Mt. Rushmore: 1995

 

     1995 is stacked. I do have four no-brainer picks, but I had to cut some really amazing albums. Those missing the cut are; Foo Fighters self-titled, Oasis What's the Story, Smashng Pumpkins Mellon Collie, Pavement Wowee Zowee, GbV Alien Lanes, The Flaming Lips Clouds Taste Metallic, Presidents of the United States self-titled, Goo Goo Dolls Boy Named Goo, Dead Hot Workshop 1001 and Buffalo Tom Sleepy Eyed. 

     The four Mt. Rushmore albums are all basically tied for first, but I will force myself to rank them. Coming in at 1A is The Bends by Radiohead. This is the best guitar album, certainly of the '90's, and possibly of all time. To me this  album is even better than OK Computer. The Bends comes out of the gate with "Planet Telex" which sets the sonic tone for the entire album. The title track, "Bones" and "Just" are guitar masterworks. "Fake Plastic Trees" is a haunting slowburner. The lyrics on this album are just as great as the guitar playing. "I used to fly like Peter Pan. All the children flew when I touched their hands". "Where do we go from here? The words are coming out all weird. Where are you now when I need you?" "You do it to yourself, you do. And that's what really hurts. You do it to yourself, just you. You and no one else. You do it to yourself". 

     1B is Sparklehorse's vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. I have posted a couple times about this album. I did a 33 1/3/ book proposal for it back in the aughts, before Mark Linkous commited suicide. It's beautiful, fragile, haunting and powerful. There's not much I can say that I haven't already said about vivadixie... except I wish I could have made this 1A. I could listen to this album 1000 times and it would still give me goosebumps like it did the first time. 

     1C is Trace by Son Volt. It's so good I named my dog Trace. I've posted before about Son Volt and my love of alt-country. To me this is the best alt-country album. It runs the gamut from country rock to traditional, like the opening track "Windfall" and "Tear Stained Eye". They rock on "Live Free" and "Ten Second News". And tracks like "Route", "Drown", "Catching On" and "Loose String" are right in the sweet spot. Jay Farrar is on my Mt. Rushmore of singers (sorry, spoilers). I'm also a sucker for lap steel, which there is an abundance of on Trace. I would actually rate this higher than any Uncle Tupelo or Wilco album. 

     Finally, 1D is Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub. This is my favorite Teenage Fanclub album and "Sparky's Dream" is my favorite song of all time by anyone. This is their power pop masterpiece. Gerard Love is the standout songwriter again with "Sparky's Dream", "Don't Look Back", "Discolite" and "Going Places". It's too bad Teenage Fanclub were overshadowed by the Oasis and Blur thing. They're a tremendous band. 

     1994 was pretty weak, but I do have four albums that are great. I'm conflicted about 4 and 5, but I will decide by tomorrow. You can probably guess the number one album. It rhymes with Pete Townsend. Peace.

Mt. Rushmore: 1996

 

     Last night, I decided to man up and just make one Mt. Rushmore for 1996. It's supposed to be the best of the best, so I will cut it down to four albums. As I'm typing this, I still haven't picked the fourth album. Ok, its been a few more minutes and I made the call. The albums I had to cut are Beck Odelay, Wilco Being There, STP Tiny Music, Fountains of Wayne self-titled, Superdrag Regretfully Yours, The Refreshments Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy, Better Than Ezra Friction Baby, Tobin Sprout Carnival Boy and Squirrel Nut Zippers Hot. All great albums. Some I have already written posts about. 

     I thought I knew the number one album before this experiment began, but as I reviewed all the releases for 1996 I had a change of heart. Number one is Sloan's One Chord to Another. I call Sloan the Canadian Beatles. Every member of the band is a singer/songwriter. The cool thing about Sloan is they switch instruments, even during live shows. It's like a band of four Paul McCartneys. However, it's Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott. As advertised, One Chord to Another is exactly that; a barage of power pop chords with ample hand claps and some Canadian brand self-deprecation. This is also the sound of a confident band at the height of their powers. They come right out with a short banger, "The Good in Everyone". The song begins, "First off, here's what you do to me. You get rough, attack my self-esteem. It's not much, but it's the best I got. And I thought you saw the good in everyone". There's not a weak track on this album, but other highlights include "G Turns to D", "The Lines You Amend", "Can't Face Up" and the tremendous "Everything You've Done Wrong". This track has great handclaps and possibly the best use of horns in a rock song. My perception is that it's an homage to "Care of Cell 44" by The Zombies. It's about waiting for your love to come home from prison after doing their time. 

     The second album is Centro-matic's Redo the Stacks. I have posted about this lo-fi masterpiece before and Will Johnson is still my favorite songwriter. Centro-matic reformed recently for some local shows in Texas, so I am cautiously optimistic that maybe they will do something again in the future. I saw Will open for Bob Mould before the pandemic and he was great. 

     Number three is arguably the best of the classic era Guided by Voices albums, Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. Unlike some GbV albums, this is all killer, no filler. "Your Name is Wild", "Cut-out Witch", "The Official Ironmen Rally Song", "Underwater Explosions" and "Don't Stop Now" are just a few of the amazing Pollard tracks just from the regular album. Did I forget to mention there's a bonus set of songs including "Big Boring Wedding", "Drag Days" and "Redmen and Their Wives". Also I haven't mentioned  the fantastic Tobin Sprout songs "It's Like Soul Man", "Atom Eyes"and "To Remake the Young Flyer". This album is packed with GbV goodness. 

     Finally, I went with the last great album by one of my top 5 bands, R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The thing I love about New Adventures is that it's a road album by a band who knew who they were and had the faith in themselves to release such a raw and power document. It's truly a fitting end to the Bill Berry era. Berry was in many ways the MVP of R.E.M. He pushed the guys in the early days by threatening to leave the band to join Love Tractor, he made the connections with IRS and he was very protective of the R.E.M. sound. This is a great set of songs that were written on the road. The only negative is it's probably a bit too long, but I wouldn't cut anything. R.E.M. will be on many Mt. Rushmores in the "80's.

     Just a teaser for 1995. The four albums I picked are all probably in my top 10 of all time and are really 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D. I will probably force myself to rank them, but I love them all for different reasons. And I had to leave off many albums that are tremendous. All will be revealed tomorrow. Peace.

Mt. Rushmore: 1998 and 1997

      So, here's the thing. I'm combining these two years into one post because I couldn't come up with a Mt. Rushmore for 1998. As you probaly guessed, the no-brainer for '98 is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. My most viewed post is on that album. I consdered albums by Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, Hum, Beck, Beastie Boys, Outkast, Goo Goo Dolls and Lucinda Williams, but I didn't feel any of them were Mt. Rushmore worthy. Therefore, 1998 will be an Easter Island Head for Jeff Mangum and friends. 

     The good news is that the rest of the '90's is stacked; especially 95-96. 1997 isn't quite that loaded, but there is another all-timer; OK Computer by Radiohead. I've already posted about this and The Bends being my wheelhouse for Radiohead and that is all I really need from them. Since that post, I have developed a greater appreciation for Jonny Greenwood and have expanded my love for the band. In fact, I would probably put Greenwood in my top three guitarists now, along with David Gilmour and Alex Lifeson. However, I have not bought Kid A for the third time...yet. Obviously, the singles "Karma Police" and "Paranoid Android" are the standouts here. I also like how parts of "Subterranean Homesick Alien" sound like they could be from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I picked up the OKNOTOK LP when that came out and all the extra tracks on that release are tremendous as well. 

     Before I reveal the other three albums for '97, a quick mention to the contenders. Built to Spill got edged out again...sorry. Also missing out are Guided by Voices Mag Earwhig, Modest Mouse Crowded Lonesome West, Green Day Nimrod (although I love Redundant and Hitchin' a Ride), Pavement Brighten the Corners, The Flaming Lips Zaireeka, McCartney Flaming Pie, Harvey Danger Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone, Blur self-titled and Veruca Salt Eight Arms to Hold You. That's a pretty solid list of runners-up. The second album on the Mt. Rushmore is Ben Folds Five Wharever and Ever Amen. Ben Folds may well be my favorite piano player and bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee are also tremendous. The lyrics on this album are outstanding and the humor and poigniancy are cutting. I love the end of "Battle of Who Could Care Less when he says "Will you never rest, fighting the battle of who could care less? Unearned unhappiness, you're my hero I confess". "Song For the Dumped" is another standout with the line "I want my money back and don't forget to give me back my black t-shirt". Other great tracks are "Steven's Last Night in Town" and One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" The big hit was "Brick", but as usual, the hit is not one of my favorite songs from the album. 

     The third album is Teenage Fanclub's Songs From Northern Britain. This is probably their most consistent and solid album, but doesn't have the incredible highs of Bandwagonesque or Grand Prix. I don't think I ever got around to posting about Teenage Fanclub, but they are certainly in my top 10 favorite bands. The songs I like best tend to be the ones penned by Gerard Love. He is well represented here with "Take the Long Way Round", "Speed of Light" and "Ain't That Enough". I call them the Scottish Beatles, because they have three singer/songwriters in the group. The other two are Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley. They are also in fine form here. Very solid album. 

     Finally, I'm going with Moonflower Plastic by Tobin Sprout. I have posted quite a bit about Guided by Voices and you know I love me some Tobin Sprout. This was his second solo album and it's a killer. My favorite track is "All Used Up" which has the classic line, "I did my time, I dealt my deal, you know it's alright". The song "Paper Cut" has the most exquisite chord progressions on record. "Beast of Souls" has that quintessential Tobin Sprout sound. There's also what I perceive to be a bit of a diss track on here with "Hit Junky Dives". This album came out the same time Robert Pollard disbanded the classic lineup of GbV, although Tobin had already left for personal reasons. If your not familiar with Tobin Sprout do yourself a favor and fix that. 

     So, 1996 and 1995 are extemely loaded years. I will probably do a Mt. Rushmore for the first half and second half of both those years. I haven't checked the release dates yet, so hopefully that plan works out. Otherwise, I don't know what I'm going to do. My plan going forward is to post on here every day to force myself to stop listening to my inner critic and produce content. At some point this year I also plan to go more public with my Franz Kafka projects. 2024 is the 100th anniversary of his death and I am making that my deadline to finish my book. I also haven't completely given up on a Sound Mind book someday. Peace.

Mt. Rushmores: 1999 Albums

      Between the birth of my second daughter in the spring of 1998 and discovering Catch the Sun by Doves in 2000, I listened to virtually no rock music, except The Beatles. I was focused on parenting and my boredom with rock lead me on a deep dive into jazz and new age music. So, I never listened to any of the albums under consideration for my Mt. Rushmore of 1999 when they came out. Turns out there is a common thread between the four albums I eventually chose; no guitars. Now when I say "no guitars", I don't mean that literally, but two of them are piano centric and two were created in the studio with very little guitar. All of my honorable mention albums had guitars a-plenty; Built to Spill, Foo Fighters, Pavement, The White Stripes, Centro-matic, Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard/Doug Gillard, but none of them could overtake my final four. 

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

     When guitar wizard Ronald Jones left the band after 1995's Clouds Taste Metallic, The Flaming Lips decided not to replace him and became an experimental studio band for their next couple releases. The roots of The Soft Bulletin were the Parking Lot Experiments. They recorded multiple tracks on cassettes, assembled several cars in a parking garage and played the tracks simultaneously. This in turn lead to 1997's Zaireeka, which was a four disc album which was engineered so you had to play all four discs simultaneously. It was during these sessions that the concept of The Soft Bulletin began to develop. When the crutches of guitars and fuzz were removed they discovered Wayne Coyne's fragile vocals and vulnerable lyrics and Steven Drozd's genius as a multi-instrumental composer. Despite The Soft Bulletin being a studio creation, it is one of the most human albums of all time. It's a celebration of life, love, stuggle and loss. The highlight of the album is on "Waitin' For a Superman" when Wayne sings "Tell everybody waiting for Superman that they should try to hold on best they can. He hasn't dropped them, forgot them, or anything. It's just too heavy for Superman to lift". The 90's was arguably the best decade for albums and The Soft Bulletin was the best albums of the 90's. Sorry O.K. Computer.

Wilco - Summerteeth

     A decade ago, I was very dismissive of Wilco and Jeff Tweedy. This was mostly out of my love of Jay Farrar and Uncle Tupelo. Since then, I have deliberately listened to the early Wilco albums and read Tweedy's biography to develop a more educated opinion. Once I accepted Tweedy growing beyond alt-country and knew more of his story, Summerteeth became a beautiful studio album by two damaged humans. At the time, Tweedy was going through marital problems and he and Jay Bennett were addicted to painkillers. Many of the lyrics took me back 1999 when I was also going through marital problems as well. "We fell in love in the key of C" but "you've changed" and "Daddy's payday is not enough". Summerteeth is a raw and painfully honest album, but never loses hope for a better future. "Summerteeth" is also an old dad joke about someone with bad teeth; some are here, some are there, so that's fun.

Ben Folds Five - Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

     Here's a spoiler for my Mt. Rushmore of piano players; dude is on it. I love Ben Folds playing and I love his band. Reinhold Messner is a departure from his upbeat snark. It's lush and introspective. Check out the lyrics to "Don't Change Yours Plans", they are heartbreaking. If you miss upbeat Ben Folds Five, there's "Army" which is a great track. There's also a two minute answering machine message from his dad called "Your Most Valuable Possession" where he's concerned about Ben's most valuable possession; his mind. It took me awhile to get around to this album because I was put off by the title and cover, but it's great.

Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...

     Before this week, I had never heard this album and had no idea that I like Fiona Apple. I intended to put Keep it Like a Secret by Built to Spill in this spot, but I had to change The Plan. Sorry, dad joke. Female artists are a blind spot for me for some reason. I kind of wrote Fiona Apple off as another Tori Amos when "Criminal" was a hit. Turns out I really like her voice, lyrics and delivery. The singles from When the Pawn are great and I also love the track "Get Gone" which has a powerful vocal performance. Now I have to go back and check out her first album. When I began this exercise, I thought 1999 was a weak year for albums, but I was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, 1998 is weak with the exception of the second best album of the 90's. Stay tuned. Peace.

Mt. Rushmores: 2000's

      Recently, I have fallen down the music list rabbit hole. It began with making best album lists for every year since I was born and has expanded to various niche lists, such as best lo-fi album and goosebump albums. A few days ago, the idea came to me of compiling music related Mt. Rushmore lists which are obviously Top 4 lists. These are popular with sports fans, but I haven't seen them much with music fans who lean toward Top 10 lists. This also seemed like an excellent opportunity to resume writing on my Sound Mind blog, so here we are. After some thought, I have settled on a few arbitrary parameters that maintain the spirit of Sound Mind. The main guidance is the continued recognition of Beatles Exceptionalism. None of my Mt. Rushmores will include The Beatles, because they would be the entirety of many of the lists. This does not extend to their individual projects and solo careers, however, so good news for All Things Must Pass. This does not exclude Mt. Rushmores specific to just The Beatles. The other parameter involves the 2000's, which is today's topic. 

     After attempting to make favorite album lists for the 2000's, I came to the conculsion that not enough time has passed for most of this music to be at a Mt. Rushmore level. And full disclosure, I realized I am not familiar with the vast majority of the music that has been released in the past two decades. My interests have been exclusively indie pop and college rock, which is a very narrow focus. It would be ridiculous for me to list albums from every year of the 2000's when I have listened to nothing from the Top 40 or hip hop. I do know what I like though, so I will share a couple 2000's Mt. Rushmores today. Going forward, I will probably work backwards through time and sprinkle in the occasional random music topic list, like favorite drummers. 

     The first three choices for my 2000's Mt. Rushmore bands were quite easy; The White Stripes, Doves and Kasabian. Before anyone quibbles about The White Stripes, their first album was released in June of 1999, so I am counting them as a 2000's band. The eccentric Jack White is a charismatic frontman, incendiary guitarist and a great sonwriter, as evidenced by his lyrics on songs such as, Fell in Love With a Girl, The Hardest Button to Button and Icky Thump. And Meg White's drumming is as fun as it is divisive. Doves are probably my favorite band of the 2000's. Their debut, Lost Souls, is a masterpiece and the rest of their catlog is outstanding. After an eleven year hiatus, they returned in 2020 with The Universal Want. Kasabian are possibly the last remaining relevent rock band in the world. The best concert I have ever attended was their show at the House of Blues in Chicago. The band suffered a recent setback when their lead singer Tom Meighan was kicked out of the group because of domestic violence charges, but they have a new album coming out this summer with principal songwriter Sergio Pizzorno on vocals. The fourth artist on the 2000's Mt. Rushmore came down to Interpol and Courtney Barnett. While Courtney Barnett is my favorite songwriter of the 2000's and is in my Top 5 of live shows, Interpol gets the nod for fourth place on the strength of Turn on the Bright Lights, Antics and Our Love to Admire. My Mt. Rushmore of 2000's albums is, not surprisingly, Lost Souls, Turn on the Bright Lights, White Blood Cells and Kasabian's self-titled debut. 

     Even though I don't think the 2000's warrant extensive historical examination at this time, there are a couple new bands that I'm very excited about; Yard Act and Wet Leg. In the near future I will post about each of them at greater length, but they are fantastic. As I said before, I will be doing Mt. Rushmore albums for each year working backwards. I will start with 1999. The last couple years of the 90's were pretty weak, but the mid-90's is loaded. I might have to do quarterly lists for 1995-7 because those years are so stacked with brilliant albums. Peace. 

Hello, It's Me

     So...what's up? I'm just sitting here in a pile of rust that I recently shook off. I started Sound Mind nine years ago as a vehicle to force myself to write on a regular schedule. The end goal, I suppose, was to write a book based on this blog. I could probably write a book about why that has not happened. Working titles would be "Failure is an Option" or "I Sit on a Throne of Excuses". In fairness to myself, a lot of shit has gone down since my last post six years ago. At that time, we were trying to buy a new house and sell our existing house. Then my mother-in-law died and my wife had to manage her estate right in the middle of buying our house and moving. In addition, I had recently changed locations for my job, which disrupted my writing schedule. Previously, I had been driving 45 minutes each way to work. This was the perfect amount of time to listen to a CD during each commute. It also afforded me some time alone with my thoughts to come up with "takes" for Sound Mind. Now, I have a 10 minute drive which equates to about 7 Guided by Voices songs or one RUSH song. 

     Once my writing routine was broken, I rarely thought about Sound Mind. The only thing that reminded me was when the Rock Hall would announce their nominees and inductees. I would think to myself, "Maybe I should post my opinions about these inductees. Ten people expect me to rant about the Rock Hall Foundation." I couldn't bring myself to do it, though. I didn't want Sound Mind to be reduced to a Rock Hall blog. The founding premise of Sound Mind was to preserve my music collection after I die. Turns out, that is an outdated and insane premise. As the great John Hodgman has said many times, "People like what they like". No amount of blogging will make my wife want to hang onto RUSH's debut LP on the Moon Records label. She already wants me to sell it. I don't have much of a relationship with my daughters from my first marriage. As far as I know, they have never read Sound Mind and don't care about my records. The same goes for my teenage kids who live under my roof. My daughter spends her free time at horse barns and my son is only interested in sports and video games. They listen to music when it's on, but they have no curiosity or independent interest in it. Bottom line, my wife will keep her music and the rest will probably be sold off. A few years ago, I began cataloging my collection on Discogs to make it easier for her to deal with. Hopefully I live long enough to grade all my records and make sure I have all the pressings correct. I really had no idea how many different pressings there were of random April Wine albums. 

     So, you may be asking yourself, "Why is Tom bothering with this post after six years of radio silence?" Fair question. I don't know myself. I am at a point in my life where I needed to start writing again. I have been close a couple times in the past six years. When my sister died of cancer, I went through the whole life is short thing, but my inner critic squelched the desire to write. The same thing happened last year when Neil Peart died. Despite all his motivational lyrics, I couldn't bring myself to stare at the blank page. Today, I was able to dismiss the voices in my head and put some words on the page. Maybe I will take up Sound Mind again. Maybe I will give it a reboot with a different premise. Maybe this is a farewell transmission for Sound Mind. In retrospect, Sound Mind was simply a platform to evangelize about music and bands that I love. So, while I work this out, pardon the rust. Peace.

2016 Rock Hall Nominees

     As a fan of rock music I don't want to crap on other music fans, but the current results of the Rock Hall fan voting have me perplexed. I'll admit to a bit of hypocrisy, because I loved how the fan vote helped get Rush into the Rock Hall. However, we have seen repeatedly with the MLB All Star game that this is a dubious practice at best. The Rock Hall has 15 nominees this go around; The Cars, Cheap Trick, Chic, Chicago, Deep Purple, The J.B's, Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Steve Miller, N.W.A., Nine Inch Nails, Los Lobos, The Smiths, The Spinners and Yes. Your current leader in the fan vote with nearly 25% is...Chicago. The Smiths are in 14th place with .27%. Really people? I have voted three times for The Cars (3rd place), Yes (2nd place), Cheap Trick (7th place), The Smiths and once for Steve Miller (4th place). The top five is rounded out by Deep Purple. I have made arguments for some of these artists several times on this blog, but I do have some random takes regarding this class.
     It's sad that it took the death of Chris Squire to finally get Yes on the doorstep of Rock Hall induction. Squire was the one constant in an ever changing lineup of prog rock geniuses and deserved to stand on that stage. I'm curious to see who will be inducted as Yes. Squire, Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White are no-brainers, but what about the Trevor's Horn and Rabin, Bill Bruford or Tony Kaye. Yes are the gold standard of the much maligned genre, prog rock, and are deserving of induction. In a perfect world, they would pave the way to the Rock Hall for ELP and King Crimson, but that's very unlikely.
     It would also be sad if Cheap Trick were to be inducted without Bun E. Carlos being included in the ceremony. I don't know what happened between Carlos and the rest of the band, but they really need to straighten it out if they are inducted. Sadly, they only have 1.23% of the fan vote, so it may be a moot point. Apparently, the Japanese don't participate in the fan vote for the Rock Hall. Seriously though, they are the most deserving band in this class.
     Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Moz and he would probably boycott the ceremony because it's not vegan, The Smiths have to be in the the Rock Hall. It's a travesty that they are in 14th place. They are the UK equivalent of R.E.M. and their influence is pervasive in the past 30 years of indie rock.
     Chicago being number one in the fan vote is both surprising and completely predictable. I'm of an age where I grew up with their Transit Authority album and 70's hits. In my opinion, that output makes them a borderline Rock Hall worthy band. However, their 80's releases were horrendous and extremely popular. Bottom line, if they get in I'm fine with it but I couldn't vote for them.
     Not to be a jerk, but my "Please Child" list is Janet Jackson, The J.B.'s, Chaka Khan and Los Lobos. I have never heard of The J.B.'s. Los Lobos had one song on a soundtrack. I'm sure they are all nice people with dedicated fans, but this is a Hall of Fame.
     Having said that, this is a really strong class. I have great respect for Ritchie Blackmore, Trent Reznor, N.W.A., Steve Miller and Nile Rodgers. I didn't vote for them (except Steve Miller on one ballot for nostalgic reasons), but they are all extremely talented artists. My only gripe is that a few nominations seem to be based on agendas rather than merit. I'll just leave it at that. Peace.