I will not tell you how many songs in I was when I realized that Louis Prima voiced the orangutan king in The Jungle Book (facepalm). But this is my kind of cooking music! I particularly like the vocal quality of the female singer (Keely Smith I’m guessing?) and the harmony sections. Remarkable how many of these songs start with nearly the exact same walking bass line from the piano, just in different keys (listen to the first few seconds of #1, #3 and #6). There was an Italian grocery store down the street from our last apartment in Long Island and this is very much the type of music they played, so it was a nostalgic listen. Final thought - did “gigolo” mean something different in 1956?

Elliott Smith was a big influence on my favorite artist (Ben Folds), so naturally I hear a lot of similarities between the two of them, but listening to this album I can hear the influence he might have had on even more indie artists that followed him (The Shins, Deathcab, Bon Iver, Fountains of Wayne). I read he was a big fan of the Beatles, which totally comes through in his sound (“Pretty Mary Kay” especially, for me)...at times this album even felt like a darker, more contemporary Simon & Garfunkel (though I didn’t find anything to suggest he emulated them specifically). Overall I really enjoyed listening to this album. Hard to choose a favorite song, but right now I’m really felling “Wouldn’t Mama Be Proud” & “Can’t Make a Sound.”

I don’t know if Talking Heads is a group I enjoy actively listening to, but it was good as background music. And I recognized a song! So we’re off to a good start.

I will not tell you how many songs in I was when I realized that Louis Prima voiced the orangutan king in The Jungle Book (facepalm). But this is my kind of cooking music! I particularly like the vocal quality of the female singer (Keely Smith I’m guessing?) and the harmony sections. Remarkable how many of these songs start with nearly the exact same walking bass line from the piano, just in different keys (listen to the first few seconds of #1, #3 and #6). There was an Italian grocery store down the street from our last apartment in Long Island and this is very much the type of music they played, so it was a nostalgic listen. Final thought - did “gigolo” mean something different in 1956?

Elliott Smith was a big influence on my favorite artist (Ben Folds), so naturally I hear a lot of similarities between the two of them, but listening to this album I can hear the influence he might have had on even more indie artists that followed him (The Shins, Deathcab, Bon Iver, Fountains of Wayne). I read he was a big fan of the Beatles, which totally comes through in his sound (“Pretty Mary Kay” especially, for me)...at times this album even felt like a darker, more contemporary Simon & Garfunkel (though I didn’t find anything to suggest he emulated them specifically). Overall I really enjoyed listening to this album. Hard to choose a favorite song, but right now I’m really felling “Wouldn’t Mama Be Proud” & “Can’t Make a Sound.”

Really everyone should have a brass backup band IMHO. And when was the last time you heard a vibraphone solo let alone a flute/vibraphone duet? Just happy, uplifting music.

This is not my thing at all, but I can sort of see the appeal. Honestly I thought it would be harder to listen to than it was. Perhaps the instrumentals would be more enjoyable without the vocals?

Felt pretty cool listening to this while driving around running errands. I dig it. Made me want to listen to the Killers and weirdly the Allman Brothers?

I had friends of the Hot Topic persuasion in middle school and high school who liked the Pixies. Not my favorite overall, but I always liked Gigantic (though the version I knew might have been a cover), and Where Is My Mind is a classic.

My parents had James Taylor in their music rotation a lot when I was little so most of this album was familiar! Easy to listen to with some pretty classic songs.

This whole album sounded like one continuous song to me, though I’m admittedly not a huge R&B fan. Fine as background music, but not my favorite.

Really digging the Jesus Christ Superstar vibe of this album. But then some of the songs are very folky, a really interesting contrast. I enjoyed listening to this one.

As much as I’m enjoying expanding my musical horizons, it was nice to listen to something familiar with this album.

Another favorite of my parents. S&G music is so soothing and pretty with the harmonies, almost meditative.

Really interesting instrumentation. At once almost like a jazz ensemble, passing solos around while a chord progression repeats underneath...but then one song borders on classic country rock, at least until the vocals come in. And all the oboe? And even an English horn??

I can’t place who this sounds like, but very reminiscent of other bands that were popular among my circle in the early-mid 2000s. I wish I had known about them during my vaguely emo teen years!

This was the perfect music for spending the day in the kitchen!

They were never really my jam (see what I did there?) but it wasn’t terrible to listen to, especially with some familiar songs on this album.

I’m not a huge Green Day fan, but if I had to choose a favorite album of theirs it would probably not be American Idiot. A few familiar tunes, but overall not great not terrible.

John actually introduced me to Hole! I liked this, had kind of a Joan Jett vibe.

I tried to like this, but I’m just not a big fan of R&B.

I really liked this! I don’t usually listen to much hip hop but I liked this album. I can see how she was so influential on later artists! (Did anyone else read that she was really close with the whole Marley family? Makes me wonder if the album sequence was intentional!)