1001 Albums Summary

1/1001~ I recently caught a little "Do It Again" wafting from some random car while stuck in traffic and it made me want to attentively listen to this whole record, and also maybe their whole catalog in order, you know, for kicks! I'll admit I don't know much about "the Dan" aside from songs I know I really like (the first three tracks of Pretzel Logic go insanely hard in my opinion), episodes in my life that are forever tinged with their music (beginning in my early Pizza Hut era with the "Josie" incident), that time Donald Fagan cussed out the Yacht Rock doc, and their penchant for painstakingly pursuing perfection (thanks to the Classic Albums episode on Aja). Which brings to mind the great Steve Albini (requiscat) and one of his many brilliant threads which read like mini episodes of yummy music industry remember-whens, the best served with a tall glass of haterade. An excerpt from his Steely Dan takedown: "Two types of perfectionist: One will prepare, revise and rehearse carefully, with intent, honing an idea to a keen edge, ready to cut the cloth of execution. The other makes other people responsible by saying, 'do it again,' until by chance they are satisfied, then take credit." Anyway, I was one of those hater punks that roundly laughed at how lame this shit sounded c.1996, but I do admit: the hits here do hit hard, and this LP is, overall, as easy to consume as endless sixers of light lager inner-tubing a lazy river on a perfectly sunny, hot Summer afternoon. I appreciate the good, clean, n' complicated grooves all done up with a light touch of studio tubular bells. That's the forty-something me reviewing this. I understand why this LP is included here and I’m kind of delighted it popped up first which, again, feels a little fateful. A case of aces done up loose for dealing...

2/1001 ~ First ever listen. Three tracks in, it sounds to me like a heaping spoonful of Rundgren, a dash of Yes, and …wow, did this just become an intervention? Given all the health drama I’ve been through this year, including multiple issues unique to each foot, the song “Take a Load Off Your Feet" sounds a little bit like a read. Anyway, Disney Girls, er DIZ-ooh-NEE Girls, lends a whirling Wonkatania wistfulness, and suddenly we’re student protesting at…the Red Dog Saloon? So far this album is an eclectic collection of sounds and ideas that feels a little like overlapping identity crises, or too many cooks in the kitchen bubbling up a soupy grey area—In a good way. I like how it sounds unfinished or in progress despite the definitive album title. Maybe this one's supposed to hang in the ether as-is, distant, like its vocal harmonies. 'Til I Die.

Deep Purple - Deep Purple In Rock 1970 3/1001 ~ Well, this most certainly fucks, but I done been knew. “Child in Time” forever!

4/1001 ~ are you fucking kidding me? Easy-peasy 11/10. Too much love for every individual song and this LP as a whole. Worthy side quest: check out Tuluum Shimmering’s 38 minute cover of “Planet Caravan” for a blissfully paralyzing journey to the center of your soul.

6/1001 ~ what kind of drug den selector algorithm have I tapped into with this app? The first 6 LPs out the gate for me have been rather dank so who knows what tomorrow’ll bring. Watch it generate the tamest, lamest shit ever now that I’ve made a point to mention it, but then again any recording that basic and uncool couldn't, wouldn’t, shouldn't be recommended here, riiight? ANYWAY! We already done been knew this shit right here is a smoked-out banger of a journey. A heavy slab worthy of slow-blazing your mightiest mega-nugg to. And also a great reminder to re-watch Withnail & I even if you saw it yesterday. Get in loser, we’re going on holiday by mistake! “Crosstown Traffic” is forever the tightest pop-rocker, and the harpsichord + choral filigree on “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” always makes me want to reimagine my wardrobe in favor of flouncy faux fur-trimmed suede cloaks, dramatic medieval brocades, jacquards and bouclé, leather and lace…all around a sumptuous listen tinged with the chaos of a legendary era in music history burning itself the fuck out. Reminds me of one particularly prescient exchange depicted in the aforementioned cinematic masterpiece: Danny: I recommend you smoke some more grass. Marwood: No way, no fucking way. Danny: That is an unfortunate political decision. Reflecting these times. Withnail: What are you talking about, Danny? Danny: Politics, man. If you're hanging onto a rising balloon, you're presented with a difficult decision. Let go before it's too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope? They're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths, man. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over. And as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.