The Other Five

Continuing with the theme from last week, here are the rest of my top ten CDs of the decade so far. Remember we still have some time to go so there may always be a new entry. Or who knows, maybe the Avril Lavigne disc will begin to grow on me. At which point I will be working on getting a musical taste transplant but I’m just saying, things do change. Here’s the rest of the list.

Woo hoo! Canada!: I’m not quite sure what type of music goes best with a hockey game. It’s not as if there is an entire genre built around the sport (well, other than The Zamboni Song and probably Five for Fighting’s entire catalog). However, it has to be pretty cool that “Wake Up” from Arcade Fire’s “Funeral” is used to play in the Rangers as they take the ice. Hell, it makes me want to hit somebody.

Arcade Fire is probably the best definition of a band that makes one disc, tours behind it and becomes so successful without being popular that they suddenly become the saviors of music. Seriously, there was so much hype surrounding their latest release for a band that it is amazing to think that two years ago no one knew who they were. But that just shows how incredible “Funeral” is. It’s tough to describe, maybe you’d just call it a rock band with violin and piano, or a rock band that for some reason will start singing in French. What they are more than anything is a band that will get your heart pumping and making you feel alive. I so want to see them live, just based off of the video streams of concerts that I’ve seen it seems to be amazing. You want to know why you should listen to this disc? When they played Lollapalooza two years ago they took the stage with most people not knowing who they were. After performing this album they left to the entire crowd chanting “Arcade Fire”. That’s how awesome it is.

One Disc That You Might Actually Own: Look, I’ll admit to being a music snob. My favorite bands don’t have platinum records. Or gold records. Hell, a few have a hard time staying on a label. Still, occasionally someone becomes popular that I actually like. And I am happy that Jack Johnson has gained mainstream popularity, especially based on the disc “On and On”.

You might think that all of the songs are simple to the point of being sappy. It is laid back surf music after all, a mess of acoustic guitars and good time feelings and songs that will be played over and over again by guys at parties in an attempt to score with those girls who are looking for the sensitive, artistic guy. But lyrically there is some pretty heady stuff going on at times. Maybe not change the world stuff but deeper than what you would find on most pop songs. I mean songs like “Taylor” and “The Horizon Has Been Defeated” are just really cool interesting songs and even though it is a cover “Rodeo Clowns” is awesome. I can be happy enjoying this disc knowing that other people also have it in their collection. It shows that the mainstream isn’t always polluted.

Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery While Listening To This Disc: Of course, not everything in life is rainbows and unicorns. There are a few artists who wish to look into the dark corners of their soul and explore what they find there. It’s daring and challenging and I’ll have to admit, useful to the rest of us when we have to confront what is within ourselves. For times like that I turn to Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power, and my favorite disc of hers, “You are Free”.

This isn’t jump around and feel alive music. This is turn off all the lights in your apartment, put on headphones, and not move from your couch for an hour music. There is nothing that you could call a band, heck, there are barely any arrangements. A piano here, a violin there, a surprise appearance by Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder to make things interesting. But talk about lyrics as poetry and expressing life in only a few lines. When I get my novel turned into a movie, for one scene I am going to push for having the song “Good Woman” playing in the background. I always wondered why I’ve had relationships fail without my understanding what the hell just happened. This song explains it better than anything anyone has ever told me. I’m probably going to just end up stealing it for my book and ruining it but buy the album, it’s much better than anything that I’ll ever write.

Pretty Girls Playing Guitar: When I was home for Christmas last year my mom asked me what music I was listening to at the moment. This is a pretty common conversation topic between the two of us. Sometimes she likes what I’m listening to; sometimes she wonders how in the world I became a fan of country music when I grew up in Chicago. This year my answer was simple, “I’m listening to a lot of pretty girls playing guitar.” That’s my explanation of the entire female singer-songwriter genre that I’m pretty enamored with at the moment and the best of the best is Kathleen Edwards’ “Back to Me.”

Yes, it’s female singer-songwriter music but it isn’t wimpy in that Jewel style or inanely poppy in the Sheryl Crow sense or so god awful that it makes you want to rip your ears off in the Paula Cole sense. Kathleen sings about wanting to turn her no good boyfriend over to the cops or taking the upper hand in a relationship by using all of her tricks. Probably the best song is the simplest, “Pink Emerson Radio” which is about what you would do if your apartment was on fire and all you could do is take one thing with you. It is slow and melodic and really touching. Kathleen is rather unknown in that States (she’s another Canadian in a list that is pretty filled with them) but she has talent to burn. I really wished that everyone owned this record. Greatness shouldn’t be hidden to this degree.

What Is Music About, Really?: I was really struggling to pick a tenth disc. I’m not kidding here, I was sitting in front of my collection and trying to figure out what to choose. Not that I couldn’t make a bunch of easy choices, I could have grabbed any disc by Alejandro Escovedo or John Dee Graham or Damien Rice or Josh Ritter or The Frames and written a few paragraphs on how great a disc it is. I wouldn’t be lying either, I love all of their stuff. But there was one disc that caught my eye and reminded me about why I listen to music in the first place.

I have an old joke that when I get depressed I buy books and CDs. This explains the CD collection that is going to take me two and a half years to listen through and a book collection that has overrun its bookcases years ago. But really, it is music that gets me through things and certain albums tie to great moments in my life. And I find myself years later putting in that same disc just to get that feeling back.

Well, back in 2003 I bought Sonny Landredth’s “Levee Town” because I was depressed about something in business school. I can’t recall what, mainly because once I listened to this disc my mood suddenly brightened. It was in my car on my way to the MBA prom, which turned into a surprisingly good night. It was in my car for the months that followed, which became incredible months. And a few weeks ago I played it before going out because I wanted it to be a good night.

It’s Louisiana swamp music. It’s rock with a lot of soul. It really doesn’t need a description. It makes me feel like the world is going to be perfect for a change. What else can you want from a record?

(Tomorrow, the downfall of Western Civilization. And the Royals game. Surprisingly, those two topics are not related.)

The five random CDs for the week:
1) Rachmaninov “Piano Concerto No. 2”
2) Alejandro Escovedo “Gravity”
3) Old 97’s “Early Tracks”
4) Steve Earle “The Revolution Starts Now”
5) Ryan Adams “Heartbreaker”