The six hundred and sixty-eighth album: #668 Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker
There's not much that's special to point out about this album - it's just a good, standard rock album, nothing too hard but just nicely accessible and energetic. It's emotional enough to work while still having that country and blues-influenced rock feeling and mostly it just feels like it gets the balance between everything right.
The one hundred and thirtieth book: #97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
As one of the quintessential adventure books, The Three Musketeers plays its stories of the heroic past fairly straight: The titular three musketeers make their way through life with flaws and issues, but jump into action when required and do well resolving those issues. It has a decent set of betrayals and love stories, as you would expect from the same, and it feels like this would have set the template going forward. It drags on a bit too long to really stay interesting, especially with the different intrigues and names mixing, but there are places where it's really on fire and stays compelling to follow through on.
The six hundred and sixty-seventh album: #667 The La's - The La's
This album brings a number of influences together before they can go on to define pop for a decade to come. It takes from the Beatles song writing and sounds, has definite punk vibes in its guitars and plays with art pop and blues at times. I can see how this could have been unique at the time, but it's interesting to see how much this is a part of what's the come, rather than what has been so far.
The six hundred and sixty-sixth album: #666 Deee-Lite - World Clique
While we've been moving towards heavy electronic music for a lot of dance music, Deee-Lite starts from their funk inspiration to stay dance-focused, a happy and positive sound that makes you feel light - whether you're listening to it in the office or are out to celebrate. Groove Is In The Heart is the biggest hit and most notable song, and while the other songs don't always feel as rich, there's always that happy undertone to the music.
The two hundred and forty-third classical recording: #443 Cesar Franck - Symphonic Variations
There's a good amount of small variations in this piece that work to give a nicely rousing performance, an interesting and short piece that really managed to lift my spirits.
The two hundred and fortieth TV show: #509 Star Trek: Voyager
I watched a lot of Star Trek Voyager around the time it was first on. Rewatching the earlier episodes, it's been hitting what I felt it was - a watchable iteration of Star Trek that doesn't get to the heights of Deep Space Nine and feels a bit too standalone to take advantage of its setting, but it does enough to make you think and give you some different things to look at. At this point, I wish it could push itself further forward, not reaching the heights it could, but it's still worth watching.
The two hundred and thirty-ninth TV show: #445 Drop the Dead Donkey
There's something that works in this show even twenty-five years after its broadcast. While some of the mechanics of news have changed, this workplace comedy about a news station recently bought by an investor who is partially affecting the contents of the channel while being nominally independent. Aside from well working satire, the way the show includes recent news events (at the time - helped with an intro explaining them for modern broadcasts) elevates the feeling of timeliness of the show. It's incredibly engaging still, certainly more than I expected for its time.
The six hundred and sixty-fifth album: #665 The Shamen - En-Tact
Turning the corner from psychedelia to electronic music, En-Tact gives us the music I would associate with the earlier rave scene, even if it's not as repetitive as that - there's a lot of musicality and variation that I guess wouldn't quite fit that trance. There's a lot of interesting elements here that I enjoy, as an experiment that clearly succeeded.
The six hundred and sixty-fourth album: #664 Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas
The dreamy electronic pop of the Cocteau Twins hits quite gently, a soothing sound that creates a simple flow through the album. There are some really uplifting songs and the flow is quite nice, with the meaning not mattering as much as the feeling the album gives you.
The six hundred and sixty-third album: #663 NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Our last album of the eighties hits hard. The gangsta rap album hits with Fuck the Police as its second track, an openly hostile challenge that continues to resonate stronger in modern days in the US. The raps are written as a more real sound, focusing on the reality experienced instead of having a party atmosphere.
The two hundred and forty-second classical recording: #905 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Concerto no. 2
This is an intense piece that's full of life and energy, racing you through the motions at a speed that's really engaging and interesting. There's enough going on to keep you focused at all times and I really loved getting immersed in it.