Tag: Music

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Best of 2007: Songs

    Top 5 Songs of 2007   

  1. Remember the Name by Fort Minor: “This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, Fifteen percent concentrated power of will.” So begins the swaggering second single from The Rising Tied, the side project album from Linkin Park band member, Mike Shinoda. The lyrics are crafted so well that you can’t help but chant them to yourself even after the song is over. The fact that the rapping is very old school (i.e. easy to understand) also endears it to me. Oh and the video is fun, too.
  2. Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae: From the moment I first saw her perform this song on Saturday Night Live, I loved the exuberance and joy, both in her delivery and in the song itself. The lyrics evoke a warm summer day from your childhood while the song plants a gentle dance groove in your body. Corinne’s inflections and phrasing is near perfect without seeming contrived, even during the “diva moments” that so many female singers these days over-dramatize. This song is going to be on my future playlists for a long time to come.
  3. Points of Authority/99 Problems by Jay Z and Linkin Park: What do you get when you “mashup” songs by a mediocre rock band and a highly acclaimed but sometimes mediocre rapper? A hard-rocking, rabble-rousing polemic that has a metallic edge and street smarts. I quoted the refrain, “99 problems and a bitch ain’t one,” many times to Tina last year whenever she had to deal with a particular bitch. The lyrics make this inappropriate for some situations but ideal among adults of a specific vintage.
  4. I’d Love To Change The World by Ten Years After: Alvin Lee‘s take on the hippie revolution that never came to pass still sounds fresh 37 years later. Frantic and insistent during the verses, Lee lays back and relaxes for the chorus: “I’d love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do. So I’ll leave it up to you.” Although the song doesn’t give you much of his famous electric guitar, the frenetic acoustic guitar strumming more than makes up for it.
  5. Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull: I know it’s cheating a little bit to include this entire album as a “song”, but Tull’s intention was that it should be heard as a continuous work. I used the “Join Tracks” feature in iTunes to turn the two songs on the CD (called simply “Side 1” and “Side 2”) into one. Although the 45-minute length might be intimidating, the song never meanders and revisits common themes often enough to keep your attention. The lyrics are a musical retelling of a poem written by the fictional character, “Little Milton“. “I really don’t mind if you sit this one out. My words but a whisper, your deafness a SHOUT,” begins the first of many verses that peek in and out between the musical change-ups and not-too-extended jams. Although it’s not necessary to appreciate the song, the newspaper covered album cover provides a lot of background to the story and is fun to read as you listen to the album.

Click the song titles to hear a sample of the song in the iTunes Music Store. You can get iTunes here.

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2360
Van odometer: 150819
Weight lost (in pounds): 14
Hours of sleep last night: 12
Aches & pains: swollen glands/sore throat
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
Recent listening: The Band, This American Life
Recent viewing: The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Countdown, Charlie Rose, Larry King Live, The Simpsons Movie
Recent playing: Spikeys Bounce Around, Chicken and Egg
Recently accomplished: two doctor’s appointments, searching for Rory
Imperative To Do: Sift through inbox, post office (Kent, Sue, Lala), phone calls, finish Best of 2007, test bike commute, join gym, 401k rollover, find new internet host

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2360
Van odometer: 150701
Weight lost (in pounds): 8
Hours of sleep last night: 7
Aches & pains: none
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
Recent listening: The Rising Tied by Fort Minor, The Shepherd’s Dog by Iron & Wine, This American Life, Wolfmother by Wolfmother
Recent viewing: Countdown, The 4400, Superbowl XLII
Recent playing: Peggle
Recently accomplished: cleaned cat boxes, recycling, paid bills, finished Holiday Road series, evaluated Quicken Online (fail), started new job
Imperative To Do: Sift through inbox, post office (Kent, Sue, Lala), phone calls, finish Best of 2007, test bike commute, join gym, 401k rollover, find new internet host

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Best of 2007: Honorable Mention

    Honorable Mention Albums for 2007     

  • The Blind Leading The Naked by Violent Femmes: Talk about a late 80’s flashback! Few bands can lay claim to the soundtrack of my college career but the Femmes are definitely one of them. Of their first three albums, this is probably my least favorite but also the most accessible for the masses. While “Old Mother Reagan” definitely sounds dated, the rest of the album still sounds as fresh as the first time I heard it twenty years ago.
  • Chicago IX (Greatest Hits) by Chicago: Before they were the Peter Cetera Love Song Band, Chicago was a kick-ass rock band with a great horn section. Although some of these songs hinted at the mediocre ballads that would come later, this set of songs is never formulaic and recommended for all fans of classic rock.
  • Eagles Live by The Eagles: Classic rock seems to be the theme for this year’s crop of Honorable Mentions and this live album represents the classiest of the classics. This two-disc set was the capstone on the Eagles’ decade long run at the forefront of the country-rock movement. Although it’s a little heavy on songs from The Long Run (most of the album was recorded during that tour), two discs leaves lots of rooms for all the old favorites and even a “new” classic for this album, “Seven Bridges Road”. More than anything this album proves that the Eagles were a great live band that did not rely on the studio to make their sound. The harmonies are all spot-on and the musicianship is exquisite, particularly on “Hotel California” which ends with a legendary guitar duel between Joe Walsh and Don Felder.
  • Volcano, Riddles in the Sand, Last Mango In Paris by Jimmy Buffett: My sister introduced me to Jimmy Buffett in the 80’s and I have loved his music ever since. For years I had been satisfied with owning the wonderful Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads box set but I have missed many of the album tracks from the period of his career I like to call the Mustache Years. Upon signing up for Lala I immediately put those albums into my Wanted queue. This year I was lucky enough to receive three of those albums. Riddles and Mango have particular meaning for me because they helped provided the soundtrack for my summers in 1984 and 1985 when I lived with my sister in South Carolina. I’ll never forget the look on my brother-in-law’s face as the melody to “La Vie Dansante” played near the end of “Beyond the End” – we were perplexed, delighted… and stoned.
  • Walls and Bridges by John Lennon: Although this album is not considered among Lennon’s finest by most critics, I still count it as one of my favorites by John, probably because it was my first solo Lennon album. The Phil Spector-inspired production can get unnecessarily cluttered with horns sometimes, but each song has almost exactly the right atmosphere it needs. The downbeat numbers, in particular, have a definite dark feeling to them and John’s estrangement from Yoko is obvious. Perhaps that’s why the upbeat numbers feel forced, as if John was trying to convince himself that he was happy when he was not.
  • Apple Venus Volume 1 by XTC: Although I would classify myself as an XTC fan, I haven’t been very impressed with anything they’ve done since Skylarking, perhaps one of the Top 10 albums of all time. Sure there have been songs that I liked, but each album has been a disappointment as a whole. And so it took awhile for me to finally pick up the first release on their own record label, Apple Venus Volume 1. It undeservedly languished outside of the rotation for months last year until I finally set my mind to rediscovering XTC. Oh how I was rewarded! The lush production and the willingness to throw in a horn or some strings harken back to Skylarking but this album isn’t quite up to that standard. Thus, it only makes Honorable Mention this year.
  • Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull: Convential wisdom says that Aqualung and Songs From The Wood make up the essential Jethro Tull oeuvre but I would make the case that this masterwork should be included in that collection as well. I first stumbled upon this album in the mid-80’s as a plundered my sister’s record collection with cassettes in hand. I finally purchased the album on vinyl sometime in the 90’s just so I could have the full version of the epic liner notes but it took this long for me to pick up the CD. After ripping the CD into iTunes using the defaults, I went back and re-ripped it as a single track since I think that’s what Ian Anderson intended all along.
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Holiday Road: Day 9

Saturday, December 29

We woke up Saturday morning anxious to start the homeward leg of our trip. Our destination was Julian, CA where my old friends, Curt and Annette, live. The drive was only supposed to take about six hours so we got a relatively late start after having a leisurely breakfast with the Powell’s.

After we crossed the California border, we headed south on Highway 78 where we saw miles and miles of cotton fields. Soon we were surprised to see favorite Fox vacation destination Glamis on the mileage signs. It was about this time that I began to notice an astounding amount of broken glass on the side of the road. The broken glass continued until we reached Glamis, which I can only describe as a small city made up entirely of RVs and sand-eating recreational vehicles. Thousands and thousands of people occupied the east side of the road as we drove by. The west side of the road was astoundingly pristine and is evidently protected from those who traverse the desert on rubber. As we drove by, we sent a text message to my niece, Trisha, who was there with my sister and the rest of her family. They begged us to stop, but we had a bit of a schedule to keep and I did not relish the thought of sand filling the inside of the Scion once we opened the doors, so we drove on.

A few hours later we missed a turn and inadvertently drove north to the southwestern shore of the Salton Sea. While we were there we found a beach composed entirely of sea shells and fish bones. We marveled at the scores of dead fish before getting back on the road.

Our detour delayed us enough that we watched the sun set over the Anza-Borrego desert as we drove west to Julian. Navigating the hills into Julian was tricky in the dark but we rolled up to Curt and Annette’s house in time for a delicious tapas dinner with them and their 6-year-old son, Timo. After dinner, our boys showed Timo the finer points of internet gaming while the adults settled into conversations about old times, new books and mutual interests in music.

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Holiday Road: Day 2

Saturday, December 22

Left Medford and drove to Aunt Carol and Uncle Ralph’s house in Lafayette, CA. Carol made delicious vegetarian chili and we were joined by Cousins David and Danielle. After dinner, we took the dogs for a walk on a local multi-use path and saw some cool Christmas lights. After talking books vacuum cleaner for pet reviews for a bit, I traded my copy of The Professor and the Madman for Ralph’s copy of My Name Is Red. Before bed we all exchanged gifts and Carol gave everyone a CD for the road.

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Best of 2007: Disappointments

This year there were several albums which I thought would be sure-fire hits for me. Although that’s not unusual, it was unusual that so many failed to deliver.

    Most Disappointing Albums for 2007   

  • The Outsider by DJ Shadow: The Private Press was a revelation for me in 2003 and I named it my favorite album for that year. Unsurprisingly, I was anxiously anticipating Shadow’s follow-up, The Outsider. Unfortunately, it bore little resemblance to his previous masterpiece both in style and quality. I don’t begrudge artists the right to re-invent themselves, but the new direction has to be interesting and compelling. This album was neither.
  • The Information by Beck: There is an old saying that I heard about Neil Young long ago that goes something like “If you don’t like his new album, just wait for the next one because it will be completely different.” I have concluded that the same can be said for Beck. After the maudlin and seldom-heard Sea Change, he delivered my second favorite album for 2005. If the trend continues, his next album will be fabulous because The Information was not.
  • Pure Rock Fury by Clutch: After giving Blast Tyrant a strong Honorable Mention in 2005, I put several Clutch albums on my wishlists. Pure Rock Fury was the first to arrive in my mailbox. Several months and many listens later, I traded it away for something better on LaLa.
  • Ampechture by The Mars Volta: Last year my friend, Jonathan, recommended De-loused In The Comatorium and it landed in my list of Top 10 Albums for 2006. I also enjoyed Frances The Mute and was anxious to hear what The Mars Volta would do next. Sadly, they went off the rails with Amputechture, an album that suffers from a seeming lack of focus and would be better served with less jamming and more melody.
  • 17 Songs by The Wallets: I waited over 20 years to purchase this album after taping two of the standout songs from a friend. Long out of print and available only for exorbitant prices on eBay, it finally became available for a reasonable price this year on Half.com. While I’m glad to finally have “There Was An Old Lady” and “Jimbo” in digital form, the rest of the album is pure 80’s New Wave trash.
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Best of 2007: Introduction

As I explained last year, to be eligible, an album only had to be added to my music collection in 2007, but not necessarily released in 2007. Some long-time favorites with which I had familiarity but had not previously owned were only eligible for “Honorable Mention” along with a few others that didn’t quite make the Top 10.

In order to make it into the Top 10, a CD had to saturate my listening time for an appreciable length of time. Although I have ranked them, distinguishing between any two of these CDs is very difficult indeed. When I obtained each it probably remained in heavy rotation at home, on my iPod and at work for several weeks, often receiving two or three plays per day. This is the quality level required to make the Top 10.

In the coming days, I’ll have articles delineating my picks for Best of 2007. In addition to the Best Albums, I’ll list my favorite songs for the year as well as some musical disappointments for 2007.

If you are interested in my past picks, I have articles for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2352
Weight lost (in pounds): 35
Hours of sleep last night: 7
Hours billed last week: 37
Aches & pains: sciatic (when I stand too long), right shoulder (when I extend my arm away from my body), left achilles tendon, joints in my right hand (likely RSI from Guitar Hero)
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein
Recent listening: In Rainbows by Radiohead, The Shepherd’s Dog by Iron & Wine
Recent viewing: Countdown, The 300 Spartans, Rank, Numb3rs, Eagles vs. Cowboys
Recent playing: foosball, Guitar Hero III (Wii)
Recently accomplished: cleaned cat boxes, recycling, old email, Christmas shopping
Imperative To Do: Sift through inbox, post office (Sunleafs, Seagate, Kent, Sue), sunglasses, InstantCake, phone calls, vacation planning, packing list

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2332
Weight lost (in pounds): 35
Hours of sleep last night: 9
Hours billed last week: 44
Aches & pains: sciatic (when I stand too long), right shoulder (when I extend my arm away from my body), left achilles tendon
Current reading: The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein
Recent listening: Velvet Goldmine: Original Soundtrack, Come On Christmas by Dwight Yoakam, Wolfmother by Wolfmother, Kid Rock by Kid Rock
Recent viewing: Countdown, Suns vs. Jazz, Steelers vs. Patriots, Raiders vs. Packers, Ravens vs. Colts, Wired Science
Recent playing: foosball, Guitar Hero III (Wii)
Recently accomplished: hosed off walkways and deck, stored hoses for the winter, groceries, gorilla shelf parts on Freecycle, paid bills, cat box, email to Curt N.
Imperative To Do: Sift through inbox, post office (Sunleafs, Seagate, Kent, Sue), sunglasses, InstantCake, phone calls, vacation planning, packing list