The project

One night, several months ago I wandered into a Barnes and Noble to use the bathroom. On my way out, a book that was displayed on one of the endcaps caught my eye. It was called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Now, those who know me know that I love a good list, so I did what I always do when I find a book in a bookstore that I am interested in and went home and put in on hold at the library. Like all lists, this one was far from exhaustive, but what I liked about it is that it wasn't necessarily a list of the most critically acclaimed albums, the albums seemed to be selected as much because they were culturally relevant as because they were liked by the critics. Plus, the book is really thick and heavy. It reminds me of the Norton Anthologies I used to have to read when I was an English Major in college, so I guess there was a certain comfort in that. So, long story short, I got a bug up my butt and decided that I would actually try and listen to all the albums listed in the book. You know, because I have nothing better to do. Though the book lists the albums in chronological order, my original thought was that I would try and listen to them in alphabetical order. Since I am trying to get my hands on all of these albums without actually paying for all of them, however, some of the albums have proved more elusive than others. I still haven't managed to get my hands on the two Abba albums that would come first alphabetically. So, I have decided to just listen to them as I acquire them, whatever order that happens in. The idea that I would write about the whole project didn't actually occur to me until recently, but since I blog about the minutiae of my life anyway, why not? So, here goes.....