200. No More Shall We Part- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (darkness on the edge of faith-Nick is one of the most profound songwriters working and the faith he exhibits in these songs is not for the faint of heart, but it is gorgeous piano music)
199. People- Hothouse Flowers (almost forgotten Irish Gospel/ Soul Band from the late 80's- this album still sounds different from most things out there- a mix of U2, Motown and church music I never tire of)
198. Lifted- Bright Eyes (I will be considered uncool for thinking highly of Conor Oberst, but this album, which is pretentious, overwrought, arrogant and meandering is lyrically superior to most things I have heard the past decade)
197. Burn to Shine- Ben Harper (I love the focused Diamonds on the Inside, but this is a fun Album all over the map sonically, which is half of its charm)
196. Blazing Arrow- Blackalicious (it will be much higher on future lists- this alternative hip hop album features insightful, challenging lyrics- to both blacks and whites- trippy samples and great vocals)
195. Songs From the Big Chair- Tears for Fears (a little uneven, this brings great memories and features 3 of the 80's best songs, along with a couple of other gems)
194. No More Drama- Mary J Blige (Good lyrics, great heart and VERY danceable)
193. Indigo Girls- Indigo Girls (I know it should be higher since it created a revolution of empowered women with guitars, but it also gave us many bad women singers with guitars-leading to similar issues I have with James Taylor and men)
192. About a Boy (soundtrack)- Badly Drawn Boy (very seldom do we get such a fine film coupled with such a great original soundtrack, but Damon Gough captures the book and film well- it feels like a British Brian Wilson)
191. Justice- Steve Camp (my only cheat is to remove Starfish by the Church from this list and replace it with this album. Before he was trying to rid the churhc of bad theology, Steve was among the first artists to deal with the AIDS crisis and challenge the church in ways that would make Jim Wallis proud. The music was decent 80s style piano based stuff. BTW- I saw no sign of this CD at his website.)
5 comments:
i am simply awe struck at how well you know your music.
i am now happy to have a fourth source of music; james, cade, npr all songs considered, and you.
it may be bias against my former life as a folkie (at times) but I did not include many artists and albums by artists like Sexton that I used to listen to.
While I think Sexton has some very good records and some great songs (Hallelujah would make it into my All Time Top 40), I did not add him to the list (it could be a mistake).
The same could be said for John Gorka, Susanne Vega, Tracy Chapman (an oversight on my part probably), John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin- none of whom made my list.
I do have 1 David Wilcox album, Bruce Cockburn album (again, much of his best stuff was from the 70s), 1 Emmylous Harris album, 1 Mark Heard album and 1 Pierce Pettis album.
If this list was a few years old, many of those artists would have greater representation. SOmething happened as I have gotten older (I have gotten less mellow).
I am looking forward to your list! I do to take exception to your James Talyor comment. Have you heard "October Road"? Taylor is nothing if not consitent. pick any of his albums up and you will hear one consitent long mood. After 32 years of recording he still remains solid, self-effacing and lyrically interstingly simple. He is unhurried and October Road has songs that remind me od the 1970's Taylor you refer to!
Keep them coming.
sorry for the rant I am about to unleash regarding James taylor-
consistent is true.
Consistently the same... boring... simplistic...overrated.
Someone sounding the same as they did 30+ years ago is not nec. a good thing.
Other artists from that era have grown musically, yet still hearken back at times.
Look at his contemporaries such as Neil young, Bob Dylan (all still relevant). Even country singers from the day such as Cash, Haggerd, have released important works lately and risked alot musically. I could go on.
I would compare him most to a contemporary such as Jimmy Buffet who is now more of an oldies act.
Artistically he peaked early and died young, which would have been a great career move for him.
He has released a couple of fine albums during the past 2 decades, but c'mon. A good artist with his track record could do that in his sleep.
BTW, have you ever listened to any of David Wilcox's stuff? While in the same vein, it is superior to anything since Taylor's 1971 release.
nice start.
this is so much more ambitious than my "favorite 100 pop songs" project. and that took me forever...so i feel ya.
i will reserve my comments about tears for fears for when/if you list the hurting. they just don't make bands like that anymore.
despite how hard some try.
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