The twenty-seventh book: #27 Joseph Andrews - Henry Fielding

As a book Gutenberg provides in two parts, I thought I'd wait until I had enough time to properly read it. In the end it wasn't as long as the two parts implied (it's no Arabian Nights), but it didn't hold my interest either. As a comic observation of an existing literary style, it doesn't meet Don Quixote's standards of being interesting - it never connected, partially because I don't feel as much of a fan of the morality tales it's influenced by, and partially because the target of the satire mostly passed me by.

It's of its time, and while sometimes that interesting, there's nothing much in there that feels timeless enough either. It doesn't feel quite timeless enough to be at the top of it. Worthwhile to get a different view on the genre, but nothing special.

The fourteenth classical recording: #407 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake

I'm not sure whether listening is the best way to enjoy a ballet, but that is the focus of this list. I did this listen just trying to immerse myself and see what I could get out of it. The score is still said to be what stood out in the original heavily criticised performance. It's an evocative performance that goes through the moods of the piece quite well. Even if there are 'hooks' for the dancers at points, it doesn't feel quite as necessary.

Even so, without the visuals to lead you, the music does lose some impact. There are times when it really is just music, and this clearly isn't the best way to experience it. Something to try and figure out for the future. For now, at least, it was epic enough often enough.

The twenty-eighth book: #28 Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus - Alexander Pope

This was the result of a single train journey. There's not loads to comment on here - written as the first book of a longer satire, the collaborators never really finished their parts and this is what remains. The product of the first chapters for a memoir, these are mostly short stories from the life of... A lot of them are satirical - which, as mentioned earlier today, doesn't always land well a few centuries later - and a lot of it seems disjointed, unfortunately. There are some good bits in here, but I didn't have the annotated version, where notes outnumber actual text by what seems like at least two to one, and so this disappointed for me.

The thirteenth classical recording: #331 Guiseppe Verdi - La Traviata

I think this is my first full length opera, and it's one of the most famous - apparently the most performed in the world. It's familiar - just the fifteen minutes sound incredibly familiar, in a way that sounds epic and evokes the right atmosphere now I know where it's from and when it's played. I occasionally looked up the video - clarifying what was happening - but just listening explains it quite well. It sets up a simple love story, but does so well, as well as putting you in the place of the party that's going on. Even so, often the music and song can carry you away without knowing the details. Story aside, this is an evocative piece to listen to, and performed well in the given version.

The thirty-eighth TV show: #677 House

House is an odd show. Technically, I suppose, it's a drama, set in a hospital, with a bunch of ongoing story elements. However, it's also a medical procedural. The first scene of an episode sets up someone with a disorder (in later seasons making it a mini drama of who actually has the problem and why it goes wrong). Then after the opening credits, the real story unfolds, mixing the doctor's personal lives with solving the case.

The titular House is played by Hugh Laurie, who puts in an amazing performance as the brilliant doctor who is, to keep it polite, not a nice person. He's a medical Sherlock Holmes, set up to be brilliant and finding the right things, but not that focused on personal interactions. He's certainly morally ambiguous in several places, getting too up close in his staff's personal lives to gain control or seeing it as something else to investigate.

And what makes this all work so well is the sense of humour that comes through. Hugh Laurie is originally a comedian. He can pull off the serious work as well, but there's enough of a dark humour to make it work. It gets samey when binging it, but at a right pace it works well to watch.

The thirty-eighth album: #38 Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square

Another live album, and the artist's introduction immediately tells me where this will go - time for some more soul. Recorded in 1963 (the year used on the list), it wasn't released until 1985 because of the racuous nature of the music. It means, here that the music flows quite well, seamlessly moving between the tracks and recreating the atmosphere quite nicely. It keeps up the energy quite well - not going as high as others might, but creating and continuing a nice baseline that carries you through quite well.

It carries on the soul music quite well - one of the first artists to do so? - and it's been good to hear this genre getting my foot tapping this time. The album being live really adds to it - there's an interchange of energy that comes through in the record far more than if this had been played in isolation. Playing up for the crowd, and to it, means that the energy really needs to be high to reach them.

The thirty-seventh album: #37 Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift For You

Today we have a bit of a coincidence - we were putting up the Christmas tree and happened to put this album on. Two songs in, I realised what it was, and here we are...

Phil Spector always goes for big productions, showy, and it shows here even if it tries to pull back a few times. It mostly works, creating some classic interpretations of these songs, but the Silent Night - which has a spoken introduction - sounds weirdly unconfident because of it. It certainly gets you into a Christmas mood.

If you ask me, as a Christmas album, it's not the best, but when looking at it from the perspective of the artists and the time, it really works well.

The thirty-seventh TV show: #808 Archer

We've been keeping up with Archer for some time now. Covering it this time is a matter of revisiting the best ofs and enjoying those. It's one of those clever/stupid things, where there are a bunch of dumb repeating gags (like, just now, the mad scientist Krieger shouting 'smoke bomb' and running way) but also jokes that take a while or are smarter.

While mostly a spoof on a spy show, there is a lot more character development than expected, both growing new characters (such as Krieger) and expanding existing ones from, say, HR secretary to fellow spy. That doesn't mean it isn't pretty much all comedy episodes with a smattering of good gunfights, but so much of it starts to flow from the characters that it's pretty amazing.

The big heroes of the series, aside from the amazing voice acting, are the editors. Although all parts are recorded separately, they are edited together as if they're in a same room, with amazing overlaps - often working best when they act as links between scenes. Still absolutely amazing.

The twelfth classical recording: #985 Steve Reich - Different Trains

As we jump forward in time, we come to a piece that still has the classical elements from before, but also has more modern elements - part of the song coming from tape. It shows how classical in this list isn't the opposite of modern, but more refers to the instruments and style used.

As a longer piece, this evokes the feeling of being on a train - the string instruments following that beat - also creating the urgency of parts of the journey. The three movements have a distinct feel to them - even if coming from the same base - and evoke these different mindsets. Never leisurely, but the second movement - representing the holocaust - creates a far more anxious environment. The third feels brighter - a sunrise of sorts came to mind listening to the music.

The changes in technology really benefit the piece. It adds an interesting layer, partially attempting to integrate the sounds into a melody in a way I wouldn't expect to be possible. It's very visual in a way you hear in very little music, without needing the actual music or further input.

The thirty-sixth album: #36 Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

While rock is starting, Bob Dylan comes in with his folk music. The album leads off with the famous Blowin' In The Wind, one of his most famous songs. As with all songs on the album, Dylan wrote it himself, showing the power of his writing, which feels miles ahead of contemporaries and creates a potent (in this case pacifist) message. The second song shows this too - while a love song of sorts (or ealing with the loss of it), it is deeper than, say, the Beatles songs from last week dealing with similar subjects. Masters of Wars then changes that again, sounding more aggressive (relatively speaking) and feeling more pointed.

The album continues in this vein, folk music that feels more clever than anything else. It might not be at the top musically, but it certainly is when it comes to the lyrics. The former does drag it down a bit - it does little to distinguish later songs on the album from each other, which makes it all blur together and, for me, blurs the message a bit. I certainly prefer the earlier parts of the album to, say, trying to distinguish Bob Dylan's Dream from the others. He really is at his best, for me, when he's trying to sound different, more than just folk songs with an idealistic bent, but when it pulls in stronger personal touches - whether it's anger, sarcasm or using other humour in his songs.

The one hundred and ninety-seventh song: (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone - Paul Revere & The Raiders

It's good to get back to rock after the albums I've been covering - the two are starting to converge. This song feels fairly simple rock, with a simple chorus and no complicated music. It's punk - and the book mentions this band as one of the early big ones - but despite the lyrics and snarls, there are a few too many harmonies to work for me.

The one hundred and ninety-eighth song: Mas que nada - Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66

This music line suddenly sounded so familiar - used in travel documentaries over the world. It's a basic samba track, but hits all the notes there, keeping your interest and saying swining. The differences in volume - not going all out - help a lot there, making the bursts of sound all the more effective.

The one hundred and ninety-ninth song: El muerto vivo - Peret

Here's the rumba, in a recording that's not the best quality, but the sound here is somewhat specific. The music is swining and decent, including the vocal flourishes, but the singing itself was a bit much and it feels it is unnecessary for the song to work.

The two hundredth song: Tomorrow Is a Long Time - Elvis Presley

Yes, Elvis was still around at this time, and still doing covers. This time covering a Bob Dylan song - not a link you'd necesarily expect - but the sweet, smaller song shows off a side of Elvis that I swear wasn't there a few years before. I remember his struggling with them before, while here his voice adds to the tension and seduction of the song.

The two hundred and first song: Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles

After finally having listened to a full album of theirs, jumping ahead a few years in the Beatles' output is weird. Peter immediately shouted that this is baroque pop, and it's certainly a large step beyond their early love song output. It sounds good, even if a bit weird. The fairy tale sound of it is enhanced by the violins on the song. It's a bit bizarre, but works so well to play a story. The evolution you hear here is so special, it's incredibly impressive.

The two hundred and second song: River Deep – Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner

Phil Spector and Tina Turner come together here to create something powerful - a powerful voice with a big orchestration leads to a magnificent, large song. It sounds good, although perhaps some of the emotional impact is lost by the way it is set up. Still good to listen to.

The two hundred and third song: 7 and 7 Is - Love

Here's more of the Stones line of music coming in, with an early punk sound throwing out anger that might not even be there in the song lyrics - although with the speed it's being sung at, I'm not quite sure. Everything is fast and tense in the song, pushing you forward and raising my heartbeat quite a bit. It ends in an explosion (oddly enough) and then mellows and fades out, a weird way to end it, but that fits the build up of emotion, making for a more interesting button.

The two hundred and fourth song: 96 Tears - ? & The Mysterians

That organ is a bit too dominating at this point. It's a decent pop song - apparently a punk pregenitor, although I can't say I quite hear it. As garage pop, it's a decent sound, with some interesting lyrics, and certainly an interesting backstory for the band, trying to be weird, but it keeps on track as expected. The revenge lyrics - "You're gonna cry 96 tears" - aren't as sweet, but are that much more of a challenge.

The two hundred and fifth song: Pushin’ Too Hard - The Seeds

This is more that punk sound. Again, pushing too hard makes that clear, while the shrill, angry vocals at that in as well. The music is simpler, sure, with some guitar work building it up, it still gives the angry reaction you want. It's reactionary, young and going against the world, even if it might have been the closure of a popular club or being annoyed by a girlfriend.

The two hundred and sixth song: Psychotic Reaction - The Count Five

Continuing with the punk that is the theme of the back half of this post, here we get a harmonica to make it sound a bit more country like. The vocals sounds nicer. The live performances sound like they got more insane, but here you already here a masterpiece. You may know where it's going early on, but then it suddenly changes tempo, the guitars soudn different and it turns out there is more to this song than just a standard punk tune. It feels experimental and different enough to set it apart, wondering why I never quite heard this. This felt smart and intelligent.

The two hundred and seventh song: Reach Out (I’ll Be There) - The Four Tops

We get some soul now - quite a change from the punk rock, although at times sounding experimental in its own way, the chorus always stands out for me as the pause before the loud "I'll Be There" always sounds a bit off. I can see why it reached a bigger audience though, making for an interesting variation in possible songs.

The thirty-fifth album: #35 The Beatles - With The Beatles

Here we go - I've been waiting to cover these guys for a while, as this feels like modern music really coming in, especially with the rock/poppy sound I imagine them having early on. The guitars jump in early on It Won't Be Long, but there are some harmonies in there as well. It starts off as you imagine early Beatles, and the message would appeal to teenage girls. It leads to the one downside - loads of love songs, which makes the themes less interesting, but Harrison's Don't Bother Me actually works very well as an antidote to that once it comes up.

In sound and vocals, this sounds younger than the later songs of theirs that I'm more used to. Lennon certainly doesn't quite sound how he does earlier, which makes it interesting to work out it's him. Beyond that, the songs always sound interesting, offering more interesting segments and relying so much more on the lyrics and how they are performed than I feel I've heard earlier. It also doesn't let you go - the album absolutely didn't fade into the background as others have done in the past.

Now, this is all ignoring the covers, as those clearly aren't their strengths. I guess this is down to them needing to fill room and not having time to write more, as well as being what's expected (especially considering concerts would need material that wouldn't suffice with their originals early years). They are performed well enough, but without the passion the original songs have, and the combination of that and them not necessarily being written to their strengths always make them the weak entries on the track.

I think I need to seek out more Beatles albums now, the first artists who have made that claim for me.