(July 2018) I have completed episode 174 of my “opus project.” This edition: The LEN PRICE 3. If you like early The Who, early Kinks, or garage rock in general, you should check out this contemporary revivalist group. It’s like listening through a kick-ass time machine.
Favorite album: Pictures
Favorite song: Mr. Grey
Compared to expectations: same
(July 2018) I have completed episode 173 of my “opus project.” This edition: ROXY MUSIC. The review confirmed my impression that much of Roxy’s music is unremarkable. But it did introduce me to their first two superbly glam-tastic albums — the ones with Brian Eno (because everything Eno touches turns to gold).
Favorite album: For Your Pleasure
Favorite song: The Bogus Man
Least favorite album: Flesh + Blood
Nostalgic album: Avalon
Compared to expectations: ↓
(June 2018) I have completed episode 169 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: BADFINGER. One of the three Pillars of Power Pop (along with Big Star and the Raspberries). No one excelled at the power ballad quite like Badfinger.
Favorite album: Straight Up
Favorite song: No Matter What
Hidden Gem: the first album (Maybe Tomorrow, issued as The Iveys), with period-apt psychedelics and baroque pop
Compared to expectations: same
(May 2018) I have completed episode 167 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: MAZZY STAR. An underrated band from the 1990s IMHO. A distinct sound — hazy, echo-y, spare, not quite alt-country, with subtle bits of psychedelia — that I might label “sultry shoegazing.”
Favorite album: So Tonight That I Might See
Favorite song: Halah
Compared to expectations: same
(April 2018) I have completed episode 164 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: DEVO. As my interest in late-70s New Wave has grown, so has my appreciation of Devo’s first few albums. They’re more than a one-hit wonder, but their sound never really “evolved” (pun intended) from its one-dimensionality. If repetitiveness is proof of concept, they succeeded.
Favorite album: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Favorite song: Uncontrollable Urge
Worst album: Total Devo
Compared to expectations: ↓
I have completed episode 162 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE ALLMAN BROTHERS. They didn’t invent Southern Rock*, but they pretty much defined it (see Midnight Rider and Blue Sky). A always enjoy the fret and slide work of Dickey and Duane. Their output after the 1970s often resembled little more than talent-rich bar band.
Favorite album: Idlewild South
Favorite song: Jessica
Favorite period: 1969-72
Compared to expectations: same
* Gregg Allman once made an astute comment that “Southern rock” was a redundant term, like “rock rock.”
(March 2018) I have completed episode 161 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s full discography. This edition: THE SONICS. The Beatles, Stones, Who and Kinks of the mid-1960s deserve all the accolades they’re given, but none of them rocked harder than the Sonics. Out of Tacoma, WA, they were a definitive garage band, and their tonal aggression clearly influenced punk. After some 50 years, they were still spry enough to put out a kick-ass album (2015).
Favorite album: Here Are The Sonics
Favorite song: The Witch
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2018) I have completed episode 158 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an band’s full discography. This edition: SQUEEZE. I’ve long been a fan of the clever song-writing of the Difford-Tilbrook collaboration, who created one of the most melodically tuneful outfits from the UK New Wave. The first five albums are great; the 80s and 90s are serviceable but not memorable; the 2015 and 2017 albums are rather catchy.
Favourite album: East Side Story
Favorite song: Is That Love
Most resembles a late-period Paul McCartney album: Cradle to the Grave
Compared to expectations: same
(January 2018) I have completed episode 156 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an band’s full discography. This edition: THE BREEDERS. I recently did the Pixies, so I thought it natural to do the Breeders.
Favorite album: Last Splash
Favorite song: Cannonball
Compared to expectations: same
(January 2018) I have completed episode 155 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an band’s full discography. This edition: THE JAM. It is my shame that I dismissed, even mocked, this band back in the day. But as I grew to avidly embrace the mod sounds of the early Who, early Kinks, Small Faces and the Creation, naturally I came to realize how f-ing awesome The Jam were. Oy!
Favorite album: All Mod Cons
Favorite song: In the City
Favorite cover: David Watts
Compared to expectations: same ↑↓
Opus Project 