After our post of our annualized Readers’ Picks for 2008, I received a fair helping of emails insightfully commenting on the failure of decisively selecting a Top Five set of music that was ‘must have’ music for the year.  Of course, we had our Top Five but they were chosen by a few rather than being resounding choices as we’ve seen in the past.  Instead, we were given a very long list of selections, most of them single selections.  This could mean several things.  

Fans of music have come to realize that the state of music is diminishing.  While reliable bands of the past have put up decent recent albums, they did not in any way surpass their classics.  And this should be a goal of every band, to create the greatest album they have ever done.  Trying to appeal to a new generation of fans while attempting to maintain your current fanbase can be distracting.  I remember Foghat attempting to do just that with a string of forgettable albums.  But eventually they released a strong album in a reunion effort called Return of the Boogie Men, where they left behind the ‘current flavouring’ and just produced the music the way we knew they could.  It resulted, at least for me, in a memorable album that I STILL listen to.  But Coldplay, while producing a very good album, did not capture the frenzy of the masses.  Nor did AC/DC, Metallica, My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, and others.

It could also mean that with the massive availability of music these days, it’s very easy to come up with favourites that many people will not hear because they are not properly introduced to them.  What one finds wonderful, most will not be able to enjoy because they have other music to listen to, too much of it, in fact.  The flooding of the market, while providing great music for some that come across it, also dilutes the flow of that great music creating the probability that all music will not be heard by many.  This is not bad in anyway as the market can handle this.  Find a particular band or artist that you find stimulating, great! But you can be assured that many more will never hear or enjoy the band you do.

Will the bands and artists be happy with such limited ability to access the ears and dollars of the marketplace?  Somehow I can’t believe this although the push is there to grab an ear and your dollars.  In the past, many bands easily lived a Rock Star life.  If you were good, the fans showed up and bought your albums…in millions.  Today, that is such a rarity.  Springsteen’s latest album has sold so little that it will never compete with the likes of Born in the USA in sales and accessibility.  I don’t remember what the actual sales numbers are for Working on a Dream but I know that it is in no way a threat to the sales numbers of his classics.  But his concerts do well.  They do well because people want to hear hits of the past.  But that’s another thought and one we won’t go into right now.  But where are our Rolling Stones, our U2s, our Led Zeppelins, and our Beatles?  They maintained a paid lifestyle on what they produced.  Many bands and artists now do not.  Because of this, we do not have as much visibility for them.

I’m not sure we’ll do a Best of 2009 Readers’ Picks.  There was too much diversity in it to be worth the trouble (we logged in 176 lines of choices).  Instead, we’ll attempt to concentrate on shifting gears in order to provide a better service alerting of great bands out there.  How, I’m not sure.  But we’ll just let TAP evolve on its own to reflect the marketplace and to provide a better forum for alerts.  Things have changed and we’re seeing that more and more.  We don’t want to flood your ears and overload you but we do want to provide you with choices that might otherwise pass by.  An example is one of today’s reviews.  This particular review is of Sequitur, the new album by Fractal.  It is a self-released effort that should be heard.  If we didn’t bring it to your attention, you may never hear of them.  We hope to be a kind of compass.

Here’s to a great 2009 of great and enjoyable music.  Let’s get excited all over again.  Hopefully, we can be a part of that.

In addition to the Fractal album, Bob Olsen, our wayward reviewer who pops in from time to time, offers insight into the long overdue release of What I Know by '70s folkie artist, Tom Rush.

We'll see you again on Friday with a few more reviews and more release news. And yes, I'll likely run off the mouth again. You should know me by now.

For the long promised Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! list (#37), I will be posting a letter each post until exhausted (there were only 17 21 25 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 emails).  Some were only a few titles, some only one.  But there were more than a few that were massive and a few extended, well-detailed lists.  I’ll post them as I received them.  For today's post, it's a short list with commentary.

Kate Bush - The Hounds of Love
There is a lot to say about this record and none of it can be said without hyperbole. Kate Bush's career served as the spring board for a generation of highly acclaimed female musician who rose to prominence in the 90's.  The Hounds of Love (and it's related b-sides) is the best example of what Kate Bush was all about.  It is not her best album but it the record that best represents her.  Side one is chocked full of her most "pop" songs to date and side two is collectively known as "The Ninth Wave" which is much like Dark Side of the Moon or side two of Abbey Road in that it is a collected suite of songs of varying styles and tempos that are all connected.

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds & Faith
This is bleak stuff but in a good way.  These two records are still the best expressions feelings futility and ennui that I have heard. Each album has a song or two that has been elivated to "greatest hits" status but they aren't why I recomend these albums.  On the Seventeen Seconds, A Forest is the gem and on Faith the title track sums it all up.  Back in the mid 80s these two records were combined by Sire Records in the US on one CD as Happily Ever After.  Warning:  Prolonged exposure to the Cure's Happily Ever After will probably result in a long bout of clinical deparession or possibly even suicide. 

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Pyschocandy
The descritpion of the Jesus and Mary Chain's sound on this album is best put in the words form the liner notes "chainsaws in a wind tunnel".  Even though heavy on distorted guitar this record never comes across as anything remotely close to Metal or Punk.  The combination of distortion, psychedelic mood and surf guitar melodies was truly unique when this came out and you can hear the infulence in all the "shoegazer" bands of the late 80's and early 90's.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Speaking of "shoegazer"...Loveless is the benchmark of the genre.  It sounds alot like noise but there are great melodies and pop hooks in there that make this a great record.  This record takes the ol' Phil Spectre "Wall of Sound" idea to new extremes and is totally original in it's execution.  Reportedly this album took most of a year to record and bankrupted Creation records and broke up the the band (and personal relationship of Kevin Shields and Belinda Buthcer.  That is one extreme committment to your art.

Love and Rockets - Express  
Former members of pioneering Goth band Bauhaus go psychedelic and cover a soul classic to boot.  Their cover of Ball of Confusion on the US release of Express was a huge hit in clubs catering to the college radio crowds in the mid 80's.   Side one goes from from a soft saxaphone intro into a hard driving punk mood and then puts you into a song that compares transcendental meditation to a journey by train (complete with the sounds of a chugging locomotive which become the opening guitar riff).  The song All in My Mind is on here twice, once as an up-beat accoustic based ditty and again dramatically slowed down with a substituted minor chord to provide exactly the opposite feeling.  I know this has been done before (Think the Beatles' Revolution) but it is used to great dramatic effect on Express.

The Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions
I never knew the history of the recording sessions for this album until I got the Trinity Revisited cd/dvd earleir this year but now that I know how this record came about it make me appreciate the original that much more.  This is a great collection of original songs so insprired choices for cover songs all performed pretty much the same way but to great affect.  Margo Timmins has a voice perfect for singing just above a whisper and it works perfectly on the songs on this album.  Also, after Oliver Stone used the Cowboy Junkies version of Sweet Jane in his movie Natural Born Killers I can never quite see Woody Harelson and Juliette Lewis in the same way again.

I could go on and on adding albums to this list but I'll leave it at this.  

We're going to keep the Best Album of ALL Time up for a long while as we continually update it. But I'll say this: The Beatles took the lead with not only The White Album but also the fact that they have been selected with two albums. Like The Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! run, which does not show signs of stopping (I'm still getting emails, which I have no problem with and encourage - Send Them In), I'm hoping that this new thing stays strong. Send in your selection (one only, please) for the album that is the ruler of all.

If you have missed the last As The Disc Spins (updated), check it out here.

To access the previous site and catch up, click here.

Although we have touched on some of these titles before, here’s a chance to get a little bit more than was originally presented:

Columbia plans to release Chris Botti in Boston in several forms.  One is a Blu-ray version, which is a hi-def version of the DVD and 2-hours of concert footage and the 40-minute “Behind the Scenes” bonus documentary.  In addition, Columbia will release a 13-track CD, as well as a Special Edition 13-track CD with added 18-song DVD.  This arrives on March 31.

I’m ANXIOUSLY awaiting the upcoming March 31 Columbia Records release of Live in London from Rock’s greatest superhero, Leonard Cohen.  The set is a 2CD album featuring 25 songs (Dance Me to the End of Love; The Future; Ain’t No Cure for Love; Bird on the Wire; Everybody Knows; In My Secret Life; Who by Fire; Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye; Anthem, Introduction/Tower of Song; Suzanne; The Gypsy’s Wife; Boogie Street; Hallelujah (Cohen’s original version is in the upcoming Watchmen); Democracy; I’m Your Man; Recitation w/N.L.; Take This Waltz; So Long, Marianne; First We Take Manhattan; Sisters of Mercy; If It Be Your Will; Closing Time; I Tried to Leave You; Whither Thou Goest).  There will also be a DVD (please make a Blu-ray version) of the O2 Arena show in London.  Lou Reed stated during Cohen’s induction into the 2008 Hall of Fame, “We’re so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is.”  You’re so right, Lou, you’re so right!

Prosthetic Records will release a historical album with Live at Eindhoven '87 by Testament. Originally released as a 5-track EP on cassette and 12" LP, this new set will issue the complete 1987 Dynamo performance making this release a collectible in every sense of the word for Testament fans. The album is scheduled for release on April 14.

Shout! Factory will release a 2CD Anthology for noted ‘70s Glam Rockers, Sweet.  The collection will present 30 tracks including all of their UK and US hits (you know ‘em).  All of the tracks are re-mastered from original tapes by Bill Inglot.  The set is being called Action: The Sweet Anthology and will list for $24.98 (cheaper if you look around).  It is scheduled for release on April 28.  I’m wondering – and hoping – that Shout! Factory will be re-mastering and reissuing the band’s studio albums in the upcoming months.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Mobile Fidelity now have some grand albums in the SACD pipeline that include the just released Foghat title (Fool for the City); and Marvin Gaye classics (What’s Going On?; Let’s Get It On).  Coming up in March are a few more classic titles, some SACD.  Those will include The Doobie Brothers’ magnificent Toulouse Street (scheduled for SACD treatment in a Numbered Limited Edition Mini LP style packaging), as well as two Linda Ronstadt classics that include Prisoner in Disguise (a Numbered, Limited Edition 180g LP) and Hasten Down the Wind (Numbered, Limited Edition 24k Gold CD in Mini-LP style packaging).  Other’s include Marshall Crenshall (S/T debut – Numbered Limited Edition SACD in mini-LP style packaging and released in February), and Dixie Chicken by Little Feat (Numbered Limited Edition 24k Gold CD with Mini-LP packaging and being released in May).  Also released by Mobile Fidelity is a Numbered Limited Edition 4LP 45RPM Box set of Verse for Patricia Barber; and a 180g 2LP set for Angel Dust by Faith No More (Numbered and Limited Edition).  Finally, Mobile Fidelity now has available the Numbered and Limited Edition 180g LP versions of Fool for the City (Foghat), and Let’s Get it On (Marvin Gaye).  And I want them ALL!!

Once upon a time, King Crimson ruled the Prog roost with their unique and inventive displays of musical originality long unmatched. There have been bands assembled with the express purpose of replicating that magic...but few have succeeded. Fractal, an indie band from San Jose, is a unique band that can replicate the King Crimson mystique with amazing accuracy, maintaining originality and expressive works. Their sophomore release, Sequitur, is an amazing album that brings back a lot of warm feelings. You don't want to miss this experience. You really don't.

Normally, I don’t get all giddy and excited about a single album, but this self-titled debut release by the interestingly named The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has got my music interest greatly piqued.  I’m having a tendency to pair this with some great albums that originated from NYC bands in the past, particularly the raucous and energetic Rock of the late ‘70s.  And this album just does it all over again for me.  It makes me remember why I love Rock n Roll in the first place.  Yes, I’m that excited about this album AND this band.  I can’t wait to see them live!