The four hundred and seventy-third album: #473 UB40 - Signing Off
The only album by UB40 on the list - remarkable as they're one of the larger, long running reggae groups in the world - is a subdued affair. While following the genre, the music feels more polished and pulled together than other albums we've heard before, while the lyrics are more explicitly politically, clearer than they were before. It get to a point where, 10 tracks into the 13 track album, it loses some of its distinctiveness, but at a normal album length this would have worked well - it just pushed it a little bit too much.
The one hundred and sixty-ninth classical recording: #254 Franz Schubert - Schwanengesang
The title of this collection of poems, 'Swan Song' is appropriate for the sadder tone of the pieces. While not too slow, there's a lamenting tone to a number of them, with the upbeat poems actually feeling out of place in between - not entirely unwelcome, but there's something reassuring about the slow pace, more of a mastery of the sound than the more upbeat sound gives you. The delicate nature of some of the songs stands out, but it works well as a two hundred year old album regardless.
The four hundred and seventy-second album: #472 Tom Waits - Heartattack and Vine
Tom Waits - a gravelly voice singing white guy blues with a rock base. The album is exactly what you'd expect based on that description and it works well at it, with a strength of voice that remains quite convincing.
The four hundred and seventy-first album: #471 The Jam - Sound Affects
At 35 minutes, Sound Affects is a short album, especially as it splits it over 11 tracks. It gives a bunch of short tracks, each a punch of energy with different tones that's unforgiving in just dragging you through - you don't realise a tracks ends before the next begins.
The one hundred and sixty-eighth classical recording: #504 Sergei Rachmaninov - Symphony no. 1
As always, hard to go into abstract pieces, but this is a nice piece to listen to, bombastic in places but not too much so. It doesn't go as subtle as most, but the symphony makes for a big, angry piece to listen to.
The one hundred and fourty-fourth book: #84 Eugene Onegin - Alexander Pushkin
Some forms of works translate better than others - a normal novel, where a translator can adapt the structure a bit to fit their language, becomes easier to read than a poem-like structure like that of Eugene Onegin, where the metre of the poem doesn't translate well to something that's as readable. It felt unnatural, not because of the work, not because the translator couldn't do it well, but because it's hard to do justice to that original feeling. The work is poetic and does feel lyrical, but it feels like the diversion and word choices never translated in a way that worked for me, and it led to a story that got boring because it lost its focus so much.
The four hundred and seventieth album: #470 The Undertones - Hypnotised
Hypnotised is a good, straight forward post punk album - nothing deep, but instead we're deeper in the era of punk bands that make themselves sound a lot happier and accessible. It still has its negative focused lyrics but it doesn't feel that way - and instead it's a happy frenzy I'm glad to be swept up in.
The four hundred and sixty-ninth album: #469 Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Having grown up with an affection for rock, heavy metal has always been at the edges of my musical consciousness. It hasn't always hit me as much though - some artists go a bit too heavy - but with Iron Maiden's debut album it strikes a good balance. It's heavy, yeah, but there's more shape to it and the vocals stand out as much - the guitar solos won't hit as much but it's built so well that the whole album stays incredibly fun to listen to without being too overwhelming or turning into just noise.
The four hundred and sixty-eighth album: #468 Joy Division - Closer
The dark, gothic rock of Joy Division can also feel incredibly draining, a relentless, unending drone at its most depressing that certainly sets its mood - one that you'd need to be ready for. I enjoyed it well enough but it had a bigger impact on me than I was expecting.
The four hundred and sixty-seventh album: #467 Talking Heads - Remain in Light
There's something irresistible about the mix of influences in Remain in Light. The last Talking Heads album on the list leans more towards their funk side, a mix of influences and sounds that stays hard to pin down and it's not hard to see how they're going their own way even more than before. It's well put together - not always perfectly polished, but the slightly more discordant bits are what make the album more interesting to listen to. It feels like a precursor to other work, although at the same time I struggle to think of bands that end up moving in this direction - it will be an interesting journey for sure, but I may need to listen to the back catalogue instead to get the full picture.