A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
The first half of the 2004 list has remained unchanged. The last half has undergone extensive revision.
Arcade Fire, Funeral
Eluvium, An Accidental Memory in Case of Death
Kicell, Mado Ni Chikyuu
Dylan Rice, Wandering Eyes
The Killers, Hot Fuss
Madvillain, Madvillainy
Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
The Streets, A Grand Don’t Come for Free
Mindy Smith, One Moment More
STRAIGHTENER, LOST WORLD’S ANTHOLOGY
Other favorites from the year:
Pinback, Summer in Abaddon
SUPERCAR, ANSWER
Kanye West, The College Dropout
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Solfa
Bonnie Pink, Even So
Fuji Fabric, Fuji Fabric
Sacha Sacket, Shadowed
m-flo, Astromantic
The Butchies, Make Yr Life
Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters
ZAZEN BOYS, ZAZEN BOYS II
A lot of these revisions are retrospective. I listened to SUPERCAR’s ANSWER when it was reissued on vinyl, and I didn’t find the album as engaging as I originally thought. I’ve come to like Hot Fuss more as time has passed, and I don’t feel as much attachment to Van Lear Rose.
My growing appreciation for hip-hop means Madvillain and The Streets knock Quruli’s Antenna off the list entirely.
I’m still a bit skeptical about keeping Mindy Smith in the Favorite 10, or bumping STRAIGHTENER into the upper echelon. I picked up Pinback’s Summer in Abaddon from Goodwill out of curiosity, and I have a sense that in short time, it will nudge Smith or STRAIGHTENER down to the extended list.
As we go further back to the start of the Aughts, the extended list grows longer. A lot of great music came out at the start of the century. If the Internet hadn’t splintered the mass market, it might have been a galvanizing golden age of popular music.
I catalog my music purchases on Collectorz and Discogs, but they don’t give me a sense of change over time. So I’m noting them here weekly as well.
The monthly $0.10 CD Sale at Lifelong Thrift Shop was particular fruitful where classical music is concerned.
Catalog
CD
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 (Herbert Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic)
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 9 (Christoph Dohnányi, Cleveland Orchestra)
Benjamin Britten, Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo / Music of Bali / British Folk Songs (Benjamin Britten; Peter Pears)
Benjamin Britten, String Quartets Nos. 1 & 3 / Alla marcia / Three Divertimenti (Sorell Quartet)
Clara Schumann, Complete Works for Piano 3 (Jozef De Beenhouwer)
Dmitri Shostakovich / Sergei Prokofiev, Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 / Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges (Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra)
Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 6 / Theme and Variations / Scherzo / Suite “Alone” (Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra)
Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 7 (Yuri Temirkanov, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra)
Emerson String Quartet, Bach: The Art of Fugue
Fugazi, The Argument
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1 (Sir Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
Percy Grainger, Themes of Grainger (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble)
Peter Lawson, American Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1
Sam Smith, The Thrill of It All (Deluxe Edition)
Samuel Barber, Music of Samuel Barber (Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony)
Samuel Barber / Charles Ives / Aaron Copland, Barber: Adagio for Strings / Ives: Symphony No. 3 / Copland: Quiet City (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner)