In Snake's Collection:
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
This album exploded out across the world sometime in my junior and senior year of high school. I know I looked up the release date, yet it still didn't register to me which year I would have been. It is all a blur except the music and TV shows. Anyway... I think there was a parallel between their maturity as a band and the maturity I was coming to face. The sex drive is still there, but there is also moments of great insight and thoughts of the world around you. Previous Peppers albums would have been like the screaming horny Fresh/Soph high schoolers. 'Scar Tissue' is a good song, but I always preferred 'Other Side'. I remember watching the video for that one over and over. 'I Like Dirt' is a nice little gem that I can still remember discovering with Red as we listened a little farther into the CD, good nonsense in a way.
Oh, I Wish I Had It
The Cars - The Cars:
The track list reads like a classic rock radio play list for a day. The second tier songs behind their mega hits are still better than most. 'Bye, Bye Love' and 'You're All I've Got Tonight' are gems. I never used to like 'Moving In Stereo' until I saw "Fast Times At Ridgemont High". Now, it is an awesome song. In a way, it helped me get it and that riff is pretty cool stuff.
Girl Power!
Celebrity Skin - Hole & Cheap Thrills - Big Brother And The Holding Company
You can draw alot of similarities between Joplin and Love, but it would probably end up disrespecting both of them. Although, there is a part of me that wonders how it was that Janis died from her vices, and yet, Courtney is still around plaguing us. Both spent their time on these albums focusing on their singing, which I give the upper hand their to Janis. Love wrote most of the lyrics which is a plus for here even if she did have a better support system in Billy Corgan and Melissa Auf der Maur (check her out, this girl rocks, although I still wouldn't put her solo album on this list). In the end, these albums are both shining achievements for two amazing singers.
Agree To Disagree
Can't Buy A Thrill - Steely Dan
I'll disagree with Red a little bit on this one. Unlike their first entry on the list "Aja", this album is more of what I originally liked about Steely Dan. 'Do It Again' always fools me into thinking it is Santana. It just has that vibe to it, and futures a pretty good organ solo & electric sitar. 'Reelin' In The Years' is by far my favorite of theirs. Again, still a little mellow, but I think that captures the feeling of the times. Some of the others songs on this album sound familiar. This is the Steely Dan album I would buy. And Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is one of the coolest names ever!
And You Are?
Cars Wheels On A Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
This one continues to perplex me. Her name is one I have heard many times before, yet I can't place any of her songs in my head. I have no cheated (that is what I told myself it would be) by listening to one on-line. 'Still I Long For Your Kiss' was even features in "The Horse Whisper", but still I can't place it. As I write this, it has been 5 days since I read the posting with this title in it and my brain still cannot remember her songs. Yet, as soon as I read it, I knew I knew her name and had heard them before. I am gonna say it is her understated song style and soft country ways, cause I am not that old yet, damn it!
No Homers Club (That's Homers, which means we can have one)
There are 3 albums that I like on my Ipod that fall into this letter range, but I really don't feel they are omissions. (sorry, I thought up the title and had to add in the addition line in reference to the Simpsons.)
Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions - Kiss
Here I go talking about Kiss again. This is Kiss unlike you've ever heard before. This is the last album Paul & Gene made before the reunion of the original Kiss members and reapplying of the makeup. It is very heavy and sort of grungy like Alice in Chains. It is really good actually and will forever get lost in the shuffle, cast off as a copy of the grunge movement and lost in the shadow of the big reunion.
Carnival Ride - Carrie Underwood
Sophomore effort from the Idol queen. At first, I didn't like it as much as "Some Hearts" (probably because I was just used to Some Hearts), but it grew on me. Helped land her the 'Entertainer of the Year' award this year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
The Chase - Garth Brooks
This was Garth's 4th album and his star was continuing to rise building each time on the success of "No Fences" and "Ropin' The Wind". I've read where Brooks feels this is his most personal, favorite album where he seems to do his best writing. The album loses some of the country cookie cutterness of the previous two and goes just a bit darker. Some songs seem more social conscious and he starts to make statements.
In Closing: Maybe next week will blow our socks off, although I hear we will have to wait until next week for that. All my fault, I take the blame. Maybe there will be enough albums once we get through 'C' to go back and make a top ten list from that group.
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2 comments:
I think Californication came out near the end of our senior year. Maybe early spring. I bought it that summer before school started. I remember that much.
Your being a little hard on yourself, there's a chance I wouldn't have done an album list this week anyway, just because I want to get the afterward written and posted somewhere near the end of the project. I thought a week might be too long. I don't know if I can get both done though. With the weather getting nice, outdoor duties are popping up and cutting into my writing time.
Californication was released June 8th, 1999, so I was in the ball park. Of course we always bought CDs after they had been out awhile so the timeline seems right.
I am always hard on myself, dunno why. Just a drive I have sometimes, but i can let it paralyze me. Plus I was just mentally drained from work meetings and a head cold last week.
Looking back at what i wrote here, I don;t think I would have even mentioned 'The Chase' if I didnt feel I was light on material and when I did my research I read about how big on the album Brooks was so I guess i convinced myself to keep it in even if I didn't believe in the album myself. I know the guy has made some bad choices but still when he says this is his best work, I respect that.
Plus I am surprised about what I wrote on Steely Dan, I dunno where that 180 came from. I do suffer from musically mood swings though. 3-4 weeks from now if another album of theirs comes up or even if this one resurfaced somehow, I would probably call it crap. I am just like that.
I listen to Lucinda Williams on ITunes and I don't know any of those songs. IT is just weird, like one of those names you hear so it is familar but really you've never heard one not of their music.
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