The 1001 album challenge

Oh. Dear. God.
Two months, two mother-flipping months. I am the laziest blogger ever.

I'm not sure why it is, maybe its because I'm writing most of my personal stuff in my journal and it just suck all the potential material for the blog into that. I've had an idea to put my pile of shame list on here of albums and movies that Ive yet to hear and see but I think I would just be hit with a wave of hate had I done that...granted I dont think enough people read this to send my hate mail. Before writing this I had two ideas, one was my feelings before heading off to college, the other was talking about my progress in my 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die challenge. Its an expansion on my evolution of musical taste post of sorts. Ive felt that my taste has always been a bit limited and I wanted to expand into genres, sub-genres, and bands that I hadn't heard before. Many of you would say, "Well, you can still do that without listening to 1001 albums." True, but I'm a competitive person and I need some sort of motivation to keep me going. Perhaps if I had a blogger that challenged me to a blogging contest, I would write for this blog more often.

So far I've listened to eighty-one albums, the latest one being Santana's Abraxas. I'm currently listening to my number eighty-two: The Smiths - Meat is Murder. Of the eighty-one so far, I listened to forty of them before officially starting the challenge. Of the 1001 albums listed in the the book I've picked out about 300 to start out listening to, artists and genres I've always been meaning to listening to but have never really motivated myself to: Iggy and the Stooges, Radiohead, Neil Young, 2Pac, Frank Sinatra, I could go on and on.

I've decided to share of the eighty-one albums I've listened to so far to pick out five of my favorites so far, in no particular order.

The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Pogues are a band that formed in England in the mid-to-late 80s with a very bold, new concept: irish folk with a punk twist. Their first album, Red Roses for Me, was overwrought with production values and relied too heavily on the booze imagery. Their second album, another one of my favorites, Rum, Sodomy, & the Lash, was a stripped-down album with little t0 no production punch-ups. This was in part due to the producer, Elvis Costello, who wanted to capture the Pogues at their rawest state. It's a stellar album, but if you put a gun to my head, I would say I prefer their third album: If I Should Fall From Grace With God. Under the direction of Steve Lilywhite, the album clicks along with not just Irish influences, but Middle-Eastern, Spanish, and Jazz. While Shane McGowan, the lead singer/songwriter, slurs and sings slackjawed on this album, he is writing some fantastic poetry that goes along with the music so beautifully. The title track opens this album up with a kick and the first four tracks are all stellar songs that I play over and over. You cannot, I mean CANNOT, discuss this album without talking about track 4: Fairytale of New York. This song is in every word an epic and in only four minutes and a half minutes time. Its a beautiful duet between McGowan and Irish pop star, Kirsty MacColl. It's the anti-Christmas song about two Irish immigrants falling apart one Christmas in New York City. Everything about the song is perfect, the vocals, the intro, the sweep of the music. I would recommend the album solely on that track alone. However, the album as a whole is amazing. It's a must-have for lovers of both Irish-folk and Clash-style punk.


Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel III: Melt
The former frontman of Genesis broke off with the band in the mid-to-late seventies and started a solo career that allowed him to do everything he wanted to do with the band in such albums as The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway without being constrained to them. While he had hit songs on his first self-titled album like "Solsbury Hill," he really hit his stride with his third album, released in 1980, commonly referred to as Melt. The album's opening track, "Intruder," involves sounds I had never heard used in music before, a sound of a creaking metal coil that just sends chills down my spine far more than the opening sound of "Thriller." Gabriel plays with world music with songs like "Biko," and "Games Without Frontiers." He also brings some great rocking songs with "Through the Wire," and "I Don't Remember." Progressive rock would not be the same without Gabriel. his taste for the unconventional and the theatrical, and his great lyrics would be further recognized with the critical and commercial success of his fifth album, So, but here is where he is at his best. Seek this album and out and trust me when I saw Melt will blow your mind. (You thought I was going to say "melt," didnt you. Well sadly, as much as I love wordplay and referencing the title like a 2nd rate critic, it doesnt really make sense.)


Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
This album was a watershed moment in music and how we listen to it. Before the release of this record, most music recordings were simply popular singles or a mish-mash of greatest hits. Sinatra helped to bring forth the concept of an album that has an overriding theme or story rather than just a collection of songs that have nothing in common with one another, sans the artist that performs them. In the Wee Small Hours was recorded right after his relationship with Ava Gardner fell apart rather badly. Sinatra is swelling with emotions: dispair, melancholy, sadness, anger, and he shows it with every chord of his voice. With the opening track, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," he sums up that feeling anyone has right after a romance goes on the rocks. The violins and horns help to bring forth this feeling of sheer melancholy that is also summed up in the cover art for the album. The way Sinatra is drawn, fedora back, cigarette in hand, sullen face, coupled with the shades of blue in the background just tells you that had told listeners to "Swing Easy!" was nowhere to be found on this album and the album is much better for it. Tracks like "Glad to Be Unhappy," "Can't We Be Friends," and "It Never Entered My Mind" are brimming with cynicism and sarcasm that only come with a broken heart. He also displays this beautiful sadness in tracks like, "I Get Along Without You," and "Mood Indigo" that I have only heard in one other album, Johnny Cash's American IV: When the Man Comes Around. It doesn't matter where your music interests lie, Sinatra presents the quintessential break-up album that you will return to again and again in the wee small hours of the morning.

Jay-Z - The Blueprint
As many know, I am quite possible one of the whitest guys people in the Cincinnati area. I cannot dance and until I started the challenge, I did not have a single rap album in my Itunes...unless you count the Beastie Boys. Sadly a lot of my peers don't recognize them as legitimate rap but Jay-Z's The Blueprint is a good place to start. The opening track, "The Ruler's Back," is a declaration like no other. I think one thing that kept me away from rap was the hubris and arrogance that is associated with the genre but "The Ruler's Back," in all its pomp and circumstance, complete with triumphant horns, is totally justified. Granted, you have classic examples like "Girls, Girls, Girls," that are seen as demeaning women but it's Jay-Z's list of relationships come and gone that lets you see the extravagance of the life of a successful rapper. This wouldn't be notable without the contrast the album provides with two visions of New York. Jay-Z tells the story of two New Yorks: one of excess and one of poverty. With the title track, he presents the latter, with tracks like "All I Need," he presents the former. The lyrics rival any of my favorite songwriters: Costello, Young, McGowan. To me, that's where Rap excels, even though so much importance is placed on the beat of the music, lyrics are what allow a song to be timeless and can merit repeat listens. Sooner or later, a beat will get tired and old, that's when you listen to the message and you hear something that you never paid attention to before and there are examples where you find poetry. The Blueprint is such an example.


Neil Young - Harvest
Americana at its finest...sung by a Canadian. Young's most successful album, with his most beloved song, "Heart of Gold," is an amazing record from start to finish. Part of the reason I put this one on here instead of After the Gold Rush is I need to give it a few more listens to properly dissect and critique. Its an eclectic album, ranging from simple acoustics "Out on the Weekend," "Harvest," to electric rock numbers "Alabama," "Are You Ready for the Country," to the orchestral sweep of "A Man Needs a Maid" and "There's a World." The album has similarities to Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours, with several songs about love's labors lost: "Heart of Gold," "A Man Needs a Maid," and "Out on the Weekend." The title of the album makes me think that Neil Young harvested all his resources, in terms of musical style and musical artists, James Taylor and Linda Ronstandt make appearances on the album, to create a gateway album to Neil Young's other works. This album was a bit of a double-edged sword for Young; on the one hand: its his most commercially successfully album, on the other hand: its made many casual fans insesentially request songs from this album, "Heart of Gold" specifically, at live performances and neglecting the rest of his discography. Despite Young's attempt to distance himself from this album, its a great place to start if your unfamiliar with his work. The lyrics are moving and the music soothing, the album glides along providing a beautiful listening experience that is worth your time.

Those are my five new favorite albums at the moment. Depending on how driven I am to continue you this series I will keep updating with new finds and favorites that I may have. Hopefully I can post more frequently with an range of topics....yeah, sure.