The one hundred and twenty-eighth classical recording: #731 Gustav Holst - Egdon Heath
Egdon Heath is a work that passes you by - sombre, slow and, at least in the recording I listened to, at times played at a low volume. It's not something that should be played loudly, it's the low tones that produce the dark, swampy feeling I get from it. It makes for a great tone piece, not inviting or event something I'd see myself listening to a lot, but it works well here to set its mood.
The three hundred and eleventh album: #311 Roxy Music - Country Life
Clearly past the Brian Eno era of the band, Roxy Music's fourth album is a good rock album, having some tood up tempo tracks, some throwback blues riffs and a generally enjoyable vibe. Mind you, it doesn't feel like it introduces anything unique, but it meanders through a number of styles of rock as they were around at the time, which feels like a more interesting journey - the tracks are different enough that it's hard to pin down the album as a whole, but it does work as a story.
The three hundred and tenth album: #310 Queen - Queen II
As a Queen fan - much to the dismay of my husband - I have obviously been looking forward to listening to their three albums on the list. While the album doesn't feature any of their biggest or well known hits, the route to them from here seems obvious. The album has their sound and song writing style, with their evocative lyrics, but has enough of a metal bend that it also harkens back to the earlier ages - there are shades of King Crimson in some of the songs on this album, such as the fantasy imagery in a few songs. The black side in particular shows more of the showiness of their set list, but also focuses on the harder rock side that predates their move into poppier songs, still a bit away from glam rock.
It took a while before I discovered the older albums, but they work for me. As more of a harder rock enthusiast, the mix of these sounds works for me and there's so much in these songs - even down to their classical influences - that it's hard for me not to enjoy the journey this takes me on.
The three hundred and ninth album: #309 Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Court and Spark is a simple folk pop album, an easy listening album with some meaning behind the lyrics. Joni Mitchell's lyrics are quite meaningful - not quite central to the song, but with enough of a focus to listen to, while the music is full in a good accompaniment to her voice, perfectly balanced so it doesn't drown her out but gives her a good backing. There's a vulnerability in there at times, combined with more power and certainty depending on what the song allows. While it doesn't stray too far from the basic folk formula, it's enough variation to make the songs feel distinct enough.
The one hundred and seventieth TV show: #577 Farscape
I've been looking forward to watching a bunch of SF series, with the likes of Farscape coming from a particular high in the series - in response to Star Trek: The Next Generation and the rise of the Sci-Fi Channel and its original brief, we got some great original SF series that had a lighter tone even as the budget wasn't quite as high. Farscape is one of the notable entries in that list, with the Henson Company's muppets adding a lot to the show, introducing more alien aliens and a strange world.
The show does not disappoint, creating an interesting setting that doesn't quite hit the ground running but soon sets up a band of misfits that works quite well together. While following some stereotypes, the characters never feel a lot more real than that and the stories work well, including some really good SF stories. Within a season, it has really gripped me, and while I have a lot more to go, I'm just looking forward to seeing more of this world and how its storylines will develop.
The three hundred and eighth album: #308 Van Morrison - It's Too Late To Stop Now
It's Too Late To Stop Now is listed as one of the best live albums. Where in the past, I found that those happened in part because they drew from the live audience, here I don't think the album really gained from that. As a very jazzy rock album, it feels like it would really connect with the right person, but I'm not the best audience for this style and I never found that there was any music that I really wanted to listen to. While there's a lot of skill and good musicianship here, I'm not sure I quite feel the appeal of this.
The one hundred and twenty-seventh classical recording: #347 Richard Wagner - Tristan und Isolde
There are some long pieces that we know we just need to tackle at some point, and when this came out randomly it was with a weary sigh - but with the bank holiday coming up, it means skipping an album this Thursday so I can keep my weeks aligned.
Tristan und Isolde is an opera telling the story of the two lovers, musically impressive but as a long romantic tale somewhat lacking the energy of other pieces, with lengthy slower parts dominating without giving as much to help you follow the story. It makes, I'll admit, for a less interesting passive listening experience, with all of it sounding good but it took until the third act to really grab me and make me pay attention.
The three hundred and seventh album: #307 Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Especially when covering classical tracks, it feels like the words "inspired by" can be a bit overused. There's some allusion, but you need to know what the work is referencing to actually get it. Autobahn, on the other hand, gets you into it. The 22 minute track isn't exactly driving music, but its mostly instrumental setting creates and imitates a lot of the sounds you here while driving and builds it enough in your mind to put you in that mindset.
There's something intriguing about the electronic style of Kraftwerk. For a modern listener, they're somewhat retro, with the style having evolved massively since then, but going through the list, there's also something unique about their reliance on almost just electronics surrounded by mostly still conventional bands that use synthesizers more as a novelty than a craft of its own.
The three hundred and sixth album: #306 Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard
While I know Eric Clapton is meant to be an accomplished musician, I found this album uninspiring. This might be influenced by me finding the man generally unpalatable, especially in our current days, but I still can't find anything in the music either. Clapton mostly covers existing blues tracks, and while his solos are quite good, his vocals don't really carry the work and the music doesn't do anything for me to make it hold up. It's just not there for me.
The ninety-second book: #627 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
I've gotten back to the occasional book, as I felt I needed something to occupy me in the morning, and it seemed like time to get to a book I really loved.
2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as, to some extent, Dune, show how some stories are difficult to film and easier to write, to the point where I feel both are better as a visual companion to the book than a work in their own right. For Dune, of course, this has resulted in a generally less liked movie, but the movie version of 2001 is still acclaimed. Its cinematography is spectacular and the core parts of the story work really well - the confrontation with HAL having a tension you can't get in the books - but the more esoteric opening and closing parts make perfect sense in the book but are more vague in the film.
The book, through this, creates a rich world - whether it's the insight into the minds of apes as they develop higher brain functions, the description of life on a long spaceship journey or the visions left by long-dead aliens, it's all engaging and described so well. Clarke isn't necessarily the best at describing action scenes, staying quite clinical, but the interest is in the internal monologue and interactions with the world that stay engaging, even if the date for many predictions have long come and gone, prescient enough to still apply to us even as you ignore the dates mentioned in the story.