Just bear with me on this one.  It might seem as if I’ve brought this up before.  I haven’t.  Springing off the upcoming U2 album, where Bono has already stated that No Line In the Horizon could be the greatest U2 album recorded, and a batch of emails that I have received, I asked what makes a great album great.  We received a bunch of email answers.  But what began to intrigue me was not the obvious greatness of our Exile on Main Streets, our Joshua Trees, or more to the point, our usual suspects of great bands like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and a long list of others.  Instead, I wondered what makes an album great to us as individuals, and perhaps just a few others.

What’s he on about, you likely asking yourselves right now.  Here’s a case in point.  I pulled out an LP issue of an album by Melanie.  From starting groove to end, I thoroughly enjoyed every song on the album.  Now, if I were to play this album for a number of my friends, I’m likely to get a polite “it’s ok,” to a definite “you on drugs, man?”  It’s easy to chalk this kind of music up to personal taste in music.  I’d be agreed with from a fair grouping of music listeners but they’re scattered across this big ‘ol globe; kind of hard to get us all together at one point to discuss the album that we all share an affinity for.  Easy to find Led Zeppelin fans, we’re everywhere.  Even easier to find Beatles aficionados – probably five of every ten you talk with will have a positive thing to say about any of their albums or catalogue of hits.  But locating me a nearby Johnny Thunders fan might take quite a long, long time, if I ever find one.  Right now, the same goes for a Babyshambles (I love ‘em) fan.  I’m not sure I can find a person near me (internet doesn’t count although I’m thankful for the medium) that shares much of my tastes outside the obvious.

This topic could go on for paragraphs, more than you’d care to read through.  However, I have a feeling that many of you reading this know just exactly what I’m talking about.  There are albums that we adore every track of.  But the album or artist/band are peripheral.  They sell or have sold enough to keep labels interested but not enough to explode into the pop culture.  I have a huge list of these kinds of bands and artists.  Examples from me include Sad Café, Johnny Thunders, Babyshambles, Melanie, Wishbone Ash, The Faces, Graham Parker, The Enemy UK, Magazine, etc, etc.  Our libraries are filled with these albums from artists that interest a group of people but no more.  And yet, to us, those albums are the musical equivalent of anything that one of those fancier bands can put out effortlessly and yet, no one seems to know anything about them.

I know you have a handful of these albums.  I’m wondering what album, by whom, is classic in every sense even if most of the world seems to disagree.  Tell me what yours are.

If you’re feeling adventurous, tell me what you think makes a particular favourite album great even if no one else seems to agree with you. In short, why does any band snare only a small portion of popularity while others capture the largest slice. Magazine against Led Zeppelin, The Jam against The Beatles...that sort of comparison is what just I'm looking for.

I have a review of the the soundtrack for Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans. It is a Various Artists collected set of remixes of music not featured in the film but on a soundtrack that these days sell like a rare playlist. We enjoyed it.

We'll see you on Wednesday.

We have several things to kick-off the New Year with. The first is our Annual Reader's Choice 'Best of 20xx' picks. In this case, you'll be picking the Best of 2008. i always look forward to these picks because it gives me a fast way to check up on things that I have missed over the year. I have always made new gains to my library with the arrival of these lists and I'm sure to do so again. You guys know the rules by now. Just send a list of the Best that graced our players over the course of 2008. We'll run this through January and then post results in February. Send them here at The Best Albums of 2008.

In addition, and to start the New Year Out, we have several more things before moving on. The first is a new band introduction, found below in the reviews section. They are called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Be sure to scroll down for that. the second is that we have (tried) to launch a Facebook set of pages. We have a button for you to click on and befriend us and we hope that you will. We have a personal TAP page (because Facebook insists). And we also have a Business page and a Group page. I know...complicated. And it is. But we'll figure which to use in the long run but until then, check them all out. They are a bit different in content. I do suspect that it will be the personal page that you'll want to frequent most often as it easily leads to both of the other pages. I'm still trying to make one singular page the most impactful but haven't figured how to do it yet. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. There's nothing worse than being a 'noob' trying to produce a bit of usefulness...and not succeeding very well at it. There are some new things that we can do with it. For example, there is plenty of room there to discuss in an open forum. For those that wanted this to happen, here's an opportunity to guage it. In addition, there may als obe extra content there, capsule-like reviews, etc. This is an experiment to see what happens. You might have to sign up to check us out...I don't know. Forgive any problems that might arise from this but we'll get it figured out somehow.

For the long promised Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! list (#33), 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, we have a some unknowns along with the well-known albums.

Great topic for a poll! Here's my list:

The Dreaming - Kate Bush
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Remain in Light - Talking Heads
Eskimo - The Residents
The Con - Tegan and Sara
New Adventures in Hi Fi - RE.M.
The Final Cut - Pink Floyd
Made in China - Juliana Hatfield
Surfer Rosa – Pixies

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.

The lovely and stunning Sarah Brightman has enraptured a whole lot of us with her wonderful voice and her musical forays.  On March 10, she does it again with the release of her new album, Symphony: Live in Vienna.  This album, being released by Manhattan Records, will be released in several forms that include a 15-track CD, a CD/DVD combo (jewel-cased), and a DVD/CD combo (containing a bonus 16th track.).  The DVD will contain not only the show but add in extras like three interviews, and a photo gallery.  We’re looking forward to this set at TAP.

Check Your Head by Beastie Boys is reissuing in a re-mastered form on March 10 by Capitol Records.  This Deluxe Edition of Check Your Head will be expanded with a second disc of B-sides and Live tracks, remixes, and “original original versions.”  The album will be released in LP form (180g, 2LP, gatefold), and CD (2CD, 8-panel ecopak with fold-out poster and lyric sheet.

BEC Records will release Take Everything from Seventh Day Slumber on March 10.

New Found Glory returns with a new album called Not Without a Fight.  The 12-track LP album is being released by Bridge Nine (licensed by Epitaph Records) on March 10.

Caroline Records have two Killing Joke albums coming, both past rare releases.  The Original Unperverted Pantomime was a cassette release in 1983, limited to 2000 copies.  It contains 15 tracks and is a Dual-Disc (CD side/DVD side) with a 40-minute Live concert from 1981.  It also contains three previously unreleased songs.  The second available album is Duende/The Spanish Sessions, a rare Live recording from the original line-up circa 1982.  Both become available on March 10.

This is a Soundtrack of collected remixes of Various Artists and their songs serve the ambience of the film well. With remixes assembled by NIN's Danny Lohner, this compilation is sure to be an interest to its audience. Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans is not only a decent film in the trilogy (thus far), but the music is apt as well.

The Answer is a 4-piece outfit from Northern Ireland that just so happens to be this generation's Black Crowes, who was last generation's Led Zeppelin. This 4-song EP called Never Too Late is a great primer for what is now one of the fantastic rock bands that throw back to the Golden Era. And wonderfully at that. Hesitate not!