The four hundred and sixtieth album: #460 The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight
There's something quite nicely accessible in Underwater Moonlight - a light pop punk album that is easy to listen to, feeling fluffier while having the punk undertones in its music. It's nothing overly rough or angry, but more smooth love story like lyrics that are just a really pleasant listen.
The four hundred and fifty-ninth album: #459 Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (III)
Is it possible I've had my fill of prog rock? Peter Gabriel's third self titled album feels, from a distance, like a good example of the genre, something quite nice to listen to. It does fail to connect with me, partially because it all settles into the same style - perhaps novel in places but not as distinct as I would hope for - but also because Peter Gabriel's vocals don't really work for me on this album. There's some slight slurring that I think comes from some applied filters, which leaves me with them fading into the background more than the lyrics seem to indicate he'd want. It feels like a bit of a mistake from when the album was put together, but means that I just never felt I got much out of listening to it.
The one hundred and eighty-eighth TV show: #28 The Phil Silvers Show
It's clear that over the years, sitcoms have moved on in how they present themselves. Golden Girls was good, but a bit staid for now, and it's taken the likes of Seinfeld to take away the morale at the end that older shows often seem to rely on. The Phil Silvers show is at the very end, where Phil Silvers' Sergeant Bilko has to come out well enough at the end and the comedy moves slow in places. There are a few good bits, with Phil Silvers going off to do his thing working best, but just as often it gets stuck and it ends up shining for about five minutes in a twenty five minute episode. These days it'd be condensed, but here I do feel like I'm missing for a chunk of the run.
The four hundred and fifty-eighth album: #458 The Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
There's really just an undiluted wall of rock sound in this album, loud and aggressive, with a particular political bent that often almost gets lost in the loud music. The individual tracks don't stick around for long, but there's enough repetition that you don't miss a song - it does mostly get changed up with different vocal performances, as well as the occasional odd touch, but it's mostly just a lot of the punk music you'd really expect here - not bad, but its 33 minute runtime does feel like the right length
The four hundred and fifty-seventh album: #457 The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us
It's always welcome to get something different from an album. The Cramps' mix of punk and rockabilly - quite a modern sound in the day mixed with such a deliberate throwback - is still an interesting mix, even if both genres are quite old now - rockabilly just feels like that much more of a throwback going through this list.
Lyrically, the album is fine, and the strength of its music mostly lies in the moments where it relies on the fusion of genres to create its throwback mood. There's a lot to find in here, but it feels as its best when they most try to do their own thing.
The one hundred and sixty-fourth classical recording: #459 Richard Strauss - Violin Sonata
There is a delicate sound to this sonata, the lone violin really shining in the second improvisation movement. There isn't a constant variety on a theme that's as visible, nothing bombastic or in your face about it, but an engaging longer piece that's set up to keep your attention and sound pleasant to listen to.
The four hundred and fifty-sixth album: #456 AC/DC - Back In Black
It feels like Back In Black is more of the same for AC/DC - loud heavy metal that doesn't stop for the ten tracks this album goes on for. It's not the most inventive, true, but it keeps hitting that sweet spot that drives you through this. There's nothing special, but this is so good at providing the heavy metal sound I crave that it simply works.
The one hundred and fourty-second book: #082 The Red and the Black - Stendhal
After The Betrothed, it's been a welcome twist to get The Red and the Black's more cynical take on romance. Its lead a more deceptive character, his story of enlightenement mostly for fame and to court several women. His rise also proves his undoing, as much from his love as how he annoyed the aristocracy whose station he started to rise towards. It references the history of the day and a lot of the plot is somewhat informed by it, but it is only there in the background of the novel. It makes for an interesting, engaging read for the most parts, as long as you don't get too lost in the names.
The one hundred and eighty-seventh TV show: #973 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
It's always difficult to follow up on a classic and, for me, the original Cosmos was one of those, bringing us in the world of science, showing it and effectively connecting us to it, including a look at the future and the challenges our world faces that science warns us for. For most of its run, the Neil deGrasse Tyson headed run lives up to that. He is a fascinating presenter, summarizing and teaching the complicated matters in an accessible way, both telling us more about what we knew already and putting what we already knew in its wider context. It's incredibly fascinating when it does so. It lost us more at its more pessimistic looks, and we felt the climate change episode went too far beyond - not that we don't believ eit, but it's a topic that gets hard to listen to and deal with when the science of it just get ignored. Similarly, while the history of science sections are interesting, some episodes focus too much of them (and perhaps overemphasize individual scientists over the shared work that helps progress) when it would be more interesting to get the science behind the story.
It sounds like the sequel series has more of what I look for, in part looking at distant worlds, and I look forward to hearing more stories and learn more about our universe.
The four hundred and fifty-fifth album: #455 Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
There's a mix of influences at play in this album, with a heavy punk feel on what's notionally a (blue-eyed) soul album, with some hints of ska and other influences that I can't always make sense of. It's mostly a pleasant listen, if one that doesn't always have as much of an impact - it just feels difficult to connect to all of these, perhaps because I don't know where these match my tastes.
The one hundred and sixty-third classical recording: #129 Joseph Haydn - Symphony no. 45, "Farewell"
You don't always hear gentler pieces come from symphonies, but in Farewell it happens - like a drawn out goodbye, it's slow, sad in places and while it has some moments of excitement in it, there are also many others where it stays restrained. It's clearest at the end, where the musicians gradually leave the stage, leaving just the violins to play the end - it's a theatrical move that fits the themes well, with an appropriate downbeat ending that follows through on all those themes. As abstract as the music can be, it feels amazing how much more on point it is now.