#400: Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (1974)

Zack: Tangerine Dream has released over 100 albums, so one was bound to make this list just by sheer chance. The one that did, Phaedra, is among the group’s first albums. I didn’t particularly like the album, but reading the Wikipedia page has given me some sort of appreciation for it. After I finished listening, I happened to note that the year on the album was maybe a decade or so earlier than I thought it would have been. And it turns out that this was not a typo in my iTunes but rather a symbol of how ahead of their time Tangerine Dream were. They were among the first to start playing around with synthetic instruments, and really seemed to be trying to push them as far as they can go. None of the cosmic nature of the sounds that are described on Wikipedia came through for me. But I can see how absolutely seminal this album is for so many electronic genres that have come since.

Favorite Tracks: Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares; Phaedra; Movements Of A Visionary

Emily: This album didn't really inspire anything in me. Granted, I was studying family law for the bar while I listened to it, but I think even if I had 100% laser focus on the music I still wouldn't have gotten much out of it. I tend to feel that way about a lot of electronic albums we listen to. When they're pleasant and ambient, the music tends to fade into the background, like waves crashing at the beach or the buzz of the city outside my window. It's nice to hear, but doesn't elicit much else from me. Phaedra fit right into that scheme of electronic music. I'll take it any day over something that's loud and screeching, but 400 albums definitely went out with a whimper.

Favorite Tracks: Phaedra; Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares; Movements Of A Visionary

#399: Supertramp - Crime of the Century (1974)

Emily: I'm sure if I rooted through the milk crate in my parents' basement that holds my mom's old records, I would find a Supertramp record. Most likely it would be Breakfast in America, the band's biggest record in America with hits like The Logical Song and Take the Long Way Home. When these songs pop up on classic rock radio in the car my mom will blast them and sing along. That's essentially all I knew about Supertramp until today. What I didn't know was that Breakfast in America was actually the band's sixth album, and that Crime of the Century was both their third album and their first real breakthrough. It went Gold in the U.S., selling over 500,000 copies (something that rarely happens today, but was a regular occurrence in the '70s). And without listening to their other stuff, it seemed to me that this is where Supertramp started to figure out the sound that would bring them great success a few years later. It's a little prog rock, a little artsy, and a little pop. It's the kind of sound that would only work at that moment in time, but it totally makes sense. Taking a quick look back at the list, we won't get to hear any more Supertramp to see how they continued to hone and evolve this sound. However, maybe next time I'm home I'll search for that record.
Favorite Tracks: School; Bloody Well Right; Asylum

Zack: With a name like Supertramp, I kind of expected some semi-campy hard rock. Honestly, I’d say my expectations were about in line with what I expected out of Bad Company. Loyal lookers with long…memories (damn, really thought I could keep that going) may remember that I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by how decent Bad Company (the album) was. Crime of the Century took it up a couple of notches. This album wasn’t only decent, it was downright good. There was some Pink Floyd-ish vibes going on, mingling with the Led Zeppelin that was my favorite part of Bad Company. It was pretty dynamic and just a pleasant listen. I could easily see myself revisiting it down the road, and enjoying it each time.

Favorite Tracks: Crime of the Century; School; Hide in Your Shell

#398: George Michael - Faith (1987)

Zack: Faith is George Michael’s first solo album after leaving Wham!, and it pretty much defined what everybody will think of him from the day it was released until the end of time. The song Faith was so big that even I, with my general dislike of anything from the 80s, could not possibly hope to escape it growing up. I never liked that song, and so I didn’t expect to like this album. And parts of it I really didn’t like. But there were other parts that really won me over. The main one was Kissing a Fool, which was sung so perfectly that I was kind of shocked that this gem had followed the shittiness that is Monkey (I know that the song went #1 on Billboard as a single but it still sucks; fight me if you care so much about it.) When Michael slowed down and allowed more soul influences to bleed through, I was really impressed. When he let the 80s flow through him with corny upbeat pop bullshit, I was left pretty dour. Except for the 9-minute song explicitly about fucking, that is.

Favorite Tracks: Kissing a Fool; Look at Your Hands; I Want Your Sex

Emily: Many of the pop albums that we listen to affirm my belief that pop is a genre of singles, not albums. A great pop song can transcend genre and generations, but more often than not those great songs are featured on albums padded with filler that barely deserves to share a track listing with them. Of course, there are exceptions to this (Michael Jackson particularly comes to mind, but Thriller ended up being essentially all singles anyway). George Michael's Faith, unfortunately, lives up to the great-single-bad-album rule. Faith is upbeat and impossibly catchy, reminiscent of Michael's earlier band Wham, and the radio appeal of Father Figure and I Want Your Sex is clear. The rest of the album, however, feels like unnecessary filler. With the exception of the unexpected throwback soul of Kissing a Fool, the non-single parts of Faith don't even come close to the pop success of the title track.

Favorite Tracks: Faith; I Want Your Sex; Kissing a Fool