Disney Trip!

Our family spent April 9-14 down in Orlando with the great bulk of the time spent on Walt Disney World. The flight down was the first flight for Nigel and Harper. They both took the time in the planes in stride and had no issues. My brother, Mike, flew in to Orlando just 30 minutes after we arrived, but he had to leave on Tuesday morning.



( Disney's Wilderness Lodge )

( Epcot )

( Magic Kingdom )

( Universal Studios: Islands of Adventure )

( Disney's Hollywood Studios )

( Animal Kingdom )

( Misc. Info and Advice )

419 - Portishead - Dummy

I definitely fell in love with "Sour Times" when the album came out 17 years ago. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn't really care for the other tracks I heard from Dummy. I found the other songs that I heard from the album as too slow and quiet for my liking. Either age or repeated listens over the past 10 days has changed my mind. While I'm not about to rush out to buy the album, I've grown rather affectionate about several of the tracks.

I think it is fair to compare Portishead's sound on this album as a modern version of jazz cabaret or torch songs. Replace the piano player and drummer from the jazz tradition and replace with a programmer and guitarist, but maintain the sultry singer leading the audience through spare songs of love lost and found.

Songs I knew I liked: "Sour Times"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Strangers," "It Could Be Sweet," and "Numb"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Biscuit" started to grate on my nerves after repeat listens.

418 - Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run

I've been kicking myself for procrastinating my listening to this album. Others have encouraged me to give Band on the Run a listen for decades, but I never got around to it. What a mistake! This isn't a groundbreaking album or one with a lot to say, it is just a great collection of pop songs. And not just any pop songs, but "McCartney-pop" with lyrics that are there as a framework for the vocal melody and harmonies partnered with an interesting compositional structure that is stylish if not substantial. All Paul is saying with these songs is to sit back, be happy, and enjoy the listen.

WTF is "Band on the Run" supposed to be about? Who cares? It is a fun mini-suite that is filled with hooks and urges me to listen to it again and again.

As far as the inclusion of bits of "Jet" and "Mrs. Vanderbilt" in "Picasso's Last Words" and "Band on the Run" at the end of "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" is concerned, I like the idea. I have no problem with the reuse of portions of songs to bring a cohesiveness to an album. However, I wish Paul had invested some time to better embed those into the composition during the song writing stage. From what I hear, it seems these were tacked on late in the process.

I have added getting a deluxe version of this album with extras to my birthday gift list. Me want!

Songs I knew I liked: The title track and "Jet"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Bluebird," "Mrs. Vanderbilt," "Let Me Roll It," and "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: None, but I'm not all that fond of "Picasso's Last Words."

417 - U2 - Boy

During the Disney vacation, I listened to three of the Rolling Stone Top 500 albums. I spent the bulk of time listening to Band on the Run because of how it just clicked with me, focused on Dummy in the evenings to chill out, but found myself most puzzled by Boy. This album is part Echo & the Bunnymen (especially "Twilight" and "An Cat Dubh") and part hard rock anthem. When was the last time Tom Petty or Journey used a glockenspiel as was done for "I Will Follow?" The atmosphere and lyrics of the songs are what differentiates this album from what most would consider straight-ahead rock music.

While I've enjoyed this album, the songs (other than "I Will Follow") kind of blended together for me. Upon completing a listen, I couldn't immediately think of any songs that I needed to make a mental note about.

Songs I knew I liked: "I Will Follow"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "An Cat Dubh" and "Shadows and Tall Trees"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I didn't dislike any of the songs. I just had a bunch of songs that don't really interest me.