It’s too early to do a best of the year list so I’m not. But I have been thinking about which CDs have stayed in my player throughout the year. You see, its one thing to listen to a CD and to like it but it’s different to keep it on the stereo and in your car CD player for weeks on end only to put it back after a brief rest. So I looked back over the year and thought about the CDs that hung in there for me. There are a couple.
Before I hit those that stayed in my player let me mention a couple that didn’t – CDs that I like but, for some reason, didn’t see much time in the player. The biggest disappointment in this regard is The Word is Live by Yes. Theoretically I like this album – or rather this set of three discs – a lot. I reviewed it favorably back when I got it this summer but it just didn’t spend much time in the car or in the stereo. The same is true of the Cream Albert Hall album. Again – I like it a lot (see my review) but just don’t play it much. I wonder why?
But now on to the good stuff. The winner – by a LOT – the album that I listened to more over the past year than any other by a long shot: How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb by U2. Is it U2’s greatest album? Maybe not but I just like all the songs and I never seem to tire of it. Second place isn’t quite so obvious but I think it would have to be Add to the Beauty by Sara Groves. I gave it a pretty favorable review and it has continued to grow on me.
Finally, three more albums that I spent more than the usual amount of time with, X & Y by Coldplay (my thoughts on Coldplay), Chaos and Creation in the Backyard by Paul McCartney (my review) and Back Home by Eric Clapton (even though I gave it a luke-warm review in September).
These are the CDs that I actually listened to most this year. I’m struck by how predictable I’ve become.
Podcast interview on Butter No Parsnips
5 months ago
5 comments:
Again, other than myself, you have the best taste in music of anyone I know :)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!!
What about Frou Frou? Weren't you into that for a while?
Yes, Bethany - I do like Frou Frou. I actually missed thinking about that one. And if this was a "Best of" list it would be on it - at least it's one of the best I became aware of this year. But, in my defense, that CD didn't spend as much time in my player as the other stuff I listed so I'm still OK. Same with Drunkard's Prayer - I like it a lot - it just didn't get played as much as these did.
Dr. Keeley. I saw a comment from you on Beth's U2 Sermons blog, a site i visit frequently. You may not remember me... I was a student at Holland Chr High when you taught there. I lived on the corner of 33rd and Pioneer. Your wife once caught my buddies and me playing air guitar on the roof of that house screaming the song you had taught us in chapel, "Where Do I Go?" :)
I didn't know had a blog. But of course you do!
I graduated from Princeton Seminary in '04 and am a minister based in Brooklyn, NY currently.
I hope all is well.
Grace and peace,
-Nathan Hart
hi bob, i'm just reading back on your "old" posts on coldplay and mccartney. i agree with your sentiments on coldplay. u2 and coldplay are so different to me it's not even funny. yes, some of the guitar chords or rhythm parts are similar, but u2's music is way bigger than just some notes that can be imitated.
did you read the rolling stone cover story on paul mccartney a few issues ago? i am not a big, big fan, but i really liked the way he came across in that article.
peace
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