Eccentric Flower:201009/Lists

Peter Gabriel

• Peter Gabriel I: "Here Comes the Flood"
  (the album version, which he thought was overproduced, incorrectly)
• Peter Gabriel II: None of it ever made a strong enough impression on me to note
  (N.B. It took me many years to identify "the kind of prog rock which bores me to tears" as roughly equivalent to "Robert Fripp")
• Peter Gabriel III: All of it, but especially "Intruder," "Games Without Frontiers", and extra-especially "Lead a Normal Life"
• Peter Gabriel IV (AKA Security): All of Side 2 (although Side 1 isn't bad, just very languorous)
  (P.S. "Shock the Monkey" is actually not the best track on the album)
• So: Everything except "In Your Eyes," which I disliked even before John Cusack got to it.
  I'm not overfond of "Don't Give Up" or "Red Rain" either, both of which are far too long for what they have to say (the former has one minute of content in a song that lasts six and a half). Contrast this to "Mercy Street," which at the same six-and-a-half is exactly the right length.
• Us: "Blood of Eden," "Steam," "Digging in the Dirt," "Kiss That Frog"
• More or less stopped listening to him after that.

The Police

• Outlandos d'Amour: "Can't Stand Losing You," "So Lonely," "Next To You." I thought "Be My Girl" was hilariously daring when I was fourteen, and it still makes me giggle, but it's not a very good song. "Roxanne" is one of the most overrated songs ever.
• Regatta de Blanc: All of it. This is their second-best album and, depending on my mood, sometimes their first-best.
• Zenyatta Mondatta: "Behind My Camel," "The Other Way of Stopping" (yes, the best two tracks on this album are instrumentals), "Shadows In the Rain."* Oh, all right, I concede that "Don't Stand So Close To Me" is catchy - the first ten or twelve times. "Driven to Tears" isn't bad. Actually, none of it is outright bad, but this album was rushed and Sting's ego was beginning to eat everything in sight, and it shows. (He hated "Behind My Camel" and refused to participate in recording it. It was then named Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1982. Screw you, Mr. Sumner.)
• Ghost In the Machine: "Invisible Sun." "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is acceptable. The rest of this is tedious. The only one of their albums which is actually boring.
• Synchronicity: All of it. If you're going to have a swan song, this is the way to do it.

* In fairness to Mr. Ego, I must note that the version of "Shadows In the Rain" on Dream of the Blue Turtles is superior.

They Might Be Giants

• They Might Be Giants: Pretty much all of it, since even the songs which are difficult to listen to are over quickly. Tracks I anthologize: "Rhythm Section Want Ad," "Everything Right Is Wrong Again," "Don't Let's Start," "32 Footsteps," "Boat of Car". I am not a huge fan of "Hotel Detective," which is odd because everyone else is.
• Lincoln: All of it. Best tracks: "Ana Ng," "Where Your Eyes Don't Go," "The World's Address," "They'll Need A Crane," and "Kiss Me, Son of God" (but only this version; other versions miss the boat).
  I borrowed my sister's cassette of Lincoln (it was the first TMBG I was exposed to) and listened to it so long and so hard that I eventually had to buy her a new one. I hadn't known people were allowed to make music like this and get away with it; it gave me new hope that there might be other people like me in the universe. Alas, it also set my expectations for nerd-rock rather high, so high that hardly anyone else - including, later, TMBG themselves - has been able to live up to them.
• Flood: Weaker than Lincoln but still a keeper. Best tracks: "Birdhouse In Your Soul," "Istanbul," "Particle Man," "Twisting," "Hearing Aid/Minimum Wage," "Letterbox."
• Misc. T: Why does Wikipedia consider the internet-only Long Tall Weekend a legitimate album in their discography but not this one? These are clearly B-sides but how else would you get "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon," "Hey, Mr. DJ," "Birds Fly," "I'll Sink Manhattan," and especially "The Famous Polka"?
• Apollo 18: The first one that has more misses than hits, although not a bad album. Best tracks: "Mammal," "The Guitar," "Dinner Bell," "If I Wasn't Shy." "Fingertips" (assuming you get a properly indexed CD that has it as twenty-one very short tracks) is useful for mix CDs to throw in random surprises.
• John Henry: When I first heard this album I was so angry at their change of sound that I swore I would never buy their music again. These days I find it slightly more listenable, but only "Nyquil Driver" ("AKA Driver" on the album) ever finds its way into my regular playlist.
• Factory Showroom: "Till My Head Falls Off" and "James K. Polk" make my playlists. The rest of the album is not quite as uninteresting as John Henry.
• Mink Car: Better. Not completely a return to form, but better. Best tracks: "Wicked Little Critta" (this is a local joke so I don't expect non-Bostonians to like it), "Yeh Yeh," "Man It's So Loud In Here," "Edith Head," "Older."
• No!: Every single track is brilliant. This is when I realized that if I was going to get the kind of TMBG in the future that I actually wanted, I was going to have to focus on their so-called "children's music." The track I play for people who wouldn't be caught dead listening to children's music is "Four of Two" (which should have been the single instead of "Where Do They Make Balloons?"), but my favorites are probably "Fibber Island" and "Wake Up Call."
• The Spine: "Stalk of Wheat" is fun and "Experimental Film" is pretty brilliant. The rest is so meh that I can't actually remember any of it. I have listened to the entire CD start to finish only twice.
• Have not bought any of their music since then except the DVD of Here Come The ABCs.

Might add more lists later. It's a fun but surprisingly time-consuming activity. (Share your own!)