Steely Dan - Citizen Steely Dan box set
I owe a lot of my taste for dad rock to, well, my dad, and since growing up listening to Steely Dan in my dad's car, my jones for the Dan has slowly grown. A few years ago I had Pretzel Logic on vinyl and my roommate at the time had a couple other albums, and then this year I found one of my dad's old tapes that had Gold on one side and PL on the other and played it in my car over and over. So the other day when I saw this box set, which collects all 7 of the original 70's/early 80's era SD albums, for less than $40, I had to snap it up. I've heard most of the albums at some point before, but this still a lot that's new to me and I'm real excited about finally getting to delve into the catalog.

Big Punisher - Capital Punishment
Over the summer this hot indie rock girl I used to work with was selling a bunch of old CD's when she needed money, and I snapped up a bunch of late 90's rap CD's she had no use for anymore, including this classic (and Busta's ELE, which is almost as good). I loved all the singles at the time and it's great to finally hear the album. Dude really was one of the G.O.A.T.'s. "Dead in the middle of Little Italy/little did we know that we riddled some middle man who didn't do diddly"!!!!

Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
I never really had any curiousity about Dylan before, he was just one of those guys whose place in the canon I was willing to accept, but he didn't have any joints on classic rock radio that I loved like, say, Springsteen. But after I heard and fell completely in love with "Simple Twist of Fate", I realized that a couple of the only other Dylan songs I'd ever really liked ("Shelter From The Storm" and "Tangled Up In Blue") were on the same album, and that I had to have that album. It may be years before I'm enticed to check out any more Dylan, but for now this is good for me.

Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is The Talking Heads
I'd been hearing about this and glancing at old vinyl copies on eBay for years, but by the time it finally got the huge reissue this year, my interest in the Heads was on a down cycle, so I was quite as hyped about it. And while I don't think it toally deserves its mythic status, it is a pretty good document of the era and there are a few tracks that totally kill the studio versions, "Drugs (Electricity)" especially.

Pulp - His 'n' Hers
I copped This Is Hardcore and Different Class in the late 90's, and their value to me seemed to grow with each year, so this year I finally checked out the one that gets hyped by fans as better than DC. And while it's not quite that, there are some pretty incredible moments, like "Babies" and "Acrylic Afternoons".

Prince - 1999
I've been down with Purple Rain and the pre-superstardom albums for a while (one of these days I'm going to dedicate a post to the underrated self-titled album), but I'd never gotten around to checking out the bridge between those 2 eras until a few months ago. While it's not as amazing as that other double album (duh), it's still the man near at his peak with some choice LinnDrum action.

Blink 182 - Blink 182
Just barely not this year, but if it was, it would definitely be in my top 10 for '04. "Josie" aside, I was never much into their early singles, but after loving the singles from this one (especially "Down") I snapped it up from a pile of promos that a friend who worked at DC101 let me pick through. It's a completely awkward, conflicted attempt at 'maturity' from a band that has spent most of its career pretending to be 19 to appeal to 14-year-olds, but they manage some great moments in spite of themselves. Travis Barker is perhaps my favorite drummer that isn't in a band I pariticularly love.

Labels: hip hop, lists, Prince, Steely Dan

This entry was posted on Monday, December 27, 2004 at 12:20 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.