(June 2016) I have completed episode 86 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: SPINAL TAP. None more black.
Favourite album: Intravenus de Milo
Favourite song: Stonehenge
Favourite drummer: John “Stumpy” Pepys
Compared to expectations: same
(May 2016) I have completed episode 85 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE CARS. I rediscovered that their first couple of albums are so fun and hook-filled; almost all the songs on the first recording were radio hits. Their outputs fades as they move into the 1980s and the synths and echo drums take over.
Favorite album: The Cars
Favorite song: Just What I Needed
Worst album: Door to Door
Return to form: their 2011 reunion album Move Like This
Compared to expectations: same
(May 2016) I have completed episode 84 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s complete discography. This edition: CREAM. The first supergroup refined blues rock and set the stage for hard rock and jam bands. And Eric Clapton.
Favourite album: Disraeli Gears
Favourite song: White Room
Special sauce: Jack Bruce
Compared to expectations: ↑
(April 2016) I have completed episode 83 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s complete discography. This edition: THE BANGLES. Don’t laugh. Strip away the 80s veneer, you find some catchy songs inspired by their power pop and garage band idols. (The silly Walk Like an Egyptian is an exception not the rule.)
Favorite album: All Over the Place
Favorite song: Hero Takes a Fall
Compared to expectations: same
(April 2016) I have completed episode 82 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s complete discography. This edition: THE BYRDS. Very influential, first in the development of folk rock and jangle rock (want proof? listen to Revolver), and later in country rock (and on into the California Sound of the 1970s). Amazingly, they put out 12 albums in 8 years.
Favorite album: Mr. Tambourine Man
Favorite song: I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better
Worst Album (and title): Byrdmaniax
Compared to expectations: same
(April 2016) I have completed episode 81 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s complete discography. This edition: CROSBY STILLS & NASH (& YOUNG), plus CROSBY-NASH. Their first two albums are classics, so much so that my cassette tape wore thin back in the day. But there is no need to listen to anything after those. No one has gotten as much mileage off the fumes of a 1960s heyday as these guys (excepting Neil Young, who still brings it).
Favorite album: Crosby Stills & Nash
Favorite song: Helplessly Hoping
Worst Album: American Dream
Special sauce: Neil Young
Compared to expectations:↓
(March 2016) I have completed phase 80 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography. This edition: TANGERINE DREAM. This was a lesson learned for my project, of falling down a rabbit hole, not being able to get out, and forcing myself to make it to the end. I absolutely love Tangerine Dream’s work in the 1970s as pioneers of electronic music. From the 1980s, it was mostly banal, new age, synth drivel, although it had some value in soundtracks. With 98 albums and parts of 22 others, this was quite a time suck.
Favorite album: Phaedra
Favorite song: Phaedra
Favorite period: 1971-78 (mostly the “Virgin years”)
Favorite soundtrack: The Keep
Worst album: among many, I select the recording of cover songs “Under Cover — Chapter One”
Compared to expectations: ↓
(March 2016) I have completed phase 79 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s complete discography. This edition: BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD. More than a launching pad for Neil Young and Stephen Stills, Buffalo Springfield made an indelible contribution to the explosion of music in the mid-1960s.
Favorite album: Buffalo Springfield Again
Favorite song: Mr. Soul .
Special sauce: Neil Young
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2016) I have completed phase 78 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s complete discography. This edition: SUPERGRASS. Never understood why this effervescent, talented British alt-band with a sense of humor never gained wider attention. Try it.
Favourite album: Life on Other Planets
Favourite song: Alright
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2016) I have completed phase 77 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography. This edition: DAVID BOWIE. Catalyzed by his passing, this effort newly exposed me to the wide variety and creativity of his work. While not every recording has aged well, Bowie never settled on a patented sound; rather, he kept innovating until the end.
Favourite album: The Man Who Sold The World
Favourite song: Ziggy Stardust
Favourite period: 1969-1973, which also speaks to the guitar and arranging talents of Mick Ronson
Also great with a very different sound: the ‘Berlin Trilogy,’ 1977-79, which shows that what Brian Eno touches is gold
Worst albums: the 1980s
Special sauce: Mick Ronson
Compared to expectations: ↑
Opus Project 