Pearl Jam - Unplugged. This disc randomly popped up on Spotify a few weeks ago, which was a very pleasant surprise. It is awesome. You can tell when it was in the evolution of Pearl Jam, because every song on here is from Ten (except for "State of Love and Trust," which was on the Singles soundtrack right around this time). Only seven songs long, which is obviously disappointing, but they're damn good renditions of some of the classics from the catalog - "Jeremy," "Alive," "Even Flow," "Porch," "Black," and "Oceans." I've always felt like "Porch" didn't get the love it should have - that track is a tightly wound nugget of rage that then soars when you hit the chorus. Very singable and cool.
Those hats. That weird mouth shape that Eddie makes when he sings ooooohhhhhh. He looks like he could still be in freaking high school, man. They get a little jammy up in here and it kinda rules - as Eddie falls off his stool and wriggles around like a weirdo. Of course, in the 28 years since this thing was recorded, PJ has turned into one of the biggest rock bands of all time, so it is cool to go on a spelunking tour of them at their young, raw, beginnings. This is great. Glad they uploaded it after all these years.
Prince - Sign o' the Times. 1987 album that just recently got a big fat reissue that includes 800 billion versions of tracks and other weird oddities. I wasn't actually familiar with the album, but apparently some people think it is a top tier pop triumph that must be loved. Wikipedia says: "Though not as commercially successful as Purple Rain, Sign o' the Times was Prince's most acclaimed record, being voted 1987's best album in the Pazz & Jop critics poll and since being ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time by several publications. It has been regarded by many critics as Prince's best album, ahead of Purple Rain. Writing for The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Michaelangelo Matos regarded it as "the most complete example of [Prince's] artistry's breadth, and arguably the finest album of the 1980s" I'm not so sure I'm with them on that.
"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" is a jam. "Sign O' the Times" is weird and cool. "Hot Thing" is very hot - I think Tubbs and Crockett should be arresting some coked-up strippers to it right now. But some are just quirky without much pleasure ("The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" is in this camp for me, or "Starfish and Coffee"), or "Adore" is just annoying. Maybe I just needed to be there at the time when it was released - I think there is some real truth to that as an issue when I try to go back to an older album that some people love. If you weren't there when it hit, to hear this sort of sound for the first time ever, then you might not hear it that same way. But as of right now, this ain't in his top three for me. So many of the songs seem kind of plodding - something I never imagined I would say about Prince, but like I'm listening to "Strange Relationship" right now and it just has kind of a metronomic drum beat as the main backing to everything else that's going on. Doesn't seem especially danceable or funky. Feels like a lot of these tracks are sparse like that, which goes against what I love about funky Prince. I'll let this one go back to it's place in the 80's.
Husker Du - New Day Rising. Husker Du is an interesting band to me. I missed them back when they were making music. This is a 1985 album - right about then I was probably listening to Huey Lewis and the News and Madonna. And this is some pretty scuzzy punk rock/post-punk/post-hardcore stuff - not the kind of thing I would have noticed at all in 4th grade. It wasn't until high school that I found a love for Fugazi and Helmet and other harder-edged music. I loved Bob Mould's later band, Sugar, and wore out my copy of Copper Blue. But it's nothing like this, Sugar's music was awesomely catchy pop rock, like something R.E.M. could have made, while this is mostly unpolished thrashing music. Like, "How to Skin a Cat" is aggressively loud and unpleasant. "Whatcha Drinkin'" is straight punk with the classic drumming, guitar fuzz, and screamed lyrics. Sounds like a perfect song to mosh to. The closest song to something that might be considered radio friendly is "Celebrated Summer," which sounds like something The Replacements might have made, but even that is pretty scuffed and loud.
It's too bad - I figured maybe I would get into the band now and become a super Du Head, but now I'm just going to know that this isn't my jam.
The Meters - Look-Ka Py Py. Came onto this one because of that Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time listing, and it rules. Funky as all get out, this sounds like something that either should be immediately sampled for a rap track, or it already has been sampled for a rap track. The title track is the one with the most streams.
That absolutely was sampled by somebody - I can hear it in my head. Hold on. Nope, couldn't come up with it but it was Cypress Hill (and 29 other things that I don't think I have heard). Loving this thing, such a great funky sound.
I know that this sentiment has been ground into our eyeballs for so long that it no longer even really registers in a meaningful way, but what a year. Like, what in the world has happened to the world around us? Over a million and a half people have died for this dumb virus. We own like 50 masks now, in addition to boxes of disposable ones. I haven't been to my office to work since March 12. Insane people protesting things that they don't even understand, a President hell-bent on destroying the democratic process and repeatedly dying on the most idiotic hills anyone could choose. Learning that you don't know people like you thought you did once the chips are on the table and you can see what they really care about. Missing hugs and holidays and restaurants and bars and record stores and the necessary moments of relaxation in the company of someone other than your immediate family. It's all too damn much. And in any different year, the solution for me to all of that confusion and anxiety would be to dive into music - go see every show in town, write about 125 artists coming to ACL, go browse the stacks at Waterloo Records and burn some money despite having everything available on Spotify. But almost all live shows have dried up entirely (and the ones that are happening are weird and spaced out and like $300 a ticket). A lot of albums shelved, most movies delayed. Its all so damn horrible.
But, there are a few bright spots in the musical landscape, and I figured I'd celebrate a few of those here, to bring back at least some small sliver of normalcy to the year. Once I'm done with this exercise, I'll go read other people's top albums lists and comment on those as well, but I try to avoid looking at those before I come to my own conclusions to avoid contamination. A mask for my music brain.
The top album of the year feels so damn obvious, so effortlessly lying right there in front of me. Feels like someone who had really listened to it this year, and actually likes/appreciates hip hop, would be unable to stick it at the top of their list. If you've read this blog at all this year, then you know I'm talking about the new Meghan Trainor! SO GREAT! Just kidding. You know I'm obviously talking about
1. Run The Jewels 4. No other album this year managed to nail the perfect balance between very serious subjects and fun ass music. I wrote an entire blog post about the album already, so I won't dig terribly deeply into that here, but you can go peep everything I said about it here. Mike's verse in that song I posted up above is freaking hard as nails, though.
Now is when it gets more interesting, as I'd say I have a handful that are all vying for the second spot. I'm going to order the remaining albums, but I want you, dear reader, to know that all six of the next albums are perfectly capable of being number 2 in my mind.
2. Kurt Vile - Speed, Sound, Lonely KV. Just an EP, and covers, but in a year of massive loss for fringe/outlaw country fans, something about this lovely little tribute to the late John Prine struck a deep chord in me. Vile sounds great anyway, but the simple perfection of "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" and "How Lucky" just strike me each time I hear them. Freaking awesome. Review.
3. Soccer Mommy - color theory. Hot damn, I just re-started this one as I worked my way through this list and it just makes me want to erupt in a volcano of pure emotional catharsis. The chugging guitars appeal to my base caveman, but then the lyrics give it a depth that just can't be matched by the usual guitar-heavy track. Review. (actually note that whole set of reviews - I loved all four of those albums!)
4. Tame Impala - Slow Rush. Of course, if I listen to one album more than any other (per Spotify's Wrapped), then it must have been a favorite. There is something so hypnotically perfect about this mix of ambient synth dance music and rock and roll that draws me back in over and over. I could listen to "Breathe Deeper" until the asteroid finally hits the earth and we are free from this mortal coil. Review.
5. Chris Stapleton - Starting Over. Sign me up any and every time this guy puts out an album. Another great one. If you need to cry, and you like dogs, just hop on over there to "Maggie's Song" real quick! But even after that, stay for the guitar fireworks and his soulful voice. Such an awesome artist. Review.
6. Bruce Springsteen - Letters to You. This one hit me at a vulnerable moment and made me cry, but I still stand by it as a very enjoyable album that taps into Bruce's classic sound. I'm sure this looks like some OK Boomer pick, but I can't wait to sing "Ghosts" at the top of my lungs at a concert someday. Review.
7. HAIM - Women In Music, Pt. III. Home to my most streamed song of the year, per Spotify - "Summer Girl," which owes a massive debt to "Walk on the Wild Side" and yet still sounds badass on it's own. Such a great tune. And the whole album is very good - not just a one song wonder. Review.
8. Sturgill Simpson - Cuttin' Grass, Vol. 1. Spot on bluegrass covers of some of his great older songs. Loved the fun surprise of hearing old songs converted into a new style, but also loved hearing Sturgill turn a quick about-face from that last album of groovy rock and diving straight into classic bluegrass. Review.
9. Taylor Swift - folklore. Lovely surprise. I've tried out the newer surprise album a few times, but I think this one is connecting better with me so far. I've been trying to go back and listen to the stuff I've saved from the year, and this one just has a beauty and realness to it that I appreciate so much. Review. The part when Bon Iver sings "step right up" on "exile" is going to power me through the winter.
10. Pearl Jam - Gigaton. Such a homer pick, but when looking at this one versus the last few that I've listed below, I think this one wins out despite it being another one that reflects my age more than it should. Gimme that classic alt rock goodness! Review.
The also rans, which maybe could have taken over the tenth spot if Pearl Jam didn't have such a rooted, deep hold in my brain, are: Jason Isbell's Reunions, Freddie Gibbs' Fettucine, My Morning Jacket's Waterfalls II, Car Seat Headrest's Making a Door Less Open, Waxahatchee's St. Cloud, The Beth's Jump Rope Gazers, Khruangbin's Mordechai (try to spell either of those without looking!), Beach Bunny's Honeymoon, and beabadoobee's Fake It Flowers.
I'm sure the critics will have the Fiona Apple album and the Phoebe Bridgers album and the Dylan album and all sorts of other things that I know I was supposed to like this year, but I'M LOCKED IN MY HOME LIKE A WEIRD RECLUSE AND YOUR SHITTY PITCHFORK REVIEWS CAN'T HURT ME ANYMORE!!!!
Anyway - I love you. Thank you for reading my meandering thoughts about music and life and their intersection. Someday we'll all be together again, spitting all over each other as we scream Run the Jewels lyrics to the sky, but for now, I' grateful to have this outlet for my brain and grateful to you for checking it out. Smooches.
Howdy folks! Time for a pile o' singles! I've been trying to run through the full albums in my list a few times each just to make sure there isn't something special I am missing for the end of year list, while also trying to avoid everyone else's year end lists, and so I've ended up with a big pile of singles that I need to handle. So here you go!
Drake & Lil Durk - Laugh Now Cry Later. I mean, how boring is Drake? The beat here is appealing, with good horns and a nice bass line (that inexplicably leaves for a while?), but the lyrics are just more of him sing-songing vapid lines. And, of course, the track has 309 million freaking streams. if the bass stayed the whole time, I'd like this one more. [since initially writing this, I've discovered that my middle kid jams this at every single basketball practice because she thinks it is "hype." I'm sad for the future.
Fredo Bang - Oouuh. This song blows. I was trying out some rappers that Rolling Stone had said were good in an article talking about, like, Birmingham rappers or some other out of the way place. The title itself is shit, but the track itself is just generic stuff with too much singing.
Travis Scott - The Plan. Weird beat - sounds like Trent Reznor got caught up in Kanye's trip to Hawaii to make the Fantasy album. Kind of ominous - totally forgettable. Nothing about it sticks to the ribs at all.
Temples - Paraphernalia. Pretty solid. I love the psych rock thing that Temples has done over the years, so I may be biased, but this sounds kind of Asian, kind of Strokes, kind of trippy, so I dig the overall vibe. Not great, but good.
Foo Fighters - Shame Shame. Another one that I give a pass to for every track because I just love them, despite the derision it wins me from some friends. I'll readily admit that the start of this one is weird - plucked violin strings and like a campfire drummer/clap vibe, and it never fully kicks in. It definitely gets a little brawnier, but there is never the full-on rock out moment that I need. I guess a new album is on the way.
Sam Fender - Winter Song. One of my favorite ACL discoveries from last time, who unfortunately bailed on performing. This is some depressing shit though. Seemed like it might be a Christmas song of some sort, although it does mention Santa.
Tierra Whack - Peppers and Onions. This track, like all Tierra Whack songs, makes me purely happy. The mouth clicking and whistling combine to make me grin, the bass makes me wiggle, and clever lyrics about gum stuck to her shoes keeping her from reaching the sun. Nice one.
Cornelius - Drop. Reminds me of that Superorganism group - quirky use of odd sounds to make poppy tunes. I found it because someone called him the Japanese Beck, which I don't think I'm hearing. Not anything amazing.
Local Natives - Statues in the Garden. Starts like the psych version of the Beatles. Nice enough tune, just not very interesting.
Travis Scott, Young Thug, & M.I.A. - FRANCHISE. Another ominous beat for Scott, but I kinda like this one. It really doesn't give MIA much room to shine, but it's kind of a cool track.
The Glorious Sons - S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun). Solid rock barroom singalong candidate. "Yeeeeeeeaaaaaah, they sent the taxman, I lost my job and, you got hooked on Oxycontin, they shut the lights off, they took the car and, I bought a sawed off shotgun!" Yeah buddy.
City Girls - Jobs. Salty ladies rap with solid lyrics and a middling, basic beat. if the beat was more interesting, I think the track would be better. I like when they tell me that they are going to whip my ass like my momma do.
Pearl Jam - Get It Back. Yeah buddy. Pure Pearl Jamminess right here - quiet/loud in all the right ways, along with totally inscrutable lyrics that might be about whatever you want them to be about.
Too Free - ATM. When this came on again, I thought it was probably a Disclosure track. Quirky electronic tune with some gentle vocals.
Polo G - Pop Out. I really like that he tells people to "tuck your chain," as that makes me think of Friday, and anything that does that is cool. The guest verse by Lil Tjay is bad though, it takes the track down.
BMW KENNY - #WIPEITDOWN. Crap track. Sounds like he's trying to create some sort of dance move by saying "wipe" over and over, and then telling people how to do the dance. Which I hate. Probably big on tiktok. Bad beat too.
Greta Van Fleet - My Way, Soon. The guitar licks on this one sound like they are trying to emulate Pearl Jam instead of Zeppelin. I know these guys are a flashpoint of anger for a lot of people, but I dig the schtick.
Zola - Hold On. Great track. She's got some of the Highwomen on here crushing the harmonies - super pretty and a lovely sentiment. Love it.
YG - FDT. Such a great thing that this exists. I just wish it didn't drop the N word so much so that I could sing along to it without so much self-censoring. This one was from 2016.
YG - FGT 2. I mean, I'm still FDT all day, but I'm also FG-Eazy all day as well, so this one doesn't do as much for me.
Drive-By Truckers - The New OK. These guys just recently released a pretty solid album, with a killer track called "Thoughts and Prayers" that called out politicians for their weak platitudes after a school shooting or some other horrible thing happened. This is another good one, with a few fiery rockers that live in that same wheelhouse of pissed off redneck yelling about our country going to shit. And I like it. With lyrics like “Smashing medics and the once-free press ... Goons with guns coming out to play / It’s a battle for the very soul of the USA” or "heads getting bashed and tear gas, boys too stupid to be proud" you can tell which side of the argument they come down on regarding the current state of affairs in America. Or singing about "flags of oppression" or nazis on "Perilous Night." "Sarah's Flame" does some of the same, but actually name-checks "old fat Donny" when singing about Sarah Palin's effect on today's politics, which was apparently derived from studying bumper stickers on those trucks with confederate flags on them. But it's not all doom and gloom, they also do a great cover of the Ramones' "The KKK Took My Baby Away," which is good stuff. There is also a funkiness to some of this - it's not just straight rock, there are some groovy organ licks and bouncing bass lines that take it out of the normal alt country/southern rock where I would stick these guys. The horns on "Sea Island Lonely" are definitely what I'm talking about. But then the banjo weaving through "The Distance" draws them back over to where I think they ought to normally be. And like their old buddy Jason Isbell, the power of this band is in good songwriting.
Damn man. I hadn't seen that much of footage from Portland. What a fucked up time. Solid track though. But, this album has the classic patterning of a disc that is not that interesting to the crowd. The first track has 217k streams, the second has 83k, the third has 72k, etc. until the final track has just over 50k. You can tell that people are checking it out, but not getting fully engaged. Which is too bad, although I agree that their last album was better than this one overall. But this is still good. I'll keep it around.
Chris Stapleton - Starting Over. I'm just an absolute sucker for Stapleton. Anything he rolls out will have me salivating and ready to gush about how great it is. I thought Traveler was brilliant. Liked the From a Room discs a lot as well. And they have been slow releasing a few singles from this one to get me revved up for the main course. The title track is winning the streams battle with 26.4 million streams.
Unbelievably sweet to think about getting to sing that song with your wife manning the piano and singing harmonies with you. Just a perfect picture.
My love for him comes from a handful of things. First, he's a flipping badass on the guitar. I've seen him live a few times and the dude can freaking slay. And if you listen to this disc, you get 31 flavors of his prowess. His guitar also sounds like Waylon at times ("When I'm With You"), or Stevie ("Devil Always Made Me Think Twice"), or Gregg Allman ("Joy of My Life"), or John Mayer ("You Should Probably Leave").
Second, he's got soulfulness in his singing that is missing from most other country singers. Some of these tracks are almost R&B (albeit like a swampy Southern R&B, this ain't Bel Biv Devoe). "Cold" is the perfect example of that - brutal song about a broken heart, with powerful, gritty laments belted out over strings and a basic country backing beat. Or righteous gospel fire on "Watch You Burn."
Third, the dude can write lyrics. "Whiskey and You" is an older example of that, but look at the album opener here: "Starting Over" - I keep finding myself singing it in my head - "It don't matter to me, wherever we are, is where I wanna be. And honey for once in our lives let's take our chances and roll the dice. I can be your lucky penny, you can be my four leaf clover, starting over." It's lovely. And it makes me want to start carrying a lucky penny. Even just the opening line "well, the road rolls out like a welcome mat, to a better place than the one we're at." He also uses it to pay homage to Tom Petty - the whole tune sounds like something off of Wildflowers - check the middle guitar solo or the opening guitar licks. Some of the lyrics are just so warm and comfortable. "Nashville, TN" is like that, and so is the killer "Maggie's Song." "Hillbilly Blood" has some strong Steve Earle undertones. "Arkansas" has some "Just the Good Old Boys" vibes (and is a fun rocker - if I lived there, I'd make that the State song immediately).
I need to talk more about "Maggie's Song" and discuss why it is going to make you cry forever. First off, it sounds like The Band, which is dope. Second, finding a sweet pup in a grocery cart, then giving her a happy place to run around with kids and chase squirrels, and then saying goodbye to her while laying down by her side and telling her she was a good dog. COME THE FUCK ON, CHRIS!!! When I have to bury my dog someday, I'm gonna be a damn mess. Hell, now I'm a mess just thinking about that prospect. Damnation. Great song though.
Just another very enjoyable album. I don't understand at all why Stapleton isn't on top of the charts forever, but he's freaking great.
AC/DC - POWER UP. I MEAN, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SAY ABOUT FREAKING AC/DC? HAS THERE EVER BEEN A MORE RELIABLE BAND REGARDING THE OUTPUT THAT THEY CREATE? EVERY SINGLE SONG SOUNDS LIKE IT COULD HAVE BEEN ON ANY OF THEIR OTHER 17 ALBUMS. BANGING DRUMS WITH LOADS OF CYMBALS/HI/HATS. A SCREAMY SET OF VOCALS ONE STEP AWAY FROM ANIMAL'S VOCALS FOR DR. TEETH AND THE ELECTRIC MAYHEM BAND. GUITAR SLINGING RIFFAGE AND HIGH PITCHED SOLO-AGE. LYRICS ABOUT EITHER ROCKING OR BONING OR ROCKING WHILE BONING OR BONING WHILE ROCKING. IT'S BEEN THE SAME FOR 45 YEARS. IF THAT IS YOUR THING, THEN THIS IS YOUR THING. IF IT AIN'T, THEN GO LISTEN TO YOUR WHAM! RECORDS WITH YOUR MOMMA.
At the same time, I think maybe we have moved on from some of these sentiments, which is what makes them seem like they could have come out in the 70's. I think this is still okay, if a little crass: "You got a long night coming, And a long night pumping, You got the right position, The heat of transmission." It ain't "You Shook Me," but it's a pimply cousin. And then "Money Shot" is unsurprisingly all about getting that money shot, by prescription, to cure what ails a lady ("Doctor, what's the antidote? Lady, just try the money shot. (Best taken when hot)"). <shivers uncontrollably> But then you've got: "if you rejeeeeeect me, I'll take what I want," which is a definitely troublesome lyric. Top track is "Shot in the Dark" with 16.6 million, that even bites their own prior work in a more obvious way with those exact guitar riffs to open the track.
God, please don't actually show me the guys in the band. That's just fucking depressing. It's like an AC/DC cover band from the local nursing home got together for a jam. I mean, they can still jam, but I don't want to see their dentures pop while they sing backup. I'm good on this one.
T.I. - The L.I.B.R.A. Man, I loved Paper Chase. Just a great album from front to back. I have yet to hear TIP create another that is that good. There are a few (very few) tracks on here that are pretty cool, but the majority of it is pretty forgettable stuff. "Respect the Code," which features Rick Ross and is supremely laid back and cool, is a good one. There is also a weird handful of interludes by someone named Ms. Pat that are crass and kinda funny? 20 damn songs, over an hour, and it just feels like it keeps on going and going and going, with very little that piques the interest. "Hypno," which bites part of the sounds from B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" at least shows T.I. as a still nimble rapper who can still dominate a beat. Most of the tracks have collaborators, but some of those really fall flat. I was excited to see Killer Mike on one, but it's a lame R&B ass sounding track. I wish that there was something super catchy or lyrically interesting on here, but not happening. The one with Young Thug is the top streamer at 7.1 million, this is "Ring."
Sounds like a generic new Atlanta trap track - short lines of nonsense lyrics over a clicky beat. I mean, I catch the vibe, that it's the old dog versus the new dog and all, but I don't see anything in there that is interesting. This disc can go - no need.
Smashing Pumpkins - CYR. I try to keep the curse words on here to a minimum, but god fucking dammit. What is the line from Batman? "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see your favorite bands turn into super-shitty synth rock bands and wish you were dead." This disc is absolutely painful. There had been a few singles released, and I was hopeful that those were some sort of palate cleanser through which Billy Corgan was going to just get a weird itch scratched by adding drum machines and some Muse-ass background singers to a track, but then the whole album would actually be good. I was incorrect. You still get Corgan singing, but otherwise this is entirely unrecognizable as the band I loved in the 90's. It's like a very shitty off-off-off-off-off-off Broadway production of a Smashing Pumpkins musical that was written by the guy who played synths for Flock of Seagulls, who also secretly hated Smashing Pumpkins, but was able to talk Corgan into starring in the show anyway. Maybe "Wyttch" is okay - steals a Rob Zombie lick, and still has too much synth and pretty background vocals, but at least the guitar appears present. Even if the spelling is painful. And then "Adrennalynne" comes along as a significantly worse song with even worse spelling. Here is the top streamer so far, the title track of "Cyr," with 2.4 million streams.
Uuuggggghhhhh. And on top of that, this album is 20 freaking songs long. An hour and twelve minutes. WHY IS IT SO LONG?!?!?!?! If you truly, deeply hate yourself, then get up in here. Otherwise, just ignore that you knew that this happened.
The Struts - Strange Days. I was hoping for some of the old magic of their debut album, but this one feels more calculated and less joy-filled and surprising and raw. Nothing as pure as "Could Have Been Me" or "Put Your Money on Me." It's still enjoyable - rock and roll with a flamboyant frontman who sounds like a cross between Freddie Mercury and Austin Powers and plenty of heavy guitar licks. Literally, listen to the intro to "I Hate How Much I Want You," where the lead singer of Def Leppard calls to talk to the lead singer of this band (Luke Spiller), and Spiller channels Austin Powers deeply as he tells the "King of the Leppards" that he has a track that needs his big old pipes "baaayby!" The resulting song doesn't sound to me as though it is improved in any way by having the Leppard king along for the ride. On the other hand, the track that has Tom Morello pop by is pretty heavy and I dig it. The top four songs are those that have collaborators, and they are a weird crew of collaborators - the aforementioned Def Leppard guy, Robbie Williams, Tom Morello, and The Strokes' Albert Hammond, Jr. The top track is the one with Robbie Williams, which is also the first track on the album (so it likely gets a boost by curious folks who don't listen to the rest of the album after that sample). "Strange Days" with just over 2 million streams.
Yeah, you know, it's not a bad track or anything, just kind of serious and plodding. Ain't nobody gonna jump out of their seat to boogie when that track finally comes on. The guitarist is doing some headbanging in the video near the end, and it's kind of laughable. It's like headbanging to "We Are the World" or something. Also, I don't know Robbie Williams, but he's looking like the bald version of George Michael. It's overall a good album of more boogie rock, just wish it was a little more fun.
IDLES - Ultra Mono. My goodness, these guys are aggressive. I saw their show at ACL a year or two ago, and so I knew what to expect. The lead singer spit at the crowd, stomped so hard on the stage that I likely would have snapped my ankle, and generally appeared ready to eat a flagpole and spit nails. This one just starts off right up there at 11, fists and lips curled, with the track "War." The second track tastes more like a NIN track, with some squeaky little sounds, an ominous groove, and syncopated guitar work, before the singer starts laughing like that maniacal televangelist. Later, when he's screaming the title of "Anxiety," it actually creates that very thing. But then "Model Village" kinda makes me want to boogie - it's like Devo or something new wave-y, but with yelling. But I think my favorite track is the highly weird "The Lover," where he repeatedly says "Fuck YOU, I'm a Lover" after all sorts of other phrases, among some crushing noise rock. And then, the end is pretty much him just yelling "EAT SHIT" over a marching Rage rhythm, before finally asking one more time if it "dadadadadadadadadada don't it taste gooooood?" I enjoy that. The top track, with 4.5 million streams, is that NIN-ish one I mentioned before. "Grounds."
Not sure why they needed to open that video with 40 seconds of silence. Oh, wait! I thought that the bit after "do you hear that thunder, that's the sound of strength in numbers" was saying "HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!!" But now that I can ready the lyrics at the bottom, I see that it is him screaming "I AM I." if you don't know what I am talking about with the nutter televangelist, then watch this:
If that doesn't give you the creeps, then something is seriously wrong with you. Anyway, I dig that "Grounds" tune. "A Hymn" is also good stuff. If they would yell a bit less, the groove hard rock is right up my alley.
Deftones - Ohms. Speaking of screaming! This has more of a bummer vibe, less of a danceable vibe, than the IDLES album up above. The first track crushes your ears with the vibe of an angry, sad person sitting in his truck punching his fists bloody against the roof because his girlfriend left him again. It get's more pleasing to the ears as you go along - "Urantia" sounds good, but then "This Link is Dead" makes me want to hold my head and avoid sounds for a while. Also, I know they are screamy - I used to listen to White Pony like every other respectable guy aging out of grunge and looking for the next fix of that same feeling the mid-90's alt rock used to give us. But this is either harder or I've aged since then, because each time it comes on I feel like I'm getting my ass kicked for an hour before something more pleasant comes along. The album closer is the top track, with 7.1 million streams, and is also the title song.
After the initial guitar salvo, I like the groove that opens up for the first verse. And that set of repeating riffs continues throughout to good effect, almost a Zeppelin-esque riff (although because its a Deftone's song, the main riff takes a break for a bit so that the song can have a quiet interlude in the middle that then erupts into a loud freakout, that then goes back into the main theme, because that is what these guys do). And I like the ending 30 seconds and it's guitarwork. Holy shit - is he playing an eight string guitar? It's nine! Nine strings! Holy shit! Solid song though. If more of the album was like "Urantia" and "Ohms," then I'd be much more likely to dig the whole thing.
Tom Petty - Wildflowers and All the Rest. Wildflowers is such an interesting album to me. I loved it when it came out - that was right when I started college, so it reminds me of some of the exciting new experiences of leaving the roost and setting out on my own for the first time. I have a clear memory of playing it with a group of older guys as I drove them to a bar, hoping that they liked my musical choice so that I could get in with their crowd. More recently, I was with two other guys the other night and asked them what the best Tom Petty album is, and both of them said Wildflowers. Which I find fascinating. I love it, but I still think that Full Moon Fever is better, and I might like Into the Great Wide Open more as well. Hard to measure that, of course, but I think I'd stack them that way. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone's top 500 albums had it as Wildflowers, Damn the Torpedoes, then Full Moon Fever (and no Into the Great...). So my friends are in good company. Personally, I think that this album took on a mythic quality after Tom died, as many of the Nashville cool kids and indie folkies and other people started pumping it up as their key inspiration for their music. And so it went from a low key album that didn't feel like a big deal at the time (made it to #8 on the Billboard charts and went 3x platinum, while Full Moon Fever made it to #3 and went 5x platinum, so it actually was pretty large at the time) to a touchstone album for a lot of people.
This is a re-release, 20+ years later, with a crapton of extra goodies. And the re-release has already shot up to the top of the Rock Albums Charts for Billboard. The story is that the original album was supposed to be a double disc with many more songs, but the label balked at that and requested a slimmed down version (that was released as the original album). Many of the leftover songs then came out on the soundtrack for She's the One, in 1996. Petty apparently always wished that he could re-release the album as he had originally imagined it, so part of this release is granting him that wish, posthumously. The original was 15 songs, with "You Don't Know How It Feels" as the hit, and some minor hits with some of the other ones. Now they're tacked on All The Rest, another ten songs that Petty had wanted on the original release, as well as an album of Home Recordings and a Live album.
The All The Rest Disc is good stuff. I know a number of those tunes already because of course I bought the She's the One Soundtrack when it came out. But "Leave Virginia Alone" is good stuff, and it wasn't on that second album.
Hard to imagine why that didn't make the original or the soundtrack. Sounds super clean and right in line with the rest of the album. Dig that new disc of stuff. But the Home Recordings disc isn't too terribly interesting. I guess it is cool to hear weaker versions of some of the final songs to see how he wrote less good versions before he cleaned them up and made them right, but that kind isn't all that cool. It's more fun to imagine that he was so perfect that the best versions just spilled from his brain, tripped down to his fingers, and were launched into the world.
The live disc just bums me out. Never got to see TP play live, and I'm definitely worse off for it. These songs sound great live. One weird thing is that "Walls (Circus)" is on this Live disc, probably the best song on She's The One soundtrack, but it isn't on the All The Rest disc. Maybe that one wasn't written for the Wildflowers sessions and was written specifically for the soundtrack? Wikipedia doesn't say. "It's Good to Be King" goes all jammy at almost 12 minutes and I love it. The live title track is fabulous too.
A weird note on the Wikipedia pages for both Wildflowers and She's the One - neither of those two albums were included when Petty's entire back catalog was released in high-resolution audio back in 2015. I wonder why?
Anyway, that became less of a Quick Hit and more of a novel, but whatever, this album is worth your time to go enjoy again. Go to it.
together PANGEA - Bulls and Roosters. 2017 album. This one came to me because one of Drew Magary's fans suggested one of their songs and he mentioned it in an article. It's pretty fun - new wave-y guitars and fast paces with some kind of punky and cheerful vocals bouncing around on the top. Maybe like if The Hives were into Elvis Costello's backing band. I also swear I heard the Goo Goo Dolls at one point. It's very fun stuff. The opening track has a little surfiness to it and sounds bright and happy. Second track is kind of slower punk surf with some slide guitar. It's all over the place, but the common theme is that I enjoy it. Top track is "Money on It," with 2.3 million streams.
Don't know that I would have picked that as my favorite tune on here, but it's fine. But, overall, the whole album is a good time. I've gone back to it for a few days now and each time it puts me in a good mood.
Sturgill Simpson - Cuttin' Grass. I absolutely LOVE this album. These are bluegrass versions of his previously released songs, and the players that he has surrounded himself for the backing instrumentation are freaking stone-cold killers. I looked up who they are, and none of them ring a bell to me as artists in their own right, except for Mandolin player/singer Sierra Hull, who I reviewed an album from a while back (and is bad ass). But each tune bristles with bluegrass perfection - bouncy banjos, lively fiddle, weaving and nimble guitar lines, as well as great harmonies from the collected singers. And its super fun to hear familiar songs re-imagined like this. "Long White Line," or "Turtles All the Way Down," or the lovely "Breaker's Roar," it's crazy fun. And while I know a bunch of his music, I have to readily admit that a handful of these tunes ring no bells to me, which is a very fun deal - I get new-to-me tunes in a perfect bluegrass wrapping. The top track for streams on here is "I Don't Mind," with 1.6 million streams.
That one turns down the banjo's presence and leans more on the mandolin, guitar, and his lovely voice. Lyrically, it's also a beautiful track, just a pure love song sung in with conviction and longing. And I dug into it's history a little bit, because it doesn't ring any bells from the albums that I own. Ends up it came from a pre-solo band called Sunday Valley, that Simpson belonged to before he moved to Nashville. This is making me so very aggravated that the Sturgill/Tyler concert that was supposed to happen back in March got cancelled. Between the two of them, I could have floated my way through the summer on those two performances.
Fleet Foxes - Shore. I love some of the old Fleet Foxes albums. Beautiful harmonies, clever story-telling and lyrics, and just an overall amazing vibe. Those discs have soundtracked good things in my life. My first run through this album was a hollow one, I wasn't feeling it at all. But after some repeat listens, I've decided that its actually pretty good. Not great, but still pleasant. Some of the tracks leave me wanting because it sounds almost like it's just Robin Pecknold, all alone. The opening track doesn't even sound like one of their tunes - different singer entirely. But then the second track comes on - "Sunblind" - and it absolutely sounds like the normal vibe. The third song makes me think it is about to be some Billie Eilish shit for the first 8 seconds, before the normal music kicks in. As with the other albums from these guys, the music is a pleasing, gentle deal, and it's the lyrics that make it seem like something more than just a soft, warm dive into AM Gold indie. Like “I could worry through each night, Find something unique to say, I could pass as erudite, But it’s a young man’s game,” or "I'm gonna swim for a week in, Warm American Water with dear friends." I wanna do that too! The top streamer is "Can I Believe You" with 5.8 million streams.
Oh, yeah, that's the one that sounds like Eilish at the start. Dig the harmonies. I really like them in "Young Man's Game" as well. Just a nice album of warm music.
Action Bronson - Only For Dolphins. This dude is just plain weird. Like, the title of the album isn't entirely legit, because he raps in human words, but he also includes a healthy serving of the sound of dolphins chattering during and between songs. The intro includes the line "You wanna fuck Ernie, you gotta fuck Bert." Which is likely true, but very well sums up the odd and off-the-wall business that you are about to get on this disc. And you aren't going to get much in the way of expected beats here. "C12H16N2" (which I guess is the chemical signature for something? Probably weed. Nope, its something called Dimethyltryptamine) is a rap entirely done over the top of an exceedingly gentle track of people singing breathy "nuh nuh nuhs" and the lightest possible guitar strum and feathered drums. Like, this should be the background to a Frank Sinatra song, not a rap by an obese pot aficionado who cooks a mean bullet salami sandwich. The top streamer is him wandering around over the top of a cowbell-heavy track that sounds like something Magnum PI eats nachos to on Hawaii. "Latin Grammys" at 2.6 million streams.
That video is amazing. But again, not a traditional beat that most people would rap over. "Mongolia" is a gypsy dance, "Vega" is a piano trilling its ass off, "Cliff Hanger" is on some reggae action. Literally, none of these tracks has a traditional, bass-centric hip hop sound. It's all high tones and him bopping along with some free association raps on top. He's funny for sure. I want to like it more than I do.
Metallica - S&M2. You may recall that Metallica made a live album with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra a decade or so ago. If you do not, then know that they have gone back to that same well, and it freaking jams. The very thought of being in that crowd during this show makes my skin crawl with anticipation about how bad ass that would be. From the live performance of "The Ecstasy of Gold" to the actual symphony portions of "No Leaf Clover" to the massive bombast (and perfect buildup) of "One," this works so amazingly well. Oh, and "Nothing Else Matters" also rules with the symphony added in. I've gotten to see Metallica a few times by now, and I know from experience that it is a hell of a show. I can only imagine how good this one was with the additional practice and care they likely had to do to get it all right.
Hell yes. Normally, if any other album I was reviewing had 22 songs, I'd probably be a big fat whiner and complaining about the largess and how they needed to rein themselves in. But not here. Just keep on going. They do some old classics, they do some newer songs. This feels pretty much just like the original S&M - I'm not going to check the track listing to see how much it overlaps, so it might not be so exciting for some. Did we need it? Probably not, but I think its great.
beabadoobee - Fake it Flowers. Very enjoyable listen. Reminds me of a lot of things, and yet feels original. "Horen Sarrison," with its poetic lyrics and swelling violins and soft singing, recalls Jewel (as do others of her vocals). Other times, when she's yelling, its more like the singer from Wolf Alice or Courtney Love. The guitar on "Worth It" makes me think of Teenage Bandwagon at first, and then later recalls old Smashing Pumpkins. It also obviously sounds like others in her wheelhouse, Snail Mail or Soccer Mommy or Waxahatchie or any of the other young female vocalists playing with the line between 90's grunge and 20's indie pop. I dig the guitar and drums kicks in "Sorry" for sure. It's very melodic, even when it gets loud, and it feels important, like my feelings will be impacted if I really tune in to the song. Some of the lyrics are a little first-draft-poetry-in-a-teen-girl's-diary type stuff. "You are the smell of pavement after the rain, you are the last empty seat on a train," or "It's hard 'cause it sucks," or "Fuck me, only when I'm keen, Not according to your beer," or "Think I'd be better off alone, Now that I've had some time to think, I've had to put up with your shit, When you're not even that cute." She has a song, not on this album, with 761.6 freaking million streams, so she's definitely on the radar of someone, but the most streamed on this one is "Care," with 3.9 million streams.
Also the album opener, so that may be why it has more streams than the rest. But I also could easily see myself bouncing along to this chorus in person as I scream that I don't want your sympathy, you don't give a shit, and you don't really CARE CARE CARE YEAH! Also, again, they have those Teenage Bandwagon style guitars. Is that a shoegaze thing? General BritPop sound? I dunno, but it definitely makes me think of Bandwagonesque. Overall, I very much enjoy the vibe of the disc. I'm not sure I register with the lyrics as much, but its a great thing to jam along to.
The Streets - None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive. I generally enjoyed an old Streets album - he's a British rapper with a heavy accent and a flair for odd metaphors. And I saw that Tame Impala was his collaborator on the first song, so I was intrigued. But this project is pretty lifeless. That Impala track has a weak little hook from Kevin Parker, but otherwise is all high hat and no cattle. IDLES is purportedly on a track as well, but you'd be hard pressed to tell. The autotune/off-beat fest of "I Wish You Loved You As Much As You Love Him" is horrible. So much of this is flat - just like he's talking over an uninteresting beat mainly made up of treble. Barely any bass. Barely any interesting or memorable hooks. Maybe the techno burble of "Take Me As I Am" is better? It's at least a little bit exciting... Somehow, and I really am curious how, a song with someone named Chris Lorenzo has 9.1 million streams. "Take Me As I Am"
I guess the techno stuff is bigger than the regular rap stuff. This sounds like something that would have been on the Trainspotting soundtrack, or in Grand Theft Auto. Frenetic drum and bass stuff. Made me do a sweet running robot dance just now. Still don't like it. This album can hit the road.
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways. In a welcome change, I've actually enjoyed this album. Dylan's voice still sounds like a Muppet with a two pack a day habit, but the music is appealingly relaxed and of course the lyrics are descriptive and interesting. The opening track almost sounds like a Willie song - the plucked classical guitar and very basic accompaniment - but lyrically he's stuffing ideas and metaphors and characters into every nook and cranny of that low-key composition. He really does contain multitudes. The second tracks has a bluesy swagger like a classic Stones tune. The tune of "My Own Version of You" sounds very much like a deep-cut Jimmy Buffet tune on one of his jenky recent albums that I liked more than I should have - and later, "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" actually does sound like something Buffet would have written.
The top streamer is a crazy ass tune - a 17 minute long song about the assassination of John Kennedy and what came afterwards. Fabulous story-telling. From "they blew off his head while he was still in the car" to a bunch of radio song references as he continues to sing about details of the aftermath - speeding past Dealey Plaza or heading for Parkland Hospital - and then just starts actually requesting songs to be played like he's talking to the DJ. It's an odd juxtaposition, but it also rules. Just seems like a narrator actually sad about the events and taking comfort in music. "Murder Most Foul" Just over 3 million streams.
I don't much care for "Black Rider," but otherwise the album is pretty solid from front to back. Most of it is very low key on instrumentation and backing music. Usually either bluesy strut or basic classic guitar. I can dig it.
A$AP Ferg - Floor Seats II. Now that is a transition. Dylan to Ferg. I liked the first one of these, like I liked Ferg's early stuff, but this one isn't great. Most isn't terrible, but at only 28 minutes, there isn't a lot of material here to cover up that some of this is chaff. Some of the beats seem like they are too fast for Ferg to handle, like the last two tracks - "Hectic" and "Aussie Freaks." He does a track here with Marilyn Manson, which is creatively titled "Marilyn Manson." Lame - nothing interesting about it - can't even really tell if Manson says anything in it? The best tracks are "Value," "No Ceilings" (with Lil Wayne), and the second half of "Dennis Rodman," once Tyga is done doing his exceedingly boring portion. The collab with Nicki Minaj is the hit, with 28.4 million streams (many more than the next highest one). "Move Ya Hips."
Ferg's verse is almost nonexistent - when he says the title line it sure sounds like Nicki wrote that and told him what to say - no fire there at all. And Made in TYO pretty much just said the name of the song a few times to get credit somehow. Nicki just does what she always does, a few changes to her voice to make it seem interesting, when the lyrics aren't at all. Pretty good beat, uninteresting raps. Disappointed in this one and won't save anything.
Public Enemy - What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? Well, they're still out here, trying to seem as though they have something interesting to say about the current political moment. The George Clinton opening, with no raps, but a freaking serving of funky weirdness, may be the best time to turn this one off. "GRID" is just a preachy track about how we are all addicted to the internet, but it is SOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOW. It's literally like Grampa Chuck D wrote a rap, slowed down a track so that he could keep up with it as he meandered along with his deep thoughts about how using the Internet is like being trapped in a real web, and then invited Grandpa B Real to also do the same. And it hurts me to hear them yell "WHEN THE GRID GOES DOWN" as though on "How I Could Just Kill a Man." Painful. Could have been cool - George Clinton, P.E., and Cypress Hill all together could have made something interesting and powerful, instead this just meanders along and repeats the title a million times. "State of the Union" talks smack to Trump, which I like, and the beat is pretty solid. But again, it seems slow, too methodical, too stale. I need some bombtrack-ass shit for this - give me Welcome to the Terrordome's beat or something.
I'll definitely say that hearing the Beasties jump on to a track is enjoyable, but unfortunately, they can't salvage the boring retread of the "Public Enemy No. 1" beat. The "Fight the Power" reboot is probably the best thing on here, which isn't a great compliment. Can't they come up with something new instead of just shoving a million guests into one of their classic beats?
The Nas verse is very good. The video, compiling video footage of a bunch of the recent protests, is also very good. Actually, now that I listen again, this is a good tune. I still wish they would have done something original, but these verses are inspired and valuable.
Several tracks actually talk smack to Trump and the current state of affairs, which is necessary and cool and good, but no one is going to listen to these boring ass, slow ass uninspired tracks. Their Spotify discography is actually really interesting - you can tell that no one from the younger generation has discovered them, as their top track on Spotify is something called "Harder Than You Think," from a 2007 album that doesn't ring a bell to me. Nothing from Apocalypse '91. Kids these days, man.
Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today. Each time this disc comes on, I think it is the new IDLES. Not sure where I found this one to add to my queue, this band doesn't ring a bell to me at all, but it's pretty good. The vocals can be a little underwhelming at time, more of a spoken word thing, but the music is in my wheelhouse of brawny, crushing post-punk riffage. But then, there will be like, a clarinet that fires up to take a few of the riffs - I'm thinking of "Processed by the Boys," which otherwise sounds like it could be at home in Fugazi's catalog, except for the clarinet meandering in here and there for a quick cameo. But the instrumentation on these tunes is good stuff, different - they don't just pound the whole time, but they'll switch it up from a quiet section to pounding and back again, which is certainly more interesting than just all one or the other. Again, I wonder where I found this, because they are getting very few streams - no tune on this album has more than a million streams. Top track is "Processed by the Boys" at 924k.
Fiiiiiiiiiccccccctttttttttiiiiiiiiooooooooonnnnnnnnnn!!! F that little puppet anyway. It really does read like poetry to review the lyrics at the bottom of that screen. "Worm in Heaven" is one of the ones that does a good job of being gentle at first - "I wish you well...hope you find peace in this world..." - and then it kicks in a little at the end. This is just an interesting sound - I think I like it.
Kind of an insane undertaking, right? Cutting off the world's entire album output at the 500 best? I wonder how many albums there have been, in history. More than a million? Ten million? Some random website I just looked up (discogs.com) says 13,217,318. If we want to believe that, then this is .0003783% of all released albums that are up for this honor. A minuscule drop in the bucket of all released music. Hell, I own more than 500 CDs myself.
RS has done it once before, but this time it is all new. They solicited and received top 50 album lists from over 300 artists, producers, critics, and other industry people. I feel like making a top 50 albums list would be an absolutely devilish task. I'd need to have an algorithm or something like the FlickChart.com process by which I could pit all of the albums against each other until I reached an internal consensus. It would be very unpleasant though.
I have a few random observations to make, in no particular order.
First, I thought it interesting to compare the one from 2003 to this new one. In 2003, it went Sgt. Peppers, Pet Sounds, Revolver, Highway 61 Revisited, and Rubber Soul. Three Beatles discs in the top 5, and the other two were old white guys too. The 2020 list now has What's Going On, Pet Sounds, Joni Mitchell's Blue, Songs in the Key of Life, and Abbey Road as the top 5. Zero representation of black voices in 2003, now it's 2 of 5. Only one Beatles album in 2020, and not even one of the three that was top five in 2003. Seems weird that Sgt. Pepper's would not remain the consensus top Beatles album, and that Abbey Road (#14 in 2003, also behind the White Album) would leapfrog all three of those other discs. Sgt. Pepper's is now at #24, by the way. I wonder what creates such a change in opinion, long after those albums were released? Does the younger generation dig Abbey more than Sgt.? Is it from adding more diverse voices to the panel of contributors? Interesting.
Only semi-related to this top 500 list, I have to admit something dorky. About twenty years ago, I tried compiling my own personal top ten, and as I look back on it now, it is embarrassingly nostalgic. I can't recall what inspired me to create the list, I think I got a chain e-mail or something. Anyway, I asked my siblings to do it as well, and there were rules about it that included no soundtracks or greatest hits comps. Sadly, I no longer have their lists - they disappeared when Tripod websites went down (I had built an entire family website using Tripod - I had coded the whole thing in html like a sweet ass hacker mastermind. I can barely figure out how to find the menu on my TV now). For the most prime example of how embarrassing it is to create such a list, I had LL Cool J's Mr. Smith as my top nine album of all time! OF ALL TIME!!! And you know why? It's because two of my best buds and had spent a million hours in college, listening to that album, while playing video games or driving around the shithole town where we sent to college, and so it has all of these emotional strings tied to it that no otherwise sane human being would have. Because, come on. It wouldn't even come to mind now if I tried to create a top one hundred albums of all time for me. Also, a John Cougar album is in my top ten. I deserve all the scorn you can lob at me. Dammit, 1999 Jack.
And actually, I think that is the most difficult thing about coming up with a list like this, and why a Flickchart type database would almost be necessary. If I'm just trying to use my brain to come up with the best albums ever, I'm going to be over here thinking of memories, and some of those will tie on more strongly to good emotions. Like, my brain will think about Living Colour, because I fucking loved their first two albums, that I listened to for a million hours when reading books and playing Zelda in my bedroom as a kid. But are either of those discs actually top fifty material? They shouldn't be, but they would pop into my head for sure. Same with weirdo things like Midnight Oil, or John Cougar, or Robert Earl Keen, or any number of other bands that have mental/emotional ties in my mind. On the other hand, I might just forget entirely about something else great and leave it off my list. Makes me curious - it would be fun to talk to one of the people who helped to make this list and dig into their thought process. Looks like there is a podcast, maybe I'll try that and see what I think.
Strangest thing about this RS list, to me, is how few of the things in here are entirely new to me. Not that I've listened to every single album listed in this list, but at the same time, I'm not seeing some sort of cool new underground thing that I had never seen before. Just as one example, here are the rap artists in the list, in order:
Lauryn Hill (yes, that is the highest ranked rap album in the list), Public Enemy, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Notorious B.I.G., Wu Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Outkast, Jay-Z, Eric B. & Rakim, Outkast, Jay-Z, N.W.A., Kanye West, Missy Elliott, Drake, De La Soul, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Beastie Boys, Fugees, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Ice Cube, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Run DMC, Raekwon, De La Soul, Boogie Down Productions, Kanye West, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Outkast, DJ Shadow (which is just beats, but I'll consider it rap?), Snoop Doggy Dogg, GZA, Eminem, Madvillain, Drake, Mobb Deep, Lil Wayne, Run DMC, J. Dilla, Ghostface Killah, The Roots, 2Pac, Kid Cudi, Juvenile, The Pharcyde.
That is 59 albums of the top 500 that are rap albums. And other than eight of those (Kanye's 808s and Heartbreak, Drake's Take Care, Missy's Supa Dupa Fly, DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, Drake's If You're Reading This, Run DMC's debut, J. Dilla's Donuts, and Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon) I own every single one of those albums (some, sadly, such as Kanye's Yeezus). And even all eight of those that I don't own, I've definitely listened to them, except for the J Dilla (okay collection of beats) or the DJ Shadow disc (which I'm jamming now and it's pretty damn cool - "Mutual Slump" samples Bjork and I'm here for it). Seems weird right? That rap homogeneity would be so clear so as to not let any under-the-radar rap album into this list. I guess it also just might be the law of averages - even if DJ Drama's list had Run the Jewels on it, or El P listed Helmet on his, if no other voter included them on their list, then they couldn't have enough vote numbers to make the cut into the top 500. Just weird to me that I found only one single new album in the rap world to listen to, and it isn't even really rap, it's just beats. Or it could just be that news travels faster now, and if a great rapper gets discovered, he or she doesn't remain a regional, hidden thing, and so everyone will include them on their lists.
Beyond the weirdness of the way that points averaging works, a few other interesting observations from the list:
2Pac doesn't have an entry until #436? Feels like people still talk him up as a major rapper/influencer, and yet he's behind smaller name people like J. Dilla, Ghostface, and GZA.
Their Beastie Boys entries are Paul's Boutique (125), License to Ill (192), and Check Your Head (261). I would never put License to Ill above Check Your Head (or Ill Communication for that matter). I know it has an important place in the conversation for what it was at the time, but by now most of the songs are much less interesting that they were in 1986. That jokey, jock-y rap is much less cool compared to the later stuff - although "Paul Revere" is still iconic.
Bjork's Homogenic is her top entry, which I find strange. I'd easily place Debut (n/r) and Post (289) above that one. It has some good stuff on there, but I don't think it is as good, or as innovative, as what came before.
Similarly, Outkast has Aquemeni at #49, Stankonia at #64, and Speakerboxx/Love Below at #290. Aquemeni has some great individual tracks on it, but I never would have considered it their best album. I probably would have said Stankonia, but I might have gone with ATLiens. Interesting. I'll need to dig back into that album.
People have fights over the "Best Soundtrack of All Time" on the internet all the time, but if you trust this list's rankings, you get Saturday Night Fever as #1, The Harder They Come as #2, and nothing else. No Singles, no Pulp Fiction, no Garden State, no Big Chill, no Trainspotting, no nada. Interesting.
The world is going wild over Tom Petty's Wildflowers right now as it celebrates an anniversary and a massive box set release, but I find it interesting that they rank it so far (#214) above Full Moon Fever (#298), which I would rank higher. They also have Damn the Torpedoes (#231) ahead of Full Moon Fever.
Beck's Odelay at 424 is lame, should totally be higher. Tame Impala's Currents at 382 is lame. R.E.M. only gets two entries (Automatic and Murmur), which is terrible. Same with Chilis only getting in here twice (Blood Sugar and Californication). Weezer's Blue album seems low at #294 as well. Coldplay only having one entry (Rush of Blood...), at #324, also seems off.
I've sung/performed/freaked out to Devo's "Whip It" about 700,000 times, and yet I don't know that I've ever actually listened to one of their entire albums. #252 is Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, and the cover looks like a poorly drawn Tom Brady in a Miami Gangster hat standing in front of a golf ball. It's loose as hell, as I'm listening to it right now. Wild stuff. The only ones on here I recognize are the Stone's cover and "Gut Feeling," which I think was used in a Wes Anderson movie. Also, that video rules.
Very little traditional/Nashville country in here - like the monster artists with all the hits. No George Strait, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Reba, Carrie Underwood, Alabama, etc. The closest you come to that are three discs: Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, and Miranda Lambert.
You get some old outlaw stuff: One Willie album (hell yeah, Red Headed Stranger is the stuff), a Haggard compilation album, a Johnny Cash live disc.
And some new outlaw/alternative stuff: Jason Isbell's Southeastern, Kasey Musgraves' Golden Hour, and Eric Church's Chief.
Some old timey classics: a Dolly disc, a Hank Williams greatest hits compilation, a Patsy Cline collection, Loretta Lynn's Coal Miner's Daughter.
You might call some stuff as country that came from The Band, or Dylan, or John Prine, or Lucinda Williams, The Eagles, or The Byrds or something, but I'm talking mainstream country music. A Ray Charles country album is at #127 though...
Just of interest to me, I suppose...
The first album on the list I had never heard of before was #162 - Pulp's A Different Class. The blurb about the album claims that they "blew up in the Brit-Pop scene of the 1990s," but they sure didn't make any waves in my world at the time. It's a weird album - the singer whispers too much. And "Disco 2000" rips off the tune from "Gloria." The overall vibe reminds me of that recent Arctic Monkeys album where they do lounge music on the moon. I don't dig it.
A few super-recent discs on here: Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell at #321 and released in 2019. Harry Styles' Fine Line, also released in 2019, but at #491. And the Billie EIlish album at #397. I think those are the only 2019 albums. Also, I think people in 2030 will giggle that those three albums were considered canonical back in 2020.
Surprises in the top 50 for me. Lauryn Hill at 10 - the top rap album - I love that disc, don't get me wrong, it is excellent, but seems way too high for something that I don't see as continuing to hold the conversation. Could she even sell out a big show right now? I think everyone else this high could. Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at 17. Always interesting to me that everyone loves that disc more than the earlier albums. I think those earlier ones are SO MUCH better. I hate The Velvet Underground and Nico album (#23). I've tried so hard to get into it, but I just can't. Amy Winehouse's Back to Black is surprising at #33. I like the album for sure, but that is so high. I love that The Chronic made the top 50. Graceland and Legend would be higher for me for sure.
Fun stuff! Always good to search out new music and consider the importance and impact of certain music versus others. GO read the list and hit me up with your thoughts.
Big Sean - Detroit 2. I really like parts of this album. Some of the coolest bits are these interlude monologues from Dave Chappelle, Erykah Badu, and Stevie Wonder, where they riff on some aspect/memory of Detroit. The Chappelle one is legitimately funny, a great story of Danny Brown giving him some sort of laced weed before a show and then Big Sean's dad being kind to him in the dressing room after he bombed. A few of the tracks are very good - I like "Wolves" with Post Malone, I look up and dig into "ZTFO" each time it comes back on, and "Lithuania" also catches my ear each time. The beat on "The Baddest," which bites paret of an old beat that I can't recall, is hard. Tons of collaborators on here, from old guys like Lil Wayne and Diddy to young guns like Travis Scott and Young Thug. The pieces that I don't much care for are the entire tracks that are pretty much R&B smoothies - "Time In" or "Everything That's Missing." They're just boring to me. But the real rap tunes have Sean just sounding hungry - the opener "Why Would I Stop" has a great trap beat and a nimble, non-stop flow over the top. The problem with the album is that the lyrics do nothing for me - the flow and beat sound good, but if you dig into the lyrics, you get left with an empty stomach. There's also a wild track that features Eminem and like 40 other rappers, called "Friday Night Cypher," that cruises along for 10 minutes near the end of the disc - weird thing, its like 15 short songs/raps that have been tied together into one track for some reason. The Post Malone track is the top streamer by far, at 43.1 million on Spotify.
Again, pretty solid (if unspectacular) beat and a nice flow that creates a good groove throughout. But the lyrics are a pretty generic recounting of how he has lots of people on his side that will jack you up if you cross him. I won't save this one, despite enjoying some of it. Go listen to the Chappelle bit and "ZTFO" and you'll be good.
Kurt Vile - Speed, Sound, Lonely KV (ep). I love this little EP. It kicks off with a perfect cover of John Price's "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" that makes me super happy each time it comes on. And "Dandelions" is just plain beautiful. The guitarwork is lovely and percussive in its little intricate patterns, with very basic drumming in the back (and what sounds like a mandolin cruising along back there too). And he does another Prine cover on here - with Prine himself accompanying him, called "How Lucky." It isn't a tune that I knew before this EP. But knowing that it is a Prine tune is so perfect - it sounds like a Prine storytelling tune, just a jaunty walk down some sidewalk making observations to the time of a lightly-tapped tambourine. And their guitars together are so good - brothers in plucking. "There was all these things that I don't think I remember... how lucky, can one man get" - a good reminder to let it go and let it be.
I'm glad for this little tribute to John Prine. Hell of a songwriter. And it sure makes me like Vile even more. Love it.
Nas - King's Disease. I've never really loved Nas. I think I came to Illmatic late - others had already decided that he was a Mount Rushmore-of-rap guy while I was paying more attention to Ice Cube, B.I.G., and the Beasties. I don't dislike him, but I just never think of him when I'm thinking of the best rappers ever, and you won't find me going back to his classics when I'm feeling like old school rap. That being said, the beat and flow combo on "NY State of Mind" is as cool as it gets. This disc is really heavy on collaborations - all but five of the tracks have someone else listed on them, from Anderson.Paak to Charlie Wilson and Big Sean to A$AP Ferg (and then people I've never heard of like Brucie B. or Lil Durk). The top track is the one with Ferg - "Spicy" - with 5.6 million streams.
Great beat. Lyrically though? Totally forgettable. "G's stay icy 'cause shit get spicy"? The verse by Fivio Foreign is even worse than the Nas bars. Lame stuff. Nothing on here is terribly memorable, no need to save it.
Westside Gunn - Pray for Paris. I have no recollection of where I found this album, but it's pretty entertaining rap. The beats are the good stuff - lots of sampled sounds and low on the high hats. The album opener is a weird auction skit where something, I can't tell what, is sold for four hundred million dollars. The internet tells me that it was the sale of a da Vinci. The killer track, and by far the most streamed, is the absolutely-so-laid-back-it's-upside-down "327." 10.2 million streams.
That beat makes me feel like I'm remembering the time that I bought a classic Ferrari from an Italian olive oil magnate's daughter and then we made love in her lemon tree grove. I'd appreciate better lyrics from Westside here, this one is mostly just brags about fashion labels, but the part about making drugs was legit. One thing I could do without, on all of these songs, is the repeated gun sounds. Enough with the "boo boo boo boo boo boooooo!" and "gdgdgdgdgdgdgdgdgdgdgd" sounds. Guy makes me think of Action Bronson as well. Just simply for the excellent beats, I'm keeping this one around.
Unrelated to anything at all, this song just popped back into my life, and I thought you should also have to suffer along with this very-skinny-Pete Davidson singing a truly terrible track and shooting an awful video. WELCOME BACK TO HELL!
What a kick in the nuts. Jerry Jeff was a classic - one of those immensely talented songwriters who not only wrote a song that is now a standard - "Mr. Bojangles" - but also wrote an absolute stack of amazing lyrics. And it felt like he belonged to me, in some weird way, because of his connections to Austin and the way that some of his music sound-tracked significant times in my life. The last time I saw him play a concert, you could tell that he was heading downhill - he pretty much just sat on a stool to play the whole show, barely dancing for a short bit at one point - but his lyrics were still as vital as ever.
Easily, my favorite album is Viva Terlingua. I listened to that album about 1,000 times while in high school and college. I used to sing "Little Bird" as one of my lullabies to my kids when they were small. "Up Against the Wall, Red Neck" (while not written by JJW) is an absolute classic. "Wheel" is full of beautiful, sad imagery. "London Homesick Blues" (also not a JJW-penned tune) is perfection. Second favorite album is Ridin' High. Even the cover of it is amazing. "Jaded Lover" is my favorite track from that one, but "Coat from the Cold" is amazing too. I think my favorite tune overall from his catalog is "Desperados Waiting for The Train," although yet again that isn't a JJW original, but a Guy Clark tune. Also loved Clark's "L.A. Freeway" as done by Jerry Jeff. "Navajo Rug" is good, "I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight" or "The Pickup Truck Song." "Pissin' in the Wind" is solid. He's got a ton of tunes that evoke good memories of times and places I've been, and the friends who were with me as we listened. Always love him for that reason alone.
You can go read all sorts of tributes to the man - Austin American Statesman, Texas Monthly, etc. - are all churning them out. But I just felt like telling a good story or two to reminisce about the guy and his effect on my life. Which may not be interesting to you at all, but whatever, you clicked on this blog!
For my eighteenth birthday, a group of friends had decided to throw a party at a friend's apartment. I don't recall how or why, but a fellow high school friend had their own apartment over on West campus, and so we descended on that place as the staging ground for a big time. As part of that, I had requested that we make some sangria wine - I had sang the recipe for it for years through JJW's iconic tune, but had never tried it myself. The thing about that is, if you go back and listen to the song, you'll note that the recipe doesn't mention actual portions/amounts. So all you know is that you start with some wine, add some apples and brandy and sugar, and then everclear is added to the wine sometimes. So, being the idiot high schoolers that we absolutely were, we show up at the apartment with the fixings, and realize that we don't have a huge container for the final product. Solution? "Clean" the sink "really well," plug it up, and then dump two giant jugs of el cheapo wine into the sink, a whole bottle of brandy, a whole bottle of everclear, a sack of sugar, and a bunch of cut up apples. Stir that mess around and get to scooping it into cups. Hours later, my best friend was drunkenly sprinting laps on the deck outside the front door of the apartment, and I was chucking up the King Ranch chicken my mom had served for dinner, before finding out that my girlfriend had cheated on me and crying for a bit. HUGE SUCCESS!
Also, JJW's daughter went to Austin High, a few years behind me, and so while I did not know her, we definitely used that association as a badge of pride. One night, I may have already been in college by then, we heard that she was having a birthday party at the Driskell Hotel on 6th Street, and supposedly her dad would be there playing music. YOLO, right? A group of us went up there and wandered around the hotel (hello, security?) until we found a room full of drunk high school kids. No Jerry Jeff. Super awkward. Hell, might not have even been Jessie's party for all I know. Grabbed a beer and wandered somewhere else.
Spent Saturday of this last weekend listening to the classic albums over and over again - they still hold water. I'm glad we still have all of those, even if we don't have the man himself.
I started off making this into a regular Quick Hits entry, and then it got verbose, so I've converted it into a post all of it's own. Here's the title track.
I had to go to a funeral yesterday. About two weeks ago, my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jack came down with COVID-19. They ended up in the hospital after a few days, each taking one of those massive cocktails of steroids and antiviral medications. Despite the fact that both were in their early's 80's, my aunt made it out of the hospital and recovered, but my uncle wasn't able to beat back the virus. He died last Friday after a final chat with his wife of 62 years.
We weren't especially close, despite sharing a name. He was a goofy dude - quick with a huge, inclusive laugh - and I never knew him to be hard-edged at all. He had been a high school principal, but more recently he had crafted beautiful stained glass windows. He worked in a studio my aunt had set up beside their house, in the same spot where my grandmother used to sell antiques to supplement by grandfather's farming income. But despite our lack of contact over the past few years, I have happy memories of Jack taking me fishing and on other outings during my summer visits to my grandmother's house. He was a good man. Probably not perfect, but like so many people we know only superficially, I was never dragged behind the curtain to see his shortcomings.
So then, I come home today to peruse the new releases on Spotify and see what else I need to queue up into my new music list to check out. And there is the new Springsteen. Which, hell yeah, I'm gonna listen to the new Bruce any and every time that comes out. And then the first song drops like a wrecking ball on my lap - "One Minute You're Here." Between the spare, simple arrangement and the bleakly sung lyrics about the summer wind singing its last song, or the autumn carnival, and then the bridge saying "I'm so alone" and "I'm coming home." Come on, Bruce. I know you're getting older and more of your buddies are dying, but help me out, my man. It's simple and short, but it definitely sets the theme for the album.
Then, a couple of songs later, you've got "Last Man Standing," with him reminiscing over faded pictures and counting the names of the missing and being the last man standing now. Damn. But I'm sure we'll get hopeful now? Nope - the next song is "Power of Prayer," singing about love that comes and goes, and how he's "Reaching for heaven, we'll make it there." How about later in the album? Maybe the song called "Ghosts"? Nope, everyone is dead but he remembers them. Or maybe the final song? Nope, "I'll See You in my Dreams" kicks off with this in the first couplet: "And though you're gone and my heart's been empty it seems, I'll see you in my dreams." Awesome. Just all bummer, all the time.
A funny anecdote from the funeral, that has nothing to do with this album, is that the preacher decided that we should be subjected to both Adam flipping Levine and Brad Paisley during the service. Which seems both cruel and unusual. First, he kicked off the entire service with YouTube video of a Glee-ass a capella version of Maroon 5's "Memories," which sucks anyway, but is immeasurably worse when you are in a church, eight feet from the casket you will soon have to help carry, and a bunch of little pageant kids with overly cutesy hairdos are brightly looking into a camera to sing their part of that treacly song with a headphone wire dangling from their ear. I had to see it, so do you. But then, later in the service, he decided to read out some Brad Paisley lyrics about going to heaven, walking with his granddaddy, petting the mane of a lion, and riding on a drop of rain (?!?!?!). Those bits did not make the service better. Playing "I'll See You in My Dreams" would have made it immeasurably better.
"House of Thousand Guitars" is also sad, but only because he's reminiscing about the fact that we used to be able to go to stadiums and small town bars to listen to guitars spark up our life. Which is depressing as shit. I would KILL to get out for some good live music right now.
BUT! Big BUT! This album is actually excellent. I mean it. It sounds and feels like we are back in the classic E Street days of a more raw, rocking sound and a full band. I've liked Bruce's recent albums all right, but this one really feels like the whole band is again being given the free range to flex their muscles and kick the music around a little bit. Each player has a real role here, not just a support to Bruce's voice.
"Letter to You" has a lot of the classic Bruce flourishes, striking piano chords, that guitar squonk that he used on "Glory Days," even his vocal "hooohhh!" right after the end of the first verse. "See You in My dreams" is actually a really hopeful sounding song - it's not a dirge of sadness, but a guitar-fueled dad rocker with a classic Springsteen sound. "Janey Needs a Shooter" has a paced bar-room swagger, pounding piano riffs, and a story to tell that also make it sound like something that could have been on The River. They use a ton of Clarence Clemons's son and his I'm-like-my-Dad-if-you-squint-but-a-squidge-different sax blasts. It's all highly nostalgic and wonderful. I know I'm an old ass Gen X dude with too much love for classic rock, but whatever, this album makes me nostalgic and happy and I'm gonna keep enjoying it.
Not surprisingly, none of these songs can crack Bruce's top ten on Spotify - the man's got more classics that most artists will in five lifetimes - but two of them appear to have gotten a headstart. The title track and one near the end called "Ghosts."
From reading up on the track, it sounds like this one is about the guys who he has lost from the band over the years, including everyone from his original band the Castilles and two guys from the E Street Band. I can absolutely see yelling out "I'M ALIIIIIIIVE" when this song is played live - I'm getting a little verklempt here at the keyboard just thinking about that moment (that hopefully will happen). Woo buddy. I guess I needed a little release just now. Did somebody just shoot Old Yeller? Whew. A crowd of thousands singing that together would be fucking amazing. Here's to hoping for the future.
