73. John Prine: John Prine
74. Erykah Badu: Baduizm
75. Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation
76. Kanye West: The College Dropout
77. The Jerry Cans: Nunavuttitut
78. Avenue Q: Original Broadway Cast
79. Jackson Browne: The Pretender
80. Whitney Houston: Bodyguard Soundtrack
81. John Coltrane: Giant Steps
82. LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out
83. Chuck Berry: Chuck Berry Is On Top
84. Sarah Jarosz: Undercurrent
85. Benny Goodman Trio & Quarteet: The Complete (1935-1939)
86. The Supremes: Where Did Our Love Go
87. Peter Frampton: Frampton Comes Alive!
88. Cyndi Lauper: She’s So Unusual
89. Liz Phair: Exit from Guyville
90. Solange: A Seat at the Table
91. Justin Beiber: Purpose
92. Cannonball Adderley: Somethin’ Else
93. Ralph Stanley: The Best Of
94. Christopher Cross: Christopher Cross
95. Prince: Sign ‘O’ The Times
96. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
97. The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast
98. Kendrick Lamar: untitled unmastered.
99. Louis Jordan: Greatest Hits
100. Dolly Parton: Ultimate Dolly Parton
Category: 365 albums
On January 1, 2017 I decided to listen to 365 new-to-me albums. Goals include:
*Listening to musical blindspots (eg. jazz classics, classical classics).
*Catching up on anything recent, as I’ve been out of the loop for a few years.
*Being a complete-ist. Have I not heard every Beck album? Well here’s my chance.
*Avoiding and distracting myself from politics (or in a less cowardly way, recharging my soul).
73. John Prine: John Prine
My friend hated this
But thought that I would love it,
He was right. Love it.
Dylan inspired,
As good as Dylan at times,
like Illegal Smile.
72. The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir
Enjoyed this album,
For the few days NPR
had it up for free.
In “Life Ain’t All Bad”
his acidic wit rivals
only Morrissey.
Only listened once
Hopefully I’ll hear again
via streams or gifts.
71. The Pirates of Penzance
1968
Decca album. Film version:
1982
Both were good times had,
Though film sets were pretty bad,
on purpose or not.
The pirates were great
Major General was great
The police were great
70. Lorde: Pure Heroine
Atmospheric moods,
Lorde is “coming for the crown,”
Postal Service crown?
Didn’t realize
Lorde was so young and still is
cheers to her future.
Her teen-years album,
Sounds a lot different than mine
As in this is good.
69. The Lonely Island: Turtleneck & Chain
The first and not last,
Truly comedic album
on my list so far.
Happily vulgar
but essentially Weird Al
that is a good thing.
Love the videos
Wish they did ones for “Japan”
and “After Party.”
68. Metallica: Metallica (Black Album)
Silly serious,
Spinal Tap at times, like their
“None more black” cover
Take “Of Wolf and Man‘
With “I hunt, therefore I am”
And “shapeshift” chorus.
Enter Sandman scared,
11-year-old me, now
was it all a joke?
67. Santana: Abraxas
Santanamazing,
Drummer, organist are too
Vocals are OK.
Love the White Stripesy
“I Hope You’re Feeling Better”
and all the hits too….
66. Eagles: Hotel California
Do people hate this,
Or just think they do because
Big Lebowski did
Side one full of hits,
The non-hits did not impress
Good and harmless meh.
(meh is a noun now)
(Simpsons may have made it up)
(but I embiggen!)
65. Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
Listened to album
from London Philharmonic
and film from Paris.
The music’s all good,
but it helped that the film had
English subtitles
3 hours made it
Hard to pick a standout track
So… Non più andrai
3 hours and it
just counted as one album
who made up these rules?
64. Gipsy Kings: Best of Gipsy Kings
Love the rhythms, guys,
Earwormed from the first listen,
Let’s all relax dance!
Loved Djobi Djoba,
But couldn’t remember if
I’ve heard it before
63. Foo Fighters: The Colour and the Shape
Decent power pop
and good acoustic tunes like
“Walking After You”
Very helpful that
The most offensive song is
unlistenable.
62. Arcade Fire: Reflektor
Not quite as great as
Funeral and The Suburbs
But very few are.
“Here Comes the Night Time”
might be my favorite right now,
is subject to change.
61. Kinky Boots: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Fun songs. The best is
“The History of Wrong Guys”
This Cyndi girl’s good!
60. Tune Yards – whokill
Start with “My Country”
And then just keep on going,
Til you reach the end
Because these are good,
fun and danceable art pop,
lofi and hifi.
59. Toto: Toto IV
Africa is great,
but you know this already
the rest don’t hold up.
But to give a taste,
if you like this kind of thing,
Try “Afraid of Love”
58. D’Angelo: Brown Sugar
I listen to these,
In car, working, and dancing,
To give a fair shake
These songs were made for
a different activity,
Nothin wrong with that.
Liked “When We Get By”
“Smooth” and “SDMF” too,
Nothing wrong with this.
57. Beyonce: Lemonade
Lived up to the hype
of being totally robbed
of album Grammy.
Honesty and hurt,
the righteous anger throughout,
Loved “Don’t Hurt Yourself”
56. Anderson .Paak: Malibu
Songs so funky good,
Almost got me singing words,
I’m not allowed to.
Nor do I want to,
but hard when “Come Down” comes on,
not to sing along.
55: Brooks & Dunn: Brand New Man
“Neon Moon” impressed,
Dunn is a good songwriter
of pop country songs
about girls and bars
though I am glad I listened,
might not return here.
54. Yes: Fragile
Half throwaway songs,
Half progressive rock epics!
“Roundabout” still tops.
“Heart of the Sunrise”
At time sounds like funk grunge,
I guess Flea’s a fan?
53. The Beach Boys: Surf’s Up
Lot of good tunes here,
Though none as good as “Surf’s Up”
try “Long Promised Road”
52. Nina Simone: The Essential
A double album,
for which I would recommend
like a dozen songs.
Tons of great stuff here,
“Sinnerman” is a classic,
great protest songs too
and “Revolution”:
Part cover and part response
all good as get out.
More songs should sample,
the great “Funkier than a
Mosquito’s tweeter.”
51. The Music Man
Wells Fargo wagon?
Were these songs always corny?
A throwback throwback?
Corniness aside,
These are some fun catchy tunes,
Like, say, “Rock Island”
50. Trolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Quality new ones
and a few decent covers
Well produced, JT.
My daughter will make
me hear this album over
and over again
So for now I’ll say
Anna Kendrick steals the show,
“Get Back Up Again”
49. Drake: Views
Maybe overlong
But just for those on deadline
like me and critics
Alot here to hear
Though known best as a rapper
liked his soul songs best
Whether it’s honest
I don’t know, at least pretends
to be honest.
Of the twenty songs
Try “Keep the Family Close”
first because it’s first.
48. Ed Sheeran: x
Fine singer fine songs
For my taste I’d like less pop
Thou I liked “Sing” best.
47. Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
Terrible advice
Never has sounded so good,
Thanks, again, Dap Kings!
There some light classics
Like “Love is a Losing Game”
but most weigh heavy
Great voice, great music
Nothing you don’t know by now
Wish she had cleaned up…
46. Herbie Hancock: River: the Joni Letters
Why’d it take me long
To hear a fav jazz artist
play great songwriting
Herbie and Joni’s
“lifetime achievement award”
truly very good
As much as I liked
the different takes on old hits
“All I Want” was best.
45. 2Pac: Me Against the World
I was first turned off
by the baritone rapping,
and gangsta bragging
But reading along
could hear him bearing his soul,
and his poet mind
He’s ready for death
But speaks of honest anguish
he knows he’s hell bound
Try “So Many Tears”
Full of percussion and
alliteration
44. Jao Gilberto and Stan Getz: Getz/Gilberto
Seven minutes in
I thought “why don’t we hear more
Bossa Nova songs?”
Twenty minutes in
“Ugh! Bossa Nova again?
There’s other styles!”
They don’t mix things up,
Which is find if on random
or in the background.
Still, quality songs,
even if they sound alike.
“So Danco Samba”
43. Billie Holiday: 20th Century Masters
This starts with “Strange Fruit”
hits you right out of the gate,
then onto love songs.
Or sort-of love songs,
Songs about being beaten,
That excuse the man.
42. Adele: 25
If I had to guess
She’ll win for best album*
Because it’s damn good
“Send my Love” is swell,
but for a non-big-hit try
“Million Years Ago”
*Horray! I was right.
I haven’t heard Lemonade
It’s on my list thou.
41. Bruno Mars: Doo-Wops & Hooligans
If Bruno’s lyrics
were a little less braggy
I’d like this a lot
I guess this is pop
The songs are catchy and flawed
and I’m left shrugging
“Runaway Baby”
Is so much fun and so dumb
Womanizer rock.
40. Taylor Swift: Red
If you have three loves:
pop, rock, and country music,
Tay Tay is your mix.
Since I like rock more,
I took to her rock songs more,
I wish there were more
Of those I would pick
The anthemic “Last Time” duet
Guess what? she’s very good.
39. Jack White: Lazeretto
A completest one,
And a quality addition
classic Jack White.
If you don’t know, try
“Lazeretto”, if you do
“Temporary Ground.”
38. Sharon Jones: Give the People What They Want
A heartbroken loss
She gave us a ton of soul
to last a lifetime
Superb vintage sound,
But her vintage voice is best,
Try “Long Time, Wrong Time”
37. Skrillex: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
It’s impressive but
Digital pyrotechnics
are not made for me
Maybe in a club,
with drugs, but I do neither…
“All I Ask Of You”
36. MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
All the hits are hits
Bowie odes like “Weekend Wars”
Are quality too.
35. Natalia Lafourcade: Hasta la Raíz
A pleasant listen,
Good pop rock songs sung well
Will return to these.
I guess I will pick
“Mi Lugar Favorito”
joyous little song.
34. Air: Moon Safari
Says a lot that the
worst song here was the single
grumpy “Sexy Boy,”
The rest are jazzy,
beautiful, downtempo songs
like “Ce Matin-Lá“
33. The Breeders: Last Splash
Try “No Aloha”
I’d have dug this my teen years
I dig it now too
How did I miss this?
I really loved “Cannonball”
Was I scared of girls?
32. Duran Duran: Duran Duran
Quality debut,
Are all their songs this angry?
Let’s go: “Friends of Mine“
31. Steely Dan: Aja
30. Ray Charles: The Genius of Ray Charles
Soulful stripper songs
Kidding, second half is ace,
Check out “Deed I Do“
29. Scott Joplin: Original Ragtime
Can’t help but hear these
Loudly banging out from a
Player piano.
Joplin, ragtime king
Could craft great lil melodies,
like “Paragon Rag.”
28: Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang
I love rap posses,
and Wu Tang are a huge one
and they’re tons of fun
Old school kung fu films
are Half gangsta, half nerdy
so this all makes sense
One thing is for sure
They’re ain’t nothing to f wit
Or so they tell me.
27. Sturgil Simpson: A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
Hey it’s the Dap Kings!
Ready to make any song
into a great song.
I guess it’s that time
Time to revisit country,
because it’s that time.
Once every decade.
Hate hip hop, try Hamilton
Hate country? Try this.
If you are unsure,
Try “Keep it Between the Lines”
or any really.
26. Sia: This is Acting
Hush the prude in me,
Hiding behind my headphones,
Hearing Sia sing
in blushing lyrics
in depth on her “Sweet Design”
or maybe J-lo’s?
She knows how to craft,
And knows how to sing as well,
decent pop songs.
25. Sweeney Todd (2012 London Cast Recording)
In which “By the Sea”
leads me to “I Wish” motifs,
in most musicals
Getting the humor
of “The Worst Pies in London”
on the third listen.