Leased Greatest Hits

[penfield]

"APPLAUSE, n. The echo of a platitude."
- Ambrose Bierce


Now is the time of year for professional music mavens to bang out an easy column based on their annual Top Ten lists -- top ten albums or artists or singles or worst singles or whatever. Lists are like the TV dinners of the writing world: oh, so easy, if not particularly fulfilling. Well, I want to get in on that action.

Furthermore, in a matter of weeks, Official Hipster Correspondent ERD will release the sixth volume of his Listen, Dammit series on an exclusive basis to his dearest friends. This extremely limited edition CD -- usually a two-disc set -- confers instant indie cred to all who hear it and invariably receives near-orgasmic acclaim from ERD's ardent patrons. I'd like a piece of that action, too.

But ERD is understandably reluctant to part with any of his action. He relishes his hard-earned action. He tends to closely safeguard his action, like a squirrel protects his nuts. And besides, as a professional music maven himself, he listens to more new music before 10:00 a.m. than I hear all month. This imbues him with a musical-cultural-commercial knowledge and sophistication that I cannot hope to match, or even understand, no matter how much I listen, dammit.

But I must have some critical chops, because ERD still occasionally throws me a bone in the form of a freelance CD review. Over the past six years, I must have several dozen reviews to my name. (Then again, this could be because I am the only writer in his stable willing to listen to, much less review Jessica Simpson's or Hootie and the Blowfish's latest albums.)

That's enough for at least one CD's worth of quality material. This is what mine would look like. [Track URLs good for seven days or 100 downloads each]

The Rules:
- No more than one song per album.
- Deep cuts only -- no widely released singles.
- No songs that previously appeared on any of ERD's compilations.

The Disclaimer:
- There isn't a lot of musical variety here; my critical niche seems to be corporate rock and wussy singer-songwriters. I'd like to think that I'm more well-rounded than that. But I'm probably not.

Track No. Title / Artist / Album / Year

1. Wheels / Cake / Pressure Chief / 2004
2. Dumb Girls / Lucy Woodward / While You Can / 2003
3. Hell Yeah / Neil Diamond / 12 Songs / 2005
4. Love / Rosey / Dirty Child / 2002
5. Utilities / The Weakerthans / Reunion Tour / 2007
6. Walter Reed / Michael Penn / Mr. Hollywood, Jr., 1947 / 2005
7. Don't Wait Too Long / Madeleine Peyroux / Careless Love / 2004
8. Lay My Burden Down / Dr. John / Dis, Dat or D'udda / 2004
9. Every Saturday Night / Ray Charles with the Count Basie Orchestra / Ray Sings, Basie Swings / 2006
10. Alone / Susan Tedeschi / Wait for Me / 2002
11. Hung Up on You / Fountains of Wayne / Welcome Interstate Managers / 2005
12. Please Don't Tell Her / Jason Mraz / Mr. A to Z / 2005
13. Cologne / Ben Folds / Way to Normal / 2008
14. Pancreas / "Weird" Al Yankovic / Straight Outta Lynwood / 2007
15. Kill / Jimmy Eat World / Futures / 2004
16. In This Life / Chantal Kreviazuk / What If It All Means Something / 2002
17. Stop Crying Your Heart Out / Oasis / Heathen Chemistry / 2002
18. Miami / Counting Crows / Hard Candy / 2002

Comments

Now you listen

[hbinc.livejournal.com]

I wish the top-10 list were so easy, but it's kinda tricky trying to narrow down and then rank -- never mind remember -- the 10 most awesome albums from the preceding 12 months.

Hopefully, though, "Listen, Dammit," will be forthcoming within a matter of days.

Re: Now you listen

[enchanted-pants.livejournal.com]

Well, you critics make it look easy, I guess.

I always just imagined that you actually start the list in January, then add things as they come out, then give them all a quick listen and shuffle the rankings accordingly.

I know that's how I do my annual friend rankings.