The four hundred and twentieth album: #420 The Saints - Eternally Yours
It feels surprising to hear punk pop up on the album, with a lot of acts having moved on at this point and using it as an influence only. Within that, their sound varies a bit - the pure punk tracks not adding much, but the moment they add elements or change it, the album is a lot more interesting - the rather basic Lost and Found is sandwiched between Know Your Product, with its horn section, and the driving but lighter "Memories are Made For This", which eschews the standard punk rhythms for something that goes between hard rock and something poppier. It ends up with a number of gems mixed with regular punk songs that go between good examples of the genre and a bit unnecessary considering everything else they pull off on this album.
The four hundred and nineteenth album: #419 Dire Straits - Dire Straits
Listening to this album, it's a fairly straight forward rock album, its blues influences feeling old fashioned for this point in time. It's competent at what it does - not aiming for the raucous heights of the Stones, but it has that Dylan-like blues feel with a larger musical structure around it. It also feels quaint, referencing a musical style that doesn't do much for me.
The one hundred and fourty-ninth classical recording: #321 Robert Schumann - Concertstuck for Four Horns
A rare horn-focused piece, Schumann's Concertstuck for Four Horns is still quite subdued for a piece featuring brass instruments. It has that joy, the horns adding more energy than other pieces would do, and it makes for a genuinely delightful piece, something that cheers you up. As much as this may not have been intended to fit in with other works, I do feel that I can see how in the context of a larger concert, this could be a great way to get the energy back up between more languid pieces.
The four hundred and eighteenth album: #418 Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Listening to this album today, it makes me think that while there's some good potential in Devo's music, it's not quite there yet. There's something in the lyrics, but it needs some polish, and it feels like the album never quite works out what it wants to be or what it wants you to feel. It's frustrating, and I wonder whether this album is on the list as their best or most unique, or because the first is the default pick, as I am more curious to see where they ended up (d)evolving to.
The four hundred and seventeenth album: #417 The Cars - The Cars
With their eponymous album, The Cars bring us a strong new wave album, a strong vocal led album with some straightforward love songs and some more interesting twists on the formula. In fact, I'm not sure whether the experimental work, like I'm In Touch With the World, is necessarily always worth it compared to the more standard pop rock tracks featured on the album.
The four hundred and sixteenth album: #416 Willie Colon & Ruben Blades - Siembra
Siembra is a celebrated salsa album. I can't judge, as it's not my scene, but this is a fine album - nothing amazing as far as I can hear, but it works well enough. There's not enough in this for me to really get me to love the album, but it sounds like it's good at its own genre.
The four hundred and fifteenth album: #415 Van Halen - Van Halen
The recognisable meat of Van Halen's debut album is at its start, with tracks like Runnin' With the Devil being as well known as anything you can find. It shows the strengths of the album - a strong metal/hard rock base, aided by some well written music and supported by harmonies that feel rare in the genre - it's more trained than what we see, and especially compared to what we got out of the punk era. The album stays listenable and there's still a lot to enjoy in here.
The one hundred and fourty-eighth classical recording: #842 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Trio no. 2
Sad and dramatic, written by someone who wasn't in a good frame of mind, the sadness and chaos of Shostakovich's feelings at the time comes through in the nature of the music, which builds to a crescendo of anger, strings fighting strings while the piano plays darkly in the background. It's raw, almost frightening in its energy, and a positive challenge in this way.
The four hundred and fourteenth album: #414 Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen
I don't know why, but somehow I was expecting something darker from my first Buzzcocks album. Their first studio album features several upbeat punk tracks, with the aggressive guitars and beat that come with punk not sinking away into the anger. A lot of this comes from Pete Shelley's vocals, who sounds happier, really, and more positive, creating a better atmosphere this way. It's an album that flies by, keeping me more entertained than I thought I would be.