Definitive
I was rushing to buy a pair of shoes and still make it back to work within my lunch hour, and hurried past the ladies’ clothing. It burned me that so many cute things caught my eye and I had neither the time nor the money to do anything about it. But when I had to kill a couple of hours after work, I suddenly remembered that sweetest of retail words… layaway! So, back to Wal-Mart (yes, I know, evil corporate giant, yaddah yaddah yaddah, but it sure helps to shop there when you’re broke) and into the clothing aisles to go on a briefly-delayed-gratification shopping spree. Cute new PJs, five or six tops acceptable for work, two lovely skirts… and then… and then… I headed for the music section.
Several things lately have reminded me just how important music is in my life, and just how much of an effort I really need to make, into bringing it back into my life. So there are now about 6-8 CDs waiting to be paid out of layaway along with the little refresher to my wardrobe. One, of course, is a collection of Johnny Cash. Most of them, in fact, are “best of” or “definitive” collections of some sort, and that got me to thinking about a couple of things. Let’s handle one for now, and then in the interest of me getting to sleep at a semi-reasonable hour, we may come back to the other later. “Definitive” collections.
You see, I doubt there is a single writer, poet, musician, or artist of any kind, for whom there is universal agreement as to which of their works are “definitive.” No collection is really complete unless it has everything they’ve ever done, including the little tangents (i.e. Eric Clapton’s guest work on Phil Collins albums). Related to the concept of definitive, is the concept of an artist’s best single piece of work. In an earlier post, I couldn’t name the best Don Henley song ever recorded, nor could I choose one solo song, one Eagles song, etc. But I did state that there is one best Eagles album ever, and it isn’t “Hotel California.” I know you were just waiting with bated breath for what I had to say on that one so here we go. Best Eagles album ever: “On the Border.” Why? It has a couple of certifiable, recognizable hits that people love. One is (the also previously referenced) “Already Gone,” another is perhaps one of their best ballads ever, “Best of My Love.” But it’s also full of lesser-knowns like “James Dean” and the Tom Waits cover, “Ol’ 55.” And then there’s my absolute favorite, “You Never Cry Like a Lover.” Yep. Fabulous album.
Which also gets me to thinking about other bands, and what album of theirs I would consider the one to buy (if you lived on some weird planet where you could only buy one album by a given artist, and where downloads and the CD equivalent of “mix tapes” did not exist).
U2 – Tough call here, and I’m quite tempted to say “Achtung Baby,” which was just a fabulous album and has a few of my favorite songs by them. But if you really want the band in all their glory, dancing on the fine line between politics and poetry, you can’t beat “The Joshua Tree.” (Or maybe it’s just the take-off of the album cover on a Bloom County collection published a year or two later?)
The Who – “Who’s Next.” No questions asked. Forget the fact that it could probably accurately be called “Theme Songs from CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York and Six Franchises Yet To Come,” it’s still a kick-ass album. And I’m still very proud to be one of the few people my age, who knows that the song everyone calls “Teenage Wasteland” is actually called “Baba O’Reilly.”
The Doors – You have to understand, this is a hard call. I love my Doors. I love my Jimmy. Too much of what they did is really good… and too much of it is really disturbing, too. (I once did a college term paper on Freudian Dream Imagery in the Music and Poetry of Jim Morrison. A-.) But if I had to choose one, it would be their second album, the self-titled “The Doors.” “Break on Through,” “Soul Kitchen,” “Twentieth Century Fox,” and of course the definitive “Light My Fire.” They were never as spot-on, as they were with that album.
Led Zeppelin – Toss up, I think, between "IV" and "II." Though I will say, “Stairway to Heaven,” with arguably one of the best and best-known guitar riffs in the free world, isn’t the reason for IV. “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Going to California” are the ones that grip me from that one. Now, I don’t claim to be a huge Zep fan, nor am I an expert by a long shot, so feel free to argue with me there. But if I had to choose… "IV." Just barely.
Jimi Hendrix – “Axis: Bold as Love.” It just is. Accept that, buy the CD, and move on.
Okay. That’s my lecture for today. Maybe tomorrow, we can discuss two things: the one CD you would HAVE to have if you were ever trapped on a desert island (since that’s so likely), and CDs that you would give someone to broaden their musical knowledge, something that many people have never thought of but would really love. I'm fond of sharing like that. (So if you've never heard any Gipsy Kings or Jonny Lang... do yourself a favor and put them on your shopping list.)
Several things lately have reminded me just how important music is in my life, and just how much of an effort I really need to make, into bringing it back into my life. So there are now about 6-8 CDs waiting to be paid out of layaway along with the little refresher to my wardrobe. One, of course, is a collection of Johnny Cash. Most of them, in fact, are “best of” or “definitive” collections of some sort, and that got me to thinking about a couple of things. Let’s handle one for now, and then in the interest of me getting to sleep at a semi-reasonable hour, we may come back to the other later. “Definitive” collections.
You see, I doubt there is a single writer, poet, musician, or artist of any kind, for whom there is universal agreement as to which of their works are “definitive.” No collection is really complete unless it has everything they’ve ever done, including the little tangents (i.e. Eric Clapton’s guest work on Phil Collins albums). Related to the concept of definitive, is the concept of an artist’s best single piece of work. In an earlier post, I couldn’t name the best Don Henley song ever recorded, nor could I choose one solo song, one Eagles song, etc. But I did state that there is one best Eagles album ever, and it isn’t “Hotel California.” I know you were just waiting with bated breath for what I had to say on that one so here we go. Best Eagles album ever: “On the Border.” Why? It has a couple of certifiable, recognizable hits that people love. One is (the also previously referenced) “Already Gone,” another is perhaps one of their best ballads ever, “Best of My Love.” But it’s also full of lesser-knowns like “James Dean” and the Tom Waits cover, “Ol’ 55.” And then there’s my absolute favorite, “You Never Cry Like a Lover.” Yep. Fabulous album.
Which also gets me to thinking about other bands, and what album of theirs I would consider the one to buy (if you lived on some weird planet where you could only buy one album by a given artist, and where downloads and the CD equivalent of “mix tapes” did not exist).
U2 – Tough call here, and I’m quite tempted to say “Achtung Baby,” which was just a fabulous album and has a few of my favorite songs by them. But if you really want the band in all their glory, dancing on the fine line between politics and poetry, you can’t beat “The Joshua Tree.” (Or maybe it’s just the take-off of the album cover on a Bloom County collection published a year or two later?)
The Who – “Who’s Next.” No questions asked. Forget the fact that it could probably accurately be called “Theme Songs from CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York and Six Franchises Yet To Come,” it’s still a kick-ass album. And I’m still very proud to be one of the few people my age, who knows that the song everyone calls “Teenage Wasteland” is actually called “Baba O’Reilly.”
The Doors – You have to understand, this is a hard call. I love my Doors. I love my Jimmy. Too much of what they did is really good… and too much of it is really disturbing, too. (I once did a college term paper on Freudian Dream Imagery in the Music and Poetry of Jim Morrison. A-.) But if I had to choose one, it would be their second album, the self-titled “The Doors.” “Break on Through,” “Soul Kitchen,” “Twentieth Century Fox,” and of course the definitive “Light My Fire.” They were never as spot-on, as they were with that album.
Led Zeppelin – Toss up, I think, between "IV" and "II." Though I will say, “Stairway to Heaven,” with arguably one of the best and best-known guitar riffs in the free world, isn’t the reason for IV. “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Going to California” are the ones that grip me from that one. Now, I don’t claim to be a huge Zep fan, nor am I an expert by a long shot, so feel free to argue with me there. But if I had to choose… "IV." Just barely.
Jimi Hendrix – “Axis: Bold as Love.” It just is. Accept that, buy the CD, and move on.
Okay. That’s my lecture for today. Maybe tomorrow, we can discuss two things: the one CD you would HAVE to have if you were ever trapped on a desert island (since that’s so likely), and CDs that you would give someone to broaden their musical knowledge, something that many people have never thought of but would really love. I'm fond of sharing like that. (So if you've never heard any Gipsy Kings or Jonny Lang... do yourself a favor and put them on your shopping list.)
posted by SaraSmile | 9:33 PM
1 Comments:
Axsis Bold As Love is one of my favourite Jimi Hendrix albums. Of all the songs on that album by fave is "If 6 was 9" but another loves is "Wait Until Tomorrow".
GREAT choice! :)
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