3 x 13 Albums (Part 3, 1995)

The music from my 26th year. These were my prime going to concert years, as far as what was released on CD, it was a pretty good time for music. Grunge was already cresting, Electronica was building steam, and all the really good stuff was coming out of the UK (which seems to be the usual pattern with regards to my personal music taste).

(1)To Bring You My Love - PJ Harvey
This was the first album by the great Polly Jean that I picked up. Also saw her twice in concert that year, the first time a small show at the Mayan (I think Mad Professor was the opening act, which seems like an odd bill in retrospect), the next time she swung through Los Angeles she was playing the much larger Wiltern Theatre and had Ben Harper opening (now there's a solid double bill). Great album, still find myself listening to it frequently 13 years later, but it's not my favorite PJ album, that'd be Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. (available on ZunePass)

(2)Post - Bjork
This is a fine, fine album. Bjork at her early Bjork-iest. Not quite the crazy experimental Bjork of later years, this is my favorite Bjork album. Love her take on It's Oh So Quiet. Nellee Hooper brought a solid groove to the whole affair. Hyperballad and I Miss You are fantastic dance tracks. The remix album Telegram is also excellent (and different enough that having both isn't overkill). Another act I caught in concert a few times (though not in 95, not sure why I missed her on this tour, maybe she hadn't toured SoCal that year, don't recall). (partially available on ZunePass, all songs purchaseable)

(3)Elastica - Elastica
This album wouldn't have sounded out of place on the Part 2 list. Could have easily been recorded in '82 instead of '95, and that's not a bad thing. Solid through and through, takes a semi-punky, semi-DIY aesthetic, and rocks hard throughout. (available on ZunePass)

(4)One Hot Minute - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I like this album, a lot. Dave Navarro joining up with the Peppers seemed like a great thing at the time, a shame it didn't last too long. They'd semi-abandoned the rap-rock and funk-rock stuff of their George Clinton years and had a much harder rock style under the supervision of Rick Rubin. Loved the tour in support of this concert, they were the last band that I've seen at the Fabulous Forum, and they rocked out (though not with their 'socks' out, they were getting too old for that gimmick, I guess). (unavailable on ZunePass, available for purchase, however)

(5)The Bends - Radiohead
Yeah, great album, yeah geniuses, yeah, whatever (OK, it really deserves the praise it received that year, this album does hold up, doesn't sound dated at all 13 years later). (available on ZunePass)

(6)King - Belly
Less successful than the album that preceded it (Star), it's actually a much better album. Music tastes had changed, though, and this sort of 'college radio' sound was no longer getting the exposure it had just a few years earlier. Tanya Donnelly is incapable of doing any wrong in my book. I love me some jangly power-pop, always have, always will. (available on ZunePass)

(7)Do You Want More?!!!??! - The Roots
Hip Hop artists who actually play instruments, whoddathunkit? A solid album, their first on a major label, they'd do better later (and worse, too), but this is still a very solid effort. (available on ZunePass)

(8)Maxinquaye - Tricky
Great album, with Tricky's trademark underwater vocals. The darker side of electronica, Tricky through together some nice beats, pushed down the tempo a bit, and came up with a classic. How the hell he went from this to being an actor in The 5th Element, I'll never know. (available on ZunePass)

(9)Tigerlily - Natalie Merchant
I really do love this album, even though I probably shouldn't. A touch somnabulant at times, there's something very right about Natalie Merchant's lazily slurred delivery on this album. The best songs on this album are truly great (Carnival, Jealousy, Wonder), and some songs are just filler, but as a whole this is a very listenable album. (unavailable on Zunepass, or for purchase)

(10)Garbage - Garbage
Take three parts studio veterans, one part saucy young Scottish lass, stir in a post-grunge pot, and layer with tons of attitude and a professional glossy sheen, bake at 350 degrees and out pops Garbage. Great debut album, Shirley Manson is an unbelievably charasmatic frontwoman, and Butch Vig and friends brought rock solid musicianship to the mix. Basically a garage band, if that garage band had decades of experience and training. (unavailable on ZunePass, or for purchase)

(11)Frogstomp - Silverchair
It's pure Nirvana heroworship from a bunch of 15 year old Aussies, but they manage to rock harder than Nirvana ever did. Sometimes the ersatz version of something can be better than the original in small doses. It feels a bit manufactured, slightly inauthentic, but that doesn't keep it from being a really terrific album. (available on ZunePass)

(12)Forever Blue - Chris Isaak
Another solid effort from a very solid performer. Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing was a great track, used to great effect in Kubrick's craptacular last film Eyes Wide Shut. The rest of the album rocks, and billys the way you'd expect Chris Isaak to rockabilly. His stuff never gets old, cause it started out old from the get go. (available on ZunePass)

(13) (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis
The best Beatles album released by a couple of brothers that despised each other. The Battling Brothers Gallagher could really lay down some solid Beatles influenced tunes when they weren't busy beating on each other or drinking mass quantities of hard liquor. (available on ZunePass)

3 x 13 Albums (Part 2, 1982)

Part two of these, this covers my 13th year. It has been said that the music of your teen years is the music that sticks to you the rest of your life. Good thing I wasn't born a little later and was totally into Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and New Kids on the Block.

1982 (in no order, availability on ZunePass or for download off of Zune.net, noted)

(1)1999 - Prince
Ah, Prince, near his peak. It's not even in his personal top five, but it's still a great album. 1999, Little Red Corvette, DMSR, and Delirious are great tracks. The rest of the double album isn't as essential, but still a fantastic album. (available on ZunePass)

(2)Avalon - Roxy Music
Greatest. Make. Out. Album. Evah! (a shame I was way too young to have anyone to make out with at the time, let's just say I came to appreciate this album more and more as I matured). (available on ZunePass)

(3)Beat - King Crimson
This band just misses making the list all three times. Not because they weren't still making great music in 1995, but because their fantastic THRAK album came out a year earlier, though I'm pretty sure I saw them at the Greek Theatre in 95, so maybe I should fudge that list a little so as to include them in all three lists. As far as this album goes, it's a good one. Especially the songs Heartbeat, and Neurotica. (unavailable on ZunePass or Zune.net)

(4)Zapp II - Zapp
Not their best album (Zapp, wass, errr I mean was), but still a great FUNK album. Dance Floor, and Doo Wa Ditty are classics, the rest is filler, but two funk classics are enough to make this a fun album to listen to. It was downhill for this band from here, don't bother with the other roman numeralled albums (available (along with the better Zapp) on ZunePass)

(5)The Golden Age of Wireless - Thomas Dolby
When my mind wanders back to this time period, it's stuff like this that most evokes that era. Very much of its time, to most folks who didn't discover this as a early teen kid, probably sounds very dated, but to me this just sounds like rock and roll. Flat Earth released a few years later was better, but this is still an excellent album, even if you weren't a teenager back then. Synthpop is an acquired taste, but it's one worth acquiring. (available on ZunePass)

(6)Friend or Foe - Adam Ant
I admit to being inordinately fond of this album back then, and remain inordinately fond of this album 26 years later. A few years after this came out, Adam Ant was the first 'real' concert I attended without any parents around. That was a fun night, and if I had a 15 year old son or daughter, there's no way in hell they'd be repeating the adventure I had back then. (available on ZunePass)

(7)Midnight Love - Marvin Gaye
His last studio album, and one of his best albums in his long, glorious, career. Sexual Healing remains one of his best songs, and the other tracks on this album are also strong. Still seems like some kind of sick joke, him getting shot by his father on April Fool's Day a few years later. (available on ZunePass)

(8)What Time is It? - The Time
I have to admit, I like this little album better by Prince's funkier protege's than Prince's own album of the same year. This ain't nothin' but a party, but what a great party it is. Prince wrote and produced all but one song, and performed all instruments on this album, so really this is just a funkier, more fun side of Prince, Prince album, but with Morris Day taking the lead. Works great, though. (available on Zune Pass)

(9)Under the Big Black Sun - X
This is onf of their best albums, it rocks and rolls from start to finish. One of the all time great bands to form in Los Angeles, this album was produced by some fella named Ray Manzarek. (unavailable through Zune, but buy the CD, you won't be disappointed)

(10) Upstairs at Eric's - Yazoo
Another synthpop album for this list. It's elevated by Alison Moyet's remarkable voice, and Vince Clarke's brilliant arrangements. Don't Go, Situation, and Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I) are three of the best dancepop songs that the 80s produced, and they're all on one album. (available on ZunePass)

(11)Rio - Duran Duran
I've gone on and on and on some more about my appreciation of this fine album. Read that, then come back over here. (available on ZunePass)

(12)Combat Rock - The Clash
I really wasn't 'in' to The Clash in '82. I had friends he were fanatical about them, but I wasn't really liking them. But by the 90s I'd picked up The Story of the Clash, and have been listening to that over and over ever since. A lot of strong tracks here, especially the singles. They were a pretty great band, and this is a pretty great album, even if I didn't recognize it back then. (available on ZunePass)

(13)Night and Day - Joe Jackson
Shimmery, I think that best describes this album. Another album that I liked then, but got better and better as I got older. (unavailable on Zune, but the better tracks are on this compilation which is available)

The early 80s were a strange time musically, you had outfits like Roxy Music and Joe Jackson putting out really sophisticated and lush sounding pop. You had the likes of Devo, B-52s, Yazoo, and Thomas Dolby putting out very 'new wave' type sounds. You had Madness and the Specials leading a Ska revival in Britain, and you had the last days of the first wave of Punk with The Clash, and X. You even had some really good funk and Prince at his most prolific producing and playing on albums by half a dozen proteges. Good times, good times. You may have noticed that a certain best selling of all time album released that year didn't make this list. Simply put, I never really like that album much, back then, and especially not now (but Dangerous and BAD weren't half bad).

3 x 13 Albums (Part 1, 1969)

Here's the music of my multiples of 13 so far. Picking 13 albums is harder than picking films, given the greater number of releases, but each of these years were significant times in music, each at a transitionary phase for pop music artistically. Obviously my choices are going to reflect my subjective personal tastes shaped through my subjective personal experience, so if you find these choices odd or off putting, screw you! Because of the extensive links, and more expansive descriptions of each title, this list will be split up into three parts, unlike the film list.

1969 (presented in no particular order, also noted whether or not you can download the MP3 from Zune.net and if it's available as part of ZunePass, screw iTunes)

(1)The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
I picked this album up sometime around the mid80s. It's my favorite VU album. I love the songs Pale Blue Eyes, Jesus, Candy Says, and even After Hours are some of their best songs. A very influential album, a good one to listen to start to finish. (available through Zune Pass)

(2)Tommy - The Who
Uggh, rock opera. Only 'rock opera' that doesn't deserve the 'uggh' designation. Great album by an amazing group of musicians at the peak of their form. Too bad it inspired so much crap in its wake. (unavailable for purchase through Zune or Amazon, guess you'll have to pick up the CD, instead)

(3)Santana - Santana
Makes the list, if only for the cover (also, the music is pretty good, too). (available through ZunePass)

(4)Monster Movie - Can
What can I say? I love me some Can. They do that thing that folks used to do back then in making the B-side of the album a single track. Pretentious then, pretentious now, but the song rocks in a German psuedo-fusion sort of way. Holger Czukay is a god of Bass, and Jaki Liebezeit was a great drummer, I came to know those fellas from their work in the 80s, but I sought out their earlier works, and wasn't disappointed with what I heard (http://social.zune.net/AlbumDetails.aspx?aid=875f4d00-0100-11db-89ca-0019b92a3933, but not available for ZunePass)

(5)Kick Out the Jams - MC5
The Jams do indeed get Kicked Out on this piece of vinyl. You owe it to yourself to download a copy today (available through ZunePass)

(6)Let it Bleed - The Rolling Stones
This is an excellent Stones album, with two of their best songs (Gimme Shelter, You Can't Always Get What You Want). I'm not the biggest Stones fan in the world, but I do like this album. (available through ZunePass)

(7)Donovan's Greatest Hits
This may seem a bit of a cheat to include a 'greatest hits' package, but it's an album I'm fond of, and he was pretty damn good at what he did (plus I totally had a crush on his daughter in Junior High). (available, except for one song, through ZunePass)

(8) New York Tendaberry - Laura Nyro
This isn't my favorite Laura Nyro album, but an album doesn't have to be my favorite of hers to still be a great album. She was one of the better singer songwriters of the period, if you haven't heard her before, best to start with Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, work your way to her cover album, Gonna Take a Miracle, and then delve into New York Tendaberry. But if you do all that, you won't be disappointed. She was a remarkable artist. (available through ZunePass, as well as the other albums mentioned)

(9)Clouds - Joni Mitchell
Is this her best work? No. Is it the best album she released in 1969, yes, so it belongs on this list (only Chelsea Morning and Both Sides Now available through ZunePass, but those are the best songs of the album).

(10)In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
Not their best work, and a much different tone than what they'd become from the late 70s on, but as far as proto-prog psychedelia goes, this is one of the better efforts. Also, great album cover. (unavailable through Zune.net)

(11)Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
The better of the two Led Zeppelin albums released that year. Became a cliche by the time I got around to listening to it, but it most of been an impressive album to come across back before they were something of a joke. The music isn't a joke, just the fans that grew up around this band through the course of the 70s and 80s. (available for purchase, but not ZunePass)

(12)Soul Shakedown - Bob Marley & the Wailers
Lee Scratch Perry and Bob Marley and the Wailers together for the first time. They'd get better later, but this one's pretty good in its own right. Not released in the USA originally, but I'm counting it so it can be included, and all the songs found their way on to subsequent albums. (unavailable, but all the tracks can be found on this huge compilation, here)

(13)The Stooges - The Stooges
Yeah, this is the stuff, alright. Raw, uncut, rawk. Way ahead of their time, greatly influenced a bunch of the stuff I enjoyed in the mid-80s. Sloppy, feral, angry, powerful, punk before punk, really seems out of place and out of time with the rest of the albums on this list. (Deluxe Edition available on ZunePass)