Recently, I was asked to compile a list of my favorite records by year. I agreed to it, with a caveat of needing extra time to peruse over my rather comprehensive list of records, cds, files (sorry), etc... I have to say it was hard. Very hard. Some years were a snap, other years, forget it. More of a daunting task. One thing I've discovered over the last year or so, is with so much new music readily available via download, purchase, or ahem, other means, it's ostensibly hard to play my old records. You know the ones I mean. They had the ability to be both moving and give some needed inspiration if that was what you were looking for. If you were lucky they'd tug on a memory and bring you back to that specific time or place when everything was good. I miss that. With little to no extra time in my day, I'll give a record a cursory listen, and if it's not doing it for me I'll move on to the next. The time spent giving a record a fighting chance of becoming transcendent has become less and less. It can take up to ten spins before a record comes together to make sense. It feels like I could miss out by blowing by things to quickly. Lately, just trying to enjoy music has given way to the business of computers, external hard drives and becoming an administrator of my own record collection. As my wife calls it, doing all that "music garbage". Going forward, I plan on taking a different approach. Have less, listen more, live life.
It's a brave new world for young moderns.
1959 - Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
1960 - John Coltrane - Giant Steps
1961 - Oliver Nelson - Blues & The Abstract Truth
1962 - Frank Sinatra - Neil Hefti Swingin Brass
1963 - Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin'
1964 - The Beatles - Meet The Beatles
1965 - Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
1966 - Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
1967 - The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's
1968 - The Byrds - Sweetheart of The Rodeo
1969 - The Band - The Band
1970 - Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
1971 - Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
1972 - Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St
1973 - Elton John - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player
1974 - Neil Young - On The Beach
1975 - Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
1976 - Jeff Beck - Wired
1977 - Ramones - Rocket To Russia
1978 - Elvis Costello - This Years Model
1979 - The Clash - London Calling
1980 - XTC - Black Sea
1981 - Japan - Tin Drum
1982 - XTC - English Settlement
1983 - Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
1984 - Replacements - Let It Be
1985 - Replacements - Tim
1986 - XTC - Skylarking
1987 - Dukes of Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot
1988 - The Smithereens - Green Thoughts
1989 - XTC - Oranges & Lemons
1990 - Jellyfish - Bellybutton
1991 - Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone
1992 - XTC - Nonesuch
1993 - Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
1994 - Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
1995 - Son Volt - Trace
1996 - Scud Mountain Boys - Massachusetts
1997 - Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind
1998 - Richard Buckner - Since
1999 - The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
2000 - Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
2001 - The Pernice Brothers - The World Won't End
2002 - Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2003 - Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of The Great Highway
2004 - Dungen - Te Det Lugnt
2005 - Son Volt - Okemah & The Melody of Riot
2006 - Robert Pollard - From A Compound Eye
2007 - The Capstan Shafts - Her Vs The Sad Cold Eventually
