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Music

22: You Don’t Mess Around With Jim (Jim Croce)

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Album: You Don’t Mess Around With Jim
Artist: Jim Croce
Year: 1972

1. You Don’t Mess Around with Jim
2. Tomorrow’s Gonna Be a Brighter Day
3. New York’s Not My Home
4. Hard Time Losin’ Man
5. Photographs and Memories
6. Walkin’ Back to Georgia
7. Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)
8. Time in a Bottle
9. Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)
10. Box #10
11. A Long Time Ago
12. Hey Tomorrow

A common crack about Jim Croce is that people are surprised to find out he died when he was 30 years-old because he looked like he was approaching 50 at the time. I think he also looked this age because his songwriting often sounded like a guy approaching middle age as well. While his songs are generally simple, the lyrics often carry a mature bent generally not seen in those in their 20’s. The guy did have a hard life, as thanks to his record company he died in debt despite his success. Apparently, his plan was to quit music after his last tour because he was constantly homesick for his wife and son. My father was on his way to see him in concert when Croce’s plane crashed.

Croce’s velvet voice carries his ballads. Time in a Bottle, written for his son, is one of the sweetest songs I’ve ever heard.  New York’s Not My Home is one of the more earnest city mouse/country mouse tales out there. Operator is corny but also one of the better songs about a conversation with an operator. Considering I’ve never had a conversation with an operator (and now never will), it shows how timeless Croce’s writing really is.

He adds a bit of twang for his more up-tempo country songs, such as You Don’t Mess Around with Jim and Rapid Roy. My favorite of these is Box #10.

Music

23: Big Love (Tracy Byrd)

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Album: Big Love
Artist: Tracy Byrd
Year: 1996

1. Big Love
2. Cowgirl
3. Good Ol’ Fashioned Love
4. Don’t Take Her She’s All I Got
5. If I Stay
6. Don’t Love Make a Diamond Shine
7. Tuscon Too Soon
8. I Don’t Believe That’s How You Feel
9. Driving Me out of Your Mind
10. I Love You, That’s All

Tracy is probably best known for Watermelon Crawl, and it’s my favorite song by him as well. But while his earlier albums had a few monstrous hits, the filler was exceptionally poor.  His third album, Love Lessons, nearly made the list. When his fourth album came out, I was blown away.  While not every song here is amazing, it really feels like these ten songs were meant to be together, which is a fine achievement considering that the ten songs had nine different writers. Not a big fan of the album title, but the cover is nice, and implies Byrd’s big love is the expanse of nature.

Gary U.S. Bonds wrote Don’t Take Her She’s All I Got, which has been a big hit for everyone who’s recorded it, including Byrd. Big Love was the other smash from the album, and it’s a decent opener. Cowgirl is great tongue-in-cheek country swing. If I Stay is a sad, up-tempo break-up song but it would also make a great ballad in any genre. I Love You, That’s All is another break-up song, and one I kind of modeled my own break-ups after (i.e. not being a whiny ass about it).

After this album, Byrd kind of went good ol’ boy for a while, and he slowly rolled off the charts and he hasn’t done much lately. He’s one of several country artists whose favorite album of mine is their fourth, and most of them fell off a cliff afterwards. I think part of the reason is that a lot of them, once they make it big, stop singing about relationships and move towards family, or patriotism, or how awesome it is to be a redneck. In Tracy’s case, it was also because the filler got more boring than ever.

 

Music

24: Blue Moon Swamp (John Fogerty)

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Album: Blue Moon Swamp
Artist: John Fogerty
Year: 1997

1. Southern Streamline
2. Hot Rod Heart
3. Blueboy
4. A Hundred and Ten in the Shade
5. Rattlesnake Highway
6. Bring It Down to Jelly Roll
7. Walking in a Hurricane
8. Swamp River Days
9. Rambunctious Boy
10. Joy of My Life
11. Blue Moon Nights
12. Bad Bad Boy

The Grammy Award winner for Best Rock Album starts out with a country song, naturally. It’s only an average song and it tanked on the country charts, but it leads into the rest of the album pretty well. Hot Rod Heart is a simple rocker; decent, but nothing all that memorable. At this point the album proves why it deserved the Grammy.

Blueboy is classic Fogerty, a little bit country with some rockin’ electric guitar solos. Had it been released in rock’s hey-day in the 60’s, I have little doubt it would have been a top ten hit. A Hundred and Ten in the Shade is a low-tempo song that fits the mood of the title perfectly, and Fogerty is complimented with the perfect backing vocals of The Fairfield Four, a gospel group that has been around since 1921.

After that we have the hardest rocker of the album, though the lyrics on Rattlesnake Highway are a bit over the top. Walking in a Hurricane is the best hard-rocker here. Bring It Down to Jelly Roll is another good country/rock mix. The last half of the album has a bit less bite. Swamp River Days and Blue Moon Nights, while pleasant, are pretty generic songs reminiscent of the slow parts of the CCR albums.  Rambunctious Boy is the worst song, but not so bad as to ruin the mood. Joy of My Life is a ballad John wrote for his wife, and it’s fine.

Bad Bad Boy is an interesting way to wrap things up. It’s a decent rocker and it has a nice fade out at the end, but it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the album. It’s a bit disheartening that after working on this album for a decade, it doesn’t have a more consistent theme, but the production values are fantastic and it’s easy to tell he poured his heart and soul into each song. It’s a good thing, too, since shortly after this album’s release, Fogerty’s voice started to degrade. He’s had a few decent songs since, but the last ten years have not been kind to him vocationally. He can still sing his country songs, but anything that requires the howling voice like Up Around the Bend or Have You Ever Seen the Rain? can make your skin crawl.

Music

25: Just For You (Neil Diamond)

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Album: Just For You
Artist: Neil Diamond
Year: 1967

1. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon
2. The Long Way Home
3. Red Red Wine
4. You’ll Forget
5. The Boat That I Row
6. Cherry, Cherry
7. I’m a Believer
8. Shilo
9. You Got to Me
10. Solitary Man
11. Thank the Lord for the Night Time

I am an unabashed lover of Neil Diamond despite the fact that nearly all of his songs are complete fluff, with the rest being as cloying as possible. The passion he’ll imbue banal lyrics is admirable, and the guy can write a solid melody.

Just For You is his second album and it looks more like a greatest hits collection. Red Red Wine and I’m a Believer became famous because of UB40 and The Monkees, respectively, but he’s got six other pretty big hits here. And the non-singles aren’t too shabby either.

You Got to Me and Thank the Lord for the Night Time have significant harmony sections that my friend and I used to sing together late night at Perkins. Yes, we were those people. At least we tried to keep the volume down.

Music

26: Rabbit Fur Coat (Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins)

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Album: Rabbit Fur Coat
Artist: Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins
Year: 2006

1. Run Devil Run
2. The Big Guns
3. Rise Up with Fists!!
4. Happy
5. The Charging Sky
6. Melt Your Heart
7. You Are What You Love
8. Rabbit Fur Coat
9. Handle with Care
10. Born Secular
11. It Wasn’t Me
12. Happy (Reprise)

Jenny Lewis is more famous for Rilo Kiley and for starring in The Wizard, but has ventured out into solo work as well. While I’m not a big fan of her second solo album, Acid Tongue, where she invited a bunch of guest musicians to play along with her, I’m a huge fan of her collaboration with The Watson Twins.  There’s a pretty significant “finding religion” theme throughout, and it feels more like a manufactured theme than any genuine transformation for Lewis, but either way, it works for me.

The Watson Twins are an excellent complement to Jenny’s voice, especially on Rise Up with Fists!! and The Charging Sky, two fantastic songs. And for the most part, the lyrics tell pretty good stories. Melt Your Heart and You Are What You Love are a testament to her writing. Unfortunately, the album slides a bit after the latter. The title song, while a pretty painful story about a upper middle-class girl with a shitty mother, has a repetitive rhythm that sounds like a children’s song, and I don’t think it matches the lyrics. The rest of the songs are fine, but don’t stand out for me and I don’t feel motivated to finish the album.

But if you like Rilo Kiley, you have to give this album a listen.

Music

27: Mad Season (Matchbox Twenty)

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Album: Mad Season
Artist: Matchbox Twenty
Year: 2000

1. Angry
2. Black & White People
3. Crutch
4. Last Beautiful Girl
5. If You’re Gone
6. Mad Season
7. Rest Stop
8. The Burn
9. Bent
10. Bed of Lies
11. Leave
12. Stop
13. You Won’t Be Mine

I was very excited when this album came out and I came away feeling it was the best album I’d ever listened to. Mad Season is definitely more polished than the band’s first album, but as the years have gone by it has lost something. I think part of it lies in the first song, where Rob Thomas sings about how he’s not angry anymore. It’s autobiographical, as around this time Rob got engaged and a lot of the bitterness and cynicism kind of melted away. I’m happy for him, really, but while Mad Season still contains some passion, it is mostly missing the rawness that turned me on to them initially.

Rest Stop still contains that mood, but the chorus is repeated about eighty-four times, ruining the mood by the end. Stop is as angry as anything you’ll hear from Matchbox Twenty, but it’s one of the weaker songs lyrically. The songs that are great musically aren’t all that emotionally resonating.  Still, the music is good enough that I still enjoy listening to the album. There are no songs I dislike, and it ends on a pretty solid note with You Won’t Be Mine, a haunting tune featuring Thomas on the piano. Other favorites are Last Beautiful Girl, Black & White People, Mad Season and Bent.

I have liked virtually nothing Thomas has put out since this album. I felt More Than You Think You Are was wretched outside of the mediocre singles. And every single since has done nothing for me. His songs, initially inspired, have become incredibly generic and flat.

Music

28: No Easy Walk to Freedom (Peter, Paul and Mary)

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Album: No Easy Walk to Freedom
Artist: Peter, Paul and Mary
Year: 1986

1. Weave Me the Sunshine
2. Right Field
3. I’d Rather Be In Love
4. State of the Heart
5. No Easy Walk to Freedom
6. Greenland Whale Fisheries
7. Whispered Words
8. El Salvador
9. Greenwood
10. Light One Candle

Everyone’s favorite folk hippies are most famous for puffing on magic dragons, leaving on jet planes, and blowing in the wind. And while I certainly like all of that, this is my favorite collection. Right Field is a classic original, detailing the shame of playing right field for a Little League team.  Greenland Whale Fisheries is an almost 300 years old sea shanty and they do it justice. No Easy Walk to Freedom is a great tribute Nelson Mendela; I’m sure when he was freed four years later it was a fabulous day in the Peter, Paul, and Mary households.

My two favorite songs are State of the Heart, an elegant ballad by Peter, and El Salvador. It’s a scathing, powerful protest song about the then civil war that the U.S. was involved in, and it got the band booed at concerts. I was too young to be aware or concerned about the conflict, so it holds little emotional resonance for me. All I know is that Peter Yarrow rocks it out and it sounds awesome.

Music

29: Hoist (Phish)

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Album: (Hoist)
Artist: Phish
Year: 1994

1. Julius
2. Down with Disease
3. If I Could (with Alison Krauss)
4. Riker’s Mailbox
5. Axilla, Pt. 2
6. Lifeboy
7. Sample in a Jar
8. Wolfman’s Brother
9. Scent of a Mule
10. Dog Faced Boy
11. Demand

Hoist is Phish’s most pop-friendly album, put them on the map for general audiences, though their follow-up album, Billy Breathes, was even more popular. I like both albums, but this one has more of my favorite songs. I tend to prefer their songs that highlight the guitar and drums rather than Trey Anastasio’s voice. His voice is fine, but on some songs, like Lifeboy, he has this high-pitch monotone thing going that ruins everything.

The album begins with an upbeat jam in Julius that really sets the table. Down with Disease was the most popular single from the album; it’s done well, but lacks the bite I would like. If I Could is my favorite song on the album, thanks in no small part to Alison Krauss, who has now made two albums this week as a guest singer. It’s a simple but beautiful ballad.

Riker’s Mailbox is just thirty seconds of noise, but they got Jonathan Frakes to play trombone for it, which is pretty awesome. Axilla, Pt. 2 is a nice jam. I have no idea what the heck is going in Sample in a Jar, but it has a fantastic melody. Wolfman’s Brother is an extended jam with empty lyrics but I find it very relaxing. Scene of a Mule is a crazy folk song about a cowgirl who makes her mule take a dump to defeat hostile aliens. It’s funny, but not terribly pleasant to listen to very often.

Dog Faced Boy is an honest, acoustic ballad that I enjoy, but your mileage may vary.  I generally stop the album there. Demand is an extended jam following a guy driving recklessly down the freeway for several minutes before a terrible crash, followed by a prayer. The jam is okay, but not great, and too long to deal with.

Music

30: The Big Room (M2M)

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Album: The Big Room
Artist: M2M
Year: 2002

1. Everything
2. Jennifer
3. Don’t
4. Payphone
5. What You Do About Me
6. Love Left For Me
7. Miss Popular
8. Wanna Be Where You Are
9. Leave Me Alone
10. Sometimes
11. Eventually

Alright, hear me out.

Norwegians Marit Larsen and Marion Raven released their first album, Shades of Purple, while still in high school to pretty good success. They had a top 30 hit in Don’t Say You Love Me here in the states, and it went top 10 in several other countries as well. Mirror, Mirror, my favorite song of theirs, also did okay. They were popular among the Disney Channel crowd, released a ton of music videos, and toured relentlessly, or as much as teenagers can. Their songs consisted of pretty standard pop hooks and melodies, but their ballads were pretty bad.

Still in their late teens, they released The Big Room. They toured with Jewel, who was promoting This Way at the time, and I got to see them live. Their energy was infectious, they both play instruments, and their songwriting seemed a little more pointed than your average teen pop band, so I picked the album up. It really is well done.

Unlike their first effort, they wrote and were the lead writers on every song here, and it shows. They were obviously mature for their age, but still teenagers. I love this line from Jennifer:

She’s a fragile girl
Skin like porcelain
Shame on you, if you would hurt her

She’s adorable
Oh so vulnerable
I wish that somebody would drop her

On one hand, she idolizes this girl and doesn’t want her love interest to treat her poorly. On the other hand, she desperately wants this girl to break in some way so her love interest might turn his attention to her. Nothing terribly new, but refreshingly honest.

My favorite song, easily, is Don’t Say You Love Me. I’m sure a significant part of that is that I lived this song when I was a teenager. She is in love with a guy who also loves her back, but he’s too afraid to break up with his current girlfriend to be with her. She won’t let him cheat with her, but wants to be as supportive as possible. I was that guy, and was grateful I had someone mature and supportive on my side.

The girls also aren’t afraid to use some profanity on the album, though because their market was primarily young girls, there is some censorship.

While there’s not much here as far as top-tier music, it is certainly consistent in quality and energy from beginning to end, which is why I’ll spin the whole thing on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the studio broke up the band shortly after I saw them in concert due to poor sales, and they’re both now in solo careers. Marit’s has been much more successful, which is nice to see because she certainly has the better voice.

Music

31: Mud on the Tires (Brad Paisley)

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Album: Mud on the Tires
Artist: Brad Paisley
Year: 2003

1. Mud on the Tires
2. Celebrity
3. Ain’t Nothin’ Like
4. Little Moments
5. That’s Love
6. Somebody Knows You Know
7. Famous People
8. Hold Me in Your Arms
9. Whiskey Lullaby (with Alison Krauss)
10. The Best Thing I Had Going
11. The Cigar Song
12. Make a Mistake
13. Make a Mistake with Me (instrumental)
14. Is It Raining at Your House
15. Spaghetti Western Swing
16. Farther Along
17. Kung Pao

I promise is the final Paisley album on the countdown. Mud on the Tires is his third and the most consistent from beginning to end. Mud on the Tires is classic country, easy to listen and sing along to, and was an instant smash. Celebrity is a fun and honest critique of the desire to be famous. Then the album shoots off three decent consecutive slice-of-life songs before Somebody Knows You Know, a sad and cynical break-up song, showing off Paisley’s tenor voice.

Famous People is a cute song about an actress visiting small-town Kentucky.  Whiskey Lullaby is a crushing song about alcohol abuse and Krauss is great as usual. The Cigar Song is a funny tune that plays on the urban legend of the guy who insures his cigars against arson and the collects on the insurance after he smokes them. Then the album’s highlight for me is Make a Mistake, the shortest song in my top 500, coming in at 1:33.

The end of the album wraps up with Brad’s usual, an instrumental, a gospel song, and some talking songs by the Kung Pao Buckaroos that do nothing for me beyond the initial listen. Thankfully, they are at the end so I can skip them. Fourteen consecutive good songs is enough for me.