You must listen to the album below you: canon edition

[EyeKanFly]

[Skinny]

Conflating the far-right with conspiracy theorists seems a little unfair. As far as I can tell, Van Morrison is pissed off that his main source of income has been curtailed and has subsequently adopted a simplistic anti-authoritarian rhetoric, which is very silly and undoubtedly lacking in self-awareness (coming from someone in his financial position), but is also a position that many decent, left-wing, working class people I know have ended up at, rightly or wrongly. Lumping them in with quasi-fascists needlessly confuses the issue, and does them a disservice. Not all conspiracy theories are equal. Politics is nuanced, and categorising anybody you disagree with as “them”, regardless of what exactly it is you disagree with, only serves to further alienate people who you might be otherwise broadly aligned with.

Edit:

tl;dr: Van Morrison’s shitty COVID opinions are shitty, but not as shitty as supporting white supremacy.
_________________
2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

[EyeKanFly]

[baystateoftheart]

[Applerill]

Madame George Rogers

[LedZep]

(1)

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder
I don't know what I was smoking the last time, but this is absolutely a great album. One of the better boomer classics if you will. Consistent throughout its long runtime, which is a huge plus. Now for the cons, there weren't too many highlights. In fact Knocks Me Off My Feet was the only song that truly blew me away, the rest was good but rarely great. Also I listened to the Spotify version where the album ends with 4 songs from A Something's Extra EP, 2 of those 4 were mediocre while Saturn was one of the best Stevie Wonder songs I've heard. I thought it was weird that Another Star felt like an extremely long album outro and there were 4 songs after that... It doesn't feel nearly as boring and prolonged if you look at it as the album closer. All in all I don't think it's as good as Innervisions, but I must listen to it at least a few more times to give a fair opinion. If Innervisions was low 9, this is high 8.5/10

(2)
Call Me If You Get Lost is pretty good

(3)
Frankensteined lists

Lawrence - The Absence of Blight
Sadaf - History of Heat
Ataraxie - Slow Transcending Agony
Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Mean Ol' Frisco
Can - Tago Mago (RL)
Shape of Dispair - Angels of Distress
2Pac - Me Against The World
Joe Henderson - Mode For Joe
The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
_________________
Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[baystateoftheart]

1.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, The Creator

Hell yes, this is a great album and easily my favorite record from him so far. It's the first one since he artistically matured that's overwhelmingly a rap album, which was much-needed and is very satisfying. I love DJ Drama on mixtapes, and giving him a central hosting role on a major label album is such a good idea (and possibly another dig at DJ Khaled haha). Tyler's bars, flows, and punchlines are on point throughout, the production is consistently strong and interesting, the guests bring their A game, and the sung parts are quite good as expected, with just the right ratio of rapping:singing overall. The travel themes tying the album together are a nice touch, and most important: the album is just plain fun. But it does this without sacrificing depth, as we still get emotional complexity and two 8:00+ epics with plenty of twists and turns. I don't have any significant criticisms, but will take some time to see how many tracks grow into personal favorites. Starting at a high 4/5.

~~~~~

2. Listen to my AOTY so far:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar...Sweet Trip

~~~~~

3. Going to take a break from the alphabet game for a bit and try something more directly canon-oriented. But in this case, the canon of ordinary people around the world, not geeks on music websites. Time to fill the gaps in my cultural literacy by listening to the best-selling albums of all time. I'm including compilations when I don't know most songs, but not soundtracks, because for those I'd have to watch the movies too for listening to truly enhance my cultural literacy. Sourced from Wikipedia's estimates.

Best-Selling Albums Ever (No Soundtracks)

3. Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf
6. Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) - Eagles
9. Come On Over - Shania Twain
14. Dangerous - Michael Jackson
15. Falling Into You - Celine Dion
16. Hotel California - Eagles
20. The Immaculate Collection - Madonna
21. Let’s Talk About Love - Celine Dion
31. Supernatural - Santana
34. Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi
_________________
Add me on RYM

[RoundTheBend]

1.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

My Woman by Angel Olsen
I saw this float around a lot - so much I thought I heard it, but hadn't, rather just the Shut Up Kiss Me track (Which I still can't unhear the wrong lyrics there). She reminds me a bit of Molly Burch and a few others. Solid indeed, but somehow gets lost in shuffle for me.

2. Definitely the best album on that list for me at least is Dangerous. Also what's your source for that list? Just curious if I want to give it a go some day. I'd probably use Wikipedia cuz I'm lazy and already know there's a list there. I actually hate that I've forgotten so much music I loved growing up and the internet has so many gaps/holes. I wonder if that list could help me remember some since I'm sure my ~14 year old self was just listening to what was easy to listen to.

3. eyezayzay top 100
17. Dive by Tycho
21. Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco
34. Rodeo by Travis Scott
35. Malibu by Anderson .Paak
45. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
49. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out by Yo La Tengo
61. Cupid Deluxe by Blood Orange
62. Trapsoul by Bryson Tiller
63. Brand New Eyes by Paramore
64. I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside by Earl Sweatshirt

[baystateoftheart]

[RoundTheBend]