15 Albums that have stuck with me

I'm working on my fingering getting back into the blogging groove. As I sit and muse about this that and the other, feast your eyes on this, my choice for top 15 (Yes that's right, no top tens for me) albums of all time. Well sort of, I try to be as varied as possible, so I restricted myself to only one album per artist, even if that means cutting Mr. Bob Dylan slightly on my list (Sorry Mr. Zimmerman) These are the albums that I constantly turn to. It's strange seeing how some of my tastes in music have changed since my early years. Anyway enjoy!

1. The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds I'd like to think of this as the album I most strongly associate myself with. The Beach Boys kill me with their harmonies everytime, but none so much than on this. It's not just nostalgic since they were the rock band of my youth, as I've grown, I've appreciated their more mellow approach, and Brian Wilson never stopped being a freaked out genius, he has a knack for balancing the weird with the beautiful.

2. Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks: Just one Bob Dylan album? Okay, it's gotta be this one, of all the Dylan lives there have been (Just watch the film "I'm Not There") this is the one I like the most. Dylan has always had many voices, but here he sounds mature, grown up, he's not trying for clever, he's being quite direct and his voice sounds grown up. "Blood on the Tracks" is required listening for anyone who has had their heart broken.

3. The Beatles: Abbey Road: If you caught me on another time, I might've said "Revolver", but I'm a sentimental fellow, and this was The Beatles goodbye record. I think of all their albums, this truly feels like everyone contributing, I guess to most people it was one last reminder as to why these guys were so great.

4. Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run: I actually love Springsteen's later albums with the E-Street Band like "Magic" and even his more acoustic sets like "Nebraska", but I have to ask myself my desert Island Springsteen album will always be this, it's basically the reason why we still love the man, it's full of heart-pounding inspirational rock and roll music that people have been trying to copy for years.

5. R.E.M.: Automatic for the People: R.E.M. has been making music for years, they started off as Indie than became the most successful band of the 90s for a brief run. I still think they're the best most interesting band around, just listen to their last album "Accelerate". But once again, "Automatic for the People" is like their perfect album, I can't find anything wrong with it when I listen to it.

6. Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom: Costello can be as clever and prolific as Dylan when it comes to writing music, he's my favorite of the punk/new wave acts, but I think I liked it better when Costello mellowed a bit and started sounding more like a pop artist than a punk rocker. "Imperial Bedroom" is like his forgotten masterpiece after his terrific debut albums, but these days I find myself going to it more than his other ones.

7. Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense: Anyone who thinks the 80s were the worst decade for music are wrong. I admit it took me awhile to get into The Talking Heads and the mind of David Byrne, but after listening to this live album (perhaps the best live album ever!) I was hooked. The opening to psycho killer is better than the regular version, and the band just sound so awesome on stage.

8. Blur: Parklife: Remember the 90s when british bands like Oasis and Radiohead were the kings of the world. I remember that too, I also remember the band Blur and for my money, these guys were just a little bit more playful and cheeky than those other bands. This album is just so great to hear, to me it's the best britpop had to offer in the 90s.

9. The Kinks: Something Else: Before Blur, came The Kinks, they were the cheeky cousins to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They made some great pop music, and in this album it contains perhaps my favorite pop song of all time "Waterloo Sunset". If you haven't heard of the Kinks before you owe it to yourselves to check them out.

10. Neil Young: After the Goldrush: Canada's pride and joy, and maybe second only to Bob Dylan as the great rock poet. Neil Young has made lots of albums, and it was between this and "On the Beach", but the thing that tipped the scale was the title song to this album, one of the best songs ever. As a Canadian Neil Young is a national treasure.

11. Brian Wilson: Smile: This isn't cheating because this is Brian Wilson after he left The Beach Boys, even though this was an aborted Beach Boys project. When I first got this album I couldn't stop listening to it, everything I love about Brian Wilson's music is in here, it's weird, and beautiful, and no one else can copy it no matter how hard they try.

12. XTC: Oranges and Lemons: XTC should've been the Oasis of the 80s, but for some reason, no one listened to their music. They made two great album "Nonsuch" and this one; this one beats the other one just by a hair. For anyone who really appreciates good british pop music should listen to this.

13. Van Morrison: St. Dominic's Preview: I know, I know, why not "Astral Weeks" or "Moondance", those are like staples. Dude, "Listen to the Lion" is on this album, that's all you have to know, I think it's Morrison's greatest song, plus the title track is a killer tune as well, there's a couple of others, when you're a genius you make more than one great album.

14. The Who: Live at Leeds: I'm a bit disillusioned at the moment with The Who considering every C.S.I. show now has a song of theirs as an opening. I admit I haven't listened to "Live at Leeds" in awhile. Historically it is considered to be the best live album of all time, when I first heard it as a young wipper snapper, it was utter transcendence. The Who were like my heroes as a kid, and it pains me to hear their music on C.S.I, cause they were such rebels at a time. This album probably is pure nostalgia since it's much heavier and rockier than I usually listen to now adays but it's quite a ride.

15. The Strokes: Room on Fire: The Strokes have kind become the band with the one great album that everyone listened to. Their second album was actually better. "Room on Fire" is the kind of album I wish was being made more often, it's short, it's spare, and it's just a good time. The Strokes don't have a big output of music so far, but I can't wait till their next album happens, to me they are one of the best ones out there.

Balzac, a new book, and a new writer

Every so often with me, a book comes along that I just can't stop thinking about. Sometimes these books aren't necessarily good, but something about them either the premise or the characters intrigues me and leaves me wanting to know more about the world.

I have just finished reading Honore De Balzac's book "The Wrong Side of Paris", which is probably the most obscure title in my summer book series. I bought it rather impulsively in a book store in Edmonton. I have never read any of Balzac's work and "The Wrong Side of Paris" wasn't one I was familiar with.

I was taken by the premise on the book jacket about a young man of 30 who takes in with a group of good Samaritans in the city of Paris not soon after the French revolution. The cover of this copy looked very contemporary, consisting of what looks to be a subway station with a few silhouettes scattered about. There is one silhouette who does stand out slightly in the centre, I take this to be the hero of the book.

The book itself was a quick read, it's about 200 pages and is separated as two books, I learned later that this was in fact the final book in Balzac's "Human Comedy" series which consisted of over 80 novels.

Personally I didn't know what to expect from this book, I didn't know the author other than by name, and being that this wasn't one of his classics I was unsure going in, still it was a quick read, and like I said I was intrigued.

I was surprised at how "The Wrong Side of Paris" effected me, and how much of a very spiritual book it really is, plus it begs the question how much goodness can a human being be capable of, in this case I would say the book is rather optimistic in its conclusion. It also isn't afraid to be rather blunt about its agenda, from what I understand Balzac had a nack for writing about contemporary Paris in the 1800s, which I guess is what I found so fascinating. The book is set in post-revolution Paris and many of its characters have been affected greatly by it,and Balzac isn't afraid to deal with both sides of those bloody years. There are characters who are filled with regret, while others can't seem to face the past, which is the cause of some of them turning to going into this society of good deeds.

Balzac actually reminded me much of Dickens in the way he describes the characters and how he focuses much on the lower class people of Paris. Indeed Adam Gopnik, a writer for the New Yorker describes Balzac as a "French Dickens" in the introduction to the book.

When I finished the book, I was very pleased with it, nothing much happened afterwards other than I started a new book right away. A day went by and suddenly I found myself thinking of the book over and over again in my head. I was intrigued with this idea of a spiritual belief system that isn't governed by a church. It started making me ask questions like can something like this actually exist, a non-corruptible anonymous organization where its soul purpose is to help people. Are there people out there today who are willing to give up all their possessions and devote their lives to good without giving compromising your belief system. In other words can people live a real christian life?

I'm not sure if the book was meaning to ask these questions, I would probably have to reread it before I'm certain, nevertheless, I was provoked with these questions. This is coming from someone who grew up going to church and has seen his share of hypocrites in that society. That's not saying everyone is, but if you look at the news today and see just how much of this country and the United States is run by a faith system it makes one wonder.

Even though "The Wrong Side of Paris" takes over 150 years ago, I found this concept to be very contemporary, it's a book that made me think even if it wasn't one of their main themes, but I suppose it's good to get anything out of something you read, you find something that is important to you.

Taking a Siesta

I haven't written in my blog for awhile, I've taken a bit of a holiday from writing. I've been enjoying some of the finer things in life such as reading some books, watching some movies, enjoying "Lost". I've also had some personal matters to deal with this month so for those of you who missed me, I apologize, I will be back blogging in no time.

The below video is self-explanitory

Lunch Hour Musings

I'm at work right now, during my lunch hour, I've already eaten, I had tuna, with some cucumber and tomato bits put in, I also had a banana and a couple of timbits from Tim Hortons.

I enjoy tuna with cucumber and tomato bits put in, I know my dad likes onion and lettuce, that's okay for me too, but it doesn't seem to beat cucumber and tomato bits. My dad also uses miracle whip mayonnaise, I don't like that kind, I'm into Hellman's, that's some good mayonnaise.

I have about twenty minutes left in my lunch hour, there's only two of us working, if one of us is having lunch and the other person gets busy, they are supposed to call the person on lunch to come up and help them. I hate it when that happens, our lunch hour is the only break we get, I love an hour to myself during work where I get to choose whatever it is I'm doing, the worst part is when that gets interrupted by work.

Luckily this hasn't happened yet, but I'm just waiting for it to happen. I now have about fifteen minutes left and so far so good. It's been pretty busy so far today, so you can understand my anxiety of having my lunch hour interrupted, I'm just waiting for the call, it doesn't make lunch very comforting, any moment I could spring into action.

Oh well, I'll bite the bullet if it does happen, it's not a big deal, after all I have already eaten, however I would like that full hour, it's just the principle of the thing, I've been promised a full hour and I expect it, I have signed up for a full hour.

Things could be worse than not getting a full hour of lunch, I could have a job I don't enjoy, I rather enjoy this job, I've been doing it long enough, some might say a little too long, I think this will definitely be my last summer doing this job, I don't see a lot of things keeping me in Red Deer for another full year.

Ten minutes left in my lunch hour, things are looking good, I may just get the whole thing, boy that would be great. This is actually the first time I actually wrote anything on my blog during work time, although it isn't necessarily work time, it's my lunch hour, so I'm not exactly paid for it.

I'm excited for after work because I get the whole place to myself, plus it's a nice day, maybe I'll go somewhere, go for a walk or something, however I'm aching to get back to my book, I'm sure I'll find some time tonight to do both. I don't have a day off until Monday, and I work every weekend this month which is kind of a downer, after all it's the last full month of summer, there's already talk of "back to school" sales everywhere you go, I'm not going back, but it's a sure sign summer is coming to an end, pretty soon I'll be super busy with lots of projects, and right now I'm not looking forward to it, but perhaps that will all change when I actually get to do that.

Five minutes left in my lunch hour, looks like I'll be able to finish the whole thing, I think I will take my leave for now and head to the bathroom before I go back up.