The four hundred and fifteenth album: #415 Van Halen - Van Halen
The recognisable meat of Van Halen's debut album is at its start, with tracks like Runnin' With the Devil being as well known as anything you can find. It shows the strengths of the album - a strong metal/hard rock base, aided by some well written music and supported by harmonies that feel rare in the genre - it's more trained than what we see, and especially compared to what we got out of the punk era. The album stays listenable and there's still a lot to enjoy in here.
The one hundred and fourty-eighth classical recording: #842 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Trio no. 2
Sad and dramatic, written by someone who wasn't in a good frame of mind, the sadness and chaos of Shostakovich's feelings at the time comes through in the nature of the music, which builds to a crescendo of anger, strings fighting strings while the piano plays darkly in the background. It's raw, almost frightening in its energy, and a positive challenge in this way.
The four hundred and fourteenth album: #414 Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen
I don't know why, but somehow I was expecting something darker from my first Buzzcocks album. Their first studio album features several upbeat punk tracks, with the aggressive guitars and beat that come with punk not sinking away into the anger. A lot of this comes from Pete Shelley's vocals, who sounds happier, really, and more positive, creating a better atmosphere this way. It's an album that flies by, keeping me more entertained than I thought I would be.
The four hundred and thirteenth album: #413 Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
Something that I think will keep getting me when listening to Talking Heads albums is how it sounds that bit different - still a rock song, but the vocals are different, the music more haunting at times, and the whole album feels like it has its own musical identity that doesn't stray away from a genre, but doesn't sound entirely normal either. It's too constrained to feel fully experimental, but it still continues to be interesting enough
The one hundred and second book: #79 Life of a Good-For-Nothing - Joseph Von Eichendorff
To be hoenst, Life of a Good-For-Nothing did little for me. Maybe it's because I don't really like the "slacker lucks into success" stories a lot, but it really felt like this story relied too much on coincidences, tired twists that I think I've seen before in previous entries on the list. Our title character was likeable at times, clearly written to be that way, but also felt too dim and unaware at times to really convince me. I ended up rushing through a bit... it just didn't reach any real depths that I cared for.
The one hundred and fourty-seventh classical recording: #896 Joaquin Rodrigo - Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre
While we usually listen to older pieces, we get the 'proper' orchestra instruments - violins, wind instruments, perhaps a piano or organ. A guitar, though old in its own right, doesn't feature in that list, and it's a treat to hear it here, being supported by the rest of the orchestra. THe second movement, the longest of the four, dominates with its maudling tone, but it's surrounded by more upbeat pieces that do help lift the piece, giving it the variety and energy it needs. It shows off the guitar soloists well, while giving the rest of the orchestra as much time to build around that.
The four hundred and twelfth album: #412 Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
I'm not sure whether there is that much to this live album. It's fine to listen to, pretty standard hard rock fare, but I haven't had anything latch on - no memorable riffs or good lyrics, and its double album run time doesn't help make it all feel like it drags on.
The four hundred and eleventh album: #411 Throbbing Gristle - D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle
As an industrial and experimental album, it's hard to warm to it. You get a track that works, sort of, as an electronic rock track followed by some off putting screeching and some random conversations put together that don't really lead to anything. Is it something you end up liking? Probably not, or at least not for me - I think a live performance may enhance some of the tracks, but that's hard to tell from the album. I think I ended up appreciating the tracks more - at times they're composed, like a symphony going through its areas, bringing in motifs and changes as it does so.
The one hundred and first book: #1018 The Albigenses - Charles Robert Maturin
I'm giving up on this book very early. Aside from the one copy that I could find being low quality, it has all the downsides of the historic novels like Walter Scott's that I've found before - overwrought language, too many unneeded historical details and just nothing that managed to draw me in. It's not worth making it through a full four volumes of this.
The four hundred and tenth album: #410 Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove
As a funk rock album, while this brings the rock, it's at its best when the funk repetition isn't there. To be fair, Funkadelic does this quite well compared to most, and I found that the music worked better for me at an album length than when listening to the individual track before. It's a nice fit, not amazing, but I did enjoy the album a lot.
The four hundred and ninth album: #409 Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
Possibly as part of a busy day, this album just ran away - the rock sound that you expect from Springsteen just driving forward continuously without any real interruptions to the flow. It works well, with some good music and interesting lyrics to go into. They're perhaps not always one I'd connect with, but it's recognisable and understandable still.