5 CDs You Need to Buy

Podcast: 5 CDs You Need to Buy
Format: mp3
Size: 39.2 MB
(To listen, right click the link above, and save as a file on your computer.)

For those of you not familiar, Tom created this beast called the Shaddup and Listen club, which started as disks of random tunes that would get sent to us at random intervals. Eventually, we, the recipients of these disks, launched a counter-strike and started creating our own S&L Disks. And, now, we have this Web site, shaddupandlisten.com.

What follows is one of the S&L disks created by me in November 2004. This disk was part of a series of S&L disks we agreed to create called 5 CDs you need to buy. The idea was to choose three tracks from 5 CDs in an effort to convince the recipients that these were 5 CDs they really needed to buy. I'm not sure how successful I was in my choices. Which CDs did you guys buy?

I think this would be an interesting exercise each week, to create a list of 5 CDs that I think everybody should buy. The list wouldn't have to change every week but it should reflect my thoughts on what I think the top 5 hot and fresh (relatively) CDs are right now.

November 2004

Well, here it is, The Shaddup and Listen Club Volume 7 - 5 CDs You Need to Buy.

This was a hard task. I’ve spent the last several months struggling my with my selections, adding artists, removing artists, creating lists, deleting lists. If you remember the rules of the game -- 5 CDs, three tracks each -- it sounds simple. But it is not that easy!

Implied in the rules is the understanding that you don’t already own the CDs. So, I needed to choose 5 CDs that you probably don’t already own. Sorry Tom, but for you this would have been an impossible task. I assume you already own all of these. J

I feel I should apologize to some of the artists who made amazing CDs I didn’t include here. If you don’t already own the following CDs, go out and buy them. I didn’t include them here because I assume you already own them, they are already huge hits, or they are more than a couple of years old. My sincerest apologies to:

David Baerwald – Triage A very intense album with some of the fattest bass lines I’ve ever heard… listen to this on headphones!
Daniel Lanois – Acadie Hated this album for years… now it is in my Top 5. Is it possible to be both dream-like and folk-ish?
Pete Yorn – Musicforthemorningafter An amazing talent. Pete Yorn has a very interesting voice. I feel like I know him.
Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball Who knew? She is amazing and this album is, in my opinion, her best.
Los Lobos – Kiko Their most adventurous album. A must listen.
Ben Folds Five –Whatever and Ever, Amen Take Joe Jackson’s first album, and put it to piano… and you have this -- great energy, fun songs, tons of heart.
Fountains of Wayne – Utopia Parkway Is this America’s greatest pop song writer? I think so.
Guster – Lost and Gone Forever A good band becomes great with the help of Steve Lillywhite.
The La’s – The La’s Only one album… Steve Lillywhite again. One pissed off songwriter who gave up on music forever after.
Semisonic – Feeling Strangely Fine Good, good, good. Love it.

And so many more! Gomez. Modest Mouse. Coldplay. The Postal Service. Sufjan Stevens. (added more here after the fact: Dungen, The Shins, Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Geraint Watkins, New Pornographers, Magnetic Fields, Komeda, Spoon.)

Buy these CDs!

CD 1: Rufus Wainwright – Want One
This CD is like no other in my collection. It has an operatic quality to it, dramatic, artful, sophisticated, and romantic. You won’t be able to rock out, but you will be intrigued and entranced.
Oh What A World – Track number one from the album. I feel like I should be wearing a tux when I listen to this track.
My Phone’s on Vibrate For You – Hilarious and melancholy at the same time. Amazing!
Movies of Myself – This track is the closest to radio-friendly that you’ll find on the album. It actually has a beat.

CD 2: Eels – Daisies of the Galaxy
You may remember a band from the 80’s called A Man Called E. They had a hit with Hello Cruel World. Anyway, that band and this one were both fronted by “E” (Mark Everett.) You’ve probably heard a few songs by Eels too, such as Novacaine for the Soul. His stuff is sometimes brilliant and sometimes terrible, but always interesting. Listen to these three songs and I think you’ll see what I mean.
I Like Birds – My kids love this song, and so do I. I don’t understand it, but I don’t care.
Flyswatter – This song is a great creepy song. Again I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. Field mice, head lice, spiders in the kitchen. Don’t think twice ‘bout whatever keeps you itchin’. Ice water, Flyswatter, gonna get you through the day.
Untitled – This was an untitled/hidden track at the end of the album, sometimes called Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues. This song can make any rainy day seem sunny. But, once again, what the hell is he talking about?

CD 3: Ben Kweller – On My Way
I just discovered this guy about a month ago and now I can’t stop listening to the CD. I listen to it twice a day, every day. It has a stripped down garage band feel. You can almost hear the orange shag carpet on the walls. Now I’ve picked up his earlier album and an EP he did with Ben Folds and Ben Lee, called the Bens -- Highly recommended!
I Need You Back – Track number one from the album. A perfect song. Listen to it on headphones. The guitars are coming from opposite speakers.
Hospital Bed – This song cracks me up! It is completely hilarious and it has one of the best, most rocking choruses I’ve ever heard. I love the interplay between the piano and the guitar.
The Rules – I love the way this guy can write such a simple song and make it so damned interesting.

CD4: Old 97’s – Fight Songs
Here’s where the CD takes a turn South. How do you feel about alt-country? Not sure? Take Chris Isaak and Neil Young, blend well, let sit for 10 years, and you have Old 97’s (and Wilco, for that matter.) If you like the first two songs here, you’ll like Old 97’s earlier stuff a lot. I you like the last song, Lonely Holiday, you’ll like the lead singer, Rhett Miller’s, solo album… I love that album!
Jagged – A song about how we all felt in High School, jagged, uncomfortable, lonely, and in desperate need of medication!
What We Talked About – The soundtrack for a Mexican standoff. It sounds like it should be in a Quentin Tarantino film.
Lonely Holiday – The album is packed with songs like this -- perfect pop songs about love and loneliness. I could go on all day about how great these songs are.

CD5: Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Imagine driving alone at two in the morning on two-lane freeway through Nebraska with a cup of coffee in your hand… the radio comes in and out… then this music squeaks through the speakers from God only knows where.

And if that doesn’t sell you, then you should buy this album based on the lyrics of the first song alone:

“I’m an American aquarium drinker,
I assassin down the avenue…
“I want to hold you in the bible black pre-dawn
You’re quite a quiet domino, bury me now.”
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart – This song sets the mood for the whole album and could have been an album in itself. I wish it would never end.
Heavy Metal Drummer – “I miss the innocence I’ve known, playing Kiss covers, beautiful and stoned.” ‘nuff said. And don’t miss the Gary Wright sound in the Chorus outro. I’m there.
I’m the Man Who Loves You – More 70’s style pop. It sounds like something America might have played. Great, GREAT SONG! I love the way it starts as a complete train wreck and ends that way too.

--Geoff

P. S.

Hey, I am already thinking ahead to the next themed S & L Club. “Best First Album Ever” What would it be? Cars? Pretenders? Other?

I look forward to getting your CDs!