The one hundred thirty-fifth album: #135 The Mothers of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money

While I wasn't keen on the start of the Mothers of Invention's first album, the third album starts off better. It starts off weirdly - an ASMR-like section first that leads into some decent rock. We Don't Need the Peace Corps sends up hippies and their uninformed beliefs with a rant that feels semi-improvised. It goes on a lot like that - while this is psychedlic rock, it feels like it critiques a lot of those who would be into that music. It's mostly about caring about it - parodying shallow followers who mostly just say the words.

It's a critique that doesn't strike hard because of the distance we have from it. Musically then it sounds weird and experimental, modern (post modern even, in the sense that it examines and critiques the music) and sometimes questionable, but there's something undeniable interesting about the music they makewhen it tries to be good, it's good, but sometimes it just doesn't want to be. Almost like the rebelling, questioning teenager they seem to try to be.

The one hundred eighth TV show: #81 The Judy Garland Show

We've been getting a couple of episodes of this show in, a variety show that for the most part focuses on the songs by Judy Garland and her guests, punctuated by occasional conversations and short sketches. It's not the most complicated formula, and as you'd expect relies heavily on the charisma of the host.

And the best parts of the show are when Judy Garland can be herself - performing a great song, doing a monologue about her time in showbusiness (the trunk sections show she's a good storyteller and they lead into songs well) or enjoying everyone around. It's probably partially faked, sure, but it feels like she's having a good time when she's on stage and it really makes her come across well.

Where it gets marred is when the show feels the need to put her down. While it's not Jerry van Dyke's fault, the segments he's in tend to drag the show down - there's nothing funny about the way they keep putting her down in it, and some of it drags too long anyway. He doesn't stick around, but the Christmas special especially shows how charming Judy can be when she gets the chance to do what she seemed to love doing (and enjoy it when others are doing the same)

The one hundred thirty-fourth album: #134 The Beatles - White Album

Where the Beatles' previous albums consisted of good songs, there's something more self aware about the White Album. There are self aware references like in Glass Onion, but even something like Dear Prudence seem more aimed at their own circumstances than before, delving deeper than they might have done before. And Revolution 9 is just... out there. Of course, that's not universal, and Ob-La-Di is closer to the original type of songs, but the lyrics and wait it's sung feels like it mocks what they did before, a feeling I get from more songs.

What all of this leads to is that the songs have become more complex, more so than any of the other eras, and can feel layered in their meaning, the lyrics and music, in a way that I feel isn't that common. There are simpler songs to break the tedium, but there's something to find in there, and even if it feels quite disparate rather than a cohesive whole, the individual parts are good enough by themselves to make this be a good album. Its incoherency, in part thanks to the troubled history making this, feels like it holds the album back from being great - too much filler because everyone wanted to do their bit.

The one hundred thirty-third album: #133 The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo

I appreciated the Byrds' psychedelic folk rock a few months ago, but at this point in their career they'd made a shift into country, pushing forward to country rock. I'm not sure it's for me - the steel sound of country hasn't been the most appealing to me and I've preferred what rock shifted into. The bluesy numbers suffer most, lacking energy and not connecting with me at the moment. When it goes a bit more towards rock it works better, but I don't feel the shift has been worth it for them.

The four hundred and eighteenth song: Time of the Preacher - Willie Nelson

There's something bittersweet in the sound of most country song and this, the opening statement of a country album about a preacher who kills his wife and lover, adds to that feeling by leaning into it. There's that melancholy that shines through in the feelings for it. At the same time, reading about the album, we're missing out on the context of the work, not pulling it beyond being a nice country song in the first place.

The four hundred and nineteenth song: Rimmel - Francesco De Gregori

In the mean time, abroad the songs that get acclaim (and, I guess, aren't just performed in English) are folk songs like this. Drawing a lot in sound from the French chansoniers, this is a folk sing, mimicking the likes of Dylan, but by the choice of language more romantic sounding, slightly more dreamlike, as a sweet love song.

The four hundred and twentieth song: Born to Be With You - Dion

I've always had mixed feelings about Phil Specter tracks and it feels like he's almost getting held in check here by Dion - while the music wants to go big, the vocals still dominate, grounding and binding the music to create a slightly more contemplative track. I don't really know Dion's work, but as a rock and blues artists, it feels like a counterpoint to the music and the track is then at its best when Dion is singing - a long trumpet interlude feeling unnecessary and making me wish for Dion to come back in. It's a weird combination, a departure, it feels, for both, even if it's ultimately a dead end.

The four hundred and twenty-first song: Musica ribelle - Eugenio Finardi

Here's something I want to hear when I get foreign songs - Italian rock that feels like it never made it out there, but created its own local sound. Here this is a folk rock song, more so than Rimmel, but with an Italian influence that creates a distinct sound, electric mandolins to sound somewhat different from guitars. There's something uplifting in the music, a call to action that transcends language but comes out here. These days it might not be out of place at Eurovision, but for this time it creates the feeling of an anthem, which is seems to have become in Italy, and I enjoy hearing that here.

The four hundred and twenty-second song: Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Speaking of anthems, Born to Run is certainly one as well. The song immediately evokes driving a motorbike down the highway, looking for freedom and getting away from everything else. It's sweeping, strong and feels fast, creating that drive, and it feels like it could be the soundtrack of many road movies. It's rousing, big and through that incredibly effective at creating a mood and feeling - even out-Spectoring Phil Spector.

The four hundred and twenty-third song: Leb’ Wohl - NEU!

Having an eight minute track gives you a lot more leeway to set up a song and Leb' Wohl takes its time getting anywhere, as an ambient track that starts slowly and leads into a contemplative sound not ages away from meditative tracks made to help you relax. There's always something in there that stops it from getting quite as repetitive, but it keeps everything low key and gentle. It's intriguing and a nice antidote to the hard rock and louder music elsewhere, as a good break or ending to wind down anywhere.

The four hundred and twenty-fourthsong: Legalize It - Peter Tosh

I guess it took over fourty years for this wish to come true - weed legalization, which this song obviously calls for - it's not surprising this is more reggae. Even as that it feels a bit hollow, there's not much in the song that I feel I see in it that goes beyond the same set of lyrics and sounds, a statemtn that for me doesn't come across as well in this form, and even if it makes a good point, the nature of the music keeps it from actually doing much for me.

The one hundred thirty-second album: #132 Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

I always hold my breath when it comes to folk rock, as it feels like it has a higher hurdle to clear - the lyrics matter more, as the music feels like it doesn't hold up as well. Astral Weeks leaves a good taste behind in that sense, as the music sounds good, not just setting a mood but feeling well enough put together. This seems to be in part because Van Morrison trusted the musicians to come up with something good, and it feels like it adds a lot here. The lyrics aren't tight, but the loose impressions it leaves work far better in setting the scene. Even The Way That Young Lovers Do, not liked by all, tells a lot by having a swingy music set to lyrics that suggest a more gentle setting. It makes for an album that sets up the emotions well - joy at times, but often wistfulness from looking back at the past and moving forward.

The sixty-fifth book: #54 The Dream of the Red Chamber - Cao Xueqin

I've had a love-hate relationship with this book. It obviously took me a while to finish, as I read through all 120 chapters - the last 40 are less canonical, but it sounds like they have a basis in the original story, even if they were edited or rewritten by someone else. There's a definite tonal shift that would have been to be able to end up with a "good" ending, but at the same time it's a continuation as published.

Jia Bao-yu is a Chinese noble's version of a rebellious teenager - rather than study nad go to school, he hangs around home with the women, writing poetry and studying art. The novel follows him growing up, as well as what happens to his family arounds them - their interactions with the imperial court and their declining fortunes, unable to keep up the lifestyle they're accustomed to. It can drag a bit - the poetry is not something that appeals to me in the way it gets presented - and there are more amusing vignettes that appeal to me more. When the story starts taking off and stuff happens, it's at its best, but for the most part this feels like an insight into the life of Chinese nobility at the time.

That's good in the final part, when there are resolutions, and at times in the first parts, when the set up happens, but I also feel I miss a bit of context for the more social events. I get mixed up and bored, but luckily there are enough scenes here that did interest me that, on the whole, I had a good reason to make my way through.

The one hundred thirty-first album: #131 The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle

Reading up on the album, I saw that this was recorded in Abbey Road studios, which feels notable. The psychedelic rock sound is on the slower side, more reminiscent of some of the Beatles work but often with out the spark and energy the bigger band offers. Instead, we're getting rock ballads that feel dreamlike and lovely at times, with the dubbing effects working well, but at the same time I don't feel the harder messages always reach me because of it. It feels like you're in a constant haze listening to it and I don't think it pays off a lot of the time. Smething like Butcher's Tale stands out a bit in how much weirder it sounds, but all together it feels the album doesn't come together into something I enjoy.

The one hundred thirtieth album: #130 Scott Walker - Scott 2

Scott 2 starts off with a Jacques Brel song, Jackie, the music pushed further to sound grander rather than the more delicate sound I'd expect from Brel. That's how the album continues, these baroque numbers that draw from the chansonroots but go grander, creating a show. It ties into the indulgent nature of the lyrics, describing the decadent lifestyle with sexual undertones in several songs.

The album feels jubilant, any dirty undertones overwhelmed by the lavish production, which sounds incredibly good. It takes some attention to go deeper on what the songs cover, but that's what works especially well here. There's something raw about the darkness, something that really comes through in parts of Walker's performance, and so the production feels as much of a statement about that as it's done to make the album feel epic.

The sixty-second comic: #952 Metro

Metro was banned in Egypt, where it was written, for its political content - it is incredibly critical of Mubarak's regime, painting the regime as oppressing the poorer masses and showing the conflicts at play that led to the Arab spring - something more interesting in hindsight. It also tells the story of a bank robbery, what leads up to it and the aftermath - involving quite a bit of murder and violence. It highlights these class differences and shows the effects of them.

The framing idea of using metro stops doesn't work well. I guess I'm not familiar enough with the Cairo metro for the stops to make sense, but as it is they're just there. It's a bit of a setting, but not, I think, strongly so. They might have indicated time jumps but for me those, too, were difficult to follow. The art is nice, I quite like the style, and there were some shocks, but on the whole I feel like I missed something here - I guess this is more known for the history behind it.