The five hundred and twenty-fifth album: #525 Echo & The Bunnymen - Porcupine
In the post punk era, Echo & The Bunnymen's third album's psychedelic rock leans towards the gothic rock error at times, the at times bizarre sounds enhanced by a quite dark and mysterious sound. It doesn't go through the entire album, but it leans heavily on it at the end of the first side leading into the first. It's not quite as unsettling as it sounds, for the most part, but it differs per track how comfortable it gets. The sound design is great, though, and it works so well for the tracks.
The one hundred and ninety-second classical recording: #899 Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau Sans Maitre
The somewhat disconcordant nature of this piece never quite stops being unsettling - the more conventional parts lure you into this feeling of safety until it strikes with a stranger set of music again. The normal, albeit sparse parts are lovely to listen to, with the ethereal vocals adding to that feeling of disquiet that you have throughout, but there are moments that really jolt you awake. It's not unpleasant, but it makes me wonder how this plays in a big venue - there's something about the perceived intimacy of the solo listening experience that really elevates it for me here.
The five hundred and twenty-fourth album: #524 Paul Simon - Hearts and Bones
Having listened to a fair bit of Paul Simon by now, there aren't any real surprises on Hearts and Bones. It's a poppy folk rock album that has the good lyrics you expect from him. It's often sad and a bit longing rather than upbeat but I can't deny it's really lovely to listen to anyway.
The five hundred and twenty-third album: #523 Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
There's something infectious about all of the tracks on Lauper's albums. Whether it's the challenging optimism of Girls Just Want TO Have Fun or the calmer mood of All Through the Night, Lauper's style is really effective to communicate the feelings of each song and, with a lot of them being as upbeat as they are, the album is incredibly fun to listen to.
The one hundred and ninety-first classical recording: #57 Juan de Araujo - Dixit Dominus
This is a short choral piece, a psalm set to music with some amazing harmonies. It's been a great example of it, better than the early ones that put me off the genre early one, but here it really worked.
The one hundred and ninety-eighth TV show: #987 How to Get Away With Murder
With this show being added to the list after only a season aired, How to Get Away With Murder doesn't put those later seasons on the list. That doesn't mean it doesn't hold up - Viola Davis is amazing - but the nature of a drama means that the show starts to lose a bit. While in other crime shows you would get the cases rotating through enough that the drama can flow from it, here there's a lack of detachment that can make it feel a bit much. It means that there are places where actors don't know what they're meant to be playing, because it seems like the mystery isn't resolved yet. It feels the need to heighten the drama in a way that I think gets a bit much sometimes. It's all well performed and well done, but starting the second season, it feels like it might be a bit closer to throwing at the wall and see what might stick, to the point where it feels directionless. It's where it starts to push into more illegal behaviour from everyone that it starts to lose me, when I feel it starts off being about skirting that line that made it interesting. It might have been interesting live, but as a later watch I don't think it gave me much to go on.
The five hundred and twenty-second album: #522 Hanoi Rocks - Back to Mystery City
Back to Mystery City is quite fluffy a lot of the time, light and engaging without any real surprises, just a rock album of the later, less deep vibe. It's really just a lot of fun to listen to most of the time, although it doesn't really stick.
The five hundred and twenty-first album: #521 Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops
In trying to place this, the closest way I could describe it is as an electronic blues or soul album. It's sad and lingers on it, taking the synthesizer sound that has been used so far mostly to create upbeat, fast moving tracks, and turns it into something slow and maudlin, a rainy grey soundscape with the lyrics and vocals to match. It's not an uplifting album, but there's a lot of beauty in the careful composition of the whole album that its atmosphere has a real chance to permeate.
The one hundred and ninetieth classical recording: #477 Pietro Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana
There's obviously a lot of grandeur in this opera, its full impact resonating through the piece with the build ups as you'd expect. It has lacked the hook - it doesn't have anything specific that really grabs me and draws me in, instead it feels like it mostly gives me similar vibes to other operas.
The five hundred and twentieth album: #520 Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
The blues tracks that run through this album are the ones that suit Waits' voice perfectly, raw and rough as it tells songs that sound sad and rough. It's one that gets layered in with a far more experimental sound, sounding pretty good while it does to be honest. It's that weird sort of balance that sounds just right to listen to here that makes for a beautiful album - especially with how gently it ends.