Musical updates

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been putting all my music onto my computer. I'm up to about 2600 songs now, with about a third of CDs left. As I do this, I've been listening to bands that I haven't listened to in a while as I set iTunes on shuffle. Here are some quick thoughts from the latest listens:

- I no longer like Duran Duran as a band and I will forever be haunted by the fact that I really liked them about 5-7 years ago. What does this say about me as a person? I have Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger for heaven's sake! I even have Medazzaland. I had their debut album until I relistened to it about two years ago and realized I hated it so I donated it to the BYU library (along with the Crow soundtrack...for fun, visit the BYU library homepage at lib.byu.edu and search for Rage Against the Machine or Pantera or Nine Inch Nails. David Day never saw it coming) Once upon a dream, I thought that Rio was a great album, I mean I thought every track was a surefire winner. Upon further review, those tracks are filler. FILLER! My brother was right about the Wedding Album; it contains three great songs. Once again, big mistake on my part for refusing to acknowledge this.
- Depeche Mode remains okay. I guess the lyrical material remains dark enough to outweigh some of the outdated electronics (except New Dress which never was a good song) New Depeche sounds straight from Violator which is still a freaking awesome album (same with Music for the Masses and Songs of Faith and Devotion)
- Elastica holds up after ten years. When I was 16, Elastica was my favorite British band. I loved them. They really had something great there, and then they killed it. By the time they released their second album six freaking years later, no one cared and they disbanded. But that self-titled album from 1995 is a gem. 16 songs in 40 minutes, all melodic tight loud brit rock song by a chick with a low alto and lots of attitude. I was surprised on my relisten of a) How much I liked it and b) How I still remembered all the lyrics. Whatever happened to Justine Frishmann? Here's her mark on British music from what I remember. 1) Played guitar and keyboards on Suede's mammoth first album while sleeping with Brett Anderson. 2) Broke up with Brett Anderson and started sleeping with Damon Albarn of Blur which caused Brett to move to a castle, go nutso on heroin and write the brilliant but tormented Dog Man Star. Blur subsequently eclipsed Suede as biggest British band 3) Justine releases Elastica 4) As Blur begins to lose out to Oasis in popularity, Justine breaks up with Damon, who moves to Iceland and pens the tortured and extremely uneven 13. I'd say she had her fingers in a lot of Brit Rock pie from 1993-1999.
- Grandaddy. Sigh. Your last album is a joke. I've decided I dislike it.
- Belle and Sebastian is consistently good. I mean from release to release, they're solid.
- Has any band reinvented themselves as much as Blur? From shoegazing to britpop (Coxon described The Great Escape as an "oom-pah" record which it really is...lot's of oompahing trumpets) to lo-fi to experimental/worldy/artsy stuff. I will say that they put on a killer show. I almost lost my wife to Damon, I'll have you know, with that British charm and all.
- Will Sheff does good work
- I keep coming back to the Manic Street Preachers and I give them ultimatums like "Impress me, or I'll never listen to you again." So, I put in This is My Truth Tell Me Yours (what a horrid name for an album) and sho nuff, they told me to shut my yapper and listen up and now they're trying to get me to listen to Everything Must Go again even though I've tried that album about 10 times and have always found it wanting.

That's it. Christina, in postulating on why our son is so huge, said tonight that maybe Caleb had a twin but he ate him in the womb. Another explanation she came up with is that we was in the womb for about two months two long but the doctors messed up the date. I believe that one. The kid is a tank. He's going to be snapping balls some day while Dave returns punts and catches balls out of the backfield on third down.