The two hundred and eighteenth album: #218 Yes - Fragile
There's a lot in Fragile that feels like it produces a real example of the prog rock genre. Heavy rock riff lightened with the electric organ, long, conceptual songs with a story it tells as it goes on mixed with short concepts - a rearranged version of Brahms is on the second track, for example. It shows intelligence and thought put into an album that you don't necessarily see in other genres.
Even the short songs here are part of the setup for the longer epics, and with the changes in the longer songs it seems more for the form sometimes than something that was fully intended, but I guess it makes sense for release aims - Long-Distance Runaround would have worked well as its own single, a distillation of the album in a track, while also matching with the tracks around it.
All of this gives you an album where you get lost in the tracks, and the phases in them are as important as the changes in the track listing that you see. It's a good listen - energetic in places, but also contemplative, not going all out but experimenting a lot to create a distinct sound that does well in telling a story.
The two hundred and seventeenth album: #217 The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
There's something odd about this album. The first seven tracks fall into the band's surf rock feel, nice poppy songs that build on their heritage but add more meaningful lyrics. It's decent, a nice move to get something more out of it, but I could see why it wouldn't have had as much of an impact.
Then, for the last three songs, Brian Wilson's personal tracks come in. The three songs are sombre and more contemplative, the harmonies working really well to create a pessimistic feeling, darker than what came before and this completely different direction to what came before. They're what make you think in this album, perhaps not their strength, but it's a far more interesting direction for this music to go.
The two hundred sixteenth album: #216 John Lennon - Imagine
Slowly, the influence of the Beatles comes to an end, with only an album by Paul McCartney with the Wings coming up on the list. John Lennon's Imagine, which opens the album, feels so overused for me now - a lovely ballad about world peace without real solutions but just a "what if" that gets overused now in all sorts of "Let's just get along" contexts where that seems easier than taking action. I wouldn't expect a song to do that, but it feels like its current use puts a shadow on a song that works that well.
It's followed by a far jauntier Crippled Inside, a country rock ballad that is quite nice, but not as impactful. The album then goes between protest songs, ballads and prog rock songs. As much as the album has its sweet moments and moments of peace, there are as many where the anger comes through in it - indirect if not outspoken, with How Do You Sleep being the obvious reference - and it creates a more complex feeling album - not undercutting the message, but enhancing this being a personal album from a real person, rather than some more fabricated point.
I was worried going into this album based on the title track, but there's a lot more nuance to it than I expected, and there's a lot here still of what I liked from the Beatles.
The two hundred and fifteenth album: #215 The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Any controversy aside, the Rolling Stones' drift between hard rock and blues rock has served it well. The blues part is always there, even when there's shouting and loud guitars, but for an album, being able to flow from loud Brown Sugar to sensitive country Wild Horses is a real boon as it manages to avoid a tone whiplash. It's a good mix between a few bangers, some amazing ballads and some good songs in between.
The two hundred and fourteenth album: The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
Another live album, and it looks like jazz isn't going away. Over an hour of rock jams with a jazz and blues influence. It's listenable, the music isn't bad, but at times it's self indulgent - as one guitar solo in You Don't Love Me shows, with how it drags without providing much value. It doesn't offer much for its length and, again, doesn't work as something you actively listen to. I'm content having it sit in the background, but I don't think it pulls off much that grabs my attention.
The two hundred and thirteenth album: Isaac Hayes - Shaft
I've watched Shaft (the movie this is the soundtrack to)! I didn't enjoy it - blaxploitation isn't my thing - but I also remember the movie almost existing for the soundtrack, it was a stand out. Of course, without the visuals, that falls apart, and while the vocal funk songs work decently, a lot of the 70 minute album is background music, something the album is suited for but which doesn't work as something I more actively listen to. So the Theme From Shaft and Soulsville are decent songs, Bumpy's Lament gives a good atmosphere, but everything else fades into the background.
I've heard the soundtrack of Shaft referenced often in other works and it feels like it might have become the default sound of this type of movie or show for some time, and it does its job really well to bring across the right atmosphere, but as a standalone album this feels a bit weak.
The two hundred and twelfth album: #212 Carole King - Tapestry
It's nice to get some gentle soft rock in today - it's been a tense few days and Tapestry really helps a lot with clearing that up. It's hard to pick out individual songs - not because they're all the same, but because today they just put me in a feel good cocoon. Beautiful is the right sort of upbeat song, a nice basic rock tune that really feels uplifting and positive. It's a feeling that runs through the album and it really works at the moment.
You've Got A Friend, which opens the second side, is a song that's been covered enough and always had a resonance with me (I think because it was one of the songs that we covered during singing/vocal lessons, and made a connection with because of it). Again, it just works as a show of support. The whole album is a fulfilling listen like that, lifting my spirits and making me feel good.
The one hundred fourty-second TV show: #14 Academy Awards
By their nature, there's something quite indulgent about awards shows, and the one honouring the movie industry is that most of all, allowing big production values, plenty of stars and spectacle. How much this hits depends in part on the host and their writers (as I haven't had a chance to watch a hostless edition here), but while there are some bits that feel fine on their own, it feels just as often like a distraction from the actually important parts, actually giving out the awards, and it's hard not to feel like it misses the point sometimes. This applies even more when you consider there's little set up to be done: you don't have any sets to move and are already really restricting the time for speeches. Some of that makes it less boring, I suppose, but the stand up isn't necessarily worth it.
For that reason, this feels like over indulgent - a good show at times, but a bit too much. It's something worth watching if you're really interested in the outcome, but it doesn't hold up for repeat, or after the day viewing.
The two hundred eleventh album: #211 The Who - Who's Next
When you get to a band like this that has been around for a while, with their previous album Tommy looming large, it feels like there are two directions to take - either shake it up or go deeper on what you've been doing. And while Tommy looms as one of the biggest rock opera albums, it feels like Who's Next builds on that sound, but not (due to various reasons) the concept. It's quite telling that Who's Next, the one song by John Entwistle rather than Pete Townshend, stands out so much both in the use of horns and the generally quite jovial tone. Others are serious, angry or sentimental - The Song Is Over following after going very deep on the latter, starting with an introduction that has vocals over a piano, building up but not going in as hard.
The real meat of the album is at the end though, with Behind Blue Eyes grabbing me in particular as a powerful ballad, the harmonies that bookend the song feeling incredibly powerful and something I've felt connected to. The end, the longer and more known Won't Get Fooled Again, hits as a powerful statement piece. The venom is in the tail, but it's worth it.
The two hundred and tenth album: #210 The Bee Gees - Trafalgar
Oddly enough, the Bee Gees' turn into disco isn't covered by this list, leaving us with two rock albums as their contributions to the list. Instead, it continues to use the same harmonies and soft, accessible rock that we know, violins and all. It sounds really good, the vocals are good, the music lovely, and it gets quite emotional at times. Somehow, though, they never quite connected with me. I can admire the craftsmanship in here, but I got a bit bored with what it was trying to offer - it just didn't add that extra bit of life or connection that I felt it needed.