it feels like it keeps moving. The first two episodes are off that a bit, dragging a bit but setting up a lot that gets paid off in the next 18 episodes, while the end drags a bit because it needs to resolve a lot more (and there's one reveal that's set up so early that it feels like it could have come sooner), but overall it works quite well. Commit to get past the first bit and the rest of the series really unfolds well.

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• The one hundred twenty-eighth album: #128 Jeff Beck - Truth WIth these rock bands, you have two groups. One is a collaborative effort, like the Beatles, where some might be more prolific, but it is at least nominally equal, on stage if not when creating the songs. Then we get something like Jeff Beck, backed by the Jeff Beck group. Here there is room for the other musicians, but the focus is still on the lead, in the music and vocals. What the album gives us is a number of rock covers, with the distortion and loudness stepped up (not unlike Jimi Hendrix's sound), and reworks of classic blues songs where the same is done. The vocals sound on point for this style of hard rock and the heavy guitar soloes work well with them. Ol' Man River is a nice stand out track as well, where the heavier blues elements create a different sounds - still with the heavier sound, but not as intense as the other songs on the album. At the same time, Beck's Bolero, a solo number, is a magnificent tour de force that is purely instrumental, displaying some great guitar work. It's an album that has quite a bit of variation, but in the end feels like a powerful rock statement.

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• The sixtieth comic: #225 Steel Claw The British publication Valliant Comics has spawned a bunch of on going series. Steel Claw is a story of an anti hero who first loses his hand, then gains the power to turn invisible when the steel claw that replaced that hand gets an electric charge. At first, that turns our titular Steel Claw into a villain, but later he becomes an anti hero and then general hero trying to protect others. Because of his limited powers (which gets expanded at one point, but it looks like that's temporary) he has to rely on himself far more, and with a ticking clock on his invisibility there's something less easy about his rescues. It's all still plot convenient, of course, but it plays with the concept in a way that only Iron Man really seems to do... and he's always got more gadgets. It feels, at least in the stories we read, quite down to earth, and that's what made for something quite different to read - supernatural, but not too far towards superhero comics.

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• The sixty-second classical recording: #612 Sergey Taneyev - Piano Quintet While the previous recording had a clear story, today's quintet is more abstract, five pianists playing together accompanied by violins.There's something quite intense about it, at times as if the different instruments are fighting to be heard, while contrastring with places where the a single piano is slowly supported by one or two more. It goes between those delicate and bombastic moments, with the build up being as fascinating, it's not unearned or jarring.

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• The one hundred fourth TV show: #498 Space Ghost Coast To Coast Looking at the list, our personal picks tend to lean towards the eclectic. Space Ghost Coast To Coast is technically a talk show, but with an animated cast, the celebrity interviews are little more than window dressing to hang weird jokes on. Answers are cut up with new questions around them to feed into the weird antics from Space Ghost and his sidekicks Zorak and Moltar. It's bizarre, even more so than something like Childrens Hospital, and clearly made on a budget to reuse material. It's funny, sometimes hilarious, sometimes just weirdly out there, but the sheer variety of ways the show goes is what really sets it apart.

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• The one hundred twenty-seventh album: #127 The Band - Music From Big Pink The songs list does ess with my head a bit when it comes to what I've heard before - this is the first appearance of The Band (excluding any Bob Dylan collaborations), but it feels like I've been through their background before. This album in a way worked better for me musically than Dylan - while the lyrics gain less focus (although some are still Dylan penned and brilliant in that sense), the vocals end up a bit more pleasant and the sound of a well rehearsed band makes this sound good even without the meaning behind the songs. There are some good known songs on here, The Weight and This Wheel's On Fire especially standing out (although the latter is probably more famous in a cover version). It's a nice, gentle rock album with some good songs and lyrics to go with them and the album comes out well because of that.

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• The sixty-first classical recording: #381 Leo Delibes - Coppelia The problem with this being a classical recordings list is that visual parts like a ballet get lost and those change your interpretation of the music. In a ballet like this, the music shifts more than when there are leitmotifs and with no vocals to go on either, the imagination can go anywhere.At least knowing the story, it's possible to match the different parts of the performance to the story, which makes it easier to get some context for them. The music hits a lot of the "standard" ballet beats, including some dances specifically to show off performer skills. They're good, but obviously we get an incoherent section here, which when just listening to the recording feels less necessary. Still, the music of the entire suite is good, even if I miss a bit of a throughline that I feel I get in others.

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2019-02-01 00:00:00

• The one hundred third TV show: #816 Modern Family We originally gave up Modern Family about six seasons in. We started off loving it, but that wear off. I'm not quite sure when it changed, but it started to grow stale. While a gay couple felt progressive when it started, how chaste it stayed, and how much it fell into stereotypes, made it feel stuck in time. There's not always a lot of growth - there's progress in the characters' place in life, but not really in personalities. It makes the entire show feel quite samey and really reliant on the episode and the characters who get focus. Nolan Gould, for example, really grew into his role and is often the best part and most of the kids work better as the series develops. It's clear they can carry more material, but it takes too long for that to come out. Another show, The Middle, debuted at the same time, airing an hour earlier, and while its start wasn't as strong, it developed into a stronger show. There's a smaller cast, but with a stronger throughline, and they shifted focus throughout. They got stuck too, but there's something more human and more believable to that show than Modern Family is. The humanity can be missing sometimes and there's almost a manufactured cynicism to the formula that means the show doesn't always land well.

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• The one hundred twenty-sixth album: #126 The Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake If I have to summarize the first half of this album, it's that it's variations of rock. Some songs go harder, some softer, but it's moving within these defined parameters. Long Agos and Worlds Apart and Rene stand out here. From a soulful ballady song it becomes a drinking song set to rock. The decent rock songs, like Song of a Baker, work best for me, but on the whole it's good to listen to (although the stereo effects got quite distracting and made me wonder whether my headphones were failing). The second half is more of a concept album, a fairy tale told through rock. Narrated by Stanley Unwin, we get a concept album with a story that would work better as a bedtime story than those that came before. It's quite a nice story and while the songs don't have the variety of the first half, it's well put together.

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• The four hundred and tenth song: That’s the Way ( I Like It) - KC & The Sunshine Band As we're getting into disco, there are songs that feel important because of their chorus, the catchy section you dance to while the verses are less interesting. Here, the chorus really brings that and that's what feels memorable while I have no idea what they were singing about. To be honest, the title makes that clear, and the rhythm of the song makes that clear enough - a song that's clever enough to focus on its hook. The four hundred and eleventh song: Kalimankou denkou - Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares While some folk music sort of ended up in the classical list, we come across it here occasionally. It feels rare at this point in the list, but here we have Bulgarian folk music by performers who ended up working with Kate Bush and whose ethereal voices sound like motets, but I guess with village music interests, the angelic sounds changing enough to not be just that. The topic of the song is presumably secular as well, but it works here either way. The four hundred and twelfth song: Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear While I think we've covered reggae before, it was a bit bland before. Here, while the energy has gone up much, there's something about the arrangement that works better and adds some pep to it. There's the funk influence, but it still feels like it needs something to help speed it up. The four hundred and thirteenth song: Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Why do so many people love this song, and why do I enjoy it this much? It's partially its weirdness, the changes in the style and the song that makes it feel like it's thrown together. There's an odd narrative, something almost psychedelic about its journey. But I think it's partially because it's so great to sing along to, almost like an anthem, a song to have fun with. It doesn't work for everyone, but I guess it's what you grew up with. The four hundred and fourteenth song: Gloria - Patti Smith From what I understand, at this point of time punk is getting started and Patti Smith's opening line sets up that feeling. Musically it might be fairly tame, but it feels like it describes the feeling of being outside the norm and mocking the choruses she uses, rejected the established rock world. I appreciate that sarcasm and that alone connects, making for a good challenge. It's fun as it ramps up, all with that no-care attitude. The four hundred and fifteenth song: Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan Having listened to Simon & Garfunkel recently, we got into a conversation about how I prefer them over Bob Dylan. Not just because of their vocal skills, but how they write music that appeals to me more and sounds better produced. Tangled Up In Blue doesn't feel like it does much different musically, with lyrics that do feel quite personal, describing a relationship that he links up to his life, getting to her. I'm not sure how much it manages to affect me, but I can see its journey and how happy it made him. The four hundred and sixteenth song: Walk This Way - Aerosmith It's hard to divorce this song from Run DMC's version, which mixes their rap with this song. Here, we just get the fast rock bits, which do show how it connects with the rap, but it stands well on its own. There's a lot of energy in this, the short guitar solos working well to punctuate the fast and high energy lyrics. It's fairly simple to listen to, but the performance is what makes it so impressive to listen to. It can't help but give you that energy. The four hundred and seventeenth song: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd The long intro to this song sets up the segue to its sad lyrics well, the feeling of missing someone portrayed well through every part of the song. Possibly written refering to Syd Barrett (although this is disputed, it's an interpretation that works on some level) it brings to mind that feeling of loss and missing someone, a seperation that's difficult to overcome. It helps that the vocals are raw, not entirely smooth, creating more of this feeling of being alone.

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• The one hundred twenty-fifth album: #125 Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends While I would mostly associate Simon & Garfunkel with folk rock, the second track, following the short theme of the album, goes heavily into the psychedelic, creating a soundscape much richer than I would have expected. It goes back to folk rock after that, but there's a warmth in there that feels really effective, a study of human emotions that hits really well, the writing being perfect - nuanced and complex but not over the top in that sense. With the first half being a concept album, a journey to someone's life, there are some odd tracks but the themes and differences work well to create that sensation and it's a delight to listen to. The second half are unconnected songs, which fear back more towards the conventional. They're well written, easy to listen to, and this stays a great album.

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• The sixtieth classical recording: #981 John Adams - Nixon in China It's weird to have an opera about a contemporary subject - it makes sense that they're being written and such, but as they are associated with being older, it's an odd thought to have one dedicated to Nixon's 1972 visit to China. This means we get the likes of saxophones in there, which sound a bit more modern. At the same time, it can feel quite samey, with not always as much variation as I'd hope and songs blending together. I feel like it's the subject that's more interesting than anything else, but I didn't really feel it hit me as much as other operas have.

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• The one hundred twenty fourth album: #124 The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow We have reached the era of rock operas, albums designed to tell a story, and S.F. Sorrow is set around the life of the titural Sebastian F. Sorrow. The music itself portrays a lot of this, often quite bluntly - Private Sorrow doesn't need the lyrics to explain what happens, for example, although the touches help. It's a very showy rock song, psychedelic rock creeping towards glam, in a way that works quite effectively. The second half is more of a psychedelic trip and the music goes that way. The guitars screech more, the sounds change and the whole mood changes. The lyrics reflect the weird journey and it builds to a aggressive and sad ending that works well here.

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• The one hundred second TV show: #777 The Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory is one of the shows we'd given up before the list that I'm now revisiting. There's something good about the premise - geeks that have to deal with real life, with a lot of love for them. A lot of it is quite nice and it does its best to move past the stereotypes after a while. There's a lot of heart to how they treat the characters, with touching moments... but then it needs a cheap joke and moves away from it. It's the disonance that can get frustrating, as well as the slow movement of character development - there's a bit, but with a lot of backsliding. It gets frustrating and probably should have ended a few years before it actually did. It's a shame, but it's been a good journey while I was on board.

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• The four hundred and fourth song: Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper Rather than a shocking rock song that you'd expect from Alice Cooper, this is a slower ballad, still with slightly more visceral imagery, but mostly just about an abusive relationship. While somewhat grand, it's quite sensitive as well, and that's what sounds impressive here. It does tug at your heartstrings and pulls it off well. The four hundred and fifth song: Jive Talkin’ - Bee Gees As we're seeing more of the rise of disco out of funk, the Bee Gees bring out Jive Talkin', a song drawing on black influences coming from a band out of north England. It's hard to argue that there wasn't something here about it becoming adapted to become appropriate, but the smooth sound and relatively subdued vocals give a calmer thing to listen to while having been ideal to dance to, which makes it good to listen to on its own merits. The four hundred and sixth song: Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars At a length of twenty-six minutes, we've been dreading this one. It certainly takes its time building up, taking about four minutes for the first instrument to start playing. The fragment of song comes to life with that music, a classical composition that adds emotion to the entire thing. I think you need to approach it as that, the man's song another instrument in the composition, that this makes sense. The downside of the length is that it doesn't change it up quite enough and starts getting repetitive. There's some enchantment to the repetition, but it feels like it sometimes takes a bit too much time to shift. Even so, the piece is affecting and gets to you, especially knowing there's an anonymous homeless man who sang this and the place he must have been in. Still, it was good, just not twenty five minutes good. The four hundred and seventh song: Boulder to Birmingham - Emmylou Harris We're staying with sad songs, although not affecting in the same way, Boulder to Birmingham is about saying goodbye to someone who has passed. The story behind it is just as sad and the emotions here feel real too, it has a real feeling of loss. The emotion goes through it and the more you listen to the ballad, the more it gets to you. The four hundred and eighth song: Fight the Power (Parts 1 & 2) - The Isley Brothers For a shift in emotion, Fight the Power is not a sad song, but contains a lot of anger instead. There is still a lot of anger in the air and this funk song is a lot angrier than the genre usually is, a big protest song where it feels the music has shifted, giving a different tone. It's catchy in its own way, thrilling and tempting with a clear and ambigious meaning - anti-authoritarian without addressing a specific authority.

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• The one hundred twenty-third album: #123 Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Iron Butterfly was a clear example of the rock bands as they were in the late 60s, incorporating an organ for that psychedelic feel with the heavier guitars that lean towards what became hard rock and metal. The vocals are appropriately gruff, the guitar riffs often fairly simple, with the organ adding the flourishes. The lyrics mostly feel fairly tame - still love songs and normal life songs, nothing rebelious or out there, which feels simple. The first half isn't overproduced either - these feel like songs that can be played easily at a concert, something not all rock of the time can claim. The second half is a single seventeen minute song - or jam, really - with some lyrics but mostly showing off the instruments and creating a whole song. It feels like an early anthem, an ongoing hard rock sound that keeps going while still staying interesting. It's a sign of hard rock and metal, something this may have influenced, but certainly where rock is going towards.

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• The one hundred first TV show: #362 Das Boot Das Boot is a war film... up to a point. While set on a submarine in the second world war, aside from some short sequences at the start and end, and one refuelling stop, the crew is isolated. They may hear bits of news over the radio, but they only have themselves to rely on. Even a passing sub in the distance is something you can only wave at and send light signals to, you can never really get close. It creates camaraderie and tension and while the movie plays with that, too, the bigger threat is the danger of the environment. Dive too deep and the sub can't take it - you need to patch it up and fix things. You're mostly defenseless against a bunch of threats. You're a lonely island to defend the mainland, but can't go anywhere. It creates a psychological drama that's intense already. Then there are the attacks. The ships and planes that do are faceless - frightening big things you'd like to take down but that harm you just as much. The sub recovering from those and the crew pulling together to do so lead to some of the most harrowing, challenging scenes while also feeling genuinely tense. The tension comes from the filming environment as well. Everything is small and constrained and even the camera has to carefully weave around everything, as the set was built to scale. It's expertly done, but you feel that oppression at all times. The atmosphere comes across in every scene and these six episodes felt like they flew by because of it.

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• The fifty-ninth comic: #918 Fun Home Now, we watched the play of this, which makes it weirder that we didn't check it - we saw the play, went to read the book, and were amazed by it. This is an odd coming of life story, both about Alison's Bechdel discovery that she was lesbian and her father's closeted appearance as a gay or bisexual man. There are so many added complications to this, not worth mentioning here, that mean the story is about more than just that, about the psychological struggles of her father and how she never got through to him even after her coming out - the play ends with an incredibly emotional scene where she asks him for answers and never gets them. It's not as big in the comic, but there are many more small stories, anecdotes about life that set the scene. The art isn't too complicated, distinctive and enough to set the scene. But it's the story that resonates most, not just the coming out story, but that about not understanding a closed off father, where you never learn everything, and some things only come out afterwards. It really hit me - possibly from the musical, possibly from the comic, but in either way from a well told story.

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• The One Hundred Twenty-Second Album: #122 Dr. John, The Night Tripper - Gris Gris When I first saw this described as blues rock from New Orleans, it threw me a bit, but listening here it makes complete sense.There's something jazzy in this, but the slow vocals almost immediately talking about voodoo complement the semi-French song titles that you associate with the bajou. It's quite compelling, not in the last part from Dr. John's performance itself, which has a lot of charisma, sounding unpredictable while not being threatening. It's off, a bit crazy, but it's all good. The fifty-eighth comic: #603 King Having gone through a few autobiographies on the list, having a proper biography in comic form is quite nice. Going in to take a look at the life of Martin Luther King, this is quite striking. For a large part, the art work is a bit abstract, with stylized lines rather than a more realistic look, you lose some of the emotion, which is more conveyed through words. Instead, though, this focuses more on the events, at times letting the speeches of MLK speak for those emotions more than anything else. It also doesn't shy away from the truth - MLK as a flawed being, who made soem big changes but whose personal life wasn't always as together - something that sometimes impacted his message too. I liked the use of colour as well. It slowly sneaks in through the volumes, something that I suspect is clearer in the three individual volumes than the collection I read, and starts to make an impact especially as things come to a head. It's an impressive work, sympathetic but feeling real as well. The fifty-eighth classical recording: #73 George Frideric Handel - Water Music Yeah, it's been a busy few days - this and the next piece were both live as they were performed for a radio broadcast we attended in the Royal Festival Hall. Water Music is the more abstract of the two pieces, made for an outside performance (originally on boats floating down the Thames) and it feels it. It's big and majestic, the brass instruments having a lot of space that ends up feeling like a call and response sequence. It's big, it's fast with a lot of power behind it and seeing the performers get into it really enhanced all of that. The fifty-ninth classical recording: #54 Henry Purcell - Dido and Aeneas The second piece of the evening is the first (known) English language opera. We were probably helped by knowing the myth, as in an hour this keeps up the speed, avoiding the lengthy monologues we get in some other operas. As always, it helped that we saw it live, with the passion of the singers showing through. One thing that impressed me was the use of the choir - sometimes as an instrument, at other times to tell the story and sometimes to create really creepy laughs. Beyond that, the score makes heavy use of lutes, especially when singing as the quieter sound work well as a backup, rather than overpowering the performers. It was one of the best pieces we've seen live for this list and it really makes me excited to see more operas.

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• The fifty-seventh comic: #151 MAD Sometimes, the format of this list limits what we read. In this case, it's MAD magazine that's known and beloved. For the list, however, we're looking at the 23 issues of the preceeding comic book. While, I suppose, still iconic as the source, it resembles titles like Shock and Suspenstories a lot closer. It has two or three stories that, this time, are humorous rather than horror like, often parodying existing stories or tropes, but still in a more rigid form. Sometimes it hits, and the more experimental parts towards the end of the run do so a lot more often - I'd say it starts working for me around issue 15 - but too often it's too dense and the jokes don't land because of that. I've started reading the magazine too, and it's slightly better, but for the most part, this specific entry is too much part of that time to enjoy here.

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• The one hundredth TV show: #949 Brooklyn Nine-Nine Starting this list coincided with us giving up this show - not because of the list, but because we were generally overwhelmed by shows to watch. I'm not sure why we gave this up, but I guess that's how our time went. The cast of the show is great, with Andy Samberg as a charismatic, goofy but capable enough lead. The show is more of an ensemble show, though, with a number of characters who are larger than life, mostly goofy, with enough character to create stories on their own. There are a bunch of great performances here that mean the show stays just as weird. All the small touches, tiny gags that lead nowhere, but create life in the show, keep the show interesting and I keep wondering why we gave it up - the Nine Nine is back on our list.

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• The ninety-ninth TV show: #894 Revenge While we watched the first season of Revenge, we never went back to it afterwards - possibly not a bad decision, now I've continued watching the second season for the blog. The first story was a fascinating story of revenge, sometimes twisting itself to make sure there's a victim of the week, but overall building up to some great moments and making for a compelling watch. The second season moves into more standard intrigue, a bunch of it feeling almost standard soap opera fare, and the story feels like it loses its impact. I've not really seen how it goes from much further after that, but it's the first season that really stood out for me - a great story of revenge that fits in a lot of character development around keeping the per episode plot moving forward, creating some decent themes that push it beyond standard drama fare.

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• The one hundred twenty-first album: #121 The United States of America - The United States of America At a time where a lot of rock bands were experimenting, it feels like The United States of America is even further out there. Just listening to the first track, it's hard to imagine them being able to repeat the feat of how unique the electronic sound is. It's repeated and imitated, but often to try to make it more of a song, while this feels like it's just trying things from start to finish. There's bits of everything in there, which makes for a weird experience. It's not always coherent, and while those clashes may sometimes be intentional, I don't think it works as a single product either. Basically, what we get is a bunch of experiments, going poppy, rocky and psychedelic in different places, and there are some places where it works, some that don't, and on the whole it's a bit unsatisfying compared to something that focused on a thing. I guess more than that, it works as inspiration to other artists - and I know we'll see that later with, for example, the Beatles.

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• The ninety-eighth TV show: #120 Ultraman Tokusatsu - basically shows around superheroes often fighting men in rubber suits - is a long running genre that's probably most known for sentai, which spawned Power Rangers. Ultraman could be argued to be the first - although its predecessor series has the monsters and Godzilla has been around for ages, this show is the first with a superhero character that fights them, while they're giant, including a transformation sequence. A lot of the show relies on models work, not too different from Thunderbirds but with a human walking through them. It's fairly impressive to see and quite convincing for the most part. Unfortunately, in most episodes the most exciting parts - the big monster fights - are restricted to the last few minutes, probably because of cost. It means that the plot needs to carry a lot of weight, and that doesn't always work out well. Of the science team that's the focus of the series, only some characters are interesting (Ide probably most of all) and the side characters are a mixed bag. Parts of the show explore some interesting ideas, but they're too often mixed in with generic plots that they get quite boring. The drive to include this show here is that it represents a major Japanese genret hat hasn't made it out elsewhere, but it feels like the story telling isn't quite there yet to pull it off.

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• The one hundred twentieth album: Big Brother & The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills One of the other things I got out of this album is how it's a studio album made to sound like a live one - knowing that, the cheers from the crowd seem weirdly out of place. The album wouldn't sound out of place - despite being psychedelic rock, it doesn't sound like it uses anything they wouldn't be able to do live. It's a more solid rock album, though drawing on the call and response that is more familiar from soul, probably because of the blues roots, but it also fits in well with the multiple vocalists in the ban. Led by Janis Joplin, there's something sharp about the vocals, contrasting with the deeper male vocals from some of the other members of the band. Piece of My Heart and Summertime both show off the vocals well, classics rearranged to work incredibly well as rock songs, aggressive but emotional.The former is a particular high point, both full of energy and anguish. The blues influence shines through in all of this and is quite effective to create this emotion and outshines the likes of the Rolling Stones, in large part because of the vocals, but also because everything else is straight and polished enough to work.

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• The sixty-fourth book: #53 Justine - Marquis de Sade The 120 Days of Sodom was salacious, sadistic and depraved. The characters were reprehensible, but I at least felt some morbid curiosity in how far it would go. Justine, another libertine work, doesn't always go as far, and tries to condense the horrors. It tries to be a biography as seemed fashionable at the time, but doesn't succeed in making it compelling. It ends up flat and repetitive, without really thrilling this time. It feels pointless, unnecessary and mostly just boring - these are terrible people, we don't want to know more about them, but there's nothing else that really makes it worth reading. I suspect this was exciting considering the time and contents, but if you're not into the erotica, this isn't a great novel to read.

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• The fifty-sixth classical recording: #18 Tomas Luis de Victoria - O Magnum Mysterium Two short pieces today, both choral. O Magnum Mysterium again has this mystical quality, long notes heading into something that, for the time, is faster. As always, meaning gets lost a bit, but that relative variety sets this apart and makes it more interesting. The fifty-seventh classical recording: #19 Francisco Guerrero - Battle Mass Unlike other masses and religious songs in the list so far, this mass is chaotic. While there's a structure to the different voices, they don't all line up, creating a more chaotic, almost more aggressive sound - lining up with the purpose of the mass. It's an unexpected sound, pleasing and more interesting to listen to as it feels there's always a bit more going on. It flattens out later on, but it's an interesting sound nonetheless.

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• The sixty-third book: #52 Vathek - William Beckford By now a long time ago, I started this list with Arabian Nights. It was an interesting, if at times formulaic read and it's not surprising it would have inspired other authors. Vathek isn't directly trying to mimic their style (although some have tried to link it that way), but it has clearly been inspired by it. What we get are a number of stories about the titular Vathek, a caliph who abandons islam and goes on a series of adventures. There are some interesting twists in there and it's a quick enough read with entertaining situations - something quite different from other books of the era, with a unique tone. That made it quite nice to read through, in a way that gives you an insight of what an 18th century Brit found and valued in this tale.

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