52 in 52: Week 10 - "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning"

Week of 12/14/14 - 12/20/14

Album from 2005

So I was pretty busy the last two or so weeks, what with it being the holidays and all that stuff, but I did manage to buy an album released in 2005, and even wrote up a little something about it.

Hey, at least these are starting to get a little cheaper the further back in time I go. I got "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" by Bright Eyes for less than $15, and that seems like a good enough deal for me. Bright Eyes can be pretty hit or miss for me. Of the eight Bright Eyes studio albums, "Letting Off the Happiness" and "The People's Key" are pretty forgettable, "Fevers and Mirrors," "Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground," and "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" are somewhere in between, but this album and "Cassadaga" are all-timers (I know that's only seven; I realized that I really don't know their first album "A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997" well enough to pass any judgement).

"Wide Awake" contains all the hallmarks of the Bright Eyes catalog, or it could even be said that this album is the reason that a lot of these things are seen as hallmarks; sarcasm, satire, anger, beauty, politics, quivering, loneliness.

One at a Time: "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" (1973) by Bruce Springsteen

#379 "Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ" (1973) by Bruce Springsteen

Don't tell anyone, but "Greetings" is my favorite Bruce Springsteen album. 

One at a Time: "Born Under a Bad Sign" (1967) by Albert King

This is supposed to be a very influential album in blues history, but listening to it today doesn't seem like it would be as transcendentally beautiful as it was back then. King's voice sounds like he's asleep, and while his guitar is often scaling heights not previously found on this list, with an electricity and liveliness that can only come from deep inside the gut of a blues man, there isn't much of a distinction between songs.

One at a Time: "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" (1998) by Lucinda Williams

#304 "Car Wheels On a Gravel Road" (1998) by Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels On a Gravel Road" is an album that sounds like it has been around for decades.

One at a Time: "Stop Making Sense" (1984) by The Talking Heads

#345 "Stop Making Sense" (1984) by The Talking Heads

I don't know why live albums count but compilation albums don't. A live album is a sort of compilation, in that the band compiles songs from their past to play during a show. But to me, they're different. The thing that we have to concentrate on is the performance of the songs, the choice of which songs to use and when to use them, and the quality of the recording, as opposed to simply the
songs themselves.

52 in 52: Week 8 - "Free Life"

Week of 11/30/14 - 12/6/14

Album from 2007

"Free Life" by Dan Wilson is one of my favorite albums of all time, and Dan Wilson is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. The guy just know what he's doing. He's like if a slightly-lesser Elton John had a baby with a better lyricist than Bernie Taupin (and somehow that baby acquired exactly all of it's parents music skills). He writes perfect melodies stuffed with beautiful, clever, heartbreaking, and hopeful lyrics.

 

Nobody carries this album. I've never seen it in any store. I ordered it online. It's weird how few people know Dan Wilson. His music can be sort of hard to find. But you should still find it.

One at a Time: Note on Compilation Albums

I decided to remove all compilation albums from the list. I don't think they belong. They often are just money-grabs or ways of cutting out weaker songs from artists catalogs, and they aren't put together or recorded the same way as a studio album. In fact, it annoys me that Rolling Stone even included them. I guess I could see how hard it would be to draw the line. I did the best that I could, and I probably missed a couple that I'll just add later.

One at a Time: "The Rolling Stones Now!" (1965) by The Rolling Stones

#181 "The Rolling Stones Now!" (1965) by The Rolling Stones

In terms of Stones albums, "The Rolling Stones Now!" is fairly mediocre, but we're removing context, so that's sort of irrelevant. Without looking at the rest of the discography of the greatest rock band ever, it's a pretty good album.

One at a Time: "Tea for the Tillerman" (1970) by Cat Stevens

#206 "Tea For the Tillerman" (1970) by Cat Stevens

"Tea for the Tillerman" is a really good album. I wasn't as familiar with it (order and a few of the lesser known songs) as I thought I was, but listening to it now, that only made it better.