Obsessing Over My Job Situation Isn't the Only Thing I Can Think About

Red Sticker Collection
The Replacements - All For Nothing, Nothing For All, 1997
Kind of a useless best of major label stuff on the A side and discarded leftovers on the B side. Notable for the fact that Amy W gave this to Youthlarge back when she worked at Warner’s.

Rilo Kiley - The Execution of all Things, 2002
Why didn’t I like this band when I first heard them? Youthlarge played them for me when we first started dating and it didn’t do much for me. What was I thinking? This is the beauty of the Red Sticker Collection. Long lost gems are rediscovered on the way to the scrap heap. Jenny Lewis' vocals make me ache, her melodies are glorious, and any songwriter who writes a lyric about selling all of one’s baseball cards to pay the rent is alright in my book. Even the male vocalist who seems to spend too much time audtioning to play the role in The Elliott Smith Story works for me.

Somebody likes showing off her underwear.

The Minus 5 - Old Liquidator, 1995
Sometimes it seems Scott McCaughey is the kind of guy who hangs out with only the most popular kids at the school. If Peter Buck is cool, then sign him up. If Wilco is the place to be, bring them down. Colin Meloy gets all the indie girls weak at the knees? Amen, brother.

Then again, McCaughey keeps adding to his stable of friends so I can’t fault him for that. Hell, if any of his winning ways with a melody found their way into Pete Buck’s head, maybe R.E.M. wouldn’t be so damn awful these days.

Anyway, this is the first Minus 5 record. Like all of them, I enjoy them when they are on and would never feel the need to turn it off. Still, I don’t think I would ever buy one of their records. But for a Red Sticker Collection listen, I’m a big fan.

Youthlarge Brought These Home
Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness, 2005
Where the last record (recorded under the name Manitoba) reminded me at the time of My Bloody Valentine, this one reminds of a bunch of things - Stereolab, DJ Shadow, to name a couple. This album is awfully pleasant but nothing about it screams out brilliance to me.

Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have it So Much Better, 2005
Every drum fill is perfect. Every vocal is stupendous. Every guitar lick is right on the money. Slick but produced to sound not so slick. The perfect IT band for the scruffy Upper West Sider in us all. Give the man the finger while sipping your Starbucks, baby! I actually quite enjoy this band but I suspect they are taking themselves just a wee bit too seriously these days.

Bob Dylan - No Direction Home, 2005
The companion two CD to the Scorcese documentary. Some interesting outtakes and live performances here but to me this is strictly for completists. Although it does have a nice range of his material of the early part of his career.

Quasi - When the Going Gets Dark, 2006
Just can’t get into this band. Does that mean I hate indie rock?

Boredoms - Seadrum/ House of Sun, 2004
Reminds me a lot of that 00I00 album. I dig this. Why don’t I have more Boredoms? This is all I have. I haven’t even heard that much of their stuff. I almost feel like I was freaked out by them twelve years ago and never really revisited them as they continued to put out record after record.

Boredoms, why have I forsaken you for so long? What else should I get?

Actually Purchased by Me
The Best of the Staple Singers
Doesn’t disappoint. Makes me want to hear some of their earlier less secular stuff. These are the kind of jams that makes it feel like life in the late 60’s and early 70’s was all sunshine and hopscotch.

Borrowed and Burned
Willie Nelson - Yesterday’s Wine, 1971
How the hell did I manage to have an amazing best of Willie Nelson and not have anything else? Wow. I borrowed this from Dave and Jen and immediately fell in love with it. A concept album of one man’s life with lots of religion in the mix, this album will break your heart. This is the beginning. Consider me officially obsessed with Willie.

Gifts
Bob Dylan - LIve 1964
This show was recorded at Carnegie Hall. It is pretty incredible to hear an entire live performance from this era. He was all loosey goosey and jovial even. Joan Baez does her best to muck up some of the performances and it is no wonder that shortly after this show, Dylan put an end to performing with her. A Youthlarge Hanukkah in the Christmas stocking gift.

What a sexpot.

The Rolling Stones - Dusty Old Bones
Jeremy made me this best of his vinyl. All early to mid 60’s - sex and sweat drenched. I was already familiar with all of these songs but all put together in a personal best of, they sound fresh again. And all the snaps and crackles and shit from the records are the way this was meant to be listened to. Perfect.

Blues Comp
A number of years ago, parents of a student gave me a number of old blues records that they had put onto CD. I’ve slowly been making my way through them and there is some fantastic stuff. I finally really got to listen to a number of Charley Patton songs. This disc also features Son House, Tommy Johnson, Peetie Wheatstraw, and the Mississippi Sheiks. I hadn’t even heard of the latter three. Wheatstraw might even be my favorite of the bunch with his piano boogie stomps. Listen to one of them

I've got to get this book.