The one hundred fifty-second album:#152 Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis
While we heard more from him in the early parts of this list, we now come to his last album on the list in what I guess was his revival period. One of the big changes that I felt straight away is the larger influence of soul in this - while I'm sure there were some, it feels like there are more choirs and tambourines as the album starts. That veers a bit more into rocky blues songs - sometimes fully into blues (maybe with some violins playing) although something like Power Of My Love In The Ghetto goes the other way. Elvis still sounds good and his performances are as powerful as ever, while the large production suits his voice well. It's an impressive combination and in the end, I feel the album worked far better than I would have expected based on when this was in Elvis's career.
The one hundred fourteenth TV show: #111 Batman
We wanted to put a simpler, fun show against the heavier subject matter of the other show that we'll get to in a few weeks and Batman's 1960s iteration felt like it fit the bill best. The show is cheesy by today's standards, although in a way this is probably one of the shows that defined it. Sure, it's tame and not as dark as we envision Batman (especially these days), but this was meant as a family show in the sixties, almost focused on working for the kids. The effects aren't the best, the fights predictable (with cartoon sound effects overlaid to hide hits not actually connecting) and there are plenty of other things that look cheap now.
However, the formula still works. There are enough fun bits in there to keep enjoying the show and the performances are delightful - hacked, at times, sure, but delightfully campy and hammy. It gets a bit less interesting after twenty episodes, but it's been good to watch for some fun, some predictable but fun story and always keeping you guess what weird thing they came up with for the story this time. Somehow, there's something here that still holds up and stays fun.
The one hundred fifty-first album: #151 Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
We return to Dusty Springfield's vocals about a hundred albums after the previous one. It's a lovely pop album, with some soul influences, giving us some influential songs but also a general sound that really works - the orchestra adds enough swing but Dusty Springfield's voice holds up well on its own and it's worked great a music to work to. Son of a Preacherman, of course, stands out as the big song, a clear soul song that sounds a bit more subdued here than it normally does, but it works well in its original context.
In the previous write up, I mentioned that album really starting to feel like pop, and I feel that's set up more here - no big focus on country, no rock elements, and while there are some clear R&B songs as well, on the whole there's a sound that works on its own.
The one hundred fiftieth album: #150 Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Musically, Nick Drake's folk rock is decent, mostly a simple guitar rhythm but regularly introducing violins and other instruments. Add to that vocals that are a bit slow and careful and I get a feeling of distance, symbolizing the depression that plagued him and that comes through. It's introspective, and while there's a lot going on at times, the core vocals dominate. I needed to move myself away from the feeling of this being standard, as there's a depth to it that only came out slowly. It's beautiful, but something feels ephemeral about what it's trying to express.
The sixty-ninth book: #58 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
For what's meant to be an ironic commentary on a Bildungsroman, I feel like it was just as often a fairly boring examination of theatrical aspects. I lost track of the plot through these diversions and I guess I just got bored with the book early and never quite got myself back into it. It's impressive, that's for sure... but I guess too intelligent for me to read on my morning commute. And yeah, there's just no hook that caught me.
The one hundred fourty-ninth album: #149 The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
At this point, I feel I know the typical Rolling Stones sound, something they've reached here. It's a hard rock sound with a strong blues influence, the vocals especially inspired by the latter. It sounds, creating some powerful songs with a decent impact. There are some creative attempts at different things, but in the end the core stays solid, more variations on their sound than getting as much variations as the Beatles did in the day. That's probably the best thing though, I knew what I'd get, and I got what I wanted.
The one hundred fourteenth show: #636 Top Gear
I've struggled to decide how many episodes of this I need to watch. I've seen more than plenty over the years (with the main original presenter group, which is what the book was obviously still going for) and watching more episodes I think I'm there anyway.
I don't care that much for cars. This is sacrilege in my family (well, not quite, but it's true I never really took after my father that way, although I still neared some things because of it). But then, you need to for this show anyway - it might go into some detail, but that's a small part of the show and they know it. You get your car news and all that, but it's set up about the banter between Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. It's laddish, often aimed at cutting each other down and usually amusing, but the vague elitism and resulting insults feel a bit much - aiming at a masculine audience that probably doesn't apply as much ten years on. And that's why I stop caring. We saw something similar in Infinite Challenge, but there's it's so much less about showing up each other and instead about being amusing.
And that's what's off putting. There are some good segments that are incredibly entertaining and most of it is probably fine, but I just can't get past that. I mean, they're at their best when the attitude is pierced, but it doesn't quite get there. It's a worthwhile watch and quite fun at times, but I'm at the point where I feel I can't stomach as much of it.
The one hundred fourty-eighth album: #148 Pentangle - Basket of Light
It always feels odd to hear folk on this album, in particular the type Pentangle played, using acoustic instruments and mostly sounding quite traditional rather than featuring the faster speed of Bob Dylan and the like. In fact, it feels like some of it could belong to the more folksy songs we've seen in the classical list a handful of times. Some of the songs on this album adapt traditional songs, which shows through as well.
The music sounds good. There are a couple of places with good harmonies, and the vocals really stand out, but the music works well too. It sounds magical and ethereal, but it's more listenable than the hymns we've had before - the adjustment to modern times works incredibly well. It feels like it sits outside the musical timeline, but I hope we can get more of this occasionally.
The sixty-eighth comic: #528 A Treasury of Victorian Murder
There's something fascinating about tales of (unsolved) crimes, murders with clues that are ambiguous enough that you don't know what's going on. Rick Geary's set of stories examines a number of Victorian (and early 20th century) murders. In some cases, these remain unsolved, while with others we know what happened but the perpetrators disappeared, while in the case of Guiteau we know what happened. As always, in a way the journey is more interesting than the solution and the way these stories are examined - sometimes through a (fictional?) contemporary account, or other devices. The art style is fairly simple but the black and white drawings have a lot of character, leaving identities vague enough while still letting you identify characters, it fits the slightly unclear nature of these cases, especially as it brings across the facts well. I devoured these in a few days, and that was for a good reason.
The one hundred fourty-seventh album: #147 The Bee Gees - Odessa
It feels odd to think about this album coming before the disco sound that I associate with the Bee Gees came into play. In fact, the title track Odessa that opens the album is far away from it, with its long run time, deep harmonies that from time to time sound like monks chanting, and far more portraying that feeling of being lost at sea than you'd expect. What we have here are a number of prog rock tracks, very accessible, taking cues from country in some songs, both in sound and lyrics, and on the whole it feels like the album uses a number of different sounds.
The lyrics are excentric, not deep, but an ode to Edison feels like a theme I'm unlikely to encounter again on this list and even that is well put together - the partially electric orchestration works well for the song. Again, the harmonies work well, and as much as they're a feature of the band's output, they are always amazing to listen to when they appear.