493 - Earth, Wind, & Fire - That's the Way of the World

This is dedicated to all of the lovers out there. Man, this album has been making me count down til date night. It opens with tons of energy via "Shining Star" then slows things down for the title track. This alternating between up- to mid-tempo songs and ballads continues through the whole album, but is done in such a way that it never feels like a trainwreck with the tempo changes...it feels like a natural flow. One aspect of the album that I really enjoyed (and I think it also helped smooth the song-by-song tempo changes for the listener) was the number of small interludes (10-20 seconds) of music jams that a sprinkled between some of the songs.

When you bring home that Sweetie this weekend, reach over your bottles of Canoe and Hai Karate cologne grab this album and drop it onto your turntable. If the blend of funk, soul, disco, and jazz music doesn't get her in the mood, the spoken section of "All About Love" should do the trick. But, for me, "Reasons" is pure audio sex. Maybe that's why they put an instrumental after "Reasons," no one's paying much attention to the album after getting busy during the ballad.*

Songs I knew I liked: "Shining Star," "That's the Way of the World," and "Reasons"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Yearnin', Learnin'" and "See the Light" I am particularly fond of the blend of African sounds, horns, and vocals that utilize the amazing harmonies the band members contribute to "See the Light."

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I found "Africano" very interesting and enjoyable, but I can see how I might skip over this 5 minute-long instrumental jam.



* - OK, fine, "Africano" isn't entirely instrumental. In the first section there are some "spontaneous vocals" in the mix, but there certainly isn't any sort of chorus or verses in the track.

492 - Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

I've been dreading this album. It is the first one on the list that I have some sort of prejudice or previous negative opinion about. I admit that most of my opinion of the album has to do with what was happening with Pearl Jam off the record than the actual music on the album. I just didn't get the album much of a chance after being disappointed with Vs., having endured the ideological stands of the band get more airplay than their music, and rolling my eyes at the posturing of the album as a release to make the most cultish of fans and the band happy (interviews where Eddie was channeling his friend Neil Young, releasing the album only on vinyl at first, and some focus on "Not For You" in the music press upon release).

It came as a great surprise to me how much I enjoyed listening to Vitalogy today. I wouldn't rate any of these songs higher than the singles off of Ten, but I think this may be a better overall album than their debut. There is a range of soft ballads and noisy rockers, but there isn't a great big pit of ballads and slow songs that caused me to lose interest as happens on the second half of Ten and some other Pearl Jam releases.

Although I think "Last Exit" is just a mediocre song, there is something about how the guitar and vocals support each other during the chorus that makes me stop what I'm doing and pay attention. "Spin the Black Circle" has great lyrics praising vinyl, but the song sounds more revolutionary in tone and my ears kept wanting to hear something more political and angry in the chorus. Not "Spin, spin, spin the black circle;" my brain wanted the lyrics to better match the music with something like "Kill, kill the greedy bastards!" or something else I could see any number of early 80's hardcore punk bands screaming. "Not For You" is a perfect mesh of lyrics and music. The temperament of the verses and chorus fit.

After that, the album sags for a few songs ("Tremor Christ," "Nothingman," and "Whipping"). I didn't have any luck finding a track listing for the vinyl, but I'm assuming that the one minute "Pry, To" was just fodder to finish off the first side.

Pearl Jam gets more experimental on the second side. From the accordion-led march of "Bugs" to the pseudo-Indian-influenced "Aye Davanita" to the final track (which is sometimes called "Stupid Mop" or "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me"). But what really frustrates me is that "Satan's Bed" is buried in the middle of the second half and the song screams Side 1 Song 1 to me. It is an anthemic song that helps to rebound the listener from "Bugs," but I gotta wonder how much more excited I would have been about the album if I heard it instead of "Last Exit" at the start.

Overall, I found the album enjoyable despite the fact that I spent most of the album convinced that Eddie (and maybe the rest of the band) were frustrated and were lashing out in every direction when not beating themselves up.

Songs I knew I liked: "Better Man" (I was also somewhat familiar with but only thought were okay: "Not For You" and "Spin the Black Circle")

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Satan's Bed" and "Corduroy"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Bugs" will never cross my ears again and "Stupid Mop" wasn't all that great when it was called "Revolution No.9" on the White Album.