Working My Way Through The BEA Overall Chart

[CharlieBarley]

Hi Guys!

I thought I'd start a music diary. I hope this works.

For the last few years I've been listening my way through the Overall Chart on BEA.
On and off.
Being a bit of a part-timer on here, I listen when I can.

Anyway, I maybe should have started this diary from album 1 - OK Computer by Radiohead.
But it is what it is, and I am now up to album no. 2162.

So I'll just start from this point - in media res, or something.

NOTE: obvs the BEA Overall Chart is a very fluid thing.
It's always changing even though some albums seem to be in the same spot or so for years.

Anyway I hope this is interesting. At least I can put down my thoughts about albums I'm hearing, often for the first time.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Hope I don't bore y'all!

P.S. I will keep album reviews/comments short

P.PS. One reason I didn't start this for a while was because opinions vary so much. I will keep it as positive as possible but please don't hate me too much if I criticise or "don't get" your favourite albums. People fall out over less important things.

[CharlieBarley]

Ok...First album post.

Remember all chart numbers can change so this is only the chart position at the time of posting.

#2162

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Fuzzy by Grant Lee Buffalo

Well.
I didn't know a great deal about Grant Lee Buffalo but I like them so far.
This album was enjoyable.
It didn't light my touchpaper right from the first bat.
But as it played I got drawn into it.

First track 'The Shining Hour' was okay then second track 'Jupiter And Teardrop' was a lot more meaty.
The third track 'Fuzzy', the title track, was very good.
On its Wikipedia page it says that Noel Gallagher of Oasis was inspired by this track in writing the song 'Some Might Say'.
I could hear a faint similarity.

Also it says that R.E.M'S Michael Stipe regarded this album as "the best album of the year [1993], hands down".

Other stand-out tracks, for me, are 'Wish You Well, 'The Hook', 'America Snoring' and final track 'You Just Have To Be Crazy', which was my favourite song on the album.

Overall I enjoyed the whole 90's Americana feel of the album, and I liked the vocals and the lyrics.

[CharlieBarley]

One more thing to add:

I have listened to more albums than just up to no. 2162 so if I get to albums I've already heard I will move on to the next unheard album.

I don't listen to albums I don't like.
I always give an album five minutes of my time. And I can listen to a little of the first few tracks if I don't like the opening track.

But if I don't like it I don't listen to all of it.

Life's too short.

Although I will say I have listened to the entire Top 1000, or at least as it was a few years ago.
That was like an experiment.
I heard a lot of good albums. And some I was less keen on.

It certainly broadened my mind.
I am grateful this website and community exists.

[dihansse]

I once tried this as well (I did the top 2500 at the time): good luck with your quest.

[CharlieBarley]

Thank you!
How did you get on with it?

[dihansse]

Well I started in april 2016 in my thread 'My Discoveries Per Year' by going from year (but each time taking leaps of 5 years and then restarting) and went through all the albums of the BEA top 2500 at the time I hadn't heard yet.
Of course I didn't always listen to every single album completely and for some of them it was clear I didn't like them from the beginning but I did my best and the whole thing finally took me until 19 december 2019 which is more than 3,5 years. You say that your comments per album will be fairly short but mine were even shorter.

It was certainly interesting and I discovered some real good gems but overall I thought I had to sift to too many bad albums (for my taste) and there were many times I wanted to give up but finally made it to the finish.
So since then I started with a new project by relistening for each year an album I already own and an album on my wishlist (which is still nearly has 1000 items). Of these I'm a bit more sure that I'm gonna like them and I don't feel the urge to keep on listening to the whole album if I don't like it.

In any case Fuzzy was a good start and is an album I really like. I'll be certainly be interested to follow your diary and of course nobody will kill you for posting a review somebody. One of the things I like about this site is that people are very respectful.

[CharlieBarley]

Your method sounds very interesting. That sounds like a good way of listening. 3-5 years is a real commitment.

I am definitely not going to bother listening to albums I dislike but I am going to challenge myself a little, in that if an album is original and not exactly to my taste I will give it a whirl!

I don't know how far I will get but it will be fun finding out.

[CharlieBarley]

#2166.

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The Great Annihilator by Swans

Well. What can I say about this album?
Doom-laden, artistic and well worth a listen.
I found it to be quite original.
I have only heard a handful of Swans albums and this is one of the best of theirs I have heard.

[CharlieBarley]

# 2181.

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Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs

This was entirely new to me and it's a beautiful album. Ms Perhacs has a terrific voice and writes her own songs.
I like discovering new music, or at least new to my ears. This album initially came out in 1970 but vanished almost without trace, but later became a cult album.
It's really good and well worth a listen.
Worked really well late at night.

[Repo]

Great thread, brother!