The three hundred and eighty-eighth album: #388 Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel I

While, probably due to his work on scoring Disney films, Phil Collins is the first person that comes to mind when I hear these prog rock and associated tracks, the Genesis successor that made it on the list is Peter Gabriel. It's for good reason - while it has the same sound in places, it feels more sophisticated, with a bigger mix of sounds - the jazz inspired of Waiting For the Big One leading into a longer track on one side, and the weird art rock from Moribund the Burgermeister on the other. It's the second type that really appeals to me, in a way that tells a different kind of story. The album stays interesting, straying at times into familiar territory, but it is always entertaining.

The three hundred and eighty-seventh album: #387 Iggy Pop - The Idiot

While I've praised Bowie's work before - both his own work and that where he produces - it's a style that that doesn't always work either. While I've enjoyed Iggy Pop's punk stylings with the Stooges before, the smoother style doesn't suit him. His voice is a bit off in places, and where it isn't it sounds so much like a Bowie track that I thought he was performing at several points. It's not bad rock, but it's also not great - they're more some of Bowie's B-sides than a good Iggy Pop album.

The one hundred and thirty-ninth classical recording: #246 Franz Schubert - Piano Trio in B flat major

As mentioned before, a lot of works like this are fairly abstract, and while I enjoy them it's hard to say something new about them. There's an energy in Schubert's work that's infectious, even the slower parts of the work have multiple things going on. They're well constructed, building well, and lovely to listen to.

The three hundred and eighty-sixth album: #386 Suicide - Suicide

With a heavy electronic sound, Suicide's rock stands out from its contemporaries. It doesn't go all in on the electronic sound - this is no Kraftwerk - but it presages later electronic work by leaning into that sound in a way that later works go for. It's the stronger fusion with rock music - not quite punk, not quite anything else that follows - that makes it feel a bit odd, with odd (semi-?)lyrics that don't fit anywhere else either. The album is an experience, that's for sure, but not one that's easy to absorb.

The three hundred and eighty-fifth album: #385 Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

Pacific Ocean Blue sits there as a pleasant album to listen to without demanding much of you. From its Beach Boys legacy, it's more demure, not complex even if there are some parts with a big production elements to it. It's nice, not challenging, but just a happy set of songs to listen to.

The one hundred and seventy-ninth TV show: #181 Colditz

I'm not a major fan of war dramas - there's a tone to it in British and American productions that feels naive. Colditz, to be fair, doesn't make the Germans out entirely as unapologetic monsters, and most of the escape plans out of the prison don't necessarily go as well as they should, but there's an odd worship of the British officer that feels weird. Add to that the choice to have the series start with a number of episodes that happen away from the titular Colditz, introducing a few of the characters but not really setting the stage for that much. It creates a story I don't feel as invested in, in a setting I care little for. There are some good performances, but there's nothing more there that I care about.

The one hundred and thirty-eighth classical recording: #794 Richard Strauss - Daphne

Daphne feels different from the operas we've listened to before. Aside from being shorter - a nice boon for a busy workday - Strauss's music feels different. While still going big t times, a lot more of it feels smaller and lighter, with a more ethereal bent than the darker tones that tend to dominate other operas. It might not be too obvious - a lot of it still feels classic, with the lyrics again making the difference - but there's something in it that sounds different enough to lend a smaller feel to the opera.

The three hundred and eighty-fourth album: #384 David Bowie - Heroes

Without trying to diminish the rest of the album, the title track of Heroes is its most powerful song. There's something inspiring about the lyrics, a reference to the possibilities that you can have for a moment, but also addressing those moments where the impact can be exaggerated - the readings work and it doesn't diminish those strengths. The rest of the songs feel more experimental and less poppy. It means that those songs - especially the instrumentals that dominate one side - feel more of a study with some classical elements in it. It's a mix that works well, but you have to be ready for the change of setting.

The three hundred and eighty-third album: #383 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Rumours is a very accessible album in the best way. Tracks like Dreams and Don't Stop are famous classics that are easy to listen to and enjoyable, providing a poppy, upbeat track that sits well next to the folksier outings of other tracks, and it feels like you are able to sing along to so many of them. It makes for an incredibly strong album that is on the list for a very good reason.

The one hundred seventy-seventh TV show: #916 Veep

It's been a couple of years since we started watching Veep - for various reasons, we took a break a few years in, but we've now made our way through the first five seasons which should give us something to go on. The show comes form the same base of The Thick of It, but with its focus shifted to US politics the tone changes in different ways. Focusing on the weirdly empty role of vice president and the succession battles it inspires in later seasons, the series is weirdly cutthroat. If anything, it feels even more aggressively bleak as rarely, people seem to get anything done, and it's all even more about wheeling and dealing than trying to a good job running the country.

With that, it's excellently acted, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus switching effortlessly between the (fake) caring and underlying anger, making the exaggerated moments work. That's not to say that the rest of the cast doesn't work - there are so many highlights in there - but she really holds it up in her own way. It's a masterpiece and although I have a bit more to go, it's been excellent so far.

The one hundred seventy-eighth TV show: #924 Girls

Did I not discuss this yet? Both awkward and funny, there's something about Girls that looking back on it taps into a collective experience of my generation - vapid, yes, but also stuck in a world not giving much to us, there are moments that really work, while Lena Dunham clearly plays an at times unlikeable character discovering herself in a way that feels real, and which will either fascinate you and draw you in, or repulse if you don't get the right feeling. For me, it was a bit of both - what I watched was worth it, but it's not at that height all the time to recommend the full run.

The ninety-eighth book: #381 The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

I've had The Hobbit as one of the books I wanted to read most of the ones remaining on the list. The Lord of the Rings looms large in the history of fantasy, and The Hobbit is its smaller, more accessible cousin. It has the history and world building, but is also aimed at a younger audience, simpler without talking down in most places. While epic in places, it also has more sillier moments, more songs, and at least one big event gets skipped because Bilbo is knocked unconcious... a bit of a cheat, really. While clearly also aimed at children, the novel also has a lot of wordplay and linguistic tricks that stand out compared to others like it and it stays fun for those moments as much as it does for a good fantasy story without going too epic.