The three hundred and fifty-second album: #352 Joni MItchell - Hejira
I'll happily admit to just not understanding the subtleties of some performers. I enjoy Joni Mitchell's albums, I find Hejira a calming and interesting influence to listen to, but I also can't really say what sets it apart from other albums by her. A bit less maudlin in places perhaps? A different feel to how they approach the subject? I struggle to say for sure, but as an album it still work swell enough and it's a welcome calm album.
The three hundred and fifty-first album: #351 David Bowie - Station To Station
There's a less extravagant feel to Bowie's tenth album, one that's still produced but has a simpler rock sound as its core through the most of it, relying on Bowie's lyrics and vocals more to create that feeling. It's nothing big, but it feels well crafted and focused in a way that really suits me at this point.
The three hundred and fiftieth album: #350 Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers
It feels like since my moving-related break, I've already been hitting some high points for some good rock albums. Modern Lovers aims towards punk again. It's upbeat, not trying to be deep, but hitting the right notes - not too hard, but not subdued either, staying accessible and energetic. It still feels like teenagers or someone in their early twenties working through things, but it's packaged up well enough to stay very listenable.
The three hundred and fourty-ninth album: #349 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty's sound here feels like classic rock music - the upbeat driving sound, straightforward vocals, no tricks or excessive sounds, but instead harkening back slightly to older styles of music while still feeling quite modern. There are the hints at metal and punk, but on the whole it's a fun rock and roll sound that carries through really well.
The three hundred and fourty-eighth album: #348 Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today
After my previous compliments of an R&B album, Curtis Mayfield doesn't wow me as much. It's done well, sure, the music sounds good, but aside from missing some body, the lyrics aren't very inspiring and through the seven tracks, they didn't get their hooks into me. It doesn't help that some tracks feel a minute or two too long - Jesus being one that strained my patience - and I just felt lost in the entire thing.
The three hundred and fourty-seventh album: #347 Earth Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World
One of the downsides of the domination of rock in the charts at this time is that it's difficult to track the changes in other genres that happen at the same time. While we have a soul and R&B album here, it feels like the same influences that created prog rock and its offshoots are here as well. Some of those no doubt originated from here as well, and there are still the long funk segments that harken back, but there are a few places where the album pushes through that style and becomes interesting. It doesn't do enough to make me a fan, but there's something nice in the album that I enjoyed.
The three hundred and fourty-sixth album: #346 Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
Covering fifteen tracks in just over 30 minutes of album gives us a number of short songs that never really have a chance to outstay their welcome. Willie Nelson's country music is simple, straight forward, lyrically focused with its complexities hidden. It's country in the way that I like it, simple, not overbearing, and while it's a bit slow at times Willie Nelson sells his style quite well - accessible and somewhat fresh in a genre that I've always felt quite staid.
The three hundred and fourty-fifth album: #345 Queen - A Night At The Opera
As I think I've mentioned here before, I'm predisposed to liking Queen albums and this is no exception. The glam rock of Bohemian Rhapsody is, of course, its most famous track, but it's the journey between the different styles, telling their own stories and beats, that matter here. You see it in its most famous track for sure, but also moving ballads like Love of my Life, the raucous Death on Two Legs or the suddenly jazzy Good Company. Just as often, I just enjoy the music, not always set up to be complex, but it feels like they're experimenting and trying different things.
The three hundred and fourty-fourth album: #344 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd has its history with long concept albums Wish You Were Here has its own version, the album dominated by Shiny On You Crazy Diamond, a nine-part composition whose halves bookend the album. Aside from any questions about what's going on, it is well put together, with a lead in that feels like it pays off more than it sometimes does. The other tracks works with it, longer compositions paying off with their vocals and follow ups. While I don't always like these longer tracks on albums, as it feels easy to get lost in them, Pink Floyd shows again how well it can pull them off.
The three hundred and fourty-third album: #343 Patti Smith - Horses
Listed as early punk, Patti Smith's first studio album has a clear identity despite the number of co-writers involved. The result is an album with distinct tracks, but her voice all over it, veering between art rock, garage and what is at this point early punk. The latter is a genre coming up at this point, and some of its track are clearly punk while others stay away from it. It especially gets me in the larger epic tracks, where it has that feel of a journey, reaching the heights but having that punk tuning in the guitars. Not knowing what was coming, this was a real unexpected delight.