Why is the sun always hiding when i go to the pool? I swam 40 laps yesterday. Wanted to do 50 but it started to rain heavily on the 38th. I'm figuring how to ever swim 100 laps without getting bored or too tired. I've also been memorising some eason chan cantonese songs. I borrowed a couple of dvds: the office, twin peaks, the spanish apartment, schindler's list and lock stock. I borrowed alex garland's the tesseract and nick cave's and the ass saw the angel. Millie, first few pages very gothic already. But i'm scared of not finishing the shows and the books on time.
I've always wanted to do my own 20 favorite albums of all time in the tradition of nick hornby. But I didn't want to make it sound like boring technical stuff or worse, try to describe the music. So now the list comes with a little anecdote, say, what I was doing at the time I was heavily listening to the cd and the requisite killer lyrics. And no, zhenjin, mariah carey is not in the top 10.
20 oh, inverted world/ chutes too narrow THE SHINS
I think the shins are the catchiest band in the world. In a better world, millions of fans will scream for them like they do for U2.
19 yankee hotel foxtrot WILCO
Was one of those cds I would rush out to buy once it was released. I bought so many cds from borders. I wish bit torrent had come out earlier.
18 electric honey LUSCIOUS JACKSON
In secondary school when we were all too poor to buy many cds, tianyu and I did a cd exchange for our birthdays. I requested for luscious jackson while he wanted whitney houston. I wanted it because 8days described them as 'sexy spice mamas'. That started my buying of cds based on rave reviews and without sampling any of the songs beforehand.
17 stories from the city, stories from the sea PJ HARVEY
It's a new york city album.. it kinds of puts you in the street with all the traffic rushing past and the neon lights of times square flashing, like on the cover.
16 blue JONI MITCHELL
'a case of you' may well be the most perfect love song ever written.
15 pieces of you JEWEL
Of course, it now sounds like precocious poetry. But in sec 1, savage garden and celine dion were ruling the airwaves. And this was like such a breath of fresh air. Ya jack, I still haven't passed you the 2nd album.
14 the bends RADIOHEAD
Strangely, I only bought the cd two years back, but I've been listening to the songs for the longest time. I think this is still the blueprint for a good brit rock album.
13 dear ella DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
This is a tribute to the great ella fitzgerald and she brings a new flavour to the old songs. She is most formidable on 'stairway to the stars', in which at the end, she sustains a note while the orchestra climaxes behind her, before kicking in the vibrato. Breathtaking.
12 girls can tell/ kill the moonlight SPOON
In a better world, they too would be living like rock stars and selling out stadium shows all over.
11 the miseducation of LAURYN HILL
There are so many crap r&b/rap albums out there. This is not one of them. I hope she has recovered from her crazy phase and give us that sophomore album.
10 tanto tempo BEBEL GILBERTO
I think this is really good mugging music- soothing unobtrusive and in a foreign language.
09 exile in guyville LIZ PHAIR
And the license said you had to stick around until I was dead
But if you're tired of looking at my face, I guess I already am
Way back before she did 'why can't I' and became a total avril wannabe, she actually had smart songs with smart hooks about falling out of love.
08 pinkerton/ the green album WEEZER
I asked you to go to the Green Day concert
You said you never heard of them
-How cool is that?-
Theodore burned them for me.. was frequently in the discman during ns because I needed loud guitars to cheer myself up.
07 bachelor no.2 or the last remains of the dodo AIMEE MANN
Critics at their worst could never criticize
the way that you do
no, there's no one else, I find,
to undermine or dash a hope
quite like you
and you do it so casually, too
She's the master of the 4 minute pop song. Always wise, articulate and resigned. You may know her as the one who did all the songs in magnolia. p.t. anderson says it best, "She writes lines that are so simple and direct, you are convinced that you have either A) heard it before, B) said it before, or even C) thought of it before (but never wrote it down.)"
06 version 2.0 GARBAGE
If we sleep together
Will you like me better
If we come together
We'll go down forever
If I had a road trip, I would bring this along and sing along to all the songs.
05 turn on the bright lights INTERPOL
When I'm feeling lazy, it's probably because,
I'm saving all my energy to pick up when you move into my airspace
I only came to love this album after listening to it repeatedly. I love the way every song gels together, the moody depressed atmosphere and how I never got distracted by the lyrics.
04 car wheels on a gravel road LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Blood spilled out from the hole in your heart
Over the strings of your guitar
The worn down places in the wood
That once made you feel so good
Drunken Angel
You're on the other side
This one is quite a travelogue. The songs talk about places like lafayette, nacodoches, greenville, places in the southern states of america full of childhood dreams, drunk lovers, truck stops and broken homes. All in that sexy southern drawl of hers.
03 ok computer RADIOHEAD
I wish that they'd swoop down, in a country lane
Late at night when I'm driving
Take me onboard their beautiful ship, show me the world as I'd love to see it
I'd tell all my friends but they'd never believe me
They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely
I'd show them the stars, and the meaning of life
They'd shut me away, but I'd be alright
Like I said, I would name my daughter astrud, who's not here because compilations are not counted, and I would name my son thom.
02 from the choirgirl hotel TORI AMOS
I am not your senorita
I am not from your tribe
If you want inside of her, well
Boy you better make her a raspberry swirl
This is a work of art. The booklet has pictures of her lying on a photocopy machine and a drawn map of a mountain range. The music is dark, haunting and introspective. And I frequently need dark and haunting music. I think it was her way of coping with her miscarriage. There is also less of the piano here and more electronic techno tweaking, so it still sounds modern to this day.
01 wrecking ball EMMYLOU HARRIS
I walked to the river
And I walked to the rim
I walked through the teeth of the reaper's grin
I walked to you rolled up in wire
To the other side of desire
O where will I be, when that trumpet sounds
Surrounded by daniel lanois' dense soundscape, the way emmylou's voice caresses the words can be described as:
i) a squall gathering intensity out at sea, working up a storm
ii) a gossamer thread on the point of breaking
iii) an ageless wraith lamenting a lifetime of regret
iv) and yes, "a witch coming to terms with her mortality" (straits times)
The best songsmiths are all here: lucinda williams, bob dylan, steve earle, neil young, jimi hendrix, being sung by the best interpreter. I remember it being in the cd changer for more than a year. During which I figured that her voice has the same frequency as my soul. This is what a spiritual journey sounds like.
