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The one hundred second album: #102 Loretta Lynn - Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)

While it seems like I've been doing mostly rock albums lately (although that impression might be coloured by the gaps between them sometimes), country has been far less common and make for somewhat of a change.

I never connected with country as much - while I can feel some of the appeal, it also takes me the wrong way sometimes - too much longing and sadness, where aggression or happiness always work better with me. It's something later country takes on as well, but here we're still stuck with the blues references.

And so, while the music is well sung, the songs are good and the story is told, I keep hoping this gets pushed a bit further. Some songs hint at this - and Get Whatcha Got and Go really makes up for it and perked me up immensely - but I was hoping this would come back more often.

The one hundred and first album: #101 The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

Waving in the direction of surf rock, with some psychedelia involved, this album goes, at times, a bit rougher than that, but it's a real mix of influences, shifting from song to song to appeal to different moods. The fairly happy Onie is followed by the darker Are You Lovin' Me More (But Enjoying It Less) and the mood shifts feel a bit much. There's not much of a consistent sound in here and while they're well written, it feels like something with a bit more consistency would have been good. It feels like the writers are responsible for this - forced on the band and seeming to want to experiment more than create a sound that suits the band. Sold To The Highest Bidder feels like a big offender in this regard - loud, experimental, but not in a way that suits the band. It leaves me wondering why they bothered.

The thirty-ninth classical recording: #853 Benjamin Britten - The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

I realise we didn't listen to the full version of this work, as apparently narration can be used to introduce the different instruments as they come in, each playing a variation of the theme suited for that instrument. It lets you understand where the various instruments fit in and how they can be used in different ways. It feels like a more unique structure, but one that works by showcasing individual parts, rather than building on each other as we normally, often, see.

The thirty-eighth classical recording: #15 Orlande de Lassus - Motets

It's tricky to hear sometimes what separates one motet from the other and while de Lassus is credited with some specific innovations, but I can't say I detected them in the album mentioned - instead they were fairly staid, perhaps at time a bit faster than others, but not greatly so. There are probably good examples of his sense of humor, but I'm not good enough to find them in here.

The eighty-fifth TV show: #407 Mystery Science Theater 3000

MST3k has been a mainstay of our viewing for nearly a decade now, though not at great speed - we're still not past season five and so haven't seen all the different groups of actors. I have seen a lot of bad movies be made most bearable through the commentaries of Joel, Tom Servo and Crow, together with some bizarre sketches filling time around commercial breaks.

Aside from licensing, the original concept feels cheap - put a few people (or their puppet representation) in front of a film and have them comment. Improvised at first, but for the most part prewritten (and it's better that it was, so there weren't the quiet periods that punctate "season 0"). Somehow, these personalities connected, especially when you share the pop culture knowledge, and it feels like you're watching and riffing a movie with your friends - even if they are far more quick witted and funnier than you'd be. It's a great formula that's worked for some time.

But the characters themselves make an impact beyond the movies. The Mads - the bad guys who make Joel (or Mike) and the bots watch the movies are great joke fodder (and I already know I'll miss TV's Frank) and the sketches are great to watch. Sometimes they're more relevant to the movie, sometimes they're non sequitors that are just weirdly funny, and sometimes you get Crow doing a one man show of the Match game that gets dark. And yet, these characters are goofy enough to pull it all off.

The show recently got new seasons made with yet another new cast, and while that might have seemed off to some, they've shown these cast changes can work. Oddly enough, I suspect the reason here is the same as today's other TV show, Doctor Who - the show is malleable enough to fit around shifts in characters, but allows the basics to stay the same.

The eighty-fourth TV show: #79 Doctor Who (1963)

When doing a rewatch, it can be hard to pick a set of twenty episodes to watch of a show. More so when it ran for over twenty years, with several format changes, and stories are almost all multi parters. I tried to go with a four parter for each of the first five doctors - probably containing the better eras of the show.

And for quality, it will of course be a mixed bag - 26 seasons, with several stories each and several production crew changes, means that it goes up and down. It has endured though, and left an impact. There are a few factors in play: they have cast good Doctors, the one considered worst (Colin Baker) being led down by material, but shining when he got a chance to work with better (mostly after he left the show). Regeneration plays a big part as well - because they came up with a way to replace William Hartnell without ending the show, the doctor can change every few years, often in a way that reacts against what the previous performer did, and change everything around him.

By having leading men that could take on the part, and often with companions who could stand up to them, there's always something that helps them shine. At their best, when everything is firing on all cylinders, that becomes magic, highly entertaining and stretching a low budget to create a quality far higher than you'd expect.

When it's off, though, it's really off, and it's hard to drag yourself through those sections. The later seasons especially start focusing on fan continuity, which drags it down. Of course, it rarely approaches the spectacle of the new series, or the soap opera interactions, with characters being underwritten in comparison (thirty years and a change in budget standing in between), but it manages to bring something smaller scale that's as appealing at times. When it works, it brings you good sci fi fare, an action adventure with heart and a friendliness you don't get elsewhere.

The fifty-fourth book: #1009 Roxana - Daniel DeFoe

All these comics have distracted me from reading novels recently, not helped by the at times mixed quality of these. Still, Daniel DeFoe has delivered on these stories with most of these stories - Robinson Crusoe might, in the end, be one of his weakest.

Roxana is certainly mixed in that sense. Quite a bit of it is engaging, but there are several areas with descriptions that don't hold up for me. I'm not as interested in the details of the household or how they live their lives - it's the drama and the stories that interest me. Luckily, there are several places where that holds up, and while, similarly, dialogue is still somewhat stilted, it feels a lot more readable in the places where they don't have paragraph long discussions. It's an interesting ascent and descent through social ranks, although they are themes he's explored before. It's readable, but by now I'm looking forward to something that's a bit different.

The three hundred and fifty-fourth song: Silver Machine - Hawkwind

Wikipedia describes Silver Machine as "space rock" and Hawkwind as a space rock band, a subgenre I'd never heard of (but evidently that's just me). The minute long intro contains enough effects that I would have had that idea anyway and we get a fairly simple rocksong, uplifted by the odd intro. It's subdued, considering where Lemmy went afterwards, but it works well here to emphasize the weirdness of some of the music.

The three hundred and fifty-fifth song: Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones

Having just covered Jimi Hendrix for the album list, falling into the Stones' blues rock helps bring some things back around. It rocks more, but it feels loose, a bit more disjointed and not as produced - it feels like just the band hanging around recording a song (which is how it went). The appeal is in there, a song aimed at just the right tempo and working well to create a mood and feeling, one that isn't too hard, more a smaller party than a big concert song.

The three hundred and fifty-sixth song: Thirteen - Big Star

A beautiful rock ballad, it feels like the musics of a teenager - a thirteen year old at this time, slightly rebellious, very awkward, making his way through the world dealing with relationships, parents and everything that's happening. Small and constrained, the beautiful vocals layer on top of a voice that sounds about to break from the uncertainty in life. A beautiful slice of life.

The three hundred and fifty-seventh song: Big Eyed Beans from Venus - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

I'm not sure where to place this next song. Captain Beefheart has always been eclectic and what stands out here is how loud his voice is compared to the backing track, his words being more important than everything else. It almost feels like it's spoken word, disjointed and loose, linked to the music but not always actually singing along. It feels like there's an almost intentional clash, music and lyrics both working together and fighting each other, but there's a winner in Captain Beefheart himself.

The three hundred and fifty-eighth song: Rocket Man - Elton John

With Candle in the Wind now being Elton John's most famous song, I feel I've never gotten an idea of what else he did. Rocket Man is a soft rock song that is melancholic and about the emptiness of space and living out there. It uses the synthesizer sparingly, but to great effect where it does, all adding to a sound that feels slightly out there and distant and the book's reference to the Radiophonic workshop feels incredibly accurate in places. There's something flowy in places and it feels right, showing the loneliness and emphasizing it.

The three hundred and fifty-ninth song: Mama Weer All Crazee Now - Slade

Inspired by the wreckage left after an audience riot after one of their concert, we get a hard rock, glam song that approaches metal and clearly wants to rile up the audience, involving them in the song, getting loud and getting them crazy. It feels like it's pandering, but in a way that suits the image they want to have portrayed here. I'm not sure it's quite as strong of an effect sitting at home, but live this would be amazing.

The three hundred and sixtieth song: Rocky Mountain High - John Denver

I feel like every once in every batch of songs, we get a "don't forget about folk or country" moment. Even with rock ballads in thi srun, the quieter folk guitars make for a welcome change, and my appreciation for it is one of the things i feel has grown while doing these lists. John Denver sounds clear and the appreciation of Colorado is quite infectious, taking you on that journey. It complains about the risk of it being spoiled, but also that great feeling of being out in and enjoying nature, one that I miss at times and want to go out and do.

The three hundred and sixty-first song: The Night - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

This feels like a throwback to the barbershop quartet, doo wop ish male groups, with a lead and several background singers, perfectly on key and with some instrumentation added. And Frankie Valli's powerful voice really adds in creating this atmosphere, one that's more aggressive and a bit darker than the genre implies. It would be a different song if this was a capella - something they could have pulled off, but the instruments make the sound a bit darker, a bit more ominous, and on the whole this feels like one of the ways these groups could have grown up.

The three hundred and sixty-second song: Reelin’ in the Years - Steely Dan

A happy, poppy rock song, there's something really uplifiting about this song, harmonies and decent, well produced music that takes a bit of hard rock, but keeps it simple, accessible and feel-good. There's some excellent chords in the guitar playing, but there's something about the lyrics that really work best for me.

The three hundred and sixty-third song: Always on My Mind - Elvis Presley

A song known for its many covers, it seems to be Elvis' one that made it to list, one of his last big hits, he gives a passionate recording as you would expect from him, but subsequent recording may have done it better. There's a bit of strength missing, it's not quite his, but the polish really shows even at this point. In a way, it's the end of an era. A lot of this comes from his experiences at the time - in particular his own divorce - although it doesn't quite show here. It's important in the story of Elvis... maybe not quite as much the song, although he brought it to the front.

The thirty-seventh classical recording: #471 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty

This was a late birthday present - my first trip to the ballet. We went to watch Sleeping Beauty, the last of the Tchaikovsky baleets we still needed to cover. And the skill of daners, on which the entire performance is focused, means that the music wasn't what I was paying as much attention to. Then again, it mixes, and one wouldn't exist without the other. What we get is a good set of music, with some recognisable motifs but mostly giving the dances enough room to breathe.

Seeing the dancers improves the visibility of the motifs a lot more - by seeing who's on stage, it's clearer who they are for. The variations do the same, and they do well, in places, to (for example) establish the different faeries. Although not what the list is for, this way of listening and watching really pulls it together - we'll see whether we can keep affording to do that.

The fourty-eighth comic: #95 Captain America

The other item finished today is our read through of Captain America. Only a limited part of the run of course, considering the amount of time it's been around, but having read the first return - after the Captain was unfrozen - we saw the character build, adjusting to a world he didn't grow up on and where he doesn't know anyone, with the memories of those he lost. It takes a while before it goes there, but when it does it's a welcome addition that moves the character from a generally goody two shoes to someone dealing with, it feels, some depression and a sense of loss. I believe it plays with the guilt further down the line, while still keeping up the action, and at this point, my hope is mostly that it can push that further as time goes on.

Beyond that, this is the first proper superhero story, and once it gets into ongoing storylines, it really builds well on them. For parts of this, Captain America shared a title with Iron Man, which got ahead of it in the soap operaish, more dramatic developments that go beyond taking out the bad guys. I know that's not always there, but it's clear that's what appeals to me most when reading these.

The one hundredth album: Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced

Listening to this album, Jimi Hendrix's blues background comes through a lot. Whlie the guitars make the songs sound like rock, and a lot of it surrounding fit that mold, it also has a speed that takes it closer to blues, and the vocals feel like a mix of blues and rock as well. The best songs are a mix between the two, creating this blues sound with a kick to it. We've heard the Rolling Stones do similar things in the past, this fits into that pattern.

But then May This Be Love pops up, a gentle ballad that sounds different from the other songs. The vocals are still there, but everything is softer and gentler, completely creating a different atmosphere. It's a welcome change, at a good point in the album, and shows the versatility of the entire thing.