Shut Up And Listen 217

Top 25 Albums (25-11)

A couple of months back, I was kind of bored, so I sat down, looked through my CD collection and picked out my twenty-six favourite albums and put them in one of my CD wallets. I picked twenty-six because that's how many CDs the wallet can hold. I've since taken the twenty-sixth album out to be a floater space for whatever newer CD I'm currently digging on. I figured I could eat a couple of weeks by doing a write-up on my choices. You will undoubtedly disagree with my list, but fuck you, this is my personal soundtrack. In this column, I will count down and discuss numbers twenty-five through to eleven.

25. Joyful Rebellion by K-os
I think the thing I hate most about hip-hop is the lack of musicianship behind a lot of it. The words are not composed so much as just random shit that comes off the top of the rapper's head with maybe a chorus, and the music is just a beat that repeats itself the entire time. It just comes across as lazy a lot of the time. You almost get the feeling that the time in which it takes you to listen to the song is slightly less than the amount of time it took to make it. But I've never gotten that feeling from a K-os song. The music is complex, the lyrics actually sound like they were composed not just spewed out, and I get a general sense of musicianship. Like, I know people who only download singles for a lot of hip-hop artists because the rest of the album sounds like filler, but I don't know anyone who does that with K-os. The hip-hop world needs more people like him . . . you know, musicians. Because hip-hop is music and should be treated by such, and a lot of listeners won't do that until the artists do.

24. The Velvet Underground And Nico by The Velvet Underground
Seriously, why the fuck aren't the Velvet Underground played on classic rock stations? How is it that I have never heard them on the radio? The only thing close I've heard is "Walk On The Wild Side" by Lou Reed. But why is that it? This is catchy as fuck rock here, people! Tell me how "Waiting For The Man" or "Run Run Run" aren't radio-friendly. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Can someone explain to me why they don't play the Velvet Underground?

23. We Sweat Blood by Danko Jones
There are two albums I look to when I just want loud, pure rock: lloR N kcoR by Ryan Adams and We Sweat Blood by Danko Jones. It's pure, loud, simple rock. Simple, but not stupid. It's simple in that it's mostly about chicks and shit. There aren't any metaphorical masterpieces here. It's just half an hour of no slowing down and no stopping. Depending on when I listen to it, I have a new favourite song off of it. The last time I gave it a listen, the title track, which is also the last song on the album, was the one that got me. It's basically about being so driven that you just keep going and going and going. At the time I could relate because I'd be at school all day, doing work at The Gazette, working my job, and doing all of my regular writing shit. Hell, I can still relate to it, as I often find myself in my room at four am, wide awake, my mind racing with things I want to write and books I want to read and it's a struggle to finally just say "Alright, maybe I should get some sleep." And, I should add that "I Want You" is a song about like. Totally forgot about it until a few days after I posted that column.

22. No Cities Left by The Dears
Why is it every single time I get into a band, I find out that they just played London, like, two weeks prior to me getting into them? This happened with the Dears basically, except they also happened to be in town the same night as I was seeing Sam Roberts, so it's not like I would have went to see them anyways. Of course, after, they also announced how they wouldn't be touring Canada for all of 2004. That was just great, you know? Can't blame them for wanting to expand their audience. But, luckily for me, they put out a live album near the end of 2004, which made up for it, kind of. Actually, I'm not sure quite what to say about these guys as my main thought "their music is epic" was used in my year-end column. I will say that when I was listening to Rush's greatest hits this past week, I did hear some similarities. While the Tragically Hip may be the official Canadian band, I think the Dears might be the heir to Rush's sound. This was also one of the first albums I've gotten that has that "side A/side B" listing on it even though it's only made on CDs.

21. Play by Moby
This album may be the most licensed out album ever, but I don't think Moby is a sell-out. A lot of people think that, but I don't. See, to me, the licensing wasn't done for money, but to just get his music out there. There's a certain attitude that selling your music for car commercials is wrong, but it does get more people to hear your music. And you know what? It got people to get this album. I also don't think it was selling out, because, well, from what I understand, Moby donated a lot of that money to charity (that could be bullshit, but I don't think it is really). The album itself is pretty damn good. "Honey" is the perfect walking to catch the bus at twenty after eight in the morning song, I think. It's a good mix of sampled and original work, and it showcases the range Moby has.

20. Trouble At The Henhouse by The Tragically Hip
I don't run into many people who like the Hip. It's funny, in a way. At this point, the Tragically Hip are basically the Canadian band, in the way, I guess Rush was before them. And yet almost everyone I know doesn't like them. It's almost like when a song is number one and played all of the time on the radio and Much Music, but you don't know anyone who likes it. How does that happen anyways? But I'll be honest and admit I love this album basically because of the song "Ahead By A Century." It's one of my all-time favourite songs. A couple of summers back, Marvel had opened its doors to submissions via their Epic line (which lasted for all of, what, one title?) and I figured I might as well come up with something, right? So what better than a pitch for Alpha Flight, their Canadian superhero team? Except, because I am stupid, I decided to pitch "Ultimate Alpha Flight" to fit into their "Ultimate" line of titles (old characters, just updated for a more modern audience) and not only that, but changed the name to "Peacekeepers Alpha." Yeah, I didn't figure I had a chance either, but what the hell, eh? Anyways, for the first arc, I decided to make all of the issue titles be Tragically Hip songs with the overall arc called "Ahead By A Century" (the actual issues were titled "Road Apples" (a Hip album, actually, not a song), "The Wherewithal," "Membership," "The Completists," "Scared," and "A Beautiful Thing"). The second arc was going to be Sam Roberts. Rather liked that idea.

19. Stunt by The Barenaked Ladies
This was the album that got me into the Barenaked Ladies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all hate "One Week" now, but we didn't used to. Before that, I only vaguely associated the Barenaked Ladies with something my cousin listened to when I was, like, ten. Turns out, I knew a lot of their songs already, but didn't know it. Isn't that weird? You get into a band thinking you know one or two songs and while listening to one of their albums end up saying "Wait, they did this?" several time. Weird. This album has a lot of good songs that weren't singles. I think my favourite is "In The Car" (I think that's the title). It's about a guy and girl who were friends in high school who hung out a lot in his car, but never really did anything. Just a nice, sweet song.

18. Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin
A while back, over at a message board I frequent, someone started a poll asking which song you prefer: "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen or "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin? "Bohemian Rhapsody" won, I believe and a lot of the responses indicated that people are just sick of "Stairway To Heaven" for some reason. Me, I just can't understand it. I fucking love "Stairway To Heaven." I love its structure. It has five parts, with each building and building and building until you get that final burst at the end with Plant ending the song by singing "And she's buying a stairway to heaven" in such a way that it feels like he's just going to fall over. I love how over half the song is over before the drums even come in. It's great. The rest of the album is fantastic too, but when I think of it, I think of "Stairway To Heaven."

17. Gold by Ryan Adams
It was around the end of March. It was the middle of crunch time as shit was due and I was tired and a little stressed (even though I don't really get stressed--I mean stressed in the way that I get stressed, which isn't really stressed). It was a Tuesday and that night, at my international relations evening class, I had a group presentation. Everything was going wrong with it and none of that was my fault. I fucking hate group presentations because of that. That morning, I got up a little early so I could go online and put together the final piece of the power point presentation, which was the responsibility of one of my group members. Originally, she had until ten pm the previous night. And then until two am. And then until ten am. And even then, she didn't have it fucking done. I had some other stuff on my mind, a girl, and I was pissed. I was in a fucking shit mood. I was tired from staying up to finish my part of the presentation and an essay that was due that day. But I don't miss class really, and I had to go and would put the final piece of the presentation in during my break between classes. I was pissed off. And then I began to walk to school, the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze and "New York New York" by Ryan Adams was playing, and damn if I didn't smile for a few seconds. That's what it's all about right there. I was in a shitty mood and then I wasn't so much. The music didn't do it by itself, but it helped a lot. That's what it's all about, man.

16. Elephant by The White Stripes
This is the first album I really remember ever looking forward to and making sure I got it the day it came out. I'm sure there were others before it, but this is the one I remember. Like every year of my university career, Tuesday was my late day, so I gave some money to mom and she got it for me. When I got home, I went upstairs, put it on and just followed along with the lyrics book. I tried not to judge it and just listened. I mean, I liked what I heard, but I tried to just take it in without imposing anything on it. It was nice. A while back, I was reading a column in Spin and it had a fake contract between the musician and the listener, and one of the clauses for the listener was that he or she would buy the album on the day it came out and listen to it three times completely before making a judgement. I rather like that clause and when their new album comes out, I think I may just adhere to it.

15. Clumsy by Our Lady Peace
This was the album of grades eight and nine. It was the album of sitting in Jon Chau's kitchen after school and making comics like "Project: Eagle" and "Cyber-Soldier" and all of those other stupid little ones we were obsessed with back then. It was the album of sitting in my room with my new CD player on a summer evening, just lying on my bed, singing along, not giving a fuck whether or not people walking past could hear through my open window. It was the album that put Our Lady Peace on the map. It's probably not their best album, but it's my favourite one of theirs.

14. The Distance To Here by Live
Live can be kind of corny in their honesty, can't they? Songs about faith and love in their style can sometimes make you roll your eyes or snicker at them. Hell, on Birds Of Pray, I basically did just that. But on The Distance To Here, they found some sort of balance that makes it work. The songs are honest and kind of corny, but not quite. The album reminds me of a line in JLA/Wildcats where Grifter comments on the name "the Justice League of America": "It says what it means and isn't afraid to be laughed at." (A paraphrase off the top of my head.) That's what this album is to me. That, and it's pretty fucking good.

13. Bringing Down The Horse by The Wallflowers
Along with Clumsy and Big Shiny Tunes 2 (a compilation of rock music put out each year by Much Music), this was the first CD I got. I received all three for Christmas back in 1997 and honestly, this one took the longest for me to get into. I already knew Clumsy really well and Big Shiny Tunes 2 had all sorts of songs I dug from the radio. But then again, Bringing Down The Horse had "One Headlight" and that is one fantastic song. This was an album that easily could have sucked, but it didn't. It took me a long time to get past the first five songs (four of which were their big hits), but I was happy when I did. I've never picked up what the Wallflowers did after this album and haven't even heard a single song except for their cover of Bowie's "Heroes" for that Godzilla flick. I don't think I ever will either. Don't know why, but I'd rather let this album sit by itself. It's rare that I do that, but there's something about this album that listening to what came after might ruin it.

12. Barely Legal by The Hives
Something I like about the Hives is that their music gives me confidence. You know that attitude Howlin' Pelle, the lead singer has? That arrogant, "we are the best band in the world" attitude? I love how listening to the Hives can kind of make it rub off on you. I mean, you know that that attitude is put on for show a bit (although, deep in your heart, you almost have to believe it a little if you're a musician or writer or artist), but damned if it isn't catchy. I like this Hives' album the most because of its purity. It's the most pure of the work they've done, I think. It's the most balls-to-the-wall rock of them all. And that's what I want from the Hives: loud, balls-to-the-wall, we're better than the rest of you fucking losers rock. And Barely Legal delivers that.

11. Beautiful Midnight by The Matthew Good Band
My copy of this album kind of sucks. See, I lent it to one of my friends back in high school and he lent it to another friend and somewhere in there, it got a giant scratch on it. Shit, was I fucking pissed. The scratch only covers the last few songs, but I was mostly concerned with it fucking up "The Future Is X-Rated," my favourite song on the album. Luckily, it didn't, but I was worried as hell that the entire album would be ruined because of that. At this point, I can't even remember what the last few songs are like on it. I keep meaning to go out and get a new copy of it, but I never do. I just keep buying other stuff, because I figure the album will always be around. Also, "Failing The Rorschach Test" reminds me of Watchmen. Comic geeks will understand.

Next week, I'll do the top ten. Until then.