The five hundred and sixteenth album: #516 Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock
As much as I know purists have mentioned the issues with the commercialization of hip hop with this album, the lift it gave to the genre for white listeners, and the way it gave me an insight into African music is as valuable. There are a lot of traditional influences in here, combined with still a big spot for black voices that feels to me, at least, to make for a powerful and uplifting album. I don't think it entirely shies away from experimenting, but there's a balance that works really well to my ear.
The five hundred and fifteenth album: #515 Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
The country punk comes through quite clearly in this, the country intros and throughline often fading away as we get deeper into the punk tracks - it's as much about the tuning and feel of the instruments as it is about the music directly. The songs themselves don't feel the most complex - while occasionally giving some depth, it still feels a lot about mundane problems. It risks straying into pop at time but overall stays quite well mixed between the different trends - easier listening on some tracks than you might think, but with the aggression in there in some places.
The one hundred and eighty-seventh classical recording: #174 Joseph Haydn - Trumpet Concerto
There's something lovely about this concerto, an orchestra piece led by the trumpet that feels like it fits Haydn's style, its speed and melodies feeling a bit like his signature. As a short piece, the abstract nature makes it stand alone, but it is quite a lovely concerto.
The five hundred and fourteenth album: #514 Duran Duran - Rio
Rio is a pack of good, poppy songs from the eighties synth pop mold, feeling mostly like love songs or other lighter subjects without anything too deep.The album is nice, it's fun, it's accessible and easy to get into - just a fun listen.
The five hundred and thirteenth album: #513 Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
I guess I could have anticipated it, but I wasn't immediately expecting fragments from The Prisoner to introduce some of these tracks. It fits with the anti establishment feel of the album, the provocative lyrics and the aggression of the heavy metal tracks. The second side is especially strong for this, with the title track and Run for the Hills being such a strong two punch track that each tell their own story that they work incredibly well to create this tone. These powerful metal anthems really hit the spot and are pretty well balanced.
The one hundred and eighty-sixth classical recording: #623 Wilhelm Stenhammar - Serenade
Threatening, uncomfortable, but with a smaller feel than the orchestral size might suggest. It's a sweet piece at times, but there is enough tumult in the entire run to keep you on edge.
The five hundred and twelfth album: #512 Associates - Sulk
The gothy synth pop sound of Sulk is quite encompassing and heavy, never really letting up and with that not ending up in a place that I really enjoy. The album never really fulfilled or grabbed me.
The five hundred and eleventh album: #511 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
Nebraska's blues/country rock tracks feel like a throwback to the early blues albums, telling the stories of criminals, describing murders and dealing with the downtrodden. The album has a more modern rock beat, but a lot more of it focuses on the older blues that it feels made at the wrong time. It does do them competently, making for a decent album, but also not something I've been able to fully lean into.
The five hundred and tenth album: #510 Venom - Black Metal
Black Metal just gives you fourty minutes of heavy metal music - nothing more complicated than that. Teacher's Pet is distinguished by the shouting of its title, for example, and some slightly different riffs, but not a lot more than that. There are a lot of satanic references, tying into the known aesthetic of these bands, but it feels so performative that I'm not sure how serious to take it - I'm pretty sure they are but it's just so much of the similar competing guitars that I'm not sure how serious to take it a lot of the time. It's good at what it does, but gets to be a bit of a one trick pony as an album.