Saturday, August 20, 2005

The Last 15 Albums I Listened To...

With the constant listening to XM Satellite radio I feel the need, for some inexplicable reason, to make lists of all the full-length albums I listen to. This installment encompasses 15 titles and a time span of 5 days.
I've included a bit of commentary with a few selections, which will hopefully elevate this blog post slightly above the level of "another list"...


Throbbing Gristle Grief


Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle's Greatest Hits


Sheila Chandra Quiet
From the sublime (a good portion of the album) to the ridiculous ("Quiet 4", an annoying 4 minutes of Chandra using her voice as a percussion instrument), this is a decent Chandra album, though I am much more enamored of her drones (ABoneCroneDrone...stupid title, but musically enchanting, I wish I still had a copy).
I wouldn't recommend Quiet to the Chandra novice (Moonsung is a good entry point, IMO, as is her more recent This Sentence Is True), but it's worth having if you're already enamored of her voice...



Keith Richards Talk Is Cheap
Keef's first solo record is an uneven affair. A couple of very good tracks ("Big Enough", "Take It So Hard"), but as they are also the first two songs on the album, the rest of it seems to descend a ladder from the top (trademark bucket-bottom Richards riffage abounds) to the bottom (the meandering, useless wanking of the closing track, "It Means a Lot"...would someone pull the plug already?). The biggest problem of the whole project is a conspicuous lack of melodies to make the raunch 'n' roll a bit more palatable. I suppose that's where Mick comes in handy with the Stones' gig...Regardless, I think I'd still prefer Talk is Cheap to She's The Boss if given a choice.


Alice Cooper Muscle of Love
See previous post on the Coop's best songs.


The Who The Who By Numbers
I really should listen to this album more often...each time I do it becomes more poignant, more relevant.
If I were to spend just a bit more time with By Numbers I have no doubt it would replace Sell Out as my number 2 favorite Who album, if that gives you an idea of how close in the running it is at number 3.


Sigur Ros ( )
Sigur Ros' ( ) may well be the most beautiful music I have ever heard in my entire life.
I come to this conclusion having heard it countless times between when it was released (2003, I think it was) and now.
To hear it in the cab of a Saturn SL driving 75 miles per hour down the interstate by the light of the moon is to be absorbed within a soundworld that is rivalled only by the womb to the fetus...
Not that that makes any sense, but I had to try.
Sigur Ros are currently my favorite band.



The Doors The Doors


The Doors Strange Days
Obviously re-visiting some classics that I haven't given the time of day to in the last several years.
Hoping to banish the "Lizard King" nonsense from memory so that I can appreciate their catalogue without all that "legend" baggage.



The Who Quadrophenia
For some reason I have just never given this album the kind of attention it probably deserves (and the kind that is probably required for it's brilliance to set in), so I looked forward to hearing it hot off the heels of Tommy...keeping in mind that this is, of course, the follow-up to what I consider to be the band's greatest album, Who's Next...
I dunno, maybe they burned themselves out creating the masterpiece that is Who's Next, but I still have not found the key to recognizing Quadrophenia as one of their best albums...It just isn't as exciting as their previous works. Not to say it doesn't have it's moments ("Love Reign O'er Me", "Bell Boy", "Had Enough", "5:15"), but there seems to be a lot of filler here...I'll probably regret saying that, though, when Iit grows on me or when I grow into it, whichever comes first.
I'll spin it again soon enough.


The Who Tommy
This sounds even better now than it did way back in the early 70's when I first heard it. It has aged very well and beats the crap out of just about all the new music I've heard in the last couple of years.


Sugar Beaster


Sugar Copper Blue


Phil Collins Hello, I Must Be Going


Chicago Chicago Transit Authority

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