ALBUM-A-DAY CHALLENGE - The Sequel Pt. 2

Once again ranked by quality, these are my February listens - some old favorites, some never heard, but all classic and iconic albums. Check out my thoughts below:

1. The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album]

2. Metallica - Master of Puppets

3. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

4. Joni Mitchell - Blue

5. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

OK, so once again, everything in the top 5 I have heard multiple times, but still, they are all stone cold classics, some of the greatest music ever made, and you have to revisit them every now and again. Any of the first three could have easily been number one, and Joni Mitchell and Nirvana to this day have not lost their ability to tap into the listener's core.

Plus, each of these albums has a new, underplayed element upon revisiting, especially The Beatles. The array of experimentation always warrants attentive listening, particularly for its clear division between its 3 main songwriters (and the first writing credit for Starr, even though it's probably the worst song on the album). 

6. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

I can't believe I'd never listened to this front-to-back, but Plastic Ono Band is a really worthwhile experience. Sure, you've probably heard "Working Class Hero," but the true value of the album is its continual commitment to brutal personal reflection. There are no attempts to reach out to fans here, only the most fiercely bitter content Lennon ever made. By the time this faithless, nihilist document ends with "My Mummy's Dead," you have no doubts left about Lennon's despairing mindset, which in itself is a testament of the album's longevity. 

7. Patti Smith - Horses

8. Can - Ege Bamyasi

9. Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

10. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

I'm glad all these 3 albums lined up here because they are all unique works in conveying the experimentation of the late 60s/early 70s. The first of them was the dreamy acid trip of Pink Floyd's debut, creatively led by the mentally unstable Syd Barrett, a master of demonstrating the potential that space rock had for pleasurable and playful experiments combined with dark ravings of a lunatic.

Further, Captain Beefheart's third album remains his most innovative, embracing all that avant-garde had to offer the rock genre. Blues, lo-fi rock, and R&B grooves are referenced in conjunction with free jazz and seemingly random movement. Despite its inaccessibility, all these elements were carefully pieced together and purposefully interlocked, making this boisterous experiment in controlled surrealism one of rock music's most successful and rewarding attempts. 

Can was apparently at the onset of the Krautrock movement, and their imaginative and free compositions are definitely the most accessible of these three. Drummer Jaki Liebezeit provides the structure to this wild and eccentric album, with a legitimate single "Spoon" that anyone can enjoy. I'd start with this one before jumping into anything too crazy!

11. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

12. X - Los Angeles

Awesome! Should've listened to X a long time ago, I've been missing out.

13. Fehlfarben - Monarchie und Alltag

14. Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

15. Iron Maiden - Live After Death

Sure, it's basically a greatest hits, but there are few other live metal albums that sound this good. I dare you to challenge me on this <3

16. Pulp - His ‘n’ Hers

17. The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall

18. Ewa Demarczyk - Spiewa Piosenki Zygmunta Koniecznego

My quest to listen to more non-American music led most fruitfully to Fehlfarben and Ewa Demarczyk this month, both of which I'd highly recommend. The first is a key band in the German movement Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), which is like new wave. Their 1980 debut slowly received recognition years later apart from the underground scenes, and listening to it in 2019 shows it was way ahead of its time. 

As well, Ewa Demarczyk is a widely recognized Polish singer for her participation in Polish "literary" cabaret and sung poetry that was popular from the late 50s through to the end of the communist era. Her 1967 debut album features the words of contemporary Polish poets set to music by composer Zygmunt Konieczny, and it is highly unique to my Washingtonian ears. Both highly recommended!

19. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

20. Sigur Ros - Takk...

21. The Breeders - Last Splash

22. Blink-182 - Blink-182

Super surprised here, this is the album where Blink-182, the band that capitalized on childish lyrics and undercooked pop-punk songs, tried to go mature. With a Robert Smith feature and, of course, naming it a self-titled album, the band shows they're committed despite the inevitable backlash they probably received. For me, this is way better than any other Blink-182 album (though the departure of Tom DeLonge I have also favored) - the songs are more diverse and adventurous aside from opener "Feeling This," and the shift away from bracing youthful punk is welcome in my book.

23. Marillion - Fugazi

24. José González - Veneer

25. The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics

Gotta say, I was not as impressed with this album despite its wildly famous opening track, "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" (very enjoyable but not my favorite off this record). There's far less cohesion here than the amazing streak of Transmissions..., Clouds Taste Metallica, Zaireeka, The Soft Bulletin, and Yoshimi..., demonstrated through an increased focus on Pink Floyd-esque etherealness with sudden jumps back to wild playfulness. Though Mystics certainly a fine album (after all, it is a Flaming Lips album), it does not nearly hold up to its predecessors. 

26. Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch

27. Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha

28. Kelly Clarkson - My December

There always has to be a final entry on any list, and Kelly Clarkson makes it this month. In a way, she is similarly deserving of this position as Nico was last month: Clarkson committed to her ideals and paid for it with a poorly-received album. While I am typically all for this, her decision to go to an Evanescence-style rock sound was probably doomed to fail from the start. Still, I recognize that this was probably a turning point for her career - she could've turned into a faceless popstar, and chose instead to sing what she wanted to sing. She has been able to fuse her rockstar confidence with strong songs later in her career, notably with "Stronger" and her most recent album Meaning of Life, but on My December things don't click as well. 

A few notable tracks with some clear writing aside, the album is only about 50% memorable and has about 5 solid duds on a 13-song tracklist. Not the worst album I've ever heard, but certainly the worst of this set and a notable low point in her career.

Thanks! -Cory