Rhyming and Stealing

In descending order from most recent:

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

– pretty decent, actually. i’m always hesitant to approach hotshit bands whose names are on the lips of hipsters or faux-hipsters (it’s hard for me to tell the difference these days, culturally i’ve been beer-goggled by old age). Well-arranged and whiny without devolving into ultra-whinyness (Postal Service) or an overdose of sad bastardization (Sigur Ros, as velma reminds me). I would buy it for a dollar.

Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On

– a freaking classic. worth actual money, so since i failed to pay for it, i’m ahead of the game on this one. already burned to cd and in my car. am probably going to hell if i don’t break down and buy a copy one day. in fact, i was just reading an interview with julio franco (46-year-old atlanta brave) where he turns and asks the reporter if he’s ready to meet st peter and face the trial for his soul (or something like that). the reporter coughs and says no. i think i would do okay, except for this black stain on my conscious. depending on what the lord’s view on capitalism is, anyway.

Television’s Greatest Hits - Vol 3 (1970s & 80s)

– some watersheds of tv music here, including the jeffersons, fat albert, and sanford and son on the soul side, and miami vice on the electro-rock side. will be useful in making mixes, but given the amount of pop-culture saturation each of these songs has already achieved, it’s a crime to pay for them.

Beatles - White Album

– hit and miss. helps me appreciate the temporary genius of dj dangermouse, as well as the humor of the endless jokes about yoko ono and ‘revolution #9′, one of the most godawful tracks ever recorded. however, it all sounds great on headphones.

Beatles - Revolver
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
David Bowie - the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
The Who - My Generation (deluxe edition)

– more rock and roll anthropology. sticky fingers probably holds together better than any other stones album i’ve got, in terms of consistency, but “gimme shelter” has to be one of the best-ever “side one track one” songs ever recorded. in general it’s funny to me how badly some of these brits wanted to be in blues bands.

Beck - Guero (+ bonus tracks)

– at first i was super in love with this one, but it wore off. nice thing about the download is the bonus tracks, which are easily as good as anything on the album. get ahold of ‘crap hands’.

Beck - “Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime” (s/t from eternal sunshine)

– nice coda from the sea change album. few surprises in it, though.

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

– good for sad bastards like me. pink moon is worth a dollar. five leaves left, maybe half that. some songs get a lot worse with the addition of violins, and five leaves left has a few of those.

Palace Music - Lost Blues and Other Songs
Bonnie Prince Billy - Sings Greatest Palace Music

– i heard these in reverse order, that is, i had the bonnie prince billy for about a month before i borrowed lost blues. i had been familiar with the oldham croak from afar, but i really enjoyed hearing it mellowed out and set to golden country sounds. fantastic music to cook to. by contrast, the lo-fi grating of lost blues has a lot more emotional rawness and is better for walking around or some other inescapable situation. both are worth a few bucks each, or better yet, a concert ticket.

The Killers - Hot Fuss

– a classic example of a hotshit band who has been seemingly ubiquitous, but for no good reason. this reeks. i want that hour of my life back.

Johnny Cash - American Recordings (I)

– another freakin classic. i used to own this, but lost it about a dozen moves ago. having it back fills me with joy. i’m currently teaching myself how to play ‘let the train blow the whistle’, if nothing more than to be able to sing ‘tell the gossipers and liars/ i will see them in the fires.’

Beatles - Rubber Soul

– by far my favorite Beatles album. every track is brilliant, without unnecessary pomp. sometimes pomp is great, but a lot of mistakes and flat moments are accepted in its name. this album has none of that. I’d slip a fiver for it. and by the way, i heard some ultra-lame cover of ‘i’m looking through you’ while in dick’s sporting goods last week. they tried to replicate the rhythm and the sounds, with the only ‘improvement’ being the weak-ass overproduced karaoke singer slapped on top of it. fucking awful.

The Kinks - The Ultimate Collection (2 discs)
The Kinks - Are the Village Preservation Society

– this pair of lucky finds reinvigorated my love for rock and roll about six months ago. priceless. how the whole world doesn’t know anything beyond ‘lola’ about this band is beyond me. ironically it was the ubiquitous hp ad campaign (featurig ‘picturebook’) that piqued my interest. i’m not ashamed to admit it. i’m a corporate whore with a heart of gold.