1001 Albums Summary

My experience with this album is something of a comedy (tragedy?) of errors, I think. It indirectly exposed me to Wolf Like Me, which is exceptional and sexy and probably a little too close to describing how my brain works. Then, as a result of an elaborate labyrinth of inscrutable subtext, the man that I have a deep, primal attraction to surprised the hell out of me by pinning my leg under the table with his knee. Apparently he was similarly attracted to me. And apparently he was paying closer attention than I dared hope. I don't know whether it was planned or just a raw impulse, but he looked me in the eyes and knew exactly what he was doing. I saw the wolf inside him. It was a lot like mine. And god it was sexy. But I think he keeps his wolf starving and locked in a cage, and I think he's terrified of that hunger. Of what it will let him do when he finally lets it out. I'd like to see it. Its what I'm waiting for. Starving for. Or maybe I'm wrong, and its all just my dirty mind. Its amazing what music makes you think of.

This is a great album. Several songs are in my core music rotation and Doll Parts is one of my top-20 favorite songs.

I have a complicated musical relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers generally and this album in particular. I probably had in my first consensual sex to this album - somewhere around Otherside. (Saying that I lost my virginity would be an abuse of the term.) So, that makes my relationship to it inevitably emotionally charged. Perhaps more importantly, my middle school guidance counselor somehow convinced my father to let her friends foster me - probably between the end of sixth grade and somewhere Mid-Fall of seventh. They were reasonably wealthy - lived right on the lake. They took me in. Gave me my own room. Threw away everything I owned and replaced it with something new. Which was fine. Anyway - they were wealthy enough to have cable, which was completely new to me. And they would periodically turn on MTV, which I was vaguely aware of but had never seen. Scar Tissue was the first music video I ever saw, and it totally blew my mind. I won't get into it, but I thought it was super cool. Anyway, I watched MTV a lot that summer and heard these songs over and over again until they were sort of woven into my middle school mind. Hard to rate anything so formative with anything less than a 5.

Maybe Brass Buttons, but honestly nothing on this album stood out to me. And its way out of my lane.

So, I've never really loved Lenny Kravitz. I think I'm a little too young or something because my mom loves him. This album was perfectly listenable. Unfortunately, the day I worked through this one just turned out to be a confusing mess, so maybe I missed something key to appreciating the music.

In general, I like k.d.lang, but her earlier stuff isn't for me. Incidentally, the first time I finished listening through her discography I made the mistake of following her up with Turnstile, which I had never heard of. OMG was that a jarring musical experience. I have been wondering for months how those two ended up side by side. I still don't know.

This wasn't really my thing, and I would normally give it a 2, but the narrative aspect was pretty interesting.

This one is somewhere between a 4 and 5 for me. I really liked a good number of the songs. Grizzly Bear is probably one of my new favorite bands.

Always a fan of Radiohead. This one is an easy A & boosted by an unexpected joy.

This is somewhere between a 3 and 4 for me. Its all pretty listenable, but leans towards my version of vanilla without showing up with anything that felt meaningful.

Listenable background music. I never really understood the allure of Aerosmith. Theirs nothing objectionable about it but also nothing sexy.

Jethro Tull was one of my father's favorite bands. While I should probably hate everything about the man, as he was violent in every way a person can be, I happen to have adopted his tastes. I like this album.