#been on a Billy Joel kick recently! also listening to Bowie and The Smiths!

[buysomecheese]

They should allow me to sound like Billy Joel and/or Bruce Springsteen

[tomruffproject-blog]

100 Days, 100 Albums

Hi Friends:  As some of you know, on January 1st, I decided to embark on a little musical adventure of discovery, that I colorfully referred to as #100days100albums.  That project is coming to an end on April 10th, and I wanted to share some thoughts...   Back to the beginning, I did this for a few reasons… a long commute… a failed, fantasy football season and presidential election that left me wanting absolutely nothing to do with any podcasts whatsoever for a while… a newly acquired subscription to Apple Music, and all the albums that are available… and, a planned “lighter-touring-year” for many of my bands. I already had a pretty sizable music collection - spanning classic rock, 90s, jam bands, and a lot recently discovered jazz.  The bulk of my listening is typically a combination of live shows and albums from my favorite bands (the top 5 being Dave Matthews Band, Phish, the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, and Pearl Jam - in no particular order, but there’s also a lot of “2nd-tier” favorites as well).  You won’t find any albums by the “big-5" on this list, because this project was about taking a break, but you will find some albums from that “2nd-tier”.   The original plan was to revisit a lot of albums, that I hadn’t heard in years, but I set a goal of listening to AT LEAST 100 albums that I had never heard in their entirety before.  That means that I may have known certain songs from those albums, or, I may have known nothing at all.  As I start to write this (with a few days to go), I’m up to #108 (Innervisions by Stevie Wonder, if you were wondering), and by the time I publish this, I am hoping to get in a few more (Updated on 4/10 – I did).  In addition to the official list of “new" albums, I did manage to get to another 30+ of those “revisits”, which are not on this list, but if you’re wondering, included a lot of Led Zeppelin, the Who, Pink Floyd, the Doors, etc.  As for where the albums that are on the list came from - I asked friends, family, and co-workers for suggestions - and did my best to get to as many of them as possible.  I reached for albums that I had read about or heard about that sounded interesting. If you’re looking at this list, and thinking “where’s Abbey Road, Dark Side of the Moon, Music From Big Pink, and Let It Bleed, etc.?” - you won’t find those on here - or many others - as they’re just already favorites.  What I did do... I dug deeper into the back catalogs of bands that I didn’t know as extensively as I thought I did (i.e. Neil Young, and solo McCartney and Lennon).  I consulted the "Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time" list for ideas… and I looked at some of my wife Alexis’ favorite artists and albums.  She’s credited with getting me to listen to all 12 Billy Joel albums in time for the upcoming Dodger Stadium show, as well as some R.E.M., Elliot Smith, and Simon & Garfunkel among others.  When I found something I liked, I went down a rabbit hole.  That’s why you’ll find a lot of repeat and similar artists in here.  For every album I listened to, I read the Wikipedia article, and well, you start clicking, and next thing you know you’re reliving the British invasion…

You’ll notice that there is no jazz on this list.  I spent a large part of 2016 (especially the fall and holidays) in that space, and intentionally stuck to rock with this.  I’ll get back to jazz soon. Also, I didn’t review these individually, and I’m not going to, but I did want to highlight some things that I learned…  1) My tastes are flexible, but also kind of are what they are.  I discovered new bands and albums that I now love, but if I didn’t really care for a genre before, that didn’t really change. That being said, I completely appreciated everything I listened to in the last few months.   2) I didn’t really intend to focus this much on classic rock - but, when you research albums you "should have heard", most of them are... classic rock.  Maybe next time I’ll dig a little deeper into indy, or maybe rap… 3) Although so many of my personal favorite albums come from the CD era (being born in 1980 will do that), the compact disc was actually, IMO, the worst thing to ever happen to the album - not digital downloads and streaming.  Why? Easy - 60+ minutes is entirely too long… not just because of attention span - but also, because it takes a really special album to maintain quality for that long (aka no filler tracks).  It’s no coincidence that so many of the "greatest albums of all time" come from an era in which 38-45 minutes was the standard, and I think it’s great that in the iTunes era, albums have gotten shorter again.  There is less expectation of length, when you don’t have to “fill a disc”.  4) You’ll notice that I went through waves of specific artists and/or genres.  I listened to a lot of psychedelic rock.  I got on a Clapton kick (with Cream and Derek and the Dominos), and, I dug deeper into Jimi Hendrix, Warren Zevon, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. John, and most importantly Bob Dylan.  I was actually surprised by how many of their biggest albums I had never actually listened to all the way through before.   5) The 80s will never be my favorite era of music - and this applies to both 80s artists, and, albums by classic rock legends that were put out in the 80s.  The production, the synthesizers… in general, just not for me.   6) I still don’t love punk, but I am really glad to have listened to a few albums.  Can totally hear the influence on Pearl Jam, and other bands I do love.   7) The 60s was by far my favorite decade of this project - and I feel like I could easily find another 100 albums to dive in to. 8) I put all of these albums on a playlist to shuffle - so although I’ve only listened to most of them in their entirety once - I’ve been getting to know a lot of these songs and artists a lot better.  Now that I’m done, I can go back and re-listen to some of the ones that I really want to get to know better.  9) Here’s a few unexpected stand out albums/artists of note:

-Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights (Track 1, Last Train is a new favorite.  Interestingly, this was the first album, I listened to.)

-Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom (The best band I never knew I should have loved.  Thanks to Dave Matthews for having plugged them on a live album)

-Spirit - 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (Don’t let the name trick you - this album is amazing.

-The Zombies - Odyssey and Oracle (One of the stand-out albums from my tear through the British Invasion.)

-The Revivalists - Men Against Mountain (A new favorite modern band, which will be in heavy rotation for summer 2017.)

-Neil Young - On the Beach (I had never heard of this one, and it’s very chill.  My favorite of the “new to me” Young Albums)

-New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Dug this enough to grab their new release that came out over the weekend.) 

-Chuck Berry - Berry On Top (I’ll be honest; I looked this up and listened to it the day he died.)

-Paul McCartney - McCartney 2 - (Noteworthy as the worst post-Beatles album by far - just listen to “Temporary Secretary” and bust out your WTF Emoji.)

-David Bowie - Hunky Dory (Which features my favorite Bowie song - Life On Mars.  2nd only to Ziggy Stardust IMO.) 

-13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (Another “band I wished I’d heard of years ago - if you like psychedelic rock.)

-Frank Zappa - Hot Rats (The album opens with Peaches en Regalia - one of my favorite Phish covers, and is like everything I love about jazz done with rock.  Very cool.)

And finally, there’s a lot that I couldn’t get to in the past 100 days, but I’ve got some summer tours to follow, and 2017 albums to focus on for a while.  I’m going to try to keep this going with #FullAlbumFriday for a while.    Here’s the full list of “first-time" albums, in order from January 1st to April 10th… 

1 - Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights 2 - Billy Joel - Piano Man 3 - Allman Brothers Band - Idlewild South 4 - Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial 5 - Billy Preston - I Wrote a Simple Song 6 - Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom 7 - Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus 8 - The Doors - The Doors 9 - New Pornographers - Twin Cinema 10 - Billy Joel - Turnstile 11 - S.C.I. - 'Round the Wheel 12 - Spirit - 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus 13 - Dr. John - In the Right Place 14 - Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? 15 - Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence 16 - U2 - Joshua Tree 17 - Crosby Stills, and Nash - Crosby Stills, and Nash 18 - Billy Joel - 52nd Street 19 - Cat Stevens - Tea For the Tillerman 20 - The Doors - Strange Days 21 - The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle 22 - Bruce Springsteen - Born In the U.S.A. 23 - The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo 24 - R.E.M. - Up 25 - Billy Joel - The Stranger 26 - Frank Zappa - Hot Rats 27 - Luther Allison - Bad News Is Coming 28 - Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis Bold of Love 29 - Mother Love Bone - Mother Love Bone 30 - Yes - Close to the Edge 31 - Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters 32 - Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon 33 - Billy Joel - Storm Front 34 - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Self-Titled) 35 - Cream - Wheels of Fire 36 - Soul Coughing - Irresistible Bliss 37 - Buffalo Springfield (Self-Titled) 38 - The Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground & Nico 39 - Cream - Disraeli Gears 40 - Billy Joel - The Nylon Curtain 41 - Lee Baines III & the Glory Fires - There Is a Bomb in Gilead 42 - Paul McCartney - McCartney 43 - The Meters - The Meters 44 - Janis Joplin - Pearl 45 - Derek & the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs 46 - The Revivalists - Men Against Mountains 47 - Traffic - Mr. Fantasy 48 - Elliott Smith - Figure 8 49 - Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again 50 - Billy Joel - An Innocent Man 51 - Santana - Abraxas 52 - The Hollies - Evolution 53 - The Byrds - Turn, Turn, Turn 54 - Dr. John - In the Right Place 55 - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Long After Dark 56 - Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding 57 - Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes 58 - The Decemberists - The Crane Wife 59 - Warren Zevon - The Envoy 60 - Neil Young - On the Beach 61 - 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Elevators 62 - Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Armed Forces 63 - The Yarbirds - Roger the Engineer 64 - David Bowie - Station to Station 65 - Iron Butterfly - In-a-Gadda-Da-Vidda Baby 66 - Bob Dylan - Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan 67 - Van Morrison - Astral Weeks 68 - Ry Cooter - Into the Purple Valley 69 - Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler - Neck and Neck 70 - Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde 71 - Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland 72 - Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues 73 - Billy Joel - River of Dreams 74 - Jeff Beck - Truth 75 - The Doors - Waiting For the Sun 76 - Radiohead - Hail to the Thief 77 - Soundgarden - Superunknown 78 - Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram 79 - R.E.M. - Document 80 - Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow 81 - The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (UK) 82 - Yes - Fragile 83 - Chuck Berry - Berry Is On Top 84 - Moby Grape - Moby Grape ’69 85 - Bob Dylan - Bringing it All Back Home 86 - R.E.M. - Out of Time 87 - Peter Gabriel - So 88 - Huey Lewis - Sports 89 - The Ramones - Ramones 90 - Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color 91 - David Bowie - Hunk Dory 92 - Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor 93 - Talking Heads - 77 94 - Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms 95 - Rush - Moving Pictures 96 - Bob Dylan - Desire 97 - Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska 98 - Flaming Lips - Transmissions From the Satellite Heart 99 - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory 100 - John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band 101 - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy & the Poor Boys 102 - Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison 103 - Marvin Gaye - What's Going On 104 - David Bowie - Diamond Dogs 105 - Sex Pistols - Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols 106 - Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse 107 - Allen Toussaint - Sweet Touch of Love 108 - Stevie Wonder - Innervisions 109 - Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker 110 - Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town 111 - Talking Heads - Remain In Light 112 - Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 113 - Neil Young (Self Titled)

  Special thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions over the last few months, and to anyone who is still reading this!

 As for this week… it’s Pearl Jam week, in honor of their Hall of Fame induction…

-Tom

  *Apparently I am not the first person to use this #100days100albums hashtag...