365 album challenge

[poorpete]

I don't have time to sit and watch 365 films a year anymore, but with sitting at work, commuting for 90 minutes, and doing dishes every night, I do have time to listen to 365 albums I haven't heard previously. Anyone up for trying this out with me?

[DMDarcs]

I've been slowly going through Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time. I recently left off on 454.

[Phoebe]

Does that mean you're 46 in or 454 in?

I would do this with y'all depending on how the albums are selected. I listen to all genres but not everything in a given genre. Like I cannot sit through certain albums. I had to turn off Ariana Grande / Nicki Minaj song the other day because the sounds their vocal parts produce are like chalkboard nails or styrofoam. Rage! But I trust y'all have better musical tastes than I do. I always want to expand the repertoire of things heard. I listen to music every day, and if I can't I have my own going in the head until the next actual listening, so this would be a fun challenge to fit the lifestyle, as it were.

[poorpete]

In the film challenge, it's just to reach 365 by the end of the year, choosing the films is entirely up to the participant. So you can listen to whatever.

Usually a rule is it has to be a film you haven't seen. Trouble I could see is most great albums improve on repeat listens.

Thinking, since there already is a music thread, I'll put the list there.

[akiva]

I'm way too crochety in my music preferences to do this, I think--I hate lots of types of music--unless I own 365 albums, which is unlikely.

[Phoebe]

It would be nice to have a common list, and then if we felt like listening to something else instead, we could post up the results of our side experiments.

[poorpete]

I think I'd be more important to listen to something new than to listen to an album picked by someone else, as it might be one some of else heard.

Also, my goal will be to not buy anything, so most of the albums I will be listening to will be from Amazon Prime's collection, or on YouTube if it's one I really want to hear. I don't have access to Spotify at work or Tidal anywhere.

I'd be up to trying to match yours/others lists as much as possible when it's an album I haven't heard and available for free somewhere.

So FYI, I'm working my way through Beck's "Morning Phase" today.

[poorpete]

Just to move this forward, here's the 7 albums I will be listening to this week. Match if you like, if you heard any of them before, feel free to switch out.

Beck - Morning Phase
The Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.
Beyonce - Beyonce
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Bruce Springstein - Born in the USA
Dusty Springfield - A Brand New Me
A Tribe Called Quest - The Love Movement

[Phoebe]

Started my list with 1. Beck, Morning Phase. I really enjoyed the album, which I hadn't heard hardly at all even though it won the Grammy for best album (yes?). The singing was a lot deeper and fuller than what I expected from Beck - maybe his voice has changed some with age? - and the overall effect of the songs was very pleasant. It reminded me of a cross between Pink Floyd and Neil Young, as sung by Eddie Vedder. However, the sounds and the lyrics felt rather generic and flat, even though it was pleasant to listen to, and didn't grab me in the way that makes it likely I will listen to it again. Although YouTube will probably ensure that I listen to it again, when I forget to click off that little blue button. I guess I'd rather listen to Neil Young or Pink Floyd, but if you were big fans of those and wanted new music in your line of taste, this Beck album would be a great option.

I will listen to some of your suggestions (Miles Davis, Dusty Springfield, Tribe Called Quest). The #2 album I'm going to listen to tonight, for 1/2, is . This came out when I was in grad school and by the time it trickled up to my ears, I was living in a place that had a really good Rock radio station and played All Wrong on heavy rotation. I've heard most of the songs on it before many times, but never really sat down and listened to it straight through as an album, which is unfortunate because at that time most artists were still making albums as such, and the really good ones deserve to be listened to as a whole. This is one of the really good ones. I also like to listen to single tracks over and over again for extended periods, so some of these I've heard hundreds of times. I realize that might seem a little weird or boring if this is not your mode of dedication to musics, but I assure you the songs do not suffer at all from this kind of repetition - if anything, they get better and better over time.

[poorpete]

I will probably be returning to Morning Phase. I've avoided it, hearing that it was Sea Change Part 2, and that's one of those albums that I love so much but I rarely return to because it really gets me emotionally. It didn't wollow in it's sorrow as much and was more cinematic than Sea Change, more varied too. Did I hear a Simon & Garfunkel ode in there? I hope Beck has a dozen more great albums in him.

I'm in the middle of "Born in the USA" and boy, this album is ODing on nostalgia. Bruce like "get me the best ballpark organist."

[Kyle]

I can't afford to do this-- where are you listening to a new album everyday?

[poorpete]

I have an Amazon Prime subscription which has a ton of albums (I'd say about 50% of what I'm looking for) and what I can't listen to there, I'll try YouTube or Spotify. Still not all albums, but hopefully enough to hear 365 decent ones.

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

I don't mind making recommendations off Amazon Prime if that's easier for people - we have that service though I don't use it via my phone. I also don't mind listening to some of them on YouTube. It would be nice if people periodically posted their current lists or future recommendations, and that way we'll have a number of things in common to discuss even as we explore our own unique albums.

[Stan]

There's no way I'll get to 365 but I might get this a try.
I'm going to do at least part of it old school - browsing at the library. The library also has streaming movies and music.

[Phoebe]

The library is a good idea and might have some gems hard to discover elsewhere. I'm not sure where or how we should post our lists, but I'd like to hear what other people are listening to or recommending.

So... so far 1. is Beck, 2. is GLU, and 3. is Pete's recommendation of Beyonce Beyonce, an album I've never sat down and listened to straight through even though I really like certain songs from it (the usual more popular ones: Drunk in Love, XO, Partition). After listening to the whole thing, I discovered other songs worthy of more attention, like Rocket, Mine, and Heaven. The good songs on the album are really terrific and, when they suddenly appeared on the scene, maybe changed people's expectations about what a Beyonce album would be like. It was like a giant middle step on the leap to Lemonade, and who knows what else as she goes forward. The fact that she could turn songs like Drunk in Love and Partition into "hits" is astonishing because they are really so different from what you'd expect makes a hit song. I think Drunk in Love in particular had a big influence on where pop music traveled after that (not always good, since other singers don't do things like that as well as Beyonce).

On the other hand, some of the songs are IMO total duds - Haunted, No Angel, Blow, Jealous, Superpower - and that's a lot of songs to be duds on an album. I can see why people like songs like Pretty Hurts and Flawless, but I'm not a big fan of those musically or otherwise. At the time they came off to me as "empowered songs!" delivered by someone who really wasn't feeling empowered at all, and perhaps for that reason wanted to do empowered songs. End result is more like sadness. I'm not sure how to explain it. Listening to some parts of the album, I feel like an old woman who wants our heroine protagonist to succeed, but who can see she's not succeeding down this path and wishes she would hurry up and try a different road already.

It also bugs me that even though on the whole album, one simply cannot hear it without simultaneously hearing who reminds of Beyonce with similar hairdo in her version. I'm perfectly happy with Beyonce making her own version of Smiths songs - she can do that all day and I'll listen. The occult stuff in XO becomes so heavy, though. It's overwhelming and distracts from the enjoyment, if you're not into that sort of thing. For those who are I imagine it's just delightful. Anyway, the experiment has good results, as it has doubled the repertoire of Enjoyed Songs to Revisit.

[poorpete]

Listening to Beyonce once through so far, "Blow" was the standout, but I think just because the lyrics are so, well, distracting. Will revisit this week.

I've been finding it's hard in Amazon Prime to realize what is the original tracklist and what are bonus tracks. So I was listening to Dusty's album, and thought "What Do You Do When Love Dies" was the standout, but this was a single, not on the album, and actually featured as a bonus track on Dusty in Memphis (great album), of which it was recorded in that session. It really is a fabulous song though.

[Phoebe]

Ooo, I am going to listen to that one. It was my plan before I got diverted by Beyonce and her album. The Blow song has a nice 70s Disco vibe, which normally I like but, uh, the lyrics do not move me the way they move others, perhaps! Instead I start thinking thoughts like "who called it 'skittles' first, anyway, Beyonce or Iggy Azalea? And if it was Iggy, which I think it was, why is Beyonce taking lines from Iggy Azalea?! And what kind of "flawless" feminist who owns her sexuality - or whatever we're supposed to think here - refers to skittles and cherries? I can think of better terms, people... " and at that point I just wish I was listening to Donna Summer. But I appreciate the Donna Summer musical vibe there...

Anyway, if anyone is interested I think this is on Amazon Prime - I'm going to listen to all the 21 Pilots albums my kid has, sometime this month. They're really good and have a lot greater depth than "Stressed Out", if that's the main song of theirs one has heard.

[poorpete]

Thoughts today...

Oooh, Dusty singing "Never Love Again" is pretty spectacular


Beyonce has the best production values of the lot, but none of the songs have really grabbed me yet. I like Drake's chorus in "Mind" and "XO" is the most anthemic of the bunch. Love me some Frank Ocean, and he's all over "Superpower" I assume that will be the one I continue to listen to after this week. Will continue...

Monkees. Feel any listening to them requires reading up on the background for each song. Did they write or cowrite? Did they play no instruments or every instrument? It gets in the way of the music, but when that's pushed away, there's some gems on Pices, Aquarius... I find a lot of the songs are not the least bit feminist, pretty much derogatory at times, which means they'll not end up on my daughter's playlist, even though some are written by Carol King, so you'd think she'd have the ability to tone it down. Still, her "Star Collector" is full of sillyness, including an offbeat moog solo, and maybe the "it won't take time to get her off my mind" is more negative to the band than to the groupie that's being discussed. Reminds me of "Starstruck" by The Kinks. Really the all stars here are the songwriters (Nielson, Goffin + King, Jeff Barry) and producer Chip Douglas, who plays all the excellent bass lines.



Last song on Morning Phase, "Waking Light" is the best of his album. Beck really knows how to end an album, and this might be his best ending. Reminded me of "Find the River" by REM.

Still having issues with liking a bonus track more then the actual album. In this case, the remix of "Scenario" by ATCQ, which has the benefit of being a redo of my favorite hip hop song of all time, with fun samples, and sadly one pretty homophobic line that I will cringe at a lot, as I feel I will be listening to this alot.

[Phoebe]

XO is definitely "anthemic". That aspect kinda bugs me but it's just such a pretty song!

I haven't made it to Dusty Springfield yet because I dipped into the 21 Pilots pool and can't get back out. I started by listening to 4. Vessel and 5. Blurryface, and then it degenerated into all sorts of other songs plus repeats plus random piano+singing by Tyler Joseph. He's just wonderful. Please nobody ever give me info to indicate he's an asshole, because I love everything he puts out and part of the appeal is that he's not afraid to feel and self-critique and experiment with musical and lyrical ideas that risk seeming silly. He does it all with conviction so you believe in it too - even the somewhat terrible "rapping"! He's a brilliant singer though.

I'm guessing people who don't like the sound of his singing as much as I do might not get into this band, but there is some ineffable quality I absolutely LOVE about his voice. I usually don't like such high tenor sounds - it's as if he's the male version of fellow high-note-singah Ariana Grande, yet with the absolutely opposite vocal qualities to what drives me nuts like nails on a chalkboard about her voice. Where her voice always sounds like something is choking and held-back and unenunciated, his voice sounds pure and full and super-enunciated. People who know about singing would have words for this stuff I'm not sure how to describe. Put in terms I grasp: his voice is a pure Royal Blue microfiber comforter, and her voice is like a scary pit of gray smoke that suddenly opened up beneath the earth.

It's easy to find good examples of songs that feature his voice, like Tear in My Heart or Trees, but I really like Fairly Local both for the music and the BEST moment where he gives us his "scream". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDI9inno86U at 3:11) Oh, it's perfect. Someday when his singing parts have been beaten up badly enough I hope he gives us a full AC/DC treatment.