Music Blogs

In what's become the single most controversial feature in the history of List Of The Day, I offer up to you, five MORE genuine five star albums. Simple criteria: I have to like the album a lot. From there, anything goes. It doesn't have to be "historically important." It doesn't have to be re-mastered and deluxe reissued and come with liner notes by important people letting you know how important this album is. Because in a hundred years, we're all dead and no one's going to care about any of this because they'll be too busy trying to figure out how they're going to pay the national debt!

So let's dig in and enjoy.

April--Sun Kil Moon: It's never too early to declare a masterpiece. That's what I say. And the new Sun Kil Moon, which just came out on April 1, is as good as they get. Long, towering songs that never end sung in a voice that makes you a believer. Awe-inspiring. I'd say it makes me want to climb a mountain, except nothing makes me want to do that.

Closer--Joy Division: Albums by guys about to die are always more interesting. Just because you put them on and start searching for clues. Family members do this to beat themselves over the head. The rest of us do this because we're naturally curious. You listen to Joy Division and you do wonder how they'll get out of this alive. It's a few steps beyond creepy and the singer was young enough to believe the hype and his tragic romantic place in the world. Had he lived, he would've discovered the joys of video games.

The Good Son--Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Just saw the video for "The Weeping Song" the other night and was reminded all over again how much I love this clown. He's even got a new album called Dig! Lazarus, Dig! Yes, he always looks serious like he just came from the law office and is about to serve you papers of dire consequence, but deep in that Biblical croak of his is a dark sense of humor that makes him quite an amusing chap. I don't think I'd like to sit next to him on an airplane, but watching him from across the aisle would be lots of fun.

Face To Face--The Kinks: Just as lonely old women collect cats, lonely old men collect Kinks albums. They stick to you and depend on you because if you won't listen to them, who will? Ray Davies was old when he was young and the weirder he got, the more the weird liked him and the more other people didn't understand. It got so bad the Kinks had to practically become a heavy metal band to make anyone pay attention. I've struggled with these guys myself. Some of it just goes over my head. I don't have a map of England or a working knowledge of their Parks Department. But this album seems just about right.

Bad Love--Randy Newman: Randy makes the joke that all his albums sound the same and each record is like one he's already made, just not as good. But I prefer this 1999 album, his last studio album--man, Randy, don't hurry yourself--over many of his established classics. Maybe it's because I've heard all the old ones so many times. But then you get a tune like "The World Isn't Fair" where Randy in his mansion commiserates with Karl Marx, who was a socialist, after all, and decides the world would depress him if he paid attention. Which is exactly how I think it would turn out if I paid attention. I'm canceling my subscription to GRIT once and for all.