50albumsfor50years

I was asked the other day to create a playlist for a wedding celebration for two amazing friends, Karen and Alice. I was both completely flattered and utterly anxious since, despite being friends, I did feel like I might lack the deep knowledge of some of their other friends of their tastes and loves. I did my best to find songs that both expressed love, commitment, and what I believed to be their musical interests. It's a really good playlist with everything from Lauryn Hill to Darlingside to the Muppets. But since Alice was a long time contributor to Discography over at Scudder's blog , I knew I also had to find some specific pieces from there. That lead me to this week's review: Lake Street Dive Free Yourself Up 2018 Some of my fellow discography bloggers over at Scudder's place have chosen tracks from this album to discuss over the years but that is really the only familiarity I have with this band. Still, I did have some idea what I was in for and I was not...

So this one is embarrassing. A few weeks ago on Twitter, Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) posted about perfect albums by decade . It caught my eye as his 1980s pick was Avalon. I agree that Roxy Music's Avalon is a perfect album. Note for note, it is sublime. His 90's choice was by A Tribe Called Quest which I couldn't fault. 2000s was a Beck album. I have mixed feelings about Beck. He is certainly talented but just seems to me a bit too cheekily derivative of other styles. I'm probably wrong about this. Anyway, the point of this whole story was to get to the 70s and his pick which was "Still Bill". This was not an album I was aware of. And I said so on the twitters, as one does. And then I pulled it up in the music store and realized what a complete idiot I was. Not the first time. Bill Whithers Still Bill 1972 So, um, yes this is an amazing album. And it contains one of the most iconic songs of all time, Lean On Me. And I had no idea this was a song by Bi...

The Ditty Bops The Ditty Bops 2004 As is my wont, I have fallen behind my one album a week planned pace but since my mission was to review 50(+1) albums in a year, this is not really a problem. I just have to work faster. And I actually have a bunch of albums in my queue while I consider what I want to say about them. Things might work out. The next selection is from good friend Kerry and is from the early aughts. I had literally never heard of them before. A perfect fit for my stated goals. So, we have the Ditty Bops. I think if you are a band, the worst thing you ever want to be called as a compliment is "whimsical". It's the equivalent of describing someone's looks as "cute". Nobody really wants to be cute. Beautiful, exotic, even fetching are way better than cute. On the other hand, if you are going to name your band the Ditty Bops, I feel like you have to know you will always be described as whimsical and just be okay with it. And this album ...