Rob Climbs the Mountains of Music: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2020 4:10 pm
What is this now? This is a crazy little (well, not really little in scope) music project I thought up a while ago that I’m finally going to pursue. You see, music has one big problem: there is way too much of it. There is no keeping up with things that are coming out and then there is the huge legacy of music that already existed before I was even born. There are mountains beyond mountains of music and no way to seriously tackle it.
This year I have thought a little bit more about my music habits. The last couple of years, basically since becoming an active member of this forum, I have listened to more music than before, while at the same time perhaps pursuing my interests less. That has something to do with all the polls and games here. There are a lot of them, of which I don’t even play a fair lot, but still I feel I listen to more music ordained by these polls (especially the hefty Moderately Acclaimed game) than things I put on because I’m curious myself. When listening to many of my personal favorites for the current album poll I had a good time and noticed that indeed I might have missed staying a little closer to myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love discovering new music and these polls and games have been a valuable way of finding great albums in places I wouldn’t have looked. Still, I was thinking of a new approach.
There are all these canons with so much interesting music. This very site is of course a major canon, but there are many more. As of late I have come to be a bit fascinated with the RateYourMusic list. I may find the site itself a bit frustrating for discussions and reviews, but that list is a strange and quite wonderful beast. The RYM list can be brought to 7.500 albums (I see ranking until 10.000 appear, but don’t know how to access the final 2.500; not that I really need to at the moment) and AM currently ends at 3.000. A lot of albums appear on both lists of course, but they both have their flavor, with AM being more friendly to mainstream albums (the RYM community hates a ‘hit status’ with a passion), whereas RYM is better for finding hidden or idiosyncratic works. Both have their appeal and may I say charm. I wanted to use both lists combined for a new chapter in listening.
However, it didn’t appeal to me to just go down the lists in order. That would be too much of being guided again and would leave to little room for my own interests. I haven’t heard Michael Jackson’s Thriller yet for a reason: I really don’t want to. Besides, these lists are too long for such an approach. So I thought of something else. Work my way up the list and pick one album out of every ten I pass. Take for example the last ten albums of the AM list:
2991. Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man in the Universe
2992. Ol’ Dirty Basterd - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
2993. Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won
2994. Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night
2995. Descendents – Milo Goes to College
2996. Bobby Timmons – This Here is Bobby Timmons
2997. Sonny Rollins – East Broadway Run Down
2998. Fatboy Slim – Better Living Though Chemistry
2999. John Martyn – One World
3000. The Prodigy – Experience
From these ten I would pick one that would at the moment of choice be something I would want to hear and listen to it a few times and write a review. How many times? As many as I feel like, probably spread out over several days. There are no other criteria for choosing an album besides that I want to. And after I’m done I move up to 2981-2890 and pick another one, and so on and so on. At the same time I will chose another album from the final 10 of the RYM top 7.500.
There was one thing bothering me, though. It would take very long to get to the top albums. So, to make things perhaps a bit more confusing for this explanation I decided to make even more alternations: I’ll first pick an album of the bottom of both lists, than one from the top, back to the bottom again, and so on until they meet in the middle.
Yes, this project is massive. I would end up listening to 300 albums from AM and 750 from RYM. We’ll see if I’ll finish it. To me it really is one of those journey-is-more-important-than-the-destination-things, like my earlier top 10.000 Songs project.
It is also a self-contained project, perhaps more something for a blog, but I post it here for now. Still, I like communication on this forum so if you want to take the journey along with me, either by listening to my choices or pick your own choices based on the same formula, I’d be happy to hear it.
A few little notes:
- When I use the RYM list I have live and archival albums switched on. I think these are vital types of albums that I want to check out, but note that this might explain why mentioned rankings differ from the ones you see on RYM in general.
- Also concerning RYM, the list is updated weekly, I believe somewhere around Tuesday. This means that an album might have a different ranking by the time I post a review in comparison to when I picked it (this has already happened with my first pick). Regardless of the update I’ll keep climbing the list in brackets of ten. If AM updates somewhere during this period I will likewise remain on the position I am in.
These are the first two albums I start with:
From AM: Bobby Timmons – This Here Is Bobby Timmons
From RYM: Neil Young – Sleeps With Angels
All the albums up til now, in alphabetical order:
10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe
10cc - The Original Soundtrack
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
James Brown - 'Live' at the Apollo
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
Neneh Cherry - Blank Project
Dälek - Abandoned Language
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Fishmans - 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
It's a Beautiful Day - It's a Beautiful Day
Mahalia Jackson - Newport 1958
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy
Joy Division - Closer
Julie London - Julie Is Her Name
Lycia - The Burning Circle and Then Dust
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Aimee Mann - Lost in Space
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nas - Illmatic
Outlaws - Outlaws
Planxty - The Well Below the Valley
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
Rustie - Glass Swords
Jeremiah Sand - Lift It Down
Slint - Spiderland
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Subhumans - From the Cradle to the Grave
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Bobby Timmons - This Here Is Bobby Timmons
Neil Young - Sleeps With Angels
This year I have thought a little bit more about my music habits. The last couple of years, basically since becoming an active member of this forum, I have listened to more music than before, while at the same time perhaps pursuing my interests less. That has something to do with all the polls and games here. There are a lot of them, of which I don’t even play a fair lot, but still I feel I listen to more music ordained by these polls (especially the hefty Moderately Acclaimed game) than things I put on because I’m curious myself. When listening to many of my personal favorites for the current album poll I had a good time and noticed that indeed I might have missed staying a little closer to myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love discovering new music and these polls and games have been a valuable way of finding great albums in places I wouldn’t have looked. Still, I was thinking of a new approach.
There are all these canons with so much interesting music. This very site is of course a major canon, but there are many more. As of late I have come to be a bit fascinated with the RateYourMusic list. I may find the site itself a bit frustrating for discussions and reviews, but that list is a strange and quite wonderful beast. The RYM list can be brought to 7.500 albums (I see ranking until 10.000 appear, but don’t know how to access the final 2.500; not that I really need to at the moment) and AM currently ends at 3.000. A lot of albums appear on both lists of course, but they both have their flavor, with AM being more friendly to mainstream albums (the RYM community hates a ‘hit status’ with a passion), whereas RYM is better for finding hidden or idiosyncratic works. Both have their appeal and may I say charm. I wanted to use both lists combined for a new chapter in listening.
However, it didn’t appeal to me to just go down the lists in order. That would be too much of being guided again and would leave to little room for my own interests. I haven’t heard Michael Jackson’s Thriller yet for a reason: I really don’t want to. Besides, these lists are too long for such an approach. So I thought of something else. Work my way up the list and pick one album out of every ten I pass. Take for example the last ten albums of the AM list:
2991. Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man in the Universe
2992. Ol’ Dirty Basterd - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
2993. Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won
2994. Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night
2995. Descendents – Milo Goes to College
2996. Bobby Timmons – This Here is Bobby Timmons
2997. Sonny Rollins – East Broadway Run Down
2998. Fatboy Slim – Better Living Though Chemistry
2999. John Martyn – One World
3000. The Prodigy – Experience
From these ten I would pick one that would at the moment of choice be something I would want to hear and listen to it a few times and write a review. How many times? As many as I feel like, probably spread out over several days. There are no other criteria for choosing an album besides that I want to. And after I’m done I move up to 2981-2890 and pick another one, and so on and so on. At the same time I will chose another album from the final 10 of the RYM top 7.500.
There was one thing bothering me, though. It would take very long to get to the top albums. So, to make things perhaps a bit more confusing for this explanation I decided to make even more alternations: I’ll first pick an album of the bottom of both lists, than one from the top, back to the bottom again, and so on until they meet in the middle.
Yes, this project is massive. I would end up listening to 300 albums from AM and 750 from RYM. We’ll see if I’ll finish it. To me it really is one of those journey-is-more-important-than-the-destination-things, like my earlier top 10.000 Songs project.
It is also a self-contained project, perhaps more something for a blog, but I post it here for now. Still, I like communication on this forum so if you want to take the journey along with me, either by listening to my choices or pick your own choices based on the same formula, I’d be happy to hear it.
A few little notes:
- When I use the RYM list I have live and archival albums switched on. I think these are vital types of albums that I want to check out, but note that this might explain why mentioned rankings differ from the ones you see on RYM in general.
- Also concerning RYM, the list is updated weekly, I believe somewhere around Tuesday. This means that an album might have a different ranking by the time I post a review in comparison to when I picked it (this has already happened with my first pick). Regardless of the update I’ll keep climbing the list in brackets of ten. If AM updates somewhere during this period I will likewise remain on the position I am in.
These are the first two albums I start with:
From AM: Bobby Timmons – This Here Is Bobby Timmons
From RYM: Neil Young – Sleeps With Angels
All the albums up til now, in alphabetical order:
10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe
10cc - The Original Soundtrack
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
James Brown - 'Live' at the Apollo
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
Neneh Cherry - Blank Project
Dälek - Abandoned Language
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Fishmans - 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
It's a Beautiful Day - It's a Beautiful Day
Mahalia Jackson - Newport 1958
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy
Joy Division - Closer
Julie London - Julie Is Her Name
Lycia - The Burning Circle and Then Dust
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Aimee Mann - Lost in Space
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nas - Illmatic
Outlaws - Outlaws
Planxty - The Well Below the Valley
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
Rustie - Glass Swords
Jeremiah Sand - Lift It Down
Slint - Spiderland
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Subhumans - From the Cradle to the Grave
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Bobby Timmons - This Here Is Bobby Timmons
Neil Young - Sleeps With Angels