315. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Richard and Linda Thompson
1974

Tracks
1. When I Get To The Border
2. The Calvary Cross
3. Withered And Died
4. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
5. Down Where The Drunkards Roll
6. We Sing Hallelujah
7. Has He Got A Friend For Me?
8. The Little Beggar Girl
9. The End Of The Rainbow
10. The Great Valerio

What a beautiful album that was.  It was quite a shock to me that I liked it; I figured a husband/wife team wouldn't be anything special.  A lot of people hate Richard Thompson's voice but I thought it worked with the music and that the whole thing was wonderful.

Get out the tissues, though, with this album; it is a kind of love child between Nico and Leonard Cohen in terms of despair.  I mean, just look at the track titles: "Withered and Died" and "Little Beggar Girl".  I know a lot of women who hate listening to any sad songs, but if you don't hear this album, I think you are really missing out.  

England is my favorite country in the world but there is a dark side to it that is explored in this album.  What more can I say?  Listen to it on a rainy day and get ready to feel!

RATING: 5/5

314. Crime of the Century

Crime of the Century
Supertramp
1974

Tracks
1. School 
2. Bloody Well Right 
3. Hide In Your Shell 
4. Asylum 
5. Dreamer
6. Rudy 
7. If Everyone Was Listening 
8. Crime Of The Century

I passed a pretty pleasant hour listening to this album and reading a novel.  These songs are definitely catchy: "Dreamer" and "Asylum" in particular.

Still, it simply isn't as good as other prog rock I have listened to; even the albums I haven't really enjoyed had more of a punch.  A reason for their pretentiousness, if you will.  It also sounded a bit like a rip off of Dark Side of the Moon. 

But I am sort of nitpicking at this point.  It is an entertaining album that has some great keyboard solos.  Good, not great.

RATING: 3/5

313. Kimono My House

Kimono My House (whatever the fuck that means)
Sparks
1974

Tracks
1. This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us
2. Amateur Hour
3. Falling In Love With Myself Again
4. Here In Heaven
5. Thank God It's Not Christmas
6. Hasta Manana Monsieur
7. Talent Is An Asset
8. Complaints
9. In My Family
10. Equator

This is another extremely odd album.  Don't you miss the days when we just had Sinatra singing old love songs?  The more recent the album, the freakier it is.

That is not to say that freaky is bad.  In fact, I quite enjoyed this album (except the last track is so annoying that I tried to cover my ears with a pillow).  This is really wacky pop rock music that sounds like it could be playing at a circus.  I haven't read a single bad review for this album and that is because it is just plain fun!  Weird fun but that is the best kind.

RATING: 5/5

312. Phaedra

Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
1974

Tracks
1. Phaedra 
2. Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares 
3. Movements of a Visionary 
4. Sequent c'

I know I will be revealing my nerdiness to a damning degree here when I say this, but if planet Hoth had a soundtrack, it would be this album.  The whole album has a very ice planet feel, for those that don't speak geek.  I have no idea why it is an ice planet and not just another planet but to answer that, you have to listen to the album.

The entire album is synthesized weird noises.  It sounds like that would get obnoxious but it actually is soothing (and only 30 minutes).  Still, I don't know if semi relaxing noises has a place in this list.  But next time you want to listen to music to de stress, this is certainly a viable option.

RATING: 3/5

311. Country Life

Country Life
Roxy Music
1974

Tracks
1. Thrill Of It All
2. Three And Nine 
3. All I Want Is You 
4. Out Of The Blue 
5. If It Takes All Night 
6. Bittersweet 
7. Triptych 
8. Casanova 
9. Really Good Time 
10. Prairie Rose

Ah, Roxy Music we meet again.  I have been putting this off for a little while but right now I have a horrible cold and am lying in bed.  And what better way to get rid of a headache that listening to art rock?

I just don't get it.  I don't hate it, I just don't understand what the big fuss is about.  I feel the same way about The Great Gatsby and the board game Apples to Apples.  That is incredibly random but I am allowed to say whatever I want because this is my blog and I am sick.

I guess the most remarkable thing about this album is the cover; in fact, when I googled this album to learn more about the band, most of the search results were about the models.  All I thought about when I saw at the cover was how uncomfortable those women looked. God, men.

I didn't hate it and I even thought "Triptych" was a little catchy.  Still, people worship Roxy and I just don't understand why.  If anyone wants to explain it to me in the comments section, be my guest.

RATING: 2/5

Best song from the album:

310. Queen II

Queen II
Queen
1974

Tracks
1. Procession 
2. Father To Son 
3. White Queen (As It Began)
4. Some Day One Day 
5. Loser In The End 
6. Ogre Battle 
7. Fairy Feller's Master Stroke 
8. Nevermore 
9. March Of The Black Queen 
10. Funny How Love Is 
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye

I became mildly obsessed with the song "Somebody To Love" a couple years ago and that is pretty much the extent of my Queen knowledge.  As always, the list came through and helped me expand my knowledge of this band.

All right, so from reading about this album it sounds like Queen is more of a guilty pleasure for people than a revered band.  And, of course, since my taste has always been more pop than prog, I enjoyed it immensely.  It is just fun; a seamless combination of rock and metal. No song really stands out and it is certainly not the best I have heard, but it was an entertaining forty five minutes.

Check it out!

RATING: 4/5

Sorry for the short post: lots to do, lots to do.

309. Court and Spark

Court and Spark
Joni Mitchell
1974

Tracks
1. Court And Spark
2. Help Me 
3. Free Man In Paris 
4. People's Parties
5. Same Situation 
6. Car On A Hill
7. Down To You
8. Just Like This Train
9. Raised On Robbery
10. Trouble Child 
11. Twisted

Joni Mitchell seems to get on everyone's nerves but my own.  My sister even does a rather cruel (but accurate) impression of her.  Even people who like some of her songs have trouble listening to her voice for a full album.  Nico has the same problem.

Well, maybe I just like weird voices because I loved this album.  I think her unique voice keeps the album interesting.  It is also not as depressing as Blue, though not quite as good. Apparently her career went into a bit of an artistic decline after this album, although I don't know this for sure since I am still stuck in 1974.  I could Google it but….nah.  Too lazy.

RATING: 5/5

308. It's Too Late To Stop Now

It's Too Late To Stop Now
Van Morrison
1974

Tracks
1. Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
2. Warm Love 
3. Into The Mystic 
4. These Dreams Of You 
5. I Believe To My Soul 
6. I've Been Working 
7. Help Me 
8. Wild Children 
9. Domino 
10. I Just Want To Make Love To You 
11. Bring It On Home To Me 
12. Saint Dominic's Preview 
13. Take Your Hands Out Of My Pocket 
14. Listen To The Lion 
15. Here Comes The Night 
16. Gloria 
17. Caravan 
18. Cypress Avenue

Happy New Year everyone!  Well, my goal last year with this blog was to get to 506.  That would have worked out if I listened to an album everyday.  So I was a tad bit off in my calculations.  Still, I am going to make an effort to have music in my life everyday this year. We shall see.

In the mean time, I have been listening to this album for about two weeks.  It is extremely long and I haven't had a ton of free time.  Most people's experience with Van Morrison is the song "Brown Eyed Girl" which I think is one of the most annoying songs of all time.  Still, I found myself liking this album.  The song "I Just Want To Make Love To You" was extremely catchy and fun.

A little too long but still a good time.  Insert dirty joke here.

RATING: 4/5