#358: Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)

Zack: Why am I bothering to write a review for this? Was there ever any doubt that I would love this album? I’m a proud son of New Jersey damnit, and us Joysians stick by the Boss. Putting my bias aside, though, Darkness on the Edge of Town is clearly a classic. The writing is so poignant that is borders on heartbreaking, even on the songs where the person triumphs over their circumstances. Springsteen is most often compared to Dylan, although lyrically I think that’s a terrible fit. Sure, people may misinterpret Born in the USA and think it’s a patriotic anthem, but in general Bruce is pretty clear about the meaning of his songs. It’s the storytelling that matters. Dylan is so cryptic, that you admire his lyrics for entirely different reasons. It’s like prose compared to poetry, really. If I’m thinking of who Springsteen reminds me of, lyrically, I actually think of a recent artist in Courtney Barnett. They both weave stories that are underlined by vivid characters and wit, and the meaning of what they’re saying is almost never in doubt. But as much as I love the storytelling on Barnett’s recent debut, Springsteen is clearly on a completely different plain here. Every detail comes roaring out of his mouth, matched by the ripping of his guitar or the blast of the sax, so vividly that it almost feels like you’re watching a TV show instead of listening to an album. I was blown away. I’d have to listen to them back-to-back to do a real comparison, but as of right now I would put Darkness ahead of Born to Run on the Bruce album power rankings. With the qualification that we have more than 40 albums left to go, I would even go so far as to say that it’s a strong contended for my favorite album come award time.

Favorite Tracks: Something in the Night; Darkness on the Edge of Town; Racing in the Street

Emily: I'm not from New Jersey, so I don't have quite the strong connection/obligation to Bruce Springsteen that Zack (and everyone else from the state) does. I guess that means I can take a more objective look, but it's not like Bruce isn't revered and acclaimed outside of his own state. On the contrary, Darkness on the Edge of Town is considered to be one of his best albums. It's more introspective than its predecessor, Born to Run, and focuses on telling uniquely American stories. Very few artists do that as well as Bruce Springsteen, and this album is a triumph both for him and for the genre.

Favorite Tracks: Racing in the Street; Badlands; Prove It All Night

#357: Al Green - Let's Stay Together (1972)

Zack: Every once in a while, I like to just randomly start signing Let’s Stay Together or I’m Still in Love With You by Al Green. I like to do it in occasions that clearly do not warrant crooning. I don’t know why I do this. In fact, those are probably the only Al Green songs I know. Now that I’ve listened to an entire album, I can certainly see why those two songs seemed to have been ingrained directly into my soul. Let’s Stay Together (the album) was smooth and soulful. It was the type of album I could see myself putting on while I relaxed with a glass of wine after a hard day of working, regardless of whether Emily was present at the time. If I’m putting Al Green relative to his contemporaries, honestly, I’m taking Gaye, Wonder, and Redding over Al Green, with Isaac Hayes bringing up the rear. But I’ve genuinely loved the albums I’ve listened to by all of those guys, so I don’t mean that as any type of insult. Basically, I’ve found soul music to be an incredibly ripe genre that only seems to bear delicious fruits.

Favorite Tracks: Let’s Stay Together; I’ve Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do): How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

Emily: '70s soul is one of the most remarkably consistent subgenres we've encountered through this blog. While some of it is just okay, it never veers towards bad and frequently can be considered great. There's just something about the combination of horns, guitars, and smooth vocals that just works. Let's Stay Together keeps up that tradition. Although the high point is definitely the title track, Al Green has created a great 35 minutes of classic soul that feels just as important today as I'm sure it did in 1972.

Favorite Tracks: Let's Stay Together; What Is This Feeling?; I’ve Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)

#356: Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992)

Zack: Did I have to relisten to this album before writing my review? Of course not. I’ve listened to That Chronic at least a half dozen times, and probably more like double that. But I still played it again, to make sure it was fresh in my mind when I wrote this. I have a hard time thinking of another album from that same era where the beats sound as fresh and futuristic as the ones on Dre’s solo debut. Some of the beats sound like they should have been on Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly this year. It’s incredible how seemingly clairvoyant Dr. Dre seems to be as a producer. And then you listen to the lyrics. For how impressive it is that The Chronic avoids sounding dated musically, I struggle to think of how it could sound any more dated lyrically. Once you get past all the schoolyard taunts directed at former bandmate Eazy-E, there’s still just an entire vat of homophobia, sexism, and just plain ignorance. I’m willing to overlook that when it comes to Eminem because it always sort of felt like the points was just to offend, and that what he was saying was just trolling for a laugh. Dre clearly means it, and that’s far less excusable. In general, whenever I listen to The Chronic, I do my absolute best to block out the actual words. I appreciate how fucking smooth Snoop is all over nearly every track (seriously, this is basically a collaboration album) and I bounce along with the beats. Because once you let the words get to you, this album really loses its luster.

Favorite Tracks: Nuthin’ But a G Thang; Lyrical Gangbang; Bitches Ain’t Shit

Emily: A few days ago, Zack excitedly texted me that Dr. Dre announced that he will be releasing an album to accompany the upcoming Straight Outta Compton movie. For Dre, this is a big deal, since he hasn't released an album in over 15 years (15 years and 9 months according to Zack, but who's counting?). I knew this was a big deal when Zack said he would actually consider paying for the album. And, of course, it made my review of The Chronic super timely. Although I've heard Dr. Dre's production on numerous albums and songs (Eminem, Snoop Dogg, etc.), I'd never actually listened to his own music before today. In all honesty, I wasn't really a fan. Although the G-funk sound is unique and interesting, I found myself wishing for more funk and less G. That sounds has definitely evolved and matured since 1992, though, so I'm definitely curious to see what Dre's sound will be like now.

Favorite Tracks: Nuthin’ But a G Thang; Lyrical Gangbang; Bitches Ain’t Shit

#355: Circle Jerks - Group Sex (1980)

Zack: While I know full well that I am repeating myself for at least the 15^th time, hardcore punk is my least favorite brand of punk. And Circle Jerks are about as hardcore as it gets. But Group Sex is everything you expect it to be: loud, fast, and over just as quickly as an orgy at a house where the parents couldn’t get grandma to take the kids on short notice. For me, some of those sprints of mayhem really landed. Other fell flat. In general, I’d say that the former easily outweighed the latter. But I’ve started to wonder if we really need this many hardcore albums when I have such a hard time telling the difference. Group Sex was as good as it could have been (tee-hee), but I’m legitimately beginning to think that a second Ramones album or a third Clash album would have been more deserving of this spot.

Favorite Tracks: I Just Want Some Skank; Live Fast Die Young; Group Sex

Emily: My roommate is dogsitting this week for a very cute bichon-poodle mix named Whitney. As soon as I turned Group Sex on this morning, she started growling and continued to do so for most of the duration of the album (which, granted, was only 15 minutes long). While its likely that she was just growling at another dog, or the mailman, or a car, or any other random passers-by, I like to think that it started because of the hardcore stylings of the Circle Jerks. That pretty much sums this album up: its loud, fast, and screamy enough to make a little dog growl at you for 15 minutes straight.

Favorite Tracks: I Just Want Some Skank; Operation; Group Sex

#354: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle be Unbroken (1972)

Zack: When I went to listen to this album and saw how long it was, I’m pretty sure I made a noise like I was a victim in a Saw movie. It’s no secret that the country music we’ve listened to has been hit-or-miss with me. And while my palette has expanded in recent years so that there are more hits than there used to be, there are still a fuck ton of misses. So a double album of country seemed to provide twice as many reasons to fear. After listening to the first half, though, I started to calm down. It wasn’t all bad. In fact, in many places, it was all good. I kind of liked that they were trying to bang everything out in only one take. It all felt so natural. Like I was sitting on a porch drinking wine from a jug while people cavorted around me. Some of the songs I even knew! But then disc 2 started. And all of a sudden I was submerged in a sea of fiddling. And that sea was quite tumultuous. Even though I was sitting in a crappy chair at the FEC coding fundraising data, what was going into my ears was the most uncomfortable part of my day. Eventually, things turned around somewhat. But I was struck by a lesson I really feel more artists should have learned by now: If you think you have enough material for a double album, shut up no you don’t. They could have easily pared this down to a single, 1-hour disc and I would have loved it. But Will the Circle be Unbroken had to push their luck on that double album, and they lost me there.

Favorite Tracks: Nashville Blues; Dark as a Dungeon; Black Mountain Rag

Emily: Will the Circle be Unbroken clocks in at about 105 minutes, nearly two hours of Nashville country music. Listening to it took me five separate walks throughout D.C. - from my house to work, from work to the gym, from the gym to my house, and again from my house to work and work to my house. That's a lot of steps logged for one measly album. And on every leg of the journey, I wanted to be listening to something else. Heard some Kanye West in spin class? Should've listened to Yeezus on the way home. Saw a clip about the Bad Blood video on Instagram? Should've put on T. Swift while walking to work. These are actual thoughts I had over the past two days, but each time I kept on plugging through the fiddles, twang, and lonely hearts of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. And when I stepped into my apartment this evening, the last few bars of the thirty-eighth track playing through my headphones, I breathed a sigh of relief. The unending Circle of country music was finally (Un)broken.

Favorite Tracks: I'm Thinkin' Tonight of My Blue Eyes; Nine Pound Hammer; Tennessee Stud

#353: The Pretenders - Pretenders (1980)

Emily: Chrissie Hynde should rank up there with Joan Jett on the list of badass old-school punk chicks. Hynde may not be as well-known or perform as often as Jett still does, but both have been playing classic punk rock for decades and are way cooler wearing a guitar and a black tank top than you or I could ever hope to be. Another similarity between them is that they're both still fronting their longtime bands: Jett with the Blackhearts, and Hynde with the Pretenders. Though both have gone through lineup changes over the years, their main constants have been the persistence of their frontwomen and the badassery of their music. And much as Jett still mostly plays her early stuff, I'm sure Hynde throws a few tracks off of her band's self-titled debut into every setlist. And for good reason: this album had the spirit of punk tied into the emerging sounds of new wave and alternative. Plus Brass in Pocket is catchy as all hell. That alone should be enough for Chrissy Hynde and the Pretenders to be included in the same category as Joan Jett.
Favorite Tracks: Brass in Pocket; Precious; Private Life

Zack: I originally had this album classified as new wave, which ended up being awesome because it meant we listened to one more punk album and one less new wave album. I can think of exactly 0 scenarios where that is a bad thing. The Pretenders had some new wave/pop flair to it, but the nuts and bolts of the album were pretty much pure punk. I loved that about it. It didn’t necessarily have the speed, but everything else was there. But, most importantly, synths were barely there. I can’t stress enough how much that meant to me. Overall, then, The Pretenders was a good album that serves as a precursor for the pop-punk movement we saw a few decades later.

Favorite Tracks: Stop Your Sobbing; Private Life; Tattooed Love Boys

#352: Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

Zack: When we first started writing this blog, nearly five years ago (holy shit!), I named Pink Floyd as my second favorite band/artist. At the time, that was totally true. When it came time to revise the list, nearly two years ago (once again, holy shit!), they had been bumped from the top 5. At that time, that was totally true. And as of today, they have not reclaimed their original place, although they do threaten to break back in. Why have they fallen? Mostly, it’s because I discovered new (but mostly very, very old) artists that totally blew me away. But part of it is that the Pink Floyd that used to deconstruct my entire consciousness simply stopped doing that for me. I used to put on Animals on my shitty MP3 player my freshman year of college, gaze at the ceiling, and let the music wash over me while I tried to fall asleep before 4 a.m. (college, amirite?) Now, I listen to Pink Floyd and appreciate how cool it is without feeling overwhelmed by its awesomeness. But Piper presented an opportunity to reawaken my love for the Floyd for a simple reason: I’d never listened to it before. My four staples used to be (in order): Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall. I’d listened to other stuff, but never got around to Piper. When we started the blog, I intentionally avoided listening to it so that I could document my first time here, for your pleasure. And, having waited so long, my reaction is…meh. I liked it, but the biggest takeaway for me was that I really prefer spacey psychedelic music over fantasy psychedelic music. Most of Pink Floyd’s music falls in the former camp, but Piper didn’t. And, seemingly as a result, I didn’t like it as much. It’s a shame because I was really looking forward to this album. But, ultimately, it just couldn’t capture the magic of the first time I heard the other Pink Floyd albums.

Favorite Tracks: Interstellar Overdrive; Matilda Mother; Astronomy Domine

Emily: I decided to pick up my listening-to-music-while-walking-to-work thing again after a few weeks of totally failing at it, so I started The Piper at the Gates of Dawn without much knowledge besides that it was next on the list and that it was early Pink Floyd. I've listened to only a bit of Pink Floyd over the years (though I did go to an outdoor showing of The Wizard of Oz synced up to Dark Side of the Moon last summer), so I knew to expect psychedelic and trippy musical stylings with perhaps some sort of interwoven story or theme running through. That's kind of what it was, but I could definitely tell that it was early in the band's career. They hadn't quite fleshed out the sound that made them so unique and timeless a few years and albums down the line, so a lot of the album sounded like things we've come across before on this blog. I also thought it kinda sounded like a trippy '60s James Bond soundtrack, which at least held my interest throughout the album. Maybe The Piper at the Gates of Dawn syncs up to Goldfinger? Only one way to find out...

Favorite Tracks: Interstellar Overdrive; Astronomy Domine; Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk