(August 2015) I have completed phase 56 of my “opus project” in which listen to a band’s discography from start to finish. This episode: THE DONNAS. Because rock n roll! The female Ramones. Such fun.
Favorite album: Spend the Night
Favorite song: Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine
Low points: the final two album, an unfortunate foray into anthem rock
Compared to expectations: same
(May 2015) I have completed phase 55 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s entre discography from start to finish. This episode: CAN. Because Krautrock! How to describe their music? The best answer is from my college roommate who introduced them to me a decade ago, who said: “I can’t. Just go listen to the album” (Tago Mago).
Favorite album: Tago Mago
Favorite song: Halleluhwah
Least favorite album: Can (an attempt to be disco-relevant)
Compared to expectations: same
(July 2015) I have completed phase 54 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography from beginning to end. This episode: BOB DYLAN. This was a long one, some three dozen studio albums across a 5+ decade career. Lots in here to cherish, lots to forget, and plenty in between. He’ll inspire you and then he’ll bore you, but there is no doubt that Zimmerman is one of the premier songwriters ever.
Favorite album: Blonde on Blonde
Favorite song: Subterranean Homesick Blues
Favorite period: 1963-1966
Strong comeback: 1997-2006
Great song you’ve never heard: Nettie Moore
Least favorite period: the 1980s
Worst album: Self Portrait
The world could live without : Christmas in the Heart
Compared to expectations: same
(May 2015) I have completed phase 53 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s entire discography from start to finish. This episode: AC/DC. Because sometimes you just need some power chord cock rock. However, I am not sure whether the listening experience would have been much different if I had listened to one album 17 times rather than each of their 17 albums in order.
Favourite album: Highway to Hell
Favourite song: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Favourite period: Bon Scott (75-79). Duh.
Least favourite album: Blow Up Your Video
Compared to expectations: ⇓
(April 2015) I have completed phase 51 of my “opus project.” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography from start to finish. This episode: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND. It’s fast and bulbous.* As distinctive was his voice was (a blend of Howlin’ Wolf and Tom Waits), what I find most compelling is the orchestrated chaos of the music behind it. The high musicianship of the performers is made more remarkable by the abuse the musicians suffer from Don Van Vliet.
Favorite album: Trout Mask Replica
Favorite song: Kandy Korn
Favorite period: early, from Safe as Milk to Mirror Man
Worst period: those mid-1970s albums
Biggest surprise: the return to form of the last three albums
Compared to expectations: same
(April 2015) I have completed phase 50 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography from beginning to end. This episode: PAUL McCARTNEY.* What’s there to say about arguably the top songwriter of the last 50 years? He is so prolific (440+ songs) that he has recorded more forgettable songs than most artists ever record in their lifetimes, and yet it would take half a dozen CDs to package his “best of.” Sure, he tends toward the sappy and sentimental, but don’t dismiss the wide variety of his work: pop, rock, electronic, classical, jazz, experimental. Paul is at his best when it is just him, his guitar and his melody, as in Here Today and Calico Skies (not to mention Yesterday and Blackbird).
Favourite album: Band on the Run
Favourite song: Maybe I’m Amazed
Worst song (hit): Freedom
Worst song (non hit): Temporary Secretary
More interesting than expected: his electronic /experimental albums (as the Firemen)
Not so interesting: his classical music compositions
Favorite period: the late (1997-2013: from Flaming Pie to New). While the early 1970s has most of the hits, the recent albums are more consistently strong.
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2015) I have completed phase 49 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography. This edition: BRIAN ENO. This was a long one; more than 50 albums. (If I had included the hundreds of albums which he produced, it would have taken me a year.) My favorite period is the mid-1970s, when he simultaneously put out eclectic glam-adelic rock albums and essentially invented ambient music. He continued (and continues) to innovate in many directions.
Favourite album (rock): Here Come the Warm Jets
Favourite album (ambient): Music for Airports
Favourite album (collaboration): Evening Star (with Robert Fripp)
Favourite song: Needles in the Camel’s Eye
Compared to expectations: ⇑
(February 2015) I have completed phase 48 of my “opus project” in which I listen to the full discography of an artist from beginning to end. This episode: the WHITE STRIPES, plus RACONTEURS, plus DEAD WEATHER, plus JACK WHITE solo. My sister told me that the first album, which I always thought too raw, was the best. Upon further listen, she may be right, but I’m still listing Elephant for its diversity. Ask me again next year, though, and I may be there.
Favorite album: Elephant
Favorite song: Blue Orchid
Least favorite: the Dead Weather albums
Compared to expectations: same
(January 2015) I have completed phase 47 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography from start to finish. This episode: GEORGE HARRISON (solo). I say that All Things Must Pass (1970) is the best solo album by any ex-Beatle — a flowering of songwriting that finally got on vinyl after the group split up. That said, his overall solo work shows that his songwriting was not of the caliber of John and Paul. A pleasure, in any case.
Favourite album: All Things Must Pass
Specially recommended album: Brainwashed (released posthumously, 2002)
Hidden gem: Wonderwall Music
Favourite song: Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
Most overrated song: My Sweet Lord
Most underrated song: Wah-Wah
Compared to expectations: same
(January 2015) I have completed phase 46 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to a band’s entire discography from start to finish. This episode: RUSH. Remember that sense of wonder and magic you got as a youth reading A Wrinkle in Time or Voyage of the Dawn Treader? And how, when you re-read those books as an adult, you not only fail to recapture that feeling, but it also erases it from your memory? It’s been like that with Rush. When I was younger, I marveled at the wizardry (both lyrical and musicianship) of this band. Pure headphone music. And while I still enjoy many of their “classic period” songs, the enjoyment is devoid of that original mystery. And it says something that my favorite song is an uncharacteristic power-chord metal piece. Lastly, there’s the unsurprising revelation that most everything that came after Moving Pictures is crap. I can say I’ve listened to those 11 later albums now, and I never need to again.
Favorite album: 2112
Favorite song: Working Man
Favorite instrumental: La Villa Strangiato
Lowest point (among many): Power Windows
Special sauce:
Compared to expectations: ⇓
Opus Project 