487 - Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

I must first declare that I fell in love with Smashing Pumpkins immediately upon hearing Gish. I then proceeded to lose interest in the band as more screamy songs were added to their sound.

Mellon Collie... opens softly, but much of the album contains searing guitar and a sound closer to amped-up prog rock than in previous records. With 28 tracks, be grateful that only a few songs go to prog rock lengths and most are in the 3-4 minute range. The mood shifts back and forth between quiet reflection and loud angst. What moments of happiness may appear in the album seem more nostalgic than hopeful - which is fine if this really is a concept album exploring the various sounds that depression can undertake. But I'm just not buying that the album was a concept as much as they identified a common theme in the songs and tacked the name onto that.

Billy Corgan has a beautiful whisper of a voice, his singing has a whine that works well with many of the Pumpkins songs, but Billy's scream does nothing for me. Most of the songs on Mellon Collie are in the same mold as what you'll find on Siamese Dream. If you love, love, love, Siamese Dream and wish it was longer...here is two more CDs filled with similar songs with some stretching in a softer direction and others going more metal than previous songs. In the end, this is a massive amount of music to process. Forget "Infinite Sadness" the album seemed infinite to me while listening.

Songs I knew I liked: "Tonight, Tonight," "Muzzle," "Thirty-Three," and "1979"

Songs I didn't know but now like: There weren't any songs in the collection that jumped out to me to help overcome my mediocre feelings of most of the tracks. I think "Here is No Why," "Cupid De Locke," and "We Only Come Out at Night" were good songs, but unlike some other songs I've mentioned in this category for previous albums, I don't see myself downloading these songs.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Tales of A Scorched Earth," "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" (if it was 4 min instead of 9 minutes long, I wouldn't feel this way), and "X.Y.U."

486 - Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

For an album that certainly fits the description of a confusing acid trip, it sure was a fun ride. This album rocks more than any other Parliament and/or Funkadelic album with guitar musicianship that rivals Jimi Hendrix.

The title track is Exhibit A to that last statement. This 10 minute song features emotionally mind-blowing guitar. Legend states that George Clinton told the guitarist (Eddie Hazel) to play "like your momma had just died." I would be honored to have been his mom if this guitar is his tribute to her death. The guitar plucks slowly, then swells, screams in anguish and sighs with sadness, while the notes carry on and on with an echo that stretches time. I think the best comparison for this song is if you imagine if Jimi Hendrix played on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Yes, it is 10 minutes long, but I never found myself glancing at the player to see where in the song I was. It started, I was enraptured, and it ended faster than I expected.

"Maggot Brain" is followed by several shorter songs that play with the common ground of soul, rock, funk, and psychedelia. Comparisons to Sly and the Family Stone are possible, but this album rocks much more than Sly did. The album not only uses the rock sound, but is also filled with the spirit of a rock band. "Can You Get to That" and "Hit It and Quit It" should have been covered by the Black Crowes at some point. "Super Stupid" could easily be tweaked to fit into either Led Zeppelin's or Grand Funk Railroad's discography. The album comes to a close with another long song - the nine minute "Wars of Armageddon" that throws in samples of airport intercom announcements, explosions, protest chants, and numerous babies, guitars, sirens, and angry folks wailing.

Songs I knew I liked: None

Songs I didn't know but now like: While I've downloaded tracks I've discovered off of albums I've reviewed while going through the Rolling Stone Top 500, this is the first album that I plan on downloading the whole thing. Of particular interest to me were "Maggot Brain," "Can You Get to That," and "Super Stupid"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: None I would never want to listen to again, but I could see myself skipping past "Back in Our Minds."

Writer's Block: Snacks, don't fail me now

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I'll try to keep this short and focus on items I currently crave when I need comfort.

1. Mexican food - tacos from El Cazador, chicken fajita quesadilla and cheese dip from Casa Blanca, homemade burritos

2. Berry family recipe for spaghetti

3. mac and cheese with sliced deli ham mixed in

485 - Loretta Lynn - All Time Greatest Hits

Yup, a greatest hits of a country legend. What would you expect from this album. While I definitely didn't know all of the songs, I clearly hear why most of these are great songs.

What struck me at first listen was the strength of Loretta's protagonists in her songs. These are not shy women that just float through life. "Happy Birthday" is a kiss-off song to her beau. "You Ain't Woman Enough" is the verbal battle that happens before a cat fight over a man. There are five duets with Conway Twitty that usually has him playing the role of the drunk and/or cheating man and she the heartbroken, but not defeated woman. Some of these stories even have a good helping of humor, such as "One's on the Way" ("Here in Topeka the flies are a buzzin'/The dog is a barkin' and the floor needs a scrubbin'/One needs a spankin' and one needs a huggin' Lord one's on the way/Oh gee I hope it ain't twins again").

Songs I knew I liked: "Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)," "Coal Miner's Daughter," "One's on the Way," "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," "Out of My Head and Back in My Bed"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Wine, Women, & Song," "Happy Birthday," and "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: There are none I would never want to hear again at some point.