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.

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: Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin

Heartbreaker is a song that suits my tastes more closely. It's a really good rock sound, heavy and hard, taking all of that on board without pushing it too far. The (later edited in) guitar riff feels a bit out of place, but makes for a good solo, setting up the guitar even more as its own individual sound and focus.

The two hundred and eightieth song: Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee

We just took a break to wash some fresh cherries, bought a few hours ago at Borough market, and it has made for a great break to jump from Led Zeppelin's hard rock to this gentle pop song that harkens back to the big band days. This sounds good, the story being told well, but with the happier music contrasting with a depressing set of lyrics, all speaking of disappointment. It's an obvious contrast, but works well. It has a sense of humour about things that works well as an anthem to keep going, regardless of what life throws at you.

The two hundred and eighty-first song: Sweetness -Yes

While I understand Yes later really becomes one of the faces of prog rock, here it feels like we're listening to a Beatles song, a love song that experiments a bit with its sounds, but in this case draws from its influences. It takes a lot from the Beach Boys harmonies as well, and in that sense we're seeing the groundworks of post-Beatles rock emerge, going towards its own style.

The two hundred and eighty-second song: Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

Elvis had an impressively long career, where he keeps up with musical trends and does his best to seek out contemporary sounds. While it has big band influences, Suspicious Minds is bringing in a lot of rock as well, using his voice to meld the sounds quite well. His voice is as strong as ever and it shows why there was a comeback here - it brings you along to sound that good.

The two hundred and eighty-third song: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby, Stills, & Nash

This is a suite - a collection of linked songs as we see more often in the classical list, but is clearly a rarity in modern music. What we're getting here are a lot of complex harmonies that sound amazing, the guitar underlying the song feeling unnecessary for the first two parts as the harmonies do so much already. Aside from the harmonies, the most impressive part here really are the four parts of the song, creating a unified sound that's still all different that doesn't otherwise come out in that many performances. The final section, with a release, especially comes out naturally while creating an upbeat coda that wouldn't otherwise fit in.

The two hundred and eighty-fourth song: Pinball Wizard - The Who

So somehow, during a late night TV showing, I have seen the movie this song was a part of. It's an absolutely bizarre piece of watching, but the music is very good even if the subject is odd. The lyrics, too, are clunky, but the sound, call and response and so on, sound good and as much as we had a concept album here, it works out. There's so mch energy put into this that it convinves you based on that alone.

The two hundred and eighty-fifth song: Je t’aime…moi non plus - Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg

These ballads make for a weird change of pace when listening in an era where rock dominates. Dominating love scenes around the world, this sounds sensual and close and while nothing happened in the recording booth, Birkin and Gainsbourg are clearly close enough that they bring those feelings into the recording and it sounds real and convincing. Part of the song, after all, is just empassioned moaning, other parts just whispered, which is really enough to be convincing.

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.

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 these stories - while we see the resistance, most of the story is more about Julien's survival, and the trouble of those around him. It looks good as well, drawn in a semi-realistic style that sets up the story well.

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.

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 (hence translated) satire. Perhaps that will work better.

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 performance over looks, but the best ones are those who develop a style in both - one with enough flexibility to vary both, but enough to stand out.

Beyond that, it's just incredibly entertaining. Especially when there's just enough drama, just enough style, just enough everything. There are times when it feels incredibly edited, but it also has moments where it feels real (and where they later confirmed the moments were). On the whole, it's entertaining - both because we see accomplished, experienced entertainers at work who have to show a wide variety of skills and because there is so much going on that's set up to create fun and drama, while the circumstances allows them to have more of this happen as well.

I'm looking forward to our next season.

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 others, also feel weirdly affected, unnecessary and to me a bit off putting. I guess it's his style, but then it's a style I don't care for. It's a shame, but on the whole this feels lacklustre compared to what I want.

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, you get a similar impact - they aren't brash, stand on their own, but you can feel where the lyrics would slot in. It's mostly very atmospheric.

God Only Knows starts the second half and is just as memorable, just sounding right. After that, I'm not sure the second half of the album holds up to the first half quite as well. Not that the songs are bad, just that it feels like some of them aren't quite there for me. As we saw that Beach Boys Today had a similar split, I wonder whether that was intentional to some point, creating two halves where this sadder part doesn't connect with me quite as well.

It's difficult to see quite where this fit in in the music of the time, or what I've heard of it, being a mix of genres, but what's clear is that future musicians were as influenced by it, and it feels like it sets up a lot of future pop songs. It led, for example, to Sgt Pepper, and I wonder whether it can quite live up.

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 out of the way. Harrison redeems himselt with Love You ~To, adding to the sheer variety on the album.

The flipside of this is that there's isn't much cohesion - Here There and Everywhere, a sweet ballad, is followed by the famous, happier Yellow Submarine. They don't feel like they go together, but it does show the versatility that's there and is so impressive about it.