The one hundred twenty-fifth TV show: #738 Torchwood

After the modern Doctor Who, Torchwood is a good companion piece to complete the set. Again, I've seen the show before, multiple times, and have felt the urge to keep up with it even as the later special seasons turned into something different.

The first two, billed as a dark, mature Doctor Who succeed well at creating some interesting plots, not forced into the optimistic tone that Doctor Who has but still having an ultimate streak of good at its heart. The dark and edgy side probably goes wrong most often, with some misjudged episodes, but the show's bigger freedom in subject matter works well to have more serious stakes as well - there's no magic wand to fix things, people die and there are - often - consequences.

Sadly, this results in them killing off characters as well - necessary to maintain stakes but getting rid of the strength of the ensemble, which doesn't really have any weak spots. The second season's death of Owen and Tosh is bad enough - something the actors didn't want, but was done to heighten the suspense - but with Ianto having the same thing in the third season means that by that point, the core of the entire show seems lost. The mini series has a good plot, with a great role from Peter Capaldi before he got deeper in the franchise, but it doesn't seem to be the same while the others aren't there. It's certainly flawed, but I still enjoy watching the show.

The seventy-seventh comic: #353 Jenifer

Jenifer is one story in an issue of Creepy, a horror anthology series we've yet to get to, and it's incredibly effective. The story of this hideous girl, saved from murder by our protagonist, becomes haunting, and it feels like the obsession he feels with her comes through in the entire work as he tries to protect her for some unclear reason. It's a satisfying story, nothing entirely unpredictable at this point but it builds itself well. The art feels appropriately grotesque and adds to the feeling of horror in there. It does what it wants to do well, doesn't outstay its welcome but delivers a good, satisfying story.

The seventy-sixth comic: #438 The Nikopol Trilogy

Sometimes, you really need to look at different parts of a work to appreciate what it does well. The Nikopol Trilogy creates an interesting world, a grim near-future world where fascism has taken root, technology has changed lives, but many people are still suppressed. Your partial entry into this world is the titular Nikopol, who comes back from suspended animation thirty years later. He gets possessed by Horus, the Egyptian god, fighting the others. It's an odd story and while the first part of the trilogy makes some sense with it, later parts set up a plot that doesn't really go anywhere. There are no explanations - which is fine - or resolution - which can be fine - but I also felt there was no point to it, like the creator didn't bother with the plot and just wanted to draw nice images. It's an interesting world and I was happy to see it, but it would have been nice if we could have gone deeper.

The one hundred seventy-sixth album: #176 Derek & The Dominos -Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

On the other side of our rock developments, it feels like this is 1970s rock settling into its blues rock element. The Eric Clapton-fronted album is full of blues rock songs that sound good, with well written love songs (although the songs also draw on other topics - it makes for a catchier title though). It comes with some good ballads, as well as more powerful songs, although even the latter feels somewhat subdued and don't have the full rock impact. Instead, it works well as something to drift along on, rather than being in your face. It's pleasant and works well for the themes it's trying to set up, especially when the longer songs come in.

The eightieth book: #69 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

List-wise, this really enters the era of Austen, with a bunch of them clustered together interspersed with a few others. Having seen Pride and Prejudice, but not being familiar with the rest of her work, this was the work to partially tell me how I'd do on this one. In the end, I came away with this fairly well. I've sometimes struggled with these romantic novels and I'm glad Austen abandoned her planned epistolary format for this as the action made it a lot more readable. It kept me quite engaged, with good dialogue, some fun observations and a good set up for the full story. So far, this felt like a good introduction and I hope it will keep up.

The one hundred twenty-fourth TV show: #713 Doctor Who (2005)

Like so many, this version was the one that really introduced me to Doctor Who. Even now, by most measures, this is the more successful version and, indeed, one of BBC's biggest exports. Originally I started watching a few episodes on TV at random, after which I bought a DVD of the first season. The cast changes confused me and the the whole tone was a bit odd, but I enjoyed it and starting watching the other series after that. I've obviously stuck with it, even as Moffat's cleverness led to some less interesting episodes and not everything gelled. As with the original, the series is uneven, there are issues and it can get exhausting, but at the same time it's amazing what they end up doing.

One of the main things they still manage to get right is the casting of the main characters. They've not cast a bad Doctor yet - and introducing John Hurt as an in between Doctor is probably the best of them - and most of the companions work too.

Each episode still brings something new and that's still exciting. It works most of the time, looks good and the show still keeps drawing me in, even after the weaker bits.

The seventy-second classical recording: #120 Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice

As always, when dealing with operas in a foreign language, it helps to know the story. Here, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is well known and the acts distinguish themselves quite well, the descent into Hades changing from the higher arias of the first act into something darker and deeper, away from the pure sopranos. The other settings have similar changes in music, which work well to create a setting rather than a theme.

The opera having almost only parts for sopranos or high tenors, with other voices limited to the choirs, appears to have been the Italian fashion o the time. Itl imits the character building a bit, but it starts working soon enough once you begin to learn the characters. Musically it doesn't matter much, and makes the piece flow well.

The other side are the ballets that were included in the version I listened to. They don't add much musically - in part because it seems they were added in later - but they work as a nice bridge between pieces.

All in all, this doesn't quite have the high flying moments of other pieces, but as a full performance it flows well, keeping consistent while setting up some good location building in its music.

The one hundred seventy-fifth album: #175 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory

Cosmo's Factory is a clear throwback, an album of old style rockers before the experiments that psychedelic rock brought in, before the Beatles did their thing and before it diversified. The blues elements are in here, the instruments are standard and it doesn't try to do things different. The songs are quite tightly crafted, with some good rock ballads in here and some good solo pieces. It sounds good, fulfilling its purpose well, which is what it does best fo rthe most part.

The four hundred and seventy-fifth song: Non-Alignment Pact - Pere Ubu

This song starts with a high-pitched squeal that becomes off putting quickly and feels like an odd contrast with the punk Pere Ubu plays. They mix in some other sounds, but as experimental as the punk is sometimes, it is a basic song with some odd sounds rather than fully embracing it - a decent experiment, but not much more.

The four hundred and seventy-sixth song: Blue Valentines - Tom Waits

There's something quite bluesy about this track, a darkly voiced song with some sparse guitar playing that comes through in some soft soloes, but mostly underscore the story Tom Waits is telling of an ill-fated relationship. It's quite effective as the emotion of the track is open in his voice, telling its own, raw story.

The four hundred and seventy-seventh song: Heart of Glass - Blondie

For a band that was known for their punk outlook, it sounds like this shift to disco was quite a departure, full of electronic music and a full-on production while Debbie Harry's voice almost sits on top, feeling minimal in there. It's a lovely sound, that works incredibly well here, and feels like another step to a more modern pop rock feel.

The four hundred and seventy-eighth song: Ever Fallen in Love… (with Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) - Buzzcocks

While it feels like punk has very much falling into a specific sound, with related riffs and usually more aggressive lyrics, Ever Fallen In Love turns that around, with the tenor vocals having more musicality and variation that continues to sound quite good through here. It draws on pop rock, with a catchy riff and chorus that keeps feeling delightful to listen to and could easily get stuck in your head.

The four hundred and seventy-ninth song: Le Freak - Chic

It feels like we're alternating punk and disco for a bit - and Le Freak really feels like the quintessential disco song. The lyrics are mostly about dancing and going out partying, there are extended dance sequences (which do drag), and it embodies the aesthetic through and through (and it's no wonder it's been used on RuPaul's Drag Race). It's catchy and infectious and feels like a perfect example of the genre.

The four hundred and eightieth song: Milk and Alcohol - Dr. Feelgood

Milk and Alcohol feels like a throwback to garage rock and proto pink, hard guitars playing while the vocals are growled on top. The protagonist isn't having a good time, living on milk and alcohol, and the song seems to cover a meaningless life that you need to drudge through. It's an aggressively angry song about a personal problem and the problems that inspired these genres of rock years ago are still around, with the anger still there.

The four hundred and eighty-first song: Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen

There's something very personal about this song, at a very odd level - more than anything, this describes Freddie Mercury's lifestyle at the time. It's celebratory, gloriously indulgent and the energy feels quite infectious, while at times referencing the danger of it as well. It's a hedonistic anthem and it keeps rolling forward no matter what. It's perfectly put together, with the right breaks and solos to keep up that energy.

The four hundred and eighty-second song: Teenage Kicks - The Undertones

There is something quite simple in the guitar line of this song, still keeping the song firmly in punk territory, with a more conventional rock solo, but the vocals make this feel somewhat different - the younger punk voice mixing in with something rougher to create a short, upbeat song that's enough punk to work, but is close enough to pop to stay listenable.

The four hundred and eighty-third song: You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) - Sylvester

We finish the first third of 1978 with some disco, with a gay anthem of sorts that stays away from the repetition other disco songs provide, instead moving through far more sounds in a big production that keeps building through the song. It's effective to listen to and sounds like a good disco song throughout.

The one hundred twenty-third TV show: #650 Arrested Development

Back when this list was made, the first three seasons were the only ones that existed. The fourth season is a mess that came together okay at the end of the season, but needs a rewatch to make sense, while the fifth had a weak start, but was fine at the end - with some cast issues that meant it didn't work. I'm writing this after we finished that season, but it feels off to a point that it doesn't count.

Arrested Development thrives on long-running setups and jokes, both benefiting from repeating and building on them, but also gaining from things set up episodes earlier that pays off half a season later. Ron Howard's narration adds to it, contradicting what people say and explaining further, often to the point of additional jokes (sometimes quite meta jokes as the narration is wrong too). The "next week in Arrested Development" segments add to that - showing things that don't happen in the next episode, but are canonical to the point where you need to have seen them to understand the later episodes.

It requires you to keep track of a lot more than most sitcoms, which probably explains why it was never as much of a success, but it works in this era of binge watching when watching multiple episodes at the time makes sense and going back and forth is possible. Aside from the clever scripts and smart editing, the acting helps a great deal. Jessica Walters slowly changes Lucille Bluth as she knows more about the sinister dealings, Tony Hale makes a comedic character more poignant and Alia Shawkat as Maebe Funke is criminally underused early on - something resolved in the later seasons. It didn't get a chance to resolve itself until much later, but it's a great set of seasons that stand out as an amazing TV show even now.

The one hundred seventy-fourth album: #174 Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

Hot Rats consists mostly of lengthy jam sessions, with some more carefully arranged tunes. Most of them are purely instrumental, with only a Willie the Pimp featuring a more noticeable vocal performance. There's a psychedelic feel to how some of the songs are set up, the lack of vocals inviting that further, and while the lengthy jam sessions drag, they all create a soundscape that is incredibly appealing - I didn't get bored, I just got pulled into a mindset that was quite effective. Considering who Zappa worked with, I was worried about what we'd get, but while this isn't grounded, it's quite a lovely tune that worked marvelously here.

And with that, I finish the sixties. On to the next decade! The songs has shown me how that decade really upped the variety of music, so I'm looking forward for what comes.