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.

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.

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 different sections, divided between Lennon and McCartney, linked as well, but distinctive enough. What makes it interesting is that the song is clearly a big production - there are places where it's a standard poppy Beatles song that could have been from the earlier albums, but bringing in big orchestral elements as well as more of a message. It's its own type of masterpiece, and I can see why it could be considered the Beatles' best - it certainly brings out the best of each of them.

The two hundred and fourty-first song: Alone Again Or - Love

There is something odd about hearing the mariachi playing in a rock song, adding a weird wistful note to a song that mostly has a fairly upbeat sound (one that obviously doesn't come through in the lyrics about being alone again tonight). It works to evoke a good mood though, while also creating a good sound that I've been enjoying listening to.

The two hundred and fourty-second song: Tin Soldier - The Small Faces

The mix here felt a bit off when we were listening to it, overpowering the vocals slightly, which I think may overpower part of the meaning - I certainly can't say I felt very good about the weird sound of them. At the same, everything else - the music itself - sounded so good that it matters less. It rocks a lot and feels solid all the way through.

The two hundred and fourty-third song: See Emily Play - Pink Floyd

This starts off sounding like we're listening to another Beatles song - the subject and sounds could all do it, although there are a few weird instrumental changes at one point that they hadn't done before. That doesn't necessarily remove value from the record, as it still sounds good, and even if it comes from the same strand of the Beatles, it's a good rip off. It's just as much its own thing still, allowing for an interesting sound to shine through.

The two hundred and fourty-fourth song: A Whiter Shade of Pale - Porcol Harum

"You'll recognise it when you hear it". And that's true, the initial riff of the song feels like it's been used in love scenes all the time. In fact, it might be one of those songs in the supermarket playlist from my teenage years. It's fairly slow, carried by the organ, and doesn't stir as much in me as it probably should. It is well performed, competentn and interesting enough, but not something I'd call as exceptional.

The two hundred and fourty-fifth song: The Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

I'm not sure it's the weirdly high pitched vocals or the tune that does sound a bit like circus music, but together this song becomes something that tries to be a love song, but gets a bit too whimsical to talk about the tears of a clown. I get that's partially the point, but there's no point where it slows down or allows for any sadness.

The two hundred and fourty-sixth song: Sunshine of Your Love - Cream

One thing I had to remind myself of when listening to this is that this came from the blues of earlier, putting the song in context. It might sound odd for the rock songs we've been immersed in recently, but it really takes its tempo from blues classics, fusing it with rock elements, but creating a song that doesn't rely on big gymnastics and special sounds to tell its story and create its impact - a thing it does well here.

The two hundred and fourty-seventh song: Cold Sweat - James Brown & The Famous Flames

We're coming into funk now - this song is cited as the start of that movement. Musically it's fairly simple, repeating a few beats but never becoming challenging. Rhythmically it does a bit more, but it really forms a baseline for the wild, at times incoherent vocals. It sets up a genre that puts the singer front and center, delegating the musicians to the background. Others were in this position before, but it feels like I can see it when listening to this song, in a way that creates mechanical music that keeps sounding the same. It might have impressed me more if it had been shorter, but four months into a seven minutes song, my attention started to drift, and I got bored. It's not worth it.

The two hundred and fourty-eighth song: The First Cut Is the Deepest - P.P. Arnold

While having some sad lyrics, there's something upbeat and happy about the song as well. Arnold's vocals start off slow, but as everything kicks in on the chorus, she sounds amazing, overruling the quite powerful instruments quite easily and continuing to make a strong impact, as befits the lyrics.

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.

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.

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 forward by that much.

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 less perfect sound, and that enhances the songs on its own.

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 indications, there's no story being told in a symphony. It makes it easier to just get pulled in (goosebumps included) and continue.

This symphony did this well. There are the elements that I remember reading or hearing about that apply - recurring motifs and key changes - but the effect it has was more interesting. The wind instruments answering each other in sections of the song were evocative, becoming characters themselves. It was bold in places, with some good use of silence, but mostly working well to create its climaxes. Really something to carry you away.

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 the erotic elements, but the setting of late nineteenth century Japan gives them more to play with, allowing for a bunch of interesting get ups. It allows gives the setting its own style, playing with innovations and changes in society that were relevant at the time and add more depth to the plot.

It's an odd entity, but the comic works.

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 really stands out. Even including something like Can't Buy Me Love, which contains the generic poppy base, but goes for a blues setup, creating an interesting mix to listen to. The biggest strength, here, is really that most of the songs are more experimental, which is where this becomes a great album for me.