^^^ We had a floor model stereo until I was a teenager, which included an 8-track. It got damaged in a flood, and the only thing that continued to work after that was the phonograph, for some reason. And then, we ran out of phonograph needles.
American Standard. James Taylor. 2020
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I only really just learned of James Taylor thanks to a pair of podcast appearances following the release of this album. There's a risk in picking something this new in that I have no idea how it will age. Nonetheless am really enjoying this. His voice. His sweetness.
yeah, I have my first Blu-Ray player hooked up to an old receiver with nice speakers that don't work in my theater as my CD player but I maybe only have played one CD in it, which was my old band's recording session. I have a Sonos set up that I stream through and also a turntable set up but it's just so convenient to stream. Especially since I can run the Sonos throughout the house.The 2XL was pretty easily my favorite "toy" through several years of my childhood, though I'd imagine that mine is now at the bottom of a landfill somewhere. But I'm pretty sure at this point I'd rather play a 2XL tape out of nostalgia's sake than an 8-track.
Shoot, to be honest, when I moved into my current place nearly ten years ago, I hooked my component CD player up to my receiver but put the tape deck into a storage unit in the garage. The other day I accidentally powered on the CD player while dusting - and it might be the first time the CD player has been on since I last hooked it up. I simply AirPlay everything straight to the receiver. I doubt I've owned a CD in the last 15 years that has left its case but once, to be ripped digitally and never used again.
Dammit!With my 15th pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album Draft I select:
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III Sides to Every Story - Extreme (1992)
Track Listing:
Yours
1 Warheads
2 Rest in Peace
3 Politicalamity
4 Color Me Blind
5 Cupid's Dead
6 Peacemaker Die
Mine
7 Seven Sundays
8 Tragic Comic
9 Our Father
10 Stop the World
11 God Isn't Dead?
12 Don't Leave Me Alone
The Truth
13 Everything Under the Sun: I. Rise 'N Shine
14 Everything Under the Sun: II. Am I Ever Gonna Change
15 Everything Under the Sun: III. Who Cares?
Somehow, this album didn't make it into my last draft. It was always sitting there, waiting to be picked and after the obvious top albums had come off the board, I found excuse after excuse to put it off until the next round until finally I just didn't take it. It was probably a silly decision, and it was kind of happening again, so I'm just fixing it right now. III Sides to Every Story is one of the first albums I bought when I arrived to college, basically sight unseen on the strength of their prior record. Well, their prior record has a few radio hits, but for me this is by far the better album despite being a commercial failure, having no radio single and being one of the last gasps of '80s rock in the rise of grunge. (It is also, incidentally, the only album I have ever written a term paper about, a record that at this point seems very likely to stand.)
The album is broken into three "sides", labeled "Yours", "Mine", and "The Truth". "Yours" consists of straight, in-your-face hard rock with an ironic and continually undermined warmongering theme throughout. "Rest In Peace" opens with a string motif that gives some hint of things to come, rocks hard, then closes on an acoustic ballad version of itself. "Mine" is a big change of pace, heavy on the acoustic guitars and keyboards and overtly sappy lyrics that would never fit on the first side, before falling into some plaintive spiritual questioning in "God Isn't Dead?" and "Don't Leave Me Alone", setting the stage for side three.
The magnum opus on the album, and ultimately the reason that this rock album out of all the many rock albums in my collection has to make it into my Shelter-In-Place list, is the third "side" of the album, which consists of a single three-part song Everything Under the Sun. I have to admit that I love my 20-minute songs, as can probably be seen by my earlier selections of Pink Floyd and Rush (though neither of those albums have a 20-minute epic), and this one is probably my all-time favorite, alternately combining rock, piano, and a 70-piece orchestra in a song about trying to find spiritual meaning in life that perhaps has as many questions as answers but ultimately feels fulfilling anyway. It begins with the theme of the third part being played on a music box before diving into the song itself, finally rising to a conclusion where all three chorus parts are overlaid before collapsing back into the opening music box.
Signs & Signifiers finds this renaissance man/hepcat seamlessly meshing the old and the new, the primal and the sophisticated, on a work that will satisfy traditional American Rock 'n' Roll and R&B purists while also exhibiting McPherson's rarefied gift for mixing and matching disparate stylistic shapes and textures. Recorded on analog equipment through vintage microphones and a 1960s Berlant 1/4 inch tape machine, Signs & Signifiers marks the arrival of an authentic, gutsy true American artist.
So few slots left...I have some super heavy albums that I love to choose from. Here's one:
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Mastodon - Leviathan
1. "Blood and Thunder"
2. "I Am Ahab"
3. "Seabeast"
4. "Island"
5. "Iron Tusk"
6. "Megalodon"
7. "Naked Burn"
8. "Aqua Dementia"
9. "Hearts Alive"
10. "Joseph Merrick" (instrumental)
There are three cover songs on the vinyl box set which are ...epic. Since it's not in the regular release, I won't include them here.
But are they Prog? (no...welll...)
Stoner? (kinda)
Alt metal? (nah)
I feel like Mastodon harkens to back to the day of classic metal. Sure, there's some screaming that goes on, but it's tasteful and honestly, not really "screaming"...just loud. More of a growl, really. There's a departure from this sound in another album that I almost went with because it was a little more "proggy", but I just really love this album from start to finish. Even though it was released in 2004, I feel like it could totally fit into the 70s metal forefront with its Sabbathy vibe.
But not the 80s.
It doesn't fit there at all.
If you're not familiar, I recommend Megaladon as an introduction - it kills! Then I would go with Iron Tusk, which is a pretty straight-ahead metal rocker. Rock Band aficionados might recognize Blood and Thunder. And then a nice peaceful instrumental ditty to close out the album.
Her last tour was the second-highest grossing tour by a female artist, and was, at one point, the tenth-highest grossing tour of all time (it's currently sitting at eleventh).Not to be dismissive at all, but I honestly had no idea Pink had such a following.
Her last tour was the second-highest grossing tour by a female artist, and was, at one point, the tenth-highest grossing tour of all time (it's currently sitting at eleventh).
Her ticket prices I saw on her last tour were insane. I don't own any of her albums or anything but I could get into the big tracks from Slim's pick back in the day.
Based on the tastes of the majority of the participants, if I thought that anybody were "playing to win," I'd probably guessI didn't even realize P!nk was in that four. ha. I mostly recall that number from karaoke bars of that time period.
The not altogether cynical side of me thinks Brick may have picked albums for post-draft voting purposes (in the original draft I think there were a small handful "trying to win"). If anyone is doing it this go, I wouldn't be able to tell you who.
@Cojc's looks like my friends that had older step-siblings album collections. The ones who introduced us to good music in 2nd grade and bought us cheap beer in high school. If Cap was playing to win he stopped at Weird AlBased on the tastes of the majority of the participants, if I thought that anybody were "playing to win," I'd probably guess @Capt. Factorial. His draft board looks like it most closely resembles what you'd get if the program director of a classic rock station designed an AI to create an algorithm to create the ideal set list.
I'd put @Cojc at a close second, for "playing to win" factor. In a way, they're probably both lucky that this isn't a serpentine draft.
I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that P!nk was the "runaway" success of the four, though I will stipulate that I am surprised that she ended up selling more records than [REDACTED]. It wasn't exactly hard to predict that she'd end up outperforming [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], since their appeal doesn't crossover to other demographics in the same way, and [REDACTED] isn't exactly a singer, anyway.
I still believe that [REDACTED] is a superior singer to P!nk, but I'd submit that her songs could be thought of as more... pedestrian, I guess? But, if they were having one of these IG "battles," and neither of them were performing their own music (say, they were each challenged to go through the same set list of standards), I'm taking [REDACTED], at whatever odds you want to give me.
Having seen the original post there's nothing spicy about Slim's take. It's dead on. And I definitely find it fascinating that we've got two P!nk albums picked and 15 rounds the other person is still redacted.
Not to be dismissive at all, but I honestly had no idea Pink had such a following.
Well, don't forget that I've imposed the "G³ Rule" on myself: I had a Christina album in the original draft.Having seen the original post there's nothing spicy about Slim's take. It's dead on. And I definitely find it fascinating that we've got two P!nk albums picked and 15 rounds the other person is still redacted.
Yeah, I had to go back and edit that, after thinking about if for another few minutes.@Cojc's looks like my friends that had older step-siblings album collections. The ones who introduced us to good music in 2nd grade and bought us cheap beer in high school. If Cap was playing to win he stopped at Weird Al![]()