Wow, I've been busy these past couple of weeks...
Better late than never, at long last, I present my top five favourite albums. To make up for the delay, I put a little more effort into each entry this time, including my favourite lyrics from my favourite songs.
If you are late to the party, please check out part one and part two.
5. Catherine Wheel - Happy Days (1995)
The video from Waydown was my introduction to Catherine Wheel. I didn't know what to make of it at first, but it was in heavy rotation on MuchMusic in 1995 and grew on me to the point where buying the album became a necessity. It's fun to remember those days when music wasn't so easily sampled for free, buying albums based on one song you liked was common, and you often quickly came to regret the fifteen bucks you had just wasted. Some music stores let you sample the album in-store, but I rarely took advantage of that; I was a risk taker. This particular risk was well worth it. Happy Days is the best album I ever purchased on the strength of only one song without any prior exposure to the band.
It was only when I checked out Catherine Wheel's previous albums that I realized how much of a departure Happy Days was for the band. Fans of Ferment and Chrome, their two quite similar previous albums, were not necessarily fans of Happy Days. The lyrics and vocals have an awesome angry edge, and it is a much harder rocking album musically. Catherine Wheel continued to change their sound significantly with their final two albums, Adam and Eve and Wishville, because they insisted on never stagnating. I love all of Catherine Wheel's albums, but Happy Days is the one that I fell in love with first, and you never forget your first.
Essential Tracks:
"Waydown" - "I breed deep in me a beautiful thing / And I need energy for my beautiful thing / But pain for days has stayed with me / Expect to see some change in me"
"Heal" - "I can climb a tree and push up through the leaves 'cause / Only when I try am I happier to see / My head's in some kind of space where boyhood used to be / It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal"
"Eat My Dust You Insensitive Fuck" - "Eat my dust you insensitive fuck"
"Shocking" - "But won't you listen to me, why can't you believe / That you're breaking my heart / And these moments were part of our lives / And it destroys me to see you destroy them / Every time"
Filler Track: "Fizzy Love"
Runner-Up: Chrome (1993) - "The Nude"
4. Silverchair - Diorama (2002)
Diorama is one of those albums that comes out of nowhere to completely blow you away. Previously, I had only moderate interest in Silverchair, just enough to pick up their "Best Of" album at a used CD shop in the winter of 2001/2002. The best song on that greatest hits collection was "Emotion Sickness," an awesome orchestrated rock ballad that showed promise of much greater things to come. Now much more curious about Silverchair, I also tracked down a used copy of 1999's Neon Ballroom, which is definitely a solid rock album, but with no other songs in the same league as "Emotion Sickness." The next album, Diorama, was the much greater things.
As soon as "Across the Night" starts, you know you are in for something special. I've always been a huge fan of orchestrated rock music; the orchestration just gives it that extra kick, a little epicness. Diorama is the best orchestrated rock album in my collection. The influence of the orchestration ranges from subtle touches in some of the harder rocking songs to songs that are effectively built around the orchestration. Another big reason Diorama stays in my playlist is the diversity of songs. In this one album, there are brilliantly quirky songs "Across the Night" and "Tuna in the Brine," awesome hard rocking songs like "Without You" and "One Way Mule," and beautiful ballads like "World Upon Your Shoulders" and "After All These Years." This is an album that repeatedly rewards the listener from beginning to end.
Essential Tracks:
"Across the Night" - "Never seen the sunshine / From higher points than sunrise / I don't wanna be lonely / I just wanna be alone"
"Without You" - "Old incisions refusing to stay / Like the sun through the trees on a cloudy day"
"Too Much of Not Enough" - "A close look at something so close / It's too much of not enough / When all we need is just a taste"
"After All These Years" - "All those years / I was hurting to feel / Something more than life"
Filler Track: "The Lever"
3. King's X - Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous (2000)
King's X's Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous (herein referred to as PCHMB) has a lot of elements working against it. It was written and recorded spontaneously in studio as an experiment, entirely self-produced, features the most ridiculous title and cover art in my entire collection, has foreign language tongue twisters between tracks, jumps from lyrical absurdity to profundity between songs and sometimes within songs, and even includes a beat poetry breakdown. All of these elements actually lend the album a quirky charm. PCHMB is a diverse, crazy mish-mash of an album that works because the songs all work.
Although the members of King's X always share writing credits on all of their songs, on most of their albums it is not difficult to pick out which songs were originally written by Ty or Doug or Jerry, as they all bring different sensibilities to the music. And that is a big reason why PCHMB is special, because the songs don't feel like Ty or Doug or Jerry songs, but Ty and Doug and Jerry songs. And this group effort led to some of the band's best, most melodic songs, really living up to their reputation as the hard rock Beatles, and some of my favourite songs of all time. "She's Gone Away" and "Bitter Sweet" are my favourite songs about marital separation; "Move Me" (annoyingly split over tracks nine and ten) is my favourite song about losing faith in god; "Smudge" and "Charlie Sheen" are my favourite songs about complete nonsense; "Julia" is my favourite song about Julia. (Yes, that last sentence was largely a joke.) PCHMB is a quick listen, far, far too short, leaving you wanting much more, but that's ultimately the best thing you can ask for from an album.
Having said all that, there is no way that I could claim with a straight face that PCHMB is King's X's best album. That honour belongs to 1994's Dogman, which, like Catherine Wheel's Happy Days, found the band at their angriest and hardest rocking. Old school fans might go with 1989's Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, but Dogman was my first King's X.
Essential Tracks:
"She's Gone Away" - "I've got a lot I call my own / My house is full of things / But it's just an empty home / And all day long I walk around / Seeing reminders and reliving all I've found / She's gone away"
"Smudge" - "Any day... yesterday... there's tomorrow to say / Let's forget it anyway"
"Bitter Sweet" - "Ever reading... something's bleeding in my soul / And I can't seem to fill up the hole / And I love you... thinking of you... bitter sweet / So I bury the feeling and empty my head / Just to sleep... too deep"
"Move Me" - "Wish I could whisper how much I need you / After tomorrow I might forget to / If it's only from a story"
Filler Track: "When You're Scared"
Runner-Up: Dogman (1994) - "Cigarettes"
2. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity (1999)
I have already told the story of how I discovered Jimmy Eat World in my second Soundtrack post, so I won't repeat that here. Once again, thanks former co-worker!
Clarity is another diverse album. (If you are starting to notice a pattern, that's because diversity is very important.) It is also unique. Opening track "Table for Glasses" is a slow, quiet, amazing song, not at all representative of Jimmy Eat World or the rest of the album. Album-ending track "Goodbye Sky Harbor," which is awesomely rockified when played live, is seemingly over after three minutes but somehow keeps going for another thirteen. (I used to despise that repetitive instrumental ending, but it grew on me as I started noticing the subtleties of the changing arrangement.) In between, there are catchy pop songs "Lucky Denver Mint" and "Believe in What You Want," rockers "Your New Aesthetic" and "Crush" and "Blister" and "Clarity," epic "Just Watch the Fireworks," and beautiful songs "Ten," "A Sunday," and "For Me This is Heaven." And then there is "12.23.95," the one song that I wish had been left off the album; it's pretty, albeit a little boring, but its worst offense is that it is a fucking Christmas song. It is not bad enough to tarnish the album, but I have been known to pretend that "Ten" comes after "Crush."
Clarity was a major departure, and significant step up, from Jimmy Eat World's emocore major label debut, Static Prevails, and while some of their newer albums have approached its quality level, most notably 2004's Futures, it is still their best overall album. Seeing as Jimmy Eat World is my favourite band that is still together and still at the top of their game, it should make sense that they come in pretty high on this list.
Essential Tracks:
"Table for Glasses" - "Not asking of me anything / Saying nothing about what it means / Without anybody telling me what I should feel / Lead my skeptic sight"
"Just Watch the Fireworks" - "What giving up gives you / And where giving up takes you / I've had and I've been / Here in center frame / Here, there's only air / And just enough space to fit"
"For Me This is Heaven" - "And the time's such clumsy time / In deciding if it's time / I'm careful but not sure how it goes / You can lose yourself in your courage"
"Clarity" - "Wait for something better / Will I know when it can be us? / Wait for something better / Maybe that doesn't mean us / Wait for something better? / I shouldn't, it's not enough / Pull one excuse from another"
Filler Track: "12.23.95"
Runner-Up: Futures (2004) - "23"
And, Now, The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For
1. Live - Throwing Copper (1994)
Like Catherine Wheel, I was introduced to Live by the heavy rotation of their first single "Selling the Drama" on MuchMusic. It was awesome, but I was hesitant to buy the album Throwing Copper based on only the one song. (The difference between this situation and the Catherine Wheel situation is that Throwing Copper was released in 1994, when I was a poor high school student with no job, and Happy Days was released in 1995, when I was heading off to university with lots of money from a summer job and scholarships.) The next single, "I Alone," tempted me further, but I was still broke and very frugal. By the time "Lightning Crashes" was in heavy rotation both on MuchMusic and local radio, I could no longer resist Throwing Copper's pull. Three amazing singles in a row was enough justification to spend fifteen bucks of my birthday money.
It should come as no surprise at this point to read that Throwing Copper is a diverse album. Between the distorted wailing vocals of slow-building album opener "The Dam at Otter Creek" and country-infused hidden track "Horse," numerous alternative rock styles are represented. A number of the songs rely on predictable quiet verses, louder choruses song-writing, but that shit is classic and overused because it works. And Live mixes it up wonderfully with a "Top" here and a "Stage" there. And then they throw in the indescribably fantastic "Waitress" and the epic "Pillar of Davidson." Every song on Throwing Copper is terrific in its own way.
Throwing Copper is easily Live's best album. I was never a big fan of their debut album Mental Jewelry, which makes Throwing Copper a hell of a sophomore improvement. 1997's Secret Samadhi and 1999's The Distance to Here have some excellent songs, but are much less consistently strong throughout. There was a brief time that I considered The Distance to Here to be Live's best album, but those days are long gone. The band almost went completely off the rails with 2001's V, but 2003's Birds of Pray was a surprisingly strong recovery and the last worthy Live album. 2006's Songs from Black Mountain commits the unforgivable sin of being thoroughly boring. And then Ed Kowalczyk went full dick and screwed over his bandmates and Live is no more. What a sad ending to my favourite band from 1995 to 2000.
Essential Tracks:
"Selling the Drama" - "And to Christ: a cross / And to me: a chair / I will sit and earn the ransom / From up here"
"Lightning Crashes" - "Lightning crashes, a new mother cries / Her placenta falls to the floor / The angel opens her eyes / The confusion sets in / Before the doctor can even close the door"
"Waitress" - "After all, everybody's good enough / For some change / Some fucking change!"
"Pillar of Davidson" - "Warm bodies, I sense / are not machines that can only make money / Past, perfect, tense / Words for a feeling and all I've discovered"
Filler Track: "Iris"
The End... finally!
Now back to regularly schedule blog content. Brewblog and Month in Review posts should show up early next week... I hope. And, next Friday is my one year blogiversary!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
The Albums That Always Bring Me Back For More, Part 2
In part one, I listed ten of my favourite albums that I can't get enough of. If you haven't read part one yet, you should obviously start there.
Before I get into the top ten, what about those albums that didn't quite crack the top twenty but were damn close and are at least worthy of a brief mention?
Honourable Mentions
The following albums are presented in alphabetical order by band name.
Collective Soul - Collective Soul (1995)
Essential Tracks: "Untitled," "The World I Know," "Where the River Flows," "Gel"
Filler Track: "Bleed"
Copeland - You Are My Sunshine (2008)
Essential Tracks: "Should You Return," "The Grey Man," "On the Safest Ledge," "What Do I Know?"
Filler Track: "Strange and Unprepared"
Extreme - III Sides to Every Story (1992)
Essential Tracks: "Warheads," "Stop the World," "Rise 'N Shine," "Who Cares?"
Filler Track: "Seven Sundays"
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape (1997)
Essential Tracks: "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park!" "My Hero," "Everlong"
Filler Track: "See You"
Galactic Cowboys - Space In Your Face (1993)
Essential Tracks: "You Make Me Smile, " I Do What I Do," "Blind," "About Mrs. Leslie"
Filler Track: "Space in Your Face"
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder... (2004)
Essential Tracks: "Agoraphobia," "Talk Shows on Mute," "Southern Girl," "Here in My Room"
Filler Track: "Priceless"
Mae - The Everglow (2005)
Essential Tracks: "We're So Far Away," "Someone Else's Arms," "The Ocean," "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making"
Filler Track: "Anything"
Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
Essential Tracks: "Wave of Mutilation," "Here Comes Your Man," "Monkey Gone to Heaven," "La La Love You"
Filler Track: "Crackity Jones"
Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
Essential Tracks: "Fake Plastic Trees," "Just," "My Iron Lung," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Filler Track: "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was"
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
Essential Tracks: "Cherub Rock," "Today," "Disarm," "Mayonaise"
Filler Track: "Sweet Sweet"
Without Further Ado: The Top Ten
10. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Dream Theater is composed of some of the best musicians on the planet, so impressive musicianship is expected. But their song writing is hit and miss, so this can lead to excessive noodling and showing off, and songs that are three times longer than they need to be. James LaBrie's vocals are sometimes thin and he is easily the band's weakest element. All of these issues arguably apply to Scenes from a Memory, but it is still 77 minutes of pure heavy metal magic and Dream Theater's best album by a wide margin.
Scenes from a Memory is an elaborate concept album about past lives, illicit love, and murder, opening with a session of hypno-regression and ending with an unexpected jolt. There is no album that I've listened to from start to finish in my car more times than this one. It's an awesome album for a long drive.
Essential Tracks: "Overture 1928," "Strange Deja Vu," "Home," "Finally Free"
Filler Track: "Through Her Eyes"
9. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)
I remember the first time I heard Porcupine Tree's "Blackest Eyes," album opener to In Absentia. It was a bizarre blend of heavy metal with REM/U2-style pop rock, and I wasn't sure if I liked it. This was another Amazon.com recommendation, and I had purchased it entirely unheard on the strength of the rave reviews. Fortunately, second song "Trains" was an instant classic, soon becoming one of my favourite songs of all time. And I now love "Blackest Eyes," too.
In Absentia is a diverse progressive rock album, with no two songs sounding alike. It is arguably a concept album about social deviants, but that's not a major factor in my enjoyment of it. It is musically adventurous, unendingly interesting, and, like all Porcupine Tree albums, even better in DVD Audio surround sound. I'm also a big fan of Steven Wilson's atmospheric, layered vocals.
Essential Tracks: "Trains," "The Sound of Muzak," "Gravity Eyelids," "Heartattack in a Lay By"
Filler Track: "Wedding Nails"
Runner-Up: The Incident (2009) - "The Incident"
8. Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance (2000)
What is amazing about The Swiss Army Romance is that it is only Chris Carrabba and his acoustic guitar (plus awesome use of female backing vocals), but it never feels like anything is missing. His guitar playing is brilliantly rhythmic and almost percussive, providing a surprisingly complete soundscape for his passionate vocals to soar over top of. I was doing similar things with my acoustic guitar before I knew Dashboard Confessional even existed, but I was never even close to this successful at it.
Most importantly, every song on The Swiss Army Romance is something special. There are few albums that are this emotional, this powerful, while being so deceptively simple.
Essential Tracks: "The Sharp Hint of New Tears," "Turpentine Chaser," "A Plain Morning," "Age Six Racer"
Filler Track: "Living in Your Letters"
Runner-Up: So Impossible (2001) - "Hands Down"
7. Alice in Chains - Dirt (1992)
Alice in Chains was the best thing to come out of the Seattle grunge scene of the early 90s (even though it is tough to compare their distinctive sound to other great Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana), and Dirt is their undisputed masterpiece. Lyrically dark and honest, musically eerie and unique. Years before I was doing the Dashboard Confessional thing with my music, I was trying to do something more like this, but with none of the life experience and absolutely no understanding of real pain. (And no guitar skills anywhere near Jerry Cantrell, who was my guitar hero until Ty Tabor came along.)
Essential Tracks: "Them Bones," "Rooster," "Angry Chair," "Would?"
Filler Track: "Hate To Feel"
Runner-Up: Jar of Flies (1994) - "Nutshell"
6. Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
I was a pretty big fan of Green Day during the Dookie era, but they dropped off my radar in a big way in the mid-90s. When American Idiot was released, it received mostly rave reviews, but I was skeptical and held off checking it out until the release of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as a single. When I finally listened to it, I was definitely impressed. Green Day had come a long way from Dookie. "Jesus of Suburbia" was an amazing achievement for the band. But I still didn't really care. I didn't give the album the time it deserved.
Fast forward to 2009 and the release of 21st Century Breakdown. Impressed again by Green Day's growth, I gave American Idiot another listen. And, holy shit, this whole album is fantastic! Where previously I had fixated on "Jesus of Suburbia" and the singles, and hadn't really paid attention to the through story, I was now recognizing the album's depth. Every song adds to the whole. It is not only one of the best concept albums in my collection, it has become one of my favourite albums period. I don't even really consider myself to be a Green Day fan, but... probably I should.
Essential Tracks: "Jesus of Suburbia," "Give Me Novocaine," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," "Homecoming"
Filler Track: "She's a Rebel"
To be continued... again... sigh.
Sorry, due to time constraints, I am saving the top five for part three, hopefully going live later this week.
Three of the top five have already been sussed out by my brother in the comments to part one, if you are curious. My brother isn't really familiar with 5 and 3, so it's not a big surprise that he didn't figure those out.
Edited to add: part three is here.
Before I get into the top ten, what about those albums that didn't quite crack the top twenty but were damn close and are at least worthy of a brief mention?
Honourable Mentions
The following albums are presented in alphabetical order by band name.
Collective Soul - Collective Soul (1995)
Essential Tracks: "Untitled," "The World I Know," "Where the River Flows," "Gel"
Filler Track: "Bleed"
Copeland - You Are My Sunshine (2008)
Essential Tracks: "Should You Return," "The Grey Man," "On the Safest Ledge," "What Do I Know?"
Filler Track: "Strange and Unprepared"
Extreme - III Sides to Every Story (1992)
Essential Tracks: "Warheads," "Stop the World," "Rise 'N Shine," "Who Cares?"
Filler Track: "Seven Sundays"
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape (1997)
Essential Tracks: "Monkey Wrench," "Hey, Johnny Park!" "My Hero," "Everlong"
Filler Track: "See You"
Galactic Cowboys - Space In Your Face (1993)
Essential Tracks: "You Make Me Smile, " I Do What I Do," "Blind," "About Mrs. Leslie"
Filler Track: "Space in Your Face"
Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder... (2004)
Essential Tracks: "Agoraphobia," "Talk Shows on Mute," "Southern Girl," "Here in My Room"
Filler Track: "Priceless"
Mae - The Everglow (2005)
Essential Tracks: "We're So Far Away," "Someone Else's Arms," "The Ocean," "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making"
Filler Track: "Anything"
Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
Essential Tracks: "Wave of Mutilation," "Here Comes Your Man," "Monkey Gone to Heaven," "La La Love You"
Filler Track: "Crackity Jones"
Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
Essential Tracks: "Fake Plastic Trees," "Just," "My Iron Lung," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Filler Track: "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was"
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
Essential Tracks: "Cherub Rock," "Today," "Disarm," "Mayonaise"
Filler Track: "Sweet Sweet"
Without Further Ado: The Top Ten
10. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Dream Theater is composed of some of the best musicians on the planet, so impressive musicianship is expected. But their song writing is hit and miss, so this can lead to excessive noodling and showing off, and songs that are three times longer than they need to be. James LaBrie's vocals are sometimes thin and he is easily the band's weakest element. All of these issues arguably apply to Scenes from a Memory, but it is still 77 minutes of pure heavy metal magic and Dream Theater's best album by a wide margin.
Scenes from a Memory is an elaborate concept album about past lives, illicit love, and murder, opening with a session of hypno-regression and ending with an unexpected jolt. There is no album that I've listened to from start to finish in my car more times than this one. It's an awesome album for a long drive.
Essential Tracks: "Overture 1928," "Strange Deja Vu," "Home," "Finally Free"
Filler Track: "Through Her Eyes"
9. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)
I remember the first time I heard Porcupine Tree's "Blackest Eyes," album opener to In Absentia. It was a bizarre blend of heavy metal with REM/U2-style pop rock, and I wasn't sure if I liked it. This was another Amazon.com recommendation, and I had purchased it entirely unheard on the strength of the rave reviews. Fortunately, second song "Trains" was an instant classic, soon becoming one of my favourite songs of all time. And I now love "Blackest Eyes," too.
In Absentia is a diverse progressive rock album, with no two songs sounding alike. It is arguably a concept album about social deviants, but that's not a major factor in my enjoyment of it. It is musically adventurous, unendingly interesting, and, like all Porcupine Tree albums, even better in DVD Audio surround sound. I'm also a big fan of Steven Wilson's atmospheric, layered vocals.
Essential Tracks: "Trains," "The Sound of Muzak," "Gravity Eyelids," "Heartattack in a Lay By"
Filler Track: "Wedding Nails"
Runner-Up: The Incident (2009) - "The Incident"
8. Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance (2000)
What is amazing about The Swiss Army Romance is that it is only Chris Carrabba and his acoustic guitar (plus awesome use of female backing vocals), but it never feels like anything is missing. His guitar playing is brilliantly rhythmic and almost percussive, providing a surprisingly complete soundscape for his passionate vocals to soar over top of. I was doing similar things with my acoustic guitar before I knew Dashboard Confessional even existed, but I was never even close to this successful at it.
Most importantly, every song on The Swiss Army Romance is something special. There are few albums that are this emotional, this powerful, while being so deceptively simple.
Essential Tracks: "The Sharp Hint of New Tears," "Turpentine Chaser," "A Plain Morning," "Age Six Racer"
Filler Track: "Living in Your Letters"
Runner-Up: So Impossible (2001) - "Hands Down"
7. Alice in Chains - Dirt (1992)
Alice in Chains was the best thing to come out of the Seattle grunge scene of the early 90s (even though it is tough to compare their distinctive sound to other great Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana), and Dirt is their undisputed masterpiece. Lyrically dark and honest, musically eerie and unique. Years before I was doing the Dashboard Confessional thing with my music, I was trying to do something more like this, but with none of the life experience and absolutely no understanding of real pain. (And no guitar skills anywhere near Jerry Cantrell, who was my guitar hero until Ty Tabor came along.)
Essential Tracks: "Them Bones," "Rooster," "Angry Chair," "Would?"
Filler Track: "Hate To Feel"
Runner-Up: Jar of Flies (1994) - "Nutshell"
6. Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
I was a pretty big fan of Green Day during the Dookie era, but they dropped off my radar in a big way in the mid-90s. When American Idiot was released, it received mostly rave reviews, but I was skeptical and held off checking it out until the release of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as a single. When I finally listened to it, I was definitely impressed. Green Day had come a long way from Dookie. "Jesus of Suburbia" was an amazing achievement for the band. But I still didn't really care. I didn't give the album the time it deserved.
Fast forward to 2009 and the release of 21st Century Breakdown. Impressed again by Green Day's growth, I gave American Idiot another listen. And, holy shit, this whole album is fantastic! Where previously I had fixated on "Jesus of Suburbia" and the singles, and hadn't really paid attention to the through story, I was now recognizing the album's depth. Every song adds to the whole. It is not only one of the best concept albums in my collection, it has become one of my favourite albums period. I don't even really consider myself to be a Green Day fan, but... probably I should.
Essential Tracks: "Jesus of Suburbia," "Give Me Novocaine," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," "Homecoming"
Filler Track: "She's a Rebel"
To be continued... again... sigh.
Sorry, due to time constraints, I am saving the top five for part three, hopefully going live later this week.
Three of the top five have already been sussed out by my brother in the comments to part one, if you are curious. My brother isn't really familiar with 5 and 3, so it's not a big surprise that he didn't figure those out.
Edited to add: part three is here.
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Albums That Always Bring Me Back For More, Part 1
As I mentioned in my previous Month in Review post, I don't blog nearly enough about music considering how hugely important it is to my life. The concept of this post, a discussion of my favourite albums of all time ("desert island discs," if you will), has been banging around inside my head for a few months, but it was only recently that I started putting it down on "paper."
The following list would be somewhat different if I took a Soundtrack to My Movie approach to it, but what I wanted to do was actually talk about my favourite albums now, not albums that were awesome in their day. If I can still listen to the album as a whole today and love nearly every minute of it, it belongs on this list. I had one simple rule, only one album by any given band, which gave me a hell of a challenge at times.
The list is more or less presented in opposite order of preference--so the best is saved for last, of course!--although that is a little absurd when they are all albums I love. I will attempt to justify each album's placement in the list with a short discussion of its merits. After each entry, I have also listed: the four best songs on the album, in order of their appearance; the one song that I could take or leave (ignoring short instrumentals and hidden tracks); and, if I had a tough choice picking only one album from a given band, I cheated and listed that band's second best album along with its highlight track, just to confuse the matter. You should not be surprised to see a lot of overlap with the Soundtrack to My Movie (and I do strongly recommend starting with that post before reading this one).
20. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil (2005)
I only started listening to Avenged Sevenfold in 2009. Every other band and album in this list has been a part of my life for years. This made it tough for me to decide whether they deserved a spot in the top twenty. Will I still be listening to Avenged Sevenfold in the years to come...? The recent release of Nightmare is good evidence for "Yes, definitely."
It was Avenged Sevenfold's 2007 self-titled fourth album that first got my attention, and for the longest time, I preferred its straightforwardness to City of Evil's progressive thrash metal sound. (Their previous two thrash metal albums do little for me, so they are irrelevant.) But over the course of 2010, I have found myself going back to City of Evil much more than the self-titled album. It is something truly special. The last half of the album, in particular, is insanely good.
Essential Tracks: "Bat Country," "Seize the Day," "Sidewinder," "Strength of the World"
Filler Track: "Blinded in Chains"
19. Third Eye Blind - Out of the Vein (2003)
There was a time that I hated Third Eye Blind. Stephan Jenkins has a unique vocal style that took me a while to appreciate. "Semi-Charmed Life" was such an overplayed song that it was years after its 1997 heyday that I actually appreciated its brilliance. But, in 1999, 3eb released awesome single "Never Let You Go" from their second album and I decided that maybe I should check them out. And I was shocked to learn that their self-titled debut album was actually fantastic from beginning to end. Songs that I had never wanted to hear ever again on the radio sounded perfectly acceptable in the context of the complete album. Their second album, Blue, was also quite good, although much less consistent.
Third Eye Blind's popularity had waned by the time Out of the Vein was released, but sales never reflect quality. Out of the Vein is unquestionably 3eb's best album, diverse, never boring, and frequently catchy and singalong worthy. I didn't even really appreciate it until a few years after its release, when I listened to it again on a whim and was blown away. Although it starts off strong with "Faster" and "Blinded," the album really hits its stride with "Crystal Baller" and especially "My Hit and Run," which is arguably the best 3eb song.
Essential Tracks: "Crystal Baller," "My Hit and Run," "Misfits," "Palm Reader"
Filler Track: "Can't Get Away"
18. Our Lady Peace - Gravity (2002)
Before Gravity was released, I was sure that Our Lady Peace's best days were behind them. I was a big fan of OLP from the very beginning when "The Birdman" and "Starseed" took MuchMusic by storm. Naveed and Clumsy were both awesome in completely different ways. But the two following albums had been mostly disappointing.
Gravity was like a rebirth for a band. Original guitarist Mike Turner had been replaced with Steve Mazur, and a new guitarist meant a new guitar sound. And what a great new sound it was. "All For You" and "Not Enough" are the best examples of Mazur's influence.
Essential Tracks: "All For You," "Innocent," "Not Enough," "A Story About a Girl"
Filler Track: "Made of Steel"
Runner-Up: Naveed (1994) - "Naveed"
17. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
There are times that Amazon.com's recommendations are shockingly good, such as the time that the site recommended that I check out Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica. I sampled a couple of tracks, was intrigued, and bought the album mostly unheard. This was my first exposure to Modest Mouse's unique guitar sound and song structure. And, for me, it is still the best album they've ever released.
Essential Tracks: "3rd Planet," "Gravity Rides Everything," "The Stars are Projectors," "Lives"
Filler Track: "I Came as a Rat"
16. Queensryche - Rage for Order (1986)
Rage for Order is the oldest album on this list, and Queensryche is one of only four bands in the top twenty that even existed before the 90s. If there are older folks out there reading this, you may now be grumbling about all of the awesome albums from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I am missing out on (there's nothing good before the 60s), but it should be no surprise that the music that sticks with me is the music that I have grown up with. The only older albums that were in contention were something from The Beatles and some classic Rush (see next entry!), but there ultimately isn't a single The Beatles album that I enjoy from start to finish. And it should also be no surprise that most of the music I listened to in the 80s is not worthy of this list, because it was mostly garbage. (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and Def Leppard's Hysteria came closest, almost making the Honourable Mentions section in part two--yeah, I copped out again and made this top twenty an unofficial top thirty.)
And now I have to somewhat embarrassingly reveal that the first time I heard Rage for Order was in 1996, ten years after it was released. (So, none of the music that I listened to in the 80s made the list.) Actually, this is a testament to its quality. It is an unapologetically 80s metal album, but unlike nearly all of its peers, it hasn't aged miserably. It definitely helps that the subject matter is never partying and rarely girls. It is political. It is dramatic. It is awesome.
Essential Tracks: "Walk in the Shadows," "The Killing Words," "Neue Regel," "Screaming in Digital"
Filler Track: "Gonna Get Close to You"
Runner-Up: Operation: Mindcrime (1988) - "The Mission"
15. Rush - Counterparts (1993)
It's a bit blasphemous for a Rush fan to give the top nod to Counterparts, Rush's surprisingly successful reinvention of their sound for the 90s (technically, this reinvention started in 1989 with Presto, but that's a minor detail), over their numerous classic albums from the 70s and 80s. But that's simply the way this Rush fan feels. I can't pretend that this doesn't have a lot to do with the fact that it was Counterparts that made me a Rush fan.
It's even more blasphemous to then give the runner-up nod to their newest album instead of Moving Pictures or Hemispheres or Signals. But, shit, Snakes & Arrows is awesome, the best thing Rush has released in more than ten years, and it very nearly bumped Counterparts off the top.
Essential Tracks: "Cut to the Chase," "Nobody's Hero," "Double Agent," "Everyday Glory"
Filler Track: "The Speed of Love"
Runner-Up: Snakes & Arrows (2007) - "The Way the Wind Blows"
14. Anberlin - Cities (2007)
Cities is the newest album in this top twenty. If you haven't heard it, this may seem like a bold choice on my part, but it's really not. There are a few minor missteps in the first half of the album, but everything from "Alexithymia" on is breathtaking, and you may recall that its amazing album-ending "(*Fin)" made my Soundtrack. Anberlin's Stephen Christian has one of the best voices in alternative rock, and I mean that both in terms of his strong (albeit Christianity-infused) lyrics and his unique vocal tone.
Essential Tracks: "The Unwinding Cable Car," "Inevitable," "Dismantle. Repair," "(*Fin)"
Filler Track: "Adelaide"
Runner-Up: Never Take Friendship Personal (2005) - "Paperthin Hymn"
13. Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)
Deja Entendu is the second album on this list that I discovered because of Amazon.com's recommendations. Like with Modest Mouse, I bought the album mostly unheard. (Lest you think based on two examples that this practice always turned out well, there are just as many times that a recommended album was a disappointment. This is also a practice that I've long abandoned in these days of easy access to free downloadable music.)
Unlike Modest Mouse, Brand New isn't really a unique sounding band. They have a pretty standard alternative rock sound, with a couple memorable song exceptions. Deja Entendu is awesome mostly because of the quality of the song-writing. The song titles are ridiculously long and pretentious but still somehow work, and the songs are all fantastic in their own ways.
Essential Tracks: "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades," "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot," "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis," "Good to Know That if I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do is Die"
Filler Track: "Tautou"
12. Weezer - Weezer (1994)
Weezer's "Blue Album" is a classic. Everyone owns it; everyone loves it. And we all shit our pants the first time we saw Weezer interacting with the cast of "Happy Days" in the brilliant "Buddy Holly" video. While Pinkerton is arguably the better Weezer album, I'd rather listen to their debut on most days.
Essential Tracks: "My Name is Jonas," "Undone - The Sweater Song," "Say It Ain't So," "In the Garage"
Filler Track: "Surf Wax America"
Runner-Up: Pinkerton (1996) - "Butterfly"
11. Pearl Jam - Vs. (1993)
I don't know if there's a band that has squandered more of their potential in my life time than Pearl Jam, but once upon a time when I was in high school they were the shit. Vs. was my favourite album for a long time. It has slipped a little over the years, but it's still a great goddamn rock record. "Go" is the perfect album opener, clearly establishing what type of album it is going to be, and that energy rarely lets up.
Essential Tracks: "Daughter," "Glorified G," "Rearviewmirror," "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town"
Filler Track: "Leash"
Runner-Up: Ten (1991) - "Black"
To be continued...
I'm--of course!--saving the top ten albums for part two, which should be up early next week. For a tease, the top ten includes five albums from the 90s and five albums from the 00s, where: 10 begins with hypnosis; in 9 the summer is always slipping away; 8 has no percussion; 7 ends with a question; 6 is from a band that didn't have any representation in my Soundtrack, not even the honourable mentions; 5 feels that it's at 45 degrees; 4 is from a band that made the honourable mentions in my Soundtrack with a song from a different album; 3 pretends to have ten songs by splitting one long song into two tracks; 2 has an album-ending track that refuses to end; and 1 is the best album from 1994.
Edited to add: part two is here.
The following list would be somewhat different if I took a Soundtrack to My Movie approach to it, but what I wanted to do was actually talk about my favourite albums now, not albums that were awesome in their day. If I can still listen to the album as a whole today and love nearly every minute of it, it belongs on this list. I had one simple rule, only one album by any given band, which gave me a hell of a challenge at times.
The list is more or less presented in opposite order of preference--so the best is saved for last, of course!--although that is a little absurd when they are all albums I love. I will attempt to justify each album's placement in the list with a short discussion of its merits. After each entry, I have also listed: the four best songs on the album, in order of their appearance; the one song that I could take or leave (ignoring short instrumentals and hidden tracks); and, if I had a tough choice picking only one album from a given band, I cheated and listed that band's second best album along with its highlight track, just to confuse the matter. You should not be surprised to see a lot of overlap with the Soundtrack to My Movie (and I do strongly recommend starting with that post before reading this one).
20. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil (2005)
I only started listening to Avenged Sevenfold in 2009. Every other band and album in this list has been a part of my life for years. This made it tough for me to decide whether they deserved a spot in the top twenty. Will I still be listening to Avenged Sevenfold in the years to come...? The recent release of Nightmare is good evidence for "Yes, definitely."
It was Avenged Sevenfold's 2007 self-titled fourth album that first got my attention, and for the longest time, I preferred its straightforwardness to City of Evil's progressive thrash metal sound. (Their previous two thrash metal albums do little for me, so they are irrelevant.) But over the course of 2010, I have found myself going back to City of Evil much more than the self-titled album. It is something truly special. The last half of the album, in particular, is insanely good.
Essential Tracks: "Bat Country," "Seize the Day," "Sidewinder," "Strength of the World"
Filler Track: "Blinded in Chains"
19. Third Eye Blind - Out of the Vein (2003)
There was a time that I hated Third Eye Blind. Stephan Jenkins has a unique vocal style that took me a while to appreciate. "Semi-Charmed Life" was such an overplayed song that it was years after its 1997 heyday that I actually appreciated its brilliance. But, in 1999, 3eb released awesome single "Never Let You Go" from their second album and I decided that maybe I should check them out. And I was shocked to learn that their self-titled debut album was actually fantastic from beginning to end. Songs that I had never wanted to hear ever again on the radio sounded perfectly acceptable in the context of the complete album. Their second album, Blue, was also quite good, although much less consistent.
Third Eye Blind's popularity had waned by the time Out of the Vein was released, but sales never reflect quality. Out of the Vein is unquestionably 3eb's best album, diverse, never boring, and frequently catchy and singalong worthy. I didn't even really appreciate it until a few years after its release, when I listened to it again on a whim and was blown away. Although it starts off strong with "Faster" and "Blinded," the album really hits its stride with "Crystal Baller" and especially "My Hit and Run," which is arguably the best 3eb song.
Essential Tracks: "Crystal Baller," "My Hit and Run," "Misfits," "Palm Reader"
Filler Track: "Can't Get Away"
18. Our Lady Peace - Gravity (2002)
Before Gravity was released, I was sure that Our Lady Peace's best days were behind them. I was a big fan of OLP from the very beginning when "The Birdman" and "Starseed" took MuchMusic by storm. Naveed and Clumsy were both awesome in completely different ways. But the two following albums had been mostly disappointing.
Gravity was like a rebirth for a band. Original guitarist Mike Turner had been replaced with Steve Mazur, and a new guitarist meant a new guitar sound. And what a great new sound it was. "All For You" and "Not Enough" are the best examples of Mazur's influence.
Essential Tracks: "All For You," "Innocent," "Not Enough," "A Story About a Girl"
Filler Track: "Made of Steel"
Runner-Up: Naveed (1994) - "Naveed"
17. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
There are times that Amazon.com's recommendations are shockingly good, such as the time that the site recommended that I check out Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica. I sampled a couple of tracks, was intrigued, and bought the album mostly unheard. This was my first exposure to Modest Mouse's unique guitar sound and song structure. And, for me, it is still the best album they've ever released.
Essential Tracks: "3rd Planet," "Gravity Rides Everything," "The Stars are Projectors," "Lives"
Filler Track: "I Came as a Rat"
16. Queensryche - Rage for Order (1986)
Rage for Order is the oldest album on this list, and Queensryche is one of only four bands in the top twenty that even existed before the 90s. If there are older folks out there reading this, you may now be grumbling about all of the awesome albums from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I am missing out on (there's nothing good before the 60s), but it should be no surprise that the music that sticks with me is the music that I have grown up with. The only older albums that were in contention were something from The Beatles and some classic Rush (see next entry!), but there ultimately isn't a single The Beatles album that I enjoy from start to finish. And it should also be no surprise that most of the music I listened to in the 80s is not worthy of this list, because it was mostly garbage. (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and Def Leppard's Hysteria came closest, almost making the Honourable Mentions section in part two--yeah, I copped out again and made this top twenty an unofficial top thirty.)
And now I have to somewhat embarrassingly reveal that the first time I heard Rage for Order was in 1996, ten years after it was released. (So, none of the music that I listened to in the 80s made the list.) Actually, this is a testament to its quality. It is an unapologetically 80s metal album, but unlike nearly all of its peers, it hasn't aged miserably. It definitely helps that the subject matter is never partying and rarely girls. It is political. It is dramatic. It is awesome.
Essential Tracks: "Walk in the Shadows," "The Killing Words," "Neue Regel," "Screaming in Digital"
Filler Track: "Gonna Get Close to You"
Runner-Up: Operation: Mindcrime (1988) - "The Mission"
15. Rush - Counterparts (1993)
It's a bit blasphemous for a Rush fan to give the top nod to Counterparts, Rush's surprisingly successful reinvention of their sound for the 90s (technically, this reinvention started in 1989 with Presto, but that's a minor detail), over their numerous classic albums from the 70s and 80s. But that's simply the way this Rush fan feels. I can't pretend that this doesn't have a lot to do with the fact that it was Counterparts that made me a Rush fan.
It's even more blasphemous to then give the runner-up nod to their newest album instead of Moving Pictures or Hemispheres or Signals. But, shit, Snakes & Arrows is awesome, the best thing Rush has released in more than ten years, and it very nearly bumped Counterparts off the top.
Essential Tracks: "Cut to the Chase," "Nobody's Hero," "Double Agent," "Everyday Glory"
Filler Track: "The Speed of Love"
Runner-Up: Snakes & Arrows (2007) - "The Way the Wind Blows"
14. Anberlin - Cities (2007)
Cities is the newest album in this top twenty. If you haven't heard it, this may seem like a bold choice on my part, but it's really not. There are a few minor missteps in the first half of the album, but everything from "Alexithymia" on is breathtaking, and you may recall that its amazing album-ending "(*Fin)" made my Soundtrack. Anberlin's Stephen Christian has one of the best voices in alternative rock, and I mean that both in terms of his strong (albeit Christianity-infused) lyrics and his unique vocal tone.
Essential Tracks: "The Unwinding Cable Car," "Inevitable," "Dismantle. Repair," "(*Fin)"
Filler Track: "Adelaide"
Runner-Up: Never Take Friendship Personal (2005) - "Paperthin Hymn"
13. Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)
Deja Entendu is the second album on this list that I discovered because of Amazon.com's recommendations. Like with Modest Mouse, I bought the album mostly unheard. (Lest you think based on two examples that this practice always turned out well, there are just as many times that a recommended album was a disappointment. This is also a practice that I've long abandoned in these days of easy access to free downloadable music.)
Unlike Modest Mouse, Brand New isn't really a unique sounding band. They have a pretty standard alternative rock sound, with a couple memorable song exceptions. Deja Entendu is awesome mostly because of the quality of the song-writing. The song titles are ridiculously long and pretentious but still somehow work, and the songs are all fantastic in their own ways.
Essential Tracks: "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades," "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot," "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis," "Good to Know That if I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do is Die"
Filler Track: "Tautou"
12. Weezer - Weezer (1994)
Weezer's "Blue Album" is a classic. Everyone owns it; everyone loves it. And we all shit our pants the first time we saw Weezer interacting with the cast of "Happy Days" in the brilliant "Buddy Holly" video. While Pinkerton is arguably the better Weezer album, I'd rather listen to their debut on most days.
Essential Tracks: "My Name is Jonas," "Undone - The Sweater Song," "Say It Ain't So," "In the Garage"
Filler Track: "Surf Wax America"
Runner-Up: Pinkerton (1996) - "Butterfly"
11. Pearl Jam - Vs. (1993)
I don't know if there's a band that has squandered more of their potential in my life time than Pearl Jam, but once upon a time when I was in high school they were the shit. Vs. was my favourite album for a long time. It has slipped a little over the years, but it's still a great goddamn rock record. "Go" is the perfect album opener, clearly establishing what type of album it is going to be, and that energy rarely lets up.
Essential Tracks: "Daughter," "Glorified G," "Rearviewmirror," "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town"
Filler Track: "Leash"
Runner-Up: Ten (1991) - "Black"
To be continued...
I'm--of course!--saving the top ten albums for part two, which should be up early next week. For a tease, the top ten includes five albums from the 90s and five albums from the 00s, where: 10 begins with hypnosis; in 9 the summer is always slipping away; 8 has no percussion; 7 ends with a question; 6 is from a band that didn't have any representation in my Soundtrack, not even the honourable mentions; 5 feels that it's at 45 degrees; 4 is from a band that made the honourable mentions in my Soundtrack with a song from a different album; 3 pretends to have ten songs by splitting one long song into two tracks; 2 has an album-ending track that refuses to end; and 1 is the best album from 1994.
Edited to add: part two is here.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
About Me - Singer-songwriter
Yeah, that's right, I'm a singer-songwriter. I'm not saying I'm great at it. I'm certainly not out there playing shows and sharing my music. I'm strictly a hobby musician (at this time, anyway). I'm also really out of practice, since I basically stopped writing songs after the song I used to propose marriage in 2004. I also stopped playing guitar around the same time. But there's nothing like being single again to reignite my song-writing passion.
But I'm way ahead of myself there. I should start at the beginning.
I started taking guitar lessons around age 10 or 11. I know this because I remember that I was given the choice between getting a guitar and starting lessons or continuing my minor hockey career, moving from Atom to Peewee. I remember being frightened of the body-checking that would be introduced in Peewee, so I went with the guitar and lessons. In retrospect, that was definitely a good choice! I wasn't very good at hockey anyway. Not that I'm great with a guitar, either, but I digress.
I liked my guitar teacher, and he taught me everything I needed to know, from notes, to chords, to pentatonic scales. There was as much music theory as there was guitar technique in his lessons, which was very valuable. To this day, I still rely on the pentatonic scale for improvising solos, and I still play most chords the way he taught me. Unfortunately, I have long forgotten how to note-read, relying entirely on tablatures instead. I can't remember how long these guitar lessons continued, but it was probably a couple of years at least.
Somewhere around 12 or 13, I started writing songs, and naturally I wanted to record them for others to hear. I don't remember how I convinced my parents to buy me a $500 Tascam 4-track tape recorder, but I believe that giving up the guitar lessons was part of it. There is no question that I got their money's worth out of that 4-track.
I don't know how many songs I recorded on that 4-track, but it was likely around 100. I have three cassette tapes full of songs from that time, and those are only the songs that I finished to the point that I wanted to share with a musician friend. There are twice as many songs that were left unfinished on my master tapes and are now inaccessible to me. That well-used 4-track sadly kicked the bucket during my second or third year of university.
Discography, Song-writing Era 1, Cassette:
Fantasms in Conjure-gation (1994)
Elsewhere Not Here (1995)
A Learning Experience (1996)
I can't help but shake my head and laugh when listening to the awesomely titled "Fantasms in Conjure-gation," which is basically my greatest hits album from most of my teen years. As you can imagine, there is a huge variety of songs and song quality to be found on this cassette. The highlight is the "awesome" AD&D-influenced suite, "Conjure," "Dispel," and "Rituals."
"Elsewhere Not Here" was my first attempt at a theme album and was entirely recorded in late 1994 and early 1995. It is also much more consistent in quality than Fantasms. In fact, some of these songs have aged surprisingly well, despite a lot of lyrical immaturity.
"A Learning Experience" was written and recorded during my first year of university and is a much more mature and interesting collection of songs. My first two cassettes were only ever shared with a musician friend, but ALE reached a wider audience among my few university friends. The song "CHEM 111.3" was a particular favourite of my friends, to the point where they almost wore out the tape rewinding and replaying it. The standout track for me will always be the mysteriously titled "Z."
After the death of the 4-track, I stopped recording music for a few years. I didn't stop writing new songs, but they were never committed to tape. Because of this, most of the songs I wrote during that period (approx. 1998 to 2000), have long ago faded from my memory, and all I am left with is a sheet of lyrics with possibly a few chords or tabs scrawled in the margins.
My songwriting process has always been the same. For me, a song starts with the lyrics and a melody in my head. Often that is where the songwriting ends, and I am just left with mediocre poetry. But sometimes I will sit down with my guitar and this new set of lyrics, and I will work hard to find the notes and chords that work with the melodies. If I really like a set of lyrics, I will often settle with music that at least doesn't ruin the song.
When I started working my first full-time job in May of 2000, I found myself sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day with often half to three quarters of that 8 hours as spare time. I would spend hours each day writing new lyrics in Microsoft Word, often two or three a day, and then take those lyrics home to try to make songs. I have a binder full of these songs at home. The quality varies a lot, as you would expect, but many of the best songs I have ever written came from this time period (2000 to 2002). I needed a way to record and share some of these songs.
At first, I resorted to recording songs live using my DV camcorder, just me and my acoustic guitar. I sacrificed sound quality, but gained a spontaneity and rawness that few of my 4-tracked songs had ever had. I recorded approximately 30 songs this way, sharing 24 of them on two CDs that I handed out to friends and family. This was actually the first time that most people had ever heard any of my music.
But, now that I had a decent paying job, I knew it was time to take my music recording to the next level. So, I invested in a home computer with music studio capabilities, and began recording full-band songs using acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, vocals, samples, and drum loops. This was obviously a learning experience, and I spent hours mixing songs to try to bring out the best in them. The end result was "Strangers from Distant Lands," my second theme album, and my third and final (to date) album on CD.
Discography, Song-writing Era 2, CD
Everything is Good (2001)
Time & Dreams Fade (2001)
Strangers from Distance Lands (2002)
When I look back at my three CDs, I actually find that, on the whole, I prefer the first two that were recorded live on my camcorder. "Everything is Good," so titled because that was the first song I recorded, is marginally the better of the two, mostly because of personal favourite songs like "Resonance," "Step One?" "The Curl," and "Je Souhaite." Not that "Time & Dreams Fade" doesn't also have some of my favourite songs: "Perpetually Single," "Embryonethics," and "Damaged Divinity."
The creation of "Strangers from Distant Lands" was an excellent experience, but I lost a little something in the songs with the approach I took. My biggest gripe is that I didn't deliver on the vocals for some of the songs as well as I know I could have. The main reason for this, and it's something I haven't mentioned yet, is that all of these CDs were recorded in a far-from-soundproof apartment suite.
When playing the guitar and singing at the same time, I worried less about the racket I was making, because my neighbours were hearing the complete song. When recording my third CD track by track, I had to sing the vocal parts loudly with the background music only in the headphones I was wearing. I'm sure my neighbours wondered why I was strangling so many cats every day. And feeling guilty about this, I held myself back in many places where I needed to let loose. I hold no illusions that I am a great singer, but I am a better singer than some of these songs show. To try to hide the weaknesses in the vocal master tracks, I overused vocal layering in some songs, which also does not help.
The songs that hold up the best on Strangers are my re-recorded versions of "Everything is Good" tracks "Je Souhaite," which features mostly whispered vocals, and "Everything is Good" itself, which was actually recorded live and then slightly overdubbed. I also love my two instrumental only tracks, the title track and "Ageless Refrain."
My fourth CD would have been (and may still be) titled "The Trouble with Time Travel." This album was written between 2003 and 2004, and would have included songs about moving into my new condo and meeting a certain special someone. I recorded a demo of one of the songs live on my camcorder in 2003 (for old times' sake) and created a quick multi-track demo of a second song in early 2005, but none of the other songs were ever committed to tape.
And then I effectively stopped being a singer-songwriter for approximately 5 years. I'm not going to try to explain this gap. I don't know if I understand it myself. It just happened. I didn't completely stop writing songs, but my output was way down to one or two songs a year, and I hardly played my guitar anymore. I once told a musician friend that most of my lyrics came from a dark, lonely place; from 2004 to 2009, this place no longer existed.
But I'm not back in that same place now, either. I have found some inspiration and spare time to write and record again, but I am not nearly as "dark" and/or lonely now as I was then. My life has improved in almost all ways, other than the one. I am not writing two to three songs a day. I have only written two songs in the past month. Maybe if I didn't have this blog as a time waster and a place to vent, I would waste time and vent by writing more songs.
I bought a new guitar on September 1st and my first task with the new guitar was to write a new song basically on the spot. Some of my favourite songs were written this way, with music and lyrics created spontaneously.
"Redefinition" was the song I wrote on September 1st to break in my new guitar. This was my first full day alone in my now much bigger feeling house, and I was obviously grappling with some intense emotions. As I mentioned above, the lyrics and music were created together and spontaneously, and the end result is pretty good, I think.
Today I am doing something that I have never done before. And I am hiding it behind the jump.
But I'm way ahead of myself there. I should start at the beginning.
I started taking guitar lessons around age 10 or 11. I know this because I remember that I was given the choice between getting a guitar and starting lessons or continuing my minor hockey career, moving from Atom to Peewee. I remember being frightened of the body-checking that would be introduced in Peewee, so I went with the guitar and lessons. In retrospect, that was definitely a good choice! I wasn't very good at hockey anyway. Not that I'm great with a guitar, either, but I digress.
I liked my guitar teacher, and he taught me everything I needed to know, from notes, to chords, to pentatonic scales. There was as much music theory as there was guitar technique in his lessons, which was very valuable. To this day, I still rely on the pentatonic scale for improvising solos, and I still play most chords the way he taught me. Unfortunately, I have long forgotten how to note-read, relying entirely on tablatures instead. I can't remember how long these guitar lessons continued, but it was probably a couple of years at least.
Somewhere around 12 or 13, I started writing songs, and naturally I wanted to record them for others to hear. I don't remember how I convinced my parents to buy me a $500 Tascam 4-track tape recorder, but I believe that giving up the guitar lessons was part of it. There is no question that I got their money's worth out of that 4-track.
I don't know how many songs I recorded on that 4-track, but it was likely around 100. I have three cassette tapes full of songs from that time, and those are only the songs that I finished to the point that I wanted to share with a musician friend. There are twice as many songs that were left unfinished on my master tapes and are now inaccessible to me. That well-used 4-track sadly kicked the bucket during my second or third year of university.
Discography, Song-writing Era 1, Cassette:
Fantasms in Conjure-gation (1994)
Elsewhere Not Here (1995)
A Learning Experience (1996)
I can't help but shake my head and laugh when listening to the awesomely titled "Fantasms in Conjure-gation," which is basically my greatest hits album from most of my teen years. As you can imagine, there is a huge variety of songs and song quality to be found on this cassette. The highlight is the "awesome" AD&D-influenced suite, "Conjure," "Dispel," and "Rituals."
"Elsewhere Not Here" was my first attempt at a theme album and was entirely recorded in late 1994 and early 1995. It is also much more consistent in quality than Fantasms. In fact, some of these songs have aged surprisingly well, despite a lot of lyrical immaturity.
"A Learning Experience" was written and recorded during my first year of university and is a much more mature and interesting collection of songs. My first two cassettes were only ever shared with a musician friend, but ALE reached a wider audience among my few university friends. The song "CHEM 111.3" was a particular favourite of my friends, to the point where they almost wore out the tape rewinding and replaying it. The standout track for me will always be the mysteriously titled "Z."
After the death of the 4-track, I stopped recording music for a few years. I didn't stop writing new songs, but they were never committed to tape. Because of this, most of the songs I wrote during that period (approx. 1998 to 2000), have long ago faded from my memory, and all I am left with is a sheet of lyrics with possibly a few chords or tabs scrawled in the margins.
My songwriting process has always been the same. For me, a song starts with the lyrics and a melody in my head. Often that is where the songwriting ends, and I am just left with mediocre poetry. But sometimes I will sit down with my guitar and this new set of lyrics, and I will work hard to find the notes and chords that work with the melodies. If I really like a set of lyrics, I will often settle with music that at least doesn't ruin the song.
When I started working my first full-time job in May of 2000, I found myself sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day with often half to three quarters of that 8 hours as spare time. I would spend hours each day writing new lyrics in Microsoft Word, often two or three a day, and then take those lyrics home to try to make songs. I have a binder full of these songs at home. The quality varies a lot, as you would expect, but many of the best songs I have ever written came from this time period (2000 to 2002). I needed a way to record and share some of these songs.
At first, I resorted to recording songs live using my DV camcorder, just me and my acoustic guitar. I sacrificed sound quality, but gained a spontaneity and rawness that few of my 4-tracked songs had ever had. I recorded approximately 30 songs this way, sharing 24 of them on two CDs that I handed out to friends and family. This was actually the first time that most people had ever heard any of my music.
But, now that I had a decent paying job, I knew it was time to take my music recording to the next level. So, I invested in a home computer with music studio capabilities, and began recording full-band songs using acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, vocals, samples, and drum loops. This was obviously a learning experience, and I spent hours mixing songs to try to bring out the best in them. The end result was "Strangers from Distant Lands," my second theme album, and my third and final (to date) album on CD.
Discography, Song-writing Era 2, CD
Everything is Good (2001)
Time & Dreams Fade (2001)
Strangers from Distance Lands (2002)
When I look back at my three CDs, I actually find that, on the whole, I prefer the first two that were recorded live on my camcorder. "Everything is Good," so titled because that was the first song I recorded, is marginally the better of the two, mostly because of personal favourite songs like "Resonance," "Step One?" "The Curl," and "Je Souhaite." Not that "Time & Dreams Fade" doesn't also have some of my favourite songs: "Perpetually Single," "Embryonethics," and "Damaged Divinity."
The creation of "Strangers from Distant Lands" was an excellent experience, but I lost a little something in the songs with the approach I took. My biggest gripe is that I didn't deliver on the vocals for some of the songs as well as I know I could have. The main reason for this, and it's something I haven't mentioned yet, is that all of these CDs were recorded in a far-from-soundproof apartment suite.
When playing the guitar and singing at the same time, I worried less about the racket I was making, because my neighbours were hearing the complete song. When recording my third CD track by track, I had to sing the vocal parts loudly with the background music only in the headphones I was wearing. I'm sure my neighbours wondered why I was strangling so many cats every day. And feeling guilty about this, I held myself back in many places where I needed to let loose. I hold no illusions that I am a great singer, but I am a better singer than some of these songs show. To try to hide the weaknesses in the vocal master tracks, I overused vocal layering in some songs, which also does not help.
The songs that hold up the best on Strangers are my re-recorded versions of "Everything is Good" tracks "Je Souhaite," which features mostly whispered vocals, and "Everything is Good" itself, which was actually recorded live and then slightly overdubbed. I also love my two instrumental only tracks, the title track and "Ageless Refrain."
My fourth CD would have been (and may still be) titled "The Trouble with Time Travel." This album was written between 2003 and 2004, and would have included songs about moving into my new condo and meeting a certain special someone. I recorded a demo of one of the songs live on my camcorder in 2003 (for old times' sake) and created a quick multi-track demo of a second song in early 2005, but none of the other songs were ever committed to tape.
And then I effectively stopped being a singer-songwriter for approximately 5 years. I'm not going to try to explain this gap. I don't know if I understand it myself. It just happened. I didn't completely stop writing songs, but my output was way down to one or two songs a year, and I hardly played my guitar anymore. I once told a musician friend that most of my lyrics came from a dark, lonely place; from 2004 to 2009, this place no longer existed.
But I'm not back in that same place now, either. I have found some inspiration and spare time to write and record again, but I am not nearly as "dark" and/or lonely now as I was then. My life has improved in almost all ways, other than the one. I am not writing two to three songs a day. I have only written two songs in the past month. Maybe if I didn't have this blog as a time waster and a place to vent, I would waste time and vent by writing more songs.
I bought a new guitar on September 1st and my first task with the new guitar was to write a new song basically on the spot. Some of my favourite songs were written this way, with music and lyrics created spontaneously.
"Redefinition" was the song I wrote on September 1st to break in my new guitar. This was my first full day alone in my now much bigger feeling house, and I was obviously grappling with some intense emotions. As I mentioned above, the lyrics and music were created together and spontaneously, and the end result is pretty good, I think.
Today I am doing something that I have never done before. And I am hiding it behind the jump.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Soundtrack to My Movie, Disc 2
If you haven't done so yet, you really need to start with Soundtrack to My Movie, Disc 1.
16. "Lightning Crashes" (1994) by Live
"Throwing Copper" is potentially the best album from 1994. It is certainly my favourite, and picking only one song for this list was ridiculous. I chose "Lightning Crashes" because it was Live's breakthrough song for me and many other people. And it's awesome.
17. "Nutshell" (1994) by Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains' acoustic EP "Jar of Flies" took me by complete surprise, thanks in no small part to brilliant songs like "Nutshell" and my all-time favourite instrumental song, "Whale & Wasp." Suddenly, I was a fan. And after listening to "Dirt," I wondered how I missed it the first time around. I vividly remember telling my French teacher that Jerry Cantrell was my favourite guitarist (in French of course).
18. "The Nude" (1993) by Catherine Wheel
It took the release of "Happy Days" and the single "Waydown" to alert me to the existence of Catherine Wheel. I was immediately intrigued and quickly tracked down their earlier stuff, and am I ever glad I did. "Chrome" is a masterpiece, and "The Nude" is possibly the best song ever about art appreciation.
19. "Fake Plastic Trees" (1995) by Radiohead
I don't care what anyone says; "OK Computer" is not the best Radiohead album. "The Bends" is better in almost all ways, most notably consistency, and features the genius of "Fake Plastic Trees."
20. "You Are All I Have" (1996) by Hayden
When I think of my first years in university, I inevitably think of Hayden. The first time I heard Hayden, he was playing a live show in the corner of a cafeteria on campus. I sat only a few feet away and was amazed at the emotion and honesty in his songs. I could only dream of creating songs with that much heart. "Everything I Long For" was easily my most listened to CD in 1995, and when "Moving Careful" came out, I put it on endless repeat as well. After "Estranged" and "Without You," "You Are All I Have" is easily the most lyrically relevant song on this list. Goddamn!
21. "Without You" (1998) by Ty Tabor
Ty Tabor is the guitarist from King's X, and he has had a strong solo career on the side. Without a doubt, he has been the biggest inspiration on my own music, despite the fact that my music doesn't come out anything like his in the end. My bad. "Without You" has always been my favourite Ty Tabor solo song, and now, like "Estranged," it's even better given my personal experience with the lyrical content.
22. "Finally Free" (1999) by Dream Theater
Progressive rockers Dream Theater established a new standard for theme albums with "Scenes From a Memory" (surpassing Queensryche's "Operation: Mindcrime"). It's pretty dumb to pick one best song from an album that tells a single story, but if you have to, you have to go with the big finale. "Scenes From a Memory" is my favourite long drive album.
23. "For Me This is Heaven" (1999) by Jimmy Eat World
One day at work, I stumbled upon a former co-worker's burned copy of "Bleed American." My only exposure to Jimmy Eat World up to that point had been "The Middle," a good pop-rock song, but nothing to get excited about. But I thought, what the heck, I can listen to the whole album--and holy shit! I can't remember a time I was so surprised by the quality of an album. Songs like "Hear You Me" and "My Sundown" blew me away, and I of course had to immediately check out the rest of Jimmy Eat World's discography. "Clarity" blew me away even more than "Bleed American" had. It's amusing to remember that I didn't originally think much of "For Me This is Heaven," but this song is a slow grower. Not only is it my favourite Jimmy Eat World song now, it's also my text message ring tone. Oh, and Jimmy Eat World is quite possibly my favourite band, so thanks a lot former co-worker!
24. "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" (2000) by Dashboard Confessional
I think it was when my brother Blaine recommended that I check out Dashboard Confessional that I first realized how similar our tastes in music were. "The Swiss Army Romance" is still the best DC album, and it was encouraging for someone trying to do the very same to hear an album that was only acoustic guitar and vocals. I don't think I'll ever write or record a song as good as any on that album, but it's still inspirational.
25. "Yours if You Like" (2001) by Oleander
For whatever reason (complementary vocal styles is my guess), Oleander is my favourite band to sing-along to in my car at full volume, and "Yours if You Like" is my favourite song choice. They aren't even that great of a band overall, but I have spent many long car trips rocking out with my Oleander mix CD.
26. "Trains" (2002) by Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a band that can not be done justice by CD. I own all of their best albums on DVD-Audio, and that is how I listen to them most often: 5.1 surround with a huge sound field, and details you can never hear on the CDs. The album "In Absentia" introduced me to Porcupine Tree, and still stands apart as their best overall work. "Trains" is possibly the most accessible song on the album, and it played a big role in making me a huge fan of the band.
27. "Amazed" (1999) by Lonestar
It's funny that I am including a song in this list that I actually don't want to listen to, but I can't deny that this song is on the soundtrack for my movie. You either know why, or you don't. It's not important to discuss why.
28. "Don't Slow Down" (2005) by Copeland
I discovered Copeland with their album "In Motion," and it was "Don't Slow Down" that first made me sit up and pay closer attention. I am now a huge Copeland fan and love all of their albums. In fact, if any band embodies the summer of 2009 for me, it is Copeland, as the complete collection played on random through my outdoor speaker almost every day I sat outside and read during my summer vacation.
29. "(*Fin)" (2007) by Anberlin
Anberlin is another of my current favourite bands, despite their undisguised Christianity, which says a lot for the quality of their songs. Their 2007 masterpiece "Cities" ended with this incredible and appropriated titled song. This song often still gives me chills when I listen to it.
30. "Falling Slowly" (2006) by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
The only Academy Award winning song on this list, I could listen to "Falling Slowly" on repeat for hours and never get tired of it. Beautiful, haunting, brilliant. Well deserved win! If you haven't seen Once yet, you really should.
And that's the end of disc 2. Disc 2 obviously contains more favourite songs and less guilty pleasures, but it's the whole package that counts.
And, in the grand tradition of internet lists, I can't forget to cop out with some honorable mentions, songs that would possibly have made the list, had I made it a 3CD set:
"The Voice" (1981) by The Moody Blues
"Where is My Mind?" (1988) by Pixies
"Dyslexic Heart" (1992) by Paul Westerberg
"I Do What I Do" (1993) by The Galactic Cowboys
"All Apologies" (1993) by Nirvana
"The River" (1993) by The Tea Party
"The World I Know" (1994) by Collective Soul
"Gipped" (1994) by hHead
"Claire" (1994) by Rheostatics
"Zero Chance" (1996) by Soundgarden
"Guitar and Video Games" (1998) by Sunny Day Real Estate
"Brighter Hell" (1998) by The Watchmen
"Stellar" (1999) by Incubus
"Emotion Sickness" (1999) by Silverchair
"If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop?" (2000) by The Juliana Theory
"Gravity Rides Everything" (2000) by Modest Mouse
"Almost Crimes" (2002) by Broken Social Scene
"When Morning Comes" (2002) by Dishwalla
"Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die" (2003) by Brand New
And last, but certainly not least, a major inspiration for this list:
"Soundtrack for Our Movie" (2003) by Mae
16. "Lightning Crashes" (1994) by Live
"Throwing Copper" is potentially the best album from 1994. It is certainly my favourite, and picking only one song for this list was ridiculous. I chose "Lightning Crashes" because it was Live's breakthrough song for me and many other people. And it's awesome.
17. "Nutshell" (1994) by Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains' acoustic EP "Jar of Flies" took me by complete surprise, thanks in no small part to brilliant songs like "Nutshell" and my all-time favourite instrumental song, "Whale & Wasp." Suddenly, I was a fan. And after listening to "Dirt," I wondered how I missed it the first time around. I vividly remember telling my French teacher that Jerry Cantrell was my favourite guitarist (in French of course).
18. "The Nude" (1993) by Catherine Wheel
It took the release of "Happy Days" and the single "Waydown" to alert me to the existence of Catherine Wheel. I was immediately intrigued and quickly tracked down their earlier stuff, and am I ever glad I did. "Chrome" is a masterpiece, and "The Nude" is possibly the best song ever about art appreciation.
19. "Fake Plastic Trees" (1995) by Radiohead
I don't care what anyone says; "OK Computer" is not the best Radiohead album. "The Bends" is better in almost all ways, most notably consistency, and features the genius of "Fake Plastic Trees."
20. "You Are All I Have" (1996) by Hayden
When I think of my first years in university, I inevitably think of Hayden. The first time I heard Hayden, he was playing a live show in the corner of a cafeteria on campus. I sat only a few feet away and was amazed at the emotion and honesty in his songs. I could only dream of creating songs with that much heart. "Everything I Long For" was easily my most listened to CD in 1995, and when "Moving Careful" came out, I put it on endless repeat as well. After "Estranged" and "Without You," "You Are All I Have" is easily the most lyrically relevant song on this list. Goddamn!
21. "Without You" (1998) by Ty Tabor
Ty Tabor is the guitarist from King's X, and he has had a strong solo career on the side. Without a doubt, he has been the biggest inspiration on my own music, despite the fact that my music doesn't come out anything like his in the end. My bad. "Without You" has always been my favourite Ty Tabor solo song, and now, like "Estranged," it's even better given my personal experience with the lyrical content.
22. "Finally Free" (1999) by Dream Theater
Progressive rockers Dream Theater established a new standard for theme albums with "Scenes From a Memory" (surpassing Queensryche's "Operation: Mindcrime"). It's pretty dumb to pick one best song from an album that tells a single story, but if you have to, you have to go with the big finale. "Scenes From a Memory" is my favourite long drive album.
23. "For Me This is Heaven" (1999) by Jimmy Eat World
One day at work, I stumbled upon a former co-worker's burned copy of "Bleed American." My only exposure to Jimmy Eat World up to that point had been "The Middle," a good pop-rock song, but nothing to get excited about. But I thought, what the heck, I can listen to the whole album--and holy shit! I can't remember a time I was so surprised by the quality of an album. Songs like "Hear You Me" and "My Sundown" blew me away, and I of course had to immediately check out the rest of Jimmy Eat World's discography. "Clarity" blew me away even more than "Bleed American" had. It's amusing to remember that I didn't originally think much of "For Me This is Heaven," but this song is a slow grower. Not only is it my favourite Jimmy Eat World song now, it's also my text message ring tone. Oh, and Jimmy Eat World is quite possibly my favourite band, so thanks a lot former co-worker!
24. "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" (2000) by Dashboard Confessional
I think it was when my brother Blaine recommended that I check out Dashboard Confessional that I first realized how similar our tastes in music were. "The Swiss Army Romance" is still the best DC album, and it was encouraging for someone trying to do the very same to hear an album that was only acoustic guitar and vocals. I don't think I'll ever write or record a song as good as any on that album, but it's still inspirational.
25. "Yours if You Like" (2001) by Oleander
For whatever reason (complementary vocal styles is my guess), Oleander is my favourite band to sing-along to in my car at full volume, and "Yours if You Like" is my favourite song choice. They aren't even that great of a band overall, but I have spent many long car trips rocking out with my Oleander mix CD.
26. "Trains" (2002) by Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a band that can not be done justice by CD. I own all of their best albums on DVD-Audio, and that is how I listen to them most often: 5.1 surround with a huge sound field, and details you can never hear on the CDs. The album "In Absentia" introduced me to Porcupine Tree, and still stands apart as their best overall work. "Trains" is possibly the most accessible song on the album, and it played a big role in making me a huge fan of the band.
27. "Amazed" (1999) by Lonestar
It's funny that I am including a song in this list that I actually don't want to listen to, but I can't deny that this song is on the soundtrack for my movie. You either know why, or you don't. It's not important to discuss why.
28. "Don't Slow Down" (2005) by Copeland
I discovered Copeland with their album "In Motion," and it was "Don't Slow Down" that first made me sit up and pay closer attention. I am now a huge Copeland fan and love all of their albums. In fact, if any band embodies the summer of 2009 for me, it is Copeland, as the complete collection played on random through my outdoor speaker almost every day I sat outside and read during my summer vacation.
29. "(*Fin)" (2007) by Anberlin
Anberlin is another of my current favourite bands, despite their undisguised Christianity, which says a lot for the quality of their songs. Their 2007 masterpiece "Cities" ended with this incredible and appropriated titled song. This song often still gives me chills when I listen to it.
30. "Falling Slowly" (2006) by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
The only Academy Award winning song on this list, I could listen to "Falling Slowly" on repeat for hours and never get tired of it. Beautiful, haunting, brilliant. Well deserved win! If you haven't seen Once yet, you really should.
And that's the end of disc 2. Disc 2 obviously contains more favourite songs and less guilty pleasures, but it's the whole package that counts.
And, in the grand tradition of internet lists, I can't forget to cop out with some honorable mentions, songs that would possibly have made the list, had I made it a 3CD set:
"The Voice" (1981) by The Moody Blues
"Where is My Mind?" (1988) by Pixies
"Dyslexic Heart" (1992) by Paul Westerberg
"I Do What I Do" (1993) by The Galactic Cowboys
"All Apologies" (1993) by Nirvana
"The River" (1993) by The Tea Party
"The World I Know" (1994) by Collective Soul
"Gipped" (1994) by hHead
"Claire" (1994) by Rheostatics
"Zero Chance" (1996) by Soundgarden
"Guitar and Video Games" (1998) by Sunny Day Real Estate
"Brighter Hell" (1998) by The Watchmen
"Stellar" (1999) by Incubus
"Emotion Sickness" (1999) by Silverchair
"If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop?" (2000) by The Juliana Theory
"Gravity Rides Everything" (2000) by Modest Mouse
"Almost Crimes" (2002) by Broken Social Scene
"When Morning Comes" (2002) by Dishwalla
"Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die" (2003) by Brand New
And last, but certainly not least, a major inspiration for this list:
"Soundtrack for Our Movie" (2003) by Mae
Monday, September 14, 2009
Soundtrack to My Movie, Disc 1
Music has always been important to me. I play guitar and write songs myself, I listen to music almost constantly, and I love music-based video games. Music is often unfairly relegated to the background, but lately it's come back to the forefront.
As I was sitting and listening to music on Sunday, I started thinking about songs and bands that have deeply affected me throughout my life. And I started to create this list, the soundtrack to my life. This is a list of songs that have defined my musical tastes, inspired me, depressed me, saved me, or were simply playing at critical moments of my life and can never be forgotten. Most are awesome, some are guilty pleasures--all are a part of who I am.
To keep the list as short as possible, I limited myself to only one song from any given band. That was hard. But the resulting list would make a hell of a 2-CD mix collection. The songs are presented in chronological order of approximately when they came into my life, not necessarily in order of release.
1. "A Day in the Life" (1967) by The Beatles
Growing up the son of a big Beatles fan sort of ruined them for me for many years. There's nothing worse than the music that your parents listen to, right? I reintroduced myself to The Beatles after university, and, well, what more needs to be said about The Beatles? I picked "A Day in the Life" because it is awesome. Picking one Beatles song wasn't as hard a choice as I thought it would be. (The chronological thing could be argued for this song, as I probably only really became aware of "A Day in the Life"'s awesomeness in 2001 or so, but I'm sure I heard it multiple times as a kid and just didn't appreciate it.)
2. "Beat It" (1982) by Michael Jackson
I considered putting Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" on the list, to try to disguise the Michael Jackson thing, but this is supposed to be an honest list--so, yeah, I fucking loved Michael Jackson as a kid. "Thriller" was the first album I listened to from start to finish over and over, loving every song.
3. "Wanted Dead or Alive" (1986) by Bon Jovi
When I learned two years back that this song was included in Rock Band, I felt the old Bon Jovi fanboy in me coming back to life. I love it! There is no question that Bon Jovi was my first favourite band. "Slippery When Wet" and "New Jersey" weren't just albums--they were my best friends. I'm surprised I didn't wear through those poor cassette tapes with my Walkman.
4. "Time Has Come" (1986) by Europe
"The Final Countdown" was too obvious a choice. Europe's greatest album, which recently was also the awesome soundtrack to Hot Rod, was definitely another album that barely left my Walkman. I'm sure it was only ejected to pop in Bon Jovi, because, hey, Bon Jovi > Europe.
5. "Ride the Wind" (1990) by Poison
Poison was another hair metal favourite from my elementary school days, but their album "Flesh & Blood" has the strongest affect on me. It brings me back to my endless days of reading/playing "Fighting Fantasy" books, and specifically the incredible "Creature of Havoc." "Ride the Wind" is pure, exhilarating nostalgia.
6. "Tonight" (1990) by New Kids on the Block
Oh, what's this? No, that can't be right! How could I admit this? My biggest guilty pleasure of all guilty pleasures... sigh. Just like how as a kid you can't like the music your parents like, you also can't like the music your little brothers like, and one of my little brothers loved NKOTB. Now, by no means am I admitting to liking anything else by the New Kids--just "Tonight," because it's pretty sweet!
7. "More Than Words" (1991) by Extreme
This super-cheesy radio and wedding-friendly acoustic ballad was the beginning of my unexpected transition from hair metal fan to slightly more cerebral hard rock fan. I didn't know what I was getting when I purchased Extreme's Pornograffitti--my first ever CD!--but it was a lot more than just "More Than Words."
8. "Silent Lucidity" (1990) by Queensryche
What can I say about "Silent Lucidity" to do it justice? Still possibly my favourite song of all time, it introduced me to the greatness that is Queensryche and exposed me to the concept of orchestration enhancing my rock music. It's a brilliant song that has been a big part of many of the best moments of my life. It also wakes me up every single morning.
9. "Estranged" (1991) by Guns N' Roses
Holy shit, this song is intense for me now! It has always been my favourite GnR song (and video) because it's freakin' epic--and I love epic songs!-- and it has some of the sweetest guitar solos ever recorded. Now it may also be the most lyrically relevant song on this list, which is kinda exhilarating while also being depressing.
10. "Rearviewmirror" (1993) by Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam marks the start of a different era in this list and my life. 1993 to 1995--some of the most incredible music of all time was released during my last few years of high school. Maybe it's the fact that I was in high school at the time that makes me think that? Who knows? But Pearl Jam's "Ten" and "Vs" are albums that will never grow old.
11. "Disarm" (1993) by Smashing Pumpkins
Smashing Pumpkins blew my mind with their double album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" two years later, but I still prefer "Siamese Dream"'s consistency and ridiculously awesome songs. "Disarm," especially, takes me back to high school every time.
12. "The Pass" (1989) by Rush
I figured it was time I had some Can-con on this list. I have to admit that I never paid much attention to Rush as a kid--the lead singer has a girly, high-pitched voice! But with the release of "Counterparts" in 1993, Rush finally had a couple singles that interested me. And the whole album was good! And I started digging deeper into their back catalog. And, holy shit, Rush was awesome! Picking one Rush song was easily the most challenging task of compiling this list. But after much soul-searching, I had to go with "Presto"'s highlight, "The Pass."
13. "In the Garage" (1994) by Weezer
When this song came up in a friend's wedding reception mix, I barely stifled a "Yes!" (when it came up three more times, I wondered what kind of shitty algorithm iPods use for random). This is the quintessential high school geek rock song. So good.
14. "Naveed" (1994) by Our Lady Peace
More Can-con! You just can't do better than Our Lady Peace for Canadian rock, and their debut album was a high school favourite for my friends and I.
15. "Goldilox" (1988) by King's X
I discovered King's X with the release of their excellent 1994 album "Dogman." I immediately got to work tracking down their other albums, which was a challenge in those pre-internet days. "Goldilox" is actually from their debut album, and the first time I heard it, it blew me away. It still kind of blows me away. It is not King's X's best song, by any means, but it has emotional power that is hard to beat.
So, that's disc 1 of my soundtrack. The list of songs on disc 2 will follow shortly, probably tomorrow-ish. As a spoiler, disc 2 includes such diverse bands as Live, Alice in Chains, Jimmy Eat World, and Lonestar (really!).
Edited to Add:
Disc 2 is now posted. Enjoy!
As I was sitting and listening to music on Sunday, I started thinking about songs and bands that have deeply affected me throughout my life. And I started to create this list, the soundtrack to my life. This is a list of songs that have defined my musical tastes, inspired me, depressed me, saved me, or were simply playing at critical moments of my life and can never be forgotten. Most are awesome, some are guilty pleasures--all are a part of who I am.
To keep the list as short as possible, I limited myself to only one song from any given band. That was hard. But the resulting list would make a hell of a 2-CD mix collection. The songs are presented in chronological order of approximately when they came into my life, not necessarily in order of release.
1. "A Day in the Life" (1967) by The Beatles
Growing up the son of a big Beatles fan sort of ruined them for me for many years. There's nothing worse than the music that your parents listen to, right? I reintroduced myself to The Beatles after university, and, well, what more needs to be said about The Beatles? I picked "A Day in the Life" because it is awesome. Picking one Beatles song wasn't as hard a choice as I thought it would be. (The chronological thing could be argued for this song, as I probably only really became aware of "A Day in the Life"'s awesomeness in 2001 or so, but I'm sure I heard it multiple times as a kid and just didn't appreciate it.)
2. "Beat It" (1982) by Michael Jackson
I considered putting Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" on the list, to try to disguise the Michael Jackson thing, but this is supposed to be an honest list--so, yeah, I fucking loved Michael Jackson as a kid. "Thriller" was the first album I listened to from start to finish over and over, loving every song.
3. "Wanted Dead or Alive" (1986) by Bon Jovi
When I learned two years back that this song was included in Rock Band, I felt the old Bon Jovi fanboy in me coming back to life. I love it! There is no question that Bon Jovi was my first favourite band. "Slippery When Wet" and "New Jersey" weren't just albums--they were my best friends. I'm surprised I didn't wear through those poor cassette tapes with my Walkman.
4. "Time Has Come" (1986) by Europe
"The Final Countdown" was too obvious a choice. Europe's greatest album, which recently was also the awesome soundtrack to Hot Rod, was definitely another album that barely left my Walkman. I'm sure it was only ejected to pop in Bon Jovi, because, hey, Bon Jovi > Europe.
5. "Ride the Wind" (1990) by Poison
Poison was another hair metal favourite from my elementary school days, but their album "Flesh & Blood" has the strongest affect on me. It brings me back to my endless days of reading/playing "Fighting Fantasy" books, and specifically the incredible "Creature of Havoc." "Ride the Wind" is pure, exhilarating nostalgia.
6. "Tonight" (1990) by New Kids on the Block
Oh, what's this? No, that can't be right! How could I admit this? My biggest guilty pleasure of all guilty pleasures... sigh. Just like how as a kid you can't like the music your parents like, you also can't like the music your little brothers like, and one of my little brothers loved NKOTB. Now, by no means am I admitting to liking anything else by the New Kids--just "Tonight," because it's pretty sweet!
7. "More Than Words" (1991) by Extreme
This super-cheesy radio and wedding-friendly acoustic ballad was the beginning of my unexpected transition from hair metal fan to slightly more cerebral hard rock fan. I didn't know what I was getting when I purchased Extreme's Pornograffitti--my first ever CD!--but it was a lot more than just "More Than Words."
8. "Silent Lucidity" (1990) by Queensryche
What can I say about "Silent Lucidity" to do it justice? Still possibly my favourite song of all time, it introduced me to the greatness that is Queensryche and exposed me to the concept of orchestration enhancing my rock music. It's a brilliant song that has been a big part of many of the best moments of my life. It also wakes me up every single morning.
9. "Estranged" (1991) by Guns N' Roses
Holy shit, this song is intense for me now! It has always been my favourite GnR song (and video) because it's freakin' epic--and I love epic songs!-- and it has some of the sweetest guitar solos ever recorded. Now it may also be the most lyrically relevant song on this list, which is kinda exhilarating while also being depressing.
10. "Rearviewmirror" (1993) by Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam marks the start of a different era in this list and my life. 1993 to 1995--some of the most incredible music of all time was released during my last few years of high school. Maybe it's the fact that I was in high school at the time that makes me think that? Who knows? But Pearl Jam's "Ten" and "Vs" are albums that will never grow old.
11. "Disarm" (1993) by Smashing Pumpkins
Smashing Pumpkins blew my mind with their double album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" two years later, but I still prefer "Siamese Dream"'s consistency and ridiculously awesome songs. "Disarm," especially, takes me back to high school every time.
12. "The Pass" (1989) by Rush
I figured it was time I had some Can-con on this list. I have to admit that I never paid much attention to Rush as a kid--the lead singer has a girly, high-pitched voice! But with the release of "Counterparts" in 1993, Rush finally had a couple singles that interested me. And the whole album was good! And I started digging deeper into their back catalog. And, holy shit, Rush was awesome! Picking one Rush song was easily the most challenging task of compiling this list. But after much soul-searching, I had to go with "Presto"'s highlight, "The Pass."
13. "In the Garage" (1994) by Weezer
When this song came up in a friend's wedding reception mix, I barely stifled a "Yes!" (when it came up three more times, I wondered what kind of shitty algorithm iPods use for random). This is the quintessential high school geek rock song. So good.
14. "Naveed" (1994) by Our Lady Peace
More Can-con! You just can't do better than Our Lady Peace for Canadian rock, and their debut album was a high school favourite for my friends and I.
15. "Goldilox" (1988) by King's X
I discovered King's X with the release of their excellent 1994 album "Dogman." I immediately got to work tracking down their other albums, which was a challenge in those pre-internet days. "Goldilox" is actually from their debut album, and the first time I heard it, it blew me away. It still kind of blows me away. It is not King's X's best song, by any means, but it has emotional power that is hard to beat.
So, that's disc 1 of my soundtrack. The list of songs on disc 2 will follow shortly, probably tomorrow-ish. As a spoiler, disc 2 includes such diverse bands as Live, Alice in Chains, Jimmy Eat World, and Lonestar (really!).
Edited to Add:
Disc 2 is now posted. Enjoy!
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