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So I've been tagged by five people so far on Facebook about the "15 albums in 15 minutes" meme: list the first 15 albums you can think of that will always stick with you. You're supposed to then tag 15 people including the person who tagged you in their list; I'm tempted to wait until another 10 people tag me. The thing is, the "don't take too long to think about it" rule is almost impossible to follow: I'd have had to respond immediately upon seeing the first note, and since I did not, I have of course been thinking about what I would list. Still, this is mostly off the top of my head, and without having my CD collection nearby to look over. Also, I wrote the list, then went back and filled in the commentary on each album, which helped to keep the actual list spontaneous.
1. Ghost in the Machine, The Police
Really I'm tempted to just put Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings and call it good, but if I had to choose just one album by the Police, this would be it. The middle third isn't as strong as the first or last, but the whole thing is pretty solid and it ranges from very personal to global in scope, from the uplifting hopefulness of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" to the bleakness of "Darkness". The kids just a touch younger and hipper than I was had The Smiths, but this is what I had and it came first.
2. Dog & Butterfly, Heart
I always liked Heart, but really fell in love with the band after they released their self-titled album in the mid-'80s that revamped their style and kicked off their comeback. The first time I went to see a rock concert, it was to see Heart playing in Manchester NH on their Bad Animals tour. I also started collecting all their albums, and quickly came to prefer their older '70s sound. It's tough to choose just one of their albums, but this one is the most cohesive and all of its songs hold up, nothing falls flat. Dreamboat Annie is very close and has something of a sustained concept, but a couple of its songs are oddly out of place in that context.
3. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, The Sundays
My god do I still love this album. Harriett Wheeler's voice and delivery, the sparseness of the music, the wistfulness and melancholy… I remember reading a review back when it came out that dismissed the songs as "forgettable," and I find that as shockingly wrong-headed now as I did then. I'm still not exactly sure of all the lyrics and I still don't care, the sheer beauty carries it.
4. Decksanddrumsandrockandroll, The Propellerheads
This album is so awesome, eleven years later I am still hoping they will someday put out a second one. I do think "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" goes on a bit too long—but then it was for the closing credits of a film—but really you can't listen to this album and not want to be in an superspy-action film.
5. Greatest Hits, Steely Dan
Okay, I could put Aja rather than a compilation album, but I had this one first and it does have most of their hits; I do love all of their classic albums, but I can easily get by with just this.
6. Encendedor, The Dambuilders
Joan Wasser rocks the violin like no one else. The rest of the band live up to her level.
7. Where Hearts Go Broke, Hotels
No, really. There's a reason I keep going on about Hotels, and attending as many of their shows as possible. So much of what I love about early-'80s New Wave—the angst, wistfulness, hopefulness, passion, and great dance music—is distilled in this one album, and it still sounds fresh, not horribly dated. Although it's only been out a year and should be much too recent for a list of albums that will always stick with me, I'm pretty confident about including it.
8. Peregrine, Tara Jane O'Neil
Hmm. I immediately thought of including this one, and it's definitely one of my favorites, but I haven't actually listened to it in at least two years, I'd say. Then again I did listen to it a lot in 2000, when it came out, and although that was a year with several really great albums, this was the one I ultimately decided was my favorite. I do know if I listen to it again I'll fall in love with it all over, and it's as good for background music as it rewards close listening, too.
9. Silt, Mistle Thrush
Maybe I should put Drunk with You, their final album, down on the list instead of Silt, their first full-length. Because the reason I was attending all of Mistle Thrush's shows for two or so years was that I could only hear the songs that ended up on Drunk with You when the band played live—they held off on releasing the album due to a bad publishing contract they were waiting out. But when Drunk with You was finally released, it did not include "You're So Divine," one of their most powerful songs in concert and one of my favorites; Silt, however, has "Flowereyed", the song that made me fall in love with the band in the first place, and the rest of the album is wonderful too. Not that Drunk with You isn't also a great album.
10. Downward Is Heavenward, Hum
This has to be one of the most underrated and overlooked albums of the '90s. Hum are mostly known for their song "Stars", off their first album You'd Prefer an Astronaut, but I think they perfected their sound with this album and it's much better than the first one. It's a shame they didn't continue… but then maybe this is the best we were going to get from them.
11. Night Works, Layo & Bushwacka!
This album always gets me grooving. In a sense, it's the reason I have an "iPhone Groove" playlist, so I can always have music on hand for when I'm moving. It's not too fast, it's not too hard, it flows really smoothly, it always sounds great.
12. Now That's What I Call Quite Good, The Housemartins
The album title says it all.
13. Louder Than Bombs, The Smiths
Once I did get into the Smiths, this became my favorite album of theirs. So much of it is just so much fun to sing along to.
14. Haley, Reflecting Skin
Leah Chandra's voice can still send chills up my spine. Reflecting Skin did not last long enough to get the recognition they should have. Amazing music that's dark and grand and mysterious and vast. When I was driving across the country to Seattle, I knew this was the album I wanted playing as we started the final day, driving from the eastern border of Idaho down through the rest of the Rockies.
15. Night and Day, Joe Jackson
Another case where it's hard to pick just one album. In fact i'm still waffling over putting Big World instead, but this was the one I loved first.
As I said, although I did spend a little time thinking about the list before sitting down to write it—since I've had several days of people tagging me with their lists (which I haven't looked at yet, so as not to influence my own choices) before having time to write my own, I couldn't help that—I mostly composed the list just now as I'm writing this post, and I did it just on personal reflection, not even looking at my CD collection or iTunes. So it's interesting to compare it to another list I made three years ago, also in response to a blog meme: "my life in favorite albums", choosing a favorite album released each year of my life. The only albums here that aren't on that list are Night Works by Layo & Bushwacka!, Steely Dan's Greatest Hits, and Where Hearts Go Broke by Hotels, which wasn't even out yet. Greatest Hits came out in 1978, and so I could've put it on that list as an honorable mention, and Night Works came out in 2002, which was just a really tough year to make a choice.
Also, 15 albums is of course completely arbitrary; I could easily list another 15 albums that'll always stick with me, and then another 15 again.Then on the other hand, there are albums I'll always treasure, some of which I'd want to include in a list such as this, which I may now rarely ever listen to just because my interests have shifted; as noted above, Peregrine is one such album, and I went through most of the 2000s rarely listening to the Police until my high school 20th reunion in 2008 indirectly brought their music back strongly into my life.
1. Ghost in the Machine, The Police
Really I'm tempted to just put Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings and call it good, but if I had to choose just one album by the Police, this would be it. The middle third isn't as strong as the first or last, but the whole thing is pretty solid and it ranges from very personal to global in scope, from the uplifting hopefulness of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" to the bleakness of "Darkness". The kids just a touch younger and hipper than I was had The Smiths, but this is what I had and it came first.
2. Dog & Butterfly, Heart
I always liked Heart, but really fell in love with the band after they released their self-titled album in the mid-'80s that revamped their style and kicked off their comeback. The first time I went to see a rock concert, it was to see Heart playing in Manchester NH on their Bad Animals tour. I also started collecting all their albums, and quickly came to prefer their older '70s sound. It's tough to choose just one of their albums, but this one is the most cohesive and all of its songs hold up, nothing falls flat. Dreamboat Annie is very close and has something of a sustained concept, but a couple of its songs are oddly out of place in that context.
3. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, The Sundays
My god do I still love this album. Harriett Wheeler's voice and delivery, the sparseness of the music, the wistfulness and melancholy… I remember reading a review back when it came out that dismissed the songs as "forgettable," and I find that as shockingly wrong-headed now as I did then. I'm still not exactly sure of all the lyrics and I still don't care, the sheer beauty carries it.
4. Decksanddrumsandrockandroll, The Propellerheads
This album is so awesome, eleven years later I am still hoping they will someday put out a second one. I do think "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" goes on a bit too long—but then it was for the closing credits of a film—but really you can't listen to this album and not want to be in an superspy-action film.
5. Greatest Hits, Steely Dan
Okay, I could put Aja rather than a compilation album, but I had this one first and it does have most of their hits; I do love all of their classic albums, but I can easily get by with just this.
6. Encendedor, The Dambuilders
Joan Wasser rocks the violin like no one else. The rest of the band live up to her level.
7. Where Hearts Go Broke, Hotels
No, really. There's a reason I keep going on about Hotels, and attending as many of their shows as possible. So much of what I love about early-'80s New Wave—the angst, wistfulness, hopefulness, passion, and great dance music—is distilled in this one album, and it still sounds fresh, not horribly dated. Although it's only been out a year and should be much too recent for a list of albums that will always stick with me, I'm pretty confident about including it.
8. Peregrine, Tara Jane O'Neil
Hmm. I immediately thought of including this one, and it's definitely one of my favorites, but I haven't actually listened to it in at least two years, I'd say. Then again I did listen to it a lot in 2000, when it came out, and although that was a year with several really great albums, this was the one I ultimately decided was my favorite. I do know if I listen to it again I'll fall in love with it all over, and it's as good for background music as it rewards close listening, too.
9. Silt, Mistle Thrush
Maybe I should put Drunk with You, their final album, down on the list instead of Silt, their first full-length. Because the reason I was attending all of Mistle Thrush's shows for two or so years was that I could only hear the songs that ended up on Drunk with You when the band played live—they held off on releasing the album due to a bad publishing contract they were waiting out. But when Drunk with You was finally released, it did not include "You're So Divine," one of their most powerful songs in concert and one of my favorites; Silt, however, has "Flowereyed", the song that made me fall in love with the band in the first place, and the rest of the album is wonderful too. Not that Drunk with You isn't also a great album.
10. Downward Is Heavenward, Hum
This has to be one of the most underrated and overlooked albums of the '90s. Hum are mostly known for their song "Stars", off their first album You'd Prefer an Astronaut, but I think they perfected their sound with this album and it's much better than the first one. It's a shame they didn't continue… but then maybe this is the best we were going to get from them.
11. Night Works, Layo & Bushwacka!
This album always gets me grooving. In a sense, it's the reason I have an "iPhone Groove" playlist, so I can always have music on hand for when I'm moving. It's not too fast, it's not too hard, it flows really smoothly, it always sounds great.
12. Now That's What I Call Quite Good, The Housemartins
The album title says it all.
13. Louder Than Bombs, The Smiths
Once I did get into the Smiths, this became my favorite album of theirs. So much of it is just so much fun to sing along to.
14. Haley, Reflecting Skin
Leah Chandra's voice can still send chills up my spine. Reflecting Skin did not last long enough to get the recognition they should have. Amazing music that's dark and grand and mysterious and vast. When I was driving across the country to Seattle, I knew this was the album I wanted playing as we started the final day, driving from the eastern border of Idaho down through the rest of the Rockies.
15. Night and Day, Joe Jackson
Another case where it's hard to pick just one album. In fact i'm still waffling over putting Big World instead, but this was the one I loved first.
As I said, although I did spend a little time thinking about the list before sitting down to write it—since I've had several days of people tagging me with their lists (which I haven't looked at yet, so as not to influence my own choices) before having time to write my own, I couldn't help that—I mostly composed the list just now as I'm writing this post, and I did it just on personal reflection, not even looking at my CD collection or iTunes. So it's interesting to compare it to another list I made three years ago, also in response to a blog meme: "my life in favorite albums", choosing a favorite album released each year of my life. The only albums here that aren't on that list are Night Works by Layo & Bushwacka!, Steely Dan's Greatest Hits, and Where Hearts Go Broke by Hotels, which wasn't even out yet. Greatest Hits came out in 1978, and so I could've put it on that list as an honorable mention, and Night Works came out in 2002, which was just a really tough year to make a choice.
Also, 15 albums is of course completely arbitrary; I could easily list another 15 albums that'll always stick with me, and then another 15 again.Then on the other hand, there are albums I'll always treasure, some of which I'd want to include in a list such as this, which I may now rarely ever listen to just because my interests have shifted; as noted above, Peregrine is one such album, and I went through most of the 2000s rarely listening to the Police until my high school 20th reunion in 2008 indirectly brought their music back strongly into my life.
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