2009-09-08

Allimportant 5

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I haven't been tagged for a meme in a long time, plus I like this one, plus Nathan actually originated it. So I'm going to do it.

Here’s the meme (I made it myself, and I’m so proud): List and describe five albums/CDs that, at one time or another, have been your absolute favorite — the one that resided constantly in your personal music player (Walkman, Discman, iPod, whatever).

More than five meet those criteria, so I've adapted it slightly to the five among those number that changed the way I understand music. Some runnersup follow the main list that come close to this definition, but other cds from Abba and Blondie and Ryan Shupe and Brett Raymond and Briddeon and FYC and Heather Nova and on and on --- albums I truly love and have listened to endlessly --- have no solid claim on who I am as a musical human.

Here's a true thing by way of introduction: To have created me, my relationship with an album can't be that recent. Yes, in the last couple years I've ODed on Regina Spektor and Neko Case and others, but it's too late for an album to really define my likes and dislikes. They can stretch and alter and affect and so forth, but they cannot define. That has already been done. (Or maybe not, but if not, I won't be able to see it for years to come.)

Some of these I've directly blogged about before. In those cases, I link. Others I haven't. But I'm overdue to finish this, so I'll just link to Amazon. We can save detailed analysis for comments discussion as needed.


* Moonpools and Caterpillars * Lucky Dumpling *



*They Might Be Giants * Flood *



* Juju Club * 1:1 *



* The Sundays * Static & Silence *



* Sunfall Festival * Monday23 *



-----------(most honorable of the honorable mentions)

* Billy Joel * Storm Front *



* Matthew Sweet * 100% Fun *



* The Muppet Movie Soundtrack *

10 comments:

  1. Count me in as a devoted Sunfall Festival fan as well! Great stuff.

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  2. Oh, awesome list.

    I'm your only friend
    I'm not your only friend
    But I'm a little glowing friend
    But really I'm not actually your friend
    But I am

    May I pretend you tagged me? Maybe that will get me blogging again.

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  3. .

    Consider yourself tagged.

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  4. This is a great post, I'm gonna have to borrow it. I love the idea of the albums that have musically defined you-they are all a surprise-not that I know you that well but I would never have guessed some of them. I think Moonpools and Caterpillars are another one of the groups I saw at the now departed Fairpark Coliseum back in the mid to late 90's. And the Sundays-I just wouldn't have ever guessed that. They Might Be gIants, I might have guessed that one, very intriguing list.

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  5. .

    I hope you do all do you. It's an interesting window into someone's soul.

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  6. That is excellent!!!

    I usually avoid threads about what music people listen to (because I don't like to go out of my way to demonstrate that I haven't listened to much new music in the last decade or so), but you've listed two of my all-time favorites: TMBG and Matthew Sweet!

    And I've adored the Muppet Movie songs since I was a kid. I even bought a book so I could learn to play them on the guitar as a (nerdy Mormon) teen!

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  7. .

    TMBG for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2010!

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  8. .

    I just notice the "musical human" link is busted! Here's where it was supposed to go. Sorry about that.

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  9. Hey, so, I know I'm, like, almost a month late in commenting on this post but, ya know, better late than never, right? I could comment on all of these, but I really only wanna rant a bit about the lack of JuJu Club in my life, so I'll comment on 3 of your things just so I can dilute my rant into something more well rounded:

    TMBG--Flood is the ultimate singin'-while-drivin' CD. I cannot put it in the car stereo and not sing along: it is, for me, absolutely impossible. I love it, I love it, I love it.

    JuJu Club--I love 1:1. It's a little jarring to me that that particular video cuts the final note, but I'll take what I can get. I remember one song of there's you listened to a lot upon returning to America--at the time it sounded to me like she was saying something like, "Guy yi eggo, doshi doshi"; I think you told me that she was singing about how much she likes strawberries--anyway, if that song and 1:1 are indicative of their overall style, I'm sad I don't know them better (sadder yet that they don't exist on Amazon or Wikipedia). Also, I'm still eager to hear her sing whatever Christmas song you were telling me she sang in English and was actually really funny.

    Muppets--Video is dead. Which song was it? It is a fantastic soundtrack; I have happy memories of riding around Tehachapi with you while listening to it.

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  10. .

    I know which JuJu Club song you're talking about but the strawberry song's different -- it's even by a different band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ6Hc7oZ8rM. I should make you a copy of that cd, though. It's not like you can buy it in the states anyway.

    The Muppet song was the final number. I wasn't sure which song to include and that was the first hiqual youtubery I found.

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