#131: The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash (1985)

Emily: Rum, sodomy, and the lash. Sounds like your average day on a pirate ship. Or in the Navy, according to Winston Churchill. Yep, that's where The Pogues got the name for their album - a Winston Churchill quote. Shouldn't be much of a surprise actually. Despite their Irish brogues and genre classification under Celtic rock, the band is actually a bunch of Brits playing folk punk. Now that I think about it, folk punk is kind of a weird contradiction too, but in this case it works. The Pogues take traditional Celtic folk music, and add a pub-punk flavor to it. Some songs are melancholy and wistful (like folk), while others are more punk and full of bravado.  Not many albums can successfully combine these disparate sounds, let alone by using an accordion and tin whistle amongst their instruments, but The Pogues definitely make it work.
Favorite Tracks: The Band Played Waltzing Matilda; A Pair of Brown Eyes; Wild Cats of Kilkenny

Zack: I'm a little offended by the title of this album. The Pogues want to masquerade like a Celtic rock band, but they drink rum, not whiskey? Well that's just insulting to Irish culture. Oh, they're not Irish and it's a Churchill quote. Well, thank you Emily for being so enlightening and I'm sorry that I didn't read Wikipedia closely this time. I had a hard time putting Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash in perspective. I mean, what else sounds like this. I was forced to compare it to Dropkick Murphys, since they have the whole Celtic punk thing going. But that just felt like I was comparing The Beatles to Creed or Nickelback, and that's just wrong. The Pogues was definitely better than that. But the question of how much better remains. I had never heard anything quite like them; what with their punk rock attitude combined with traditional Irish instrumentation and style. I was forced to gauge for myself what I thought. As scary as that may seem, I was able to conquer the fear of independent thought and came to the outcome that I liked it. They mashed Bob Dylan, The Dead Kennedys, and Lucky the Leprechaun together for 45 minutes of fun. The album, which never necessarily peaked but was strong throughout, did have several shining moments. One of them was the song A Pair of Brown Eyes, which I think may have been the single. It reminded me of the classic Van Morrison tune, had he been a couple pints of Guinness in of course. Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash is full of drinking tunes and traditional ditties that are fun and catchy. It's not the deepest album, but it certainly is a raucous good time.
Favorite Tracks: The Band Played Waltzing Matilda; A Pistol for Paddy Garcia; A Pair of Brown Eyes

#130: Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets (1974)

Zack: Brian Eno is the invisible hand behind a huge portion of this list. Not only does he have five albums by himself, but he also played in all three of the Roxy Music albums on the list and has produced for U2, Coldplay, Devo, Paul Simon, David Bowie, the Talking Heads, and countless other list-worthy musicians. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve clicked on to Wikipedia for one of these albums and seen Producer: Brian Eno. He’s just all over the place. So, first off, thank you Mr. Eno for making so much of the music I’ve enjoyed over these past months possible. Here Come the Warm Jets had a weird Bowie-before-Bowie feel to it. Like Brian Eno is the Oscar Robertson to David Bowie’s Michael Jordan. Now some of you may be pointing out that Bowie was around before 1974, and you’re right. But while Here Come the Warm Jets may technically be after Bowie’s debut time-wise, it just sounds like a predecessor. Maybe that means that Eno is the Kobe to Bowie’s Jordan then. For those of you still following me after the basketball references, let me explain by saying that I can’t explain any of that at all. It isn’t necessarily similar sounding to any of the Bowie I’ve listened to (although when you consider all of Bowie’s reinventions there is probably something out there that sounds exactly like this), but it just has the same sort of artistically experimental vibe going on. He primarily uses a guitar-bass-drum-keyboard set-up but then extenuates it with horns and organs and just about everything else. He masterly manipulates distortion effects in a way that both sounds cool and doesn’t make you want to cover your ears and curse the cruel God that must be punishing you. That’s a rarer feat than you might know. It’s not a super fantastic album or anything but it’s definitely a cool listen that is easy to appreciate, but hard to worship.

Favorite Tracks: Here Come the Warm Jets; The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch; Dead Finks Don't Talk

Emily: As we progress through the list, a few names keep recurring over and over again. These people - musicians, writers, producers - are the masterminds behind modern music. They're the ones who are constantly innovating and doing new things, progressing their sound and the sound of the era. One of those people is Brian Eno. We encountered Eno not so long ago with U2's The Joshua Tree, a little while back with Roxy Music and David Bowie, and months ago with Talking Heads. That's a lot of era jumping, and he's there for all of it. Now, we jump back to the Roxy Music era with Eno's solo work. Here Come the Warm Jets begins to bridge the gap between the glam of Roxy Music and the more experimental work of his later years. This album is kind of weird and arty, but is still enjoyable to listen to. I can see it being great music for a hipster/art school party - it is definitely rock music, but with layers of experimentation and distortion that are impossible to ignore.

Favorite Tracks: Baby's On Fire; Needles in the Camel's Eye; Here Come the Warm Jets

#129: Country Joe and the Fish - Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967)

Zack: Electronic Music for the Mind and Body is one of those pivotal San Francisco hippie albums that really got students up in arms. It’s pretty obvious why. The album combines elements of psychedelic rock (and its subgenre of acid rock) and folk to create its sound, then mixes in some real fist-pounding lyrics. The finished product is a protest album perfect for the dirty, flower-laden Country Joe fans. One of the interesting aspects of hippie music is how closely connected all the prominent musicians of the time were. At least I’ve always found that interesting. They wouldn’t just see each other at award ceremonies or bump into each other if they just so happened to both be using the same studio. Musicians back then would hang out and drop acid with each other. They would meet up and do impromptu jams in each other’s garages. It was a different time. EMMB has a perfect example of this. The song Grace is a dedication to the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick. How many musicians to do you see today writing tribute songs to their contemporaries? Maybe one of their musical icons whose relevance has faded with the years, but someone that you share the stage with regularly at all the big festival events? Incredible. But the best part about this album isn’t the tributes, it’s the revolutions. The song Superbird is an attack song at LBJ. As far as I could tell, it compared him both to a superhero-wannabe (a criticism of his Great Society programs and/or his continued efforts in Vietnam) and a supervillian who seeks to ruin the country or the world or something. I don’t know. I wasn’t really following that closely. Anyway, EMMB is a fun example of what the ‘60s were all about from one of the less widely known bands of the era, but an important one nonetheless. It really captures both the traditional sound and attitude of one of America’s most famous counter-cultures and also manages to stand the test of time as a legitimately good album.

Favorite Tracks: Superbird; Death Sound Blues; Grace

Emily: My experience with Country Joe and the Fish dates all the way back to 10th grade. In my American Studies class (basically 20th century American history with a bit of literature thrown in), we had to do presentations on different topics throughout the year. There were a few themed days, and when we reached the '60s we had Woodstock Day. Besides getting to wear tie-dye, flowy skirts, and John Lennon glasses, a few people did presentations about Woodstock - the musicians, the crowd, and the lasting influence it had. One of the mini-presentations was about Country Joe and the Fish - specifically, the band's performance of the I Think I'm Fixing to Die Rag and it's accompanying cheer of "GIVE ME AN F! GIVE ME A U! GIVE ME A C! GIVE ME A K! WHAT'S THAT SPELL? FUCK! WHAT'S THAT SPELL? FUCK!" Well, 15 year old me and my friends found this hysterical, so for the rest of the year we would mouth the Fuck Cheer to each other across the room during class and incorporate it into conversation as much as possible. I hadn't really thought about Country Joe since then, but when I saw the band on the list I was super excited to listen. Sadly, this is not the album with the rag, but it's a great example of what Country Joe stood for. Psychedelia and drug culture intermingle with powerful social and political messages. Not many people know about Country Joe and the Fish (beyond my American Studies class, of course), but if you're looking for a band that encapsulates the '60s sounds and sentiments, they're definitely it.

Favorite Tracks: Death Sound Blues; Superbird; Happiness is a Porpoise Mouth

#128: Radiohead - The Bends (1995)

Emily: I've heard nothing but good things about Radiohead. Magazines, websites, radio DJs, friends, random people talking about music - Radiohead comes out with a glowing recommendation. Not knowing much about the band beyond a few songs on the radio, I wanted to hear more to find out what all the fuss was about. This was my first opportunity of many to come on this list. Frankly, I was underwhelmed. I guess I expected more. The Bends is surely a pleasant, introspective listen , but it just didn't strike a chord with me. I enjoyed familiar songs like High and Dry and Just (Streetlight Manifesto does a fantastic version of the latter), but ones that were new to me seemed distant. I think I need to give this album another shot - I think it has potential to be deeper and more interesting than one listen can reveal.
Favorite Tracks: Just; High and Dry; The Bends

Zack: When I think of Radiohead, there’s only one thing I think of: my crazy ex-roommate Koz. He used to play acoustic Radiohead songs all the time. Really good covers to. Some of his best renditions are on here. Most notably Fake Plastic Trees. I can’t hear that song without getting all misty-eyed at the thought of all the crazy adventures we used to have in North Philly. So many near death experiences. Once, an acoustic rendition came on one of my Pandora stations and it sounded exactly like him. I lost my damn mind. This is my first real experience with Radiohead. I’ve heard the usual radio songs but I’ve never sat down and listened to a single one of their universally praised albums. As far as I know, The Bends is a good place to start. Pablo Honey is grungy and not really an accurate representation of the band. The Bends is where they first start to mature into themselves. It’s a really mesmerizing combination of rough and soothing guitars with Thom Yorke’s hypnotic falsetto voice. All of this comes together to make a sneaky good album. It won’t blow you away, but at the end, you can look at which songs you noted were really good and you realize that a majority of the songs ended up in that category. It catches you off guard if you’re not prepared to acknowledge that you loved the album. But it really is that good. I wasn’t blown away like I was hoping I’d be, but it was a really enjoyable album that requires multiple listens to really appreciate.

Favorite Tracks: High and Dry; Fake Plastic Trees; Street Spirit (Fade Out)

#127: Metallica - Metallica (1991)

 

Zack: When someone starts talking about “The Black Album,” I immediately go to Jay-Z. Then to AC/DC. Then to a series of artists with other color-based albums like The Beatles and Weezer. Then the person I’m talking to realizes I’m not paying attention and informs me that they were discussing the merits of Metallica’s Black Album. It makes sense for them to do so. It’s sold over 22 million copies. It spawned six singles. It’s received almost universal critical acclaim. It even won a Grammy. But die-hard metal fans still look at it leery-eyed. From what I’ve learned by conversing with several metalhead friends, Metallica is basically a joke right now. They haven’t released a good album since the Black Album and are widely considered sellouts by the thrash community. These people will usually say that early Metallica is awesome, but they think the Black Album is where Metallica started pursuing a more commercial approach at the cost of their thrash roots. Well, if that’s true, then I’m so glad Metallica decided to sell out. I haven’t listened to any of the older Metallica albums, but I know that the thought of listening to them terrifies me like a small furry animal that has a hawk circling over it. But this? This I can handle. Unfortunately, that accessibility upset a notoriously exclusive metal community. So when the next couple Metallica albums came out and they weren’t as objectively good as the Black Album, the die-hard metalheads felt betrayed. But we’re not talking about them. We’re just talking about the Black Album. And it’s not hard to see why it got so big. It’s a strong album that combines a really hard edge and a slower pace (by thrash metal standards at least) that can be appreciated by a much wider audience. Plus, just look at the handy-dandy year we include in each post. The beginning of the nineties: a big time for music. People may remember that era for Nirvana and grunge, but it was really just a rejection of all the weak ‘80s music. When Generation X hit their late teens and twenties, they had had enough of that hair metal bullshit. Metallica offered an out from all that, and when it became easy for the everyday radio listener to get into it, the perfect formula for metal success was born.

Favorite Tracks: Enter Sandman; Wherever I May Roam; The Struggle Within

Emily: As I look at the list of metal albums on our list, I must say that I’m slightly afraid. The sheer quantity of ear-splitting, hard-rocking, head-banging metal is simply dizzying. My ears already hurt at the thought of it, especially after our experience with Ministry a few months back. However, Metallica surprised me. This is the album with Enter Sandman, the one where they allegedly went mainstream. I gotta say, mainstream Metallica works for me. It’s not scary or overpowering; it’s much more subdued than most metal. This renders it much more creative, interesting, and listener-friendly. However, subdued Metallica is still Metallica – even the slower tracks still rock hard. With strong songwriting and intense metal instrumentals, the entire album certainly merits many a headbang.

Favorite Tracks: Enter Sandman; Nothing Else Matters; Wherever I May Roam

#126: Yes - The Yes Album

Zack: Recently, Rolling Stone asked their online readers to vote on the greatest Prog Rock band of all time. Yes finished 6^th behind King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Rush (but in front of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Tool, Mars Volta, and Dream Theater). People went berserk in the comments. Most of them weren’t attacking band ranks as much as they were attacking Prog credentials. People were saying that Tool just use weird time signatures and aren’t really Prog and that Pink Floyd are more psychedelic rock than anything else. Everyone seemed to be indignant about the results. And maybe they should be. After all, one week later Rolling Stone did another poll for best punk band and Green Day won, a fact even my blog colleague and noted Green Day fan sites as “bullshit.” Rolling Stone readers may not be the best sources for this kind of stuff. Now some of the credential attacking I agree with and some I don’t, but I still found the fact that not a single person dared to say anything bad about Yes telling. It’s not hard to see why. Yes are securely a Prog rock band. They carry themselves with a certain “I go to art school and I’m too cool for you to appreciate me fully vibe.” They play really long songs interspersed with a few of tolerable length.  Although they are definitely more in their element with the longer tunes. For some reason, Yes’s artiness doesn’t really shine through if it’s under 8 minutes. It’s a good thing their rise to prominence didn’t happen during the age of Twitter. You would have never been able to tell how cool they are in under 140 characters. Which I guess means we have something in common, since I can’t seem to tell ya’ll if I like an album or not in under 300 words anymore. Yeah, I just used “ya’ll.” What of it? Anyway, The Yes Album was a pretty good Prog Rock album by a pretty good Prog Rock band. Some might say that Yes (and their contemporaries) marked the death of true Prog. Other might say that it just introduced commercially viable Prog to the masses. All I know is that it’s Prog Rock, and it’s pretty good.

Favorite Tracks: Starship Trooper; Perpetual Change; Yours Is No Disgrace 

Emily: I know next to nothing about Yes, or really Prog Rock in general. However, I do know that Yes has earned its place in Prog Rock history as one of the defining sounds of the genre. Therefore, by the transitive property, by listening to this album I now know something – at least more than before – about the Prog Rock sound. In fact, The Yes Album is held up as a defining point in the development of Yes’ sound. They experimented for the first time with longer-form songs, versus the traditional 3 or 4 minute rock song. The longer songs work well with their wide-ranging and experimental sound, and it allowed them to develop the record-side-long rock opuses of their later work. However, the best song on the album to me was only 3 and-a-half minutes, and it’s called Clap. The typical length, however, does not make it a typical song. Clap is an instrumental, acoustic song that doesn’t really have a Prog sound. However, it is just as intricate and interesting as their other work on this album. So if you’re looking to delve into the Prog sound, or if you’re just unsure of what it actually is, The Yes Album is a very good place to start – it’s decidedly progressive, but still listener-friendly.

Favorite Tracks: Clap; I’ve Seen All Good People; Starship Trooper

#125: Ryan Adams - Gold

Zack: I didn’t really know what to expect out of Ryan Adams. The only thing I really knew about him was that he played in Whiskeytown. And I only knew that because of friend of mine had told me that his band was heavily influenced by Whiskeytown (although I later learned that the extent of the influence was pretty much that Whiskeytown played songs about loving whiskey and his band liked to listen to said songs while drinking whiskey.) So I went into this album with very low expectations. Those expectations were exceeded by the first song, then shattered throughout. Gold is a really good album. It contains an overarching country feel but skips out on the tacky twang in favor of a more modernized sound. I can’t emphasize enough how much I appreciated that. Gold is considered a staple of alternative country. Now sometimes I feel like people just assign the title “alternative” to anything that doesn’t quite fit the stereotypical sound of a genre, but calling Gold an alternative country album totally makes sense. Alternative music is a blending of several genres all together to create a varied and diverse sound. Gold has plenty of that. While country may be the main influence, some songs bear a striking resemblance to rock, punk, folk, blues, and even a little jazz. Now that’s pretty alternative. Overall, Ryan Adams reminded me of a more Southern version of Devendra Banhart, while I expected him to just be a younger Garth Brooks. That took me completely by surprise, but it was the best possible surprise I could get.

Favorite Tracks: Nobody Girl; New York, New York; Harder Now That It’s Over

Emily: The other night, I went out with some friends for some late-night noms at a bar near us. Once we got there, though, we were nearly ready to run out the door. Why, you ask? Three words: Country. Karaoke. Night. Our readers well know that I’m not exactly a fan of country music, and neither are my friends. We endured nearly an hour of two white-haired guys poorly rendering a bunch of twangy, yee-haw country songs, including one song called Honky Tonk Ba-donka-donk. Seriously. With that in mind, I wasn’t exactly excited to be listening to more country music. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Ryan Adams. As an alt-country artist, his sound is a lot less twang and a lot more blues and roots, with a bit of rock thrown in for good measure. The most country thing about him is actually what I find the most appealing about country music – the storytelling. Songs like Nobody Girl and Sylvia Plath are full of detail and emotion that tell great stories, a more modern interpretation of a traditional country trope. And luckily for me, there were no honky tonk ba-donka-donks to be found.

Favorite Tracks: La Cienega Just Smiled; Nobody Girl; When the Stars Go Blue

#124: ZZ Top - Eliminator (1983)

Zack: ZZ Top are typically considered the Comic Sans of the rock world. They’re both cartoonish (ZZ Top with their beards and Comic Sans with its liberal use of squiggles) and inappropriate for formal occasions. But let’s be honest. ZZ Top isn’t the only laughable rock band out there. And Comic Sans definitely isn’t the only stupid font. If I can drop my unnecessary metaphor for a second, ZZ Top may be a bit ridiculous (the song I Got the Six has a point where you just hear “guess I’ll have to spank my monkey”) but they have plenty of company. At their worst, they’re equal to KISS. At their best, they’re closer to the AC/DC or Van Halen level. That’s a perfectly respectable level to be on.  But believe me, the highs and lows are really that wide. Gimme All Your Lovin’ and Sharp Dressed Man are classics that always have a certain crispness to them. When they were playing, I couldn’t help but appreciate what I was listening to. But then I got to the second half of the album, more specifically the track TV Dinners. It’s exactly what it looks like. A song about how terrible TV dinners are. And it goes on for 4 minutes. I couldn’t believe that a song like that legitimately made it through the writing, recording, and producing phases without someone saying “wait a minute….I think we should scrap this.” I mean, there had to have been a B-side or something that would have been a better placeholder. Eliminator isn’t a life altering album by any stretch of the imagination. Some songs are good. Some are awful. And sure, ZZ Top can be frustrating because of those bad songs. But, at the end of the day, you could do worse than to listen to this album. Just like you could do worse than to write an entire blog post in Comic Sans.

Favorite Tracks: Sharp Dressed Man; Gimme All Your Lovin; Bad Girl 

Emily: Fun fact – you know how the drummer from ZZ Top is the only one to not have a ridiculous beard? His name is…wait for it…Frank Beard! I can only imagine how that audition went: “So, you can’t grow a beard? I don’t know if we can take you.” “Well, my name is Beard.” “Alright, you’re in!” At least, that’s how I hope his audition went. Anyway, I think it says a lot that ZZ Top is a band best known for their ridiculous facial hair. They’re pretty much destined for the domain of fun facts. They’re big on shtick – songs about microwave meals, over-the-top videos with cars, girls, and furry guitars, and (of course) their iconic beards. On Eliminator, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But that’s what they do, and come on, it was the ‘80s! At their best, they write tuneful, bluesy rock songs that are great for radio. Not every song hits that mark, but the ones that do are a fun listen.

Favorite Tracks: Sharp Dressed Man; Got Me Under Pressure; Gimme All Your Lovin

#123: Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar (1970)

Emily: “Shankar” should really be a synonym for “sitar master.” Both Shankars are experts at their instrument, which allows them to instruct and experiment, respectively. First, Ravi introduced us to the Eastern instrument and its unique sound. Now, we have Ananda, Ravi’s nephew, who gives the Eastern instrument a Western twist. He combines psychedelic and rock influences with the Indian rhythms of the sitar, creating a sound that is very unique and very cool. Nowhere is this more apparent than on his cover of the Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Shankar uses his sitar to infuse new life into the iconic rock and roll song. The instruments are barely recognizable, but the song is instantly familiar. East-meets-West will probably apply to many of the world music albums we review, but I think Ananda Shankar will remain our best (or perhaps only) example of its Indian/rock equivalent – guitar-meets-sitar.

Favorite Tracks: Jumpin’ Jack Flash; Light My Fire; Metamorphosis

Zack: Long, long ago, we reviewed Ravi Shankar’s Sounds of India. Well, it turns out his nephew inherited a little of the family music talent. While both Ravi and Ananda are undeniably great sitar players, they approach the instrument with a very different style. Ravi, if I remember correctly (I do), was much more traditional, even educational, with how he played. Ananda? Not so much. His debut album is a combination of a few classic Bengali tracks with some sweet covers of Western hits. It’s not exactly surprising, considering he was kicking it with the likes of Jimi Hendrix at the time. The sound of the sitar adds an extra flare to some already great songs. Nowhere is this more apparent than the cover of Light My Fire by The Doors. Already a signature song of psychedelic rock, the sitar just enhances the overall trippy feeling to the point where you feel like locking yourself in the closet and rambling like the drinkin’ out of cups guy. No matter what he’s playing, Ananda Shankar makes the song his own. He dominates the sitar in a way that is comparable to how his American/UK contemporaries manhandled their instruments of choice. And he does it in a way that welcomes unfamiliar listeners to check out a style of music that may be a little foreign. This album was a sneaky good album that any fan of 70s music should be able to appreciate.

Favorite Tracks: Light My Fire; Raghupati; Jumpin’ Jack Flash  

#122: Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

Remember forever ago when we had our first guest writer? And we weren't sure if we would ever do it again? Well, we are doing it again! This time our guest is Zack's co-worker/friend Matt Henry. Matt's a big Wilco fan. So much so that he's actually watched the documentary about the making of this album (I Am Trying to Break Your Heart). With that in mind, we decided to ask if he wouldn't mind writing a little something about the album. Low-and-behold, he didn't mind. 

Matt: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was released earlier this past decade to much critical acclaim. Wilco's fourth (and still best album) was hailed as a new rock classic, and years later would dominate best of the decade lists from all sorts of publications. In case you are wondering if this album is that good, yes it is that good. As far as I’m concerned, YHFT represents that rare occasion where a band releases an actual album, not just a collection of singles padded by mediocrity. To take any of these eleven tracks out of context would be to miss the point entirely. All of these songs are individually their own, yet flow into and out of each other. That is not to say that having a track come up on shuffle on your mp3 player would be a mortal sin, but every song simply sounds better when accompanied by the others. The album opener I Am Trying to Break Your Heart works perfectly as an introduction: over the course of seven minutes it builds to its start, finds its timing, and deteriorates as soon as you think you know where it’s going. Reservations is the album closer in which you can just hear the track spiraling downward into a flurry of noise just as quickly as it starts. All of this sounds pretty experimental for what is considered a new rock classic, but most of these songs do play straight rock n roll. It’s that healthy dose of experimentation that makes this album so great.
Favorite Tracks: Radio Cure; Poor Places; I Am the Man Who Loves You

Zack: Wilco is one of those bands that almost everyone has heard of, but few people really know what they’re all about. Unfortunately, I used to be counted among those sad, sad people. But now I know. I know what an incredible album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is. After listening to the album, it becomes clear that Jeff Tweedy and Co. went into the project thinking big picture. They weren’t necessarily concerned with concocting a collection of songs as much as writing a complete album. This thematic focus was one I could certainly appreciate. Wilco also relied on a variety of instruments to build their sound. The song I Am Trying to Break Your Heart featured a kick ass xylophone and I’m the Man Who Loves You rocked the saxophone as if it was a Parliament track. All this is combined with more a more traditional rock set up to create an alternative album with a few minimalist orchestral characteristics. No matter what instruments are being used, the product is a soothing and melodic journey. While that may sound like it should be repetitive, Wilco manages to draw enough emotion out of the same tried and true formula to prevent that from happening. Some songs produce a sense of remorse, while others create the illusion of restrained excitement. The key to the diversity is Tweedy’s voice. He moans the lyrics out in a way reminiscent of Kurt Cobain, but at the same time in the exact opposite way. While Cobain’s singing was just about devoid of hope, everything Tweedy says on this album features a slight glimmer of optimism. Considering all the drama that was involved in the making of this album (kicking their drummer out of the band, getting dropped by their label, etc.), that optimism is even more remarkable. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a remarkable album that will certainly be a mainstay in my favorites for years to come. As for Wilco, well, let’s just say I’ve already “liked” them on Facebook. Yeah, that’s right. It’s Facebook official.

Favorite Tracks: I’m the Man Who Loves You; I Am Trying to Break Your Heart; War on War 

Emily: Though we’ve had a few setbacks and points of confusion, this list has been proving its merit recently through our recent choices – especially in the realm of alternative music. I’m happy to say that, once again, the list-makers have made an excellent selection. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is everything an alternative album should be. Its sound is eclectic, drawing from psychedelia, folk, and experimental, but it works together harmoniously. That’s because each song is melody-driven. The band experiments and embellishes their sound with different genres and instruments, but it all comes back to guitar-based melody. It’s not catchy or radio-friendly persay, but it’s familiar to listeners and easily hummable. However, hummability is not what makes a great album. What I loved was how the melodies lend themselves to storytelling. Each song tells a different story, and although they’re not directly related, they all fit together as one lyrical unit. I know there was a lot of controversy and problems surrounding this album, but that’s not what endures. The music should make the legacy, and Wilco certainly has established its alternative music legacy in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. 

Favorite Tracks: Radio Cure; Poor Places; I’m the Man Who Loves You

#121: Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)

Zack: I had some interesting things to say about this album. Unfortunately, it turns out that Joni Mitchell has some even more interesting things to say, and it’s more entertaining to talk about them. "The Blue album, there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals,” she said in 1978. “At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes.” Now I’m not, nor have I ever been, a smoker, so I can only speculate as to the meaning of this seemingly irrelevant metaphor. But I’ve come up with several theories. Theory A) she is referencing the transparency of her lyrics and comparing it to some sort of plastic. Maybe she had a cigarette carton on hand at the time or something. I don’t really know. Theory B) she views her genuine approach as a protector against lethal exposure to shitty, commercialist, predictable music. The layer is currently so thin because few other artists are standing up and resisting the movement. Considering the era and some of the other artists floating around at the time (including all the ones that she is romantically linked too), the last bit seems a little shaky. Theory C) this is a completely nonsensical statement and no amount of critical analysis will reveal any deep meaning whatsoever. I’ll let you decide which theory seems more accurate. Blue has a sincerity to it, but there was also a bit of a harder edge than some of Joni Mitchell’s contemporaries/lovers. It was definitely a folk album, but there was a dash of rock sprinkled on top. This helped set it apart from some of the other folk albums we listened to. As good as Blue was, it would be kind of difficult to weigh it against Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited or Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends straight up. But if we classify Blue as a folk-rock album, it’s only real competition is Born to Run by Springsteen (depending on how you classify Springsteen). This little touch to the production helps take Blue from another very good folk album to an exceptionally good folk-rock album.

Favorite Tracks: The Last Time I Saw Richard; All I Want; Little Green  

Emily: Folk comes in all flavors, from hippie-style to classic to neo-folk to crazy hybrids with seemingly unrelated genres (folk-punk anyone?). However, when I think of folk, the first thing that comes to my mind is music like Joni Mitchell’s. Blue is simple and stripped-down, folk music in its most basic element. With soft instrumentation, barely more than a piano and a guitar, Mitchell’s introspective lyrics shine through. Each song is a frank portrayal of a different stage of a relationship. Her honest emotions ring true throughout Blue, and that’s what makes it a wonderful breath of fresh folk air.

Favorite Tracks: This Flight Tonight; California; Little Green