Exile On Main Street, Rolling Stones

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Exile On Main Street, Rolling Stones, 1972, :67

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I would like to begin by saying that through a lifetime of what to most people would be obsessive and non-stop listening to music, the Rolling Stones are not in my top fifty acts in terms of time listened to.  They're actually about number 60, tied more or less with the Band and just under Elf Power.  I say this to give you a sense of how I feel about the Stones.  England's hitmakers, for sure, but to me they will always be the luckiest lads to take country-blues and add a British strut, not "The World's Greatest Band."  So anyway, this album doesn't change my view much.  Yes, what a good blues-country-rock record this is.  An excellent one, even, made even more impressive by its length.  But one of the all-time greatest discs?  Not to me.  Most of it kind of blends together for me, all the songs sounding vaguely similar and somewhat evocative of the guitar line in "Gimme Shelter."  Sorry, Robert.  Sorry, world.  That said, of course, there are some great songs on this double album, and, admittedly, some departures from their usual sound, like 'Sweet Black Angel."  Favorite tracks: "Rocks Off," "Tumbling Dice," "Shine a Light," "Rip This Joint," "Soul Survivor."

Purple Rain, Prince

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday! Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Purple Rain, Prince, 1984, :43

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Yeah, I know, it's the greatest album of all time, it's Prince, I'm an uncultured Philistine, etc. etc.  But this just isn't my thing.  I mean, the chorus of "When Doves Cry" is sublime; but the extended synth coda and yowling at the end is irritating.  And nearly nine minutes of "Purple Rain?"  Too much.  He's a musical phenomenon, Prince is, but this is all just so... Eighties.  Favorite tracks: "Let's Go Crazy," "Take Me With You."

===

....And now, having done this every day since July 29, I'm going to take a break from the album a day.  That album-per-year theme really took it out of me.  Also, Covid, responsibilities, end of democracy, and so forth.

Boy, U2

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Boy, U2, 1980, :42

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 

I've never been much of a U2 fan.  I think their best album is Achtung Baby, and not much else interests me.  I was sort of too good for U2 in the late '80s because they were too recent for me.  They were that worst of things, a band that was still making music and was popular.  I listened to classic rock, man.  You trendy modern-day listeners and your pop music didn't know what was up.  So, yeah, that youthful misplaced pride might explain it.  But whatever the reason, this stuff just doesn't move me.  There's nothing here that would make me think these vehement, earnest, technically proficient, glossily-produced lads would become The World's Greatest Band any more than their contemporaries Big Country or The Alarm might.  The way Bono breathes "she cat" on "An Cat Dubh" really exemplifies how this band makes me roll my eyes more than nod along in admiration.  It's so... Intense and Important.  Not for me.  Favorite tracks: "I Will Follow," "Out of Control."

Talking Heads: 77, Talking Heads

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Talking Heads: 77, Talking Heads, 1977, :38

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've been a Talking Heads (and David Byrne) fan for a long time.  A long time.  And yet, I never got around to listening to much of their debut album.  What a waste of three decades!  This album remains today so disjointed, so strange, so punk in its ethos and New Wave in its sound, that it must have sounded positively Martian when it was released.  Syncopated rhythms, funky choppy bass, Byrne's staccato yelping, his lyrics gazing puzzled at the daily life of other people through the small end of a telescope. "Don't expect me to explain your indecisions / Go talk to your analyst, isn't that what they're paid for?" I don't think anyone else in music (except maybe Loudon Wainwright, and he'd be doing it self-referentially) would voice such thoughts.  And nobody else would chirp "Oh the boys want to talk / Would like to talk about those problems / And the girls say they're concerned / Concerned with decisiveness / And it's a hard logic to follow / And the girls get lost / And the boys say they're concerned." Presumably, when Byrne finishes his study of humanity he will ascend back to his home in the stars.  Favorite tracks: "Tentative Decisions," "Psycho Killer," "Pulled Up."

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Astral Weeks, Van Morrison, 1968, :47

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I've listened to this album before, all the way through, once, and I didn't get into it.  I've heard a few of the songs separately since then, and still nothing  But this time, this album finally got through to me.  Maybe all the jazz I've been listening to helped me hear it.  It's hard to say anything about this album.  That upright bass, leading the band, and Van's voice somehow magically blended together in a way that is very rare.  I read that Van hated the strings which were added later, but I think they lend an unearthly quality to the songs, as if they aren't jazz or folk or rock, but some heretofore unheard-of blend. This album takes you into the mystic and you're real real gone.  Like a sort of enlightenment, and it stones you.  Or the healing has begun, and ye get healed.  Favorite tracks: "The Way Young Lovers Do," "Sweet Thing."

Forever Changes, Love

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Forever Changes, Love, 1967, :42

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is a widely acclaimed album, listed on many best of all time lists, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and even in National Recording Registry. I'm hesitant in the face of so much hype, but I'm going with my gut anyway. This album grabs me, but it doesn't exactly wow me. I find some of it to be indulgent and pedestrian ("A House is Not a Motel" is nearly unbearable to me), and some admirable and moving.  Definitely a product of the Summer of Love, for the good and bad that may entail. It's Byrds-like, but less jangly and more symphonic, folk with strings and horns. It also strongly evokes the Zombies. Arthur Lee has a beautiful voice, a bit like Ray Davies, and like him is capable of soaring melodies or a sort of rhythmic chanting. Maybe this needs to be revisited sometime (on Follow-Up Friday? Second Tryday? Something like that). Favorite tracks: "Maybe the People Would Be the Times," "Live and Let Live."

Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd

It's Finally-Got-Around-to-It-Friday!  Wherein I discover a classic that everyone else already knows about.

Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 1973, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Being a Classic Rock Guy from a young age, I’ve heard most of these songs at one time or another (I'm sure "Time" and "Money" are played on the radio at any given point on the globe 24 hours a day), but not all at once, in this order, and probably I’ve never heard the last three tracks. I started listening thinking I knew what my reaction would be: oh, Pink Floyd, not my thing, shoe gazing noodling, this album does have some great songs but it’s way over-hyped. Turned out I was wrong. I revise my opinion. Listening to it all at once, on headphones, in order? This blows your mind, man. I like the spoken word pieces that fade in and out, the chopped and scattered sounds, the way the songs segue into one another — everything, all the “concept album” features that have become so commonplace and trite since. Yes this is a five star album. It definitely sets a mood. “Any Colour You Like” is guitar noodling, yes, but not dreamy, indulgent, psychedelic noodling. It’s an energetic sort of noodling. Don’t forget the headphones! Favorite tracks: “Time,” “Money,” “Us and Them.” Favorite unheard tracks: “Brain Damage,” “Eclipse.”