#135: Pet Shop Boys - Actually (1987)

Emily: It kind of surprised me to learn that Pet Shop Boys are one of the most commercially successful bands on this list. I mean, I had heard of them in passing but I don't think I had heard one of their songs until today. Well, once you add the caveat of them being one of the most successful bands in Britain, not knowing them here in the US makes a bit more sense. Once I listened to Actually, that claim definitely made sense. Although it's a new wave/electronic album, it's pop through and through. With lyrics ranging from sappy to nonsensical (a whole song about shopping, and another about loving someone because they pay your rent) mixed in with bouncy synth beats, it has teenage adoration written all over it. There's not much substance there, but it's definitely a good time. Just try to listen to One More Chance without busting out into an impromptu dance party. I bet you can't.
Favorite Tracks: One More Chance; It's a Sin; I Want to Wake Up

Zack: I had no idea what to expect coming into this album. It seems that the new wave/electronic/synthpop albums we’ve done were all schitzophrenic. I get that a good feature is ecstatic highs and unbearable lows, materialized through various tempos and pitches and whatnot, but sometimes it seems like an album is just trying to be a collection of unbearable lows. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that Pet Shop Boys were all about making dynamic music that, frankly, wasn’t terrible. And there was singing! Now I’m not saying vocals are a necessity if you’re trying to make a great classic album. But unless you’re the guy who fronts The Right Coast, it can’t really hurt. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back and relisten to this album like I’ve done with a great deal of what we’ve gone through. But there are certainly a few songs that I have every intention of adding to my rotation. Foremost of them is the intro track, One More Chance. The drum roll and keyboard intro may only last like 5 seconds, but it’s a badass 5 seconds. As soon as that happened, I knew I was at least investing my full attention to at least this first song. And then, a dude who sounds like the British version of John McCrea (the lead singer of Cake). The lyrics aren’t necessarily mind-blowing, but they work with the beat perfectly. I think that’s probably what is the most impressive part about Actually. How flawlessly everything melds together to just form music. It’s hard to separate and analyze it because it was just music. And it was definitely enjoyable.

Favorite Tracks: One More Chance; It’s a Sin; Hit Music

#134: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989)

Zack: I didn’t expect this album to sound so…British. I mean, yeah I knew it was a bunch of Brits playing, but it just sounded like an American stereotype of a British person playing music. You know, Big Ben, bad teeth, jolly good and whatnot. This album was so British it spells color with a “u.” I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. The rampant UK-centrism displayed by the list has been well discussed and, if memory serves, well documented. If not, then I’m documenting it here. This list is rampantly UK-centric. Happy Mondays, Supergrass, and The Verve each have two albums. Each! Can anyone even name two songs by any of those bands? Let’s see…Bittersweet Symphony and…and….uh….. Yeah, I thought so. But anyway, back to The Stoune Roses (note: I would have done that with Roses but it would have just made Rouses which is an actual word, unlike that fake Britishy word). It was certainly good. I like it enough and I will probably relisten in the near future. I’ve even listened to a few of the tracks I especially liked again already. But it sort of felt like a simple mash-up of British Invasion along with the soon-to-be created Britpop. Apparently, that’s called Madchester, a reflection of how much the British love their clever wordplay. And it’s pretty cool, I guess. Once I understood how Britishy it was, I immediately put on a kettle to make some English Breakfast tea, assuming that it would be necessary to truly unlock the layers of awesomeness that I had been led to believe was this album. I didn’t feel like it enhanced it all that much. Maybe it’s because drinking English breakfast tea while listening to a Britishy album is a superficial enhancement and does not alter the music or the mood you are in while listening to it in any way. Or maybe it’s because there wasn’t anything to really unlock. It is what it is. And that is a heaping plate of audial fish and chips.

Favorite Tracks: Made of Stone; I Am the Resurrection; She Bangs the Drums

Emily: I thought I was really going to love The Stone Roses. The album came highly recommended from more than one musical authority. Okay, just from a couple friends whose musical tastes I admire. And, of course, from Wikipedia, an ever-important guide on our musical mission. The Stone Roses were critically acclaimed pretty much right from the start, with some critics even calling their self-titled debut “the greatest British album of all time.” Now, there’s no way I could ever agree with that statement, but praise that high certainly gave me some high hopes. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. That’s not to say it’s not a good album. It definitely is, and I enjoyed listening to it. However, I kept waiting for the music to blow me away with fantasticness, and that just didn’t happen. It was much more understated and nuanced than I expected, so maybe the supposed greatness of The Stone Roses just doesn’t come through upon one listen. Maybe I bought too much into the hype, but I enjoyed the music enough to give it another shot – and perhaps then I’ll find greatness.

Favorite Tracks: She Bangs the Drums; Bye Bye Badman; Made of Stone

#133: Lou Reed - Berlin (1973)

Emily: Usually I like to do a little research on the albums we listen to as we’re listening. However, my Internet was down for a while, so I didn’t get to do that with Lou Reed – and I’m glad it worked out that way. You see, Berlin is a concept album about a doomed relationship, drugs, and depression. Did I know that before I pressed play? Of course not. All I knew was that Lou Reed was the frontman of the Velvet Underground, and that Zack liked the album. As I listened, I picked up on Reed’s lyricism and storytelling. It’s a mix of upbeat and melancholy in both the music and lyrics. With all its ups and downs, I saw it as a reflection of life, which could’ve been way off the mark. Now that I’ve read a little bit about the album, however, I think Lou Reed and I were on the same page. Berlin takes on a universal idea and brings it to a personal level, telling the story of one family that could ring true to almost anyone.

Favorite Tracks: Caroline Says II; How Do You Think It Feels; Men of Good Fortune

Zack: When Berlin originally was released, it received almost universal criticism. Now, it’s universal acclaim. The truth is somewhere in between. It’s a brilliant concept (a star-crossed couple much like Romeo and Juliet who are doomed by drugs and depression rather than the less fun type of family feud and coma-inducing elixirs or as I call them, comixers) that is executed with reasonable success. Despite a sort of high-brow feel that continues the Shakespeare-reminiscent vibe, there is nothing particularly extraordinary about the instrumentation or material that sticks out upon a cursory listen. Usually, with an album such as this, I usually get the feeling that multiple listens are required to truly appreciate what’s going on. I didn’t get that feeling here. I pretty much understood what was going on and I liked it enough. Still, I’m not about to anoint it as a masterpiece or anything. As previously mentioned, the strongest thing Berlin has going for it is its conceptual design. It tells a beautiful story. It just tells it is a sort of conventional way, which wasn’t really what I was expecting from Lou Reed. 

Favorite Tracks: Sad Song; How Do You Think It Feels; The Kids

#132: Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Music from the Penguin Cafe (1976)

Zack: Listening to this album brought back horrible repressed memories from every time I've ever been put on hold ever in my life. Right there, I've probably successfully conveyed an exact description of the sound and feel to their music. And yet, I will continue to digress. We've talked plenty of times about music that seems to be designed for ambiance. That may mean a metal album that should be played whenever you're doing something intense and preferably violent or technoey stuff whenever you're flying through a virtual world or hacking or whatever it is you techie kids are doing nowadays. Music From the Penguin Cafe is, at its heart, an ambient album. It accepts that. It never tries to hide under a facade. And while its somewhat admirable that it embraces its identity, that doesn't mean it should be celebrated for anything other than mediocrity. It was adequate ambiance at best, at least compared to my all-time favorite ambient album, Moon Safari by Air. Although, the cover is pretty spiffy. It just kind of cruises along under the same pseudo folk-jazz appeal while the listener is forced to occasionally remember that there is music on. Finally, does anyone else find it weird that I've come so far as to be able to recognize the differences between good, middling, and bad ambiance? Because it's definitely weirding me out.
Favorite Tracks: The Sound of Someone You Love Going Away and It Doesn't Matter; Zopf; Chartered Flight

Emily: Just 2 albums after our last Brian Eno album, we come to yet another. Eno didn't play on the album himself, but he was the executive producer and released it on his experimental record label, Obscure. Now I know the label name has nothing to do with the content of the albums it releases, but obscure just sounds like a good way to describe Music from the Penguin Cafe. It's experimental ambient jazz folk, a mouthful of genres that blend together into 45 minutes and five instrumental songs. Nothing really stands out, but the music blended pleasantly into the background of our Saturday evening at home. Will I visit the Penguin Cafe again? Probably not, but it was a nice visit.
Favorite Tracks: Zopf; The Sound of Someone You Love Going Away and It Doesn't Matter; Chartered Flight