(December 2017) I have completed episode 150 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: PEARL JAM. Pearl Jam was never a big part of my 1990s although stuff from their first 2-3 albums was on the radio all the time.
Favorite album: Ten
Favorite song: Corduroy
Compared to expectations: ↓
(December 2017) I have completed episode 149 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: KRAFTWERK. It is shameful and unexplainable that they weren’t in my rotation back in the day, given my love of mid-70s electronic music. It’s so good. I prefer the earlier krautrock material to the later robot-pop.
Favorite album: Autobahn
Favorite song: Autobahn
Favorite period: 1973-77
Compared to expectations: same
(November 2017) I have completed episode 148 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: X. LA punk! They kinda wore down as the 1980s wore on, but the early stuff is fantastic.
Favorite album: Los Angeles
Favorite song: Soul Kitchen
Favorite non-cover song: The Hungry Wolf
Compared to expectations: same
(November 2017) I have completed episode 147 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE ZOMBIES. The flame burned briefly for this groovy mid-60s British outfit, but it shone like a supernova with Odessey and Oracle, the definite baroque pop album, a gem of psychedelic pop, and one of my favorite albums of all time. They reunited for some unremarkable albums in later decades.
Favorite album: Odessey and Oracle
Favorite song: Care of Cell 44
Compared to expectations: same
(November 2017) I have completed episode 146 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: ALAN PARSONS PROJECT (plus Alan Parsons solo). Few have embraced the concept album as avidly as these guys. Some of the techno-rock instrumental tracks are of interest, but the rest has no contemporary value. I listen so you don’t have to.
Favorite album: The Turn of a Friendly Card
Favorite song: Breakdown
Compared to expectations: same
(October 2017) I have completed episode 145 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (plus The Golliwogs). Who doesn’t love CCR? Comfort food in musical form. Amazingly, they put out six albums in 2 1/2 years (plus one a couple years later).
Favorite album: Cosmo’s Factory
Favorite song: Bad Moon Rising
Best jam: I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Best song to get you out of bed in the morning: Travelin’ Band
Best soul: Long as I Can See the Light
Special sauce: Doug Clifford
Compared to expectations: same
(October 2017) I have completed episode 144 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: 7 SECONDS. Straight edge! I saw them in concert in 1986. Also, proof that a hardcore punk band can have a long recording career after the initial burst of 97 second-long thrash-tastic recordings.
Favorite album: The Crew
Favorite song: Aggro
Compared to expectations: same
(October 2017) I have completed episode 143 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: the TOM PETTY (plus with the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch). Such seemingly effortless songwriting of catchy American rock songs. As a youth I didn’t buy his albums as the songs were ever-present on the radio. While I had expected his quality to taper off as the years went on, it did not; in fact some of the later albums are among his best
Favorite album: Full Moon Fever
Favorite song: I Won’t Back Down
Hidden gems: the two Mudcrutch albums
Compared to expectations: ↑
class
(October 2017) I have completed episode 142 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: PAT METHENY. One of my favorite guitarists. His long and prolific recording career (50+ albums) spans a wide range of jazz genres — straight, fusion, avant-garde, progressive, folk, Latin. It is rather odd that, in my opinion, the music of a jazz musician from Missouri (mostly the early stuff) can evoke images of driving on open roads under a big Western sky.
Favorite album: As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
Favorite song: “It’s For You”
Favorite period: 1978-84
Most boring album: We Live Here
Most ambitious album: The Way Up
Odd outlier that not many like but I do: Zero Tolerance for Silence
Compared to expectations: same
(October 2017) I have completed episode 141 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to the complete works of an artist. This edition: ARNOLD SHOENBERG. In the first half of the 20th century, he developed new ways of thinking about and composing music — e.g. atonality, twelve-tone technique — that became highly influential and much debated. You won’t hear his work on classical radio stations, but it challenges the ear and mind, which is why I like it.
Favorite work: Serenade (Opus 24)
Favorite opera: Moses und Aron
Compared to expectations: ↑
Opus Project 