50 Day Recap
It’s now been 50 days since I started my album a day project, so I thought I’d share a few reflections about the experience at this stage. I’ve also made a list of all the albums, which you can find below.
To kick this off, I thought I’d talk a bit more about why I decided to do this online. My first reason is that that doing this in public view keeps me accountable. If I was just writing a rating down in a notebook, I’d be more likely to skip a day if I’m ill or tired or if I’m just not feeling it. It’s not like I have a large, devoted readership or anything (hello to you both) but having the project out in the open makes me feel more like I need to stick to it no matter what.
The second reason is my current personal gripe with the Internet. These days, everything is either monetised or a part of some sort of a big platform. We don’t have hobbyist websites anymore. It seems like people aren’t really doing stuff online simply for the love of the game, everything is about branding or clicks or monetary gain. I thought if I want more people to have hobbyist websites, I might as well put my money where my mouth is and be one of the people doing a hobbyist website.
I often think about David Lynch saying “I hope you all are having a lot of fun working on your favourite projects.” That sentence alone made me get more projects. I always have a few things on the go, this being one of them. And it’s great. Isn’t this the whole point? I get to spend more time doing two things that I love, listening to music and writing. No, I don’t always feel like doing either of those things, but I like that I’ve just decided to stick to something every day for a year, and I like that I’m actually doing it.
If you’re thinking about doing it, get a hobbyist website, have more projects. It’s fun to do things without any other purpose than to have a good time.
I did a masterlist of all of my ratings while retroactively going through the blog to tag all the posts. I’m hoping I can then add a section to the reviews page where you can sort by ranking. Here are a few notes on my thoughts along the way.
Looking at all of them, I did change two ratings: I originally had Björk’s Homogenic as a 9.5, but it’s a 10. What can I say, it touched me. I was being too critical at the time. That and Karma have been the most memorable musical experiences I’ve had so far. I also downgraded The All American Rejects from a 7 to a 6.5 – sorry to these men, but I barely remember any songs I heard on that album, and looking at it on the list, it felt out of place based on the experience I had with it.
The vast majority of the albums I’ve ranked get an 8 or an 8.5, but that’s pretty easily explained with the calibre of records I’m reviewing. If I was going for new releases or any other more varied list, I bet I’d be more critical, but I’ve mainly been focusing on listening to albums that I’ve wanted to hear or that are widely regarded as top-tier. That automatically leads to a list where most of them will probably be at least pretty good.
However, I’m not sure if this would be more interesting to read if I had more variety. Should I try to pepper in a bit of garbage here and there? Should I do more fun novelty albums or experimental strange stuff? If you have any thoughts on this from a reader’s perspective, please let me know.
10
Pharoah Sanders – Karma
Björk – Homogenic
9-9.5
CMAT – Euro-Country
John Lennon – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Pet Shop Boys – Actually
Earth, Wind & Fire – All ‘n All
JADE – THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!
Chic – Risque
Pitbull – Greatest Hits
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
8-8.5
Duran Duran – Rio
Alice in Chains – Dirt
Television – Marquee Moon
Mariah Carey – Butterfly
Ezra Collective – Where I’m Meant to Be
Joni Mitchell – Blue
Minnie Riperton – Come to My Garden
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
Giorgio Moroder – From Here to Eternity
Brian Wilson – Smile
PinkPantheress – to hell with it
Player – Player
Claudio Arrau – Liszt: 12 Etudes d'exécution transcendante
The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
Fela Kuti – Zombie
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Juju
Space – Magic Fly
Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
Pusha T – Daytona
7-7.5
Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Love – Forever Changes
ABBA – Super Trouper
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Megan Thee Stallion – Something For Thee Hotties
Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful
Bad Religion – No Control
Cat Burns – early twenties
Wet Leg – Moisturizer
The Ramones – Rocket to Russia
6-6.5
Mac Demarco – Guitar
The All-American Rejects – Move Along
Blink-182 – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl
5-5.5
Audioslave – Audioslave
Take That – Everything Changes
4-4.5
Drake – Certified Lover Boy
Robbie Williams – Rudebox
3-3.5
Steps – Step One
2-2.5
Nothing yet
1-1.5
Hopefully this one will stay empty