The thirtieth classical recording: #450 Camille Saint-Saëns - Carnival of the Animals

This piece written "for fun" sets itself an interesting challenge: 14 movements representing fourteen animals, which should sound like a single work but have to represent different animals. Elephants sound heavy, tortoises are slow, and there's hopping in the kangaroo section. It's fun, it's amusing to listen to and it really is evocative enough to give you an impression of the animal - I might not get them without help, but I could probably match a list of animals to the movements. There are injokes we're starting to recognise too - Fossils imitates, appropriately, the Danse Macabre, as well aas older pieces.

The final movement summarizes it all, bringing together the previous movements into a whole that works it out. On the whole this was great to listen to and a lot of fun - so good to have in here.

The ninetieth album: #90 The Who - The Who Sell Out

An album with radio station and commercial jingles mixed in. It's hard to argue The Who are trying to make a point here somewhere, although I'm not sure it's always that convincing, but as a concept it's a neat idea.

The songs are closer to ballads than I was expecting, occasionally wearing out my patience a bit, and possibly not the best for a quiet Friday afternoon. The lyrics tell more of a story, taking you through stages and often trying to impart more of a message than other rock albums - even when it comes from a fake deodorant adveret.

There is a fair amount of production in the tracks, but they don't override the music or vocals. The balance of the latter two is right, stilly bringing across what's being set while it's more than a backing track, it sounds good and interesting. It's not the most experimental, but they are solid.

The fourty-ninth book: #1005 Aithiopika - Heliodorus

Another Greek/Roman story, here's an early one that starts in media res, with the kidnap of Chariclea to become a slave, her subsequent adventures and explanations of how they got there. It's a fairly compelling story (marred a bit by the bad quality of the Google PDF I used) and moves along decently well. It's still also taken down by its age and it feels like it doesn't quite get its sound right - it's not been quite appealing enough to me.

The seventy-fifth TV show: #560 Sports Night

I believe this might be the first Aaron Sorking show that I've fully watched, and in a way that did not disappoint. The writing is strong, and clear, not fully natural but close to it. There are the infamous Sorkin monologues. Not everyone pulls them off and I felt they got a bit preachy sometimes, but there aren't too many of those, and outside it, the dialogue works well.

The great cast helps a lot with that. Josh Charles and Peter Krause, the on air talent of the fictional Sports Night, have amazing chemistry that shows throughtout. Banter, discussions, but no forced conflict, but it seems like they get along effortlessly. Felicity Huffman as the main female lead pulls off her role incredibly well and anchors everything else going on around her.

It's funny, not forcing the dramatic moments but addressing plenty. There are faults with it, but on the whole it's such an enjoyable time that it's a shame it ended this soon, while promising so much more for the following Sorkin series.

The fourty-eighth book: #45 The Sorrows of Young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I wonder whether epistolaries are just not the genre for me. I mean, this one was pretty good - snappy and on point, but the most memorable bit was at the end, where the format is broken and the compiler tells the story of Werther's end. The start of the book shows the start of a three way relationship between Werther, Charlotte, the woman he loves, and her husband Albert. The beats beyond that are familiar, but mostly well described. They drag on a bit once you get to the middle, though, and I feel I was unfortunately snagging in places. Still, it feels like there's progress.

The eighty-ninth album: #89 Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

With more psychedelic rock/proto punk, we can an early Pink Floyd album. I certainly know them from their later songs, but here I feel I hear elements of those performances already (Syd Barrett is still a part of the group here, doing most of the writing, but I guess a lot of it still carries over). There's something dark in them, a bass riff driving songs like Lucifer Sam relentlessly forward. While a lot of the lyrics and musinc steers into the fantastic, there is a dark undertone driving it all that really set up the layers for me.

This bcomes more apparent in the instrumental pieces, which seem to emphasize the dark undertones and weird sounds, making them unnerving and at times barely songs. It's creepy, it's weird and unsettling, and the idea that these were made from LSD trips is clearer than ever - even if most of the time, that wasn't true. By Interstellar Overdrive, I felt some of these were upsetting, but they also stayed compelling - I suppose it's a credit to the band that they pulled this off so well. Of course, then you get The Gnome, a standard sweeter rocky ballad. Lovely, but quite a change from what came before. It's a bizarre album, experimenting with some different styles, but mostly succesful at what it tries to do.

The twenty-ninth classical recording: #14 Thomas Tallis - Lamentations of Jeremiah

Going back in time once more, we get a collection of choral numbers - bible texts set to music. Their contents are reverent, set in a time where reformation changed churches, and as the book says - they sound best with one voice per line, creating something intimate and enforcing the loneliness in the lamentations. The emotion comes across well, as the music suits the mood more than other choral pieces of the time felt like they do to me.

The eighty-eighth album: #88 Cream - Disraeli Gears

Our next album stays in psychedelic rock - the big thing at the time - now coming in from a blues angle. Both sounds are in there for sure - the blues guitar with the audio experiments that we get from other psychedelic albums. What's nice is how the blues doesn't get overshadowed - it feels dominant, with the psychedelic elements added where appropriate to make it sound better. The core dominates, which really makes it feel better.

Tales of Brave Ulysses is a good showcase as well. The lyrics are more interesting than most and are easy to follow. There's apparently one of the earliest uses of a wah wah pedal in here - something that doesn't stand out until you pay attention to it, but it does make the song sound more modern. It's modern, but the blues influence stays throughout. It works so well, and that goes for the entire album.

The fourty-second comic: #744 Nana

Romance mangas (they have a special name, but I don't remember what it was and don't care enough to look it up) aren't necessarily my thing. Rose of Versailles was fine, but didn't leave me with amazing memories for it. Nana is more modern, and has that as an advantage for me (historical settings are good, but the filter doesn't always work in these circumstances) but it started to drag as these stories don't get resolved and don't feel like they go anywhere. It's good as an investigation of this life, but while rock Nana was interesting, we didn't get much from her that really felt like it kept going for me. Other Nana was frustrating in her behaviour and I would have prepared someone a bit more grown up. I know it's probably partially real, and the series was fine for the half of its run that I read, but I couldn't quite keep it up.

The three hundred and twenty-ninth song: Imagine - John Lennon

Imagine can feel a bit like an overplayed anthem - the message is worn on its sleeve and continues to apply as it feels the world doesn't get better. There's a lot of hope here in a Phil Spector produced track, obviously aimed at a larger audience, and enhanced by Lennon's myth after his death. Does it work? It feels a bit too much sometimes, a bit too big, but it does connect with me enough to work.

The three hundred and thirtieth song: Laughing - David Crosby

Maybe it's because I'm tired as I'm sitting hiere, feeling more sensitive, but for some reason the steel guitar really grated on me - it overwhelmed in an unpleasant way. I'm not getting the message or the mood of the song, and it just didn't do anything but make me feel unpleasant. On a less tired relisten, there's a gentle song and meldoy here with a sweet sound, but a guitar that still won't quite go away.

The three hundred and thirty-first song: When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin

It's good to see that despite rock progressing, blues covers can still take place. When The Levee Breaks starts with a long intro that uses a lot of this, while the subsequent song takes a lot of this, Robert Plant initially sticking to a standard blues sound despite the music surrounding him while adding flourishes later. The song itself focuses more on the music anyway, using the original to support longer riffs. Downside is that it becomes fairly repetitive towards the end - a seven minute song needs to live up to that, and here it doesn't pull that off.

The three hundred and thirty-second song: Surf’s Up - The Beach Boys

With the Beach Boys having long abandoned their surf image, it feels like here we get a belated response, the title indicating the end of their trend while creating a bigger sound that shows what they became famous for and fills the room here far more. It's complex, varied, with strong, central vocals and a lot build around them. It's wistful enough that I can read this element in it, but it stands on its own, without needing a history, to create a gentle, pleasant song.

The three hundred and thirty-third song: Theme from Shaft - Isaac Hayes

Film soundtracks are obviously rare on this list, with few title tracks like this making it (and I don't count Tommy, that was the wrong way around). Here it's shown off by having a long intro that undoubtably works even better with its visuals, while two minutes in the description of Shaft actually starts. The vocals weren't really needed anyway, the sound of the track is enough to carry you through and get you in the mood.

The three hundred and thirty-fourth song: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron

Here's a spoken word album - some funk, getting the stage ready for rap to come on. It's better than some of these that we've had before - no "When the revolution comes". Here it's clearly political, anarchistic and ready for a fight. It's expertly done, following a very set beat and underlying percussion that really focuses the message, underscored where needed by the flute playing through.

The three hundred and thirty-fifth song: It’s Too Late - Carole King

After that, any other song is probably going to feel a bit out of touch, but Carole King's love ballad sounds good. It takes from doo wop and pop from earlier eras, but manages to make it sound more modern, with vocals that feels sharper and sadder. It's the end of a relationship, with an intense set of feelings and clear explanation, ready to end it. The music drives it, moving forward and having some optimism in the sadness of the song. It's sung precisely and powerfully, which really makes an impact here.

The three hundred and thirty-sixth song: Dum Maro Dum - Asha Bhosle

After what I just said about film tracks, here we get another Bollywood song - the second of the year even, and from Lata Mangeshkar's sister. The basis is an Indian song, but with the Western influences the movie requires - synthesizers aren't normally common. It stays true to its roots, but amps it up and it's clear why it would have been beloved. The refrain is also incredibly catchy and the song a delight to follow.

The seventy-fourth TV show: #39 Zorro

While older adventure shows like this can be good fun - especially as they appeal to the young boy in me - in the end their story telling and world is often limited enough that they struggle to hold our interest. There's some interesting struggles here set in Spanish California, but they do tend to lead up to the obligatory fight scene as well as some cleverness as everyone runs around trying to see who Zorro is and needing his help while not wanting to ask for it. There's something satisfying about that, but on the whole it didn't appeal to us to really make it feel that fun.