Just Shuffling Along (April)

Following up on this posting (which has some notes about some artists that show up again this month), here is the "playlist" for the month.

I probably spent about a third of the month listening to stuff in shuffle mode, a third listening to albums or artists end-to-end and a third listening to the radio (gasp!) or podcasts.

Shuffle mode works well for certain kinds of music, but not for others. It works well for albums where there is no theme, no story. It does not work well for most classical albums, as the composer is trying to create a theme or a story (even if he or she is not using words). It also does not work well for a lot of the "electronic" (I have never been happy with any of the terms "electronic", "New Age", "techno", "drone", "trance" or other labels slapped on by marketing types) composers such as Steve Roach or Robert Rich. Again, a lot of their albums are working on a theme or a story...or a mood.

On to the playlist!

The Art of Noise:
The Seduction of Claude Debussy (twice)

The B-52's:
Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation

The Bangles:
Different Light
Greatest Hits

The Beatles:
Abbey Road
A Hard Day's Night
Magical Mystery Tour
Yellow Submarine

David Bowie:
ChangesBowie

Harold Budd:
Ambient Two: The Plateaux of Mirror (with Brian Eno)
The Pearl (with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois)
Through the Hill (with Andy Partridge)

Wendy Carlos:
Beauty in the Beast
Rediscovering Lost Scores, Volume 2
Tales of Heaven and Hell

Clannad:
Anam
Banba

The Clash:
Combat Rock
London Calling

Dead Can Dance:
Dead Can Dance 1981-1988 (boxed set)

Dire Straits:
Brothers in Arms
Communique
Making Movies

Electric Light Orchestra:
A New World Record
Face the Music
On the Third Day

Enigma:
Enigma 2: The Cross of Changes
Enigma 3

Brian Eno:
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (with Roger Eno and Daniel Lanois) (soundtracks)
Nerve Net
Spinner (with Jah Wobble)

Roger Eno:
The Familiar (with Kate St. John)
The Flatlands
Lost in Translation
Voices

Robert Fripp:
The First Day (with David Sylvian)

Peter Gabriel:
Shaking the Tree

Lisa Gerrard:
The Mirror Pool

Philip Glass:
Philip on Film (Filmworks by Philip Glass) (soundtrack) (boxed set)

Heart:
Little Queen

Joe Hisaishi:
Spirited Away (soundtrack)

Jade Warrior:
Elements (2 CD's)

Jean Michel Jarre:
Chronologie
Equnoxe
Oxygene

King Crimson:
The Abbreviated King Crimson
Absent Lovers (Live in Montreal, 1984) (2 CD's)
THRAK
Three of a Perfect Pair
The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson (boxed set)
VROOM

Mark Knopfler:
All the Roadrunning (with Emmylou Harris)
Neck and Neck (with Chet Atkins)
Screenplaying

Paul McCartney:
All the Best
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

Meatloaf:
Bat Out of Hell

Felix Mendelssohn:
Five Symphonies (boxed set)

Giorgio Moroder:
Cat People

Tom Petty:
Wildflowers

Pink Floyd:
Animals
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Division Bell
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Obscured by Clouds
Works

The Police:
Reggatta de Blanc
Synchronicity

The Pretenders:
The Pretenders II

Giles Reaves:
Nothing is Lost (Something is Found)

R.E.M.:
Automatic for the People
Life's Rich Pageant
Monster
Murmur
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Out of Time

Renaissance:
At the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Part 1

Robert Rich:
Bestiary
Fissures (with Alio Die)
Gaudi
Inner Landscapes
Numena + Geometry (2 CD's)
Propagation
Rain Forest
Seven Veils
Soma (with Steve Roach)
Stalker (with B. Lustmord)
Strata (with Steve Roach)
Trances and Drones (2 CD's)
Yearning (with Lisa Moskow)

Steve Roach:
Body Electric (with Vir Unis)

The Robert Fripp String Quartet:
The Bridge Between

Todd Rundgren:
Faithful
Something/Anything (2 CD's)

Robert Schroeder:
Brain Voyager

Paul Simon:
Surprise

Mark Snow:
Songs in the Key of X (soundtrack)
The Truth and the Light: Music from the X-Files (soundtrack)

Software:
Chip Mediation, Part 1
Electronic Universe, Part 1
Electronic Universe, Part 2
Fragrance
Modesty Blaze
Past Present Future, Part 1
Past Present Future, Part 2
Syn-Code

Michael Stearns & Ron Sunsinger:
Singing Stones

Steely Dan:
Countdown to Ecstasy
Pretzel Logic
Two Against Nature

Sting:
Mercury Falling
The Soul Cages

David Sylvian:
Blemish
Damage: Live in London, December 1993 (with Robert Fripp)
Dead Bees on a Cake
Gone to Earth
Secrets of the Beehive

Synergy:
Audion: Electronic Compositions for the Post Modern Age

Talking Heads:
77
Fear of Music
Little Creatures
More Songs About Buildings and Food
Naked
The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (2 CD's)
Sand in the Vaseline (2 CD's)
Speaking in Tongues

Tangerine Dream:
220 Volt Live
Phaedra
Ricochet
Rockoon
Rubycon
Sorcerer (soundtrack)
Stratosfear
Thief (soundtrack)
Turn of the Tides
Underwater Sunlight
Wavelength (soundtrack)

10,000 Maniacs:
Blind Man's Zoo
Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings, 1982-1983
In My Tribe
Love Among the Ruins
MTV Unplugged
The Wishing Chair

Michael Lee Thomas:
Voyager Grand Tour Suite

The Traveling Wilburys:
Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1

U2:
Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
The Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa

Vangelis:
Direct

Various/Collections:
Ambient: A Brief History of Ambient Music (2 CD's)
Celestial Journey 2
Cosmos (2 CD's) (soundtrack) (twice!)
Dali: The Endless Enigma
Hearts of Space Universe 3
Heat (soundtrack)
MBNT: A Recollection of Proto-Ambient Music from Hearts of Space
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Starflight 1
Universe Sampler 92

Hildegard von Bingen:
Vision: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen

Bill Whelan:
Riverdance

John Williams:
The Indiana Jones Trilogy

Steve Winwood:
Arc of a Diver
Back in the High Life
Junction Seven

XTC:
Black Sea
Drums and Wires
English Settlement
Mummer
Nonsuch
Oranges & Lemons
Rag & Bone Buffet

Yes:
The Ladder
The Symphonic Music of Yes
Tales from Topographic Oceans (2 CD's)
The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection (multiple CD's)
Union

Podcasts: I'm starting to include links to the podcasts I've listened to that I've found really enjoyable. If I can, I'll just paste in the link that allows you to (with right-clicking and "save as") to download it yourself. Otherwise click on it and it'll either bring you to the site or start playing it on your computer's audio player.

The Agony Column: Podcasts starting in 2002, alas the first several (including one with Alastair Reynolds) are only in RealAudio format (blech, never again). Widely varyiing guests, interviews, story excerpts, panel discussions, news reports and more. It is going to take me a very long time to get through all of these!

Notable podcasts (so far!): William Gibson (08/09/07). Jeremy Lassen of NightShadeBooks on the book industry (02/08/08). Terry Pratchett, Part 1 (10/10/03). Terry Pratchett, Part 2 (10/10/03). Kim Stanley Robinson (06/04/04). Kim Stanley Robinson, Part 1 (11/28/05). Kim Stanley Robinson, Part 2 (11/28/05). Charles Stross, Part 1 (12/31/07). Charles Stross, Part 2 (01/01/08). Vernor Vinge, Part 1 (06/01/06). Vernor Vinge, Part 2 (06/01/06).

The Future and You: Podcasts on a wide range of subjects and with a wide range of guests. Could be great...but...sometimes you have to wonder about how the guests were chosen. The "expert" on eBay that appeared in the first episode. Last name of...well, there is a similarity with the host. Then there was the episode that interviewed models that had appeared in Penthouse and other outfits. The relevance was? "Jason's mother" from the Friday the 13th movies? WTF? The podcasts also serialize the novel of the host, so if you listen to episodes out of order you get disjointed. The episodes are long (sometimes well over two hours), it might have been better to package them as more (separate) episodes or to package the downloads in smaller bits so you could pick and choose. The host also has a annoying habit (lessens over time, fortunately) of "umming" and "uh-huhing" when running an interview. Sound quality can vary wildly as well.

On the other hand...where else are you going to run across interviews with David Drake, Travis S. Taylor, Eric Flint and a wide variety of others? So, I'll grit my teeth through the problems and keep on listening.

Episodes listened to this month: December 15, 2005 episode. June 1, 2006 episode. July 1, 2006 episode.

Posted by Fred Kiesche at May 1, 2008 06:46 PM