The one hundred and seventy-second classical recording: #25 GIovanni Gabrieli - Sacrae Symphoniae

First - I'll admit I didn't listen to all of these - aside from length, this many choral pieces can get exhausting to listen to. The music itself - several motets and such - are lovely choral music, quite well composed following the style of the time even if they aren't the most exciting. It just ends up with a lot that's feeling the same if you're not keeping up with the individual meaning of its song, which is where it ends up dragging - there are the occasional changes but it can get hard to feel where those moments will come.


The one hundred and fourty-sixth book: #85 Eugenie Grandet - Honore de Balzac

Eugenie Grandet is a novel about miserable people. It's not a miserable read, but it's hard to like many of the characters by the end of it. For example, Eugenie's father is a miser, greedy while denying himself and his family everything. His turning point appears to be when his wife is about to die and he might lose her half of the estate, but it never rings true. Her mother is an incredibly religious, subservient woman, indulging all these faults and letting herself go as a martyr - something that fits some of the perceptions of the time, but reads as extreme even in their reading. Her cousin, who she falls in love with, goes from carefree to miserable after his father's death, effectively steals Eugenie's savings (she's listed as a creditor but never gets it back) and becomes as greedy as his uncle. And Eugenie goes from the naive romantic female protagonist to being as miserable as her father. It's something that grows throughout the latter half of the novel, even if most of it is explained in a one chapter time jump. It's frustrating to read and the transformation only at times earned as it is more stated than being seen through her actions, but it feels like a good enough theme. It's a story about cycles and how misery persists, frustrating to read both as the initial innocence and later turnaround, and while the lack of introspection is telling, any sort of it would be slightly more helpful even if it seems inevitable.


The four hundred and seventy-eighth album: #478 Einsturzende Neubaten - Kollaps

I'm not sure whether German industrial punk is the best way to get me started after a rough night of sleep, but here I am - hearing someone bang on various metal objects while a very distorted guitar plays with occasional German exclamations dubbed over it. It's aggressive and harsh, at times off putting with the aggressive sounds. It's a lot - fine in small doses, but this pushed it too far for me to keep my attention throughout.


The four hundred and seventy-seventh album: #477 The Pretenders - Pretenders

Behind the Pretenders' perky new wave musical style lies a punk edge, a rougher and harsher set of lyrics that carries far more of a message than I'd associate with the style. Even as it gets closer to a ballad, to reggae or just generally poppy sounds, there's a craft put into it that feels like it doesn't usually show up like that.


The one hundred and seventy-first classical recording: #603 Alexander Scriabin - Prometheus

There is a lot of unfocused energy in Prometheus. The work is bold and aggressive, but never focused on one thing until the end, when it all coalesces on a single melody and sound. It's a weird, uncertain experience that's been putting me on edge, but it also manages to pull off that discordant feel quite well without it becoming too chaotic to handle.


The one hundred and ninety-first TV show: #297 Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister

Considering the turmoil the UK ws in, Yes Minister also shows how comedy was almost gentler. These days we look at The Thick of It and Veep as a surprisingly accurate look at the political system. Yes Minister did the same - apparently there were comments about how accurate it was, while it pierced the illusion about the control of politicians and the civil service. Minister (later prime minister) Hacker is in charge of the vague Department of Administrative Affairs - covering everything and nothing - and his plans to make an impact are often foiled by permanent secretary (and later cabinet secretary) Humphrey Appleby. A lot of the comedy comes from both of them going after their own goals, often with private secretary Bernard in between. It hits closely these days, with a lot of it feeling familiar in current politics, but once it gets out of the gate it's engaging in seeing where the machnications go and how it all falls out. It's often at the strongest when the main characters end up having to band together against the rest of the system, but the show balances that between the conflict between them quite well. It's been a long wait to watch it, but it's been worth it.


The one hundred and ninetieth TV show: #385 It's Garry Shandling's Show

Garry Shandling's first comedy series is a bizarre beast. It frequently acknowledges being a TV show, the audience gets involved and it all becomes incredibly meta. These days, we've seen several examples of it, but in the 80s it was still fairly unique and it shows. The standard sitcom plots don't work that well, but when it leans into it, the show is pretty fun to watch. It just doesn't have the polish or focus yet that you get in later examples of the genre. It's probably not worth watching for the full run anymore, but there are some highlights that are a lot of fun.


The four hundred and seventy-sixth album: #476 Steve Winwood - Arc of a Diver

From the start, this album felt a bit toothless - innocent soft rock that doesn't have much to elevate it further. It's pleasant to listen to but at no point did I find myself loving anything on the album.


The four hundred and seventy-fifth album: #475 The Specials - More Specials

There are a lot of different things going on in this album, with strong ska tracks alternating with poppy rock tracks and the whole thing becoming a mishmash of directions that reflects the friction in the band. There are a lot of strong, engaging fun tracks to listen to, even as someone who isn't a fan of the ska sound, but it really comes down to the individual tracks - the northern soul tracks like Sock It To 'Em J.B. in particular stand out. It's the second side that starts to peter out, as its focus on easy listening pop tracks leads to a point where there's less value in the songs - it loses its hooks and with that, my interest in them.


The one hundred and seventieth classical recording: #983 Louis Andressen - De Materie

The fact that this is an opera from the 1980s probably indicates we've got a different type of work here. Invoking De Stijl directly proves it. And when the first part has a solo formed of metal boxes being hit, it all comes together around a post modern piece that rarely comes up. The use of Dutch poems and texts, not creating a narrative, combined with some specific staging, adds to the stragenness of the piece. It's all bizarre and disconcerting, without becoming entirely off putting.