Music Monday - It's ALL Good

It's happened to everyone... You hear a song, really like it, buy the album, and... Ruh-Roh, everything except the one song you already knew is terrible! Well congratulations! You just bought a $15 single with 10 or more unwanted B-Sides!

Every now and then, fate will smile on you, and with repeated listens - often accidental, from not hitting stop after the good song ends - you find that there are actually redeeming qualities to other songs on the album... and in extremely rare cases, the would-be filler ends up being preferred over the initially favored lead single. When that happens, it's better than liking a whole album from the start, because you went through an experience to get there! But I'd be a badly lying liar if I didn't acknowledge that THAT scenario doesn't happen very often at all...

But then there are those other times... Those times that restore your faith in the artistic community, when you plunk down your cash for a largely unknown album, and know within minutes that it would have been a bargain at twice the price! Each new song surprises you with how good it is, and you find yourself evangelizing this great work of art to any and all who will listen!

I've had several albums like that, and several more that I knew were 100% good before I bought them.. But for those ones too, there were the early adopters who took a chance. It's hard to believe, but there were people who considered buying "Dark Side of the Moon" a potentially risky purchase! I tip my hat to those risk takers, and will now highlight - for the benefit of anyone who hasn't already thoroughly enjoyed them - some of my all time favorite albums, where every song is at least "Good," and several go all the way to "GREAT!"

By the way, these are presented in no particular order whatsoever...

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PINK FLOYD - DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Hardly needs to be mentioned here, it's been a classic since it came out in 1973. But even 35 years later, I have a hard time only listening to one song. If I hear one, I instinctively crave the rest of the album, and when I give in to those cravings I am never disappointed. Absolutely, Positively Brilliant from start to finish.

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SUPERTRAMP - BREAKFAST IN AMERICA

This is another one that I love to hear in its entirety. Every time "The Logical Song" or "Goodbye Stranger" comes on the radio, I get a little itch to hear the rest. In addition to being so strong musically, from a technical standpoint this album is a masterpiece. One of the cleanest recordings produced in the late '70s.

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NEW ORDER - TECHNIQUE

This album came out while I was working at Tape Town in Southcenter Mall. I had picked up the leadoff single, "Fine Time" for use while DJing dances, and I was just okay with it... Still, since their prior album, Brotherhood SHOULD be on this list too, I had faith and bought it the morning it was released. And I played it pretty much nonstop for the next couple weeks. New Order has always had two distinct personalities: New Order the Synth-Based Dance Band, and New Order the Guitar-Based New Wave Band. They do both well, but none of their albums has so evenly blended the personalities into an aural masterpiece. Just writing this makes me realize I need to put this in my car. Today.

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BILLY JOEL - 52nd STREET

I had this one on 8-track in 4th or 5th grade... And if you remember 8-track tapes, they did one thing extremely well, and that thing was playing on repeat, forever and ever, amen! I didn't abuse it TOO much, but this album had so much variety, from the (at the time) seemingly hard rock of "Big Shot" to the bubblegummy "My Life" and the heartwrenching "Honesty," that my ten year old tastes learned that it was good to like more than just one type of sound. A recent check at the reviews on Amazon made me laugh: "Just like the man himself, 52nd Street is obnoxious and overambitious but thoroughly lovable."

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PINK FLOYD - WISH YOU WERE HERE

I almost didn't list this one... I mean, I kept New Order to only one album, why should Pink Floyd get mentioned twice? Well, it's because this album has always been in Dark Side's shadow, and it seems the world at large only thinks about Dark Side, then The Wall. But Wish You Were Here is every bit as gripping as anything they've done. The first time I pulled the record out, I was shocked to see that the entire first side was just one song. Sure, it was one song listed in parts, but all one song. And not only that, but all the parts were good! I have to say, if you're a fan of their other two big albums, chances are VERY good that you'll like this one too.

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DEPECHE MODE - VIOLATOR

There was no way this one wouldn't make the list. Like New Order, Depeche Mode had had several strong albums leading up to this, their crowning achievement. Also like New Order, I was working in a record store (Silver Platters in Bellevue!) when this came out. I was off that day, but was at the store the minute the doors opened to pick up my copy. I had it out of the packaging and in my CD player before the ink on the receipt tape had dried, and my mind was truly blown. The depth, textures, layering, production, melodies, chord structures, percussion, vocals, EVERYTHING about EVERY song on this album stands up 18 years later as an example of how to do it right.

And with that, I'll wrap up this installment of It's ALL Good. There will be more, but I would really love to hear which albums you can listen to in their entirety, over and over, and keep on loving them... So just click on that Comment link and let me know!