Week of music lists: 7 great albums from 1971

Last time we got modern, today we get retro again as Week of Music Lists continues with albums I dig that came out all the way back 38 (urk) years ago:

7 GREAT ALBUMS I OWN RELEASED THE YEAR I WAS BORN, WHICH WAS 1971

1. "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye - Ah, Marvin. We don't need to escalate.
2. "Who's Next" by The Who - Arguably, their peak, not quite as full of filler as some of their concept rock operas but more assured than their earlier albums.
3. "There's A Riot Goin On" by Sly and the Family Stone - Nowhere near as exuberant as their earlier singles, but still a classic piece of druggy funk.
4. "Sticky Fingers" by The Rolling Stones - The Stones at their peak.
5. "IV" by Led Zeppelin, or Zoso or whatever you wish to call it - As noted in the comments to Mandy, I'm not a giant obsessive Led Zep fan, but this album pretty much sums up everything great about the band. Rawk!
6. "Hunky Dory" by David Bowie - Not his single greatest album, perhaps, but where the greatness begins.
7. "Master of Reality" by Black Sabbath - The riff for "Sweet Leaf" makes me want to be 15 forever, but without all the angst and zits.

Week of music lists: 10 great bands of the 2000s

"Today's music sucks." You often hear this complaint, usually by someone who thinks music peaked when they were 18. It's true that no music will ever be better than the music you fell in love with as a teenager, whether it was the Bee-Gees or Duran Duran or Jet.

But for those who argue that everything new sucks and everything old rules, I offer up a coven of very, very good bands, all of whom kicked off their careers in the decade to date. Their debut album had to be released no earlier than 2001 (so that disqualifies, say, the White Stripes or My Morning Jacket, whose first discs were out in 1999), but I find any or all of these acts a good rebuttal to anyone who says it's all downhill from senior prom.

10 GREAT BANDS OF THE 2000s

1. Arcade Fire
This bombastic seven-member band plays every instrument under the sun to create their symphonic rock, urgent and inventive and convinced of the power of music as salvation.
Check out if you like: "Ziggy" era Bowie, Roxy Music

2. Grizzly Bear
They started out doing soft, dreamy laments, but have slowly broadened their palette into a gorgeously sad and intricate sound that grows on you with each listen.
Check out if you like: Radiohead, Elliott Smith

3. The Hold Steady
Impassioned workingman's rock 'n' roll overflowing with words and imagery, with frontman Craig Finn ranting and raving away like a born-again preacher.
Check out if you like: Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen

4. Interpol
Stern, brooding and oh-so-pretty, they started out a little too much like a Joy Division tribute band but have carved a path of hooky, dark and danceable rock.
Check out if you like: um... Joy Division, The Smiths

5. Iron and Wine
The whole hushed acoustic guitar folk genre has been done to death, but Sam Beam puts a uniquely majestic, Gothic spin on it, taking the old storyteller strumming away by the fire cliche to haunting and hushed places.
Check out if you like: Nick Drake, Bob Dylan

6. LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy's one-man band pioneers disco-punk – hard-driving, witty and ironic tunes with a beat you can dance to, hip without being smug.
Check out if you like: "Low" era Bowie, Moby, Human League

7. The Shins
Barely making the cutoff (their first album as The Shins came out in 2001), these guys manage blissful, hooky pop that worms its way into your brain yet maintains an aura of surreal mystery.
Check out if you like: Beach Boys, Guided By Voices

8. TV On the Radio
Deftly original "industrial doo-wop," as I've dubbed them a few times on this blog, this Brooklyn based band charts a course between the earthy and sublime -- fantastic harmonies duel with scratchy, dense production.
Check out if you like: Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel

9. Wolf Parade
With their herky-jerky rhythms, a growling, grunting frontman and music that takes equal cues from psychedelia and independent rock, this Canadian combo is hustling away a decent career on the fringe.
Check it out if you like: Modest Mouse, Pixies

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Their first album was an amphetamine-powered raw, riot grrl blast; with later work they've grown more self-assured and electronica in sound, yet singer Karen O's intense voice remains a distinct pleasure.
Check out if you like: Hole, Blondie

Honorable mention to a few bands who haven't quite put out enough work to know if they've got the goods long-term or not: Fleet Foxes, Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A., MGMT.

Week of music lists: 6 Popular Bands I Just Don't Care For

Music lists week continues, with...

6 POPULAR BANDS I JUST DON'T CARE FOR

Now, I'll pass on the obvious here -- the Lady GaGas or Jonas Brotherses or Miley Cyruses, which at 37.8 years old I cannot really be expected to like. I like to think I'm fairly open-minded, as far as it goes -- I've got a mix of Britpop, honky-tonk, hip-hop and post-punk in my collection, although classical music and I have never really been on speaking terms. Hey, I just recently got into Black Sabbath for the first time, so I'm willing to learn. But here's a few artists whose work I've sampled, but never really was blown away by despite their reputations.

1. The Doors - I went through my Doors phase at about age 18 or so. Then someone once painted a very convincing picture for me of Jim Morrison as Las Vegas lounge act singer. Try picturing "Light My Fire," "Hello I Love You" and "The End" sung in lounge-act tones, and you too will never be able to take them seriously again. Also, every time I see a quote by the Doors' Ray Manzarek in a magazine extolling how his art changed western civilization, I practically drown in the pretension of it all. The Doors do have some good tunes, and I do like the way Brother Ray plays his keyboard, but they're a prime example of the over-mythologisation of the '60s "experience" and rock's tendency toward taking itself far too seriously.

2. AC/DC -- I like a bit of the hard rock, but I simply cannot stand that screechy wheedling whine of a voice from either of the band's lead singers. It has the nails on chalkboard effect to me.

3. James Taylor - He has a very pretty voice, yes, which is perfect for lulling me to sleep. While I admire the craft behind his gentle, sensitive balding '70s male tunes, I just can't quite keep my eyes open if they come on the radio.

4. The Eagles -- I love Calfornia, I grew up in California, but I have never seen this Hotel California they speak of. Music that's a bit too toothless to be exciting to me, despite some nice singing and solid hooks. When it comes to genteel country rock, give me the Byrds, Johnny Cash or The Band any day.

5. Eric Clapton -- Conceded: The man is a very, very good guitarist, and he's done some amazing solos, and he seems like a really decent chap. But as a songwriter, I find him often really boring and bland (his frankly unemotive voice doesn't help). I like a few of his songs, but really, if I want the blues I've got a lot more passion for going back to Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf. I respect his admiration and influence in reviving blues but his take on it is too clean and polite and lacks that Delta grit (by contrast, I do think some other white bands who've popularized the blues have caught the spirit a bit better -- the Rolling Stones spring to mind).

6. Pink Floyd - I don't know why, but these guys just have never quite done it for me. I admire a tune like "Comfortably Numb" but have never felt it transcendent as I apparently am supposed to. I watched "The Wall" once and it was trippy, but I also can get tripped out by lava lamps. Of the bands I list here, this is the one I keep thinking I should "give another chance" to more than any other, though.

Nothing fires up people like dissing on their favorites, and I'm sure some will be offended, but hey, I'm not saying any of these bands are outright horrible -- someone must be buying the millions of albums they've sold -- but they just don't light my fire, to quote swingin' Jim Morrison.

Week of music lists: 5 really goofy songs I like without irony

Thus begins the Week of Music Lists, in which I use my newly reorganized CD collection as muse for a series of easy posts!

Today---

FIVE REALLY GOOFY SONGS THAT I LIKE WITHOUT IRONY

Many, many songs in rock are goofy. These are songs that are a bit odd, but not ones that are intentionally comic, i.e. "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer." I can't precisely define "goofy songs" to me, but it's not, say, "Yellow Submarine," which is a fanciful, childlike song. However "goofy" accurately describes much of Abba's output. I would say goofy songs combine solid hooks with rather inane lyrics, which for you the listener never quite tip into the realm of sheer kitsch and instead forge some kind of emotional connection, no matter how oddball it may be. Thus, onwards! My 5 are heavy on the 1980s because, well, I am a child of the '80s.

1. Don't Lose my Number by Phil Collins
I could fill up this list with Genesis and Phil Collins tunes -- my guilty pleasure, Phil, has practically created an entire catalog of goofy songs, from Genesis tracks like "Dodo/Lurker" and "Abacab" to strangely vague pop smash hits like "Sussudio" and "Easy Lover." But this might be my favorite, with its very '80s processed drum splash sound and Phil's knack for giving a desperate urgency to an utterly daft tune (the video features Phil Collins transformed into a bee, which is superbly Kafkaesque in a totally '80s way). "They came at night leaving fear behind / Shadows were on the ground," apparently. Who lost whose number? Who's Billy? What's going on here? Phil, save us!

2. A Quick One While He's Away by The Who
Honestly, could this song be any goofier? A monster nine-minute medley from the Who's early, pre-"Tommy" days, it foreshadows the epic sweep of their later work with a shifting, burbling song that switches genres several times. But it's incredibly silly, too, telling the story of a girl left stranded by her lover for "many a year." About the time the Who break into a western gallop, complete with trotting horse noises, you realize the whole song's gotten away from them a bit. Yet it also sums up what's great about the Who - the open-eyed excess and broad visions that still manage to touch a few universal emotions. Just don't try to make any bloody sense of it all!

3. Cannonball by The Breeders
This alt-nation classic was everywhere in 1993, and is a great example of how lofty and literate alternative rock could be as goofy as the masters. The Deal twins fill this one to the brim with hooks -- the lovely drifting guitar and bass lines dueling at the beginning, the jaggedy solo freak-outs, and the lyrics that make no sense at all -- "I'll be your whatever you want / The bong in this reggae song." Fffh. Whatever, dude.

4. Blue Jean by David Bowie
C'mon -- awesome hooks, fantastic production, but listen to these lyrics -- "Blue jean / I just met a girl named blue jean / she got a camouflage face and no money." What? The honking line of horns, the jiggly use of a marimba, the barbershop harmonies in the chorus, it's all camp as all get out, but peroxide-haired Bowie and his inimitable "most stylish man on the earth" early '80s look sell it. But don't try to take this song seriously, honestly.

5. One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head
Wow, this song was deep to me when I was 13, but is nigh-unbearably goofy when I listen to it now. From the musical "Chess," it's kind of decadent and fey in the "Frankie Goes To Hollywood" mode, with Murray Head singing it in a wry voice murmuring lines like "I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine." It kindled a vision of Thailand as impossibly exotic and strange to me, although heard now it's a very goofy '80s curio, one that straddles the line between musical theatre and synth-pop hit.

What are your goofy faves?