Idle amusements
This being the short work week that it is, i'm squeezing 40 hours of projects into about 30 hours of work time, so posting will probably be light this week.
In the meantime, if you've got idle time to fill, check out the Guardian's list of the 1000 albums You Must Hear Before You Die (i'm not making that up either, that's the title of the series.) If you grew up in the days when music, you know, mattered, you'll find something to like, or at least argue over, about their take on the last 70 years or so of pop music. Unlike Elvis Costello's list of 500 Albums That Can Only Improve Your Life, this one attempts to limit each artist to one entry. Exceptions for people like Brian Eno, whose multiple collaborations were counted as separate entries, were rare but not absent entirely. Costello's list was originally published 7 years ago, before the Day That Changed Everything. The Guardian's list skews, i think, toward music released since then, or music that has come to be appreciated since then. A lot of it i'm unfamiliar with. But it gives me an idea of where to start.
Listened to any good new music lately?
In the meantime, if you've got idle time to fill, check out the Guardian's list of the 1000 albums You Must Hear Before You Die (i'm not making that up either, that's the title of the series.) If you grew up in the days when music, you know, mattered, you'll find something to like, or at least argue over, about their take on the last 70 years or so of pop music. Unlike Elvis Costello's list of 500 Albums That Can Only Improve Your Life, this one attempts to limit each artist to one entry. Exceptions for people like Brian Eno, whose multiple collaborations were counted as separate entries, were rare but not absent entirely. Costello's list was originally published 7 years ago, before the Day That Changed Everything. The Guardian's list skews, i think, toward music released since then, or music that has come to be appreciated since then. A lot of it i'm unfamiliar with. But it gives me an idea of where to start.
Listened to any good new music lately?
Labels: pop culture
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5 Comments:
check out the album "wild mountain nation" by biltzen trapper. portland band on subpop - so good it's hard to believe your ears.
happy holidaze!
By
libby, at 11:36 AM
wow, i'm actually quite impressed with this 1000-albums list. there are some seriously obscure oddities on there that i absolutely love. so, i'd say, use it.
i dare not foist my musical tastes off on anyone; too mished up.
By
katuah, at 11:50 AM
Boy, I feel like I'm on an episode of Weekend America.
Some new-to-me bands now playing:
The Weepies
Badly Drawn Boy
The Mamas and the Papas.
Re: the M&Ps -- of course I've heard them before, but only the two or three songs that stayed popular. I now have a double CD retrospective which is pretty cool.
By
Marsosudiro, at 1:33 PM
Interesting list. I just went to "B" and found they've sidestepped the obvious Beach Boys selection (Pet Sounds) for the more on-the-cusp moment of Beach Boys Today! (the album actually has an exclamation mark, I think).
My relationship with the British music press (is that a 3-part oxymoron?) is that I'm just not sure if they just aren't trying to sell records, be snarky or both.
But I will go back to the list, I really appreciate the one-album-per-artist rule.
I wonder which Stones album they've picked. Or Cheap Trick or Ramones or Daft Punk...
By
Tony, at 5:39 PM
From the section How the list was compiled:
Second, where there was a good alternative to the blindingly obvious album, we went for the alternative. After all, who needs to be told, yet again, to buy Revolver or Pet Sounds?
RE: Cheap Trick. In Color
By
Barry, at 5:50 PM
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