Sunday, September 18, 2011
Welcome to the first installment of the 500 Best Albums of the Last 40 Years. An insane list but on the cusp of my 40th birthday, one I've given a lot of thought to. The rankings are somewhat arbitrary but it would be fair to infer that I'm not sure that number 500 (Spoon - Girls Can Tell) is a worse record than 475 (The Beach Boys - Surf's Up), but that I do think number 235 (Helium - The Magic City) is a better record. Really this is a statement of the music that has mattered to me and that I look at as yardsticks when I listen to other albums. But there are rules.
Only albums released between January 1, 1971 and publication are eligible. No greatest hits collections or retrospective compilations. The only exception I've made is for collections of artists releases that were singles only and were being released as an album for the first time. Without further ado, here is the first set records, 500-401. Stay tuned for 400-301 etc.!
500. Spoon - Girls Can Tell (2001)
After Spoon's disastrous experience with Elektra records it seemed like they would be one of many indie rockers who put out a few good Pixies-ish records in the mid-90s before skulking away to day jobs. Instead Britt Daniels went to Merge Records and embraced a sort of pop classicism, an embrace of great songwriting and arrangements that hint at but don't yet embody his later stripped-down ethos. While the vinyl on the album cover echoes the backwards looking nostalgia inherent in songs that "...long for the days when people used to say Sir and Yes Ma'am..." this record represented a new future for Spoon.
499. The Kinks - Sleepwalker (1977)
The 70s is considered an age of decline for the Kinks and certainly the band had moved on from the brit-pop classics of the 1960s that define their canon. Still there were many pleasures to be found even in their arena rock incarnation. Ray and Dave Davies may have coarsened and broadened their attack for endless stadium tours of America but the brothers were still capable of subtlety and wit on this paen to sleepless nights and werewolf-like transformations, not unlike the one their band had undergone.
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Filed in Music Review, Reviews
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Tagged 1971, Al Green, aretha franklin, flashback, george harrison, Music, Oklahoma U.S.A, Ray Davies, Recommended Music, Song, The Rolling Stones
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The 1970s have come to be seen as one of the great eras for film (even if that view was not universally embraced at the time.) !971 embodies the spirit of experimentation, the mixing of high and low filmmaking, and the renegade spirit that the best of the decade brought to bear. Here are the 25 best films from 40 years ago.
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The car industry is back! Yay America! Yes it’s all good news and yet the premier American auto show, Detroit, felt distinctly anti-climatic. Where were the exuberant show cars of yesteryear? Um, Porsche had one. The exciting production cars? Chevy‘s new Sonic and Chrysler’s 300 were already well-previewed in advance while Hyundai’s nifty Veloster was a genuine production highlight. As always, these are my opinions only, especially in respect to current and former clients mentioned here. On to the cars:
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
Jaguar's C-X75
After the industry bloodbath that was 2009, 2010 saw rebuilding and in some cases re-energizing across the industry as sales stabilized. From a design perspective the standouts were the emergence of both Hyundai and Kia (full disclosure – both former clients of mine) as leaders, Ford’s continuing solid work (with a few missteps), and Jaguar’s revival. Lowlights? Japan inc. continued to slip with Honda in particular losing much luster from a design perspective, Nissan being wildly inconsistent, Toyota eclipsed by quality issues, and Mazda in product and design language transition. Volkswagen continues to have some of teh best interiors in the business but has lost a great deal of design spark, including at their Audi division. BMW continues to backpedal from the controversy of the Bangle years but in doing so have lodged themselves in boredom-ville, and Mercedes seems to be at sea. That being said, here are the production and concept cars that were notable in 2010.
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