Music exploration can be quite cumbersome. There is the music of bands I'm a big fan of, while there is music of bands I'm interested in. There are deals on Amazon MP3s that I just can't pass up to buy. There are CDs of music I've given as gifts that I have some interest in. And everyone in my family has their own music collections.
The problem is the pace I'm listening to new music in was too slow compared to the albums I'm adding to iTunes. (And when I listen to new music, I often want to be absorbed in it uninterrupted.) The result was many, many albums that I have on iTunes that I haven't listened to in full. Some albums I have had for a long time collecting dust. So, I figure I need to have a marathon of sorts to catch up on all this music lost in my iTunes archives.
52 albums. Highlighted by the bookends: from the 14 albums in the The Beatles Stereo Box Set to the 6 albums in the Humble Music Bundle (http://blog.humblebundle.com/) a couple months ago. Covering a whole variety of interests and genres via single, double, triple, studio, live, and compilation albums. The goal was to listen to each of them (giving my quick thoughts on each) by this September's end. That's about an album a day, two-a-day if some are short.
The order of the albums was determined by random (a deck of cards to be specific) plus two rules:
1) no two Beatles albums or no two Humble Bundle albums will be listened to back-to-back, and
2) one particular album will be played on the 31st anniversary of its release.
(Two albums were later added appropriately: Bob Dylan's Tempest, which was live streamed on iTunes at the time, and Genesis' Abacab Complete, music from Abacab and the Abacab sessions.)
Starting in early August, the marathon did end on September 30th, and the final order is below.
What will be next? Re-listen to most of these albums and pick out my favorites.
With the invention (or discovery, take your pick) of Spotify, I might do another marathon with The Rolling Stones being the centerpiece. We shall see...
1. Lennon Legend - John Lennon (5♣)
2. A Quick One - The Who (6♠)
3. Purple Rain - Prince (9♣)
4. Abbey Road - The Beatles (Q♥)
5. Chicago V - Chicago (9♦)
6. Favoritism - MC Frontalot (8♠)
7. Ocean's Kingdom - Paul McCartney (8♣)
8. Dylan - Bob Dylan (6♦)
9. Number Ones - The Bee Gees (4♦)
10. Time - Electric Light Orchestra (Q♦)
11. Album Raises New and Troubling Questions - They May Be Giants (9♠)
12. With the Beatles - The Beatles (2♥)
13. Seven - Tony Banks (5♠)
14. L.A. Friday - The Rolling Stones (Q♣)
15. Calling All Dawns - Christopher Tin (10♠)
16. That's Why God Made the Radio - The Beach Boys (3♦)
17. Greatest Hits - Guns N' Roses (3♣)
18. Best of the Valkyria Chronicles - Hitoshi Sakimoto (J♠)
19. A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles (3♥)
20. The Annie Lennox Collection - Annie Lennox (2♦)
21. Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder (3♠)
22. Yellow Submarine - The Beatles (J♥)
23. OK Computer - Radiohead (J♣)
24. Rubber Soul - The Beatles (6♥)
25. 11411 - Sister Hazel (A♠)
26. Help! - Beatles (5♥)
27. Slowhand - Eric Clapton (A♣)
28a. Beatles for Sale - The Beatles (4♥)
28b. Tempest - Bob Dylan (Red Joker)
29. Greatest Hits - Culture Club (10♦)
30. Vault - Def Leppard (J♦)
31. A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... - The Faces (2♣)
32. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles (8♥)
33. Twelve Remixes of Four Songs - OK Go (K♠)
34. Aja - Steely Dan (2♠)
35. Greatest Hit (Plus 13 Other Songs) - Jonathan Coulton (Q♠)
36. Bride of the Noisemakers - Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers (8♦)
37a. Songs in the Attic - Billy Joel (5♦)*
37b. Abacab Complete - Genesis (Black Joker)*
38. Past Masters - The Beatles (A♦)
39. Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes (7♠)
40. Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles (9♥)
41. The Union - Elton John & Leon Russell (K♦)
42. Let It Be - The Beatles (K♥)
43. Greatest Hits III - Queen+ (10♣)
44. Please Please Me - The Beatles (A♥)
45. Tuskegee - Lionel Richie (6♣)
46. Clockwork Angels - Rush (K♣)
47. Wildflowers - Tom Petty (4♠)
48. Celebration - Madonna (7♣)
49. The Beatles (White Album) - The Beatles (10♥)
50. Thick As A Brick 2 - Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) (4♣)
51. Revolver - The Beatles (7♥)
52. Small Craft on a Milk Sea - Brian Eno (7♦)
*31st anniversary album (September 14th, 1981)
All Hearts and Ace of Diamonds were Beatles albums.
Eight through King of Spades were Humble Bundle albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment