296 - Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - We're Only In It For the Money

If you are looking for an artist who thumbs his nose at convention, shifts from one musical style to another, and has a wicked sense of humor...Frank Zappa should be at the top of your list. I've known Frank mostly from reputation with sporadic exposure to his music that validated the quirky, jazz-tinged song constructs with biting lyrics that I had read about. We're Only In It For the Money certainly embodies all of these qualities. One quick disclaimer I have to make is that I was listening to the 1980's remix that put back the censored lyrics in "Mother People" but also used a different rhythm track from the original release.

The album is composed of nearly 20 tracks, but most of those songs are less than 3:30 and about half are even shorter then 2:30. The songs tend to segue right into the next track and have a lot of false stops and changes in melody during the course of a song, so there were certainly times in the first couple of listens where it took me a minute to figure out which song I was actually listening to.

One of the more intriguing aspects to me is Frank's use of snippets of sound that he uses and reuses in various parts of the album. This is essentially the same approach that Brian Wilson was taking at the same time when working on Smile. Sure enough, there are aspects of American musicals that I hear in this album and the final release Brian did of Smile this past decade.

Songs I knew I liked: None

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Who Needs the Peace Corps," "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?," "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance," and "Mother People"

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

295 - The Smiths - Meat is Murder

I listened to the original UK release, which did not include "How Soon Is Now?" With that track not on the album, these songs were new to me (granted, I've been in the room when others have played The Smiths, so I may have been exposed to these before...but I certainly didn't remember any of these songs). Moreso than the other Smiths albums, Meat is Murder rocks a little more to me. While I've heard the similarities with some songs on other Smiths albums, this one definitely makes it more obvious to me that REM and The Smiths were very much different sides of the same jangly coin.

The songs on Meat is Murder vary enough that I didn't get mopey from being saturated in gloom and preciousness like I felt when listening to other Smiths albums on this list. The thought had crossed my mind previously, but hearing "Barbarism Begins At Home" really made me see and hear the similarities between 70's Roxy Music and what the Smiths were doing. My overall feeling on this album after repeated listenings is that I enjoyed the experience more, but the only song I enjoyed enough to WANT to hear it again is "What She Said."

Songs I knew I liked: None

Songs I didn't know but now like: "The Headmaster Ritual" and "What She Said"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: None I want to actively avoid, but there were plenty of tracks that just left me feeling "meh."