Friday, March 20, 2015

380. Pink Flag

Pink Flag
Wire
1977













Tracks
1. Reuters
2. Field Day For The Sundays
3. Three Girl Rhumba
4. Ex Lion Tamer
5. Lowdown
6. Start To Move
7. Brazil
8. It's So Obvious
9. Surgeon's Girl
10. Pink Flag
11. Commercial
12. Straight Line
13. 106 Beats That
14. Mr Suit
15. Strange
16. Fragile
17. Mannequin
18. Different To Me
19. Champs
20. Feeling Called Love
21. 12XU


I knew we would hit a snag eventually in this string of great albums.  This album legitimately gave me a headache.  There was absolutely no talent behind the vocals and the music was incredibly loud and obnoxious.

I don't have too much to say about this album, except that after such a great patch, this was extremely disappointing.  The songs were sometimes only thirty seconds long, but I could have had sworn it was just one long, drawn out track.  I seriously considered taking a break since my head was pounding so much.  I stuck it out, though, and was counting down the seconds.

A sucky suck fest that essentially broke my brain.  Hence the term, sucky suck fest.

RATING: 1/5

Thursday, March 12, 2015

379. Aja

Aja
Steely Dan
1977












Tracks
1. Black Cow
2. Aja
3. Deacon Blues
4. Peg
5. Home At Last
6. I Got The News
7. Josie


I returned to this project again today but I am afraid that I might be gone for about a week, since I have roughly a zillion movie posts to write.  I am actually a bit annoyed about that since we are going through such a great string of albums right now.  Self-imposed rules are the worst.

Anyway, I remember enjoying Steely Dan in the past, but I couldn't really recall any particular song that really stuck with me.  But I really don't think that will be the case here.   I absolutely adored "Black Cow" and "Home at Last".  I didn't really have a lot of faith that a jazz rock album would have great lyrics, but I was proven wrong here.  It was also refreshing; we have to deal with a lot of pretentiousness on this List but it didn't seem like Steely Dan was putting on airs here.  They were simply making great, accessible music.

So another great album.  Keep it up, please.

RATING: 4/5

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

378. Low

Low
David Bowie
1977













Tracks
1. Speed of Life
2. Breaking Glass 
3. What in the World 
4. Sound and Vision 
5. Always Crashing in the Same Car 
6. Be My Wife 
7. New Career in a New Town 
8. Warszawa 
9. Art Decade
10. Weeping Wall 
11. Subterraneans


I apologize for not posting in awhile, but I have been feeling quite Low.  I also apologize for saying that.  Without this blog, I haven't had an outlet for my terrible puns.  I had surgery in early February which the doctor said would have a weekend recovery time.  Translation: huge fucking nightmare and never-ending pain.  It is my fault for not being fluent in doctor-speak.  You would think I would have a lot of time to listen to albums and write but I have been too busy complaining and taking medication.  

Anyway, I finally listened to this album yesterday and it certainly reignited my interest in this project.  I am not exactly sure how many albums in The Book that Brian Eno has been involved in, but it has to be at least a hundred; his name is always cropping up everywhere. Apparently, the first half of this album is very "Bowie" while the second half has "Eno" written all over it.

In my typical plebeian fashion, I really preferred Bowie's side.  The song "What in the World" really struck a chord with me (more music humor; well, calling it humor might be a stretch).  I probably felt connected to the song since I am stuck in bed all the time and Bowie is describing someone who never leaves their room.  A little on the nose.  Anyway, the second side was a bit more...avant-garde and dare I say, offensive?  One of the tracks sounded like they were trying to do something tribal, which was a little uncomfortable.  Did anyone else feel that way?

Anyway, this album definitely deserves all of the attention it gets.  Bowie continues to impress.

RATING: 4/5