The five hundred and fourty-eighth album: #548 Abdullah Ibrahim - Water from an Ancient Well
Water from an Ancient Well is ultimately a jazz album. One that's pretty well executed, but with little deeper meaning and not much structure that I felt I could work with, it became fairly plain. I think I mostly missed a mood in the pieces, something it tries to lead you to even if it's not an explicit text. It's fine, really good in place, but nothing made me love it.
The five hundred and fourty-seventh album: #547 The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
I feel like I'm facing a bit of a learning curve with This Nation's Saving Grace. I see a number of good things in the music, where I've enjoyed post punk albums before, but at the same time it doesn't feel like it's hitting all the spots I was expecting it to. Some tracks seem deliberately off putting, I Am Damo Suzuki feeling especially strange in that regard. There's something nice in this album, but it felt like it was pushing me away deliberately at times.
The one hundred and ninety-ninth classical recording: #632 Manuel de Falla - Siete Canciones populares Españolas
This shorter piece is a collection of traditional song arranged for piano and soprano. It's intentionally sparse, but with the nature of the songs that works well. They're good, quite nice to listen to and they feel they work as a really intimate performance.
The five hundred and fourty-sixth album: #546 Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
This album leads off with its title track, a misunderstood album that works well in context. It's followed by a number of rock songs in a similar vein - working class stories, looking at the world around them and at those who are richer. A number of them are a similar sort of anthem, but some lean towards a bit more of a ballad or country rock song. The tone of the lyrics, however, are part of what pulls it away from there for me, focusing on quite a different political direction.
The five hundred and fourty-fifth album: #545 Youssou N'Dour - Immigres
It's always a pleasant surprise to get an album on world music, something that comes from outside the standard studios in the US and Europe. Immigres takes Senegalese music and fuses it with a Latin influence, creating something that has a lot of swing but adds on a heavy melodic percussion element that heightens the feelings of that music. It's pretty engaging and energetic, and a really good album to listen to on an early morning.
The one hundred and ninety-eighth classical recording: #419 Gabriel Faure - Piano Quartets 1 & 2
This collection of quartets comes in with a lot of energy, the piano being very engaging while drawing in the other instruments for their moments to shine. It's got its moods, the second quartets going from an excitable first movement to a more sinister second, but really keeping up the momentum in the music.
The five hundred and fourty-fourth album: #544 Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Rattlesnakes
Rattlesnakes is a pretty gentle album, giving some pleasant and relaxed folk rock vibes with perhaps a bit more of a kick than these usually have. It's quite nice, but it relies more on a connection with the lyrics that I didn't personally feel as often. It's still a pretty pleasant and gentle sound to listen to, but it is not quite as memorable for me.
The five hundred and fourty-third album: #543 Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
This is a daunting list of tracks. Double Nickels on the Dime is a double album formed of 43 punk tracks - something that feels like it might be the highest I've seen so far. They're a lot of short punk tracks, mostly less than two minutes long, with a variety of variations in style. A lot of them are punk tracks, feeling lighter than some because of the lack of bass in the guitar, while others lean more towards the jazzy side. Sometimes it feels meaningful, sometimes it doesn't, but because of the nature of the album it never wears out its welcome as it keeps moving through these different angles.
The one hundred and ninety-seventh classical recording: #428 Charles-Marie Widor - Symphony no. 5
This is a wonderful, simple piece for just the organ, quite unadorned and staid as you'd expect from a piece using only that, but the five movements still bring a fair bit of variation in, with some really sensitive moments as well.
The five hundred and fourty-second album: #542 Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Following their earlier albums, Ocean Rain takes Echo and the Bunnymen into more of a new wave direction. It sounds fine, hitting all the right buttons, but I can't say it's been a very exciting album either. Well performed, perhaps, but not anything inspiring.