Comments on: Week 1, Day 2, plus some music stuff

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:56:54 +0000

Yeah, I was just nitpicking for the sake of it, because I’ve been doing the same thing with my own list. For example, is it wrong/dishonest to restrict myself to one album per artist if more than one of the artist’s albums ranks among my faves of the decade? I just don’t know.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:50:23 +0000

I don’t think it’s cheating per se, because that particular record was mostly finished before Mark died and was created in or around this decade, but it’s still original, never-before-released music. If I didn’t restrict myself to that criterion, my list would be nothing but reissues and Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall and John Coltrane Live At The Half Note.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:42:23 +0000

But wait, is it cheating for you to include Morphine, given that Mark Sandman wasn’t alive when the decade began? Okay, maybe not.

And yeah, now I’m thinking that maybe it’s going to be a top 1 and then an undifferentiated clump, because trying to choose between Thus Always and Universal Audio is making my head hurt. And what about the Libertines?! Don’t they belong in my top 5? Best band created in the 2000s? Maybe? And why am I ending all these sentences with a question mark?

It’s all too much. I wish I didn’t have to do a list. Of course, I don’t have to do a list, not in any objective sense of “have to.” But it’s my nature, as the scorpion said to the frog.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:24:34 +0000

I think “Furnace Room Lullaby” is the oldest eligible album on my list, because it came out February 22, 2000, but yeah, “De Stijl” made it, too, even though I thought the same thing.

Based on how much I’ve listened to it and how well it fits me, the Lou Ford record would be an easy #1, but the rest of them are just too hard to rank. Morphine would be up there, as would the Old 97′s and Scott Miller. Ranking is silly when everything is good.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:34:31 +0000

See, this is where my tendency to be confused about what happened when really becomes a problem, ’cause I’m looking at your list and thinking, “Oh yeah, De Stijl, great record, but didn’t that come out in the ’90s?” And of course it didn’t.

You’re wise to do an unordered list. I think I’m committed to a top 5, but after that, it may be an undifferentiated mass of about 20 records, all tied for 6th place.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:04:17 +0000

Crap. I forgot about Grant-Lee Phillips’ LADIES LOVE ORACLE. Figures.

And as you wrote before the strikethrough edit about “Couples In Trouble”, this is my list, and it may not be the best of an artist’s work, but I have intense and personal relationships with all of those records.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:49:21 +0000

I’m still working on my rankings, because that’s more important than doing the thing I’m being paid for, but here’s the (I think) final 15:

The Dirtbombs, ULTRAGLIDE IN BLACK
The Frames, FOR THE BIRDS
Grand Champeen, DIAL “T” FOR THIS
Guided By Voices, UNIVERSAL TRUTHS AND CYCLES
The Long Winters, WHEN I PRETEND TO FALL
Lou Ford, ALAN FREED’S RADIO
Morphine, THE NIGHT
Neko Case And Her Boyfriends, FURNACE ROOM LULLABY
Old 97′s, SATELLITE RIDES
Pernice Brothers, THE WORLD WON’T END
Ryan Adams, HEARTBREAKER
Scott Miller And The Commonwealth, THUS ALWAYS TO TYRANTS
Slobberbone, EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT WAS RIGHT WAS WRONG TODAY
The White Stripes, DE STIJL
The Black Keys, THICKFREAKNESS