The three hundred and sixteenth album: #316 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Winter in America
There's something really engaging about this soul/jazz album, chilled while staying up beat and positive. It's often paired with a more socially engaging message that's as interesting, but it all stands on its own as its own music. Sometimes it's more upbeat, sometimes it's sadder, but the fusion it lands on works far better than other versions. It's lovely to listen to with a depth that I don't think we see as often in jazz albums, while having more pep than blues albums give me.
The three hundred and fifteenth album: #315 Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
This is a folk rock album. There are decent lyrics and musically it's a very British folk rock album. There's some emotional songs and some drinking songs, or at least songs with that feeling. They're decent folk rock songs and feel like good examples of the genre. However, I also don't think the album really gave me a stand out track or had something in there that felt memorable to me.
The three hundred and fourteenth album: #314 Supertramp - Crime of the Century
The notable track on Crime of the Century - at least for me - is Dreamer. It's a fun track, prog rock that's easy to listen to, fun to sing along to and an enjoyable song, but ultimately not a song that has a lasting impact on me. The rest of the album feels similar. It's fun to listen to, there are some nice experiments and interesting sounds, but I don't feel it ultimately has much of an impact. It's a well put together album, but not one that really inspires me to keep listening.
The one hundred and twenty-ninth classical recording: #751 Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
While the story behind the creation of this piece is a sad one, its sound is one of triumph, starting with an orchestral opening to introduce an impressive piano piece played, as I could also see in the video that accompanied my version, with one hand. Throughout, the piece is set up to allow that to be showcased, with the tempo changes showing both delicacy and fervour and the rhythm perhaps invoking a bit of the military fervour that led to this. Ravel, as we've heard before, can be a bit drawn to less sane sounds, and it's that bombast that comes through from the orchestra, but the piano's playing, even if frantic, works to create a frantic focal point that it can keep coming back to.
The three hundred and thirteenth album: #313 Sparks - Kimono My House
Sparks' entry on the songs list, This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us, features as the first track on this album. The song sets the tone for album, an art rock track that flirts with glam and avant garde sounds that centres around Ron Mael's keyboard playing that his brother's vocals fold around, surrounded by everything else that goes on on this track.
It's a good album to listen to and in a way the later tracks become a bit easier to listen to. It's a bit weird, sometimes a bit extreme, but also a lot of fun to listen to, showy at times but constrained enough to continue to work.
The three hundred and twelfth album: Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
The seventeen minute long title track of this album is a composition using electrical instruments, a melding of synthesizers with occasional other sounds that enhance that. I use the word composition quite deliberately, as it feels like without the modern instruments used, it has more in common with the classical tracks we've been listening to than the modern music this list usually covers. It is more of an ambient album than most, but there's still something magical about the images it sets in my head without any lyrics or prompting.
The one hundred and twenty-eighth classical recording: #731 Gustav Holst - Egdon Heath
Egdon Heath is a work that passes you by - sombre, slow and, at least in the recording I listened to, at times played at a low volume. It's not something that should be played loudly, it's the low tones that produce the dark, swampy feeling I get from it. It makes for a great tone piece, not inviting or event something I'd see myself listening to a lot, but it works well here to set its mood.
The three hundred and eleventh album: #311 Roxy Music - Country Life
Clearly past the Brian Eno era of the band, Roxy Music's fourth album is a good rock album, having some tood up tempo tracks, some throwback blues riffs and a generally enjoyable vibe. Mind you, it doesn't feel like it introduces anything unique, but it meanders through a number of styles of rock as they were around at the time, which feels like a more interesting journey - the tracks are different enough that it's hard to pin down the album as a whole, but it does work as a story.
The three hundred and tenth album: #310 Queen - Queen II
As a Queen fan - much to the dismay of my husband - I have obviously been looking forward to listening to their three albums on the list. While the album doesn't feature any of their biggest or well known hits, the route to them from here seems obvious. The album has their sound and song writing style, with their evocative lyrics, but has enough of a metal bend that it also harkens back to the earlier ages - there are shades of King Crimson in some of the songs on this album, such as the fantasy imagery in a few songs. The black side in particular shows more of the showiness of their set list, but also focuses on the harder rock side that predates their move into poppier songs, still a bit away from glam rock.
It took a while before I discovered the older albums, but they work for me. As more of a harder rock enthusiast, the mix of these sounds works for me and there's so much in these songs - even down to their classical influences - that it's hard for me not to enjoy the journey this takes me on.
The three hundred and ninth album: #309 Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Court and Spark is a simple folk pop album, an easy listening album with some meaning behind the lyrics. Joni Mitchell's lyrics are quite meaningful - not quite central to the song, but with enough of a focus to listen to, while the music is full in a good accompaniment to her voice, perfectly balanced so it doesn't drown her out but gives her a good backing. There's a vulnerability in there at times, combined with more power and certainty depending on what the song allows. While it doesn't stray too far from the basic folk formula, it's enough variation to make the songs feel distinct enough.