I just finished A. This is going to take FOREVER.
A was sort of interesting.
The bulk of it was stuff I'd normally leave on if it came up on shuffle, like Gomez, Counting Crows, Yo La Tengo, and listening to the albums through was really, really good.
A surprise for me was that the Radiohead album 'Amnesiac' was REALLY hard to get through. I thought I'd go into 'New Radiohead Album' mode, but no. It kept leaping out and breaking my concentration with a huge clamour of noise - literal noise, not necessarily anything musical, and then it skulked off with something unremarkable until I was sufficiently off my guard that as the music changed I slowly began to grit my teeth and not realize why. I think a lot of people have a two-to-three listens threshold before Radiohead albums begin to kick in and work for them, and I would put myself among them, but I'm not sure I will manage it.
Cast: All Change was a bit annoying. There are only a couple of songs on there that don't sound like typical nasal 90s guitar band, and I still like those - 'Sandstorm' and 'History'. The rest was a bit of an exercise in endurance.
Green Day: American Idiot. Why are there two NINE MINUTE SONGS on a punk album? I'm not saying they're not good, but holy crap.
Big shock - I enjoyed listening to Annie: Annimal, and I love the Atlantic Soul compilation anyway, and compilations might be cheating the goal of the project a little.
I'm getting cracking on B, which is HUGE:
Should I even be including 'Best Of' compilations for a project where the entire aim is to appreciate albums as albums?
A was sort of interesting.
The bulk of it was stuff I'd normally leave on if it came up on shuffle, like Gomez, Counting Crows, Yo La Tengo, and listening to the albums through was really, really good.
A surprise for me was that the Radiohead album 'Amnesiac' was REALLY hard to get through. I thought I'd go into 'New Radiohead Album' mode, but no. It kept leaping out and breaking my concentration with a huge clamour of noise - literal noise, not necessarily anything musical, and then it skulked off with something unremarkable until I was sufficiently off my guard that as the music changed I slowly began to grit my teeth and not realize why. I think a lot of people have a two-to-three listens threshold before Radiohead albums begin to kick in and work for them, and I would put myself among them, but I'm not sure I will manage it.
Cast: All Change was a bit annoying. There are only a couple of songs on there that don't sound like typical nasal 90s guitar band, and I still like those - 'Sandstorm' and 'History'. The rest was a bit of an exercise in endurance.
Green Day: American Idiot. Why are there two NINE MINUTE SONGS on a punk album? I'm not saying they're not good, but holy crap.
Big shock - I enjoyed listening to Annie: Annimal, and I love the Atlantic Soul compilation anyway, and compilations might be cheating the goal of the project a little.
I'm getting cracking on B, which is HUGE:
Bach's Brandenburg Concertos #4 and #5: Leppard / English Chamber OrchestraThat's one long stretch of Beethoven at the start there, and cor blimey, three albums of Ray Charles in a row.
Back to Black: Amy Winehouse
Bad: Michael Jackson (I think this might be corrupted)
Band A'Part: Nouvelle Vague
Barry White's Greatest Hits: Barry White
Be: Common
Beauty & Crime: Suzanne Vega
Becoming X: Sneaker Pimps
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 3: Juillard String Quartet
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Kreutzer, Spring : Perlman & Ashkenazy
Begin to Hope: Regina Spektor
Beginner's Guide To World Music: Various Artists
Ben Folds Five: Ben Folds Five
Bends (The): Radiohead
Best of Blur: Blur
Best of Buddy Holly: Buddy Holly
Best of Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Fitzgerald
Best of Glenn Miller: Glenn Miller
Best of James: James
Best of Led Zeppelin, Vol. 1: Led Zeppelin
Best of The Grateful Dead (Skeletons In The Closet): The Grateful Dead
Best of The King: Elvis Presley
Beyond The Neighbourhood: Athlete
Big Calm: Morcheeba
Birth Of Soul Vols. 1, 2 and 3: Ray Charles
Blonde on Blonde: Bob Dylan
Blues Brothers Soundtrack: Various Artists
Born On A Pirate Ship: Bare Naked Ladies
Bossanova: Pixies
Boulevard: St. Germain
Boxer: The National
Boy With The Arab Strap: Belle and Sebastian
Bricolage: Amon Tobin
The Bridge: Billy Joel
Bridges To Babylon: The Rolling Stones
Bring It On: Gomez
Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan
Buena Vista Social Club/Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer
Bully (Original Score): Shawn Lee
Should I even be including 'Best Of' compilations for a project where the entire aim is to appreciate albums as albums?
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