YK's CD Challenge

[YellowKing]

You may remember a few years back when i did a Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums challenge and went through all 500 of those and gave my impressions. I followed that up with a Top 100 Music Videos challenge. Well, I've been so consumed with podcasts and audiobooks that I really haven't listened to much music lately. I thought it was time for another challenge.

I was cleaning out my home office and realized I had roughly 250 CDs that I haven't touched in years, except for ripping them to MP3 several years back. Even those MP3s have been long deleted since I just subscribe to Amazon Music now and have no need for them. I figured it was time to just ditch the whole collection.

Looking through the titles, however, I realized that these CDs were representative of a good swatch of my life in high school and college. They're a bit of a snapshot of my mindset and my musical tastes, all of which have changed significantly over the last 20-25 years.

As a farewell to these discs, I thought I'd do a music challenge, and listen to each album and post my thoughts. Some of these (OK, a LOT) of these are embarrassing. As you can imagine, there are a lot of bands that seemed like a good idea in the '90s and are pop culture jokes today. Actually, some of it's so bad I almost decided not to go through with this. But then I figured what the hell - if nothing else maybe it will be a funny nostalgic flashback that we can all laugh about together. At some point in my life I paid my actual hard-earned money for these, so at some point they were important enough to do so. So maybe there will be some helpful psychotherapy to be found in why I own a Smashmouth album.

Everyone is invited to participate, comment, poke fun at, or simply ignore this thread. I'm primarily doing it for myself as a farewell tribute to these albums and to have in writing my thoughts about them before they get sent to whatever heaven old CDs go to.

Some ground rules:

1. I decided not to include compilations by various artists. I don't know what you can glean from an album of "Greatest '80s Hits." I did include Greatest Hits compilations by a particular artist, however, as I felt at the very least I could talk about how the artist fit into my musical history.

2. I also decided not to include film scores. I went through a period of collecting every film score I could get my hands on, so I've got a lot of bargain-bin junk that I never even listened to. Those wouldn't add any value to the collection. i DID include film soundtracks, even if they consist of various artists, because I have stories around almost every film soundtrack in the collection.

3. Going in pure alphabetical order would get us bogged down in The Beatles forever, so instead I'll be taking the first album for A, then B, then C, and so on until we get to the end, then starting over with the next album in A, etc.

Let's kick things off:

1. A is for ABBA - ABBA Gold
I confess I've always been a sucker for Scandinavian or Icelandic singers/bands. I don't know what draws me to that particular music style. Maybe because they always seem to be just ever so subtly off in terms of their English that I find it charming. There's also an air of mystery, because you never really hear about those countries in the news. They're just off doing their own happy little thing while the rest of the world goes up in flames. Whatever the reason, I was NOT an ABBA fan due to the heavy disco influence, at least iniitally. ABBA Gold was the record that I finally broke down and bought when I was going through a heavy Bee Gees phase and the disco was more tolerable. ABBA is still hit or miss for me. The songs I like, I love for their goofy charm (Sup-pa-pa Troop-pa-pa), The ones I don't like, I REALLY don't like. Fortunately "Gold" has more of the former.

2. B is for B-52s - Cosmic Thing
Being a HUGE R.E.M. fan in the early '90s, it was inevitable that I'd also be pulled into the orbit of the B-52s. With both bands coming out of Athens, GA and collaborating, it wasn't long before I found myself in the possession of this disc. While I initially bought it on the strength of the two big singles, "Love Shack" and "Roam," I learned to appreciate the rest of the disc as well. In high school I used to hang out with a group of 3 hippy girls and we'd drive down to the beach blasting this album. We referred to ourselves as "The Deadbeat Club" based on one of the songs from this disc. In a sea of albums that remind me of the hell days of high school, this album was one of the few bright spots. And how could it not be? The B-52s are pure ridiculous joy.

3. C is for Carpenters - The Singles 1969-1973
While the Carpenters may be seen as ridiculously schmaltzy pop, I've never been ashamed of my love for them. Karen Carpenter was one of the greatest female vocalists of all time, with a voice so genuine it has rarely been equaled. This compilation is ridiculously good, with nary a clunker in the bunch. I once had a DTS 5.1 version of this album and it was breathtaking when played on a good set of speakers. You'll see a lot of "easy rock" stuff in my collection because it's the music my mom listened to when I was growing up. To this day, that music feels like home, and it's the music I return to in times of stress or when I just need a break from the world. This album comes up quite a bit in the rotation for those reasons.

4. D is for Dan Fogelberg - Greatest Hits
Of all the adult contemporary artists my mom used to listen to, Dan Fogelberg is the only one I never really picked up on. I only really like two of his songs (Leader of the Band and Same Auld Lang Syne), both of which are featured on this CD and the only reason I bought this one. There are some tracks like Longer and Heart Hotels that I can tolerate, but by and large I'm just not a big fan. Listening to this one again didn't change my mind. It's interesting to see, however, how your feeling about songs change as you grow older. I used to think of "Leader of the Band" as a nice little tribute to his dad but nothing to write home about. Now that my own dad is older and has his own health problems the song hits home a little more.

5. E is or the fucking Eagles, man - Hell Freezes Over
I've never been an Eagles hater despite me being a Big Lebowski fan. In college I'd spend (literally) hours driving around town with friends listening to the Eagles Greatest Hits Vol 1 & 2 over and over. So when they reunited for their Hell Freezes Over tour, it was a big deal for me. I finally got my chance to see them while I was dating my wife. We drove up to Raleigh to see them and they put on a hell of a show - not only doing their own stuff but featuring solo cuts from the members as well. Don Henley may be known as a bit of an asshole in real life, but the dude can sing. His solo rendition of "Desperado" while sitting on a bar stool with just a single spotlight is one of my most cherished concert memories. This album is also notable for me because it's about the time I started messing around with playing the guitar. I was extremely proud at finally nailing the unplugged intro to "Hotel California" off this album. When I do listen to the Eagles (which is still pretty rare these days), I'll still go back to the album versions though. As good as the performances were on this album, I prefer the originals.

[Skinypupy]

Awesome, I love reading these YK projects.

[GreenGoo]

I miss horror movie YK.

[YellowKing]

I miss horror movie YK.

I've actually got a horror movie challenge going on right now for my podcast. I can cross-post it here if you want. I'm doing a horror movie I've never seen for every letter of the alphabet.

P.S. I'm editing the original post to add a 4th and 5th album. I'll try to do 5 albums at a time.

[Kraken]

I should do something with our CDs. We still have a rack of hundreds in the living room, ready to jump into the CD player...none of which have been used since I downgraded our ancient stereo to a merely medieval "theater sound system." Can't bring myself to throw them out and I doubt anyone will give me money for them.

[Jeff V]

I should do something with our CDs. We still have a rack of hundreds in the living room, ready to jump into the CD player...none of which have been used since I downgraded our ancient stereo to a merely medieval "theater sound system." Can't bring myself to throw them out and I doubt anyone will give me money for them.

I put mine in 200+ disk binders, now the binders are taking up too much damn space. They've all been ripped long ago (and most of the bits have not been exercised since). They really need to get tossed; but there's that little bug in my brain that keeps reminding me how many tens of $1000's those disks cost over the years.

Then again, I did manage to do just that in the early '80's when I jettisoned several thousand pieces of vinyl...and for that, I had no alternate copy of the music.

[Holman]

I just moved a few boxes of vinyl that had been sitting in place for years.

I'd forgotten how amazingly heavy a record collection is.

[YellowKing]

6. Fiona Apple - Tidal - Long before Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, Lourde, and other blues-y, slightly spooky songstresses there was Fiona Apple. I picked up this album after seeing her "Shadowboxer" video because I was completely enamored with the sound. I had always been a fan of female jazz vocalists, and this reminded me of a modern take on that style with a lot of dark minor key elements that appealed to my love of all things sinister and scary. Then the "Criminal" single and video became a big hit and she was a big deal for a hot minute. But then she famously acted like a shit at awards shows and I wound up never following her after this debut. Listening to it again, the singles are still the real highlights of this album, with the other tracks kind of blending into a homogeneous blob of her sound. Interesting note: the songs on this album are LONG. Only one clocks in under 4 minutes. The two singles top well over five minutes (I assume they got radio edits). I guess that's a bit of evidence in her favor of her lack of
desire to be a pop star though.

7. Garbage - Garbage 2.0 - Honestly I'm not sure why I ever bought this album. I was never a big fan of this band at all, and I vaguely remember not even liking the single that much when I bought it. Ah to be young and have tons of disposable income again! Maybe I was going through my "bands fronted by women" phase. Who knows. It is funny how your mind plays tricks on you. If you'd asked me when I bought this, I'd have probably said circa 1993-94, just starting college. In fact it wasn't released until 1998, towards the tail end of my college career and well after I'd already met my wife! WTF. I think it may also somewhat explain my detachment from this album, though. If I'd been maybe 5 years younger this may have been one of those "classic" albums that I looked back on fondly. As it stands, it just missed the cutoff. Unfortunately a re-listen of this one did little to change my opinion of it. I still don't like the two singles I remember, and the rest just struck me as generic late-90s alt-rock.

8. Hall & Oates - Greatest Hits - I'd file this under "guilty pleasures" but I don't feel guilty about my love of Hall & Oates. This band epitomizes the 80s for me, and even as a kid I loved them. It took me years to realized that "Maneater" was not actually about Ms. Pacman. Sure, they're easy to ridicule now due to the weird Penn & Teller thing they had going on (tall outspoken guy up front and short quiet guy in the background), but damn Daryl could sing. Plus their videos were fantastic! Who could forget the goofy detective costumes in "Private Eyes" or the gigantic drum set from "Out of Touch?" They were a perfect combination of '80s cheese, killer pop hooks, and great vocals. And who else would have the balls to spell out M-E-T-H-O-D-O-F-L-O-V-E in a song? Genius. Long live Hall & Oates. I love them, and not ironically.

9. (The) Ink Spots - Greatest Hits - This is kind of a unique one. Talk about going old school. The Ink Spots hit the peak of their fame in the 1930s and 1940s , and had a big influence on rock and R&B for generations to come. Most people our age known them from hearing their songs in the Fallout games, and that's likely where I first stumbled across them. I went through a period where I listened to a lot of really old stuff like The Ink Spots, Scott Joplin, and Django Reinhardt. One bad thing about an Ink Spots CD and hearing all these songs back to back is that you realize they basically only had one song and just did a lot of variations on it. Their tracks follow a very consistent pattern, they always include that little spoken word interlude, etc. Whether you find that charming or annoying will depend on your tolerance for really old music I guess.

10. Jamiroquai - Traveling Without Moving - I probably bought this on the strength of single "Virtual Insanity," but it wasn't my style of music at the time. Now that I'm older, however, I see the heavy Stevie Wonder influences. I don't really know where old Jamiroquai falls on the scale these days. Forgotten relic? Trendsetters whose album is looked upon as a classic today? No idea. I will say upon a re-listen there are some great tracks on here. Still not really my style of music though, and if I want Stevie Wonder I'll just go with the original (as we'll find out later on). An album worth of this was a bit of a tough listen for me.

[Scuzz]

I have been ripping my CD's to an MP3 so I can listen to something while working my evening job. No, I don't have an internet access cell phone for that.

And get off my lawn.

[Z-Corn]

8. Hall & Oates - Greatest Hits - I'd file this under "guilty pleasures" but I don't feel guilty about my love of Hall & Oates.

Fuck no, neither do I.

I had a very musically influential friend in Grade 9 that taught me if you like the music, go ahead and like it! It was very liberating to me then because I was caught up in sticking with music other people liked and kind of hiding music I liked if I thought they would think it uncool. After that I unashamedly made mix tapes that would include Zeppelin and then Hall & Oates and then Duran Duran and then Jean-Luc Ponty all in a row.

Hall & Oats just played here and I might have gone if tix weren't so expensive and there wasn't the chance of having to sit through Train before Hall & Oats since they were co-headlining and switched it up night by night.

[hitbyambulance]

i'm an unapologetic CD collector - it's a good time to buy since the music is so cheap... used, the albums are less than MP3/AAC/FLAC tracks you purchase online (and if you only buy lossy-compressed tracks, CD audio quality is superior). i probably have 20k CDs now. they take up a decent amount of space, but they really are one of the physical possessions that makes me happy. i just bought some last week at a local record store - 4 for $10, and that included the latest PJ Harvey, two King Crimson releases and some Robert Fripp 'guitar soundscapes', a David Sylvian album that was only released in Japan, a limited edition Sabbath Assembly record, that Hilmar Orn Hillmarsson & Sigur Ros album, etc. could have gotten the The The remasters also, but the originals are good enough and i dislike the new album covers.

[Dramatist]

Yay for another Yellowking list. I have been thinking about doing something like this with my own music so I’ll do this vicariously through you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Holman]

a David Sylvian album that was only released in Japan

Are you sure you're not my older sister circa 1982?

[Lassr]

Abba was huge in my young years and I fell in love with their music. I have that CD also and occasionally still listen to it.

I love Garbage also, so

H would be Hoodoo Gurus for me. My college years I listened to them over and over and was lucky they game to my university for a concert my last year there, it was during their Magnum Come Louder tour. Still have all their CDs stacked up in a drawer.

[YellowKing]

Sorry, was busy this weekend buying furniture....with kids. Not a good combo for stress relief. Here's the next batch:

King Missile - King Missile - Oh King Missile. I knew this band for one song, and one song only. "Detachable Penis." What possessed me to pick up the sixth studio album by a band famous for a song about a guy who can remove his penis, I don't know. I do know around this time I was still picking up musical influences from my younger brother who would have been 15 or 16 at the time. He was much more into the indie rock scene at the time, and it would not surprise me that he talked me into this one. Going into this re-listen I had NO idea what to expect. I didn't recall any songs from this album, and honestly I couldn't remember if I'd ever listened to anything on this album at all. If you don't know who King Missile is, most of their songs are guitar-infused avant garde jazz droning in the background while a guy song-speaks juvenile poetry over the top. Not my cup of tea then, not my cup of tea now. On the re-listen, I vaguely remembered one single song from this album, so I guess I bought it and never listened to it.

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - I was a huge Fugees fan, so when I found out Lauryn Hill had a solo album this was an instant purchase. I wore this album out, almost as much as The Fugees - The Score. It still holds up today, and I think it's rightly considered a classic of the genre. She could have probably followed this up with a series of hit albums, but she grew extremely critical of the music industry and for all intents and purposes dropped off the face of the earth. Reading up I found out she only performed sporadically after this, never released another solo studio album, and went to jail for 3 months for tax evasion. While it's disappointing we missed out on more music from her, this album would have been tough to top. In addition to all the great original tracks, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" rivals "Killing Me Softly" from The Score in terms of fantastic hip-hop covers.

Mad Season - Above - I was a huge Alice in Chains fan (as we shall see), and to this day they're still my favorite band to come out of the Seattle grunge scene. This super group was formed from Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, Barrett Martin from Screaming Trees, and John Baker Saunders. Due to Layne Staley's amazingly unique voice this comes off sounding like a new Alice in Chains album, which was fine by me at the time. However, the subject matter dwells heavily on drug abuse and addiction. It's particularly troubling to listen to these days knowing that half this band (Saunders and Staley) died of overdoses. It's an incredible one-off album, and it's too bad we didn't get more from this group. "River of Deceit" may be one of the best songs to come out of the era. Brutally honest and emotional piece of work.

Nat King Cole - Unforgettable - I'm not sure when my love affair with jazz vocalists/crooners began. Perhaps it was from listening to random records that my grandparents had lying around. But at some point post-high-school I delved heavily into the back catalogues of greats like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and of course Nat King Cole. I must admit he's not one of my favorite of the genre, almost because he's *so* perfect. Sinatra had the gruff exterior, Dean Martin had the booze, but Nat was from a slightly earlier era. His voice was velvety perfection, the songs meticulously produced and filled with lush orchestration. Sometimes it was overwhelming. I tend to prefer his jazzier tracks like "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "L-O-V-E." That said, this compilation is fantastic - 25 songs that run the gamut from his classic "Unforgettable" to tried and true standards ("Don't Get Around Much Anymore") to more obscure numbers.

Oasis - Be Here Now - You'll find that on this list when I have albums from multiple artists, I won't necessarily go through their albums in chronological order. This was intentional, as I really wanted to capture my impressions of the album as it stood alone, and not as part of a historical series. Which brings us to Oasis. Keep in mind that at this time, I was a huge Beatles fan. And here was a band that was not only heavily influenced by the Beatles, but shamelessly compared themselves to them. That pissed off some people; I thought it was hilarious. I devoured their albums, but Be Here Now wound up being one of my favorites of theirs because as a third album it was out from under the scrutiny of their debut and sophomore effort. They were still peak popularity, but this was a chance to hear them before radio play had pounded their singles into my brain. The band was famous for its dysfunctional brothers, and that internal squabbling may be the reason this was the last Oasis album I bought. Be Here Now has a harder sound than their previous two albums, and still holds up quite well today. While this one doesn't have the radio-friendly singles of the previous two records, I think I enjoy it quite a bit more because of that.

[hitbyambulance]

[Z-Corn]

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - I was a huge Fugees fan, so when I found out Lauryn Hill had a solo album this was an instant purchase. I wore this album out, almost as much as The Fugees - The Score. It still holds up today, and I think it's rightly considered a classic of the genre. She could have probably followed this up with a series of hit albums, but she grew extremely critical of the music industry and for all intents and purposes dropped off the face of the earth. Reading up I found out she only performed sporadically after this, never released another solo studio album, and went to jail for 3 months for tax evasion. While it's disappointing we missed out on more music from her, this album would have been tough to top. In addition to all the great original tracks, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" rivals "Killing Me Softly" from The Score in terms of fantastic hip-hop covers.

This still comes around in our rotation of albums to listen to while cooking. So brilliant.

She came to town last year and while I REALLY wanted to see her I wanted to see the her of 20 years ago not the mental-illness suffering genius that hates performing now. Sad story...

[Skinypupy]

Mad Season - Above - I was a huge Alice in Chains fan (as we shall see), and to this day they're still my favorite band to come out of the Seattle grunge scene. This super group was formed from Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, Barrett Martin from Screaming Trees, and John Baker Saunders. Due to Layne Staley's amazingly unique voice this comes off sounding like a new Alice in Chains album, which was fine by me at the time. However, the subject matter dwells heavily on drug abuse and addiction. It's particularly troubling to listen to these days knowing that half this band (Saunders and Staley) died of overdoses. It's an incredible one-off album, and it's too bad we didn't get more from this group. "River of Deceit" may be one of the best songs to come out of the era. Brutally honest and emotional piece of work.

This was such an amazing album. My favorite track was always "Long Gone Day".

[YellowKing]

An eclectic mix to get us into the weekend:

Paul McCartney - Off the Ground - In high school I became obsessed with The Beatles, an obsession that continued into early college years. Not only did I own every album and listen to them incessantly, I was also part of a couple of BBSes and internet groups devoted to them. It was through those sources of connecting with REALLY hardcore fans that I started delving into The Beatles' solo stuff. I was primarily a John fan, so that's where my efforts focused, and I stayed in that world for a long time. I always found Paul a little goofy without John's (and George's) tempering influence, so it was many years before I dabbled in his solo world. I did buy his Flaming Pie album in 1997, which was quite good. Other than that I was vastly more familiar with his Wings-era stuff than his solo work. At any rate, at some point along the line I picked up this album, his first of the 1990s. It was generally well received at the time, and contains a few notable tracks ("Hope of Deliverance" being perhaps the most well-known) along with its share of clunkers (Ex: "Looking For Changes," Paul's anti-animal abuse song - great sentiment but doesn't really work as a pop song.) Overall I still kind of like this album, for some weird reason though. I can't point to individual songs that I'm particularly crazy for, but the whole seems to be more than the sum of its parts.

Queen - Greatest Hits - I confess I came REALLY late to the Queen scene. Like many young folks, my first exposure to Bohemian Rhapsody was the Wayne's World movie, and even though I picked up snippets here and there after that, I never really got into them with any depth. As I've grown older and learned to appreciate the more theatrical rock of the '70s, I of course fell in love with the band. I am dying to see that upcoming Freddie Mercury movie. From time to time my kids want me to show them music videos before bedtime, and I use that opportunity to educate them about classic bands. I always preface any Queen video with, "You're about to see one of the greatest male singers to ever live." Yes, my kids are well aware of who David Bowie and Freddie Mercury are, and I consider that, if nothing else, a pretty good dad achievement. Queen's Greatest Hits practically needs no review. As with any greatest hits compilation it has some glaring omissions (largely addressed in two subsequent volumes), but as an introduction to the band it serves the purpose in a highly entertaining way. I feel like I'm always rediscovering Queen songs. I heard "Don't Stop Me Now" in a magic show of all places, and it's like I completely forgot how awesome that song was until I heard it in a completely different setting.

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief - Radiohead was a strange band for me. I had their very first album, when they were essentially just another alt-rock band, and really liked it. Until it was not cool to like them, and so I stopped. Until one of my best friends turned me on to The Bends. And then I loved them again. I continued this on again off again affair for years, buying some albums, skipping others. Until 2008, when I got the opportunity to see them live. From that point onward I was a true fan, and went back and filled in everything I had missed. To this day they are one of the most phenomenal live acts I've ever seen. That said, Hail to the Thief is probably one of my least-familiar albums. I'm not sure why that is; it is a politically album, and there's a chance that turned me off at the time. But even on a re-listen, I don't find it all that compelling. Just lacks the hooks I hear in their other albums. However, I will say that it served as an important step in their evolution as it marked a departure from the really experimental Kid A and Amnesiac and came a step closer to the more radio-friendly sound of 2007's brilliant IN RAINBOWS. And in its defense, it does have one standout track in "There, There" which is one of my favorite Radiohead songs.

Sade - The Best of Sade - I don't know how in the world I got on a Sade kick in 1994, because I really only knew her from "Smooth Operator" which had been released a decade earlier. And I really can't imagine I'd have bought a greatest hits album based on that one song. However, I have to assume I was exposed to it somewhere and dug it enough to pick it up. This would have been around the start of my college career, so maybe I thought that this album would help me pick up chicks or something. Who knows. What we do know in hindsight is that I was anything BUT a smooth operator in college, and no amount of Sade was going to change that. As I started the re-listen, I became even more mystified as to why I owned not only this, but ANOTHER Sade album. Sade is not just smooth, she's *aggressively* smooth, and I was NOT getting laid at this point in my life. Finding this album was like discovering a long lost satchel of scented lubricants and half-empty boxes of condoms that I had misplaced. This was not me! This had no business in my life at this point in time! At least I can blame Smashmouth on bad taste or a momentary lapse of reason. I have no explanation for Sade, and as such it must remain one of the biggest mysteries of the entire collection. Editor's note: No, it is not my wife's. I asked her and she said, "Why would I own a Sade album?" Well now, that's the $20,000 question isn't it, folks?

Tenacious D - Tenacious D - I was a Jack Black fan when he was ONLY known for Tenacious D, so this album was a bit of a no-brainer pick up for me. I had always been a fan of comedy albums and particularly liked musical comedy having grown up on a steady diet of Weird Al. As a fan of classic comedy, I also appreciated Tenacious D's Laurel & Hardy dynamic of outspoken clown Jack Black paired with straight man Kyle Gass. I will have to say going into this re-listen, I was expecting to roll my eyes and dismiss it as juvenile tripe. But as immature as it is, I still found it freaking hilarious. Even though the album is a chaotic mish-mash of sketches, one minute ditties, and only a handful of actual songs, the few songs that exist are really funny. While the rampant sexuality seems slightly (well, a lot) over the line in the era of #MeToo, the idea of Jack Black as a hopelessly narcissistic sexual metal god still makes me laugh.