The ninetieth TV show: #611 Six Feet Under
A TV show about a family whose family business is an undertaker has to start, by dramatic necessity, with the death of a family member. I believe it also ends with one. I'm not sure I could imagine another way in a series where death plays such a major part. There is usually one per week, and aside from the procedures surrounding that, like the service and the body being prepared, often it feeds into the themes of the episode and the problems the other characters face.
While they have a number of standard conflicts, they feel like they got a bit more complex than they would have been. One of the brothers is in a gay relationship that has shades of internalised homophobia that feels right for that era. The playboy settling is dealing with health problems and the troubled daughter feels more developed than mostly any other one I've seen. It's helped by a formidable cast that can handle everything admirably well, with a lot of charm that makes you see all sides of them. Conversing with the dead and the other dream sequences play out amazing (especially when Michael C Hall can bring out his other theatre experience in a fairly early musical number) and give a better insight into these characters.
It makes for an intense series - not something we could binge, but something that's been great to watch when we were up to it. It took a while to get there sometimes, but we're finally getting back to it.
The fourty-sixth classical recording: #239 Felix Mendelssohn - Octet
Continuing in my journey to learn and appreciate more classical music, I think this is the first time I've encountered an (instrumental) octet. Not having the full body of an orchestra removed some of the force, which worked well with the energy this piece has. At time menacing, the speed of play feels more important, the franticness of forte sections contrasting with the quieter, more delicate parts that bring out the individual voices more clearly. While I am, of course, listening to recordings here, it feels like the effect in the room would have been even better, feeling more personal as you can get swept up in these sections. It's uplifting, more intense to listen to than I expected, but (it turns out) great to get some energy to start the day.
The one hundred tenth album: #110 The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
Where many albums of this time are rather varied, throwing several ideas in with perhaps a musical link between songs, but not necessarily a theme. The Village Green Preservation Society instead has a lyrical theme, mostly harkening back to memories of childhood and older traditions - being able to play on that village green, the feeling of what things used to be like, and wondering what happened to the people at the time. It builds out from there, with the music following suit. It's a bit slow, the instruments packing a punch but all of it adding up to a gentler rock that fit in with that theme. There's no high energy rock here, but more music that feels like it drifts you there without becoming psychedelic - it stays grounded through all of this, perhaps with the exception of fairy tale Phenomenal Cat and the calypso Monica, but it feel like both still fit into the same 'story'.
The fifty-second comic: #574 Frank
Here's the first comic listed as being 'funny animal', although we've seen parodies of the genre before while I suppose the likes of Garfield are just humor comics. Here it's a longer story, several pages of this strange animal (vaguely cat-like) called Frank who lives in this bizarre world. Frank has a small house-shaped pet and meets several other bizarre creatures hwo live in this world. Some of these are colourful (when applicable) nightmare creatures of strange designs, who are probably the most visually stunning parts, but in the end it's all down to these small adventures and encounters in the world, even when they involve plucking weird creatures out of the sky.
The fifty-first comic: #150 Frontline Combat
A sister publication to Shock SuspenStories, Frontline Combat follows the same format of four stories in an issue that cover a topic - in this case, stories about war. These are brutal, showing the real horror of war, and involve plenty of people dying, running away like cowards and being horribly maimed. There's a jingoistic bend to it, where the American troups win, being a coward gets punished and collaborators end up in trouble. Considering this was published during the Korean war, that's not a big surprise, but it feels very moralizing now. Still, when ignoring that the series is quite informative and you really get a feeling for how terrible it is on the frontline. I'm sure war has changed somewhat, but it feels more like what you expect than the perfection other places sometimes have. It's dirty and dark.
The series probably ended at the right time - not just because the war was over, but the stories became stale and the increased focus on the air force led to some repetitive stories that have planes flying around, which didn't hold my interest. It feels like they were out of really new ideas, as the creativity from the earlier issues was lost.
The fourty-fifth classical recording: #780 George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess
After a number of shorter pieces, we're listening to a three hour opera. Unlike the others, it's in English, set in more modern times and so more comprehensible on multiple levels.Still, it's odd to hear classic songs with an operatic bend (and it does sound more impressive that way). There's a contemporary feel to it beyond that, though, more musical-like with a story still (mostly) told through song, but feeling more modern. This seems to extend everywhere and it makes for an amazing soundtrack that way. Even that is enough to tell the (at the time controversial) story, a tragic love story made more complex through the circumstances in which they happen.
The one hundred ninth album: #109 The Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Scottish psychedelic folk sounds like it should be interesting - once again something different. And it's hard to ignore that it's trying to be different. At times it works - the lyrics are always interesting, thoughtful and though eccentric, the way it tries to talk about other things works really well. The melodies are lovely, the experiments with different instruments working out well. The thirteen minute Very Cellular Song shows this well. There are - as you'd probably expect from the era - a lot of Indian influences, too much sometimes, but mostly the album keeps it well balanced.
Sometimes, though, it doesn't quite work. And it's not musically, but the attitude being different. It feels like they try to be funny - and while it might be intended as a parody, it can come across as too self indulgent and... well, just stupid. It isn't a joke I feel in on and it feels unnecessary, especially with the amount of laughter coming through. I felt it misses the mark when they do that. It doesn't happen too often, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth.
The fourty-fourth classical recording: #67 Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Trumpets
We hadn't yet featured Vivaldi, despite his works being quite famous ones. With it we have a work that focuses, obviously, on two trumpets, and that sets the piece apart. It sounds jubilant and as the brass instruments are allowed to shine, they create their own sound that feels more excited and exuberant - no wonder that trumpets are used to hail arriving royalty, they have that big sound that attracts your attention.
The fiftieth comic: #407 You Are There
There is something really compelling about worlds that are a step away from our reality. While Mornemont's technology and buildings seem real, there's something odd about an island full of walls dividing properties and the owner of the walls (but not the land in between anymore) charging people to open the gates in the walls. It's how he makes money and stays in some sort of control. Partially the comic covers his life, dealing with the people on the island who aren't happy with his presence, the insanity and weirdness of the situation. It's magical realism of sorts - not as much magical, but weirdness that intrudes in the world. It could be real, but doesn't feel it and probably wouldn't actually work. It's an interesting if bewildering insight into this odd world.
Then there's the storyline of this man, Albert There, regaining the island. It involves some political commentary, but just as much social commentary. It doesn't quite finish, it feels like a rough story, but it's more the dreamlike state this comic lives in, that suits the endless walls this world seems to take place, with how hard it is to reach. It's an area that I want to see more of, but that the story stops before you go too far.
The fourty-third classical recording: #631 Erno Dohnányi - Variations on a Nursery Song
While this piece starts with a big introduction, grandiose and described as Wagnerian (which makes sense), it moves into just a piano playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. As variations then do, it starts to vary how the tune - or at this point, theme - is played, The reason it works so well is because the theme is so much better known, it seems easier to latch on to it and really appreciate the variations. While it feels like a nice exercise for the composer and musician, as a novice listener I appreciate the examples even more.
The one hundred eighth album: #108 Traffic - Traffic
Folk rock is another genre that seems to have been ignored recently. Here, we start with a call and response number and a blues rhytm rock song that feels out of place in the era. And while it experiments a bit, it feels like this gentler rock does need another hook, which I couldn't find in these songs. It's what it is, but nothing jumps out as special at me.