Kate Bush - The Sensual World

When I sat down to write this, I started to wonder what Kate Bush is looking like these days. I was a big Kate Bush fan when I was a teenager, but haven't really paid a lot of attention to her since then, so I had no idea what to expect. I did a quick image search, but I still have no idea what she looks like these days because what I found was a lot of pictures of Kate Bush covering up half of her face. For example:


I'm going to take this as a sign that she looks like hell. I plan on using the same method to hide any paunchiness and wrinkles soon.

Favorite tracks: "This Woman's Work" "The Sensual World"

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

When I was a teenager, Cocteau Twins were my most favorite band ever. When I was 16, I somehow managed to convince the owner of our local little independent record store to sell me a promo copy of this album (if I remember correctly, it was on a cassette tape) before it came out. This was before you could find everything on the Internet before it was released, so the fact that I had this album before anyone else pleased me to no end. I'm sure it confirmed in my mind my status of biggest Cocteau Twins fan in the whole world. Even though I listened to this album at least a million times within a month a=of acquiring it, I don't think that, at the time, I really liked it as much as I liked some of their other albums. It was way too perky for my dark and tortured gothic teenage self. 17 years later I think this album was probably their best.

Favorite tracks: "Cherry-Coloured Funk" "Heaven Or Las Vegas"

A-ha - Hunting High And Low

Clearly, since I haven't written about any of these damn albums in like 4 months, I have been a bit of a slacker as far as this little project is concerned. I can blame all the usual suspects - work, travel, generally busy life. I just wsnt to say that I am committed to finishing this, it just might take me a few years. I am going to try and work on this more....

Ok, so down to business...

This album was good, but not really what I was expecting. What I was expecting was 12 versions of "Take On Me". And let's just be honest here - I probably would have been really happy if the album had been made up of 12 version of "Take On Me".

Culture Club - Colour By Numbers

My sister is a totally uptight, straight, suburban stay-at-home mother now, but when we were kids, she had a huge crush on Boy George. Really. She had posters of him on her walls and a coffee table book all about him. This is how I know that, deep inside, she is pretty darn awesome.

Also, Karma Chameleon is one of my standard karaoke songs. One of the bartenders at The Mint always dances when I sing it, and this encourages me to keep singing it. It is kind of shocking to me that I have become the kind of person who has a list of standard karaoke songs.

Favorite tracks: "Karma Chameleon", "That's The Way", "Miss Me Blind"

Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms

Shannon thinks this album sounds like stoner music. I don't really know much about what stoner music sounds like, but I can't say I really disagree with him.

Favorite track: "So Far Away"

D'Angelo - Brown Sugar

In 1995, I was not listening to D'Angelo. I was also not listening to Radiohead, or Tupac, or Chemical Brothers, or Smashing Pumpkins, or Foo Fighters, though I could have been listening to any of these artists because they all had albums that came out in 1995. What I was listening to was a hell of a lot of Ani Difranco and a variety of angry girl music, and this is how it came to be that, though this D'Angelo album went double platinum, I had never heard a single song on it. This doesn't exactly embarrass me the way that I was embarrassed at having never heard Ziggy Stardust..., it is more that it kind of makes me want go back in time and slap 21-year-old Kate around a little bit and tell her to lighten up. She sure missed out on some good shit.

Favorite tracks: "Brown Sugar", "Smooth", "Higher"

Ryan Adams - Gold

It is just kind of a given with me that any man who writes a song about Sylvia Plath will be loved by me, because, unlike a lot of other women, I never really got over the love affair with Sylvia that started when I was required to read The Bell Jar in 10th grade, but even if Ryan Adams had not written a song about Sylvia Plath, I would probably love him. I've had this album since it came out 6 years ago and I still haven't stopped wanting to listen to it. When I listen to it, I feel vaguely nostalgic for nothing in particular, and I like when an album makes me feel that way.

Favorite tracks: Answering Bell, La Cienega Just Smiled, Sylvia Plath
Favorite lyric:
"Let your tears fall and touch my skin
Then your thunderclouds could rage and wail
I will collect them all for you in butterfly jars
And oh girl, I'll build your wishing well
Oh girl, I'll build your wishing well"