The one hundred forty-first TV show: #403 Star Trek: The Next Generation

I mean, I could have written about this from the start, with how much I've seen of this series as well as its sequels. The first season of the series is a bit shaky in places, in production values if nothing else, but the core of the characters is there, as well as some of the writing. While the show has its issues - the no conflict rule being an issue - it works incredibly well once it gets going and creates some great science fiction and other drama stories. The tight ensemble works well there, with a group that got along well which shines through in the performances.

It's hard to describe why this is as good as I enjoy the franchise so much, and this is one of its best entries even as some of the flaws come through now a few decades have passed. It's still well worth watching.

The two hundred and ninth album: #209 Yes - The Yes Album

The Yes Album opens with a 10 minute prog rock track, similar to other albums of the time, that make their way through several different sections, playing with the technology and feeling like it serves as a show case for everything the band can do. The message - an antiwar one based on the Vietnam war - obviously gets pushed to the sections with vocals. The album has Clap as an instrumental interlude, setting the format used for both sides - two long tracks with a three minute 'interlude' that feels less significant and more intends to set the table.

Starship Trooper is the second major song of the first half and it feels even more constructed - three sections to build to and on each other to create an outstanding adventure. Similarly, the second side is opened by I've Seen All Good People, which starts like a relatively calmer, more romantic song leading into an early 1960s rock inspired riff. It's a simple take off from existing elements, and the (relative) constraint in not building too much pays off incredibly well here. The album finished with Perpetual Change, again at time slightly smaller, but also at times a glorious finish to an album that feels like it does prog rock incredibly well.

The one hundred fortieth TV show: #832 The Vampire Diaries

For a long time, I was looking at this show as a quite standard teen vampire drama. Stefan, the lead vampire character, is the guy who struggles with his heritage but remains human, while Damon gives into his impulses more, in a controlled but darker way. It's a bit edgy and very teen angsty and seems to have that Twilight inspiration. I was about to say that while it pulls it off well enough, the frequent shirtless guys and good looking teens looking sad are such teen drama staples that it's just that element added to make it stand out. It's fine, but not something I'd have continued.

Then around episode 16, as I'm about to give up, the show turns and Stefan turns from protagonist to (semi-) antagonist. I don't know yet whether it lasts, but having this changed around will mean that this can always float around as a more realistic element. It means we can focus more on Damon too, who is the more interesting character, and on the whole the show benefits from these changes. I'll need to see how much longer this will last, but at the moment it certainly has my attention.

The two hundred and eighth album: #208 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On

Listening to it, there's something appropriate about this album, the violence and problems described in it as much of a problem now as it has been. All of this is wrapped in a gorgeous soul album, one that lets the message dominate but mixes a bunch of elements incredibly well. It's its own tour de force, an impressive string of songs, that feels like it delivers on all things that matter - but with that, also feels relevant nearly forty years later, describing a struggle that still affects us. Marvin Gaye proves to have been an amazing song writer and creator of something timeless here.

The two hundred seventh album: #207 Sly & The Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On

I've not always loved the funk songs we've covered for the songs list, not in the least because you get these long, repetitive sections with not much going on. While this isn't quite fully funk yet, it's hard not to feel like this album drags on just as much, not justifying its 47 minute runtime. There are moments where it feels there could be something there, but I don't think the album pulls off what it tries to achieve and it gets worse, rather than better, as a result of that.

The two hundred and sixth album: #206 David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name

It's odd how this feels like this is another album of the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young supergroup and that this is David Crosby's debut solo album - reviewed as one of the best in its own right, but it's the link to the bigger group that stands out more clearly in my mind.

I do think there's more personality that comes through as you listen to the album. While there's a fair amount of folk rock in here, it's often infused with psychedelia in a way that the bigger group doesn't always have. It's not overdone, in the way that gets bothersome in other places, but it's more integrated into the folk sound, adding to the music rather than overtaking it. It creates a nice, listenable album, nothing that leaves as big of an impact on its own, but it feels you can put the album on at any point and listen to something pleasant, without any excess baggage. It's that friendly, folk rock explortation of the music while never getting bored in how it presents itself.

The two hundred and fifth album: #205 Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Time to try and settle back into a new rhythm, with life staying the way it is for another few months at this rate. We kick off things with Jethro Tull's Aqualung, a hard and folk rock album that felt more important as I listened to it. The riff of the opening track Aqualung alone is familiar and a great song that justifies its length on the album. It moves to some more sensitive sounds - the flute in Cross-Eyed Mary alone changing the feel of the album as it moves into something softer.

It's a gentler end that prefaces the second side, titled "My God". As it deals with religion, parts bring back the hard rock style while others sound choral, clearly imitatin religious songs - sounding quite impressive having been more immersed in classical music. Again, after the heavier start the music gets softer again, Locomotive Breath bringing the energy back up and creating a different curve to the side with a second spike of hard rock the first side doesn't have.

It's an interesting album, comtemplative in places but at the same time containing a lot of good, strong rock music.

The one hundred thirty-ninth TV show: #676 Project Runway

After we started watching it, we ended up addicted to RuPaul's Drag Race. As a follow up show (a few years later) we picked Project Runway, one of the big inspirations for Drag Race (as that show's third season shows) and something where we see a different side to fashion. Although it seems to take a season or two to truly find its feet, but unlike the other show, Project Runway has a pretty decent standard structure - get an assignment, design and build a garment and show it off on the runway. There are some twists - aside from changes to what you make, some have group challenges or other smaller changes, but often the target group or type of fashion is what matters.

It's lower on drama, it's simpler, but that makes the show much more watchable and your appreciation of their skills builds immensely. It's a neat set up and the show is just as addictive. Unlike other reality shows, this relies on skill and I feel that's what really matters here.

The one hundred thirty-eighth TV show: #594 Malcolm in the Middle

There's something realistically wholesome about Malcolm in the Middle. It has the heart of a family that loves each other, but also the rough way a household of four boys would interact. The parents aren't great - Hal has partially detached, while Lois is the type-A loud mother who seems out of her depth a lot of the time. There's shades of what the Middle later did, but with younger kids, and the cast is a powerhouse- we know what Bryan Cranston can do, and here he goes into everything with wild abandon, Jane Kaczamarek is amazing in the show and the kids are amazingly well cast. The whole series becomes a delight that delivers. The main struggle, at least in these early seasons, is that Francis, the oldest son, is stuck in the military academy - while he gets his own story lines, it feels like an unnecessary separation that makes everything more complicated and doesn't always add much. It's a great show, still, and I'm glad we still have several stations left.

The five hundred eighteenth song: Outdoor Miner - Wire

I'm not sure whether it's the time I'm listening at or something else, but Outdoor Miner's subdued, straightforward slow song doesn't quite fit the post punk feel you'd expect from that moniker. It's a pleasant poppy song, something that could fit into a soundtrack somewhere around track eight. It works well enough, without a bigger impact.

The five hundred nineteenth song: Rapper’s Delight - The Sugarhill Gang

While this isn't where rap started, it's what broke the genre to the world. It's been parodied, sampled and referenced so often that this feels like a parody, but the evolution of funk or disco works here - the music sound is there, but the rap changes it into something more interesting, removing the repetition or longer dance breaks and pushes it further. With the benefit of hindsight this feels a bit simple and commercial, but I do see how this becomes impressive.

The five hundred twentieth song: California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys

On the other side, California Uber Alles is a highly political song, written with some quite high brow allusions to Shakespeare and Orwell that comment on the governor of California and his actions. It's dark and aggressive, militaristic in places, and it feels like a challenge that stays that aggressive.

The five hundred twenty-first song: Typical Girls - The Slits

Typical Girls is a female led rock song, which feels like it was even rarer at the time - I know we have BLondie ocmic up, but the rock and punk scene has it as the exception, often restricted to the vocalist. Here, the entire band is, with a sound that feels as unique. The guitars and bass as mostly toned down, the drums a bit different, but the slurred punk vocals are there and it feels loose, an anthem that challenges standards and sets its point of view. I can't say this is the best performance out there, but it has its own unique side.

The five hundred twenty-second song: Atomic - Blondie

I'm not sure what this song is trying to say, Debbie Harry's improvised vocals more an instrument than creating that much meaning for the song. That feels a bit futuristic for the time, relying on synths and electric guitars to creating an ongoing beat that just occasionally gets interrupted by some musical flourishes, vocals and the rest that comes in. That, at the same time, fills the room, creating an environment more than anything.

The five hundred twenty-third song: Gangsters - The Specials

The story behind this song - the Specials were blamed for the damage another English band did to a hotel room - feels slightly undercut by the message. Rather than a statement, the early ska vocals feel a tad whiny and the punk vocals seem a bit off compared to the ska sound. It's an odd mix that doesn't always work well and doesn't come into its own until the second half of the song, when it all meshes better. It's a decent experiment and something different from what we've been used to.

The five hundred twenty-fourth song: Cars - Gary Numan

It feels like we had a Gary Numan song in the last batch, and we're in his big stage, with new wave coming in as it is. The first minute and a half have the actual vocals, a commentary on the security while you're in a car and that feeling of immortality - something I've noticed mostly as a regular pedestrian. The music itself continues for another two and a half minutes, a good electric sound that follows those new wave roots further and (aside from synths being a bit out of date) feels like it would now, or at any time. It's good, but it's the first section that works best, while the instrumental part threatens to become a tad too self indulgent in its length.

The five hundred twenty-fifth song: Babylon’s Burning - The Ruts

More reggae punk here, but while The Specials had the reggae vocals, The Ruts' Malcolm Owen sings with a hard rock voice, loud and shoulty in a way that even punk doesn't always have. It lends an aggression to the song that suits the message far better and continues to dominate the track. It feels like a more impressive feat and everything else follows suit - loud guitars, the constant drums and an anger that is felt throughout.

The five hundred twenty-sixth song: Message in a Bottle - The Police

Listening to these songs in context really bring out some of the influences you didn't really think of before hand, and the reggae intro of Message in a Bottle stands out a lot more here. The sound is dropped in the chorus, thankfully, as while it makes the verses sound different, I also wonder whether it adds that much to the song. The driving and desperate chorus feels like the more interesting part of the song, the music underscoring the longing despair that well. It works so well, becoming memorable and interesting as a track still worth listening to.