Archive of 2024 | Jeroen's Micro Blog

December 2024

The five hundred and fifty-sixth album: #556 The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & The Lash While we've covered folk rock quite regularly, this album of Irish folk rock feels quite different. There's a folk throwback element that's quite a bit stronger, while the rock feels like it only comes in occasionally. It's not a bad thing - it's quite interesting to hear more of the style and it feels like it does it well, but the best is when the tracks are a bit more modern, have the more modern lyrics and brings in that punky vibe that makes for the better mix of styles than the straight up folk tracks tend to reach for.

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The five hundred seventy-ninth song: Save a Prayer - Duran Duran The new wave Duran Duran brings is always welcome and it sounds so good here - the well known chorus works so well mixed in with all of the sound, the remainder feeling like a journey that does work well to lead you there. The five hundred eightieth song: Candy Girl - New Edition It's hard to ignore the similarities of Candy Girl to the Jackson Five output, down to the young kid's vocals that feel like they match that exactly. As you'd expect from that, the song is uncomplicated and straight forward, a simple and sweet love song. It's an attractive, fun song and works well to just cheer you up. The five hundred eighty-first song: Mad World - Tears for Fears Mad World is another strong new wave track - effortlessly engaging while staying a bit surprising. The five hundred eighty-second song: Black Metal - Venom In opposition to the sweet new wave that's dominating this era, Venom's Black Metal brings in the darkness…

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The five hundred seventy-second song: The Message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five One of the earliest successful rap track, there's a growth from the socially conscious spoken word albums that came before his one, looking at poor inner city life while getting the beat in there a lot stronger. The five hundred seventy-third song: 365 Is My Number - King Sunny Ade & His African Beats The contrast with the previous track is pretty great - the very chill sound is a lot slower and the track obviously doesn't have those same highs.The experimental nature means that we're still bouncing between a lot of different sounds, but I don't think it works well for the nearly eight minutes the track lasts for. The five hundred seventy-fourth song: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Culture Club There's a classic new wave sound and song here, a slow but focused hook that sticks with you while the rest of the track guides you through the slow sound of loss in the song. The five hundred…

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The five hundred and fifty-fourth album: #554 Big Black - Atomizer Atomizer is a hardcore punk album (even as that genre had gone out of fashion at the time) - loud, repetitive and distorted guitars combined with unfiltered, politically engaged lyrics that really set the theme. The lyrics are more comprehensible than some others, but that doesn't dilute the impact - they aggressively make some pretty points even when they can feel too confrontational, something I was more braced for when listening. At that point, the songs feel really strong and the album feels cohesive and good to listen to.

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The five hundred sixty-fourth song: Walking on Thin Ice - Yoko Ono How much of this song's notability comes from one of its contributors, with this being John Lennon's final creative output? The music itself is fairly avant garde, Yoko Ono's vocals feeling like the impenetrable sound that feels closer to that of a performance artist than pure vocalists, but there's also a beauty in how it all comes together. It still feels like it needs visual - something to enhance the performance - but as her starring performance, it certainly feels like it makes its point. The five hundred sixty-fifth song: Please Don’t Touch - Motorhead/Girlschool Please Don't Touch is an aggressive rock song, the drive of the music amplified by two big heavy metal bands - the more well known Motorhead and the all female Girlschool, whose contributions come through equally in the track, with the vocals in particular blending amazingly well. It's short, it's straightforward in how it hits its marks, but it sounds…

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The five hundred and fifty-third album: #553 The Mekons - Fear and Whiskey It's interesting how much country is included in this punk album, considering how it's felt the edgier rock genres moved away from it. There's a decent sound to it, but it feels like it doesn't quite fit - there's not as much conviction to the songs as I'd expect even if that's felt. As a combination, the two genres are a bit too much at odds for me to properly enjoy them.

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The five hundred and fifty-second album: #552 Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen Musically, there's just a lot of well performed new wave to this album. It's quite a big production, there's a bit of punk still lingering in the background and the occasional effect that you can only pull off on an album and wouldn't work as well on stage. The main vocals aren't exceptional, but that allows for a larger focus on the lyrics, which poetically create a story that stays quite engaging with more depth than others. It works really well here.

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The five hundred fifty-sixth song: In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins There's a sadness and longing in the lyrics of this song that plays well with the unsettling musical choices in it - rather than a plain ballad, it applies a lot of effects on the vocals, creating an echo and what feel like shifts in location that become quite powerful as the track plays on. It means the appearance of the heavy drum track is underscored as much, really strengthening the sound of the lyrics in the mix. The five hundred fifty-seventh song: Edge of Seventeen - Stevie Nicks For a song about death and loss, there's a remarkable amount of energy in the lyrics, a feeling of being at peace with it even as the sadness is present in the lyrics as well. It's esoteric, allegorical and a nice amount of slightly off that works really well. The five hundred fifty-eighth song: Via con me - Paolo Conte Via Con Me is a track that I feel I should recognise, but I feel it's mostly from the use in a commercial somewhere…

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The five hundred and fifty-first album: #551 Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms Brothers in Arms is, for the most part, a nice and accessible pop rock album. It's mostly fast, quite upbeat, with some catchy lyrics and some good hooks. Some tracks deviate from that a bit - Your Latest Trick is far jazzier, for example - but there's a formula here that works quite well and is pretty straight forward. The more atmospheric pieces like Ride Across The River are as strong, a nice and gentle scenic piece, but the core pop rock is where the album stays strongest even when the experiments work well.

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November 2024

The one hundred and eleventh comic: #189 Gomer Goof For me, Gomer Goof - or Guust Flater as I know it, or Gaston in the original language - is a childhood throwback for me. I loved the tales of the inept office worker/inventor and I read each of the albums I could find in the library. Even without knowing the office, it hit all the beats - decent gags, good interplay between who's on top, with our protagonist and nemesis/friend both coming out on top and there being some really nice moments in there. Reading it now, there's even some nice story build up through the gag strips - nothing too big, but it does feel like a consistent world it builds on. A lot of the comedy is unforced, coming from the established characters, who don't quite reach caricature level. It's actually pretty well balanced to read and while there's enough of a reset, Gomer Goof's laziness and inventions are nuanced enough that they don't come out of nowhere. It's a comic that still works quite well reading it many…

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The one hundred and ninth comic: #30 Barney Google & Snuffy Smith The early comics list, as a result of the development of the medium, is dominated by newspaper strips. Barney Google is one of those that survived for over a century, although it shifted what it was about in a way that made it almost unfamiliar. The original are (by now) overdone gags based around Barney Google, with a lot of relationship jokes at first but evolving away from that. Snuffy Smith came in years later, but started to dominate the strip, as it became more of a yokel story set in the boonies, with the original character barely showing up. The hillbilly humour is even further removed from what I care for, and it feels like such a relic looking at it now, without moving much after the earlier larger shifts. The one hundred and tenth comic: #347 Hagar the Horrible In contrast, Hagar the Horrible comes in from a similiar angle, especially Barney Google's earlier city life, The daily gag strips aren't the best…

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October 2024

The five hundred and fiftieth album: #550 Tears For Fears - Songs from the Big Chair That this album features both Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule the Earth says it all - anthemmy songs with a clear chorus and some memorable lines. It's catchy, but with an ominous undertone at times that feels like it reflects the state of the world at that time, with its cold war allusions. It's still got a lot of variety, with some good ballads, but on the whole it's the energy that makes it work so well.

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The five hundred and fourty-ninth album: #549 A-ha - Hunting High and Low I can't say how good of a pick-up song Take On Me is - there's a flowing energy to the track that is enough to wake you up without being too much. The tracks that follow move towards being a bit gentler - Hunting High and Low a lot closer to a ballad - but the synth pop backing works well in all of the tracks even if it is't as captive as the first track and its chorus, with The Sun Always Shines on T.V. being one of the bigger highlights later in the album for me. Lyrically, it's the slower, more ballad-like songs that are more interesting, but on the whole it's all simple enough to understand - especially with the Scandinavian songwriting slant.

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The two hundredth classical recording: #658 Charles Ives - Symphony no. 4 There is a grandioseness in the set up of this symphony, which requires a massive orchestra with two conductors to play at its chaotic peaks. It starts off strong and majestic, a chorus providing the final structure to a big opening, but with its second movement, comedy, descends into a multitude of sounds whose chaos at times feels more like a cacophony than a focused sound. The worst of it doesn't stay for too long, eventually slowly reducing into a violin solo until that, too, gets overwhelmed by a pile of sound. The third movement becomes significantly more peaceful than that, the fugue producing a contemplative piece that rests the complexities it has in a clearer, less overwhelming presentation. This carries through to the imposing finale that takes its time but retains its full force of impact, until its slow and subtle winding down. It's a strong, impactful piece that feels good.

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The one hundred and seventeenth book: #89 The Lion of Flanders - Hendrik Conscience I was obviously able to read this in its near original version, with Flemish just updated to fix some spelling but otherwise pretty much readable. It feels outdated that way and was trickier to get into just from that - similar to the English language titles from a century or two earlier. The specific history is quite interesting, even if it feels some of it is manufactured. The courtly intrigues that lead up to it aren't always as interesting, but the action of the final fight is quite exciting and on the whole the story pans out quite interesting, especially having some context but not as much as to recognise everything.

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The five hundred and fourty-eighth album: #548 Abdullah Ibrahim - Water from an Ancient Well Water from an Ancient Well is ultimately a jazz album. One that's pretty well executed, but with little deeper meaning and not much structure that I felt I could work with, it became fairly plain. I think I mostly missed a mood in the pieces, something it tries to lead you to even if it's not an explicit text. It's fine, really good in place, but nothing made me love it.

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The five hundred and fourty-seventh album: #547 The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace I feel like I'm facing a bit of a learning curve with This Nation's Saving Grace. I see a number of good things in the music, where I've enjoyed post punk albums before, but at the same time it doesn't feel like it's hitting all the spots I was expecting it to. Some tracks seem deliberately off putting, I Am Damo Suzuki feeling especially strange in that regard. There's something nice in this album, but it felt like it was pushing me away deliberately at times.

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Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-ninth classical recording: #632 Manuel de Falla…”
The five hundred and fourty-sixth album: #546 Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA This album leads off with its title track, a misunderstood album that works well in context. It's followed by a number of rock songs in a similar vein - working class stories, looking at the world around them and at those who are richer. A number of them are a similar sort of anthem, but some lean towards a bit more of a ballad or country rock song. The tone of the lyrics, however, are part of what pulls it away from there for me, focusing on quite a different political direction.

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The five hundred and fourty-fifth album: #545 Youssou N'Dour - Immigres It's always a pleasant surprise to get an album on world music, something that comes from outside the standard studios in the US and Europe. Immigres takes Senegalese music and fuses it with a Latin influence, creating something that has a lot of swing but adds on a heavy melodic percussion element that heightens the feelings of that music. It's pretty engaging and energetic, and a really good album to listen to on an early morning.

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September 2024

The one hundred and ninety-eighth classical recording: #419 Gabriel Faure - Piano Quartets 1 & 2 This collection of quartets comes in with a lot of energy, the piano being very engaging while drawing in the other instruments for their moments to shine. It's got its moods, the second quartets going from an excitable first movement to a more sinister second, but really keeping up the momentum in the music.

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The five hundred and fourty-fourth album: #544 Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Rattlesnakes Rattlesnakes is a pretty gentle album, giving some pleasant and relaxed folk rock vibes with perhaps a bit more of a kick than these usually have. It's quite nice, but it relies more on a connection with the lyrics that I didn't personally feel as often. It's still a pretty pleasant and gentle sound to listen to, but it is not quite as memorable for me.

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The five hundred and fourty-third album: #543 Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime This is a daunting list of tracks. Double Nickels on the Dime is a double album formed of 43 punk tracks - something that feels like it might be the highest I've seen so far. They're a lot of short punk tracks, mostly less than two minutes long, with a variety of variations in style. A lot of them are punk tracks, feeling lighter than some because of the lack of bass in the guitar, while others lean more towards the jazzy side. Sometimes it feels meaningful, sometimes it doesn't, but because of the nature of the album it never wears out its welcome as it keeps moving through these different angles.

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Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-seventh classical recording: #428 Charles-Marie…”
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The five hundred and fourty-first album: #541 Tina Turner - Private Dancer Tina Turner's fifth solo album is a strong one, really hitting the highs of her songs and showing them off well. The title track is a deserved classic, really showing off her range and emotion in her songs, with What's Love Got To Do With It another classic that hits all the notes. It's the personal feel of the lyrics that really hits you through the tracks. As much as this is the level I'd expect from Tina Turner, this is also the album that seems to have defined it, and it's great to listen to.

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The one hundred and ninety-ninth TV show: #966 My Love from the Star Since we've been focusing more on Korean variety, we haven't looked at Korean drama as much as we could have. Having loved My Lovely Sam-Soon and Winter Sonata, as well as various movies, it's a shame it keeps falling by the wayside. There are some ridiculous plot beats and the premises can seem odd or overblown, but they make it work, with a levity that papers over a lot and keeps the mood quite right for it. My Love from the Star has its sci fi elements - the male lead is an extraterrestial who has the standard super powers (strength, super speed, stopping time, that sort of thing). Here it makes for a twist that works really well, having the fantasy elements be a part of the plot without dominating it or making for easy ways out. It lets other people be more competent as he has the tools to go around, for example, the bad guy of the piece, who otherwise stays competent while being villanous. Special praise in all…

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The five hundred and fourtieth album: #540 The Style Council - Cafe Bleu Although Cafe Bleu is billed as a pop album, it feels like an amalgamation of various popular and different styles that were contemporary with its release. The opening instrumental track is pure jazz while A Gospel suddenly features a heavy rap track. Even the personnel shifts between the different tracks, even if the core group stays involved, and the combinations all work even the tracks all feel so different. The strong points are probably the gentler, new wave ballads, but it's such a good mix of tracks that the album shines everywhere.

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The five hundred and thirty-ninth album: #539 The Replacements - Let It Be More than anything, Let It Be surprised me. It started off as a standard, hard post punk album, the metal and rock influence coming through everywhere, but by the time rock ballad Androgynous played, you really feel a humanity and empathy in these tracks that defy the expectations you might have of the band. It's still crude in places, not everything transfers, but the hits are surprisingly good for what it would normally be.

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The five hundred and thirty-eighth album: #538 Prince & The Revolution - Purple Rain Is it a cop out to say here that this is a Prince album, so you know what to expect? It has the classic tracks Purple Rain and When Doves Cry, all very familiar. The meticulously crafted R&B and pop music is overlaid with vocals that are raw and full of emotion, a contrast that brings out the song so much more than if either side was lacking. It really and directly hits you, which is an accomplishment on its own even without the catchiness of some of the tracks, the set up that's elaborate but never too much, skirting a line that works so well as just a real visionary sound.

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The five hundred and thirty-seventh album: #537 Van Halen - 1984 With Van Halen's glam rock, you pretty much know what you're going to get and 1984 simply doesn't disappoint in this regard. Jump is a deserved classic, but so many other tracks have that feel-good loud feeling that is pushed by its unremittenant music, the underlying drive really being directed by its exuberant vocals. The lyrics aren't too complicated, but work well with the tone and the feel of the album.

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The one hundred and ninety-sixth classical recording: #502 Richard Strauss - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche The chaotic nature of this piece mimics the mischief of the story it is based on, a cacophony of sounds that combine various characters and stories (often well represented by a group of instruments) that continue to give an impression of what's going on. It conveys the feeling quite well even and even a brief guide tells you all else you need to know when listening. It's a masterful small piece of storytelling that stands on its own so well.

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August 2024

Permanent link to “The five hundred and thirty-sixth album: #536 Minor Threat - Out of Step…”
Permanent link to “The five hundred and thirty-fifth album: #535 Cocteau Twins - Treasure…”
Permanent link to “The five hundred and thirty-fourth album: #534 Sade - Diamond Life Diamond…”
The five hundred and thirty-third album: #533 Run-DMC - Run-DMC While not the first rap album by far, Run-DMC's debut does set the tone for at least one version, with them setting the stage for the Beastie Boys, for example. The rhythm and sounds are set up better, the repetition more focused on their musicality than the rhythmically spoken word album that it feels were there before. It's got mass appeal and still sounds as strong here. It's Like That is obviously the most influential title track, incredibly powerful without feeling like it compromised too much either. Wake Up, for example, really has its message in there as well as being incredibly accessible. A real delight that I am looking forward to hearing more of as the list develops.

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Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-fifth classical recording: #201 Ludwig van…”

July 2024

The five hundred and thirty-second album: #532 Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome The poppy sound of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut album really belies the dramatic tone of the underlying lyrics. Starting off with a commentary on hedonism, its second of four sides gives over a good chunk to their anti-war message. It's a strong set up that I ended up enjoying a lot and found quite a bit more to than the initial impression you get from what the band seems to be about.

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The five hundred and thirty-first album: #531 Culture Club - Colour By Numbers Colour by Numbers is a very accessible new wave album, mixing some very known and catchy songs with a number of others that are as good to listen to, but aren't quite as impactful. It's mostly just so pleasant and accessible, layered without having too many elements - it feels paired down compared to its influences without getting too minimal.

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The one hundred and sixteenth book: #1236 Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson My career is built around computers and especially recently, I've been focusing a fair bit more on matters of security. Having this novel cover a lot of cryptographic topics tied in well with that and made it more interesting to follow - both the development of the simpler systems in WWII, one of the two time periods in which it's set, and that of the late nineties, which is closer to what I do now... and in other ways outdated. I mean, these days social engineering is far more of a vector of attack than purely cryptography, and with advances your key length needs to be a lot bigger, but it was interesting to read about Van Eck phreaking (which wasn't as practical in the situations the protagonist feared) even if it might not be your first approach in the modern day. Even seeing very early references to cryptocurrency is interesting. With that said, I do feel like some of the staples of the author got a bit…

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The five hundred and thirtieth album: #530 Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II The sound of punk, filtered through an American country lens, feels like it moves away from the band's punk roots almost as the album progresses, starting off post-punk and moving more towards bluegrass until eight tracks in, at New Gods, it jumps back in. It's quite an interesting tour through some of the related genres and the experiments the band seems to have had with them, and although it lacks a more cohesive identity because of that, it's a really nice set of tracks to listen to.

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The five hundred and twenty-ninth album: #529 The Police - Synchronicity When listening to this as a single album, it feels like the distinction between the two sides disappears when it is meaningfully present in the tracks on each. The first side is the post-punk, ska-like tracks - high energy, with synthesizers and all. The second half is a lot calmer, with several ballads - all sadder or more frightening. They are the more engaging side, with the lyrics and themes feeling a bit more complex. It's far from a perfect album for me - the two halves feel too disjointed to really satisfy everyone - but there's some good standards on it.

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The five hundred and twenty-eighth album: #528 U2 - War It's odd how this album feels removed from both sides of music we've been covering lately - the poppy, synthy music and the dark heavy metal. War feels grown up in a way that makes sense now, an album with a message, strong music, uncompromising and mostly gimmickless. It's just good music, a strong evolution from punk to a more centered rock album.

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The five hundred and twenty-seventh album: #527 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) This album alone is good to listen to - some good poppy tracks with the eighties synth feel that can hit you well in the right songs even if it can get overused on other tracks. The standout is of course the title track, which is already one of those songs that tends to get stuck in my head - there's just that sort of quality around it. What stands out in the album context is how at times it also feels different from other tracks - surrounded by some slower, more ethereal sounds (almost lulling you to sleep to continue the theme).

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The one hundred and ninety-third classical recording: #36 Claudio Monteverdi - Combattimento Combattimento is, it seems, the first opera - or musical theatre piece - that's on the list, and looking at the bits of staging I've seen it does feel like there's a vocal piece that has some performers separately performing as most of the piece is narrated. There are some other voices, but it feels like it's still settling in, going from a storyteller to a more involved performance. It still features the early string sounds, but the vocals are getting so much closer and it's interesting to see the development happen - almost in front of you as the piece evolves into more of a performance.

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The five hundred and twenty-sixth album: #526 ZZ Top - Eliminator A lot of the time, ZZ Top's eighth album feels like a throwback to an earlier era. With the rise of new wave and a poppier sound - something that has influenced some tracks - a lot of the hard rock tracks harken back to the decade prior, with a number of blues rock tracks really feeling like they could have been from the Rolling Stones. They're really good - If nothing else, they've honed their craft during that time - but it feels oddly out of place now. The long solos, clearly intended for more exciting reactions when performing live - do feel out of place now, but on the whole I can't fault the album.

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The five hundred and twenty-fifth album: #525 Echo & The Bunnymen - Porcupine In the post punk era, Echo & The Bunnymen's third album's psychedelic rock leans towards the gothic rock error at times, the at times bizarre sounds enhanced by a quite dark and mysterious sound. It doesn't go through the entire album, but it leans heavily on it at the end of the first side leading into the first. It's not quite as unsettling as it sounds, for the most part, but it differs per track how comfortable it gets. The sound design is great, though, and it works so well for the tracks.

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The one hundred and ninety-second classical recording: #899 Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau Sans Maitre The somewhat disconcordant nature of this piece never quite stops being unsettling - the more conventional parts lure you into this feeling of safety until it strikes with a stranger set of music again. The normal, albeit sparse parts are lovely to listen to, with the ethereal vocals adding to that feeling of disquiet that you have throughout, but there are moments that really jolt you awake. It's not unpleasant, but it makes me wonder how this plays in a big venue - there's something about the perceived intimacy of the solo listening experience that really elevates it for me here.

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June 2024

Permanent link to “The five hundred and twenty-fourth album: #524 Paul Simon - Hearts and…”
The five hundred and twenty-third album: #523 Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual There's something infectious about all of the tracks on Lauper's albums. Whether it's the challenging optimism of Girls Just Want TO Have Fun or the calmer mood of All Through the Night, Lauper's style is really effective to communicate the feelings of each song and, with a lot of them being as upbeat as they are, the album is incredibly fun to listen to.

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Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-first classical recording: #57 Juan de Araujo…”
The one hundred and ninety-eighth TV show: #987 How to Get Away With Murder With this show being added to the list after only a season aired, How to Get Away With Murder doesn't put those later seasons on the list. That doesn't mean it doesn't hold up - Viola Davis is amazing - but the nature of a drama means that the show starts to lose a bit. While in other crime shows you would get the cases rotating through enough that the drama can flow from it, here there's a lack of detachment that can make it feel a bit much. It means that there are places where actors don't know what they're meant to be playing, because it seems like the mystery isn't resolved yet. It feels the need to heighten the drama in a way that I think gets a bit much sometimes. It's all well performed and well done, but starting the second season, it feels like it might be a bit closer to throwing at the wall and see what might stick, to the point where it feels directionless. It's where it starts to push into more…

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Permanent link to “The five hundred and twenty-second album: #522 Hanoi Rocks - Back to…”
The five hundred and twenty-first album: #521 Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops In trying to place this, the closest way I could describe it is as an electronic blues or soul album. It's sad and lingers on it, taking the synthesizer sound that has been used so far mostly to create upbeat, fast moving tracks, and turns it into something slow and maudlin, a rainy grey soundscape with the lyrics and vocals to match. It's not an uplifting album, but there's a lot of beauty in the careful composition of the whole album that its atmosphere has a real chance to permeate.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and twenty-first album: #521 Blue Nile - A Walk Across…”
Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninetieth classical recording: #477 Pietro Mascagni…”
The five hundred and twentieth album: #520 Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones The blues tracks that run through this album are the ones that suit Waits' voice perfectly, raw and rough as it tells songs that sound sad and rough. It's one that gets layered in with a far more experimental sound, sounding pretty good while it does to be honest. It's that weird sort of balance that sounds just right to listen to here that makes for a beautiful album - especially with how gently it ends.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and twentieth album: #520 Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones…”
The five hundred and nineteenth album: #519 The The - Soul Mining Two tracks in, with This Is the Day, the feeling of this album really began to crystalize. The first side's catchy synth pop that's just really enjoyable. The hooks stick in you, but it's so simple it really works. Not plain, but simple fun throughout. The other side goes more esoteric, with a haunting Twilight Hour followed by a ghostly opening to the title track Soul Mining. Its darker feeling is more interesting, and while the underlying hooks are still there, it's not as easy to listen to. It's quite a clear delineation between the two sides, each with their own uses.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and nineteenth album: #519 The The - Soul Mining Two…”
The one hundred and eighty-ninth classical recording: #51 Michel-Rachard de Lalande - Grand Motets While de Lalande has written a lot of motets, the list has mentioned a specific album whose tracks I've focused on for this. The age of the piece shows its focus on the religious music as much as its title does, and it still focuses on the choral parts of the music even as the accompanying music gets more moments to shine as it feels like it gets bigger. There's a step here it's taking, and it sounds beautiful in a smaller way.

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Permanent link to “The five hundred and eighteenth album: #518 REM - Murmur I probably…”
The five hundred and seventeenth album: #517 Def Leppard - Pyromania There's something about Def Leppard's glam metal that ended up appealing to me a lot more than I thought - an abundance of energy and cheer that gets paired well with the occasional darker track. It feels like I can see a lot better how this would work well live, an overwhelming sound that hits the right up beats to keep that energy going.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and seventeenth album: #517 Def Leppard - Pyromania There…”
The one hundred and eighty-eighth classical recording: #740 George Gershwin - An American in Paris The tone poem An American in Paris - that later works were based on - conveys quite well the excitement of being in a foreign city you love. There's the exuberant excitement as you go through, and the smaller sections that don't lose the happiness. You can see how well it would work as the score just listening to it, but even without it, it feels like the laughter and romance are there, contrasting the big with the small.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-eighth classical recording: #740 George…”

May 2024

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.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and sixteenth album: #516 Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock As…”
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.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and fifteenth album: #515 Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes…”
Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-seventh classical recording: #174 Joseph Haydn…”
Permanent link to “The five hundred and fourteenth album: #514 Duran Duran - Rio Rio is a…”
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.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and thirteenth album: #513 Iron Maiden - The Number of…”
Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-sixth classical recording: #623 Wilhelm…”
Permanent link to “The five hundred and twelfth album: #512 Associates - Sulk The gothy synth…”
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.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and eleventh album: #511 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska…”
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.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and tenth album: #510 Venom - Black Metal Black Metal…”

April 2024

The one hundred and fifteenth book: #1187 The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul - Douglas Adams Quite early on, I made a note about how much the early book felt like an adventure game at times - find item, solve clue, move to the next puzzle. It makes sense - protagonist Dirk Gently approaches the world that way, fully convinced it will make sense and link up eventually. At the same time, knowing Douglas Adams did love his adventure games - and wrote some of them - has that make that much more sense. It doesn't hold up, with the second storyline avoiding the tropes entirely, but there was something interesting about that observation. It also shows how Dirk's adventures are more interesting to follow, with him being more of a driving force in this world, but even so a lot of it is a lot of figuring out what's going on, rather than being driven by them as much. It's still the second best Douglas Adams series for me, but the speed at which this gets going means I do prefer the sequel.

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The five hundred and ninth album: #509 Birthday Party - Junkyard Junkyard hits all the beats of a punk album, the sound being similar to many others like it. The content of the lyrics (when intelligible) is somewhat different, as there's a darkness that filters through the entire album. Rather than the anger that normally comes with punk, there's the darkness that metal brings in that the album regularly veers towards. It's a newer sound, but it's such an impactful sound at any point.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and ninth album: #509 Birthday Party - Junkyard Junkyard…”
The one hundred and eighty-fifth classical recording: #934 Gyorgy Ligeti - String Quartet no. 2 The five distinct movements in this quartet all invoke quite different moods, from the haunting to the energetic and sometimes even mechanical. It's always a bit frenetic, always keeps you on edge, which is part of what stays so compelling as it keeps drawing you in. It's surprising, but really effective.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-fifth classical recording: #934 Gyorgy Ligeti…”
The five hundred and eighth album: #508 Michael Jackson - Thriller I don't think I can find many flaws with this album. The fact that its title track nearly wasn't a single feels so out of place, since even without the music video it works so well. Beat It and Billy Jean following it just add immensely more to the enjoyment of the whole album and is one of the strongest run of three tracks out there.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and eighth album: #508 Michael Jackson - Thriller I don't…”
The five hundred and seventh album: #507 Orange Juice - Rip It Up Listed as new wave and post punk, Rip It Up fits into the early 80s rock sound, with their Scottish vocals being the immediately notable element. There's something slightly slurred and drawn out pushing the album towards a ska rhythm in places, especially when combined with some of the steel percussion, while in other places the jazz influences are a lot stronger. None of the tracks stick for a long time, but they've got catchy hooks to draw you in - they're a nice feel-good set of songs on this album.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and seventh album: #507 Orange Juice - Rip It Up Listed…”
Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-fourth classical recording: #259 Frederic…”
The one hundred and ninety-seventh TV show: #283 Salem's Lot One of the wonderful things about Twin Peaks was the way it combined quite standard soap opera tropes and storylines with th eweirdness that occurs throughout the story, exploring how they intersect with a Lynchian bend (as well as the contributions of others). In Salem's Lot, it feels like Stephen King tries to hit similar beats about two decades earlier, but it doesn't succeed quite as well. While the mysterious house in a insular village is a well known trope that does work, the set up it does in its first half drags a fair bit, with the mystery not becoming tantalizing enough. There are some vampire appearances, but it doesn't have anything actually compelling about it for a long time. It's not until the final hour or so that it feels liek we start to see more, but where the series seems to start with a mystery to solve, it feels like it turns into scary scenes later without as much of a mystery in it. It becomes too…

Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-seventh TV show: #283 Salem's Lot One of the…”
The five hundred and sixth album: #506 Kate Bush - The Dreaming Although this is the first Kate Bush album on this list, this was her fourth studio album. The art rock sound of her work would have been familiar already to a lot of people, with this album heavily leaning into it. It's esoteric, at times dream-like with the overdubbed harmonies and shifts being recognisably Kate Bush. There's some interesting story telling, all wrapped in this ethereal, deeply emotional sound that keeps hinting at something deeper.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and sixth album: #506 Kate Bush - The Dreaming Although…”
The five hundred and fifth album: #505 Haircut One Hundred - Pelican West Not too long ago, I talked about an album feeling straight up like a Comedy Bang Bang bit, and with Pelican West we get another that comes from the same mold, poppy love songs with titles that seem a bit off. This album, however, brings in a lot of jazz - long solos, a lot of trumpet, and a more sedate feel to the tracks that I assume weren't candidates to become a single. They're the more engaging parts of the album for me - overall it's a nice and easy listen, but they are what brings the depth to the album.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and fifth album: #505 Haircut One Hundred - Pelican West…”
The one hundred and eighty-third classical recording: #362 Jacques Offenbach - La Belle Helene When listening through Youtube, I always prefer to cover an opera with half an eye on what happens on stage. That pays off with La Belle Helene more than almost anything else, as the comedic opera is over the top enough that the performers' dedication and overacting really adds to the story. The version I had has the proper exaggerated staging to encourage that, enhancing the impact of the various strange, more modern touches. But despite being quite stupid in places, in the best possible way, the vocal performances are great and the sweeping music takes you along. By its nature, it focuses more on the abundant, party atmosphere than delicate, sad songs, and it's to its benefit making it an enjoyable listen.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-third classical recording: #362 Jacques…”
Permanent link to “The five hundred and fourth album: #504 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly With…”
The one hundred and ninety-sixth TV show: #861 Spartacus Having watched a good chunk of the first season of Spartacus, it's a frustrating show. Its start is undoubtably weak, with the titular Spartacus (a slave name, named after the more famous revolt leader as he is set to repeat) being quite unlikeable and hard to root for. There isn't much interiority and the way he's closed off and refuses to engage with anything gets quite frustrating. The show goes for a lot more shock value and excessive amount of blood, but the over the top, mediocre CGI (even for its day) is distracting and laughable. After a few episodes and a change in showrunners, it does pick up and the characters become more interesting, the focus shifts, and we see more about how Spartacus could survive in this world, but it's quite uneven even after that, with some shock twists coming in too early to have an impact, and stopping you getting a more satisfying followup later. With that said, when it works, it works well…

Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-sixth TV show: #861 Spartacus Having watched a…”
The one hundred and fiftieth book: #820 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams Sometimes, it does feel like I'm criticizing a still great work as I'm writing this. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency has all the hallmarks of a great Douglas Adams novel, but it feels like it teases a bit too often leaving you a bit short. The titular Dirk Gently - the interesting force of chaos you want to interact with - doesn't show up until halfway through the novel and doesn't get to shine until later. Instead, there is a lot of set up of the book. It's fun set up, following all the hallmarks of Adams' writing, but it almost stays too rooted in reality. The balance also means that it feels like the resolution gets quite rushed, going from a decent speed to rushing through a lot of concepts in a short amount of time. It's a satisfying read, but I wish it got to its titular character a bit earlier - a shift I hope we can see in the sequel more quickly.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and fiftieth book: #820 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective…”
The five hundred and third album: #503 Madness - The Rise & Fall Oddly enough, this is the first time I've covered Madness - later than I would be expecting, but at a point where it's quite interesting to do so. The Rise & Fall is a prototypical ska album, an accessible example of the genre that's nicely accessible and quite fun to listen to.. With that, it also covers a lot more of just everyday life - it feels like it focuses a lot on fairly standard, mundane events, and commenting on English life that way. Seeing that they went political for the first time with this album makes sense - some of the intention is there, but you can see how it would progress further from there. It makes for a more thoughtful album than it might seem, without trying to be too fancy or complicated.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and third album: #503 Madness - The Rise & Fall Oddly…”
The one hundred and eighty-second classical recording: #287 Robert Schumann - Kreisleriana As apparently comes from his inspiration, Schumann's Kreisleriana plays with contrasts. Its movements alternate between lively, exuberant sections and sombre and thoughtful sections. There's a good balance and some skill in how they move from one to the other, maintaining a similar delicateness through these shifts.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighty-second classical recording: #287 Robert…”
The one hundred and eighth comic: #756 Tokyo Zombie Tokyo Zombie is my first list comic in a while - although I've been trying to keep up with others on the go. Even so, it's hard not to look at the other zombie comics and stories I'm familiar with, with the Walking Dead and otherwise. Aside from the graphic nature of the comic - with far more nudity in addition to a lot of violence - it is quite minimalistic in its storytelling as it is in its art, limiting it to only what it needs. The ending chapters give the full twist - while a martial arts set up gets referenced from the start, a large chunk of the end is a martial arts tournament between humans and zombies that is convincing and creates a storyline that I haven't seen other works pull off quite as well - The Walking Dead tried over a decade later, but didn't quite do it. It's surprisingly small, but it works here.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and eighth comic: #756 Tokyo Zombie Tokyo Zombie is my…”

March 2024

Permanent link to “The five hundred and second album: #502 Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81…”
The one hundred and fourty-ninth book: #88 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens For a large chunk of the time I spent reading Oliver Twist, I was wondering where I would go with it. I knew the story best from the musical, which I had a bit part in in a school production about 27 years ago, and while there are some beats that are the same, the book does so much more. Charles Dickens isn't known for his brevity and focusing mostly on the first third or so of the novel made sense to create a coherent story. The second half does well exploring the characters further, but it feels the interesting satire is more present at the start, while it trails off a bit to the end, and a number of important characters get introduced so late that it feels like it's a bit too much on the fly. Even so, the deep dive works well and the book stays interesting and really readable throughout.

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The five hundred and first album: #501 Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay Too-Rye-Ay's fusion of soul and folk rock is different from Dexys Midnight Runners' earlier album, still having some ska influence but generally feeling like a calmer set of songs. The addition of the string section, combined with the soul-like choruses add a different feel to it, which at the same time creates a more jovial vibe to the music - hearing Come On Eileen as the first single makes a lot of sense with the direction, even if it's probably still the most celebratory song on the album. It's still an album of good vibes throughout, which makes it pretty nice to listen to.

Permanent link to “The five hundred and first album: #501 Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay…”
The one hundred and eighty-first classical recording: #598 Gustav Mahler - Symphony no. 10 Mahler's tenth symphony runs longer than I'm used to - the slow, sad first movement running as long as some other full works we've covered. Reading about the history, it feels like the ups and downs of the works reflect the emotional turmoil he felt - the slow adagio followed by a manic scherzo. It's a moving piece, not the fanciest, but it still feels like it's a lot more raw in places, ending on a contemplative note.

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The five hundredth album: #500 The Cure - Pornography Let's be honest, you know what you're getting when you listen to an album by The Cure. It is a dark, moody album, slow and draining. It's not a slog to get through, but it feels like something in there slows you down on such a basic level that it can't help but get to you. It's a well made album, the music is good, it's just exhausting to listen to.

Permanent link to “The five hundredth album: #500 The Cure - Pornography Let's be honest, you…”
The four hundred and ninety-ninth album: #499 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Imperial Bedroom Elvis Costello hits similar beats as before in Imperial Bedroom - quite smart, thought out new wave music featuring some good, memorable tracks and a lot of interesting variety. They're not samey - his range is large enough to bring a real mix to the album - but it feels like it continues on the same, strong track, without any of it wearing thin. Again, it's his songwriting that all of that is build on, and this whole album shows it off really well.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-ninth album: #499 Elvis Costello & The…”
The one hundred and ninety-fifth TV show: #872 New Girl It's been a while before I could back to this, having put this on hold around when we started this list. It's been good to come back to, though. The series sticks to its loose premise - quirky girl Jess (Zooey Deschanel) moves into an apartment that has three guys living there. There are some relationship back and forth, but mostly it has wacky, exaggerated adventures in a way that a lot of comedies of the 2010s have been, done so well. It feels like a lot are, as you get, expansions on their existing characters, leaning into the goofier side, but it has enough leeway to not push it too far. It's great comfortable, but fun viewing, even five seasons in.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-fifth TV show: #872 New Girl It's been a while…”
The one hundred and eightieth classical recording: #833 Benjamin Britten - Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings There's something unsettling about this serenade. Pears' voice, who did was written for, isn't quite as steady, which adds some emotion and instability to the piece but also stays a bit off putting. The strings are taunting and harrowing and the horn's low, deep sounds add to that. The work is sad and distant in a way that's hard to fully come to grips with. It's beautiful, but so haunting at the same time.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and eightieth classical recording: #833 Benjamin Britten…”
The one hundred and ninety-fourth TV show: #75 Z-Cars I mean, Z-Cars was never a show I was going to watch for long, but it really didn't connect on any viewing. I understand that this show would have been more real at the time - the police characters are flawed, the stories don't always go right, there's no lesson to be learnt - but it doesn't quite hit the modern pacing even as it is edited to be quick for its time. Instead, the characters are unlikeable and the action unconvincing, to the point where it's off putting rather than engaging. While you may feel it gives an example of TV as it's developing, there's little to recommend it as a show to actually watch.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-fourth TV show: #75 Z-Cars I mean, Z-Cars was…”

February 2024

The four hundred and ninety-eighth album: #498 Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message When listening to The Message, there's something slightly off about it. There's a mix of R&B and funk in there with its harmonies, but it also has some early rap tracks that don't feel like they fit quite the same pattern. In the current times, it feels like it doesn't quite commit, but with Prince and Michael Jackson being contemporaries, they actually make a lot of sense in context as the music styles overlap. I guess I'll see it evolve in the coming albums, but just as rock grew out of earlier genres, we've got a new hip hop style emerging here.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-eighth album: #498 Grandmaster Flash & The…”
The four hundred and ninety-seventh album: #497 Prince - 1999 So much of 1999 makes for a catchy album - it's hard to get away from all the songs that stick with you. There are some long funk fadeouts - still too much for my taste - but when it hits the groove and the song really gets going, the album is amazing. Even its double length mostly doesn't matter because so much of it is infectious enough to keep you going along. At the same time, parts of it feel forward looking, experimenting with electronic music in a way that hasn't intersected with R&B before. I'm not sure how many of those will move forward, but it does feel like an album made with a license to experiment and figure stuff out, with something polished still being released at the end.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-seventh album: #497 Prince - 1999 So much of…”
The one hundred and seventy-ninth classical recording: #776 Ralph Vaughan WIlliams - Symphony no. 4 This symphony's large, loud opening belies the smaller sound that follows. It never recedes completely, but goes back to be more stylized and more straight laced, at times quiet and menacing rather than being in your face like the start. It still alternates, with a very frantic third movement building to the triumphant finale that matches the start of the piece. It's big and bold, but that's what works.

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The four hundred and ninety-sixth album: #496 ABC - The Lexicon of Love It's difficult to fairly judge a band when it's so clearly the inspiration for a Drew Tarver Comedy Bang Bang character... The Lexicon of Love hits all the known beats of the synth pop love songs, the bit of break up, the highs of love, the harmonies and the tortured metaphors. It's well put together, but to be honest, it's a lot and not always convincingly so.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-sixth album: #496 ABC - The Lexicon of Love It…”
The four hundred and ninety-fifth album: #495 ABBA - The Visitors The book contains two ABBA albums on its lists. The Visitors, however, feels quite a stand out work, with the music less disco poppy and more mature and at times a bit darker. It still has their sound, but it feels like they're experimenting a lot more than before. Considering what was happening in the group, When All Is Said And Done is a really powerful standout. Two For the Price of One is the only negative standout - aside from the vocals, it just doesn't feel like it matches the tone of the album anywhere else. Still, this is probably Abba's album that connects with me most, fitting my sensibilities most. It's raw and emotional at times, with so much breaking through the production that hits so much better.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-fifth album: #495 ABBA - The Visitors The book…”
Permanent link to “The one hundred and seventy-eighth classical recording: #411 Pablo de…”
Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-fourth album: #494 Rush - Moving Pictures I…”
The four hundred and ninety-third album: #493 Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club As a band that originated from the Talking Heads, we get a somewhat different sound from the Tom Tom Club. As much as it has its experimental moments, it also has a more traditional sound, with some of the harmonies and simpler songs really feeling like a throwback to the fifties and sixties. Under the Boardwalk, for example, really is structured like a classic track if not for the various distortions and synthesizer sounds that appear around the edges of the songs. It's very commercial, sure, and not as innovative, but it's at times subversive in how it does that. It doesn't feel like something that is its own major standout track, but it's so much fun to listen to.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-third album: #493 Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club…”
Permanent link to “The one hundred and seventy-seventh classical recording: #429 Alexander…”
The one hundred and fourty-eighth book: #87 The Nose - Nikolai Gogol The Nose was a quick read - a short story that took me about half an hour to read through, which felt right for the tone of the story. In short, a barber finds a nose in a loaf of bread, which turns out to be a commissioner's, and the missing body part lives a life of its own for some time. It's a commentary on class and vanity and how society reacts to it, with there never been an explanation. It's a fun read, though, even if some of the satire doesn't fit our current experience.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and fourty-eighth book: #87 The Nose - Nikolai Gogol The…”
The four hundred and ninety-second album: #492 Bobby Womack - The Poet The Poet is a more modern soul album, which means it manages to avoid the pitfalls that annoyed me in earlier tracks - with disco on the way out, the long dance breaks are gone and instead there is a longer real rhythm section in each of the tracks that's still quite enjoyable, and just a lot more variety in a track. I really felt myself bopping along to the music several times as I was listening.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-second album: #492 Bobby Womack - The Poet The…”
The one hundred and fourty-seventh book: #86 Father Goriot - Honore de Balzac The tragedy of Father Goriot builds through the novel, only becoming clear at the end. The titular Father Goriot is seen throughout the book as an odd father figure, somewhat destitute and made fun of by those around him, even as some of our protagonists take more to him. Only slowly do we find out about his daughters, who he spent his wealth on to give them good marriages, but who desert him when the money runs out. It's sad, a comment on the social mobility of the time, and quite a sad read. It's not always the easiest read, but the observations of Honore de Balzac ring true here in a wait that still feels quite accessible.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and fourty-seventh book: #86 Father Goriot - Honore de…”
The four hundred and ninety-first album: #491 Bauhaus - Mask While I certainly don't mind dark tracks or more depressing music, gothic rock is one where it pushes it too far for me. Mask is very theatrical in its darkness and sound and it's too much for me. A track like Hollow Hills strikes the balance into being creepy, but the title track Mask takes it so far, for example, that it's almost farcical. It feels like it goes for a specific audience, at least for a modern audience, and just isn't as engaging of a sound now

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninety-first album: #491 Bauhaus - Mask While I…”
The one hundred and seventy-sixth classical recording: #435 Johannes Brahms - Symphony no. 3 As much as I talk about the more aggressive, wilder pieces in here, it's also nice to have a piece like this symphony, one where it's less about the bombast, but it feels more stately. It's quick, it's formal, but it's still big without going extremely loud with these sounds. The lack of loud brass instruments creates a more striking sound, one that gets you listening more intently and keeps it more in depth. It still retains its majesty.

Permanent link to “The one hundred and seventy-sixth classical recording: #435 Johannes…”

January 2024

Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-third TV show: #681 Lost Apparently I forgot to…”
The four hundred and ninetieth album: #490 The Gun Club - Fire of Love There's something that never quite worked with me on Fire of Love - it's decent punk rock, with a heavy blues influence, but it didn't really reach the point of having an impact. It's not loud, it's not big, it just feels like it never quite went anywhere engaging. Not bad per se, there's just not as much to it as I would have hoped.

Permanent link to “The four hundred and ninetieth album: #490 The Gun Club - Fire of Love…”
The one hundred and ninety-second TV show: #412 Red Dwarf Because I had to get to the best seasons before writing this up (or so I was told), I watched the first five seasons and started the sixth season of Red Dwarf before starting my write up. It's been worth the wait - the first season focused a bit too much around the antagonistic relationship between Lister and Rimmer, while being more of a workplace comedy in an odd, deserted setting. As the show progresses, our protagonists are more capable, they work together better and instead the series focusing on proper SF comedy. It's not hard to draw the comparison to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - if only because the same design lineage is clear with the BBC design department doing similarly good model work - but also because it starts to apply the sci fi conventions and takes it to its comedic extreme, while telling some interesting stories with them you couldn't quite do otherwise. Once it starts properly, around season three or…

Permanent link to “The one hundred and ninety-second TV show: #412 Red Dwarf Because I had to…”
The four hundred and eighty-ninth album: #489 The Human League - Dare It's always odd when an album's most known track closes the album - Don't You Want Me is track ten out of ten, but it feels bigger. Not that the remainder of the album doesn't meet the same poppy vibes, but it does sound that much darker - the lyrics can be incredibly nihilistic and some of the tracks go for a slow, dark sound that becomes quite threatening. It still doesn't feel like it's a divergence - the sounds mesh well together - but there's more to their tracks here than I expected based on what I knew of the band beforehand.

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The four hundred and eighty-eighth album: #488 The Psychedelic Furs - Talk, Talk, Talk Between yesterday and today, it feels like we've reached a point in the list where we get some good examples of their genres, rather than giving you something outstanding. Talk, Talk, Talk is the standard post punk sound, some new wave influences on top of that, but I never get any real satisfaction or specific moments mixed in the track - a bit too much by the number to be exciting.

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The four hundred and eighty-seventh album: #487 X - Wild Gift Wild Gift feels like a very by-the-books punk album. There's a fair bit of jazz and ska in there - leaning towards some flavour of new wave - but it mostly makes it feel a bit toothless and the album doesn't really have the impact you'd expect from an album like this - the album ends feeling quite bland, which feels bad for what the band is trying to achieve.

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The one hundred and seventy-fifth classical recording: #907 Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gruppen While one of the headline mentions about this piece may sound big - it requires three orchestras, each effectively playing their own piece but interacting with each other - it doesn't feel like that's what dominates when you start listening to Gruppen. If anything, it feels the opposite, where the sparse and disjointed groups of notes (from the name of the piece) often come in on their own, standing alone. I suspect listening to it at home doesn't help with that small feeling - normally the three orchestras would be set up so listening to this piece becomes as much a spatial experience as it is auditory, but it's hard to replicate that (and no, there are no upcoming performances I could attend that would cover this...). It's a fascinating piece in that sense, with an ambition that doesn't quite follow its goal but that remains captivating nonetheless.

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Permanent link to “The four hundred and eighty-sixth album: #486 Black Flag - Damaged Damaged…”
The four hundred and eighty-fifth album: #485 Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts Sometimes some experiments work out really well and the combination of Brian Eno and David Byrne working using these forms is where this goes well - the ambient nature of the background of the tracks, combined with the samples as both vague lyrics and more musical content is really nice. It's accessible when it feels this style would normally be a turn off and I found myself listening to the extras of the later releases of the album more than I normally would do.

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The four hundred and eighty-third album: #483 Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret There is something intensely sensual about Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret that goes past the shock title. The tracks are about romance and sex, but it has the sultry female vocals that amplify that, lead vocals that go in and everything set up to emphasize those moments. It's progressive, aggressive, smooth and good to listen to, and it even feels like it culminates in a more romantic song as it slowly shifts over the course of the album.

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The one hundred and seventy-third classical recording: #798 Herbert Howells - Hymnus Paradisi While I was a bit apprehensive about the title, this work is a lot newer than we might expect based on when most of the hymns occur in the book. The work is hymnal, sure, but it feels so much more delicate than most, the smaller choir and more focused music creating a closer connection to the work. It feels more emotional - the sense of loss in the earlier movements, culminating, it feels, in a more jubilant celebration in the Sanctus movement - there's still some solemnity, but there is some celebration in there as well. It feels like there's a journey in here that works well with the themes - both of loss and paradise.

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The four hundred and eighty-second album: #482 Motorhead - No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith Listening to No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, I was struck by the difference the live performance makes. The music still sounds good and it's not the song quality that matters, but there's something about the sound taken from a recording in the middle of the tour that changes the songs - a bit of weariness, the repetition in the known bits, but mostly how it's that bit more raw, with less polish. It makes for a more compelling listen - not in that you feel you're in the room, but the emotions come through more, and some of the hoarse introductions to the songs add a bit more.

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Permanent link to “The four hundred and eighty-first album: #481 The Go-Gos - Beauty and the…”