The two hundred and seventeenth classical recording: #405 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations
The tenor of this piece is dark. It's not dreary, there's something happier in there, but it's deep and imposing, even when it's a cello solo, and the title's association helps form that feeling. It's interspersed with moments of lightness, which help cement that contrast and make it land, but it's all done in such a lovely way that the piece really works for its mood.
The one hundred and twenty-second book: #1019 The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens
Okay, I give up on this one. There are some books where getting through becomes a struggle. I know Dickens has a tendency to overdo his writing - writing for serialization, he had to keep people coming back, while editing doesn't always seem to have been the most important. Nicholas Nickleby was written shortly after Oliver Twist, and there's a similar build up that seems to get in the way. But where there was some more fun stuff, here it feels like there's more of the same that doesn't work as well. There's a core of some interesting scenes here, but I just never managed to get on board with the story.
The six hundredth album: #600 Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
I think you know what you're going to get with this one - Guns N' Roses' glam metal is well known enough and Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City are known enough that you don't need to guess much. It's raucous even if not always that raw, and it hits the exact beats you expect when you know these tracks. As long as you're into what this album gives you, it will satisfy you.
The seven hundred ninety-fifth song: It Ain’t Hard to Tell - Nas
While a strong rap track, there's something more mellow about it in a way that works quite well - the lyrics are aggressive enough, but the underlying beat quiet enough to compensate for that well.
The seven hundred ninety-sixth song: Inner City Life - Goldie presents Metalheads
The gorgeous soul vocals in this track contrast with the heavy electronic bass that comes through later, a slightly disconcordant mix where I'm not sure the two alway smatch up, instead often having them play as two tracks at a time. Both good, but I'm not sure it's a combination that entirely does what it wants to for me.
The seven hundred ninety-seventh song: End of a Century - Blur
This is a pretty standard pop song, a bit critical of current life and how everyone is aiming for safety, in a way that does feel familiar now but perhaps not saying as much as I could. It's fine.
The seven hundred ninety-eighth song: Connection - Elastica
This is a pretty standard punky pop rock song from the nineties, with a synth intro and some okay lyrics. It goes hard on the guitars, it has good female vocals, and probably serves mostly as a good example of the genre.
The seven hundred ninety-ninth song: Confide in Me - Kylie Minogue
The orchestral opening of this track takes its time to go into the more poppy follow up, a heavy beat sitting under some incredibly sensual vocals from Kylie that features her at her strongest. There's a bit of edge to it, a clear danger in the music, with middle eastern elements adding something seductive to it. It works on several levels, all amazing to listen to.
The eight hundredth song: Your Ghost - Kristin Hersh featuring Michael Stipe
A wonderful ballad, mostly featuring Kristin Hersh's perfect vocals for this song, Michael Stipe's addition feels like a perfect support - never overwhelming, but adding to the the effect and the story in a way that makes a lot of sense.
The eight hundred first song: Doll Parts - Hole
As a grungey love song, this is something that hits that beats quite well, and the build works well enough.
The eight hundred second song: 7 Seconds - Youssou N’ Dour featuring Neneh Cherry
A Wolof-English duet is not something you'd expect at first, but the poppy ballad is gorgeous, everything perfectly placed, and the two voices work well together, the langage barrier suggesting a distance that builds on that. The chorus is one I've heard before and hits, but so does the remainder of this track. It's just worth being in here.
The eight hundred third song: Live Forever - Oasis
This is the next larger name coming in, and Oasis delivers on their anthemmy pop rock, a chorus to sing along to while having a simple set of lyrics. It's all straight forward, but that's also the thing that works here.
The eight hundred fourth song: Cut Your Hair - Pavement
This is a pretty straight forward rock song, making the point of society's expectations but also staying pretty light during it. It's pretty simple and fun, nothing complicated, but it works.
The eight hundred fifth song: All Apologies - Nirvana
Obviously notable as their final single, this track just fits the Nirvana feeling - grungey, angry, a bit depressed, and distancing themselves from life. It's doing its job really well, telling its story and giving you that grunge feeling to enjoy.
The five hundred and ninety-ninth album: #599 The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
Strangeways is a pretty poppy, accessible album to listen to, the ballads and more upbeat song balancing quite well. The lyrics that follow are more interesting, focusing on the darker side a fair bit, with Girlfriend in a Coma not hiding the panic it wants to reference. It doesn't go over the top, either musically - where it's often quite pleasantly constrained - or lyrically, where it feels like it stays grounded. It has such a perfect mix of everything going on here, art without being pretentious, accessible without being dumbed down, that it is still a great album to listen to.
The two hundred and sixteenth classical recording: #795 Dag Wiren - Serenade for Strings
This is a short, joyous piece - a lot of fast violins galloping through the music as it goes through its climax. It works really well - it sets a tone and a feeling that I cannot escape.
The five hundred and ninety-eighth album: #598 Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton - The New Tango
I wasn't expecting a jazz-infused tango album today, a combination of some tango sounds with the speed and feel of the jazz albums we mostly listened to about five hundred albums ago. It's a weird mix, the urgency of the tango creating a speed you don't normally get with jazz, but it not reaching the joy of the tango either. The album is set up as a concert recording and it does feel like it's almost more a classical track than something more contemporary.
The seven hundred eightieth song: Animal Nitrate - Suede
As a glam rock song with a dark bent, this track doesn't make the biggest impact, but it is still quite listenable. It's good at hitting its rocky beats and setting up its build, even if it doesn't fulfill as much for me.
The seven hundred eighty-first song: La solitudine - Laura Pausini
Some songs become known for their many translations - here I have the English version, there's an Italian original, and I grew up with a Dutch translation (by a gay performer, still using masculine pronouns, adding a different dimension to the song). It's still beautiful and lovely no matter what, the anguish and exhaustion breaking through constantly.
The seven hundred eighty-second song: Rumba Argelina - Radio Tarifa
We're getting another twist here, a world music song that combines Arabic sounds with a flamenco song and vocals. It feels fairly sparse, no electronics involved, and builds a timeless song that comes together beautifully.
The seven hundred eighty-third song: Loser - Beck
Why is this chorus so memorable? The rapping isn't the best, the chorus is somewhat slurred, none of it sounds too convinced, but there's just something that strikes you in the refrain that sticks in my mind - even if the verses don't feel like they matter much in comparison. Perhaps it's that slacker vibe that just connects.
The seven hundred eighty-fourth song: French Disko - Stereolab
Dominating as an electronic pop track, the underlying guitars, occasionally popping up for a hard solo, adds a lot of edge to what would otherwise be a far calmer song. The lyrics are there, but in the background, fading almost into irrelevance, as the music fights with itself for dominance. It keeps hitting those sounds harder as time goes on, but keeps returning to that avant garde root.
The seven hundred eighty-fifth song: Into Dust - Mazzy Star
A sparse arrangement - a rhythm guitar and a distant cello seems to be all I hear - really brings Hope Sandoval's vocals to the front, a vulnerable, gentle sound that creates a slow, sweet song with a quiet melody. It's a sweet delight to have lingering.
The seven hundred eighty-sixth song: Rid of Me - PJ Harvey
I'm not sure whether this might have been an odd mix, but PJ Harvey's vocals on this track are in the background for a lot of it, at least at the start, and it creates a distance that ties into the themes of the song. It's probably a bit much to be fully successful for me, so if it's intentional, it's a bit of a shame, and if it's not - the dark guitar with its aggressive occasional outbursts really works well, but the darkness in her voice really helps to build on it.
The seven hundred eighty-seventh song: Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen
We've got Springsteen as an ongoing companion for this era of the list. Here we have a slow and mostly maudlin rock song in his style, getting lost in the streets and getting lost in life, without much hope. It works pretty well to create its mood and tell of its feeling of depression.
The seven hundred eighty-eighth song: Laid - James
The lyrics of this song feel like they have the punk defiance, avoiding societal expectations and commenting on them, with an upbeat sound with some punky influences and a bit of offbeatness, it still feels like it keeps its message clear. short, simple, but staying accessible.
The seven hundred eighty-ninth song: Open Up - Leftfield-Lydon
A powerful electronic track, the beat of Open Up is persistent, while Lydon's vocals are perhaps not the most powerful, but have enough impact without overpowering the music. It probably isn't fully needed, but it adds additional interest for the first five minutes, while linking to the slower post-breakdown final two minutes.
The seven hundred ninetieth song: Possession - Sarah McLachlan
As a pop song with a stronger beat, the dark lyrics are there in the music as well, a deep sound that resonates through you. It's a powerful song with an interesting message that keeps its power.
The seven hundred ninety-first song: Cannonball - The Breeders
The basic melody of Cannonball is good, a straightforward interpretation handled with simpler vocals, but one that has some real staying power as well. It has its harder interludes, but this is such a good rock song with its added solos and distorted vocals in places that it contrasts really well with its simpler main parts.
The seven hundred ninety-second song: C.R.E.A.M. - Wu-Tang Clan
I've talked about the rapid growth and development of rap in this time before, and here it feels like it solidifies this darker style, one that's unapologetically about crime and life on the street. It feels like it builds up its own myth more than might be justified, but it creates its sound so well that I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I think I enjoyed them in the past.
The seven hundred ninety-third song: Because the Night - 10,000 Maniacs
There have been several covers of this song, but this feels like it's one of the more powerful ones, with a rockier instrumentation that really sells the story. It's a well built track and this is one great interpretation of it.
The seven hundred ninety-fourth song: Ching soortikchulerining yryzy - Huun-Huur-Tu
We're ending with a Tuvan song, not a country I ever really thought of as a music style I'd ever get to hear. What stands out are its emphasis on what sounds like throat singing and the the sprse string-based instrumentation. It's an interesting sound, the vocals really giving it its own flavour, and one of those tracks I'm glad to have heard and experienced.
The five hundred and ninety-seventh album: #597 Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician
Even without their apparently disorienting stage presence, Butthole Surfers' third album Locust Abortion Technician seems designed to keep you off balance. While having a hardcore punk base, it builds on it with sound effects, backwards playing, bizarre vocal interludes and sketches and a whole lot of darkness. It's a lot, overwhelming you from start to finish, and it's hard not to have it feel like it's too much sometimes.
The two hundred and fifteenth classical recording: #801 Ralph Vaughan Williams - Serenade for Music
Today we cover a shorter serenade, setting a Shakespearean sonnet to music. The music is straightforward, often supporting the choir and soloists, interspersed with bursts of energy. The choral aspect is what is really fascinating, sixteen soloists that also form a complicated choir between the solo phrases. It packs a lot in its short length, but because of it can stick to its focus as well.