#200: Queen - Sheer Heart Attack (1974)

Zack: This is absolutely an unfair criticism, but I am exceedingly frustrated with this album because I listened to it on the train and I had to constantly alter the volume. It just wouldn’t decide if it wanted to be loud or quiet. In another setting, I would probably appreciate the diversity. But on a train where one song I’m straining to hear over all the choo choo’s and the next I’m trying to avoid glares coming from the lady sitting across from me because apparently she’s a homophobe and doesn’t like Freddy Mercury (I’m making that up. She seems like a nice lady and I’m sure any potential disdain for Freddy Mercury has more to do with a negative opinion of facial hair or other reason that doesn’t involve sexual preferences. Please don’t hate me, lady sitting across from me. I want us to work this out. Don’t go. Oh, it’s your stop? Okay, it’s cool if you go then.) The other bit of unfair criticism I have is that I am a stormtrooper purist. I like my stormtroopers to be tall and have terrible aim. That’s it. I don’t want them rocking stilettos, even if that would make at least three of my fantasies come true. Other than that, I thought Sheer Heart Attack was a solid album and a good exposure test for me, since I used to rather anti-Queen. I also believe Freddy Mercury is probably the greatest frontman of all time, but I’ll save that for when we listen to A Night at the Opera.

Favorite Tracks: Killer Queen; Stone Cold Crazy; Flick of the Wrist

Emily: I have been a Queen fan for a really really long time and I'm not quite sure how that came about. Maybe because Bohemian Rhapsody was and is on classic rock radio all the time, and that song's sheer awesomeness led me to listen to more. Or it was that time my mom taped (yeah, it was a long time ago) their Wembley concert from PBS and I got to watch the genius performance of Freddie Mercury in my living room. But I think I liked Queen before that, otherwise I wouldn't have watched it. Hmm. Tis a mystery. Anyway, in all of my years of Queen appreciation, somehow I had never heard all but one of the songs on Sheer Heart Attack, and of course that one song was Killer Queen. Night at the Opera tends to get all of the love, but now that I've heard all of Sheer Heart Attack I think that love deserves to be shared. Musically it's all over Queen's arena rock spectrum - boisterous rock, power ballads, and the like - and all brought together by Mercury's amazing one-of-a-kind voice. Queen was probably at their best when performing live, but since we can only do that now with aid of VHS tapes (or a DVD, that's probably out their somewhere), listening to this album a few times comes close.

Favorite Tracks: Killer Queen; Brighton Rock; Flick of the Wrist

#199: Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl (2000)

Emily: One would think that, after a decades-long career filled with countless albums, performances, collaborations, and guest appearances, Emmylou Harris would be satisfied to just chill for a while. I guess that's not how she does it. Red Dirt Girl marked a milestone in Harris' career, as it was her first album that she wrote or co-wrote the majority of the music. She usually does covers, but judging from this album she should've gone with songwriting a long time ago. The album is both country and folk, with each song telling a story. I personally enjoyed the tracks that leaned more towards folk and were even a bit edgy - specifically I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now and Tragedy. The latter is a duet with Patti Scialfa and has Bruce Springsteen on backup vocals, which is not something you hear everyday on a country album but it definitely made the song more raw and a bit rockin'. After this album, I'm pretty sure Emmylou didn't slow down from churning out more music - and I hope she's sticking to songwriting.
Favorite Tracks: Tragedy; I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now; Bang the Drum Slowly

Zack: It’s always exciting when a young musician starts to expand their catalogue enough that they no longer feel the need to rely on covers to fill a set-list. Emmylou Harris reached that point of maturity when she was barely past 50. Hey, better a late bloomer than not at all. I’m joking, obviously. When you work in the realms of folk and country, it seems that not covering the classics is a way of giving the history of the genres the finger. But here, where Harris starts to really branch out on her own, she hits paydirt. A lot of the songs are really just beautiful. They’re very subtle but melodic. It doesn’t rock you to sleep, but makes you feel at peace. Also, she features both Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews. I’ve never been so torn.

Favorite Tracks: Red Dirt Girl; J'ai Fait Tout; One Big Love

#198: The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation (1994)

Emily: For having such a scary looking dude on the album cover, Music for the Jilted Generation provided surprisingly inoffensive background music for my afternoon of Internet surfing and homework. It's electro-rave music, certainly not my favorite, but it blended into the background well enough that a few times I didn't even realize a song ended until halfway through the next song. There are pulsing backbeats minus the headache-inducing bass. I even caught myself typing to the beat a few times. The Prodigy's music may not have been the most engaging to me, but it served its head-bobbing purpose. And it certainly wasn't the worst electro we've encountered thusfar. I'll take The Prodigy's steady beats over a pastiche of clanging noises any day.
Favorite Tracks: No Good (Start the Dance); 3 Kilos; Voodoo People

Zack: I’m not positive, and I’m too tired to look this up, but I think this may be our first rave music album. We’ve done techno and electronic dance and chillout and ambient, but I don’t think we’ve done rave until this point. So…was it good for me? Eh, I’ll just say this time it wasn’t over too quick. It was kind of a hit-or-miss thing, much like Daft Punk although probably less cool. The biggest hit was definitely 3 Kilos, which just kicked all sorts of ass. The biggest miss was probably the song that directly followed it: Skyline. It was clearly meant to sound like a futuristic dystopian drag racing rave party. Obviously. But that just wasn’t too enjoyable to me. I think that’s really where the problem lies. When this album tries to create songs meant to be background music for movie scenes, it just fails. Merging that raveness with the ambient elements that excel for such songs just doesn’t work. When the music itself is allowed to shine through, it can be pretty damn entertaining, though.

Favorite Tracks: 3 Kilos; Voodoo People; Poison

#197: Echo and the Bunnymen - Crocodiles (1980)

Zack: I’m pretty sure we listen to the same album every 20 or so. At 197 is this, at 174 was Siouxsie and the Banshees, at 153 is Bauhaus, at 137 is The Jesus and Mary Chain, at 117 is Dinosaur Jr. Wow, I really didn’t even mean to make it that uncanny. To be fair, that last one was a bit of a stretch, but the overall kind of rockin’ thing with an ethereal quality is consistent. Really, I would trace it back to album 87 (a 30 album jump – sue me), Fear of Music by the Talking Heads. Perhaps it’s a testament to their influence that so many bands seem to be trying to imitate that sound, but it’s starting to bug me. I mean I like it, but it’s just hard to write about so often. If this is going to be a pattern, I’m probably going to be shit out of luck by album 327, which will be “More of the Same” by Does it Matter. As for this one, umm, fuck. It’s a debut, so there’s that. It sounds a lot like those ones I just mentioned. If you like them, it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s going to be a tough road to 1001.

Favorite Tracks: Read it in Books; Stars are Stars; Happy Death Men

Emily: My only previous exposure to Echo and the Bunnymen before today was occasionally hearing their cover of the Doors' People are Strange on Radio 104.5. It's a dark and creepy song, but undeniably cool. For that reason, I thought Echo and the Bunnymen would be much stranger than they actually were. And much cooler. I enjoyed Crocodiles for its post-punk rock sound that didn't have the same warped, distanced vocals as many others we've heard so far. However, I agree with Zack that there wasn't much innovation going on here. Post-punk seems to be a genre of imitation. If you like that sound (which luckily I do), you'll be satisfied with the multiple variations on the same theme. If you don't, then you may prefer actual crocodiles to Echo and the Bunnymen's Crocodiles.

Favorite Tracks: Crocodiles; Rescue; Pride

#196: Holger Czukay - Movies (1979)

Emily: I have no idea what this album has to do with movies. Then again, I have no idea what this album has to do with anything. The first song, Cool in the Pool is about just that - getting cool in the pool on a hot day. While I rather enjoy pools, I don't know what this song is doing here. It's a nice companion piece to the Aquabats song Pool Party, but I doubt Holger Czukay would appreciate the comparison to a ska band made up of fake superheroes in bright blue tights. The rest of the album made sense together - 3 ambient tracks that flowed naturally from one to the next, so much so that I didn't even realize that the songs changed until halfway through each. But a rhymey pop song about pools thrown in there too...uh, what?
Favorite Tracks: Hollywood Symphony; Oh Lord Give Us More Money; Persian Love

Zack: Krautrock may not be the greatest musical genre out there, but it does have the best name. Movies is kind of a weird, but unassuming example. I didn’t really like it, I didn’t really hate it, I just had to say “Oh Krautrock! You’re so nonconformist. You do your own thing, don’t you, Krautrock.” Movies is Krautrock (which at this point I am just trying to write as many times as possible) with a twinge of experimental, psychedelic, and worldy goodness. But it still is uncompromising in its Krautrockness. Because of that, and my lack of prior experience with Krautrock, I can’t really compare it to anything. Or maybe that’s just because my brain is fried from all the writing I’ve been doing lately. Either way, Krautrock and roll, yo.

Favorite Tracks: Oh Lord Give Us More Money; Hollywood Symphony; Persian Love

#195: Morrissey - Viva Hate (1988)

Zack: Our first foray into the mind of Morrissey was remarkably forgettable. If I remember correctly, and there is a pretty high chance that I do not, I found Meat is Murder to be whiny and kind of dull, but still kind of looked upon it favorably because it still sounded okay I guess. Was that right? Lord knows I’m not going to go back and check. I end up revisiting a lot of the albums we listen to at some later point, something I’m quite proud of since I constantly am noticing different elements to songs or lyrics that I never would have caught had my experience been a one-time thing. I never went back and relistened to Meat is Murder. Maybe I should, but I just have absolutely no motivation to do so. Viva Hate, on the other hand, has something worth revisiting. I believe the Ancient Mayans called it chutzpah. It combines an ethereal quality – which I thought was present but wondrously misused in Meat is Murder – with a little thing called variety. There are real differences between songs! How novel of an idea. I don’t think it’s necessarily the greatest album I’ve ever heard, maybe not even a great album. But at least there are certain qualities that hint that exploring it deeper is a worthy investment of your time.

Favorite Tracks: I Don’t Mind if You Forget Me; Suedehead; Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together

Emily: After reading Zack's review, I decided to look back and see what I thought of the Smiths. I've listened to Meat is Murder a couple times since then, and I really enjoyed it then and still do now. There's something about Morrissey's voice that just gets me every time. I hope to relisten to Viva Hate as well at some point. There's a lot going on on this album, from changes in tone to lyrics that hearken to the breakup of the Smiths to a political current that envisions Margaret Thatcher on the guillotine - and more. It was difficult to pick up on all that with just one listen, but what I did hear this first time through I enjoyed. There are few songs that are more upbeat than the Smiths, as well as those that are just as beautifully melancholy. It's worth at least a few listens, and I continue to look forward to exploring more and more of Morrissey's discography as we continue through the list.

Favorite Tracks: Late Night, Maudlin Street; Suedehead; I Don't Mind if You Forget Me

#194: Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)

Zack; Ah, the train. The pinnacle of modern technology 150 years ago. I jest, I actually love train rides. They take my mind off of so many of my problems, partially because they rarely come with a wireless signal. This always adds another wrinkle to album-listening as well, since I can no longer rely on merely Wikipedia-ing random factoids about a band or album to take the place of having really poignant things to say. I can’t out-think the music. And so, on this album, I decided to really put that to the test. I don’t even know when this album was made. I have absolutely no clue who these guys are. Below, you can see my notes as they were originally written. The first song made me think of Hendrix, and then from there I decided to try and match every song with an artist. Let’s see the results:

1) Hendrix-esque? Free styling, element of virtuoso

2) Definitely not Hendrix, acoustic, lots of call and response (Crosby, Stills & Nash?)

3) Garage rock-ish, Stooges/Iggy Pop

4) Weird hybrid of David Bowie and Talking Heads

5) Lynyrd Skynyrd, which is hilarious because it’s only 1 minute long

6) Vocals are off, but the song composition itself reminds me of Springsteen

7) I’m almost positive this is actually a Pink Floyd song. I think it was originally called Shine On You Crazy Diamond part 26.

8) Early Eric Clapton, with only a mildly mind-bending solo

9) Allman Brothers. Not dead on, but the exaggerated sense of freewheelin’ is there as well as a section where a guitar gets ripped to shreds

10) Electric Light Orchestra? This one was hard to peg but I think ELO is the best mix

11) Elton John motherfucker. Weird to say because it’s not piano-driven, but the robustness of the song is classic Elton.

12) I’m calling bullshit on myself for this one, but I got The Killers. It reminded me of Exitlude off of Sam’s Town

Well that’s conclusive. So these guys are some kind of mix of psychedelic rock, folk, garage rock, glam rock, post-punk, southern rock, experimental rock, blues rock, and alternative rock that probably came out some time between the sixties and last year. Oh, and my iTunes labels them as jazz, so don’t forget that element. Case closed. Seriously though, they’re pretty diverse sounding with a lot of interesting compositions. It’s hard to peg this album, and even trying to feels like pidgeonholing it. I’d stop short of saying it was fantastic. I don’t think it really nails any element that they incorporate particularly well. But the range that’s involved is pretty darn impressive. I especially liked the songs where they drifted towards the virtuoso stuff. Hendrix, Duane Allman and Clapton are probably my three favorite guitarists of all time, so it was cool hearing some element of what they all do in the same album.

Favorite Tracks: When I Touch You; Street Worm; Prelude – Nothin’ to Hide

Emily: Zack listened to this album by accident in lieu of another jazz album we had previously chosen. Fine by me, since I don't know much from the jazz on this list anyway. When I turned on this album, though, it was most certainly not jazz. Sure, there are some jazz-rock elements to it. But it's primarily psychedelic, with some roots, folk, country, and classic rock all thrown in there. These disparate influences didn't really come together for me. There were a few songs that I enjoyed, but the album as a whole was inconsistent and a bit confused. I think Spirit needed to pick one genre - say, jazz, since that's what we and Wikipedia classified them as anyway - and do it really really well before adding in a few external influences. Otherwise it sounds like 12 songs off of 12 completely different albums.

Favorite Tracks: Prelude - Nothin' to Hide; Street Worm; Mr. Skin

#193: The Cardigans - First Band on the Moon (1996)

Emily: You know that song that goes “Love me love me, say that you love me....fool me fool me, go on and fool me…la la la la la la la la la…”? Even if I just sang the la-la part instead of actual words, if you know any ‘90s music I’m sure you’d figure it out right away. But if I asked who sang that song, I would be met with a long awkward pause followed by, perhaps, “Spice Girls? S Club 7? Or was it B*Witched? No idea...but it’s so catchy!” It’s actually by The Cardigans, a Swedish pop band, from their breakthrough album First Band on the Moon, and the song is called Lovefool. You probably had no idea about any of that, which is what’s happened to most one-hit wonders throughout the decades. If you can’t stop happily humming Lovefool once you hear it, though, I definitely encourage you to check out the whole album. It’s filled with upbeat pop songs with a very mid-‘90s flair – even a pop-slow-jam version of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. And now I’m singing Lovefool again...those Swedes sure know how to make some catchy music.

Favorite Tracks: Lovefool; Never Recover; Iron Man

Zack: Storytime: I was having a terrible day. When I got home, I put this album on and it really took the edge off. I mean, it’s so ridiculously infectious that you really can’t help bobbing your head back and forth. The secret is that the songs are all designed behind the lollipop-sweet vocals. Her voice is so sweet, I may have gotten a cavity. Terrible jokes aside, it really is just that upbeat. All of that said, I’m still not completely in love with this album. I’m in love with the lead singer, but the album raised mixed emotions overall. This feeling is epitomized in their super poppy rendition of Black Sabbath’s classic Iron Man. That really is a song meant to be kind of dark and brooding. But there they go, poppifying the hell out of it. They just really missed the spirit of the song overall, but it still sounded very catchy. I couldn’t say that I disliked it, but it just felt kind of unnatural. A lot of times, the Cardigans nail the right balance of sweet indie pop and sincerity (Lovefool, Been It), but there are still those one or two instances where it just doesn’t really feel right that prevent this album from being the sort of classic, montage-ready albums that it should be destined to be.

Favorite Tracks: Lovefool; Choke; Been It

#192: Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session (1988)

Zack: This is a tale of two albums. On one hand, when I first listened to it, it almost sent my sickly body into a coma. It was so boring. It has hints of folk and blues and alternative country, all things that I am on the record saying I enjoy to various degrees. But it was all done in such a lo-fi, dull way. It was so hard to even notice it. Overall, I really didn’t like it. But then I read the Wikipedia page. This album was done using only one microphone. They had to do the vocals over a PA system because they were in a church and you wouldn’t have been able to hear anything over the few electric instruments without it. That…is actually kind of cool.  Accounting for the method of production, I came around about an eight of a click. I didn’t do a 180 and start loving this album, but I at least understand why it sounded so boring. I’ll probably never relisten to it, but at least I know that I listened to something kind of innovative like that.

Favorite Tracks: Postcard Blues; Sweet Jane; I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Emily: With a name like Cowboy Junkies, I was expecting a whole lotta yee-haw from this album. Traditional rip-roaring, drunk-ass country music. Needless to say, I was surprised when the first track was a slow acoustic guitar accompanied by an ethereal female voice. And so was the next, and the one after that. That's when I finally checked out the Wikipedia page and found out the Cowboy Junkies are nowhere close to yee-haw. They're Canadian, for one, and this albums is considered to be more on the folk end of country. Now that made sense. The lead singer's beautiful voice is well-suited to the sound, folk and country tinged with the slow swing of jazz. The jazz-influenced tracks were my favorites of the album. They rose above the beauty and lightness of the rest of the album with more complex musical heft behind the instrumentation and vocals. I'll take that over yee-haw any day.

Favorite Tracks: Working on a Building; I Don't Get It; Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)