#310: Count Basie - The Atomic Mr. Basie (1958)

Emily: I've spent a lot of time over the past couple months listening to jazz. While outlining and working on other stuff for exams, I needed some noise in the background that was pleasant but not distracting. Cue the Jazz Pandora station. That worked for a while, but then they started including songs with words and other things that were definitely not jazz. Around that time, I was out to dinner with a group of friends and one mentioned how she had been listening to a lot of John Coltrane recently. Aha! I thought. That's the solution to my Pandora problem. I definitely like Coltrane and other jazz musicians of his era, and those songs definitely don't have words. The next day I tuned in to John Coltrane Pandora and it was the perfect fit for end-of-semester studying. Count Basie probably came up on that station, but if not his music would have fit in seamlessly. Jazz from the '40s, '50s, and '60s is definitely my favorite - all horns and riffs and improvisation, without words to get in the way. Count Basie embodied that aesthetic, alternating between cool, slow songs and peppy up-tempo jams. It's the kind of album that when you want it to be in the background it'll stay there, but when you pay close attention there is so much to hold your focus. This will definitely go into my studying rotation, and maybe I'll even switch Pandora to a Count Basie station.

Favorite Tracks: Flight of the Foo Birds; Midnite Blue; Teddy the Toad

Zack: I am certainly a lot more into jazz than I was before we started this endeavor, although I still have no idea how to write about it. With every other genre, I at least have enough of a prototype in my head for what “good” sounds like that I can compare to, should there be nothing unique that jumps out about that particular recording. No such thing with jazz. I go entirely by instinct; did I like this or did it make me feel bad in my ears. Count Basie did not cause me ear-pain, which is certainly a net positive. And I can easily see it sliding into the Birth of the Cool-Love Supreme rotation of background jazz while I code do files. But I’m not sure what it is about it that I liked. It was smooth and balanced between up-tempo, swingy songs and slowed-down, somber songs. The trumpets sounded crisp. That’s about all I got, and all of those were about as vague as an undergrad’s essay about the strengths of American democracy. Since I have no clue how to explain why I liked Count Basie, you’ll have to take my recommendation on pure faith alone. Hopefully that will be sufficient.

Favorite Tracks: Fantail; Flight of the Foo Birds; Li’l Darlin’

#309: Culture Club - Colour By Numbers (1983)

Zack: You might be surprised to know that we intentionally paired Wu-Tang and Culture Club together on our listening odyssey since RZA was so inspired by Boy George. We would also be surprised to know that, since it is not even remotely true. It’s interesting going straight from an album crafted to sound like swords clashing to one that seems to have been crafted to sound like androgynous lollipops. Overall, Colour By Numbers sounded to me like the songs I like the least by The Cure. It has some really popular radio hits, but I just found it sort of silly. It was better than a lot of the New Wave we’ve come across before, but that’s about all I have to say about it.

Favorite Tracks: Miss Me Blind; Karma Chameleon; Stormkeeper

Emily: Culture Club put me back into more familiar territory than Wu-Tang, namely the territory of artists who showed up on I Love the '80s. Boy George had his day back when he was in Culture Club, then got into drugs and got arrested a few times and then showed up with his head painted like this on various Vh1 nostalgia shows. I think he's gotten his shit back together now, but no one really cares about that. What they do care about is Boy George circa 1983, singing and shimmying to Karma Chameleon. Songs like that, and really all of Colour By Numbers, seem to made for singing along in the car by yourself. They're kind of embarrassing to have blasting out of your speakers, but you can't help but sing and bounce along as you're driving home from work and it comes up on your local 80s-90s-and-today radio station. It's not  that many people outside of 1983 would queue up by choice - most likely, anyone who listened to it in 1983 has all but forgotten about Culture Club by now - but it's a fun, welcome distraction when heard by chance.

Favorite Tracks: Karma Chameleon; Miss Me Blind; That's The Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)

#308: Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)

Emily: Zack has been hyping Wu-Tang Clan to me for a really long time. Multiple conversations/explanations about the group, its members, and their various group and individual efforts. Various Wu-Tang related messages of things he found on Reddit like this. And a lot of time passing between the previous album and this one because he wanted to make sure he spent sufficient time documenting his thoughts and feelings about Enter the Wu-Tang so that he could sufficiently convey his love and respect for it. Through all this hype, however, Zack has steadfastly maintained that he didn't think I would like Wu-Tang at all. So when it came time to listen to this album, I decided to not read Zack's review, talk to Zack, or even listen to the album with Zack until I listened and wrote my review. So I listened the other day, after returning home from a Christmas visit with Zack's family, and after the hour I had no idea what I wanted to say. I listened to it again today, and still don't have much of an idea. I didn't hate this album as much as Zack primed me to think I would, but I didn't love it either. The idea of combining soul-based beats with both hardcore rap and samples from kung-fu movies seems insane on its face, but actually made sense when listening to it. I know now that Cash Rules Everything Around Me (dolla dolla billz y'all) and that you should protect ya goddamn neck. But do I really appreciate Wu-Tang, in a way that at least approaches Zack's appreciation? Not yet, but maybe that'll change once I see what he has to say about it.
Favorite Tracks: Da Mystery of Chessboxin; Bring Da Ruckus; C.R.E.A.M.

Zack: This album turned 20 a year ago, so there’s not really much of a point saturating the internet further with a reflection piece about what 36 Chambers means to rap music or anything like that. I can’t talk about how it changed my life or anything dramatic like that since I was 2 when it came out. I don’t even remember the first time I listened to it. What I can say that it is one of the few hip-hop albums that I play in its entirety ALL THE TIME. From start to finish, this is an absolute masterpiece. It sounds like an entire Tarantino movie turned into rap. It’s grittier than a pile of grit. And it has an incredibly ability to bring people together. A few years ago, I moved into an apartment with a kid I’d never met before. The first night, he and I got to talking about hip-hop and it came out that he’d never listened to any Wu-Tang anything. I got my laptop, he got his stereo, and we blasted this and organized the kitchen. Wu-Tang is for the roommates. Wu-Tang is for the kids. Wu-Tang for president. Wu-Tang for everyone. Well, maybe not everyone. I have no idea if Emily will like this at all. My guess is no. It has literally 0 of the elements she is usually drawn to in hip-hop music. At a certain point, you start to think that maybe an album is sooooo good that it’s undeniable. But the two other times I thought that might apply (Illmatic and Me Against the World), the music was greeted with a resounding “meh,” and this album is a lot rougher than either of those. I really hope this one is different. I can’t speak for anyone, but the second I hear Ghostface on Bring da Ruckus, I change. I. Get. Fucking. Amped. Happens every time, without fail. Maybe the same thing will happen for her. Maybe she will be terrified for an hour. No one knows for sure, with the possible exception of GZA. He is a genius after all. I should mention that I’ve listened to enough Wu-Tang and affiliates to legally be considered a Wu Tang expert. Raise your hand if you’ve listened to an entire album by Inspectah Deck. How about Masta Killa? Hell, anyone here check out anything by Killah Priest, the notable Killer Bee and almost-main-clan stoner-religious zealot guy? Just me? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Because of these excellent credentials, I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating what sets this album aside from anything else, other Wu Tang albums included, and I’ve come up with two distinct traits. First, pretty much every clan member, Ghostface just barely exempted, has a bit of a penchant for burying 45 minutes of great music into 70 minutes of an album. They’re hardly alone in rap music for that little predilection. But that’s exactly what makes this album so incredible. It is an hour of just nasty beats and razor-sharp lyrics. You can feel a certain desperation in the way everything is done. It’s 9 guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to be on top of the rap game, and there isn’t any track where that isn’t palpable. Second, what they made is so impossible to copy that no one could ever hope to imitate it at all. Seriously, other artists are able to capture 80% of what makes other classic rap albums what they are. There are those out there who can imitate that street scholar swag of Illmatic or the ferocity of Straight Outta Compton. Who has ever managed to capture any semblance of the vaguely unhinged, just plain rough-ness of 36 Chambers? No one. So maybe we shouldn’t be too upset that the Wu hasn’t exactly been able to replicate it either. Anyway, hopefully Emily will like this album, because it’s easily one of my top-5 favorite rap albums of all time. We have another four Wu-tang albums to go through for the blog (one each by Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and Genius/GZA), and I’m with the listmakers in the ones they choose (although I could easily be talked into Iron Man or maybe even Supreme Clientele over Fishscale and the oversight of Method Man and Redman’s incredible Blackout! is certainly acknowledged here). I’ll have plenty more to say then, but for now perhaps it’s best that I wrap up this manifesto with the impossible task of picking 3 favorite tracks from an album where I gave 10 or 12 songs 5-star ratings.

Favorite Tracks: C.R.E.A.M.; Wu-Tang: 7^th Chamber – Part II; Bring Da Ruckus

#307: Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978)

Zack: I honestly can’t imagine a less punk rock cover for an album than what the Buzzcocks got going on above. They’re getting dangerously close to boy band with those poses. Punk from the 70s has easily been my favorite variation so far, and Buzzcocks kept that going. Honestly, I was listening to it while I coded a dataset about US newspapers, which led me to only giving it a cursory first listen. From that first listen, I’ve easily deduced that it’s worth relistening to again and again. But I can’t say where it stacks up against the other titans of that era or update the running tally of which region produced the punk I like the best (it’s probably London in first and NYC as a close second, but I’ll have to get back to you on that).

Favorite Tracks: Sixteen; No Reply; Autonomy

Emily: We've once again had to take a break as our semesters got increasingly hectic and listening to music fell to the back burner. Well, I finished my last final yesterday and Zack will be done in a few days, so back to blogging we go (at least for a few weeks). After a rough few days consisting of studying, exams, and some family stuff going on back home, Buzzcocks ended up being a great way to tune out everything that's been going on around me. Another Music in a Different Kitchen is a straight-up punk album - no serious themes, nothing slow, nothing experimental or even truly novel - just a bunch of short, fast, guitar-and-drums-driven songs jammed into 45 minutes or so. It's the kind of music you (or at least I) would want to jump up and down and thrash dance and yell along to in a basement or small club in high school. Not that I was that cool in high school, but you get the idea. Punk is music to ignore your stress to, at least for me, and Buzzcocks definitely delivered on that. But even beyond that, I would definitely listen to this album at less-stressful times. It's fun no matter what, even if you look like a fool jumping up and down in your living room.

Favorite Tracks: I Don't Mind; Sixteen; Love Battery

#306: Faust - Faust IV (1973)

Zack: Faust IV, Faust’s 6^th album (not really, although that would be funny) is I think the third example of krautrock we’ve come across. I know there are a few more that we’ll be listening to, and I’m still waiting to be wowed by the genre. I saw on Wikipedia that what really differentiates it is a lack of roots in American blues music, which is definitely an apt description. Most of the rock and roll stuff we listen to stems from the same fertile grounds of the Mississippi delta up through Chicago and the Midwest, but krautrock spawned from something very different. It can be kind of jarring to listen to for someone like me who grew up on a bunch of different people all working from the same musical language, essentially. Faust does blend in some more traditional elements in songs like Jennifer, but a lot of what they do is based on incorporating noise and its weird teeter-totter style of improvisation is very different from the types we’ve come across before in the jazz albums. In general, this entire album just is very noticeably different than everything else. The genre might grow on me as we keep on keeping on, but I can’t see myself relistening to this to try and get it any time soon.

Favorite Tracks: Krautrock; Laüft...Heisst Das Es Laüft Oder Es Kommt Bald...Laüft; Jennifer

Emily: Krautrock is an unusual genre. It doesn't really fall into the traditional categories that define American and British popular music. It's a little bit rock, a little bit electronic, a little bit experimental, a little bit spoken word, and a whole lotta Germany. I agree with Zack that it's a little bit disarming to hear something so divorced from our common musical traditions without anything to bridge the gap between them (like in Bowie's "Heroes"). With Faust, I found it most reminiscent of a score to a foreign art-house film. It's mostly instrumental with a few sound-effect-type flourishes here and there, and it hits a few different moods along the way. However, listening to Faust IV was like watching the film with no subtitles. I had a general idea of what was going on, but I walked out of the theater more confused than when I began, without much desire to see the director's next movie and wanting to stick with something a little more familiar next time.
Favorite Tracks: Giggy Smile; Läuft...Heißt Das Es Läuft Oder Es Kommt Bald...Läuft; Jennifer

#305: B.B. King - Live at the Regal (1965)

Zack: Wow wow wow wow wow! I was excited to listen to B.B. King, but I was not aware of just how amazing my morning was about to become. My only real exposure to B.B. King before this was his work with Clapton on Riding with the King, which I listened to once like 5 years ago. I don’t remember it too well, but it definitely doesn’t hold a candle to Live at the Regal. If I’m being honest, Regal blew away pretty much all of the blues I’ve listened to before (a list that includes Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Muddy Waters, so I’m at least marginally credible in this assessment). From start to finish it was just a masterpiece. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to be in the crowd that day, listening to him blast through all the other delicately arranged sounds with both his voice and guitar. I'm just glad something this good was immortalized so we could all appreciate it. We have another 95 albums to listen to before the next time I need to really think about this, but I can already say I’ve filled in a slot for my favorite album.

Favorite Tracks: Please Love Me; You Upset Me Baby; You Done Lost Your Good Thing

Emily: Live at the Regal was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. That means someday, when all vinyl has lost its grooves, when all CDs are scratched up beyond repair, when that new wave of cassettes comes crashing into a pile of plastic and blob of recording type, when your hard drive explodes and Spotify goes bankrupt and Pandora retreats into her box, we'll still have Live at the Regal. This is an album that has been deemed worth saving above so many others, and honestly, now that I've listened to it I agree with that assessment 100%. Live at the Regal embodies blues in a way that few other albums do because it captures a live show by a master of the genre. Blues music that is recorded in the studio just doesn't have the same feel of the musicians interacting with the audience, feeding off of their energy in tune with their own emotions and musicianship. That's the feeling you get from Live at the Regal, like you were in that club with a drink in your hand and your toes tapping along with B.B. King. Only a few people actually got to be there that day, but the feeling that you were lives on forever in the recording.

Favorite Tracks: How Blue Can You Get?; Worry, Worry; Please Love Me

#304: John Martyn - One World (1977)

Zack: I’ll just go ahead and cut to the chase by saying that I enjoyed One World. It was certainly a pleasant listening experience. Throughout the album, I kept trying to figure out which adjective, what single word really captured the essence of what I was hearing. I eventually settled on “understated.” And I mean that in a good way, not like how some albums we’ve come across were unassuming and faded too easily into the background. If you’re looking for a clear explanation of what I mean, the entirely instrumental ending track Small Hours can say it better than I can. There was just something elegant and beautiful about the way One World gained your attention but never overwhelmed you. In a way, it’s sort of the natural antithesis to the album that immediately precedes it in our review archive. Several days separated my listening to Van Halen from the day I listened to John Martyn, but I couldn’t help but be drawn to the stark difference in the way the songs (which I liked on both albums) were presented. Van Halen was anything but understated. It’s the sort of hyper-weird factoid that only gets picked up when you basically put the 1001 “most important” albums on shuffle. I found it interesting that two albums that packaged themselves so differently could both be appreciated in their own separate ways. Anyway, before I jump into some tortured metaphor of Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, I should probably mention that One World also reminded me of Stardust by Willie Nelson, so if you liked that, I would definitely recommend checking this out.

Favorite Tracks: One World; Small Hours; Couldn’t Love You More

Emily: John Martyn really takes the "One World" concept to heart on this album. It draws on global, diverse influences, including jazz, folk, rock, and reggae, but blends them into one by dialing each one down to its elements. Those elements come together into beautifully simple songs, songs that make you want to listen more closely to catch the nuance of each beat. While it's not the most exciting album, sometimes you need to trade in excitement for sweet simplicity and uniqueness. And on those fronts, One World succeeds.

Favorite Tracks: One World; Small Hours; Big Muff

#303: Van Halen - Van Halen (1978)

Zack: I didn’t realize I’d ever listened to this album, but I can pretty clearly remember my Dad playing it while we drove back from the dentist when I was a little kid, and me really like Jamie’s Cryin'. Then, if my memory serves, he popped the CD into his ridiculous surround sound stereo system so I could be fully immersed in guitar solos. I have no idea how old I was, but I was pretty little. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but Van Halen was way better than I expected. It’s a tight and compact album of just hard rock. The corniness quotient is kept at a pretty respectable low. Plus it has a fair number of their most classic hits. It’s not an album I plan on blasting through a stereo at any point soon, but it’s certainly a decent way to spend 35 minutes.

Favorite Tracks: Jamie’s Cryin’; Running with the Devil; You Really Got Me 

Emily: Thirty-five minutes is usually pretty short from an album, but for hard rock it's probably the perfect length. I can only get my ears blasted at for so long until I've just had enough. Luckily, on Van Halen's debut, they keep the ear-blasting to a respectable level. It's thoroughly a hard rock album with guitar solos galore, but the band also adds in some doo-wop and blues quirks here and there. These additions are interesting, but probably not necessary. For thirty-five minutes, a few blasts of rock is all you really need.

Favorite Tracks: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love; I'm the One; Little Dreamer

#302: Justice - † (2007)

Zack: Today, for your reading pleasure, we have a review of the other French electronic music duo. Or the other other French electronic music duo, depending on how you feel about Air. I’ve got to say, French electronic music duos have a fairly strong track record with me up to this point. I loved Cross. I listened to the first half when cooking dinner, then played the rest the following morning. It was so good, I decided to start it up from the top. Just as fantastic the second time through. Cross is heavy on actual instrumentation to go along with disco-esque sounds (Wikipedia informs me that it was intended as an opera-disco, which is a phrase I find fascinating.) Originally, I thought Justice was the electronic music-producing unit that announced a new album via blimp. Turns out that was Aphex Twin. But they do have an album due out sometime this year, and I just may have to check it out.

Favorite Tracks: Phantom; Genesis; Valentine

Emily: A few weeks ago, I went out with some friends to go dancing on a Saturday night. We went to a bar called Time that bills itself as a Parisian-style nightclub. We arrived around midnight, the dance floor was busy but not abnormally packed, and some Daft Punk-style French electronic music was playing overhead. That combo made for an excellent end to our night of drinking of dancing. Although the music occasionally mixed in some '90s and Top 40 hits (including my new personal favorite, Nicki Minaj's Anaconda), most of the tunes for the night echoed the French discotheque style of the song that was on when we first entered the club. After listening to Cross, I wouldn't be surprised if some of Justice's music is on rotation at Time for its late-night Parisian dance parties, or even if a song popped up the night I was there. Cross is great nightclub music, but also pretty good for just listening to on its own. It's not straight-up electronic, which I tend to dislike, but rather a fun and modern disco-y mix of instruments, vocals, and electronic beats. I was a fan, and maybe next time I'm at Time I'll request some Justice and disco la nuit away.

Favorite Tracks: D.A.N.C.E.; Newjack; DVNO

#301: Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)

Emily: "You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up." That line has become a part of popular culture, but how many people actually know where it comes from? Frankly, before today I had zero idea. I thought it came from a movie or TV show, or perhaps a commercial advertising Jamaican resort vacations. In fact, the line comes from a kitschy song, Coconut, off of Nilsson Schmilsson, a 1971 album by Harry Nilsson. The song is written by Nilsson himself, but Wikipedia isn't exactly clear on why or how. While Coconut has a novelty island flavor, it doesn't really fit with the adult-contemporary pop-rock of the rest of Nilsson Schmilsson. Nilsson's style draws on R&B and blues as equally as rock & roll and '60s pop. Although Nilsson doesn't really do anything new with this combo of influences, the result is a pleasant collection of radio-friendly drive-time pop and soft rock songs - along with a 4-minute escape to the Caribbean.
Favorite Tracks: Gotta Get Up; Jump Into the Fire; Without You

Zack: We got that 300 award post up just in time for each of our lives to be swallowed up by our respective post-undergrad education hells. Last semester, I was able to remain semi-productive in the blog endeavor by listening to albums while I graded. Unfortunately, my grading requirements for this semester are a little less mindless than for an intro stats course, so that route may be out. So today I tried out listening to a blog album while working on my Maximum Likelihood Estimation homework. Big mistake. I don’t know if any of either of you readers have ever used Stata, but it can be kind of a frustrating experience, no matter how much experience you have. Pretty much once a song, some command wouldn’t work for some stupid reason and I’d end up shouting obscenities at Harry Nilsson’s stupid voice for obviously jinxing me. In retrospect, he does not in fact have a stupid voice. But it’s become clear to me that MLE homework time is Zack-blasts-rap-into-his-earholes time, and it’s a shame that poor Mr. Nilsson and his stupid name and stupid album title had to suffer because I made such an innocent mistake. I don’t think I can revisit the album without rage washing over me like some sort of abused Pavlovian dog, so he’s not getting a second chance. But maybe if I did, I would stop thinking that that stupid fucking Coconut song was the dumbest few minutes ever committed to record.

Favorite Tracks: Down; Jump Into the Fire; Gotta Get Up

300 Down, 700 to Go...But First, Some Awards!

Everyone take a deep breath. Now exhale. Inhale again. And breathe out once again. Please continue repeating these two steps or else you’ll pass out while reading this super-long mega-post celebrating that we are now 30% done with this! As such, it’s time for everyone who’s anyone’s favorite feature: fake awards.

It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these (so long that the last one featured a Billy Crystal joke, and that is not hyperbole), so we understand if you’ve forgotten the routine. We’ll each nominate and then pick our favorite and not-so-favorite albums as well as a mystery category to be discussed shortly. And without further ado…

--

Zack: No matter what, I go into every album with some sort of expectation. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard a song or two, maybe it’s because I’ve just heard of the band somewhere, or maybe having some loose notion of genre and thinking the band name is funny or stupid or something gives me something to go off of. Whatever it is, I have some sort of expectation. But sometimes albums shatter whatever preconceived notion I have. These are the albums that maybe didn’t end up being my favorites, but were much better than I expected. And the nominees for the @midnight Award are…

Sigur Ros - Agaetis byrjun
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Steely Dan - Aja
Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera
Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Aye

And the winner is…Southern Rock Opera by Drive-by Truckers! The name sounds hickish and the album title elicits a lot of different thoughts. And yet when you actually press play, you’re greeted with a thoughtful and balanced examination of the southern mythos backed by powerful guitars. I’ve listened to several other albums by Drive-by Truckers as well as Southeastern by Jason Isbell and all have been built on the same backbone of just plain smart lyrics. With a name like Drive-by Truckers, you might not expect that. But it’s what you get. 

Emily: As Zack know quite well, my memory isn't the best. While I'm really good at remembering a semester of material for my law exams (important!) and lyrics from obscure girl groups that were in heavy rotation on Radio Disney in 2000 (less important!), I'm not great at remembering books I've read, movies I've seen, and albums I've listened to - especially for this blog, for whatever reason. Sometimes, though, albums really stand out and stick in my mind for a long time after the first listen. So the nominees for the Oh Yeah - I Remember That One! Award are...

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols!

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera

Black Flag - Damaged

And the winner is...Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics! I have always loved the new-wave title track of this album, so after listening to the whole thing I go back to that one song a lot since it's finally on my iPod. As a result, I keep listening to some of the other peripheral tracks and the album has stuck in my mind for way longer than many others have in the past 100.

Zack: Hey, no one bats 1001. So while it might not always seem like it, I do try to be understanding when an album isn’t working for me. Tastes are eclectic and just because I don’t appreciate it doesn’t mean that others wouldn’t. Then there are the following albums. They don’t fall into that category. They are abominations, and should be treated as such. And the nominees for The Newsroom Award are…

Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi
Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
Orange Juice - Rip it Up
The Residents - Duck Stab!?Buster & Glen
Napalm Death - Scum

And the winner(?) is…Napalm Death’s Scum! Scum is exactly like its namesake. We’ve both elaborated on why elsewhere, so all I’ll say here is don’t listen to it ever.

Emily: Some people might say that there is no such thing as objectively bad music. They clearly have not listened to some of these albums. These are the ones that made me want to throw my iPod into the street as I waited for the bus and made me curse both the writers of this list and my 19-year-old self for putting me through excruciating ear pain. And the nominees for the Goddammit Guys! Award are...

Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
Orange Juice - Rip it Up
The Residents - Duck Stab!?Buster & Glen
Napalm Death - Scum
The Verve - Urban Hymns

And the winner is...Napalm Death! I absolutely have to agree with Zack here. Scum is absolutely not fit for human auditory consumption. Probably not canine either.

Zack: Looking back at the two previous awards posts, I was struck by how wrong I was about my favorite albums at the 100 mark and so right at the 200. Maybe my tastes have crystallized a little more. Maybe I just picked those so recently that time hasn’t had the opportunity to change my mind (definitely not that one). But I’m going to shoot to do the same here. Which would be a lot easier if there were more stand-out albums from this batch. Instead, I found myself trying to cram 8-10 albums I liked about equally into only 5 slots. I could just change the rules like I’m the Oscars or something, but that seems kind of weak. So instead, I made some tough choices and ended up with the following list of nominees for the Joel Embiid’s Twitter Account Award for the Best Thing Ever…

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols!
The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Neil Young - Harvest

And the winner is…Harvest by Neil Young! This one was deceptively tough, which frequent reader(s) might not expect since I’ve been pretty vocal about my love of Neil Young. Harvest is amazing, but I don’t put it on the same level as Are You Experienced or London Calling. But I still listen to Harvest straight through pretty frequently and it’s never gotten old, whereas I tend to just play my favorite songs from the others. That makes the difference here.

Emily: It was a bit difficult for me to determine what my favorite albums of this group were. A couple really stood out to me, but there was very large percentage of "meh" as well. After going over and over the list and re-reading my posts from the past year and a half, I think I've figured it out - it's the ones that I actually go back to again and again when so many others have fallen into forgotten corners of my mind. Without further adieu, the nominees for the I'm Sticking With You Award are...

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols!

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

And the winner is...Dig Me Out! I just didn't realize how much more I needed '90s riot-grrl punk in my life until I listened to this album. And then dug it out again (see what I did there?) on a snowy walk to the train in January. And again and again and again at the gym, while commuting, sitting at my desk, and cavorting around the city. It's a great hidden gem on this list, and I'm just disappointed that I probably won't get to see them perform live. Until the inevitable festival reunion, though, Dig Me Out will remain one of my favorites.

#300: Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)

Zack: I had no idea who Elliott Smith was before I listened to Figure 8 and it wasn’t until after I’d listened to the entire thing that I pulled up the Wikipedia page to glean whatever details I could. I liked Figure 8 a lot and I was thinking how great it would be to hear some of those songs live. It made it all the sadder to see that he had died more than a decade ago. Figure 8 immediately comes off as the type of album that requires multiple listens to really get, and I definitely intend to devote some time to really delving into it sometime in the near future. In that respect, I see a similarity with Nick Drake, who Elliott Smith seems to be compared to a lot. In terms of actual music, though, I didn’t see any real similarities between Figure 8 and Pink Moon (one of my favorite folk albums we’ve listened to, you know behind the Neil Young stuff). Figure 8 felt upbeat and poppy, at least at first. Maybe later on I’ll hear some of the emotions that color Pink Moon so vividly, or maybe the relationship is best observed in some of Smith’s older work, but I didn’t pick up on that at all after going through once.

Favorite Tracks: Can’t Make a Sound; Color Bars; Son of Sam

Emily: The name Elliott Smith sounded familiar when I picked Figure 8 to listen to. Turns out, though, I was totally unfamiliar with his music until about an hour ago. He did contribute a song to the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, which Zack and I watched for the first time a couple weeks ago, but I definitely didn't pick up on that at the time. Regardless, Figure 8 ended up being an excellent way to close out the 201-300 chapter of this blog. It starts out as upbeat power-pop and seamlessly segues into the lush, dreamy sounds of indie rock. It's the kind of album that I just want to listen to again, to make it the soundtrack of a commute or study session or quiet night at home. I don't know much about Elliott Smith's brief career, but Figure 8 definitely made me want to find out more.

Favorite Tracks: Happiness/The Gondola Man; Son of Sam; Junk Bond Trader

#299: D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (1995)

Zack: I was excited when Emily selected D’Angelo in this batch of albums, because I wanted to verify if his music really is as…potent as I’ve heard. While the rating for Robin Thicke is clearly way off, 90% seems about right here. Brown Sugar is every bit the masterpiece I’ve always heard it to be and I definitely see why his forthcoming third album, which has been forthcoming about as long as Detox, has so many people anxious. I thought Brown Sugar started slow, but worked into a nice groove by the halfway point and then was just consistently excellent until the end. It reminded me a lot of channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean, except Brown Sugar was more compact and featured stronger compositions while the lyrics on channel ORANGE are more diverse and mature.

Favorite Tracks: Cruisin’; Brown Sugar; Lady

Emily: D'Angelo definitely has a smooth way with words and sounds. I'm pretty sure he's the only one who can make a song called Shit, Damn, Motherfucker, with lyrics that are pretty much just those three expletives repeated over and over again, sound panty-droppingly sexy. I didn't even realize that's what he was saying until about two-thirds of the way through; I was just grooving along with the beat. Those smooth beats kept me swaying throughout the entire album, and the lyrics on many other songs matched the sexiness of the music. My favorite song, however, was D'Angelo's cover of Smokey Robinson's Cruisin'. That song was the informal theme song of my trip to Israel a few years back, as played on acoustic guitar by a smattering of Americans and Israelis and eventually sung by our entire group around many a campfire. D'Angelo's version takes it from acoustic old-school soul to smooth R&B neo-soul, making a great song even greater and creating a classic in its own right.

Favorite Tracks: Cruisin'; Brown Sugar; Shit, Damn, Motherfucker

#298: Pulp - This is Hardcore (1998)

Zack: I had Pulp filed under post-punk, since their career starts in the 80s and that really just seems like a safe assumption to make. But it turns out that Pulp is one of those rare bands that needs a decade and a half to really find success. So apparently they were a post-punk/new wave band early into their career with little success, and then transitioned into alternative rock in the '90s and produced a few good albums, including two on the list. This is outstanding news. I haven’t exactly hid my disdain for a lot of the post-punk we’ve come across, seeing as it all sounds identical. In all, it seems like the '80s have routinely been my least favorite decade. But the '90s? The '90s are awesome. And so was This is Hardcore. I was really not expecting to like this album, but it really blew me away. I wouldn’t say that there was anything novel about it, just that it was a really good example of what the alternative rock genre has to offer. A few songs stood out, but the album overall was really cohesive and everything seemed to just work.

Favorite Tracks: Glory Days; This is Hardcore; The Fear

Emily: Sometimes we get an album that really illustrates just how UK-centric this list is, and This is Hardcore is a prime example. Pulp's breakthrough album, three years prior to This is Hardcore, reached #1 on the UK charts and only charted in the US on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. This follow-up was eagerly anticipated by British audiences, and Pulp reached #1 yet again. How far did they get in the US? According to Wikipedia, they made it to #114 - barely a blip on the collective radar of American popular music. When this happens, I usually understand why the album wasn't a big hit here, and am more confused as to why the UK loved it so much. Here, though, I feel the opposite. I really enjoyed This is Hardcore. Although I agree with Zack that it's not anything new and different, I thought This is Hardcore was a great, interesting example of '90s alternative rock. Perhaps we were too enamored with boy bands, but America just didn't get it right back in '98.

Favorite Tracks: This is Hardcore; Help the Aged; Sylvia

#297: Soft Machine - Third (1970)

Emily: Sometimes, an album on this list perfectly fits the mood and situation in which I'm listening to it. It could be a happy-go-lucky day with '70s pop music in the background while I'm cooking dinner, or brooding post-punk as I organize my bedroom with seriousness and focus. Today, I was doing research and assembling fact sheets in the library about law firms for my upcoming on-campus interviewing. It was after a meeting about the interview program, and I was feeling a bit anxious but also oddly reassured. Enter: the jazz fusion stylings of Soft Machine. The jazz element made the album great music for reading and focusing on details, while the fusion elements - specifically with experimental rock - caught my attention just enough to quell my anxiety but not enough to divert my attention away from the research. All in all, Third was great preparation music - perhaps next time I'll listen to it during exams.
Favorite Tracks: Slightly All the Time; Moon in June; Out-Bloody-Rageous

Zack: We’ve run into jazz fusion a few times before, with my favorite example being Aja by Steely Dan. From the Wikipedia wormhole I’m just now emerging from, I can see that it traces a lot of its origins to Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, which would have been released right as Soft Machine was recording Third. I have no hard evidence that they were actually influenced by Bitches Brew and haven’t listened to that album yet (another Miles Davis album should be coming up in the next 50 or so though, so maybe soon) so as to compare. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say they got a copy and liked what they heard. Soft Machine incorporate their electrical instruments in with a handful of additional musicians all playing more typical jazz instruments, with the results being a pretty free-flowing give-and-take between the jazz and rock elements. Third is just four reeeeaaaaally long songs (the shortest clocking in at over 18 minutes) that take some pretty mighty twists and turns along the way. I’ve been known to utilize some of the jazz albums we’ve come across as background music to cooking or homework – Birth of the Cool and A Love Supreme foremost among them – and I could easily see this album sliding into that rotation. It’s dynamic enough to keep you from zoning out but sedated enough that you can do other things.

Favorite Tracks: Moon in June; Slightly All the Time; Facelift

#296: Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (1988)

Zack: I’ve fostered a pretty intense hatred for Jane’s Addiction dating back to when I listened to One Hot Minute at like 14 and immediately decided that I wanted nothing to do with that album or Dave Navarro moving forward. It’s nine years later and I still have never relistened to that album, but I’ve been forced to officially end my Navarro embargo as of 45 minutes ago. And I have to say, it’s not as bad as I’d feared. Turns out that the sort of heavy guitar edge that was so out of place on One Hot Minute works a little better in its original context. You can almost see why a record label would want to work with these guys, despite their Wikipedia page reading like a satire of an out-of-control rock group and their frontman apparently being in the running for biggest douche in the universe. Seriously, how delusional does one have to be to come to the conclusion that they deserve 62.5% of royalties in a four-man band? And how obviously insane do you need to be to intimidate everyone else to go along with it? I don’t care what the album title says, that is downright stupefying. Anyway, I can’t say that I have plans to ever play this album again and I fail to see how this band was somehow a big enough deal that their goodbye tour became frickin’ Lollapalooza. But I’m starting to see why some of the hype is there.

Favorite Tracks: Jane Says; Ocean Size; Mountain Song

Emily: Jane's Addiction has vaguely been in my consciousness for a while now. Dave Navarro always shows up on those countdown/list/nostalgia shows I love to watch for hours on end as a commentator, usually on metal or the '90s (and I'm pretty sure '90s metal too). Jane Says is played with some regularity on my local alternative radio station, and it pops up on Pandora once in a while too. However, beyond these small references I didn't know much about the band or their music. After listening to their studio debut, I don't really feel like I need to know more. I found the music kind of boring, trapped somewhere between metal and alt-rock without a clear point of view. I guess that's what happens when you debut in 1988, in the midst of hair metal mania and still a few years too early for grunge. Hey, at least we got Lollapalooza out of them.

Favorite Tracks: Jane Says; Standing in the Shower... Thinking; Ted, Just Admit It...

#295: Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Jack Takes the Floor (1958)

Emily: Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an early folk singer in the vein of Bob Dylan, with country undertones that also reminded me of Johnny Cash. Jack Takes the Floor is a bit like At Folsom Prison, due to the spoken introductions to a few of the songs and the live sound culled from performances rather than studios. However, Ramblin' Jack doesn't have the songwriting prowess of either Cash or Dylan. He mainly reinterprets traditional folk songs or presents somewhat humorous observations of everyday life. I didn't find this approach too interesting, but it definitely helped lay the groundwork for the masterful songwriting that later came from the genre.

Favorite Tracks: Cocaine; Salty Dog; Dink's Song

Zack: Ramblin’ Jack Elliott apparently had the same mentor as Bob Dylan – Woody Guthrie, whose works we crossed on Mermaid Avenue – but he’s definitely more of a pure folk artist. Wikipedia describes him as an “interpretive troubadour” compared to Dylan’s independent songwriting, and that description is dead on. Jack Takes the Floor features two covers of even older songs and two renditions of traditional folk songs to go along with seven original songs that all sound like they could have been passed down for decades anyway. Jack Takes the Floor is the type of album that listeners of classic folk or country would enjoy and anyone interested in the history of American music must check out.

Favorite Tracks: Salty Dog; New York Town; Cocaine

#294: Megadeath - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? (1986)

Zack: I liked Peace Sells a lot and I can easily see it slipping alongside Metallica’s Black Album and Ride the Lightning (not on the list but damn good) as something I throw on every once in a while to get pumped. That’s pretty much been the ceiling for any metal album we’ve come across, so you should take that as a ringing endorsement. They’re clearly one of the big four thrash metal bands for a reason. That said, I want to point out that Peace Sells seems to have earned Megadeth a reputation as a metal band that writes socially conscious songs. That’s utter bullshit. Admittedly, I’m only going off one album, but there is only one song on this entire thing that doesn’t have to do with the occult, satanic rituals, or being exiled to Devil’s Island. Maybe the bar is a tad too low when 12.5% of an album needs to have some sort of political message to it and that qualifies as socially conscious.

Favorite Tracks: Good Morning/Black Friday; The Conjuring; My Last Words

Emily: Zack has put this album on our potential listen-to list for a while now, and I never picked it. I'm not exactly sure why, but subconsciously I think the combination of "mega" and "death" indicated music that I didn't exactly want to spend 45 minutes of my life listening to. This time, perhaps influenced by Zack bookending it next to Venom and Slayer, I picked Megadeath for this metal album go-round. Turns out that Megadeath is significantly less scary and obnoxious than their name implies. Yes, it's a thrash metal album through and through. However, the music is melodious and the singing is actually singing (rather than glorified screaming). Peace Sells moves swiftly and caught my ear, even as a non-metal fan. I doubt I'll add it in to my rotation of music, but it wasn't the worst way to spend 45 minutes.

Favorite Tracks: Peace Sells; My Last Words; Good Morning/Black Friday

#293: LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)

Zack: For some reason, I don’t think of LL Cool J as a golden age rapper. And I don’t mean that as some sort of knock on LL Cool J, just that he’s at least retained enough cultural relevance that I don’t think of him in the same way I think of say…Slick Rick. And yet Mama Said Knock You Out is a few months older than I am and was already LL’s fourth album. On it, LL raps ferociously, especially on the title track and a few diss tracks like To Da Break of Dawn. There’s also a fair amount of diversity. For example, there’s a song entirely of cereal puns called Milky Cereal that crossed its spoon metaphors in a few places and overall was just kind of dumb. In general, I was more into the hard-hitting stuff than the softer, “I’m LL Cool J and I’m chiseled from rock so you should show me your boudoir” songs. Which I thought was interesting since it’s the latter that I associate with LL more closely. Overall, I liked Mama Said Knock You Out and I could see myself adding a few songs to some playlist down the road, but I don’t have any urge to dive into his discography any deeper.

Favorite Tracks: Mama Said Knock You Out; Illegal Search; Eat ‘em Up, L Chill

Emily: At the ripe old age of 22, LL Cool J released his fourth album, Mama Said Knock You Out, after having commercial success through the early waves of hip-hop throughout the mid-'80s. This album seems, though, what really started to bring him critical acclaim in both the hip-hop community and the mainstream music press. He starts to bridge the gap between the '80s golden age, with its goofier lyrics and heavier influence of funk and soul, and the harder sounds that came to prominence in the '90s. In general, I preferred the former side of LL Cool J. The title track, though, was my favorite because it really brings the two eras together. In the (relatively short) timeline of hip-hop and rap, LL Cool J has been a figure throughout, adapting a bit to the times while still staying true to his sound. On Mama Said Knock You Out, that adaptability shines through.

Favorite Tracks: Mama Said Knock You Out; Eat 'em Up, L Chill; Around the Way Girl

#292: Black Flag - Damaged (1981)

Emily: When we were picking the current group of albums, I was reading a biography of Dave Grohl that Zack bought me a while back. We had just seen Foo Fighters at Firefly, so it was a fitting read to get through post-festival back-to-work sadness. What I didn't expect from the book was a fairly comprehensive history of all of the music that influenced Dave Grohl in his youth, especially before he joined Nirvana. Grohl grew up in suburban Washington, DC, and during his teenage years an underground hardcore punk scene was developing in his midst. Influenced by the bands he saw in rec centers and church basements and listened to on vinyl that he ordered from the backs of DIY 'zines, Grohl played drums and guitar, joined a bunch of different hardcore and punk bands, and ultimately made his way to Seattle to join Nirvana. One of the bands chronicled that had a formative influence on Grohl was Black Flag, and that's precisely why I chose to listen to it now. Black Flag was one of the most influential bands to emerge from the underground hardcore scene. Black Flag started out in California, but became part of the DC scene when Henry Rollins (a fairly scary man with a really large neck) became their lead vocalist before recording Damaged. Hardcore took the anarchist elements of punk, both musically and politically, and turned them up even more. The result frequently approaches fits of screaming rage with a little bit of guitar thrown in. Fortunately, Damaged only approaches that unpleasant threshold a few times. At its best, Rollins' scream-sung vocals meld perfectly with the band's power-punk drums and guitars, creating music that just begs to be performed in a small club or basement with hundreds of young people like Dave Grohl jumping, slam dancing, and yelling along like their lives depended on it.

Favorite Tracks: Rise Above; TV Party; Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie

Zack: I’d heard about Damaged from Cracked, my go-to depository for time-wasting lists (suck it Buzzfeed!) so I already knew to expect violent anti-parentism from this record. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I assumed that at least one track would have a bridge that was just a man putting a condom on or some other audial representation of contraception and/or abstinence (Kenny G?). Tragically, I don’t think I got that. Damaged is one of the formative albums from the hardcore punk subgenre, which apparently is where annoying straight-edge people come from. When I was listening to it, I couldn’t help but think of a line from the show Orphan Black, which I started watching recently. In the scene, the main character is talking to her foster mother about how the latter exposed her to punk music. The foster mother laments that she took up the music, but left behind “all of the politics.” What made that line interesting to me was that both sides are vital. Damaged definitely has both sides. Musically, Damaged was heavier than your average punk, but in line with albums we’ve heard from around that same time (Dead Kennedys has been my favorite example). Politically, well, the album starts with a track called Rise Above that isn’t about zeppelins. Overall, I didn’t love either the music or politics of Black Flag as much as I hoped I would. In general, I seem to favor either the original punks of the '70s or the punk revivalists of the '90s (minus Green Day for obvious reasons). Hardcore especially seems to turn me off. Maybe it’s because I’m just not real enough for it. Maybe it’s because it shares too many cursory similarities to Napalm Death which still prompts flashbacks and episodes. I don’t know. All I can say is that Damaged was clearly a good album, just not one that I feel inclined to listen to over and over again.

Favorite Tracks: TV Party; Rise Above; Padded Cell

#291: Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)

Emily: I'm kind of surprised it took us nearly 300 albums to get to Elvis, because when you think (okay, when I think) of rock and roll in the '50s, Elvis is who immediately comes to mind. Just think about it: in a soda shop, with girls in poodle skirts - Elvis has to be playing on the jukebox. His music really defined the era by taking rock and roll to the mainstream. From this self-titled debut album, it's easy to see why it caught on. The songs are breezy and catchy, with blues rhythms that take out the emotion and replace them with upbeat rockabilly. It's a simple formula to get heads turning and toes tapping. This formula didn't start with Elvis, but he definitely honed it in his early career. And in all walks of pop-music life, it's been imitated ever since.
Favorite Tracks: Blue Suede Shoes; Blue Moon; Tutti Frutti

Zack: I listened to this album while organizing my loose change into those little sleeve things since apparently my local bank exists in a parallel universe where there aren’t coin counting machines, perhaps one where this album was just released. The task was mindless in just the right way that I was able to still focus on the album completely, which is good since my first real exposure to Elvis was through his ongoing beef with Eminem. It was very brisk and had a certain classic feel to it. All of the songs were sort of…simple. All the songs are about either seducing a girl, being in love with a girl, or having your heart broken by a girl (which I’m now referring to as the songwriter life cycle). Obviously Elvis didn’t invent the music he’s so strongly associated with from scratch and it isn’t fair to just say that this is a starting point in popular rock and roll, but what’s notable about Elvis Presley the album and the artist more generally is how sturdy a foundation was left for everyone that followed. I liked Elvis’s debut as an album, but I really appreciated it more as a blueprint for everything else that came after.

Favorite Songs: Blue Suede Shoes; I Love You Because; Tutti Frutti

#290: Hawkwind - The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London (1973)

Emily: The primary genre Hawkwind is classified under is "space rock." What exactly, though, is space rock? Beyond just being rock! in space! yeah! Is it alien rock? A martian boogie-woogie? The totally metal sound of galaxies colliding? Or just the total emptiness of sound floating through an infinite universe? On Space Ritual, Hawkwind decides that space rock is prog-rock meets electronic, with some of those martian grooves in there too. Since this is a live album, there are few tracks of stage proclamations about space, the universe, and I think a few minutes on alien probing (the word orifice was distinctly mentioned). I assume the live experience was full of space-like imagery and sounds as well, adding to the immersive experience. Without that extra element, though, Space Ritual just seemed like a recorded experimental rock album - albeit one that was extra spacey.
Favorite Tracks: Orgone Accumulator; Lord of Light; 7 by 7

Zack: I didn’t really know what to think about Hawkwind. I didn’t think I loved it. I didn’t think I hated it. I didn’t think I was ambivalent toward it. It exists. I listened to it. Step 3. Moving on. I’m still trying to fill out Step 3, but all I’ve got is that it should be some sort of reaction. I listened to it hours ago at this point, but nothing substantial has come to me. It was a double album, so I split the listening into two halves and got lunch in between. It’s a live album, but the crowd noise only really comes into play at the very ends of songs, so it usually doesn’t even feel live. I think what confuses me the most are the quasi-skits that break up a lot of the songs. They tend to be sci-fi ramblings about space that go on for two or three minutes in between songs, and I don’t understand why they’re there. If I were in the audience on the day they’re recording, I would be frustrated that they were taking up my time to do those, but I would understand and appreciate that space rock is a complex genre and instruments need to be switched out or tuned. But the album seems to be heavily mixed to remove a lot of the liveness, so why not just take those out and get this album length a little farther away from the 90 minute mark? I don’t know. I really enjoy The Flaming Lips and all their weird space rock nonsense. It’s fun and quirky and just generally sonically pleasing. At times I liked the songs. At other points I was just confused. Like they were pushing the weird quirky factor just a little too hard. I don’t know. I still don’t. My only real take from this album would be that it’s probably great if you’re super into prog rock. But if you’re just a casual fan, this is probably one you can skip over.

Favorite Tracks: Orgone Accumulator; Lord of Light; Down Through the Night

#289: Ali Farka Toure - Savane (2006)

Zack: Over my winter break, I went through and listened to a ton of the albums that appeared on various publication’s “Best of 2013” lists. I found a ton of new artists that I love and several albums that I listen to religiously now. But I don’t think any find was bigger or more surprising that Bombino. His album Nomad is fantastic from start to finish, and worth checking out by anyone and everyone. While I don’t know if Bombino was influenced by Ali Farka Toure in any way, it sure sounds like it. Whereas Nomad merges world music with classic rock influences like Jimi Hendrix, Ali Farke Toure combines African folk music with the blues seamlessly. It was really refreshing to hear, especially since the world genre tends to be so hit-or-miss.

Favorite Tracks: Banga; Savane; Ledi Coumbre

Emily: I also immediately thought of Bombino as I listened to Ali Farka Toure. Both musicians take the traditional folk music of their home countries and fuse it with modern influences - Hendrix and other rock music for Bombino, and classic blues for Ali Farka Toure. Both musicians are also highly regarded as guitarists, bringing together these genres with deft musicianship. Unlike other "world" music, which essentially just takes the music of one non-Western culture and dubs it "world" because it's not the kind of music we make or listen to in America, these artists truly make world music by bringing together the musical traditions of generations and cultures from all across the globe.

Favorite Tracks: Soya; Savane; Yer Bounda Fara

#288: Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust (1995)

Zack: My three favorite electronic albums, as of right now, are Air’s Moon Safari; Chemical Brothers’ Exit Planet Dust; and Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. What I find so interesting about that is the fact that those three albums could not be more different. Moon Safari, which we listened to years ago, is a relaxing “chillout” album that is just perfect. Random Access Memories is a wonderful journey through music, complete with not one but two super poppy Pharrell songs. And Exit Planet Dust is heavier than either of those two, with almost a little rock edge to it. I find this disparity to be so interesting because I’ve typically been so down on so many of the electronic albums we’ve listened to. Surely there must be some sort of trend that will predict which electronic albums I’ll like and which I’ll despise with the sort of fury that only exists in the hearts of the truly depraved. But if we commit the cardinal sin and look only at the dependent variable, no trend emerges. I don’t know why that is. But Exit Planet Dust is an awesome electronic album that avoids many of the pitfalls that usually frustrate me with so many other albums. Namely it avoids being repetitive while still not relying on sudden jumps in sound (essentially building up a nice, smooth continuity that doesn’t rock you to sleep) and doesn’t drag on forever (under 50 minutes is totally acceptable, but it’s worth noting that Daft Punk close in on 80 minutes and remain entertaining throughout…although that does kill the relistenability). This isn’t a good editing album like Moon Safari is, but I good totally see myself turning it into a good grading album. Yes, that is what I was doing while I listened to it in the first place.

Favorite Tracks: Chico’s Groove; In Dust We Trust; Life Is Sweet

Emily: On the continuum of electronic albums we've listened to, this is probably one of the best ones. Sure, there were a few songs in the middle that were a bit grating on my ears, but I will inevitably feel that way as a fan of melody and non-computer instruments. However, both the beginning and end of Exit Planet Dust are strong examples of taking electronic music and adding rock and pop sensibilities. The result is an interesting listen, an album that seamlessly blends together for its entirety and held my attention in a way that electronic music usually doesn't.

Favorite Tracks: In Dust We Trust; Leave Home; Life is Sweet

#287: Tina Turner - Private Dancer (1984)

Emily: Tina Turner started out as an R&B singer with her husband Ike, who is perhaps better known for his abusive tendencies than his music. I thought she broke out and got her solo start during the late '70s, embracing disco with the likes of Diana Ross. Turns out she stayed with Ike a bit longer than that, and her post-divorce debut was Private Dancer in 1984. She makes a clean break from her old persona, eschewing R&B in favor of shimmering pop, rock, and dance music. What keeps this album from blending in with other '80s pop, though, is Tina Turner's powerful and emotional delivery of the lyrics. Whether it's a storytelling ballad (Private Dancer), a funked-out cover of an R&B classic (Let's Stay Together), or a new pop anthem (What's Love Got to Do With It), Turner's soul-powered voice sets her apart from all of her influences and imitators.
Favorite Tracks: What's Love Got to Do With It; Private Dancer; Let's Stay Together

Zack: I’ll admit that I’ve never really listened to anything by Tina or Ike Turner, with the lone exception being Every Planet We Reach is Dead off of Gorillaz’s Demon Days. I don’t even know the words to a single Tina Turner song, which somehow just feels wrong to say. Additionally, I accidentally refer to this album as “Tiny Dancer” frequently. I’m not ashamed of that last point at all because it always makes me think of a miniature Tina Turner, like a little Tina Turner Tinkerbell, dancing around provocatively, and then I giggle. But the first two confessions I am ashamed of. And I’m glad I get to correct them here. On that note, Private Dancer was pretty good. According to Wikipedia, 70 percent of it became a single. That makes sense, since each and every song seems to have been crafted to blow up on the radio. I think that is the perfect measuring stick of a pop album, too. I was most strongly drawn to a lot of what Wikipedia assures me are the biggest hits – What’s Love Got to Do with It, Let’s Stay Together, and Better Be Good to Me specifically. I don’t know if I would really characterize Private Dancer as a great R&B album (and all that that entails) but I thought it was a great pop album.

Favorite Tracks: I Can’t Stand the Rain; Better Be Good to Me; What’s Love Got to Do with It

#286: Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (1984)

Zack: There are so many influences in Meat Puppets second album that I could easily break my record for longest post (a record that I believe currently sits at only a modest infinity words) breaking down all the comparisons I made. Instead, I want to focus on two that maybe don’t stand out as much but I thought were the most interesting. First off, there is a real protogrunge element here. The musical origins of grunge are sort of fascinating to me, and the only real precedent I’ve heard before this was some of the electric elements on Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps (relistened to it for the 1012^th time yesterday and it’s still amazing). It seems to be crystallizing a little bit more clearly in a few places here, at least enough that I was surprised to see this album came out in the first half of the 80s. Second, long live cowpunk! Cowpunk isn’t an actually good genre, but it may be my favorite just because of how awful that portmanteau is on the eyes. There was a little cowpunk in Drive-by Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera – a remnant of their earlier days – but this is the first time where whole songs have clearly fallen under that glorious category. I’ve always struggled to explain cowpunk to people, usually just needing to resort to YouTube clips of Social Distortion playing (read: slaughtering) Ring of Fire. Now, I am armed with multiple examples of the horror monster that it is.

Favorite Tracks: Aurora Borealis; Oh Me; Lake of Fire

Emily: I recognized the Meat Puppets from their guest appearance on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged album. They come on near the end of the set, and join Kurt Cobain as he covers a few songs off of Meat Puppets II. From all the times I've listened to that Unplugged album, I never really thought much about the Meat Puppets. I just assumed they were another Seattle grunge band, friends with Nirvana from back in the day and got invited to jam with them for one of their biggest audiences and albums to date. Turns out the Meat Puppets far predate Nirvana, and they're from Phoenix instead of Seattle. And those songs Kurt Cobain took on? Not exactly from a grunge album. Meat Puppets II is incredibly diverse in its influences, ranging from country to punk to psychedelic and everything in between. The Nirvana connection does make sense though - grunge rose out of the same diverse alternative roots in the '90s that the Meat Puppets thrived in in the '80s. And I'd like to hear the cowpunk spin that the Meat Puppets could put on Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Favorite Tracks: Plateau; Lost; New Gods

#285: Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)

Emily: When I queued up this album today, my first thought was, "Hey, isn't Layla by Eric Clapton? What's it doing on this album? Is this a weird cover thing? Hmm..." Clearly I was uninformed, because a few bluesy rock songs in, I looked up the album on Wikipedia and found out that Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs "is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement." You learn something new every day. Even if I hadn't looked it up, though, I would've figured out it was Clapton far before Layla actually started playing. This album is filled with the classic sounds of Clapton's blues guitar (plus Duane Allman) and emotional lyrics of love both desired and lost. I wasn't totally off base with the cover idea, though. Although Layla and most of the rest of the double album is original, there are also covers of blues standards as well as a Jimi Hendrix song. Just goes to show how even the most influential artists and albums are always harkening back to what came before. Now, the next great blues album should have its own cover of Layla.
Favorite Tracks: Layla; Why Does Love Got to be So Sad; Have You Ever Loved a Woman

Zack: I’m not entirely sure why, but I thought we had listened to Cream a lot more recently than we actually had. No matter, because it is always a good time to listen to Layla. For a lot of people, Derek and the Dominos is Clapton’s crowning achievement. Surprisingly, I haven’t put that much time into this question. Gun to my head, I’d say: 

1) Disraeli Gears
2) Layla
3) 461 Ocean Boulevard
4) Five Live Yardbirds
5) Unplugged

6) August, solely because of my affinity for Miss You
7) Fresh Cream
8) Blues Breakers
9) Blind Faith
10) Ridin’ with the King

I’d need to put more thought into it, though, especially reevaluating my take on some of his solo stuff. Regardless, of that and even if you take the possibility of a priming effect into account, I’ve got Layla at 2 and have a hard time justifying it any lower than 4, at worst. In such a long and storied career, it really stands out. Part of that has to be just the emotion that bleeds through, specifically the parts where Clapton is singing about lusting for his best friend (George Harrison)’s wife. It’s really a message we can all relate to. (aside: Seriously, where does Pattie Boyd rank on the list of all-time muses? I’m not qualified to figure that one out, so someone get on it.) The other part is the obvious chemistry between Clapton and Duane Allman. You could just feel two kindred guitar spirits challenging each other but also feeding off each other spectacularly well. It doesn’t hurt that – I’m trying not to break out into another spontaneous list but it’s hard – those have got to be two of the top 10 guitarists of all time. Anyway, Layla is incredible, even beyond the title track that is such a classic rock staple. Even though it’s a double album and does occasionally feature like 3 minute blues intros into songs, it never really feels like it’s lagging anywhere. And it’s got some of the most impressive solos you’ll hear anywhere.

Favorite Tracks: Layla (duh); Key to the Highway; Little Wing  

#284: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà vu (1970)

Zack: Not long after we started this little venture of ours, Emily and I were in a record store, killing time by flipping through the used stacks. I noticed a copy of Déjà vu that I think was like $3 or so and mentioned that it was on the list. Emily bought it, figuring we could play it on either the one at her parents' house or the one I had been thinking about buying (I never did). I’m not even sure if she remembers that purchase, but we are not listening to it on vinyl. To date, Thriller is the only album we’ve done that with. Which is sort of a shame, because Déjà vu was superb. And I’m not just saying that because of the love affair I’ve started with Neil Young since I first listened to Rust Never Sleeps over winter beak my sophomore year of college. Déjà vu has just a brilliant blend of four brilliant songwriters, all at the peak of their powers. At some points, it just seems unfair that all four of them were allowed to all work together on a single project. I’m amazed they didn’t go over the salary cap, especially since they brought Jerry Garcia in as a role player/glue guy on Teach Your Children. Listening to (or at least trying to) it for the first time on what is almost guaranteed to be a scratched up vinyl probably would have been special. Alas, these are not luxuries that can be afforded adults with lives to lead. Hopefully one day we can. Anyways, I hate to start reminiscing like this (we have another 16 albums to go before that post), but it’s hard not to with an album like Déjà vu. Besides for the title, it’s just a perfect album to put on and play and think about things.

Favorite Tracks: Country Girl; Everybody I Love You; Helpless

Emily: The story of me listening to this album started on a train parked at Marcus Hook station in Delaware County. This story also ends on the same train, at the same station about 40 minutes later. There was police activity further down the line, so what should have been a routine commute home ended up being a nearly 2-hour layover that ended with some classmates and I banding together to split an Uber to get back in the city before it got dark. The time spent on the train, though, ended up being a great quiet time to listen to some music. Déjà vu totally fit the bill. It's understated and seemingly simple, unless you listen closely. That's when you can really pick up on the masterful songwriting at play here. Although Déjà vu occasionally seemed to be narrating the endless wait for the train to start moving (Helpless) and the repeated announcements that there was no new information to report (Déjà Vu), the time on the train ended up being a near-perfect environment for really delving into Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. For their next album, though, I hope the train will be moving.

Favorite Tracks: Everybody I Love You; Country Girl; Teach Your Children

#283: Orange Juice - Rip It Up (1982)

Zack: Not every album can be the sort of eye-opening audial experience that those few legendary works – the ones whose album arts are seared into the collective human conscious – have attained. Even among the biggest masterpieces there is no consensus; some people hear Dark Side of the Moon and feel the future, while others feel a yawn coming on. And so, when you’re crafting a list as large as 1001 albums, there’s necessarily going to be some stuff that just doesn’t really inspire you. And, yes, there’s going to be some boring fluff. I get that. And so, when I rail against injustices like the slighting of the Rakim/Big Daddy Kane/KRS-One era got, or that Jay-Z’s Black Album didn’t make the cut, or that a Hendrix live album (Monterey, perhaps) would have been a nice addition, or even the slighting I believe The Clash have gotten, I understand that these are all matters of perception. If I had it my way, Sum 41’s All Killer…No Filler would be on this list, and that should tell you everything you need to know about me. But, then again, we run across an album every once in a while that is just so blah from start to finish, so completely devoid of anything particularly novel or exciting, so seemingly unimportant in the annals of music history, that I just start to wonder how susceptible this process was to lobbying. There must have been some interest group (Tropicana?) that pushed for Rip it Up’s inclusion, because I just really didn’t see the point. Once again, it was remarkably similar to a bunch of albums we’ve listened to already. It spawned one “big” song and doesn’t seem to be too notable outside of that. And I didn’t even really care for that song! Look, even if you ignore all the stuff that I personally think should have made the cut, here are the albums that did actually got cut when the list was updated (and only those not replaced by an album by the same artist): Justin Timberlake-Justified, The Vines-Highly Evolved, The Hives-Your New Favourite Band, Calexico-Feast of Wine, The Darkness-Permission to Land, Kings of Leon-Youth & Young Manhood AND Aha Shake Heartbreak, Thrills-So Much for the City, 50 Cent-Get Rich of Die Tyrin’, Brian Wilson-Smile, N*E*R*D-Fly or Die, Beta Band-Heroes to Zeroes, Libertine-Libertines, Zutons-Who Killed the Zutons?, Beck-Guero, White Stripes-Get Behind Me Satan. I’ve listened to a lot of those albums, and I’d take any of them over Rip it Up. Yes, even Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (which, while a crappy album, was incredibly important in the maturation and popularization of hip-hop) or Permission to Land (I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE JUSTLISTENTOTHERHYTHMOFMYHEART). As for some of the others, I would be much more interested in learning who killed the Zutons or feasting on wine than half-paying attention to some unimpressive post-punk album from 1982. But no. I don’t get nice things. I get Orange Juice, and it goes down just like the crappy kind that came in cups in elementary school.

Favorite Tracks: Breakfast Time; Tenterhook; Mud in Your Eye

Emily: I second Zack. This album was one of the most boring we've come across in the time we've been working through the list. Every song sounded like a cover of a cover of a not-so-great song, with weak horns thrown in that didn't liven up the music at all. Even the albums I've hated most on this list had some personality to them - I'd rather have that than a blah 45 minutes that I can barely pay attention to (especially on my 8 AM commute). Post-punk is routinely disappointing, but I think Orange Juice takes the bland, flavorless cake on this one.

Favorite Tracks: I Can't Help Myself; Breakfast Time; Rip It Up

#282: Death in Vegas - The Contino Sessions (1999)

Zack: I love when an album’s Wikipedia page has nothing more than the release date (1999), which album number it is for the artist (2), and if it won any awards (nominated for a Mercury Music Prize). Oh, and the track listing. Can’t forget that. I didn’t know what to expect from The Contino Sessions, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was rock-influenced electronic music, and that is a perfect blend for grading. From start to finish, this album seemed to be catered around just being an interesting yet somewhat conventional listening experience. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the more recent album Slow Focus by Fuck Buttons. It wasn’t quite as video game-y, but the same approach seemed to have been taken. It’s probably not a coincidence that I played Slow Focus immediately after I finished The Contino Sessions, because there is just something here that makes them work together. Anyway, that’s your official Zack Scott endorsement of the week. Listen to both of those albums back to back. Play them at the same time if you have to. Just get some of that in your life.

Favorite Tracks: Dirge; Aladdin’s Story; Aisha

Emily: I first listened to this album about a week ago on a Megabus back home from visiting Zack. At the time, I couldn't think of much to say. Not that it mattered, since my laptop was dead and the plug at my seat wasn't working. I still had New York Dolls to log, and time has kind of gotten away from me since then. So today, as I do some research for upcoming interviews, I gave The Contino Sessions another shot. It kind of blended into the background as I worked, but on occasion a shift in tone - infusing more rock into the electronica, or a punch of spoken word - would draw my attention and interest. Death in Vegas, at least on this album, made some great music to think by - subtle enough to not distract away from the task at hand, but unique enough to draw you in even as you focus on something else. Next time I'll test it out for my studying repertoire, or perhaps just for idle thoughts.

Favorite Tracks: Aladdin's Story; Aisha; Soul Auctioneer