346 - De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising

3 Feet High and Rising is easily the rap album I listen to the most. I love the variety of samples from Pasemaster Mase and Prince Paul (Johnny Cash, Kraftwerk, Ben E. King, Billy Joel, Hall&Oates, Steely Dan, The Monkees), the humor found in nearly every track, and the laid back delivery of the Trugoy and Posdnous. This album was really far out on its own in 1989. It was light-hearted when rap seemed to be headed darker - from Public Enemy to the growth of gangsta rap.

The album is flush with 24 tracks with about half of them 2 minutes or shorter. Listeners get a lot of ideas thrown at them. For me, most of the tracks seem worthwhile. Would the album be worse if "De La Orgee" or "I Can Do Anything (Delacratic)" were cut? Nope, but I don't find the many quirky hit-and-run songs a distraction at all.

Songs I knew I liked: All

Songs I didn't know but now like: See previous

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: None

345 - Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

Yes, it's a compilation in the form of a live album. Sure, Stop Making Sense (as one expects from a live album) is dominated by the tracks of the previous studio album. But one of the strengths of this collection is how David and the others formatted the concert. Things start out spare with David on stage with an acoustic guitar and a boombox containing a basic rhythm track...and that's "Psycho Killer." For each song after that, a new instrument and/or vocal is added until the stage is filled with the largest touring band the Talking Heads had yet to assemble.

I must confess that regardless of my love for the Talking Heads, I own the film, but have never enjoyed the concert enough to buy the soundtrack. To be even more honest...I much prefer the 2CD The Name of This Band is Talking Heads to this album - both because of the sound of the band but also the song selection. Unfortunately, my feeling of pleasant apathy toward this album wasn't changed in my many repeated listens. First was the painful aspect of listening to the original 9 track listing. For over a decade, a listener could only hear 9 of the songs from the film when listening to Stop Making Sense. It wasn't until 1999 that a new "special edition" of the CD came out that presented essentially the film's songs on the album. Even when I listened to the expanded version of the album, I only enjoyed it as a good documentation of the band at that time. I guess the key for me is that I no longer really cared for the music that Talking Heads was making when this tour happened. I'm much more of a fan of their earlier music. Remain in Light is the end of when I enjoy their music and then just kind of like a scattering of tracks after that album.

Songs I knew I liked: "Psycho Killer," "Burning Down the House," "Once in a Lifetime," "Life During Wartime," and "Take Me to the River"

Songs I didn't know but now like: No new love discovered.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: None

344 - Lou Reed - Berlin

I am somewhat familiar with some Velvet Underground, but I'm pretty ignorant of Lou's solo work other than "Walk on the Wild Side." Before listening to the album, I read a few reviews. I read about this horribly bleak album that probably earned the award for the most depressing album ever. I pressed play and braced myself for overbearing heartbreak.

Sure, some of my delight on listening to Berlin has to do with how much I thought this album sounded like the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack...except with exponentially darker lyrics. The title track starts out quirky enough with ambient sounds of the city. But Lou brings out a series of well crafted songs immediately afterward. Maybe I'd dislike the album more if I paid attention to the lyrics more. I have listened to a good bit of the lyrics and can't deny the morbid tone of the story that this album tells - it even spurns any attempt to end with a happy ending with the closer "Sad Song." But part of the charm of Berlin is that this depressing story seems obviously crafted for use on the stage. A stage production of this album wasn't realized until recently, but listening to this album could make a listener think this is a soundtrack to an already established show.

I was surprised with how much I've enjoyed listening to the album this week. Even when I was planning to listen to "free music" instead of my Rolling Stone playlist, I found myself choosing to listening to many of the tracks on this album.

Songs I knew I liked: None

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Lady Day," "Men of Good Fortune," "Caroline Says I," "How Do You Think It Feels," "Caroline Says II," and "Sad Song"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again:"Berlin"

343 - Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell

Bat Out of Hell has the subtly of a telenovela or professional wrestling. It is a big album that lives by the mantra of "more is better." It isn't enough to have a choir of backup singers, those vocals are additionally chorused and more reverb is added for echo. Meat spends a lot of time shouting his lyrics at me. Every aspect of this production was turned up to 11.

Meat Loaf can sing well, but much of his singing is a kind of half-sung, half-shouted delivery. His vocals and much of the sound of the album seems to take the grandiose rock and roll storytelling recorded by Bruce Springsteen for Born to Run and give it a metal flavor. It turned out to be an interesting album to listen to after watching Rocky Horror during Halloween weekend and then to listen to Lou Reed's Berlin (an album that also sounds like it was originally recorded on a Broadway or West End stage). Bat Out of Hell has more of everything being thrown at the listener. I just found it overwhelming and overbearing.

Songs I knew I liked: None. I was familiar with "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" and "Paradise By the Dashboard Light," but certainly didn't like them.

Songs I didn't know but now like: Uh, no.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: The whole album...just not my cup of tea.

342 - Depeche Mode - Violator

Other than the memory of one embarrassing, drunken evening of making out with a stranger in college while this album blared from the stereo, I really love this album. I had always thought that Depeche Mode was okay. Each album of theirs had a song I liked, but even my favorite, Music for the Masses, had some sappy Martin songs and a few other throwaways. Not Violator.

I think Flood (the producer) deserves a lot of credit for giving the album a consistent atmosphere without being overbearing. The songs are also consistently good. Even the token Martin-sung song isn't an embarrassing experience.

Violator may not be a concept album, but I've always been intrigued by the theme I've heard in the album - a search for happiness that never seems to be found by the singer, no matter how many things he tries. "World in My Eyes" is a great opener that seems to help my case of a theme in the songs, as the singer introduces the listener to his world and asks for us to try to sympathize with his perspective. David and Martin sing songs that alter between strength and passiveness. The protagonist in "Personal Jesus" indicates complete confidence in his assertion to controlling his and others happiness. There is a struggle with guilt ("Halo"), drugs ("Sweetest Perfection"), reality ("Waiting for the Night"), and the curse of honesty ("Policy of Truth"). "Blue Dress" sounds so soft and docile, but the lyrics are demanding and commanding - "Put it on/ And don't say a word/ Put it on/ The one that I prefer/ Put it on/ And stand before my eyes/ Put it on/ Please don't question why." The only song where it sounds like the singer actually is content is "Enjoy the Silence." But it is indicated in the song that the silence is only temporary. The satisfaction found in the song is going to disappear fast. Just one sound will shatter the moment.

When the album wraps, David tries to convince us that everything is fine now, that's he's now clean. He no longer struggles with pain, guilt, or sadness. Or so he claims that he's clean..."sometimes." The listener isn't exactly left with an optimistic view that the songwriter's struggles are over.

Songs I knew I liked: The whole album

Songs I didn't know but now like: See previous

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I wouldn't mind if the little interlude between "Blue Dress" and "Clean" was removed, but I also kinda like it being there even though I will skip it when I'm listening to the tracks in shuffle.