Mark Freedman’s Blog

Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

I haven’t posted in months, due to many reasons, none of which anyone probably cares much about. Recently, though, I started a new blog, which is focused on music. You see, I’ve noticed that my blog was losing focus, jumping from topic to topic. But a recurring topic was music; enough so that I thought it was time to separate that part of the blog into Magic Music Passion.

Besides, my articles on this new site are shorter, since the music is the focus. This, along with my recent Twitter habit, is allowing me to work on becoming more concise with my writing. Which is a good thing, IMO.

I’ll steal what I wrote in my “Hello World” post on the new blog, to explain what I want to accomplish there:

I’m hijacking the default sample “new WordPress blog” post to welcome you to share one of my passions — that edge of the musical world where magic lives. The kind of music which takes us to a place and time we can usually only travel in our hearts and our minds. The music that takes us to another level of consciousness. A place where some people use drug as their vehicle, but where we use the most natural drug of all — music.

Join me in sampling some of the most magical music I’ve ever been privileged to have experienced. And in turn, I look forward to sharing in the music that makes you feel the same.

There are no boundaries in the music that takes us there. I’ll begin the conversation with a lot of the most special music that I have ever experienced, both in song and in album, from classical to pop / rock. But feel free to continue the conversation in whatever music touches you.

I’ll see you where magic meets music…

I will continue to post here on my main blog, sometimes cross-posting, but it will focus more on things other than music. This means technology topics from the point of view of someone who has been in the business for over 25 years, spending much of the recent past in leadership roles. It will also focus on related topics, such as education, community, and productivity. But until I get back into practice, I’ll continue to exercise my writing chops on the new blog for a bit longer, and get some of that out of my system.

Thanks for hanging with me.

If you don’t recognize the reference of the title, it’s based on a song from the old Wonderama TV show, “Kids are People Too”.

Since the latest U2 album was leaked (and subsequently released), there’s been a remarkable reaction, which has me thinking again about something that I’ve always found curious. The range of opinions on the album is extraordinary. Although the percentage of people who love the album as compared to those who don’t like it is around an 85 to 15 ratio, the minority is vocal, and feel very strongly about how they feel. Some of them are long time U2 fans who are deeply disappointed. For people like me, who absolutely love the album, and think its some of their best work ever, it’s as hard to understand their point of view, as it is for them to understand how people could like it.

And I think I know why.

Songs are a lot like people.

Did you ever have a friend who was dating someone you couldn’t stand, or who was the last person in the world you’d ever think they’d be with? Exactly. Human / human relationships are based on a complex chemical relationship. You can call it physical or spiritual; it doesn’t matter. But our relationship with music has exactly the same basis. It’s entirely personal, and there is nothing you can ever do to force people to feel how you do about an album or song.

Music is one of the wonders of the world. Mathematicians and music theorists have always tried to explain our relationship with music. But I think we understand it as well as we understand human / human relationships. That is — very little.

You know how hearing just a few notes of a song can trigger a memory or a feeling? Doesn’t the same happen in fleeting moments with other people?

And yet, we still tend to give music the benefit of a doubt more than we do other people. You’re familiar with the saying, “first impressions last“, right? That’s almost always true for relationships between people. It’s extremely rare that a person get a second chance after meeting someone for the first time, to change the impression they’ve projected. But with music, we sometimes admit that some music needs to “grow” on us. “It’s a grower,” we’d claim. How often do we say that about people? “Yeah, John may grow on me.” I think we can learn something there, and it shakes up my theory a bit, but nevertheless…

…well, there’s another difference between music and people. Songs don’t have feelings. Well, I take that back — songs have proxies for feelings — the people who like them. We’ll stick up for music like it’s our own spouse or kids. We feel hurt when other people don’t like the same albums we like. Especially if we generally respect their taste in music. Just like we felt frustrated when our best friends didn’t like our boyfriend / girlfriend.

And that’s why we see so many passionate debates about topics like the latest U2 album. Debates that turn into mudslinging affairs where everyone ends up feeling hurt. Besides politics and religion, there’s nothing people get more passionate about than music. Well, maybe Macs vs. PCs, but that’s usually reserved for weirdo techies like myself.

Did you ever immediately click with someone that your friends hated? The type of person you’d usually avoid? Well, did you ever get into a song or album of a type of music you usually could not stand? Humans and music share an extremely complex relationship. If you break a person down into all their different personality traits, you’d never get to the bottom of their essence. Humans are much more than the sum of their parts. Music is the same. Even a simple-sounding song, as, say, “The Day Before The Day” by Dido. It’s easily one of my favorite songs of all time, but it’s really very simple. All it takes is a hook in a couple of right places, inflection here and there, a note placed perfectly, and the right pause between a couple of notes or lyrical phrase, and it’s taken to a level that can only be reached as a whole.

Why do you think Pandora requests input on each song it plays for you, even though it has an advanced “genome” recognition system? It’s because they realize the complexity of music and our musical tastes. No matter how advanced their analytical system is, there’s no way they’ll ever be finished learning about our tastes.

So, when the rest of your family sees dear old Aunt Beatrice as a whacko, don’t hold it against them. They just never gave her a chance to “grow” on them. Just like you never let “No Line on the Horizon” grow on you.

If you love the new U2, great. You’re happy. If you’re disappointed in it, although it doesn’t feel very good right now, don’t worry. Listen to the U2 you loved in the past. Listen to other music — there’ so much out there. As the old saying goes, “there are other fish in the sea.” And you are definitely not alone.

But you may want to give “Aunt Beatrice” another chance.

Five years ago, I jumped the gun, and declared U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” a great album, and a potential classic. Looking back now, although it’s still an album full of some amazing pop songs, my susceptibility to hyperbole got the best of me. I let the emotions of unexpected success at the advanced age of my favorite band persuade an over-the-top review.

I intentionally tried to avoid the same situation this time around. I gave myself a couple of weeks after the leak of the album in order to be a little more objective. It was hard. Very, very hard. And I failed… I failed fast. But first, about that leak…

Communal Experience

Actually, I’m not even going to get into a debate on one side or the other about listening to the leak, but as a mass majority, U2 fans pre-order their albums — and usually the “limited edition,” “gold plated,” “signed with Bono’s blood” box sets, anyway. And when the band releases a new album, it absolutely requires a communal listening party. It’s no wonder 100,000 copies were downloaded within hours (if not minutes) of the accidental (?) leak (actually, a premature release) on an Australian online store, Getmusic.au. You cannot keep a U2 fan from this. And the response was deafening.

That’s one of the reasons holding myself back from this review was so incredibly difficult. I was dying to share my judgment of the music beyond mere descriptions and comparisons with earlier works. While my friends and co-fans were freely rating the album, I absolutely refused. There was a single trait about this album, though, that eased the difficulty just a smidge. It required repeated listenings. There was no way to comfortably form an opinion without several run-throughs. And that was a very, very good sign for the album.

But I compressed two weeks of listening into three days. So, I can hold back no longer. But at least I feel so much more comfortable sharing my feelings this time around.

Overall Impressions

I will start out by saying that this is the most diverse set of songs they have ever placed on a single album — and the fact that it makes for a cohesive whole is remarkable. “Achtung Baby” is a classic, but around half of the songs on that sound like they were cut from the same cloth. That just isn’t the case with “No Line”. This album ought to quiet the fans who’ve been clamoring for “something different”. They should be in heaven right about now.

If the album wasn’t a success, I would still give the band major kudos for the simple fact that they had the guts and confidence at the ripe old age of… uh… me, to put out their most daring collection in over a decade. They finally stayed away from safe — and let’s face it — “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and the “Bomb” are ultimately both very “safe” albums. Remarkable in the fact that they could come back from such a commercial disaster as “Pop”, but safe, nonetheless. I will never, ever again question their ability to continue to produce at such a creative level again. I will not be surprised if they do it again at the age of 60. Far cry from the Rolling Stones, eh? This album makes me feel young.

In 1991, we were pretty shocked when “The Fly” was released as the lead single off of “Achtung Baby”. But that was ok, because it was a grower, and was ultimately a great song, with perhaps the solo highlight of Edge’s career. This time around, they shocked us again, but not in a very good way. Sorry, but “Get On Your Boots” is not a great song, nor will it ever grow to be one. It’s a throwaway, albeit with the best video they’ve produced in ages. But it fits perfectly smack in the middle of this set of songs. As a matter of fact, one of “No Line”’s strengths in its cohesiveness is the track sequencing. It’s one of the best sequencing jobs they’ve ever done.

A Touch of Achtung

Shortly after “Boots” was released, someone leaked the B-side version of the title track. Although most people thought it was a much stronger song than “Boots”, a recurring theme was its “cheesiness”, mid-80’s sound. I wasn’t in that group, but I did understand their reaction to it. But at the same time, I knew from the “leaked” 22 second Wal-Mart clips that the album version would be a lot moodier and stronger. I was right, and it’s a great start to the album. It’s a bit dark, has more minor notes than most U2 songs, and is very driving. And it contains some very “Achtung Baby” guitar licks.

An 80’s Throwback

“Magnificent” has been a potential fan favorite since the infamous “beach clips”, and with good reason — it’s classic U2, with those signature Edge licks. But when I first heard it, I thought it was a bit repetitive. I really love it now, though, because it is so much deeper than that. That’s a general theme throughout this album. Nothing is as it seems on the surface. Much has been said about the “layered” feel to the songs on the album. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that they finished the album. “Pop”, “Zooropa”, and “October” have often been referred to as their “unfinished” albums. “October”, due to the rush to get out a sophomore effort, despite Bono losing his lyric notebook shortly before recording, “Zooropa”, due to the quick expansion from an intended “EP” to a full-blown experimental album between legs of the “Zoo” tour, and “Pop”, due to the early scheduling of that tour. But this was their longest stretch between albums, and they made good use of their time.

Although “Magnificent” is classic U2, it starts like no other. Is that a drum machine? Sort of 80’s, and doesn’t hint at where it’s going to take us. But I can see this intro getting fans excited at a concert. There’s a definite “Where the Streets Have No Name” rhythm throughout, but it’s quite unlike that anthem.

A Second Attempt

The third track, “Moment of Surrender” is U2 finally fixing the cheesy misstep of “Stuck in a Moment”. This is Bono at his most soulful, and is something quite new for U2. At nearly seven and a half minutes, it feels like half that, despite the deliberate, moody rhythm. It’s beautiful in a way that U2 has not expressed beauty before. Again, more minor notes than expected from U2. Listen in a quiet room, or with noise canceling headphones. You’ll hear it differently every time. I’m totally and completely surprised how much I love this song. It’s usually not my speed.

For Some, a Trip… For Others, a “Trip”?

The fourth track, “Unknown Caller” has gotten some extreme reactions amongst fans. Many absolutely love it, while others find it completely annoying for several reasons. I think it’s one of the best things they’ve ever recorded, and at this writing, is my favorite song on the album and the first track I “repeated”. The multiple voice “chant” effect bugs some people, but being an Arcade Fire fan, who absolutely loves “No Cars Go”, I’m a fan of it. You’ll hear more vocal participation on this album than any other before. I’d color this song “The Hands That Build America” meets “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” meets The Beatles, taken to a completely new level. And Adam owns this track. It’s over six minutes, and I always wish it never ends. But it does, and that’s ok…

A Taste of Pop — No, not THAT Pop

…because the next track is worth it. There’s a bit of “In A Little While” here, but this is so much stronger, and has single written all over it. It’s a pop song, but a stronger and more substantial pop song than most of what we’ve found on the last two albums. This also contains one of the best and most joyful (although somewhat derivative) bridges on the album. I can see them expanding this bridge live. Corny title, but great pop song, and really the only true pop song on the album.

Strongest Starting Five?

Ok, just about half way there now, and quite possibly the strongest start of any U2 album yet. The Joshua Tree owns the greatest three song start ever (and if they would have just swapped “Bullet the Blue Sky” with “Red Hill Mining Town”, it would have been the best five song start). But the streak ends here — enough has been said about “Get On Your Boots”, the middle track. But despite considering this a mediocre song, I never skip it, because it breaks up the album nicely in two.

Led Zeppelin, on a Hot Summer Night

I’m not a big fan of the style of the next song, “Stand Up Comedy”, which has often been likened to a Led Zep song, but U2 can pull this off better than most. Their range is amazing. I can see this as a surprise hit in the summer. It just seems like a hot summer song. There are some great guitar riffs here, and the chorus is incredibly catchy. The Edge is on fire.

A Successful Experiment

“Fez - Being Born” is “Zooropa”, part two. This is their most Radiohead-ish song, the most experimental of the album, and it flat-out works. The first time I heard it, though, I thought, “well, is that it?” I had heard it was a two-parter, and it just seemed like a blur in one part. But it all makes sense now. Repeated listening required for this one. You’ll hear something different each time. Now I hear “Rejoice”, from October.

Looking for Something Profound

It took me a very long time to get into “White as Snow”. I’m still not fully sold on it. I think it could have been taken to the next level, and the thing that saves it from being too generic is the great music behind it. It sounds like an old cowboy song, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just seems a bit more repetitive than they’ve done in the past. It feels like it’ll take off during the change around the 2:10 mark, but it falls away from that fairly quickly.

I’m not big on lyrics. It only makes much of a difference to me when it’s either completely corny (a LOT the last couple of albums), or profound. I’m looking for profound in “White as Snow” to get by the plainness. But I can’t really complain, because it’s still quality enough where I never skip it. And I can see this still growing on me.

Acrobat for the Masses

“Breathe” is the mainstream version of “Acrobat” — mainstream only in its accessibility. This has the chance of being a huge hit. The crazy time signature of the verses is what most gives it its “Acrobat” feel, and then it breaks into a conventional pace for the brilliant singalong chorus. This is a highlight of the album. You cannot go by the 22 second Wal-Mart clip. It’ll completely throw you off. Even if this doesn’t become a hit, it has “huge fan favorite” written all over it. This is a solid example of how U2 is willing to abandon playing it safe once more.

One Minor Disappointment?

“Cedars of Lebanon” has been the main disappointment for me, but only because I heard amazing things about this from the early listener reviews. The music is tremendous, but the vocals are monotonous. This is the second song I feel could have been so much more. It does get a lot better with repeated listening, so there’s still some hope. But as of now, this closer is a cross of “Grace” (never liked much at all) and “Wake Up Dead Man” (which I grew to love). So it’s somewhere in the middle.

Vocals

Bono’s vocal range hasn’t been this good in over a decade. I hope it remains this strong during the tour. He’ll never reach his “Lovetown Tour” peak again, but if he can be half as successful, we’re in for a treat. What’s very strange is that I’ve seen a few people comment on how he sounds like a tired rock star. I understand how music can be very subjective, but either someone’s voice cracks a lot, or it doesn’t — am I missing or ignoring something? I don’t know. To me, his voice has ALWAYS cracked at times, and I wonder if the comments are due to people comparing his voice to what they’ve always hoped it could be.

And to revisit the vocal chanting — I think it’s great, if only for showing how they’re a complete band, and everyone is getting a chance to sing now. I’m pretty sure Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno are two of the voices in there, too. It sounds like a celebration to me.

This is an exciting album, where hearing the opening bars of a song on the radio could thrill me. I can’t say the same feeling was there for the past two albums.

But Is It a Masterpiece?

Yet, the question remains: will “No Line on the Horizon” be considered a masterpiece? Well, if you consider a masterpiece something that is representative of an entire body of work, yet still unique unto itself… and if you consider that a masterpiece is where each song is strong enough to stand on its own, but the cohesive whole is greater than the sum of its parts… and if you consider that the band is secure enough in its own abilities to invite influences from artists both older and younger, yet still have a strong enough ego to know they can make it their own… and if you can revisit it without tiring of it, and if it can stand the test of time, then it has the potential to be considered a masterpiece. You can only speculate if a new album will eventually be thought of as a masterpiece by the masses. How much time passed before “Achtung Baby” was looked upon as one? “The Joshua Tree”? All the ingredients are there, except for time. That still remains.

4.8/5.0

I was reviewing my list of album addictions since 1990, and although I’ve had a hunch that I’ve been leaning towards female vocalists over the past several years, I didn’t realize how strongly that leaning was until now. Here’s a female / male count comparison list, by year, color-coded for dramatic effect. Bands with a relatively even mix (or no vocals) are in the last column:

Interesting, eh? Well, I find it interesting. Baffling.

Since 1998, the totals are 38:15:4. 70% female.
Before 1998, the totals are 19:38:1. 34% female.

A complete turnaround. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this should be. Is it a statistical anomaly, or a significant pattern?

It may be anomaly, or shifting personal tastes. It appears that the typical range of female vs. male vocalists in people’s music collections are much lower than the inverse of these percentages. And it’s getting harder to find female singers on the charts.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been ignoring the charts and subconsciously giving female artists more of a chance, or if it’s because I’m ignoring male vocalists because I’m growing tired of them. Or are most current male artists sounding like post-grunge monotony or whiny adolescent punks?

Is it that female artists are just not getting their due? Are they just bubbling under? Is it that they’re not getting enough airplay, and the reason they’re so hard to find in music collections is because of a lack of marketing?

I’m not sure what it is, and I don’t have the answers yet. All I know is that I’m completely addicted to female artists lately, and find myself listening so often I begin to question if I’m missing out on the male-dominated bands.

A huge passion of mine is music. Listening… and since 2001, playing. I started learning the guitar when I turned 40, and although I’m still not very good, I picked up enough to enjoy it a lot, and play several times a week. No audience (maybe my wife), but just for my own personal enjoyment. The trigger was U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. I was so excited that they were able to come out with something great again since the slippage of 1997’s Pop.

Because music is the background of my life, I rarely consider it a foreground topic here on my blog. I wonder why that should be? A few times, I considered running some sort of music related blog, posting articles or reviews about some of the more obscure (or not so obscure) artists that I like, to make others aware of them. Some music touches me so deeply that I feel I should help promote them.

I’ve also struggled whether or not I should post articles about music here, or should I have a dedicated blog for different topics. But this is MarkFreedman.com, so I should feel free to post about all my interests. I talked about this in my first post of the year. But I’ve yet to go through with the idea of dedicating a topic for each day of the week. I originally thought that music would be my weekend topic. But sometimes I feel more passionate about music than anything else, so I’d like to not limit it to weekends.

But…

But I don’t think I’m good at writing music reviews. I’ve done several on Amazon.com, but I haven’t in a very long time, because I just don’t feel I use a musical vocabulary very well. Sometimes my album reviews unintentionally turn into hyperbole, because I often choose to write at the peak of my passion for them. I’m better off waiting a few months after my addiction to the album fades.

But I still have the issue of how to write a good review. I’d love to be able to write regularly, and to express my feelings about the music and the artists intelligently. So I started researching articles on how to write a review. (Don’t you hate it when people link every word in a sentence? Aren’t you glad I didn’t link the "a"?)

Until I finish digging through these articles, and feel comfortable enough to post what will likely be a pretty crappy first review, I want to throw out a list of the albums I became addicted to over the past several years. You know — those albums that become the only ones you listen to for a few weeks until you completely play them out? Maybe I’ll end up reviewing a few of these. You’ll recognize several, but there are many more obscure ones just below these which may make more interesting reviews one day. The years don’t necessarily reflect the years I became addicted. They’re the actual release years.

I find it fascinating that my favorite musical years seem to be the early to mid 90s. I grew up in the 60s and 70s, but although I love a lot of stuff from then and earlier, I definitely do not live in the past, and I’m not one of those who think good music ended at that time. That’s complete and utter bull, and I think it’s sad that so many people have missed out on great music quite simply because they’re stuck on just the music they grew up with. Great music is constantly being made, and continues to excite me.

This list is from 1990 on. Each year is sorted by artist (yeah, I sort by first name. So sue me. ). I’ll visit the earlier years in a follow-up article. My favorites of each year are in bold. You’ll notice certain patterns of styles I like. But some will throw you off. Some of these may surprise you. Some may shock you. What may surprise you more are some of the omissions. Good. Musical taste is completely subjective. And that’s one of the traits that make it one of the most amazing things in life.

• 2008 - Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

• 2007 - Alizée - Psychedelices
• 2007 - Angels And Airwaves - I-Empire
• 2007 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
• 2007 - Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing
• 2007 - KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic
• 2007 - Tegan & Sara - The Con
• 2007 - Vanessa Carlton - Heroes And Thieves

• 2006 - Keane - Under The Iron Sea
• 2006 - Killers, The - Sam’s Town
• 2006 - Natasha St. Pier - Longueur d’Ondes
• 2006 - Nina Gordon - Bleeding Heart Graffiti
• 2006 - Pink - I’m Not Dead
• 2006 - Shiny Toy Guns - We Are Pilots

• 2005 - 30 Seconds to Mars - A Beautiful Lie
• 2005 - Coldplay - X&Y
• 2005 - Natalie Imbruglia - Counting Down The Days
• 2005 - t.A.T.u. - Dangerous And Moving
• 2005 - Veronicas, The - The Secret Life Of

• 2004 - Alanis Morissette - So Called Chaos
• 2004 - Keane - Hopes & Fears
• 2004 - Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
• 2004 - Killers, The - Hot Fuss
• 2004 - Natasha St. Pier - L’Instant d’Apres
• 2004 - Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance
• 2004 - Tegan & Sara - So Jealous
• 2004 - U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

• 2003 - Alizee - Mes Courants Electriques
• 2003 - Dido - Life For Rent
• 2003 - Evanescence - Fallen
• 2003 - Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will
• 2003 - Julia Darling - Julia Darling
• 2003 - Michelle Branch - Hotel Paper
• 2003 - Nelly Furtado - Folklore
• 2003 - Tegan & Sara - If It Was You

• 2002 - Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept
• 2002 - Avril Lavigne - Let Go
• 2002 - Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
• 2002 - Tori Amos - Scarlet’s Walk

• 2001 - Angela Ammons - Angela Ammons
• 2001 - Michelle Branch - The Spirit Room
• 2001 - Natalie Imbruglia - White Lillies Island

• 2000 - Alizee - Gourmandises
• 2000 - Chantal Kreviazuk - Colour And Moving Still
• 2000 - Chumbawamba - What You See Is What You Get
• 2000 - Nina Gordon - Tonight And The Rest Of My Life
• 2000 - Smashing Pumpkins, The - Machina- The Machines Of God
• 2000 - U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind

• 1999 - Danielle Brisebois - Portable Life
• 1999 - James - Millionaires
• 1999 - Julia Darling - Figure 8

• 1998 - Hole - Celebrity Skin
• 1998 - Kent - Isola
• 1998 - Madonna - Ray Of Light
• 1998 - Stretch Princess - Stretch Princess
• 1998 - Tim Janis - Flowers In October
• 1998 - Tori Amos - From The Choirgirl Hotel

• 1997 - Chantal Kreviazuk - Under These Rocks And Stones
• 1997 - Chumbawamba - Tubthumper
• 1997 - Cool For August - Grand World
• 1997 - Natalie Imbruglia - Left Of The Middle
• 1997 - Radiohead - OK Computer
• 1997 - Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind

• 1996 - Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites
• 1996 - Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes Under The Stars
• 1996 - Matchbox Twenty - Yourself Or Someone Like You
• 1996 - Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
• 1996 - Sugarspoon - Sugarspoon
• 1996 - Superdrag - Regretfully Yours

• 1995 - Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
• 1995 - Belly - King
• 1995 - Garbage - Garbage
• 1995 - Juliana Hatfield - Only Everything
• 1995 - Oasis - What’s The Story (Morning Glory)
• 1995 - Radiohead - The Bends

• 1994 - Bush - Sixteen Stone
• 1994 - Heather Nova - Oyster
• 1994 - Danielle Brisebois - Arrive All Over You
• 1994 - Lush - Split
• 1994 - Live - Throwing Copper
• 1994 - R.E.M. - Monster
• 1994 - Oasis - Definitely Maybe
• 1994 - Stiltskin - The Mind’s Eye
• 1994 - Sponge - Rotting Pinata
• 1994 - Tori Amos - Under The Pink
• 1994 - Weezer - Weezer

• 1993 - Belly - Star
• 1993 - Catherine Wheel - Chrome
• 1993 - Counting Crows - August And Everything After
• 1993 - Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet
• 1993 - Dinosaur Jr. - Where You Been
• 1993 - Frank Black - Frank Black
• 1993 - Fury In The Slaughterhouse - Mono
• 1993 - Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
• 1993 - Radiohead - Pablo Honey
• 1993 - Suede - Suede

• 1992 - 10,000 Maniacs - Our Time In Eden
• 1992 - Cure, The - Wish
• 1992 - Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
• 1992 - Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

• 1991 - Billy Bragg - Don’t Try This At Home
• 1991 - Ned’s Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder
• 1991 - R.E.M. - Out Of Time
• 1991 - Roxette - Joyride
• 1991 - Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
• 1991 - This Picture - A Violent Impression
• 1991 - Tribe - Abort
• 1991 - U2 - Achtung Baby
• 1991 - Wonder Stuff, The - Never Loved Elvis

• 1990 - Abandoned Pools - Humanistic
• 1990 - Cars, The - Heartbeat City
• 1990 - Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas
• 1990 - Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining
• 1990 - Queensryche - Empire
• 1990 - Sinéad O’Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

Wow. 115 album addictions since 1990. And this year is a slow one. I’m not into some of these albums like I used to be. Remember — this is a list of albums I became addicted to at one time. Some I’ve just played out too much. Some I’ve lost the taste for. Also, I’m sure I’ll still be discovering others from these years that I wasn’t aware of, or I just haven’t given enough attention to, yet.

I also plan on putting together lists of some of my all time favorite songs. Magical songs. As you know all too well, some songs are the only great part of an otherwise crap album. But there are some amazing songs like that.

Save the music.

Some of you may be wondering what happened with our TDD and NUnit experimentation. Well, I had to switch my focus to Continuous Integration, while my development team continued on with NUnit. Despite our initial intention to just use the samples to learn from, they decided to experiment on an actual application of ours. I’ll discuss that and my experiences with CruiseControl.NET and Team City in the near future.