It's Christmas time, and with Christmas come ghost stories. This Christmas, we watched two of the BBC's ghost stories made for Christmas. The sixty-ninth TV show: #932 The Tractate Middoth While put in this category (and aired as a horror on Christmas Eve), it feels like this doesn't quite become a good horror story. In fact, the story ends when it feels like the real story is about to start, set up with a lot of warnings, but instead the first act is the full thing. What we get instead is a mystery story, a hunt for a missing will, where a mysterious entity interferes a full time - at the end to make sure the right people get the will. The ominous warnings after it, however, about how it gives a gift that isn't to be trusted, never gets resolved and is instead a cliffhanger that doesn't get resolved. We genuinely wondered if this was some sort of ad break or otherwise a part one, but no - it's only that. If this is the best sample of the revival, it doesn't really work. The…
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Permanent link to “It's Christmas time, and with Christmas come ghost stories. This Christmas…” -
The twenty-seventh classical recording: #741 Maurice Ravel - Bolero We recently listened to an episode of the podcast Radiolab that, in part, discussed this piece. It repeats the same melody, adding in more instruments and going up as the cycle progresses. The basic melody is familiar from elsewhere, but it starting at a simple point and repeatedly building up from there is what really makes it fascinating. Knowing that mental illness influenced the composer adds to the mystique of the piece, but the build up is fascinating regardless, as coloured as it is by what comes into it being played each time. The repetition really feels enhanced on each iteration, with the instruments bringing their own colour. Fascinating, if odd as a concept.
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The sixty-eighth TV show: #569 The League of Gentlemen Thanks to the anniversary season, I've got a good excuse to write about this show. I watched Inside No 9 early on in the list and watched Psychoville on our own. We also finished watching the series a few months before we started on the TV list, so otherwise this would have taken its time. When I covered Little Britain earlier, one of the big thoughts was that League of Gentlemen did a lot of it better - a few sketches seemed like direct, but worse copies. Now, some things feel a bit dated (LGBT issues were still being explored), but that's something where there is at least some progress and exploration with the themes they explore with their characters. The series explores a lot of dark characters and themes, some slightly supernatural, some gross, but mostly brilliantly portrayed and memorable. The most interesting is that where these start off as isolated characters, in the third season the storylines mostly started to grow to…
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The eighty-fourth album: #84 The Beau Brummels - Triangle A lot of the bands we get to now don't have a major contemporary presence. The Beau Brummels don't have a major impact these days and to be honest, it's not that surprising either. A lot of it feels like folk rock, with some psychedelic instruments mixed in - Magic Hollow does sound magical (or, considering the season, Christmassy), but on the whole it follows that genre quite closely. It's done well, but I can't find any real standout tracks or moments in here that truly got me.
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The fourty-sixth book: #1003 Metamorphoses - Ovid Here we have an epic work, trying to catalog myths and historical adventures from the beginning of Roman mythology to the day when, or just before, Ovid was writing it. It's an interesting collection, enhanced by me knowing a lot of these stories, but through the nature of the work sometimes focusing on a different aspect - or probably, most of the time, serving as a primary source. Pretty much all of the stories focus on a transformation happening during it, in several different ways, and while I didn't really go looking for it, it worked out well. Obviously, a lot of the enjoyment that I get now comes from the translation, as that impacts readability. For my money, I suggest a prose adaptation - while the original would have been poetry, forcing a translation into that doesn't necessarily work, and the stories become more readable this way.
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The eighty-third album: #83 Love - Da Capo Away from songs, I go back into psychedelic rock.And while it's big in places (especially in one example I'll get back to), a song like Orange Skies has that while still keeping itself contained and personal as well. It sounds out there, but can still connect. This goes through all of them, with songs that don't feel as out there, but move in interesting direction without quite constraining their sound. The variation in songs, on the other hand, is shown in the single 7Is 7, which switches to something more like proto punk instead, sticking to the standard instruments and sounds and considerably upping the speed. It immediately brings the energy back in the album, even if it might not be a perfect fit. The other half is its own thing. It's not the first song to have a half to itself, but it's still a rarity for the day and here stands as a nearly twenty minute show off piece for the band. There's some interesting performances here, I suppose…
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The sixty-seventh TV show: #606 The Blue Planet For our sake, we included Blue Planet II in this watch - might as well, right? - and as that finished tonight, I'm checking it off today. There's something amazing about nature documentaries, especially when done right, especially when the behaviour is new to you. Blue Planet works well with this, as the sea life it documents is so much more alien to us. Whether you go deep underwater, in places where people have not been seen before, or stick to the rock pools that rely on the flow of tides, there's so much weird life there is. This is, of course, partially down to it being a great place for life to develop and diversify, which shows here. There are sea animals that are more intelligent and show quite different behaviour, while others are recognisable, simple, but also show where else it can lead. And it feels like a lot is discovered even as these documentaries were being made, showing how much more complex this life is than we think…
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The three hundred and twentieth song: Life on Mars? - David Bowie Through all of this list so far, as well as the commentary after his recent death, David Bowie has been building up for me, and this feels like one of the songs that defines why. It's him, but it's a different sound, confident in the way it sounds unlike other songs to some extent. It's a bit alien, as intended, and it works here. The three hundred and twenty-first song: Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T.Rex The chorus of this is probably the most famous part, and all of it confirms how rock has moved on - we've entered the era of glam rock, and that stands out. It sounds darker, more aggressive than Life on Mars, while featuring some blues as well. It's a heavy sound, that ends up in your face, while taking some extravagant stylings in there. The three hundred and twenty-second song: Blackwater Side - Anne Briggs In the mean time, folk still has its shot and shows it can have a far greater impact with how little it does…
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The eighty-second album: #82 Moby Grape - Moby Grape Take the Beatles' harmony - still a touchstone for me - and add heavier guitars to it. Moby Grape isn't a household name anymore, in part to a number of legal difficulties, but there is a definite feel listening to the start of this album that they fall effortlessly in the ranks of their contemporaries, with peppy and blues songs that are similar to what we heard elsewhere. I think it's difficult to discover an exact voice in here still, but there's something between the voices, slower speed and use of guitars that makes feel it's there - I just need to go through more albums. What's still clear is that they are accomplished - the song writing is good, it's performed well, it all sounds good andworks for me. There didn't seem to be any really weak songs.
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The sixty-sixth TV show: #16 The Good Old Days In contrast to the previous few shows, here is one where we genuinely struggled to see the point to keep watching - so we didn't. The Good Old Days harkens back to the old days of musichall entertainment, replicating that for a TV audience while everyone is dressed in period costume and gets excited about these old acts. Sadly, it's a real mix on whether or not it hits, and most of the time it doesn't. I don't care much for the songs and a lot of the humour just isn't funny. There were some good acts, but it's too few and far between to be enjoyable. This type of entertainment ended decades ago, replaced by TV, and while there is a lot of theatre entertainment that does work well, this just isn't and doesn't. It's harkening back to the good old days - but those aren't my days.
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The eighty-first album: #81 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Safe As Milk I've mostly been exposed to Captain Beefheart from Peter's earlier listening to and reading about Trout Mask Replica, a later album of his with some odd elements in its production. Based on the name, too, I'm expecting some psychedelic sounds, or at least ones that stand out and will be weird. Instead, so far this is more blues rock, with some odd details added, but some weird changes sneak in and the songs make more use of contrast. Dropout Boogie has a hardrock vibe, but drops in these really light moment. I'm not sure where it's meant to lead, but it brings in these sudden surprises. These are the songs that stand out from beyond the blues ballads though, which don't seem as impressive. Sure, they are competently done, but I can't say it feels that much better. It veers between, in a way that shows some progress in the music, but is mixed in how well it actually works.
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The sixty-fifth TV show: #100 Green Acres Yeah, this was a pretty quick watch. Green Acres doesn't sound like it's a very inspiring show: a succesful lawyer moves from New York to a farming village to become a farmer himself and drags his socialite wife along, even though it's not her scene and she's not happy there. They have to adjust to live on the farm - one that clearly needs a lot of work. It's incredibly silly, though, with a bunch of great sight gags and excellent execution of some of the standard gags. The characters themselves are interesting - sketched with more depth than you'd expect. Soon, however, the show starts to show its true face. The show adds a lot of meta elements - at one point, for example, the characters comment directly on the credits that show up on screen, while another shows a subtitled conversation between a pig and a horse. The subtitles continue into the next scene, until one of the characters calls it out so they stop. It's a delight to watch the show…
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The sixty-fourth TV show: #717 Bleak House I'm effectively a year or two away from reading the novel, but in the man time I've seen this adaptation from Bleak House. I'm sure it's edited in what it covers (including, I understand, an added character to make scenes flow better), but what feels more noticeable is that the show speeds up its storytelling compared to, say, Brideshead or Pride and Prejudice. It feels more like a modern show in that end, rather than imitating the pace of what's expected from these older shows. It works to keep the show a bit more interesting and accessible. A comment on us, perhaps, but it's more considered in what it does and how it does it. It still keeps time for the significant moment, just doesn't linger where it isn't needed. The performances stand out here. There are some of the greats here that clearly dominate, where you would expect the performers too: Charles Dance allows those around him to shine, but stands out, as do Gillian Anderson and Denis…
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The fourty-fifth book: #44 Humpry Clinker - Tobias Smullett Another epistolary here, although here it's satirical for sure. We have five writers, each writing to someone else, with all five traveling around the UK to different places in aid of the health of the uncle. We explore these characters through each other's and their own eyes. There's an exploration of society at the time, with a number of different viewpoints from the different characters. The story is quite good and has some interesting moments while also telling its story quite well. It does struggle to stay focuse din place - or perhaps it's better to say I struggled with its focus sometimes - which led to some moments where I lost parts of what was going on, but for the most part it worked well and became an entertaining work.
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The eightieth album: #80 Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again Before I started listening to this album, I was expecting a collection of country songs. THe presences of Stephen Stills and Neil Young shows this isn't the case and instead we get rock. There's a heavier bass line here than what I've been getting from the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young supergroup, which makes this sound even harder - and different from what I expected. There's still quite a bit of folk rock in here and the music moves to country (where are the boundaries, right?), but what strikes me most is how the sound changes more than I'd expect. Just as the different genres are still spinning off at this point, here the album seems to fill several voices and niches, with decent success. While others experimented - the Beatles, for example, had distinct sounds too - it is rare that we get this variety of songs.
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The sixty-third TV show: #588 Clocking Off They're the stories of employees of a textile factory in north west England. While focused around one or a few characters, the different people intersect and appear in different stories, as they normally would. It's a diverse range of stories, even as most tend to be pretty dramatic. It deals with different stories from cheating, to starting new relationships to an amnesia story that led to some harrowing discoveries. While mostly standalone, some parts of the stories overlap to create setup for more dramatic turns later in the series. The sense of continuity really helps, setting up a lot and giving us an easier in for later stories. It's a difficult watch, though, as parts are quite harrowing and difficult to deal with. There are moments of levity, helped by some amazing performers who are able to layer their performance to really make the dilemmas clear, but there are often difficult moments and, especially in season two, some storylines…
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The sixty-second TV show: #639 Little Britain I've struggled with Little Britain for a while now, and I just couldn't. It's mostly just not funny and as a sketch show, once it lost me I couldn't find anything else in it. For a show starring a gay man, there are a lot of gay jokes (and not just laughing at homophobes and the like, but perpetuating a number of LGBT stereotypes that feel misguided and because of that, just not funny. The same thing applies to other groups as well, the disabled coming off badly as well, but this is one place where I really felt it and where, I think, it shows how entrenched these attitudes are in our society. Where this didn't apply, a number of sketches fell flat because they relied too much on repetition, wanted to become funny by creating catchphrases but didn't do any of that. You know where it's going, the show leans on it and it gets boring. There are a handful of cases where the show works and it sometimes does hit the mark - even in sketches that…
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The fourtieth comic: #742 Mushishi In the quest to read a number of manga series that need to be covered so the anime can be started, we read Mushishi. Not sure what to expect beforehand, I was drawn into this world of Japanese spirits. It combines ideas from folklore with its own mythology and lore and creates these short stories - five per volume - set in this world. There are a handful of two parters and a few details carry over, but for the most part these stand alone - we, like the main character Ginko, wander into people's life, see them deal with their problems and leave again. It's a powerful formula and with stories that don't always have a happy end, it's a good mix that somehow feels grounded. The fourty-fourth book: #1002 Aesop's Fables - Aesopus Staying in the world of spirits, Aesop's fables are nice little stories of talking animals and gods, designed to teach you lessons - just as you'd expect. They make for amusing little stories with some good morals - although some…
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The three hundred and eleventh song: Into the Mystic - Van Morrison We start off this batch of 1970 songs with some nice folk rock, giving a feeling of detachment from the world leading into a feelingo f nature. The lyrics are apparently intentionally using homophones, creating more of a feeling where it can mean what it wants. A song that's more about the feeling than a specific meaning, really, and that shows - and works. The three hundred and twelfth song: Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - James Brown This feels like the song James Brown is most associated with, one of those big funk songs that must have felt somewhat controversial. It's especially aggressive in its lyrics, not as much when it relies on the bass, but it's more about the ongoing repeating rhythm that words are almost improvised over - again getting you in a mood, but a different one here. The three hundred and thirteenth song: Ohio - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Here we get a song with an actual message…
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The seventy-ninth album: #79 Country Joe and the Fish - Electric Music for the Mind and Body As I go deeper into this list, I encounter more albums I've never heard of before. That's the case here - the band is new to me, the album is and I don't recognise any song names. In my quick research (Wikipedia) this seems to psychedelic blues rock, which seems like an interesting combination. Is relaxed rock a thing? That what it feels like - quite calm blues, but with some of the unsettling sounds that come with sychedelic rock mixed in. It's an interesting sound to listen to, not one I'd seek out, but the set up works for me here.
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The seventy-eighth album: #78 The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band It sounds like there was this back and forth around this time in Music, with Pet Sounds influenced by the Beatles and that album influencing them right back for this album, while also pushing the idea of a concept album. In the mean time, all of these songs have been repeated so often that there aren't as many surprises on here. Compositions like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds may not be at the top of a list, but the composition, the effects used to slow down and speed up the song work well, especially with the psychedlic imagery that it includes and invokes. At the same time, songs like Getting Better and Fixing A Hole may have some interesting features, but they also feel like they are less known because they don't relaly offer much new - there's no fresh sound here as there is elsewhere and a lot of the tricks get a bit buried sometimes under the vocals that are fairly standard for the Beatles - still…
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The thirty-ninth comic: #297 Tex Today we dive into our first western, and of course we start with one from a country that's second most associated with it - Italy. I'm still not quite sure why that country loves them so much, but it's a definite trend in movies that clearly transferred to comics as well. Tex Willer is a ranger (although for part of the work we read, he's demoted due to an incident that was clearly implied not to be his fault, but that he did get the blame for. He travels around, taking on outlaws, saving the innocent and especially bringing down those harming others. There is still plenty of bloodshed, but there's meant to be a moral difference. The art is good, although it works best in colour, but the stories are absolutely of their time, which irks at times. There are some good things here, though, and on the whole it held up better than I expected.
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The seventy-seventh album: #77 Nico - Chelsea Girl This is, at its base, a folk album, the songs and lyrics support that. When it was being made (as I might have discussed when covering the titular song from the album), additional production elements were added - strings and the like - that add body to the music. On the whole, I think it works to create good songs, but there are places where it feels a bit much - almost comical - and they overshadow Nico's voice. Her near-monotone adds to the effect of the music, injecting plenty of emotion but also setting a mood that supports the folk music and keeps it grounded. Sometimes, it seems like the vocals are there to support the music, which is where it's not always succesful. On the whole, though, there is something calm and inspirational in here, something that connects - but especially when the production don't overshadow everything else.
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The fourty-third book: #43 A Man of Feeling - Henry Mackenzie I've struggled a bit with sentimental novels before. The issues I had with them were here - I think the difficulty of the language makes it more difficult for me to keep up with narratives that are disjointed at times, it's not suited to sleepy commutes. Here, however, it was more readable than Tristram Shandy, even if it was more disjointed (thanks to its found documents interpretation), it also didn't rely as much on information that can be more difficult to keep track of. It works well enough and fun enough to play.
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The fourty-second book: #42 A Sentimental Journey - Laurence Sterne The previous Laurence Sterne novel obviously didn't work for me, but here it did. Probably because, although it meandered through some stories, they held together with a more coherent story and narrative. It kept things more focused, so the story made more sense - I guess it worked better this way today. The end of the book is rather abrupt for it, but personal and tantalizing, and it felt fine as saying how things could continue.
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The twenty-sixth classical recording: #13 Antonio de Cabezon - Diferencias And finally, we move away again from the purely choral songs to something with more instruments and content. While it still retains the heavenly sounds from religious music, the different, probably at the time more common sounds are a welcome change as it expands what is possible. It's perfect as a background music for a Civ game too, it is pleasant and what we've been looking for in the earlier songs. It harkens back, in a way, to the first few that we covered, but now brought a bit more up to date with more strings.
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The seventy-sixth album: Astrud Gilberto - Beach Samba When I hear samba, the carnival sounds of Brazil often come to mind. I know that's not quite true, but the album here feels like it goes broader, drawing a lot of bossa nova to create a melodic, but also inwards sound. It's actually very gentle and relaxing, great working music. At the same time, there's a nice set of lyrics and themes that keep everything interesting. You Didn't Have to be So Nice is especially stand out, with a quite kid singing along as well. It's a decent mix of songs, mostly relaxed, in a way that really creates a break from the rock songs of before while staying swinging and avoiding more maudlin tones.
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The seventy-fifth album: #75 Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind It's nice to have a gentler album in a stretch of albums that feels quite rock-inspired and seems set to add more of that. Nina Simone's somewhat sombre voice sounds amazing on this, drawing attention to itself and not needing much accompaniment. The lyrics of the songs come out well, their tone and mood working better with those. While powerful, Nina SImone's voice never goes large. It's strong, conveying sadness and anger, but it stays constrained in a way that works well to get that message across too. It's a great combination that I've mostly just enjoying everywhere. The fourty-first book: #41 Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne I didn't get today's novel. There were a lot of digressions, comments on the contents of the book itself - I swear every other chapter started with a comment on the start of a chapter - and a lot of other things that distracted from the novel, to the point where I lost the plot repeatedly and had…
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The sixty-first TV show: #602 Beckett on Film Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot has always fascinated me as far as its concept goes, even if I hadn't had a chance to actually watch it yet. So to see it come up as the next TV show from our bucket made me quite happy. What we went on was a mixed journey, with some engaging plays (Play and Come and Go come to mind, as well the first Act Without Words) and some that seemed pointless (like Endgame). The latter is probably the most interesting, as it highlights the problems I find with the work. The wordiness wouldn't necessarily be too bad, but being wordy while also at time nonsensical means that I lose interest fairly quickly. The absurd staging - or lack of staging altogether - doesn't help there either, and a lot of the quality here came, to me, from whether the actors and director managed to do it well. This didn't always come down to the usual suspects either, but it seems to be down more to whether it all lined up right. It's been…
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The three hundred and second song: Black Night - Deep Purple This feels like a road trip track - a group of travelers on their Harleys driving across endless American plains. The music is loud, straight forward but it drives you on. The lyrics were written to be incidental and it shows - there's a few words that jump out fitting the theme, but they don't matter as much. For that genre, it suits it well and the solo songs alone drive it well enough. The three hundred and third song: War - Edwin Starr Originally a Temptations song, the single release was tied to a performer whose career would not be ruined by it. Adding a James Brown sound it, we get a more soul, looser and because of it angrier sound to it. There's a lot of energy in it, driving the structured chorus to jump out from the chaotic verses surrounding it. It's a powerful effect that sustains the song well and the sing drags you through all of it. The three hundred and fourth song: (To Be) Young, Gifted, and Black - Bob and…
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The seventy-fourth album: #74 The Yardbirds - The Yardbirds (Also known as Roger the Engineer) A mix of rock songs here, with some baroque touches as well as harder sounds, The Yardbirds created an album here that's pleasant to listen to, generating a lot of energy. It feels fairly representative of late sixties rock, which feels like a good thing. It's not overly ambitious compared to the sounds of others, but it's a good, solid sound.
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The thirty-eighth comic: #582 Parasyte Parasyte has an interesting premise - these parasites invade the human race and take control of several people, fighting mostly for their survival. Our hero gets infected by a parasite, but his mind isn't taken over. He starts to fight these parasites - in part in self defense as he struggles with questions about how he fits into this world. It's an interesting story, exploring the struggle of humanity versus needing what needs to be done, with some vague environmental comments, in particular in how you treat those who are less than you. What's disappointing, then, is that the story ends rather quickly. There is an ending that's written to, taking out the strongest of the parasites, but it never addresses what happens in the larger world, or more important, never really resolves the question of whether our hero is still human, whether the parasite is changing him or whether it's for the best. In the end, is he doing the right thing? It's asked…
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The twenty-fifth classical recording: #773 Sergei Prokofiev - Lieutenant Kijé Suite Composed as a film score, the movements feel like they support the different scenes - moving from mood to mood. It's fairly delicate, even the boisterous sections being fairly contained compared to the big orchestral pieces we've had before and only really used for emphasis. There is a lot of joy in the early movements and the composition keeps up a lot of energy - the fourth movement, Troika, has more speed in it, but one that follows from elsewhere as well. Even the final movement, the Funeral, maintains this with a sombre tone that still keeps moving. While some of the impact of the composition is probably lost without the film, the score sounds good on its own and does take you through the story. The phases are distinct and compelling and make for some good listening and relistening. It might not be stirring, but it's incredibly satisfying to listen to.
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The thirty-seventh comic: #90 Mopsy Mopsy didn't seem to amount to as much, to be honest. It's a newspaper comic focused on a single (most of the time) woman in the 1930s. She's somewhat independent, working a job and going out to find a man. There's (obviously) no real continuity, but it's the character that roughly stays the same. The comics are amusing - dated, but quite good in places with some decent characterization. It doesn't always land, but they mostly did and they did work. I enjoyed reading them - but too much of it wouldn't be worth it.
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The sixtieth TV show: #290 Minder Some shows don't ever quite connect with you. Maybe it's because this is a working class show and I'm just too middle class for it (I've changed man, I've changed). Perhaps it's the difference of three decades between when this show was shot and when we watched it, casual racism included. Perhaps, even, it's that supposedly likeable characters weren't to me. I think part of it is a selection of episodes - Arthur, one of the leads - doesn't always come along as well and is too much trying to be a grifter or dubious dealer rather that someone I root for. On a show like Hustle, these characters work by picking the right targets, but here the targets don't feel as sympathetic. Dennis Waterman's character, Terry, is more of a mixed bag. Working with the right people, he's got decent comic timing and comes across well. He comes across as a decently convincing lead, but there are times when the action is a bit forced and there are times when he misses some…
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The twenty-fourth classical recording: #12 Cristobal de Morales - Motets We're back! Time for some old motets and such, and so the choral multiple voices play to sound angelic. While the skill involved in these is impressive and I know I'm not quite educated enough to appreciate and understand the full set of techniques used, it doesn't fill me with the reverence that's meant to come from these songs. They don't speak to me, they don't evoke much of an emotion in me and doesn't give the journey I hope for. It's probably not its fault - it's a work of its time - but given how much more we've seen done with this, I prefer the baudier, more diverse 'folk' music we got (even) earlier in the list.
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The seventy-third album: #73 John Mayall's Blues Breakers - Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton Yeah, there are two names in there - Eric Clapton joined the band later in its life, so you get this odder combination. We get a blues album here, a bit of rock, nothing too loud, but with some decent tunes and okay, if forgettable lyrics.The music just doesn't suit me for the most part, though, and I didn't really find anything in it - it played, but it seemed like that was about it.It didn't connect and lost me early on because of that.
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The fourtieth book: #40 The Vicar of Wakefield - Oliver Goldsmith So far I've been down on more of the serious books, while appreciating the satires and funnier books. That's not a pattern that always holds, but it certainly influences my initial thoughts. WIth the Vicar of Wakefield, the reverse applied. There are two parts - starting with a satire, playing with the ideal life novels and adventuring with its ups and its downs. Partway through, however, it moves to become more of a melodrama, as the problems and bad decisions that have been building up in the past chapters become a real problem ending up with the titular vicar in debtor's prison. It ends up with a happy ending, but goes deep and serious for a while. The second half felt more compelling to me. The first, describing country life of the day, doesn't really connect because it's so far away. It's fine, but intentionally a bit too far up itself and it didn't work. In the second part, the characters become more and more…
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The fifty-ninth TV show: #507 Knowing Me, Knowing You I haven't gotten to The Day Today yet, the predecessor of this show in a way - or rather, where the character of Alan Partridge originated. However, I have listened to the preceeding On The Hour radio show, which sets it up just as much. That Alan Partridge, originally a sports caster, can be presenting a chat show is a testament to how quickly it felt like a developed character. A lot of it builds on known stereotypes that hold up even now - this was parodying Top Gear before that show was established, amongst other things. The main part is that it's hilarious, trading on a lot of general tropes and subverting them, mostly from incompetent hosting that pushes far beyond Alan Partridge's limits. It works well, though and we raced through this. Now to watch the follow up series for more.
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The thirty-ninth book: #39 The Castle of Otranto - Horace Walpole This is said to be the first gothic novel, in part thanks to its addition to the subtitle, but it also doesn't appear to have refined it quite yet. There are the supernatural occurences, which mix up the story nicely, but for the most part they don't inform the story as much as I wish it was. Instead, the supernatural events, like a giant helmet falling out of nowhere, feel more like they reinforce the story, sometimes as a plot device, sometimes to emphasize what is already happening. There are a lot of events of death and betrayal, but I couldn't quite keep up with the events - perhaps not quite in the right mindset, but I felt I missed out on some of the hooks as well. One step at a time.
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The thirty-eighth book: #38 Emile - Jean-Jacques Rousseau I struggled with this book. It's not really a novel, more a treatise on how to raise a boy left in your charge. It's about ways to do it, techniques and plans for it. But there's no real story here, characters are flimsy and more strawmen to create point, except for some anecdotes that intersperse the explanations and justification. A lot of it is dated, parts of it I disagree with, and everyone is idealized to show how things would go. I'm sure a lot of the advice would go different based on who it's being done to. At the same time, there are parts that feel ahead of their time, and are interesting to see how some now normal practices seem to have been different at the time. Still, this isn't a novel, there is no story and there are no real characters, and on the whole it's just boring to read. Sure, it might be influential, but it doesn't feel like it matters much as a novel - more as a work of non-fiction. And fiction is…
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The fifty-eighth TV show: #880 Bron/Broen We've taken some time to get through this series. A murder drama in Danish and Swedish that tends to have quite a few conspiracy theories in it, meaning that we have to pay a lot of attention, which is exhausting enough. But it was so worth it. We watched the first two seasons, and the third is in our queue to catch up with at some point. The murder mystery is one part of that, which in both versions has had several layers, some social commentary and enjoyable misdirection. The start of the second season was a bit weaker, but that was in part to set up later episodes. On the whole it works well. Where it shines, where I get more of my enjoyment and where most shows tend to rise or fall, are the relationships between the characters. Like any crime show with two leads, you have the straight laced and the relaxed one. Here, however, Saga issues with social interactions - she's possibly on the autistic spectrum - which makes her blunt and straight…
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The seventy-second album: #72 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators While, I must admit, the Beatles are one of my main touchstones for psychedelic rock, the thing that makes them sound poppier to my mind are the lack of hard guitar riffs, usually peeferring a gentler sound. The 13th Floor Elevators show that things can be different though, as they have the heavy guitars in here that come from their garage rock roots, as well as the shoutier vocals.The psychedelic elements are still there though, with weird sounds dominating part of the music and adding an otherworldly feel to what we'd otherwise have as a fairly standard garage rock album. The trick is compelling enough to work, but the lack of variety means that while the whole is good, I struggle a bit to identify individual standout tracks on the album. It's a decent album, what it is trying is interesting, but falling between two genres as it does, I struggle to get a grip on it. Other bands…
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The fifty-seventh TV show: #772 Californication I've done my best to try and get into this show, or even understand it. It has a lot of Showtime "we can show boobs" moments and a lot of it is about the vapidity of these people leading their life in a world of drugs and sex, while at the same time making their way through it with all the smaller things that inhibit this - children, bills and trying to form more mature relationships. David Duchovny is amazing at playing this, balancing the knife edge of likeable and abhorrent, but the world is one that drives me away. I don't care about the struggles and I don't really see any development. A lot of it felt like more of the same. It's a fine show, but it just isn't for me.
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The seventy-first album: #71: Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme While I've covered a couple of folk albums before, with Bob Dylan the most notable, Simon & Garfunkel feel like they lift the genre to a different level. Wile the basic sounds are still there, there are many more effects, instruments and ideas mixed in that even beyond the lyrics, the songs sound quite distinct, and the feelings a song is meant to evoke come through strongly in the music. Cloudy sounds floaty, Homeward Bound has the rhythm of a train and Dangling Conversation feels distant. There's even a Bob Dylan parody on here that hits the sound and the voice quite well. A lot of it is like poetry, the way the words flow and the lyrics sound, as well as the images it creates. It's a lovely sound that keeps impressing me. None of it is ever very complicated, but the songs are all so different that the album as a whole feels different and more layered. It makes for something easy and lovely…
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The thirty-sixth comic: #700 Great Teacher Onizuka This was a bit of an odd manga. The basic premise doesn't sound too bad - a graduate from a fifth tier university loafs around all day, mostly without a job, until he wanders into being a substitute teacher. He then decides to make that his calling, although he's not exactly a standard teacher, isn't great at imparting normal lessons, but turns out to be amazing at dealing with trouble classes and troubled students. Then the oddities set in, with some Japanese touches and a lot of fan service. There are plenty of voluptous students, as well as mothers and teachers that the teacher is impressed by. He avoids getting entangled with students - although more because it would cost him his job than because he actually feels he shouldn't - but is fairly perverted. There is a feeling that the bad boy (he was in a gang before) was meant to be something the teen boy readers should identify with, but I felt it was off putting. The gang elements…
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The two hundred and ninety-fourth song: Up Around The Bend - Creedence Clearwater Revival In what sounds like clear country rock, this is more wholesome music than we hear from most rock bands, especially with the harder guitar sounds used here. It sounds like it's about people having a good time. It's not too complicated, but it's the contrast that makes this song appear here, even if it isn't amazing. The two hundred and ninety-fifth song: Layla - Derek & The Dominos Here's the contrast to that, in a way, with a heavy, recognisable guitar focus that I feel a lot were inspired by later. There is a lot of raw emotion in this declaration of love, apparently inspired by Eric Clapton's future wife, then still married to George Harrison. There's a lot of that coming through in the music, in part because of the way the track is build up between the different instruments and with all the overdubbing. It has so many layers on which it works - the music, the lyrics, the meaning - and it…
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The seventieth album: #70 The Rolling Stones - Aftermath My version of Aftermath starts with a song I've praised before (and reminisced as I remembered the shows I watched with it), Paint It Black, and goes up and down from there. Stupid Girl is hard and loud (with a troubling message, but perhaps a sign of the time and culture). Then we get Lady Jane, slower, more sensitive, and more baroque rather than hard. Hearing this come from the same group, on the same album, feels like quite a change. One that makes sense from their blues roots, it's a different direction for the music to go into. While the album features several songs about relationships, they are not love songs. Not musically, for the most part, but also in a lot of the lyrics. There are songs about power struggles, about finding a place in the world, about more raw sexual encounters and generally the more real questions that often come up. It's more personal - even if a lot of it is satirical or taking things on from other…
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The sixty-ninth album: #69 The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out! For an album focused on lyrics in a lot of places, The Mothers of Invention don't sound that good on their debut album. Frank Zappa's solos sound fine, but a lot of the harmonies sound mostly shouty. Who Are The Brain Police? is the first song where this really connects, although in a way where the weird effects and sounds make for a coherent intersting whole rather than shouting played over decent, but not always ambitious rock, with some odd touches thrown in. Go Cry On Somebody Ele's Shoulder is where the album hits lyrically, the doo wop sounds clearly suited to the performers while having sharp lyrics that undercut standard love songs. It feels like a well crafted mockery. Onbce you get into Trouble Every Day, the second half of the double album, it has established this sound and it comes together better, with a decent track and good, effective lyrics. It's also the lead in for the more experimental section, with…
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The sixty-eighth album: #68 Paul Revere & The Raiders - Midnight Ride For most of the songs, Midnight Ride feels fairly conventional for its era, rock songs with some harmonies and a clear country bend in places. There's quite a bit of (early) Beatles, with some harder songs like, in fact, Kicks, that having more of a Stones influence. Stepping Stone is a clear and fairly well known example of that. Those songs are part of what saves the album. Leading the B-side is All I Really Need Is You, a song with its own different sound, experimental and more interesting to listen to. It's that, and some of the songs that follow, thart really create something distinct here that make the album a standout for me. Not all the tracks held up after that, but the few experiments are what saved the album for me. It's still not the best and ultimately feels like a forgettable album.
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The thirty-seventh book: #37 Julie; Or, the New Eloise - Jean-Jacques Rousseau More letters. And Rousseau's style doesn't work for me. While Clarissa had the letters written in distinct voices, I didn't get any of that reading about Julie. There are several different characters writing letters, but half the time I got lost who was who, because nobody was addressing anyone else and it all seemed the same. Add to that that a lot of the letters don't really have such interesting content - rather than talking about events and feelings, it seems like it's all about housekeeping, how their perfect life is nicely staying at home and how they have the same routine and how great that is. In other words, this is a story on how to live your life, hiding as a novel, and I didn't like it.
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The sixty-seventh album: #67 The Mamas & The Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears Listening to this album, I hear shades of the Beach Boys' harmonies, with female vocals adding to a 'hippy' feel of the album. There are times where this sounds really good, and there are some good songs on the album. The covers are adjusted to their sound, but I'm not sure that always works for me. For example, "Do You Wanna Dance" is robbed from the energy that makes the original listenable, not giving me much to work with and boring me far more. I see how they want to go for the orchestral sound, but it's a bit too slow and doesn't enhance the song for me. Songs written for their own voice work better, but still don't feel inspiring or give me much confidence. But, I mean, then we get to California Dreamin, where (as we discussed in a past songs entry) it all comes together and does work. The harmonies sound good, the lyrics work and the message comes across well. It grabs you…
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The thirty-sixth book: #36 Rasselas - Samuel Johnson How much can I say abou this? Rasselas is prince of Abyssinia and, bored with life in a valley, goes out to see the world - mostly Egypt. He travels, has some adventures and mostly talk about philosophy. Unlike Candide, it's written straight, and where the former included some real life events and happening, even if the timeline doesn't work out, all of Rasselas' visits are fictitious, without anything else to back it up. It makes it feel inconsequential, and with the stories not really feeling inspiring, I'm not sure I really saw the point of it.
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The fifty-sixth TV show: #438 Northern Exposure We've only jumped around this in the first three seasons, as we're planning on watching this for a while longer. The show takes a while to get running, and that put me off for a bit - the first season isn't that strong, until it starts taking off in some later episodes. It mostly shows its potential in the dream sequences that start earlier - they subvert what's otherwise a pretty standard fish out of water story that I feel got dull rather quickly. I know the beats - the doctor who, in this case, is assigned to a small Alaskan town, doesn't want to be there, but has to stay. The people around him try to include him while life keeps going on around them, and they break down their shell. It takes a while to get past that, and early on it made me unsympathetic towards the show - I get the beats, but they don't impress me. The show gets a lot better when it lets itself go weird. There are several reasons - the characters become more…
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The two hundred and eighty-sixth song: Is It Because I’m Black? - Syl Johnson It feels difficult on a song with such a specific message, because the lyrics have such a specific message you don't want to undercut. Here, it's a slow blues song that during the extended musical riffs fail to inspire, more often boring me. They're the ponts where I keep waiting to return to the lyrics, where a more powerful point is made on how society isn't allowing him to move on. It's even more powerful considering his own history, with some of the most sampled songs that generally don't get credited. The two hundred and eighty-seventh song: I Want to Take You Higher - Sly & The Family Stone Although we supposedly stay in the same genre, this song has a lot more energy and body to it. It swings along and even though it relies on repetition, there are more changes in the music, several performers and a sound that comes together better. Sure, it's shallow, but it's a better listen. The two hundred and…
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The sixty-sixth album: #66 The Kinks - Face To Face I feel like in the two first songs on this album, we're seeing two sides of the Kinks. While both are reminiscent of Beatles and Rolling Stones songs, the first is harder, while the second is a bit more of a ballad with psychedelic rock influences in its sound. It's the second that dominates the album after that, songs about real life at a gentler pace. There are some weird choices in there, with sound effects mixed into songs that were meant to link them together, but just feel like they interrupt the songs without reason now. For the most part, it is a nice set of rocky ballads, with a handful of songs that rock more and try to get across a more aggressive point than the life stories in the quieter songs - in the former it swings towards punk. It's all about simpler things in life - again moving beyond love songs, but not trying to make their messages to big most of the time. We've had Sunny Afternoon on the songs list a while ago…
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The sixty-fifth album: #65 The Monks - Black Monk Time Time for some garage rock. Unlike what I've heard before, the album clearly focuses on the rhythm, with very loud drums and the vocals over htat, again relying on repetition. It feels like hard rock, one where the loudness matters a lot. The lyrics have different influences, but the album plays much like a long concert, with shouted intros and the first song introducing the band. Still, the album shares a lot of common elements - the songs aren't always that distinct, using repeated elements in the way the chorus and harmonies go (as much as you can call them harmonies). There are many elements in here that I do appreciate - there is a lot of energy in the songs and I like the move towards punk, a streak that's there musically as well as lyrically. It really feels like we're in an era where music is trying to mean more, with a youth voice arising that is trying to have an impact. For, it does it by sounding good while doing it.
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The thirty-fifth book: #35 Candide - Voltaire Candide felt a lot more readable as a book than the previous few. It was reminiscent of Gulliver's Travels in places - visiting a very mythical El Dorado, as well as setting up other odd situations and miraculous survivals. It's fine with the tone it's going for - over the top, clearly to go against other works that might be less miraculous but try to be serious. In that sense, it's more like Gulliver's Travels: The tone is satirical, making fun of some established tropes, but also making a philosophical argument. I sort of got the point, but it didn't matter too much. When you accept the outrageousness and bad luck - taking a tour around a bunch of recent disasters and at one point meeting several deposed kings - it's quite interesting to read some of the banter and discover the characters. There's some preachiness to it, but for the most part it's paced well enough to still work. A welcome break after the past few setups.
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The two hundred and seventy-seventh song: Sister Morphine - Marianne Faithfull The eerie vocals of Marianne Faithfull make this partially Rolling Stones-penned song the chilling song that it is. As a song about addiction, this was apparently prescient for her later life, but on its own it also stands out as something that strikes me as somewhat harrowing. It's dark, and while the melody was written first, the lyrics overpower that in the sentiment and sound of them. The two hundred and seventy-eighth song: Okie from Muskogee - Merle Haggard Here's a country song that, as so many relies on the lyrics to stand out. And the tone of them... One of the best I can look at for this one is where we place King of the Hill - it is sympathetic with those living in a smaller mid western town, but also makes fun of them, a sympathetic look at the flaws if you will. It sounds decent, but is hard enough to read that you can always find something in the lyrics. The two hundred and seventy-ninth song…
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The sixty-fourth album: #64 Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde Starting off rather racuous with a loose 'Rainy Women', the album sets up a misleading first track. All of this sounds like Bob Dylan - the sound is still there, just, perhaps, slightly bigger in sound in places. That doesn't mean the lyrics are ignored, but everything seems build up nicer around it. It also gives the songs far more of an individual feel. When there is so much of a same style, songs can start to blur together, and while there is a clear risk of that with Dylan, it doesn't happen here, each time it was enough of a difference to make me sit up and recognise those differences.
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The thirty-fifth comic: #705 The Sojourn I have read and seen a lot of different takes on World War II and the ones I enjoy best - possibly because of my own background - are "life during..." narratives - the events of people resisting but also adapting to life in wartime. Military stories generally don't interest me as much, and it's rare that WWII narratives have it in a way that's palatable. For me, it's the small human stories that get me. You see, Sojourn is set during the second world war, in conquered France, where a soldier taken away by the Germans escapes the troop train. His escape stays hidden because the train was bombed soon after, without survivors, and his papers were found. He's thought to be lost, and gets away from his fate that way. He hides for some time, aided by the villagers while trying to remain undiscovered. It ends with him following his love to Paris. It's a recognisable story, starting small and avoiding the big action elements you often see in…
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The sixty-third album: #63 The Byrds - Fifth Dimension Back to our folk rock band, it feels like we're in a new stretch of folk music on the list (Bob Dylan is next). The same gentle rock plays through this album, with lyrics that are more refined and intelligent and require some more work. It's musing about life and the world a lot more, the title track inspired by Einstein's theory of relativity. It's a lot more challenging and interesting this way. The music also feels more ambitious and I do have to say that to me this is quickly became better than Mr Tambourine Man. Perhaps it's because psychedelic rock infects the album as well. The subject matter suits it better, and Eight Miles High soudns just different enough in the same way Beatles songs will tend to go. It creates some strange and experimental sounds that take the music in its own direction, whilch is where its appeal for me really comes in.
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The thirty-fourth book: #34 The Female Quixote - Charlotte Lennox It's been a while since I finished a book - partially taking a rest after some difficult books, but I've also been distracted by Jojo's adventures still. The Female Quixote was a tricky one to get back to, in part because by its nature, it isn't one that works well for me. As much as I enjoy the pastiches of existing styles, these old books have the downside of not having a modern translation - Don Quixote seems in part more readable because a modern translation updates the style, while the (now) random capitals and oddities in laying out feel like they make this novel more difficult to read. It's not quite worked. At the same time, I don't care much for the romance novels this is commenting on, and other works have been better at making fun of them. Perhaps it's because this is based on a society and worldview that's unfamiliar to me. It's making me look forward to more modern novels, although next is some French…
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The fifty-fifth TV show: #823 RuPaul's Drag Race My LGBT colleagues have been into Drag Race a lot recently and their obsession made me want to watch it. Of course, with it being on the list, it might not have come up a lot... so I spent half an hour trying to find the strip so we could watch it. Peter wasn't sure - not being into drag - and so this was almost trying to win him over. He loved it and that suited me, as I have been gettin ginto the show a lot more than I expected. For full disclosure - we watched the fifth season (described by my local experts as the best) and the first (so we could continue watching everything else). The distinction is clear, with more entertainment challenges in the later scenes and loads more polish. But what it shows most of all is that this is a type of performance that requires a lot of different skills - both make up, styling and couture, as well as performance through dancing, lip syncs and comedy. I think personally I go slightly more for…
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The sixty-second album: #62 Fred Neil - Fred Neil I don't think I quite got folk music. It really feels like my parents' music - or mostly my father, in my case. It has a dated feel to it and it takes some time to get past that. Bob Dylan manages to do that with some evocative lyrics (though it may be a bit much to describe him as purely a folk rock musician) and later fine experiments, but Fred Neil doesn't do it quite as well. While there are certainly some interesting sounds in here, for a large part they feel like basic country . The lyrics, when they're present, don't do much for me and on the whole it didn't get me, where other albums do so from the start. It's not that the lyrics are bad, but musically they simply don't inspire me. Case in point is the big song from the album, Everybody's Talking. Sure, it sounds fine, with a decent message, but it just never manages to grab me and make me interested. A bunch of the vocal stuff he does - mumblng at times, a weird vibrato at…
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The sixty-first album: #61 The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds In an era with famous albums, here is the Beach Boys' peak (or so I understand) and hence one of the best on its own terms. It is as experimental as the earlier Revolver, but with a more consistent sound. It feels more like variations on a basic sound - quite major variations, but it doesn't jump as much as Revolver. On the whole, that's to its benefits, it feels like a true album rather than a compliation of songs, where the whole still retains theme while each song can have its own identity. The Beach Boys are incredibly strong vocally and that shows up in most of these songs. Not just the harmonies, but also the individual Wilson songs like Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulders). The Wall of Sound influences are just as strong, but what is important here is how it never drowns the vocals, but supports them far better than I feel I get from Phil Spector's works. It's not as afraid to pull back. For the instrumental tracks…
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The twenty-third classical recording: #358 Camillle Saint-Saens - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso By usually going in blind, I always wonder what's next for me. This is a piece written for a violin solo, the orchestra supporting it and at times you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was just the violin. It starts with an introduction that's just the violin, with the remainder adding body in places but never overpowering it. The tempo changes do well to evoke the rushed and calmer emotions in places. It's mostly a very exciting, energetic piece that really gives a pleasant push. The sixtieth album: #60 The Beatles - Revolver I took a trip towards pop music as well, which today served me another Beatles album. For me, it doesn't really start until Eleanor Rigby - while Taxman sounds fine, Harrison's writing feels like it is a few years behind Lennon and McCartney. The tonal shift is so great, and for the better, and the placement of Taxman feels like they mostly just want to get it…
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The thirty-fourth comic: #532 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Going through a bunch of manga, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is one of the famous, long running series. Running for thirty years, it follows members of the family of Joestars, who all possess certain mystical powers, and have to fight certain villains. Each character gets a section of the story, with the previous sometimes making appearances as side characters - if they survive. There's still always a main JoJo, and what has been interesting is how their stories have differed. The first is straight-laced, the good boy who can't keep up with the perfect adopted son. The second and third are more callous, but on different levels - they are quite different characters still. They grow throughout, learning to control their powers - although again, this feels like they do it on different levels. And that's what is interesting: the adventures for all of them are quite different from each other. The downside is that the battles can feel…
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The fifty-fourth TV show: #291 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Usually when you talk about spy stories, you think about James Bond. Action, explosions and excitement. Even less ostentatious series focus on that angle. Of course, real spy work doesn't work that way - it would be way too visible and unnecessarily complex, and I'm sure that once we get to shows like The Americans, we'll see a more realistic approach. When Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy starts, it has some actions elements. Fifteen minutes in, however, the character set up as the main character (if you go in blind, not knowing Alec Guinness is the lead) is killed in a big action scene and we go to focus on George Smiley, Alec Guinness's character, as he tries to find out who the Soviet mole is in the British intelligence agency. This is the point where I, of course, have to remind myself this was during the height of the cold war, where so much more espionage was necessary, and I was reminded to read up on number stations as an…
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The fifty-eighth album: #58 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited Bob Dylan's blues has become a welcome companion on this list, a rocky but gentler sound that takes you into its world. Bob Dylan's lyrics stay as biting and complex as ever, but here the music has taken a step up too, creating more of a mood. Like A Rolling Stone is the obvious example of that, but Balld of a Thin Man's shrill organ creates a creepy vibe that really enhances the songs far more. The songs, then, remain interesting, and the evolution notable. And as much as later singer songwriters seem inspired by him, at the moment he seems unique as well, something enhanced by the rock influences he's building on in this album. The fifty-ninth album: #59 The Who - My Generation There are more ballady numbers on here than I'd expect considering the sound and reputation of this album's titular tracks. They are still supported by some loud guitars, but there are real gradations to the aggression in the songs on this album. I…
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The fifty-seventh album: #57 The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man There's something really pleasant about this album. It's folk rock, with songs written by Bob Dylan but a fuller sound to the songs, the instruments added more rhythm to it. At the same time, the arrangements aren't as complex as, for example, I'm getting used to from the Beatles. The Byrds are in a good middleground, with lyrics that feel smarter but songs that are enjoyable to listen to. That's the crux of it, really. The songs are happy and upbeat and made me feel good, even if they're a bit sadder. It works well.
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The fifty-sixth album: #56 Bert Jansch - Bert Jansch This mostly comes down to a nice folk album, deeper than so many other songs, but back to a focus on normal life rather than the more biting lyrics of Bob Dylan. It's gentle, with some impressive guitar play, and perfect on a stressful day like the one I'm writing this on. I needed some time to get into this and really have it come through, but the more I do, the more it makes that relaxing. The more I hae a change, the more the lyrics sink in. It's a lovely sound that connected the moment I let it.
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The fifty-third TV show: #803 Fringe Like Eureka, we'd been eyeing Fringe as a potential show for a while. Created by JJ Abrams after his Lost success, this is listed as a X-Files based show, though developing in a different direction - something that's up our alley. The show starts off with a bunch of monster/sci fi premises of the week, with some ongoing storylines but not a very visible meta plot. They aren't the best and I admit we skipped ahead to episode 10, where they realised they needed to improve these aspects. What starts developing is a mythos that thrives on mystery, a plot that starts to involve parallel worlds and other concepts like it. It's driven by a bunch of interesting characters, with plenty of in-built conflict but also one where the like and dislike developes naturally as the plot progresses. The Bishops - the two non-FBI agents, father and son, who serve as the scientific advisors of the fringe division, alternate between being helpful with the plot, providing…
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The fifty-fith album: #55 The Beatles - Rubber Soul At this point, having listened to later works by the Beatles through the songs list, a lot of these feel fairly standard, but with some of their psychedelic influences sneaking in. Drive My Car and You Won't See Me are standard songs of theirs (although still good), but Norwegian Wood brings in the exotic sounding sitar. Something we've heard plenty since, but interesting here. Then there's Michelle, which sounds like it's based on the French chansons. There is a lot of variation, and it all sounds good - certainly not always the best, but far more interesting this way. On the whole, there's a lot of the familiar older Beatles songs here, but also more experimental sections that show how they're growing as artists - something I believe they will continue to do. It doesn't feel like their best, but this is still a good album.
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The thirty-third comic: #436 Squeak the Mouse This comic was an awkward one to read on the train. A take off of the Tom & Jerry cartoons, as well as partial inspiration for Itchy & Scratchy, this comic is violent, gorey, with plenty of adult themes and a lot of zombie-like creatures. While normally, these cartoons have a lot of cartoon violence where nobody gets visibly hurt, there is a lot of blood, gore, people being torn apart and skulls carried under arms here. The other side is that there is a lot of nudity in here (aside from the main characters, most wear clothes) and several explicit sex scenes - not long ones, but still there, and they are slightly odd. It's vaguely played for humour, but it's still weird. Beyond that, it follows through on the standard comic instincts, just with its own bend on these cartoon worlds. It's short, but that way it feels like it mostly doesn't wear out its welcome. Too much of it is gratuitous, but that's the point of it, and it balances…
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The thirty-second comic: #272 Ashita No Joe This was a bit disappointing. I must admit I don't have a great feeling about sports based media, as I can't always connect, and the titular Joe is an arrogant ass who never becomes likeable. He doesn't really grow away from that either and I didn't see a point rooting for him. I kept wanting him to fail, because he would need to learn from it, but except for learning more boxing moves, he didn't seem to learn more. The action scenes look good, but don't have the weight they should have for me - probably because I don't rate boxing high, but also because I don't care much for the characters. The one I rooted for most was the one described as only being there for a coward, and beyond that I would have preferred to see it more as a disciplined character, with a naughty streak, but not to this level. I believe there's more sports stories like this coming up, but this doesn't feel like a good start.
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The fifty-fourth album: #54 BB King - Live at the Regal BB King is one of those names that I have heard plenty before, but where I would have trouble identifying any songs. Listening to it, his blues sounds good. There's a certain assuredness to his voice that I don't think I've heard in other singers, not going as loud or for other tricks, but instead keeping it grounded and pleasant. I'm happy to just go along with it, which is where it sounds that good. The songs for the live album are well chosen, showing off the guitar performance as well as his vocal skills. It doesn't fade into the background as the jazz albums do, but it doesn't go too loud and agressive either. It's a smooth, nice album throughout.
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The two hundred and sixty-ninth song: My Way - Frank Sinatra This is one of those standards that almost had me waiting for the famous chorus. Melancholic, it feels like an end and a goodbye. Fitting, perhaps, as this is the last Sinatra song, and these orchestral songs that were common earlier are going from the list. It's the skill that still shows through here, so much smaller and personal even as the full music kicks in. It's something to belt along to, even if Sinatra started to hate being this associated with it - it feels like a classic for a reason. The two hundred and seventieth song: The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack We have a deliberately slow song here, I suppose intended to indicate some sort of loving, but here I don't really feel that emotion come through. There's nothing that hooks me and mostly it really just bores me. It's gentle, it's technically perfect, but it doesn't do anything for me. The two hundred and seventy-first song: I’m Just a Prisoner…
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The fifty-second TV show: #845 The Trip The third season of this show dropped around the time I started my rewatch of the first two series for this list. At this point I've finished all three (again) and it's been a worthwhile journey again. The formula is simple: comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon travel through an area of the world - first the north of England, later Italy and Spain, and visit six restaurants to write a review/travelogue for the Observer. What we get is a story of these two men traveling, hanging out and having fun together while in the background their demons come through. They are, at times, antagonistic, but what comes through is that first of all, they enjoy hanging out, trading impressions and at times just singing in their cars. As far as I can tell they play exaggerated, less self aware versions of themselves, playing on their public persona, but they are at their most delightful when they drop that act and just have fun together. The other part is how…
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The thirty-third book: #33 Peregrine Pickle - Tobias George Smollett I just can't get this book. The writing feels pompous - overly complicated, not ironically, but because the author seems to think he feels smarter that way. It made for a story that I couldn't follow for the most part and lost interest in. It bounced around a lot anyway - there's a large Clarissa-like section with the story about this woman and the men who pursued her, but it felt a bit out of place. Fanny Hill shows these can be easier to follow, Monkey: Journey to the West shows that these stories can be more intriguing. Here, however, it doesn't hold together. It's probably still an age thing - the book is too far removed from me, making it that difficult to penetrate, but I don't think the characters doesn't work as well: we'll see this with the upcoming comics write up as well, but it shows up here as well. I wish I had more to say... it just doesn't work here.
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The twenty-second classical recording: #528 Jean Sibelius - Finlandia Short but powerful, there is something rousing, but especially sophisticated about this - it's not bombastic..Of course, it's difficult to judge the full piece without seeing the accompanying tableau of images, but there's certainly a strength in it, with choral parts suggesting more tendernes. It's a poem, taking you through several emotions and to its conclusion.
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The fifty-first TV show: #642 Angels In America Angels in America is a mini series that, watching it for the second time as I watched it for this list, feels special. It features some of the biggest Hollywood names - Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Al Pacino - who put in an amazing performance together with actors less known at the time such as Jeffrey Wright, who more than rise to the challenge. A lot of the actors pull double - or even up to quadruple duty - reflecting the origins of a stageplay, where the actors would jump between roles, switching genders and being in places in the scenes where they fit best. All of this is in service of these characters, well drawn and three dimensional. The main ones grow, the lesser just as often are there to allow the others to grow, and they play off each other. You can focus on how effectively Meryl Streep disappears into the role of a (male) rabbi - and she does - but that's just a practical step needed from the play. Her mostly silent Ethel…
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The fiftieth TV show: #515 Father Ted Encouraged by my husband and mother in law, I've tried to watch random episodes of Father Ted, but never quite got into it. Some of that might be because it got mixed with other shows, while other parts is that this show works best if you know the characters. The show works, to be honest, because it can be so stupid. It's predictable in places and goes for quite simple, but it's still all incredibly funny - I found myself laughing out loud plenty of times. Dougal and Ted work best for that, the gags are the best and I feel like there was a lot of improv going on between them. They're also surrounded by a great, memorable guest cast, which is as good. Graham Norton's appearances especially were a lot of fun. The episodes are incredibly well constructed with plenty of call backs and setup, as well as stories that stand on their own. Even the set shows this progression. It was a good run.
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The thirty-second book: #32 Fanny Hill - John Cleland Let's just say I have a lot of reading time on my hands at the moment. It was interesting to read some early erotica - possibly the first of its kind. It's certainly well written, and (possibly also because of its subject matter) more engaging than other works I've gotten to recently. It doesn't go too pretentious, while still putting in descriptions that go beyond the literal. It's an easier read - even if the sexual scenes did drag on in a few places. There were times when this was an awkward read, but considering how I breezed through it, it worked as a good distraction most of the time. More recommended from me than more proper novels.
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The thirty-first book: #31 Tom Jones - Henry Fielding Comedy can be incredibly time dependent and things that seemed funny once can be bad when you read or watch it later on. On the other hand, some can be ahead of its time and only hit later. Tom Jones appears to be the former. I can see the links to the stories in some other books read before, but there's little that connects as funny or makes for a good story. I guess I haven't read enough of the works this riffs on, while also having a plot that I never really got a hold on. All the way through, I couldn't get into it, and I more or less gave up after a while and tried to see what I could absorb. It's a pretty sad ending of it all, really.
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The fourty-ninth TV show: #740 Eureka Eureka has already been on my list of shows to watch, but at the same time I wasn't expecting anything too amazing. This show is listed as a drama rather than a science fiction show, even though geniuses inventing supernatural seeming things tends to fit in with the latter. Even then, it feels more like a comedy/drama, as the tone is usually quite light hearted and the B stories certainly always are. SARAH alone, the AI of Jack Carter's house, is voiced by the actor of another character putting on a feminine voice because Fargo, that character, is the one who installed her. It's a bit cheap, but they stick with it and it feels right all the way through. Despite the comedy, the (sometimes cheap looking) CGI and many action scenes, the show manages to create a group of characters that form strong bonds and feel incredibly real even when they're doing ridiculous things like chasing invisble cats. You do get attached to them and start to enjoy them…
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The fifty-third album: #53 John Coltrane: A Love Supreme A four track jazz album makes from another change from the rock songs we've listened to before. Listening to it, it feels like it has grown up a bit. The slow, to me boring parts have partially faded in favour of a more interesting sound with deliberate vocals and a at times a more deliberate, planned structure. I don't think there is much here that makes a lasting impression, which is a shame. I think this just isn't my genre.
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The fifty-second album: #52 The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today Despite trying to abandon the surf pop with this album, the Beach Boys still lead off with some light songs. It's not a bad thing, setting up a pleasant, happy sound. The complicated vocals set it apart, sounding more complex than other bands, and harmonising nicely in a way I'm not that used to hearing. It's so much more sophisticated and developed than other songs. The second of the half moves from the upbeat and happy songs to slower ballads. It doesn't go completely dark, but gets sadder for sure. It still has the technical qualities from the other songs, maybe not as lyrically impressive, but harmonising so nicely it sounds really good throughout. Having an interview at the end is interesting, but on the whole, quite meaningless for me.
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The fourty-eighth TV show: #584 My Family There are a lot of comedies that, essentially, revolve around the family. Roseanne and King of the Hill, for example, draw a lot on it. My Family draws on similar roots, in a wealthier family (read: more conventional TV family) that feels a bit more like the standard comedy family. Here the family has older children (starting at 12-18 years old, I think, and growing up as the season goes on) and the general tenor is one of parents who hate their children and would rather be on their own. It somehow feels incredibly rote and predictable early on, and it's not something the serie tries to avoid. In the early seasons, it's the kids that stand out. Being older, they can talk back more, and in particular Kris Marshall sticks out. He's the happy, optimistic one in the group, and his silliness really brightens his storylines, especially where he can also inject some more emotion into it. It makes him feel like a more realised character. Daniela Denby…
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The two hundred and fifty-eighth song: Say It Loud–I’m Black and I’m Proud - James Brown While not just a funky song, this is a song that also attempts to address issues in a time when civil rights were still and racism was rife. It works as good, contemporary 'anthem'. Not a protest song, but more an affirmation. There's places where it gets repetitive, but that's what sets the right tone to whip people up. The two hundred and fifty-ninth song: Hard to Handle - Otis Redding I just listened to an album of his, so it's good to hear a slightly later work. Released posthumously, this doesn't indicate anything about that - it's full of life, catchy and fun. Head bobbing good, really. It's more up tempo than he normally would, but it excites more and shows a range that's fun to listen to. The two hundred and sixtieth song: A minha menina - Os Mutantes Watching City of Men, and seeing a Brazilian act coming up for the songs list, made me wonder how it would reflect here. There is an odd mix…
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The twenty-first classical recording: #11 Nicolas Gombert - Motets I'm not sure I'm proficient enough to distinguish one set of motets from another. Here, while the polyphonic motets sound nice, they quickly blended with the others I've heard. There's no statement, no intent, and no story, as I've heard in others. It doesn't bring you further and doesn't elevate you. While the technique is impressive, the soul that I normally feel in these isn't really there.
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The fifty-first album: #51 Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul From the blues tradition, we go deeper into soul. The songs feel slower and, as covers, it's clear he's putting his own stamp on these songs. On the whole, that means a focus on the vocals, slower and more deliberate. It sounds good, but I do sometimes wish there was a bit more to it. It's good background music, something that's present but not overwhelming, but it's not something to exclusively pay attention to - it just doesn't deliver enough to make that worth it for me.
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The fiftieth album: #50 Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home Bob Dylan is back, and still sounds the same. While the lyrics are still equally meaningful, it feels like the music for this album is more complex and innovative, introducing more interesting elements than we heard in the first album. It's a bit more special, which makes it more interesting to listen to. The lyrics explore some different topics as well, reading up on them, making them more complex, although that's not always as clear. It means that the longer songs towards the back of the album feel more interesting. I feel this isn't necessarily always the case, but here there's more variation in the songs so that six to seven minutes don't feel as long.
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The fourty-seventh TV show: #661 Nip/Tuck That was an interesting show for me to watch. I don't deal with blood well, and most medical dramas get to me. A show where we see everything of cosmetic surgery, then, is at times unpleasant for me to wath, and I admit that for part of it, I had my hand in front of my eyes so I wouldn't need to see what was going on. What keeps you going is how much of a compelling drama this is. I thought it'd be fairly case of the day at the start, but that becomes less relevant as time goes on. It's a good thing - while they are used to address some social problems and had some preachy moments, they can also impede the continuing story. And that's the thing. They've created some compelling, complex characters that you can empathise with on more levels than you expect. There are also plenty of times where they are reprehensible, but you feel that way about all of them. No one is really right. They have been some really compelling stories... and it's a shame…
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The fourty-ninth album: #49 The Sonics - Here Are the Sonics For some reason, I thought the Sonics were one of those girl groups that were prevalent around this time, a strong female lead singer with backup. I was wrong, we're listening to rock instead. Quite a different sound. The Witch, the first song, starts off sounding vaguely Beatles-like, but a few seconds in shifts. The vocals change a lot of this, sounding aggressive and strained (closer to other shoutier rock bands), while the sound is odd in how non-fluid it is. It's proto punk for sure. Do You Love Me becomes a more traditional smooth song, a weird contrast in between the two. It's fairly conventional, one of those covers that seemed needed for bands of this time, evne if it seems unnecessary. As always, the covers are fine but not exceptional, performed well and showing the skill the Sonics have. It also feels like they were enjoying this plenty - they're not just there because they have to be, as the early Beatles covers…
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The fourty-eighth album: #48 Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg As I've said before, live albums always have a different energy from studio album, and unlike James Brown, this makes full use of that. The crowd is excited and Lewis' loud music and style matches it perfectly. Great Balls of Fire is still one of the center pieces of the performance, but it's surrounded by rock adaptations of blues songs and straight up rock songs. It's all wild, any sloppiness part of the song as it's being performed. It's high energy and works to wake you up. It made me happy to listen to.
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The thirtieth book: #30 Clarissa - Samuel Richardson If you wondered why it's been a while since I covered a book (but why would you) this is the reason: I was reading the longest book in the English language. It hasn't been smooth sailing. To be able to get myself through, I split my reading into two parts. The morning commute was for Clarissa. The afternoon was for comics or another diversion. A bit cheap, but it worked. As I said before, epistolaries aren't my thing, and as the book that follows up on Pamela - not as the character, but as Samuel Richardson further developing his style and writing a book from a similar foundation, but taking a different twist. While Clarissa is still an idealised character - everyone has only praise for her, only those who are against her don't (but only once they're made out to be bad people). On the whole, it's still a bit much, but it's not as far over the top as Pamela was. Switching between viewpoints helped a lot here, with letters from many…
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The thirty-first comic: #888 American Born Chinese For a title that covers the comic really well, it also doesn't quite explain its scope. Starting with three distinct storylines, one, the most basic, is that of a Chinese teen growing up as a definite minority. The second is a retelling of parts of the story of Monkey from Journey to the West, which I've read before. The third, at first at odds with the others, if that of Danny, who is visited by Chin-Kee, his cousin, who is a walking Chinese stereotype. They vary in how big they play the story line, the first of these far more low key, but the different tones come together as the three storylines merge. While the first storyline starts off as slice of life, it gains magic the same way the others do. This is expertly done, and makes a lot more sense now that I've seen them. It becomes the ending of fable, with a morla that makes you think about stereotypes, minorities and their place in the world and maintaining identity. It's what…
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The fourty-sixth TV show: #519 Pride and Prejudice While I'm not a fan of historical dramas, we enjoyed watching this in a single day. Partially this is down to Peter's enthusiasm, partially because the circumstances of this rewatch were a lot less draining than the first watch. But that's not down to the show. What makes the show more enjoyable is that it's not all heavy, but that it instead adds a lot of levity to the story that's present in the book, but is easy to hide through what can be stilted dialogue. They cast a number of comedic actors that are capable of playing the more serious roles as well, but know to control the level of this. I feel I've seen David Bamber everywhere since the first time I've seen this, but he is a distinct character. The actors in more serious roles do well too, and the two leads of Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth do incredibly well, playing their mutual dislike and unthawing of their relationship well. It feels like there are places where it takes…
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The thirtieth comic: #647 Monster This was its own rollercoaster. Monster is a crime thriller, with a brain surgeon following the trail of a serial killer... or someone who manages to get others to do that killing. The story would work as a book, but the graphics add here, especially for the effect of seeing Johan, the aforementioned serial killer. Although initially focused on Dr Tenma, on the run from the law while trying to prevent further killings, the cast slowly expands to include others affected by Johan's action, looking to find or stop him. Most of them are affected by the orphanage that made Johan what he is, and the mysteries surrounding it. There's some mystery here, surrounding what happened, but the revelations are at such a pace that there aren't a lot of mysteries that really plague you. It's far more about the journey to find Johan and how different people deal with this. It's certainly bloody - something manga can get away with more easily, but it suits the tone of…
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The fourty-seventh album: #47 Buck Owens & His Buckeroos - I've Got A Tiger By The Tail Next up we have a country album that plays out as you'd expect - it sounds quite familiar. Friendly, some happy, some sad, but drawing from the same core. It sounds good and Let the Sad Times Roll On was really effective for me. Several of the songs are quite smart in how they're put together - nothing that feels like it pushes the boundary now, but it works well as a great example of what the genre sounds like. Wham Bam, on the other hand, feels like it plays with and tries to reinforce the stereotypes. On the whole, the album is good, there's good music here, it just doesn't do much for me personally. There's nothing here that grabs or interests me that much. Some songs have some interesting lyrics, but it mostly goes the same places repeatedly, done competently but not amazingly so.
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The fourty-fifth TV show: #628 City of Men I'm currently watching the final episode of the series, which is fairly meta, as both a clip show and a behind the screens setup talking about the production of the series with others. It seems to be just as much about how the actors move on. Starting off with child actors - even at eleven - is always risky, and here they pulled it off. Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) has an effortless charm that pulls him through a lot, while Acerola (Douglas Silva) goes through a lot, and the emotions are believable and played so well, we seriously felt for him at so many points. The show relies heavily on them and they pull it off well. The series is about life in the Brazilian favelas, the slums that are around so many places. It deals with the poverty, the organised crime and the racism seen. Acerola has a kid at 16 - a kid raising a baby, with all the learning of responsibility that entails. It's dark at times, worrying, and it makes you worry about the…
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The two hundred and fourty-ninth song: I Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin Another Burt Baccarach song, Aretha Franklin covers it in one of its most famous renditions. The melody sounds a bit off to me compared to the versions I am used to, but it swings better and suits Franklin's voice far better. The background vocals add to that, adding a bit of a soul feel to the song that suits it well. The two hundred and fiftieth song: The Snake - Al Wilson Continuing the rise of soul, this song comes in with quite a brash sound, trumpets dominating some smooth vocals. It creates the feeling of a fable being told through music, some of the vocals adding some eerieness, but the message also coming across quite well. It sounds as much of a performance pieces as it's a song, but that adds to the size of the song really well. The two hundred and fifty-first song: Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins Singers And so we move into gospel music, probably one of the best known ones in the genre. It's…
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The fourty-fourth TV show: #581 Spaced Spaced feels like a bit of an odd show. I appreciate it for that reason, because it matches with me and my experiences in so many places. Daisy and Tim are 20-somethings who haven't quite grown up yet and are trying to find their way in life. They move in together, not knowing each other too well, and have to masquerade as a couple to keep the flat. They hang out with their friends there, in a way that feels pleasant. The characters are a bit larger than life, but it suits the way it's filmed, which is a bit bigger. There are a lot of references to other works (some of which I get, some of which I don't), plenty of dream sequences and a sense of throwing many things in. Despite that heightened, the characters feel very human and recognisable.
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The twentieth classical recording: #590 Sergei Rachmaninov - The Isle of the Dead Dark and slow, this recording sets a definite tone that the title implies. It starts heavy - apparently imitating rowing - and has the shrill sounds that, at the very least, often seems imitated in films for deaths and funerals. The sounds move more towards the glorious, part of the grand landscapes it is trying to invoke (and invokes in my imagination). I genuinely got drawn into how big it got, how it build and how it went through different phases. There was more going on and even though there isn't text in here, it feels like it builds a story regardless.
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The fourty-third TV show: #493 Heartbreak High Heartbreak High is a teen drama, a soap opera set in a high school addressing the concerns of teenage kids while also showing some of the teachers' lives - although the latter seem to matter less. There were some good parts in this - an early dispute about free speech and power of teachers versus limitations of the students made for a decent early episode. And in the early episodes of the series, which we focused on, there were some touching moments. There were also a lot of shallow elements that don't seem to matter, or that don't connect otherwise, and it seems like some of it starts going in circles. Furthermore, I've seen more of these when I was younger, and there are some elements I've seen before. But yeah, being more grown up, so many of these problems just seem so small. It doesn't help that this has, well, soap opera acting. It's fine for most, and a lot of people grow into their roles, but there's time when we see cartoon…
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The fourty-sixth album: #46 The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones When you think about the Rolling Stones, you think about the hard sounds, with a fair amount of shouting and hard guitar sounds. And while there's a bit of an edge, Route 66 sounds far more like blues when it starts. It feels softer, less aggressive than I would expect from the Rolling Stones. It's relatively clean, and I sort of miss the dirtiness in this. At the same time, this is down in part to multiple songs here being covers, that aren't quite as adjusted to the band. And in that sense, they are better performers of covers than the Beatles were, here creating a sound that elevates the song quite a bit and adds its own touch. What's odd is how Phil Spector is credited for some of the songs, and plays background instruments on one of them. I wouldn't have expected those two streams of music to mix like this.
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The nineteenth classical recording: #10 John Taverner - The Western Wynde Mass Choral masses are the bread and butter of the early works on this list. It's where most music (that survived) would have been written for, and the choirs still inspire an angelic feeling. Based on an existing text, the music this is set up sounds lovely and high, mostly relying on the higher voices to really create its melody. While the words have meaning, I don't really need to understand them to flow into the atmosphere the work creates.
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The fourty-fifth album: #45 Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty It feels like, with this album, we have pop settling further. I can't really point this as being another genre, which it seems like I normally could do. Here they're just good songs. Not quite wall of sound, but with a nice bit of production surrounding Dusty Springfield's vocals.I believe she later moved more towards soul, which also shines through, but it feels like there is a bit too much production. It sounds good - perhaps at times a bit more superficial as other artists become, but it becomes a good collection of songs, about love and others. Her rendition of You Don't Owe Me really stands out favourably here. It's less sweet, still sounding as well developed. It shows some extra range beyond what some of the more poppy songs are. On the whole, nothing stands out here as too different, but it's a really good pop album.
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The fourty-second TV show: #698 Rome As a rewatch, this was interesting. I have struggled with it, to be honest. I started jumping around a bit more than I did to get through this a bit faster, but that was fine, as I still got the longer plot threads. I think a lot of watching this fell down where it came to combining these threads. At times I struggled to keep track of different characters, especially when more are introduced, and I think I mostly struggled to see a bigger picture in it, it never became as cohesive. This is probably down to my attention span (and some would say occasional boredom), and I know historical dramas aren't a genre I enjoy too much most of the time. I think that's what got me here, it sets a pace and expectations that don't quite work for me in any real context.
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The two hundred and thirty-ninth song: Montague Terrace - Scott Walker The sixties were a time of experimentation in music, and this feels like a part of that. Montague Terrace has a sound that implies grandeur, with booming vocals, a focus on violins and an explosion of sound about a minute in. At the same time, I'm not sure it ever quite gets it right in the way later songs do, but it feels like the likes of Queen have listened to this and got inspired by it. It's impressive in its sounds and how the vocals want to come across. The two hundred and fourtieth song: A Day in the Life - The Beatles I'm never quite sure what to expect when a Beatles song comes up on the list. I've heard this before - of course I have, I'll have heard most of their big songs before - but couldn't quite link the title. Its upbeat vocals feel at odd with the message, and the crash partway through the song, which reference darker events such as suicide. More interesting is that this song clearly has two…
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The fourty-first TV show: #23 Gunsmoke Our first western for the list is also special for its place in TV history. As the longest running scripted show (and even more so if you look at the number of episodes made) it certainly felt special to watch it - even if we didn't have the stamina to sit through it all. If you need to make a choice, the shorter (half hour) black and white episodes generally feel more fun, as they are less padded and more focused instead. The later episodes have some really good entries, but they also feel like they drag on a bit at times. Beyond that, some feel a bit offensive as you'd expect from a fifties show, and they hit a lot of western cliches. It takes a while before they start experimenting, but again, once they work they really work well. I wouldn't want to watch all 600-odd episodes, but jumping around as we did for our watch, it has been a good, fun expierence.
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The twenty-ninth comic: #201 The Perishers The Perishers is partially a British take on Peanuts, the well known newspaper comic. But while I say that, the similarities are vaguely in some characters, but beyond that is a newspaper comic with just kids, having their weird travels through life with a philosophical bent and so on. For this we read some of the earlier comics, basically the start of the run, but while the later strips updated the references, the core seems to have stayed the same. And that suffers sometimes - three panels ending with a whimper, rather than a bang, as the funniest bit came earlier... or it's not that funny and you wonder what the point was. It's charming in places, but the jokes can get a bit repetitive and there series as a whole isn't as strong as it could continue to be.
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The fourty-fourth album: #44 Solomon Burke - Rock 'n Soul The weird thing about these R&B albums is that some of them give me flashbacks to working in the local supermarket, where the same four or so hours of music were on a constant loop, so they got stuck in your head. Just hearing this start brought me back to those days. I tend to get confused with music genre timelines, but this leads towards soul, something that's quite clear from the start, including some of the vocal stylings that come with the latter. Mostly, it's the background singers that add this different sound in what can feel like call and response segments. They're mostly fairly classic love songs, following the R&B trappings and on the whole staying clean and simple. There is nothing too outrageous here - no James Brown style outbursts - instead keeping it simple and easily digestable. Light, but talented and good fair that harkens back to past songs while introducing some new elements - just not pushing it…
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The fourty-third album: #43 Jacques Brel - Olympia 64 Another live album, this time from Jacques Brel, whose type of music hasn't really featured on this list yet. I've come across some of these on the songs list anyway, and as an album it doesn't lose its impact. The impressive boldness and size wear down after the first song, but considering all that really grabs you here is Jacques Brel's voice - the piano and harmonica are present, but only in a subdued way - it really is quite impressive what he accomplishes. I realise we heard it more often in the past, but with the album list, and its current focus on rock and jazz, as well as big band music before, it realy stands out now. The live part of the show doesn't really factor into it - the audience isn't heard much - but the echoes and different sound quality that comes in because of it does, sounding a lot better than a sterile studio environment would. It feels like it needs to sound a bit sloppy, with this background echo and…
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The eighteenth classical recording: #398 Anton Bruckner - Symphony no. 5 Happy birthday to me! Rather than going out to see a play or watch a movie, this list inspired me to suggest we go see a classical piece being performed. The Philharmonic Orchestra was playing this today, which made it a great opportunity to do this. Part of what made this special was absolutely seeing it live, which worked amazing and made for a very special birthday treat. Seeing it being performed adds a lot, from the anticipation as the brass section gets ready to seeing the violinists sway with the music. It's not a feasible way to listen to everything, but it really helped set this piece apart. Classical music tends to give you more time to reflect, and that did grab me further. Modern songs often have lyrics that are meant to explain what the song is about. There might not always be a story, but it will try to tell you things. Classical pieces have no such thing. While pieces like the Planets give clear…
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The twenty-eighth comic: #331 Lady Snowblood Lady Snowblood was unexpected in several ways. The weird uncomfortable unexpected part for train reading is the nudity that's in every chapter. This, I believe, is because it was first published in a Japanese edition of Playboy. It's not too graphic, but there are several sex scenes in there, often feeling a bit gratuitous. I knew about the revenge storyline going in, but the focus on that was in a limited number of chapters. While they're entertaining, by the time the revenge killings she makes come up, we can often see her dominate the situation. The better chapters feel like the one where she isn't always in control (or doesn't seem to be) and is surprised. The blackmailing shopkeeper's apprentice is probably the best example of that, set up as a bigger story but not always working out. The erotic ending is weird, but at least a lot of it makes sense in context. The art is simple and effective. They obviously pay a lot of attention to…
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The fourty-second album: #42 The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night From this point on, we're going to see Beatles albums pop up quite regularly. This is still mostly the poppy sound, with the title track setting the tone for this. This time all written by the Beatles themselves, the quality and interest in their own material shows through. I Should Have Done Better shows more of the effects other musicians were having on the group, pushing their style in the direction of Bob Dylan, harmonica included. There's a lot more experimentation on the album in general, which really helps keeping it entertaining and showing the growth they're going through - as well as the additional freedom they were probably given. Another thing that I believe is new to their albums are the bigger ballads. The more sensitive songs feel like they work better than a (to me) fairly standard poppy Tell Me Why. It can make for an odd tonal shift at times, but the softer, different things are where I feel the album…
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The two hundred and twenty-ninth song: White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane So far, I don't think we've heard many female rock singers on the list, especially with psychedelic rock. It works really well, as it creates a different atmosphere, possibly giving the ethereal effect they were shooting for. It's about the effects of psychedelic drugs and the vision that come - indeed using a lot of Lewis Carroll imagery. It's heavy in places, short and powerful, properly creating that imagery. The two hundred and thirtieth song: Purple Haze - The Jimi Hendrix Experience A bit more normal rock, this sounds like a Jimi Hendrix song from the beginning. There are again strong drugs references, but what stands out here isn't the lyrics, but the aggressively pushy guitars, a volume that at times seems to strain the recording equipment, distorting the sound and the hard and suggestive vocals. It's something that we're used to these days, but thinking about it, this was new at the time, and created its…
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The fourty-first album: #41 Stan Getz & Jaoa Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto Time for some more bossa nova - the Brazilian jazz that I believe we have mostly heard on the songs list. It starts off with the gentle Girl from Ipanema, which has bene discussed before as a nice, gentle song that works nicely in the context of the album. Beyond that, it all stays very pleasant and gentle - as much as we get from jazz, but holding my interest more than other jazz albums have done. Bossa nova is quickly growing on me, not giving me something I'd listen to all the time, but working well as semi background music that still makes its presence known. This is probably one of the best demonstrations of that.
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The twenty-ninth book: #29 Pamela - Samuel Robertson Oh god... this was a drag for the past few weeks. Pamela is meant to be the perfect woman of the 18th century - pure, demure, protecting herself and then marrying the man who kidnapped here after he's sick for a day or two because of her absence. To me, she's gullible and, most of the time, just plain wrong. I realise it's a 250 year difference and everything has changed, but this just made me think of her as stupid several times during the book. Written entirely in letters, the format felt a bit off putting as well. Sure, we see her thoughts, but they just make me like her less. Her actions aren't defensible in my eyes, the people she trusts were reprehensible to her before, and forgiveness comes a bit too quickly. Some books can get moralising - this isn't something that always pays off, and it doesn't here for sure. The fourtieth album: #40 James Brown - Live at the Apollo Moving into some soul, James Brown is an energetic…
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The two hundred and nineteenth song: The End - The Doors Yeah, a bit of a worry as we saw the first song of the year was twelve minutes long. It's a sign of how the song works, really. It takes time to get started, but because a long drawn out folk rock sounding song, sounding quite haunting. Rather than being loud, it uses the rock sounds mostly for occasional effect while drawing you into something smaller most of the time. At the same time, lyrically, it feels like it's trying a bit too hard sometimes, trying to sound deep, but a lot of the time the message doesn't really reach me either. It's possible this would have worked better live, perhaps I wasn't as wowed with the charisma involved, but this doesn't feel like it has the impact it should have. It's an impressive feat of recording, with a a big, known ending, but it doesn't quite reach the heights this is meant to have for some. The two hundred and twentieth song: Electricity - Captain Beef heart & His Magic Hand…
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The fourtieth TV show: #776 Keeping Up With the Kardashians This is pretty odd. We've joked a lot about this show and how we feel forced to watch it as it's on the list. We started with a fair amount of apprehension and annoyance at how long this would take us. Now, I cna't say I love the show - I will be happy that I won't need to watch another episode of it ever again - but it's not quite as bad as it seemed. Kim, the center of the whole thing, can seem quite boring at times. Her family livens it up a lot, though. Khloe's more sarcastic attitude and emotional involvement resonated with both of us and her comments on the situation really made the show a lot more entertaining - her and Caitlyn (Bruce during the episodes we watched) are the most interesting people on the show in that they make the family seem more human. Scott adds to that later as well. The best episodes, then, were the ones where it's about the family, where it's about family hanging out and annoying each other…
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The thirty-ninth album: #39 Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Welcome back from the holiday break! I was hoping to cover some songs over the break but never quite got to it. We're coming back to jazz on our first album of 2017, sounding more avant garde than before. Disjointed is the main impression I get from the first track, Solo Dancer, although it slowly melds into a more coherent whole. It never quite meshes in a conventional way, it keeps sounding uncomfortable, but it wavers. It certainly sounds different, especially from other albums of the time I've listened to, and it takes jazz out of the comfortable corner I feel it was in before in the albums I listened to. With that it does also feel like there's a lot more experimentation there, already like some of the more complex classical pieces I've listened to. There's growth that now demands you listen far more than before. It's a mess, but one that ends up going somewhere. The seventeenth classical recording…