970. Fever to Tell

Fever to Tell
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2003

Tracks
1. Rich
2. Date With The Night
3. Man
4. Tick
5. Black Tongue
6. Pin
7. Cold Light
8. No No No
9. Maps
10. Y Control
11. Modern Romance

I am finding myself drawn more to punk music as I get older, which might be an early stage of a midlife crisis. This is slightly watered down punk, and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, even though there was the occasional obnoxious song.

You can tell that the people who made this album had a really passion for the genre, and they paid tribute to many punk artists throughout the album's entirety. It was another pretty short and punchy album, which is always admirable.

The next entry is over two hours, so brevity is greatly appreciated.

RATING: 4/5

443. Armed Forces

Armed Forces
Elvis Costello And The Attractions
1979

Tracks
1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Senior Service
3. Oliver's Army
4. Big Boys
5. Green Shirt
6. Party Girl
7. Goon Squad
8. Busy Bodies
9. Sunday's Best
10. Moods For Moderns
11. Chemistry Class
12. Two Little Hitlers

Man, did I need this after The Slits.  Who knew a song called "Two Little Hitlers" would make me so happy?

I think everyone can agree that his songs are damn catchy.  Costello has a unique voice that sounds rougher than most pop artists'.  I suppose this album would be categorized as art punk or new wave, but a few of these songs sounded very infectious and poppy ("Green Shirt" comes to mind). My personal favorite was "Accidents Will Happen."  Or maybe "Oliver's Army."  Really, you can't go wrong with any of these tracks.

I believe this is the third Costello album on the List and it is fascinating watching him improve each time as most artists tend to plateau.

Neil Young tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen.  It's been awhile.

RATING: 5/5

395. The Modern Dance

Modern Dance
Pere Ubu
1978

Tracks
1. Non-Alignment Pact 
2. Modern Dance 
3. Laughing 
4. Street Waves
5. Chinese Radiation 
6. Life Stinks 
7. Real World 
8. Over My Head 
9. Sentimental Journey 
10. Humor Me

I have written around four thousand movie reviews today, so I am a bit tapped out at the moment.  I really want to catch up all my blogs, though, so my lovely music lovers will just have to suffer with a subpar review.  I apologize that you are my least loved child.

I had never heard of the band, this album, or any of the songs.  I also am not really clear what art punk is.  So gather around everyone, to hear my well informed opinions!

I had a hard time getting into this one.  I had to remind myself to pay attention to the music, because I was in danger of zoning out completely and having absolutely no memory of this album.  Because of my diligent efforts, I am able to partially recall parts of this.  I will take my medal any time you are ready.

With a name like Modern Dance, you might suspect something truly frightening and pretentious.  Instead, you just get something quite mediocre.  For example, here are the lyrics to "Life Stinks": "Life stinks, I'm seeing pink, I can't wink, I can't blink, I like the Kinks, I need a drink, I can't think, I like the Kinks, Life stinks."  At least it made me feel better about my own writing.

RATING: 3/5

389. Marquee Moon

Marquee Moon
Television
1977

Tracks
1. See No Evil 
2. Venus 
3. Friction 
4. Marquee Moon 
5. Elevation 
6. Guiding Light 
7. Prove It 
8. Torn Curtain

This seems to be one of those albums that very few people have heard of.  If you have heard of it, you are a music aficionado and you probably praise it like it is the last voicemail a deceased loved one left you.  As for me, it didn't leave much of an impression, proving once again that I am more out of place here than a sober person at Woodstock.  I wanted to cover my ignorance here first so the insults in the comments section could branch out a bit.  I try to be considerate of my readers.

I was surprised to see that this was considered punk.  It certainly didn't sound as intense as I am used to in that genre.  I did enjoy this, but can we stop with the ten minute songs?  Let's wrap it up here fellas.  I appreciate stamina as much as the next woman, but this is verging on ridiculous.

So another album that I feel rather stupid for not enjoying very much.  But take heart, fellow List followers.  An Elvis Costello album is coming up.

RATING: 4/5

382. Talking Heads: 77

Talking Heads: 77

Talking Heads

1977

Tracks

1. Uh Oh Love Comes To Town
2. New Feeling 
3. Tentative Decisions 
4. Happy Day 
5. Who Is It 
6. No Compassion
7. Book I Read 
8. Don't Worry About The Government
9. First Week/Last Week... Carefree 
10. Psycho Killer
11. Pulled Up

I couldn't resist going ahead and listening to the album after this one, Rumours, so I had to double back and get through this one.  How much does that make the music connoisseurs cringe?  Be sure to yell at me in the comments and let me know!

The lead singer, David Byrne, sounded completely crazed to me.  I looked him up to try to count how many drugs he might have been on when he was singing this album.  However, he seemed relatively normal, compared to other people I have dealt with on this List.

The standard of normality

I decided to categorize this as "art punk", which is a genre that I didn't even know existed until I listened to this album.  I can't say I was altogether too impressed.  I judge music most harshly on lyrical quality.  And lyrics like "so many people...have their problems/I'm not interested...in their problems....my interest level's dropping, my interest level is dropping" don't really impress me.  But maybe that is just because I am 99% wrote those lyrics about me.

I gave it a shot but ultimately, didn't fall in love with it.

RATING: 3/5