I like Snoop's flow, the beats, Lady of Rage, the singles, Gz and Hustlas and so much more on this album. But I do not like the skits. Never did like the skits. Never will like the skits. There, I said it.

Today I learned that Randy Newman wrote the song Mama Told Me Not to Come, which was a number one hit for Three Dog Night in 1970. However, the first recording of Mama Told Me Not to Come was on an Eric Burdon and the Animals release in 1967 called Eric Is Here. Besides Newman, Eric Is Here included songs written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They would all later have songs on Dusty Springfield's Dusty In Memphis. It appears that when Sail Away was remastered and re-released in 2002, that someone decided to rotate the cover image 90 degrees to the right--so that Newman is looking left--and tint the entire thing red. Prior to that, the cover was tinted normally and Randy Newman was looking down. The change, to me at least, made the album look like Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Blood on the Tracks, this is not. But it is a brisk, jaunty disk worth a listen. I know this is a well regarded album and appears on many best of lists. However, it was not a hit record. It looks to me like Randy Newman never had a hit album despite having hit songs. That, to me, is why he now has to slave away on Pixar soundtracks for Disney into his 80's. Poor guy.

I am not a Jazz guy and, for that, I feel bad about myself. So I cannot get too jazzed up about this album. But do not get me wrong, there is nothing distasteful on here. In fact, plenty of it is quite good, especially Sarah Vaughan's voice. This record would be a nice accompaniment for a dinner party with cool friends or, possibly, even sexy time. I definitely enjoyed the slice-of-life Chicago nightclub vibe. There is a part when you hear an audible thud followed by the crowd chuckling. This was presumably in response to a busboy slipping on a banana peel and stumbling, genitals first, into a microphone.

With the exception of the titular track, the album was adequately pleasant. It's hard to articulate why I didn't like the track Cole's Corner. The orchestration felt too cheesy--ultracheesy, if you will. However, the folksy, singer-songwritery songs with more subdued instrumentation worked for me (i.e. Born Under a Bad Sign.)

Easily listenable hymnals to fall asleep to that are elevated by The Weight.

For The Band, this is a great sophomore effort. It has more boogie and soul than Big Pink. I will return for Up on Cripple Creek and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

Speakerboxxx is a solid, focused hip hop record by Big Boi that gets better in its second half. After The Way You Move, my favorite tracks are Knowing, Flip Flop Rock, Reset and Last Call. Meanwhile, Andre 3000's goal seems to have been to make anything but a rap album. Which is insane to make a record without your best instrument, but it's an insane accomplishment. Apparently, Hey Ya was the product of Andre's first attempt at learning guitar. Though, not everything worked for me on The Love Below. But songs that did are Happy Valentine's Day, Behold a Lady, Pink and Blue, Love In War, and A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre.

I was two years old when this album came out. Every single one of these songs reminds me of the back seat of my mom's Dodge Dart, which was beige.

I like Snoop's flow, the beats, Lady of Rage, the singles, Gz and Hustlas and so much more on this album. But I do not like the skits. Never did like the skits. Never will like the skits. There, I said it.

Short, sweet and to the point.

Courtney Love has a mind blowing career. At 21, she acted opposite Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb in one of my all-time-favorite movies, Sid & Nancy. Here she is--a rock star--13 years later with one of the 1001 albums you must listen to before you die sandwiched between starring roles in The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon, opposite Woody Harrelson and Jim Carrey, respectively. Like, she made it in the entertainment business, on two fronts. Yet, she is remembered as an addict, an afterthought, a punchline. Of course, there is...Everything. Else. But still, it feels like she does not get enough credit for her accomplishments. Having said that, the real star of this album, for me, is Courtney Love's crop top on the cover.

Today I learned that Randy Newman wrote the song Mama Told Me Not to Come, which was a number one hit for Three Dog Night in 1970. However, the first recording of Mama Told Me Not to Come was on an Eric Burdon and the Animals release in 1967 called Eric Is Here. Besides Newman, Eric Is Here included songs written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They would all later have songs on Dusty Springfield's Dusty In Memphis. It appears that when Sail Away was remastered and re-released in 2002, that someone decided to rotate the cover image 90 degrees to the right--so that Newman is looking left--and tint the entire thing red. Prior to that, the cover was tinted normally and Randy Newman was looking down. The change, to me at least, made the album look like Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Blood on the Tracks, this is not. But it is a brisk, jaunty disk worth a listen. I know this is a well regarded album and appears on many best of lists. However, it was not a hit record. It looks to me like Randy Newman never had a hit album despite having hit songs. That, to me, is why he now has to slave away on Pixar soundtracks for Disney into his 80's. Poor guy.

I am not a Jazz guy and, for that, I feel bad about myself. So I cannot get too jazzed up about this album. But do not get me wrong, there is nothing distasteful on here. In fact, plenty of it is quite good, especially Sarah Vaughan's voice. This record would be a nice accompaniment for a dinner party with cool friends or, possibly, even sexy time. I definitely enjoyed the slice-of-life Chicago nightclub vibe. There is a part when you hear an audible thud followed by the crowd chuckling. This was presumably in response to a busboy slipping on a banana peel and stumbling, genitals first, into a microphone.

"[A]n anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road movie record" is about right. But instead of anarcho-syndicalist, I would say tolerable.

Today I learned that the bassist in Magazine went on to have a solo career where he released soundtracks to non-existent films. His third album, Oedipus Schmoedipus, had some My Life in the Bush of Ghosts vibes and could go in a Music to Listen to While Working or Studying playlist.

Elvis' first album did not include his most popular songs of the time such as Heartbreak Hotel, Love Me Tender, Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog because they had already been released as singles. As a general rule, an album has been an afterthought in the music business. It was Sgt. Pepper's that made the album viable as artistic expression and a commercial product.