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The fourty-third album: #43 Jacques Brel - Olympia 64

Another live album, this time from Jacques Brel, whose type of music hasn't really featured on this list yet. I've come across some of these on the songs list anyway, and as an album it doesn't lose its impact. The impressive boldness and size wear down after the first song, but considering all that really grabs you here is Jacques Brel's voice - the piano and harmonica are present, but only in a subdued way - it really is quite impressive what he accomplishes. I realise we heard it more often in the past, but with the album list, and its current focus on rock and jazz, as well as big band music before, it realy stands out now.

The live part of the show doesn't really factor into it - the audience isn't heard much - but the echoes and different sound quality that comes in because of it does, sounding a lot better than a sterile studio environment would. It feels like it needs to sound a bit sloppy, with this background echo and less perfect sound, and that enhances the songs on its own.

The eighteenth classical recording: #398 Anton Bruckner - Symphony no. 5

Happy birthday to me! Rather than going out to see a play or watch a movie, this list inspired me to suggest we go see a classical piece being performed. The Philharmonic Orchestra was playing this today, which made it a great opportunity to do this.

Part of what made this special was absolutely seeing it live, which worked amazing and made for a very special birthday treat. Seeing it being performed adds a lot, from the anticipation as the brass section gets ready to seeing the violinists sway with the music. It's not a feasible way to listen to everything, but it really helped set this piece apart.

Classical music tends to give you more time to reflect, and that did grab me further. Modern songs often have lyrics that are meant to explain what the song is about. There might not always be a story, but it will try to tell you things. Classical pieces have no such thing. While pieces like the Planets give clear indications, there's no story being told in a symphony. It makes it easier to just get pulled in (goosebumps included) and continue.

This symphony did this well. There are the elements that I remember reading or hearing about that apply - recurring motifs and key changes - but the effect it has was more interesting. The wind instruments answering each other in sections of the song were evocative, becoming characters themselves. It was bold in places, with some good use of silence, but mostly working well to create its climaxes. Really something to carry you away.

The twenty-eighth comic: #331 Lady Snowblood

Lady Snowblood was unexpected in several ways. The weird uncomfortable unexpected part for train reading is the nudity that's in every chapter. This, I believe, is because it was first published in a Japanese edition of Playboy. It's not too graphic, but there are several sex scenes in there, often feeling a bit gratuitous.

I knew about the revenge storyline going in, but the focus on that was in a limited number of chapters. While they're entertaining, by the time the revenge killings she makes come up, we can often see her dominate the situation. The better chapters feel like the one where she isn't always in control (or doesn't seem to be) and is surprised. The blackmailing shopkeeper's apprentice is probably the best example of that, set up as a bigger story but not always working out. The erotic ending is weird, but at least a lot of it makes sense in context.

The art is simple and effective. They obviously pay a lot of attention to the erotic elements, but the setting of late nineteenth century Japan gives them more to play with, allowing for a bunch of interesting get ups. It allows gives the setting its own style, playing with innovations and changes in society that were relevant at the time and add more depth to the plot.

It's an odd entity, but the comic works.

The fourty-second album: #42 The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

From this point on, we're going to see Beatles albums pop up quite regularly. This is still mostly the poppy sound, with the title track setting the tone for this. This time all written by the Beatles themselves, the quality and interest in their own material shows through. I Should Have Done Better shows more of the effects other musicians were having on the group, pushing their style in the direction of Bob Dylan, harmonica included. There's a lot more experimentation on the album in general, which really helps keeping it entertaining and showing the growth they're going through - as well as the additional freedom they were probably given.

Another thing that I believe is new to their albums are the bigger ballads. The more sensitive songs feel like they work better than a (to me) fairly standard poppy Tell Me Why. It can make for an odd tonal shift at times, but the softer, different things are where I feel the album really stands out. Even including something like Can't Buy Me Love, which contains the generic poppy base, but goes for a blues setup, creating an interesting mix to listen to. The biggest strength, here, is really that most of the songs are more experimental, which is where this becomes a great album for me.

The two hundred and twenty-ninth song: White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

So far, I don't think we've heard many female rock singers on the list, especially with psychedelic rock. It works really well, as it creates a different atmosphere, possibly giving the ethereal effect they were shooting for. It's about the effects of psychedelic drugs and the vision that come - indeed using a lot of Lewis Carroll imagery. It's heavy in places, short and powerful, properly creating that imagery.

The two hundred and thirtieth song: Purple Haze - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

A bit more normal rock, this sounds like a Jimi Hendrix song from the beginning. There are again strong drugs references, but what stands out here isn't the lyrics, but the aggressively pushy guitars, a volume that at times seems to strain the recording equipment, distorting the sound and the hard and suggestive vocals. It's something that we're used to these days, but thinking about it, this was new at the time, and created its own controversy with it. It makes it works still, even if it's not revolutionary - it's more a great example of it.

The two hundred and thirty-first song: I’m a Man - The Spencer Davis Group

I swear there's some video game music at the start there - a sinister chord that sounds vaguely familiar. The music, with its sudden outbursts, creates a sense of urgency that comes through everywhere. It's not necessarily fast, but everything sounds a bit hurried - not in the way it was composed, but in the way it comes across. It also includes some R&B, mixing it with rock in a way that creates an interesting mix of genres that makes things even more open. A great slice of sound, to paraphrase the book.

The two hundred and thirty-second song: Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground

We're moving between a lot of underground areas that we would have seen at the time, and now The Velvet Underground takes us to a world of sex instead. The music sounds distinctly Middle Eastern, creating this exotic aspect, and references to leather point you further in that direction. It's sexual and charged all the way through, slow and deliberate vocals added to that experience.

The two hundred and thirty-third song: Fire - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

We don't usually get two songs by the same artist in these batches. It still has a signature sound in the guitar chords, but sounds clearer. Certainly on fire, but also less with that druggy haze. It has a sexual tension (even if that wasn't where the idea came from) that comes through in more of his songs, but is very clear here and yet it has fun with it. It doesn't take itself seriously with the request, just enjoys it instead.

The two hundred and thirty-fourth song: Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks

A rocky ballad about life in London and walking along the Thames, it strikes a chord from having done similar walks. Sure, times have changed, but there's this enjoyment of life that's present in the song and sounds quite happy. It's such a happy and optimistic song about something very simple, which is very enticing and what makes this pleasant to listen to.

The two hundred and thirty-fifth song: Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry

As we're going back into country, lyrics start to matter far more than sound. The melody is very simple, although the guitar and violin are used effectively to create the mood and atmosphere here. It mixes this dark story about Billie Joe commiting suicide with the mundane chatter at dinner time - pass the black eyed peas. It makes for really effective story telling even when, in places, it sounds bizarre. There are a lot of open questions by the narrow bridge - why did he jump and what did he and the narrator throw off the bridge the day before? Not knowing adds to this, creating this unsettling atmosphere around the song.

The two hundred and thirty-sixth song: The Dark End of the Street - James Carr

The title of this song already says a lot, and as a soul song, you know this isn't going to be such a simple distraction either. So much of it is about the worries of the singer as he cheats on his wife, hiding at the dark side of the street. It's sad and haunting, setting up the scene so well throughout that most of your emotions about this come into play.

The two hundred and thirty-seventh song: Suzanne - Leonard Cohen

We go back to folk now - almost as if we go back in time. It makes for a sweet song about a platonic relationship, one that I'm more familiar with from the Dutch cover made a few years later. It's a subdued happiness - as you tend to get with folk - one that suits this type of relationship. It's thankful and wistful, in a really sweet way.

The two hundred and thirty-eighth song: Respect - Aretha Franklin

Peter asked just now if we even needed to play this - but you really need to be in all of this to really get into it. There's a lot of energy in this song, as well happiness and excitement. It sounds upbeat and excited, not demanding, but deserving of respect. It's strong, it's a great statement, and there's a reason it became the main anthem for civil rights movements.

The fourty-first album: #41 Stan Getz & Jaoa Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto

Time for some more bossa nova - the Brazilian jazz that I believe we have mostly heard on the songs list. It starts off with the gentle Girl from Ipanema, which has bene discussed before as a nice, gentle song that works nicely in the context of the album.

Beyond that, it all stays very pleasant and gentle - as much as we get from jazz, but holding my interest more than other jazz albums have done. Bossa nova is quickly growing on me, not giving me something I'd listen to all the time, but working well as semi background music that still makes its presence known. This is probably one of the best demonstrations of that.

The twenty-ninth book: #29 Pamela - Samuel Robertson

Oh god... this was a drag for the past few weeks. Pamela is meant to be the perfect woman of the 18th century - pure, demure, protecting herself and then marrying the man who kidnapped here after he's sick for a day or two because of her absence. To me, she's gullible and, most of the time, just plain wrong. I realise it's a 250 year difference and everything has changed, but this just made me think of her as stupid several times during the book.

Written entirely in letters, the format felt a bit off putting as well. Sure, we see her thoughts, but they just make me like her less. Her actions aren't defensible in my eyes, the people she trusts were reprehensible to her before, and forgiveness comes a bit too quickly. Some books can get moralising - this isn't something that always pays off, and it doesn't here for sure.

The fourtieth album: #40 James Brown - Live at the Apollo

Moving into some soul, James Brown is an energetic performer, something that comes out from the start of the performance. It seems like it's not as wild as the studio performances could get, it's there in the music and vocals. What probably adds to the tamer sounds at times is that there are still a lot of harmonies in the songs, which makes for quieter moments, although James Brown often manages to pull these out to become grander.

The crowd reactions reflect this, getting wild at times and going along with the quieter bits. They're not quite sensitive - James Brown never lets them stay small - but it does go up and down. At the same time, James Brown doesn't really seem to interact with the crowds much. You'd expect to hear a response to some crowd reactions in the song too, but all of that feels fairly scripted. It seems a bit odd and unfortunate, but it's probably that type of set that he's going through here. In the end, despite all the other trappings, the entire album comes down to the sound of James Brown voice, and that is magnetic.

The two hundred and nineteenth song: The End - The Doors

Yeah, a bit of a worry as we saw the first song of the year was twelve minutes long. It's a sign of how the song works, really. It takes time to get started, but because a long drawn out folk rock sounding song, sounding quite haunting. Rather than being loud, it uses the rock sounds mostly for occasional effect while drawing you into something smaller most of the time. At the same time, lyrically, it feels like it's trying a bit too hard sometimes, trying to sound deep, but a lot of the time the message doesn't really reach me either. It's possible this would have worked better live, perhaps I wasn't as wowed with the charisma involved, but this doesn't feel like it has the impact it should have. It's an impressive feat of recording, with a a big, known ending, but it doesn't quite reach the heights this is meant to have for some.

The two hundred and twentieth song: Electricity - Captain Beef heart & His Magic Hand

Experimental rock is, by its nature, a mixed bag. Here, I can see what they're going for, and parts of it sound good. The vocals, at the same time, are so off putting that it feels like the strained parts are just constantly off putting. I know that's part of the point, but it doesn't make for a good sound. Sure, it's good that they were experimenting, trying new things and growing, but so were the Beatles at the time, and they made it sound a lot better. Captain Beefheart was an interesting person, and that influenced a lot of the song - drugs must have been involved - but that doesn't make it work for me.

The two hundred and twenty-first song: Corcovado - Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

It feels like we haven't had one of these songs for ages. Frank Sinatra still sounds as good as always, and the orchestra suits him. It's a legit style, one that I probably appreciate more now having heard what surrounded him at the time. Sure, it doesn't have the energy of rock, but it feels like we don't quite need it here. Just a quiet day in the mountains, good to relax to. Bossa Nova, with its smaller group of musicians, suits Frank Sinatra well, and it makes for a great quiet companion piece.

The two hundred and twenty-second song: Heroin - The Velvet Underground

Here is the first song recorded that is unambiguously about drug use. It's a big achievement, and notable just as much being on the top ten albums of all time, apparently. It doesn't start as impressive - again, there's some lead up time in the seven minutes - but by trying to be simpler than The End, it can have more of an impact. It takes a neutral tone on the subject - not really condoning it, but part explaining why - which makes it all the more impressive. The flat vocals, surrounded by more manic music, makes this all the more clear. It's not about your emotions, it's about the surroundings around you. It works really well, especially when the speed changes kick in as, it feels, the drug takes hold. And at the end, the music becomes discordant, the viola out of place and you can feel the crash coming. It's an amazing bit of story through song, one where theme, lyrics and music really strengthen each other.

The two hundred and twenty-third song: Chelsea Girls - Nico

Another song that gives an impression of drug culture of the time, the flat vocals from Nico - not as strong a singer - add the same lack of emotion as we saw in Heroin. Here it's more about the external effects of the drug use. However, this song has a flaw - one Nico hated as well. The strings and flute were added everywhere, and they want to add a certain amount of the grandiose that the song neither deserves nor needs - keeping it smaller would have made for a more effective story. It's a shame it's there, but it's what we have to live with here.

The two hundred and twenty-fourth song: For What It’s Worth - The Buffalo Springfield

Just from the name, you're right - country, folk rock, and at least not a seven minute epic. I do mostly know this from covers - "Stop, hey, what's that sound" is one of those lyrics that stuck with me. It's a lot smaller than other covers, though, with less loud vocals and less instruments, making it more bluesy than later performances would have. It makes for something pleasant and smooth to - to listen to rather than dance to. The lyrics themselves are about a riot, making it more against the establishment than before, but the song doesn't quite bear that out in the music. It's still a good achievement.

The two hundred and twenty-fifth song: The Look of Love - Dusty Springfield

Here's one of those Burt Bacharach classics - again, a name we haven't heard in a little while. It is a fairly basic love ballad, but the sultry musical sound, together with delicate vocals that get it just right, make it sound really good. It's all measured, giving you just enough of everything, but it makes for a good combination of sounds and song.

The two hundred and twenty-sixth song: I’d Rather Go Blind - Etta James

And we move to some more soul - a lot more variation right now than the rock binges we've had in previous stretches of songs. Here, it sounds quite happy, one of those simple love songs that finds an interesting melody to run with. It becomes stirring, pulling you into the hurt and desire that plays throughout the song and tries to entice the man back.

The two hundred and twenty-seventh song: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher - Jackie Wilson

Technically a soul song, this song swings quite a bit, putting the energy into an energetic love affair that makes it feel like a special thing for everyone. There's a lot of powe rin the song that even the occasionally strings can't pull down, making for a great sound together. And it's the vocals that really make it stand out. Jackie Wilson makes it so much bigger and feel so real that the song makes you that excited yourself.

The two hundred and twenty-eighth song: Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

As almost seems required at this point in time, we end with the Beatles. This is a trip down memory lane. The song is made to sound like that - some of the instruments are made to sound so much older. It's about getting away from the adult world, going to that place in your childhood where it's all innocent. The big band influences come through here as well - using those instruments to increase the impression. As psychedelic rock, it really is trying to carry you away to this other world.

The fourtieth TV show: #776 Keeping Up With the Kardashians

This is pretty odd. We've joked a lot about this show and how we feel forced to watch it as it's on the list. We started with a fair amount of apprehension and annoyance at how long this would take us.

Now, I cna't say I love the show - I will be happy that I won't need to watch another episode of it ever again - but it's not quite as bad as it seemed. Kim, the center of the whole thing, can seem quite boring at times. Her family livens it up a lot, though. Khloe's more sarcastic attitude and emotional involvement resonated with both of us and her comments on the situation really made the show a lot more entertaining - her and Caitlyn (Bruce during the episodes we watched) are the most interesting people on the show in that they make the family seem more human. Scott adds to that later as well.

The best episodes, then, were the ones where it's about the family, where it's about family hanging out and annoying each other. Seeing Kris buy chickens for fresh eggs - and the annoyances those cause - is far more interesting than worries about big photo shoots. We watched the big wedding special - most of it passed us by because the arguments on whether he was part of the family worked well.

It was fun enough to watch, and worth the time we spent on it in the end.

The thirty-ninth album: #39 Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Welcome back from the holiday break! I was hoping to cover some songs over the break but never quite got to it.

We're coming back to jazz on our first album of 2017, sounding more avant garde than before. Disjointed is the main impression I get from the first track, Solo Dancer, although it slowly melds into a more coherent whole. It never quite meshes in a conventional way, it keeps sounding uncomfortable, but it wavers. It certainly sounds different, especially from other albums of the time I've listened to, and it takes jazz out of the comfortable corner I feel it was in before in the albums I listened to.

With that it does also feel like there's a lot more experimentation there, already like some of the more complex classical pieces I've listened to. There's growth that now demands you listen far more than before. It's a mess, but one that ends up going somewhere.

The seventeenth classical recording: #9 Josquin des Prez - Missa Pange Lingua

As we go back to the early runs, we also go back to choral music. The voices sound well together, working as five linked movements that work through the different parts of the sound. It's relaxing and meditative, putting you in that state of near emptiness by carrying you through there. It's concordant - quite different from before and pleasing.