I Am A Collection Of (Play)Lists

May 03, 2009 in Music.
Tagged: facebook

My brief time on Facebook (3 weeks at the time of this writing) has made me realize that I really need to get my list together. Facebook is an environment that promotes brevity if not succinctness, and the preferred method of quick self-expression would appear to be the top five list, followed closely by brief questionnaires that quickly associate us with some cultural icon representing our true self. “If this were a parallel fantasy-adventure life you would be Gandalf!”

We’ve done this before in any number of ways. The mix tape comes to mind. A collection of music we assemble and bestow, that cannot help but profoundly move the recipient. Maybe the mix will impress with its originality, or maybe it will open a window into the deepest emotional and spiritual underpinnings of our profound self. Well OK, that might be a bit much. But the mix tape (or CD), takes a little more work to put together than the one-offs provided by Facebook and no matter what music we assemble, what we’re hoping to say with it is, “There is more to me than meets the eye. This music is helping me communicate that.”

Our Facebook lists are quickie mix tapes and they serve to place us, to locate us, at some discernible point in the cultural landscape. Our lists say, “This is how I’m like you, this is how I’m not like you, but mostly this is how I’m like you.”

I’m not suggesting that we Facebook users actually consider these lists to define us in any very meaningful way. I’m suggesting that they represent a meta discourse that translates to “Please know me.”

And on that note, here’s a list.

I decided to make a list of albums that were special enough for whatever reason, that I played them over and over, start to finish, in some cases until the original vinyl wore out. I thought this would be a relatively short list, but as it grew, I found it necessary to enforce some additional qualifications. Only albums that I would still play over and over upon returning to them now made the cut. I played Head East’s Flat As A Pancake hundreds of times back in ’75 but to my ears it has not aged well. Not on the list. Also, this is a list of albums that I played in their entirety on most occasions. The albums you play so many times that years later when you hear a song from them on the radio you remember which song comes next. Hundreds (thousands?) of individual tracks that would make any number of my favorite playlists are not here. The albums are ordered (roughly) by release dates, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when I was listening to them. I was one year and 15 days away from being born when Kind Of Blue came out.

Miles Davis	Kind Of Blue	1959
Bennie Green	Catwalk	1960
Oliver Nelson	Blues And The Abstract Truth	1961
Bill Evans Trio	Waltz For Debbie	1961
George Gershwin	Concerto In F/Rhapsody In Blue (Entremont/Ormandy)	1964
Herbie Hancock	Maiden Voyage	1965
Neil Young	After The Gold Rush	1970
Van Morrison	Moondance	1970
Allman Brothers	At Fillmore East	1971
Elton John	Madman Across The Water	1971
J.J. Cale	Naturally	1971
Elton John	Honky Chateau	1972
Pat Martino	Live!	1972
Elton John	Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player	1973
Elton John	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	1973
Led Zeppelin	Houses Of The Holy	1973
Stevie Wonder	Innervisions	1973
The Who	Quadrophenia	1973
Maynard Ferguson	Chameleon	1974
Stevie Wonder	Fulfillingness’ First Finale	1974
Jeff Beck	Blow By Blow	1975
Art Pepper	Living Legend	1975
Led Zeppelin	Physical Graffiti	1975
Toshiko Akiyosi	Tales Of A Courtesan	1975
Linda Ronstadt	Hasten Down The Wind	1976
Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes	I Don’t Want To Go Home	1976
Ray Charles & Cleo Laine	Porgy & Bess	1976
Stevie Wonder	Songs In the Key Of Life	1976
Jeff Beck	Wired	1976
Earth Wind & Fire	Best Of Vol. 1	1978
Tom Waits	Blue Valentine	1978
Tom Petty	Damn The Torpedos	1979
Mark Murphy	Bop For Kerouac	1981
Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle	One From The Heart Soundtrack	1982
Donald Fagen	The Nightfly	1982
Rufus & Chaka Khan	Live: Stompin’ At The Savoy	1983
Stevie Ray Vaughan	Texas Flood	1983
Stevie Ray Vaughan	Couldn’t Stand The Weather	1984
Bob Marley	Legend	1984
Talking Heads	Stop Making Sense	1984
Paul Simon	Graceland	1986
Van Morrison	No Guru, No Method, No Teacher	1986
Anita Baker	Rapture	1986
U2	Rattle & Hum	1988
Tone-Loc	Loc-ed After Dark	1989
Blues Traveler	Blues Traveler	1990
Black Crowes	Shake Your Money Maker	1990
Beethoven	Sonatas (Zoltan Kocsis)	1990
Temple Of The Dog	Temple Of The Dog	1990
Soundgarden	Badmotorfinger	1991
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Blood Sugar Sex Magik	1991
Matthew Sweet	Girlfriend	1991
Pearl Jam	Ten	1991
Rage Against The Machine	Rage Against The Machine	1992
The Brand New Heavies	The Brand New Heavies	1992
Counting Crows	August And Everything After	1993
Sarah McLachlan	Fumbling Towards Ecstasy	1993
Gin Blossoms	New Miserable Experience	1993
Big Head Todd & The Monsters	Sister Sweetly	1993
Sting	Ten Summoner’s Tales	1993
Tool	Undertow	1993
Jackopierce	Bringing On The Weather	1994
G. Love & Special Sauce	G. Love & Special Sauce	1994
Seal	Seal	1994
Son Volt	Trace	1995
The Wallflowers	Bringing Down The Horse	1996
Dave Matthews Band	Crash (Just for Carter Beauford’s drumming)	1996
Barenaked Ladies	Rock Spectacle	1996
The Meters	The Very Best of the Meters	1997
Ben Folds Five	Whatever And Ever Amen	1997
Martin Sexton	The American	1998
Aimee Mann	Magnolia Soundtrack	1999
Keith Jarrett	The Melody At Night With You	1999