Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Albums from the deep

Ripped this meme-note thing off Facebook, as it seemed like a good blog exercise. The instructions are:

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it.

So just to be clear, you don't have to be proud of them or even really like the specific recording anymore, but you do need to be able to identify a period where you listened to the record, cassette tape, CD, or computer file over and over again ad nauseum because you just couldn't get enough. To that end, I think it is also nice to arrange them chronologically in the order you heard them. I like that there are 15, so you can get a good chunk of time in...of course, 15 allows you to be a little bit choosy about what you include, but do try to make it interesting.

Here's what I'm going with:

  1. Roxette - Look Sharp
  2. La Boheme - Beecham; Bjorling, De los Angeles
  3. Counting Crows - August and Everything After
  4. Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto - Rachmoninoff himself playing, Philadelphia?
  5. Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
  6. Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence
  7. Cosi fan Tutte - Ostman; Drottingham Orch
  8. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
  9. Sweeney Todd - Orig. B'way Cast
  10. Phoebe Snow - Greatest Hits
  11. Well Tempered Clavier Bk 1 - Glenn Gould
  12. Leonard Cohen - Greatest Hits
  13. Nanci Griffiths - Other Voices, Other Rooms
  14. Lohengrin - Solti; Domingo, Norman, etc.
  15. Old Crow Medicine Show - OCMS
  16. Brahms Requiem - Previn/RPO

Oops. That was 16. Oh well. Anyhow, I don't think I'm going to tag 15 people (tagging has grown excessive, no?), but I would sort of like to see what Maury and Lisa Hirsch and Patrick the PW have to say about this, so you may consider yourselves tagged if you pass by this way. The rest of you should just do it if you feel so inclined, in comments or at your own space...

12 comments:

Lisa Hirsch said...

Hmm, busily thinking about this.

I grew up five blocks from Phoebe Snow. Her younger sister was in my high school class.

Alex said...

Dude. That is cool about Phoebe Snow. Those songs sum up like every fantasy I have about San Francisco. Hrm. Maybe I need to go back there soon...

Lisa Hirsch said...

We didn't grow up in San Francisco. :) But next opera season is a good time to come. Luisotti is The Real Deal, and I mean that. Try to catch Fanciulla or Otello, or even Trovatore.

Anonymous said...

9. Sweeney Todd - Orig. London Cast

Is there a London recording of Sweeney Todd?
I thought the first production there was a famous flop. Who's on the version you listed?

Just curious ...

-- RD

Alex said...

Dur...i mean b'way. Corrected.

Anonymous said...

Yay! Go Team Broadway! :)

-- RD

Anonymous said...

Maybe you secretly meant to say "Les Miserables" Original London Cast (with the fabulous Patti LuPone as Fantine).

I know nothin' bout no crows, but is there any connection between Counting Crows and Old Crow Medicine Show?

Maybe you can merge them and set it in a aviary where the grizzled geezers demonstrate to a newcomer the art of polypharmacy: "Crows, Counting Medicine, Show Old Crow."

Alex said...

Word...Les Miz OLC DESTROYS the broadway cast. I never really pursued Counting Crows later on, but man, that one hit album is way consistent. Old Crow Medicine show is fun...the concept is neo "jug band"...this is their very infectious big song from that album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vJUadjdmo

Anonymous said...

And after greatest American snow hits everything, grateful beauty Phoebe, counting august dead crows, ...

(firt line of a bad novel)


Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
Phoebe Snow - Greatest Hits

Anonymous said...

Look, skyline! Other

Nashville rooms silence sharp sounds

of other voices.

Haiku!


1. Roxette - Look Sharp
5. Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
13.Nanci Griffiths - Other Voices, Other Rooms
6. Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence

Anonymous said...

Come, sleep! Enough of
Ambien-fueled poems.
Time to take to bed.

Joe

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