Rolling through the F's

Thanks to two days working from home I'm making some serious progress on the challenge.

Yesterday I finished off Fiona Apple and am about to finish the Flaming Lips.

Quick analysis on Fiona Apple...
Listening to 5+ albums of Fiona in a row is dangerous. I felt depressed and sad but at the same time like an empowered independent young woman. Ranking Fiona's albums:

1. Tidal- Her first and best album. You can't beat an album with Criminal, Sleep to Dream, Showdowboxer and Never is a Promise.
2. When the Pawn... - Her second album which matches the ranking as well. Best songs include Fast as You Can (my favorite Fi song), Paper Bag and Limp
3. Extraordinary Machine- Her third album which I had to listen to about 3 times in a row. We have the internet leaked version, the album version and then the iTunes exclusive live version that has the bulk of this albums songs on it. Best songs include Extraordinary Machine, Not about Love (try to find the video for this, it's hilarious), Better Version of Me and Parting Gift.

After Fiona was The Flaming Lips. They are such a strange band and it amazes me that a guy with such a horrible voice can pull off leading a great band for so many years. I only have 2.5 Flaming Lips albums including War With The Mystics, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Fight Test (EP from Yoshimi).

Yoshimi is one of the most complete albums of all time. If you don't like The Flaming Lips check out this album anyway. It plays like a movie soundtrack and is really amazing. I'm not sure how to describe it other than it tells a tale of how little Yoshimi saves the country by destroying these giant pink robots. Sounds accessible huh? I would actually say its a mix of electronic and rock with great story teller like lyrics.

At War With The Mystics is OK overall but the major highlight is "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" download this immediately. I guarantee you'll love it regardless of what type of music you like. It's a great up beat pop type song with hilarious lyrics such as "If you could make everybody poor just so that you could be rich, would you do it?...yeah yeah yeah"

Now onto Flight of the Conchords because it's Business Time!

The challenge continues

Even though I haven't been actively blogging I'm still listening to lots of music.

Since my last post (Djavan on Dec 11th) I've finished off the D's and E's and am now listening to Fiona Apple.

I need to do a more detailed post but lets just say there were some rough times with two albums of Enya and three albums of Eminem. I immediately discovered as a new father I'm a little concerned about my 6 month old getting onto the computer and listening to songs like "Bitch I'm gonna kill you" and "Cum on everyone" by Eminem.

More to come.

Nothing beats Brazilian Adult Contemporary in the morning

Rocking out to Djavan, my favorite Brazailian Adult Contemporary singer. I have his album Ao Vivo which as you can guess is a live album. I'll saw him on TV in Brazilian in 2003 and was amazed at how talented he was. I bought the album and gave it to my Dad (who grew up in Brazil) and then he later gave me a copy.

Portuguese is a language like Italian that when it's sung it's incredibly beautiful. Djavan plays an acoustic guitar and then sings about what I think is probably typical love songs. On the album I have the crowd is constantly singing along and it sounds awesome. I have no idea what any of them are about but they are great and perfect background music for a lazy afternoon or reading a magazine or doing work.

Best songs from Ao Vivo (hunt for them if you are interested)..
Samaurai
Azul
Nem Um Dia (amazing)
Flor de Lis

Happy Friday.

Dixie Chicks

Just finished listening to about 2.5 albums worth of the Dixie Chicks. It was rough for me but luckily I was doing work so it wasn't too big of a deal. I'm not a country fan but I couldn't delete anything since it's the wife's stuff. Country fan or not you gotta love "Wide Open Spaces"

But my night ends on a high note with DJ Kool and "Let Me Clear My Throat" followed by "Groovejet" by DJ Spiller (techno fans will know it).

Procrastinating

So I'm still procrastinating on the DMB review as well as a Death Cab for Cutie review. But in the interim here is what I've been listening to lately.

David Gray - Babylon and Sail Away are great songs

De La Soul - Baby Phat is a fun recent De La song

Dean Martin - lots of Christmas music so this was timely

The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives is an amazing song, so catchy

Depeche Mode - other than their huge hits I can't stand them. A lot of deletes were done here

Destiny's Child - Sure they had some hits but they are horrible otherwise. The best thing Beyonce ever did was leave that group.

Dido- unfortunately I got the bulk of Dido while working out at the gym. This made it very difficult to lift what was obviously huge amounts of pounds for me as well as run on the treadmill. Eventually I just had to turn her off and rock out to the UK techno playing the in gym.

But my favorite random songs from the last few days...

"Groove is in the Heart" by Dee Lite- I feel like getting pulling out crazy ass disco moves anytime I hear this song. If you've seen "I Know Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" it reminds me of the Halloween party and the gay brother dancing. Amazing.

"Say Hello" by Deep Dish - This is considered techno but I would put it in the easy listening techno category. Give it a listen on iTunes and let me know what you think.

"Return of the Tres" by The Delinquent Habits - Monica and I discovered this song in a Nike (Joga Bonita) online podcast about how "football is like fencing, a noble art". The podcast has Rinaldo and Kaka (I think) doing a juggling battle. It's insane some of the moves the pull out and the song is the perfect background for it. It took months for us to find the song until Monica's brother Carlos heard it and knew immediately it was Delinquent Habits. So check it out, it's an incredible song.

"Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" by Digable Planets - you know you loved this song back in the day.

Day 67- Stats Update

So I have been officially attacking this challenge for 67 days now! Here are some stats just in case you were wondering where I am on this epic journey.

As of the completion of Day 66...

1832 songs listened to

127.2 hours listened

~27% complete in terms of hours of listening

Approximate completion date... June 4th, 2009. Which amazingly enough is my daughter's first birthday.

If you recall previous posts I was targeting finishing in April or early May. With recent travels for work my pace has slowed dramatically. I don't think I'll be able to catch up with more travel coming up in the holidays as well.

I promise more reviews to come, I've just had a tough time getting on line at night in the UK.

Lastly for the record Monica and I know own 6 iPods- 3 Nanos (2 1st gen, 1 3rd gen), 1 60 gb Video iPod, 1 16gb iPod Touch (2nd gen) and 1 16gb iPhone (1st gen). We also previously owned a 1gb shuffle (1st gen) and a 10gb iPod (2nd gen) that we sold. We love gadgets.

Shouldn't Have To

Per a comment yesterday from Archer I will attempt to make as many Ricky Gervais references as well as other odd ball English references in my posts from jolly ol' England.

I'm currently listening to my last DMB song, "#34" off of Under the Table and Dreaming. Great album and is the leading candidate for #1 album. The mp3s do have some skips so that has been disappointing.

Also my parents hooked me up with an early Christmas present since I would be traveling back and forth to the UK constantly over the next few months. The gift... a 16gb iPod Touch. It's awesome and I am so glad I got the 2nd generation version. The speaker makes a huge difference.

I've watched Iron Man on it and listened to lots of DMB. I haven't gotten into any applications or anything else because wireless is so rare and spotty over here.

I'm hoping to start several days of DMB summary tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too boring for you.

I still Blog for you

Sorry I have been absent from blogging lately. I'm in the UK in all day meetings until December 17th and rarely have internet access at night. This little foray is costing me 15 pounds or probably about $22.

I continue to listen to as much music as possible but thanks to Dave Matthews I'm about to jump off my hotel room balcony. The DMB studio albums are great and so easy to get through but the live albums are exhausting. I have 7 total live albums and because many are named "Live at..." I get to listen to them all in a row. Holy sh*t balls a person can only listen to "All Along the Watchtower" a few times before going crazy. I know officially hate that song and never want to hear it again. Now that I'm old that will work out well if I go to a DMB concert again because then I can leave early and beat the traffic.

DMB is great live, all their albums sound amazing but they are so similar. My favorite live album is "Listener Supported" followed by "The Gorge". I also liked "Live at Red Rocks" but only because it was a really short concert and I was glad it ended quickly.

"Live in Central Park" and "Live at Red Rocks" are way too long when you have to listen 4 live albums in a row.

I'm now on "Stand Up" which as my Dad would say "is nothing to write home about". I can't wait to get to "Under the Table and Dreaming" and finally get away from DMB.

For the record I have only skipped/deleted two songs out of all 24 hours of DMB. The only reason for deleting them was because they were horrible copies that had skips in them.

Lastly, I plan on doing a DMB wrap up post Wednesday/Thursday of this week. I was hoping to do a post on each album but I don't think I'll be able to. I need to make a clean break with Dave and move onto something new like David Gray. DMB it's not you it's me.

Days 52-54 Slowly but surely

So I'm back from Vegas and can at least listen a little more than the past week. Unfortunately work continues to try to hold me down and make this challenge even more difficult. I'm in all day meetings from now until December 16th. To make things worse the majority of the meetings are in the UK in a wonderful place known as Slough. Hopefully you'll know it from a little show called the Office. In SAT terms... Slough is to London as Scranton is to NYC.

As far as listening goes I'm still chugging through DMB. I have listened to the following albums...
Busted Stuff
Central Park Concert- an ok but not a great live album
Crash- This is probably my favorite studio album I've listened to so far
Everyday- my 2nd favorite. Surprisingly much much better than I remembered
Gorge- the best live album yet

and I just started "The Lillywhite Sessions"

More to come tomorrow.

Days 47-50- Too much vegas

So I'm still in Vegas and I can't wait to get out of here. A full 7 days in Vegas is just too much for anyone to handle even when staying at the Venetian Palazzo.

I've been listening to tons of DMB and am now in the middle of Crash. I hope to finish Dave by Thanksgiving and post several full DMB reviews before then.

A few treats from my Vegas adventure...
I saw a dance off (seriously, a real dance off) between a guy and a girl at Pure at Caesars. It was probably just as good as JT vs. Britney back in the day.

Mike Tyson is the easiest celebrity to spot since he has a ridiculous face tatoo.

I saw Elvis walk a bride down the aisle

Adios Vegas

Day 45-46 Vegas limits listening time

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to rock out and even less time to blog. I started Dave Matthews on the flight to Vegas and have made it through 4 albums so far which probably means I have about 10 left.

So here's a quick post until I have time to go into more depth.

What I've listened to so far...

1. Solo Acoustic- This is some live recording I acquired a while back of Dave playing by himself at a DEKE party at what I guess is UVA. It's not bad but nothing special either
2. Some Devil- Dave's only solo album. Overall I think it's a good album but I think he does better with the band.
3. Live at Luther College - not a bad album with Tim Reynolds
4. Before these Crowded Streets- I always liked this album but have never been a fan of "Don't Drink the Water" and "Stay".

Day 45- Off to Vegas for a week

I definitely won't be posting every day this week. I'll be off in Vegas for the week for work. Work + Vegas + 7 days = not fun. I'll be at the Venetian if you want to sit in my hotel room and listen to some Dave Matthews for a few days with me.

Also just finished Dar Williams, The Darkness and Dashboard Confessional.

The highlights were "Christians and the Pagans" by Dar, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the Darkness (the rest of the album is horrible unless you think the year is 1989) and "Hands Down" by Dashboard Confessional. If you like Emo or lots of acoustic jams then you'll love Dashboard.

Day 44- Daft Punk

Even though I finished Daft Punk yesterday I think they deserve a post today. They are hands down my favorite Techno/Electronic group.

If you don't know Daft Punk then you'll definitely know their music or at least "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" which Kanye used for his song of the same name.



So here is a ranking of my favorite Daft Punk songs.

1. One More Time- makes me feel like the weekend is here. Such a feel good song, reminds me of some fun nights out in NYC


2. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger- If you haven't seen this youtube video then prepare to be amazed. Make sure you at least make it through the first 2 minutes.



3. Voyager- my favorite easy listening techno song of all time. Great for running




4. Veridis Quo- I'm convinced that this is a cover of the theme song from Zelda but have no proof. Abomb turned me onto this one. He has it on his Wii mix... yes he plays Wii to it.



5. Digital Love- just a great Daft Punk song



6. Around The World- I think this is the first Daft Punk song I heard. It must have been on late night MTV or something back in the day. I feel old when I remember MTV playing music videos or even older when I remember when MTV2 actually played videos.

Day 43- Music is my...

Hopefully all of you have at least heard CSS's (Cansei de Ser Sexy) song "Music is My Hot Hot Sex", you probably don't know it by name but definitely remember it from the first iPod Touch TV ad. I had to do a little research on CSS to figure out what language they sing in other than English and it seems to be Brazilian Portuguese since they are from Sao Paulo.

Anyway I love the song and all the random things that are used to describe what music is. I thought it would be worth ranking these statements in honor of Alex and Emily who love this song.

Here is a link to the lyrics and song so you can listen and then comment.
Top 5 "Music is my..." from the song

1. Imaginary friend
2. King sized bed
3. Beach house
4. Back rub
5. Great granddaughter

To add my own statements, Music is my...

1. Flip flops
2. 5-blade razor
3. Jet ski
4. Saturday morning
5. Bluetooth

Add some comments on what "Music" is to you.

Day 42- The C's are Complete!

So I finished the C's and began the D's today. I'm amazed at the amount of music that I own by artists that begin with the letters A, B or C. I am about 20% complete with the challenge and am just beginning the D's, very strange.

Some quick stats...
1460 total songs listened to
93.6 hours
19.8% complete in listening hours

I closed out the C's with some Cyndi Lauper ("Girl's Just Want to Have Fun" and Cypress Hill ("Insane in the Brain" and "Rap Superstar"). I think it's interesting that "Rap Superstar" first came out in Europe and there it was titled "Rock Superstar" with essentially the same lyrics but no Eminem talking about how hard it is in the rap game. I used to have the "Rock Superstar" version but lost that somewhere while replacing computers.

Looking ahead I have what could be the biggest challenge of all.... Dave Matthews. Being a native of VA I am required by commonwealth law to love DMB and purchase all the live albums that all sound exactly the same regardless of if they were recorded in 1996 or 2006. Therefore I have over 24 hours of listening coming up on DMB. If I keep up at the current rate that will take me about 13 days to complete. And I thought Bjork was bad.

I'm off to Vegas this weekend (for work not pleasure) so I'm hoping to get at least 4 hours of listening in on my sweet ass Bose noise-canceling headphones. The best Christmas gift I've ever received.

Day 41- More Cranberries and The Crystal Method

I finished off the Cranberries today. It was good work background music. Easily their worst album that we own is "To the Faithful Departed". There are two songs that are not only horrible but mildly offensive. The first is "I Just Shot John Lennon", if the title isn't strange enough the song ends with gun shots. I thought I was listening to Dr. Dre circa 1992.

The next song was "Electric Blue" which again was horrible musically but also had lines about Kurt Cobain. Apparently this album was all political for this crazy pop group.

I'm currently listening to The Crystal Method and gettin' my techno dance on. Anybody got any glow sticks I can borrow.

Corrections on the previous post

I realized, thanks to Cantando, that my last post had several errors in it.

First the Cranberries song I mentioned was not walking back but rather "Waltzing Back" I blame CDDB for importing it incorrectly in iTunes. But then after listening to it again I actually stated the incorrect song that the "attitude" verse is in.

The correct song is "Still Can't..." off of "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?". The "attitude" line comes at about 1:27 into the song and after listening to it again is hilarious. Glad I listened to it again.

Days 38-40 - Counting Crows and The Cranberries

I didn't post for the first time this weekend, sorry to my loyal readers (I feel important when I say that).

I continue to make progress on the C's but have slowed down significantly. I blame it on other distractions such as work, weekend to do's (man I'm old), parenthood, inauguration planning, sleep, etc.

I realized I have a ton of Counting Crows. I was thinking I would be making some serious cuts since I had a few of the new CDs. First and foremost, the lead singer, Adam Duritz needs a new hair cut. I didn't know it was possible to keep the same cut or lack there of for 15+ years. It makes me wonder how many times he's washed those dreads in that time period. Also I'm not sure I'm supposed to talk about this, but is the lead singer black or white?

So in summary, Counting Crows are great and definitely some perfect easy listening while doing some work. My two favorite albums are easily This Desert Life and August and Everything After. The other albums are ok but far behind these two.
Top Songs:

1. Sullivan Street
   
2. Mr. Jones
3. High Life
   
4. Mrs. Potter's Lullabye
5. Rain King
6. Anna Begins
7. Omaha

It's tough to rank the above songs because there are so many great songs on August and Everything After. I would highly recommend you dust of these albums and give them a listen as they are great. They also reminded me that in early high school I was supposed to go see Counting Crows play with Craker in VA Beach. The Crows pulled out a few weeks before and my friend Justin and I were pissed and constantly joked about it for the next 5-7 years.

I'm now listening to a ridiculous amount of Cranberries. Monica is a big fan and therefore we have three of their albums. One thing I noticed when listening to "Walking Back" from the album Everyboyd Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We? Each line of the song ends with the lead singer repeating the word in her trademark way. For example she sings "...taking you away from my life, my li-ife, my li-fe". Anyway later in the song she ends a line with "attitude" and tries to sing that in the same style. Well its too many syllables and its obvious that she just sort of softly mumbles it and thinks we won't notice. Well I did and I thought it was pretty funny. I guess I'm listening to way too much music when I notice this stuff.

Thanks for reading. More to come tomorrow.

Day 37- Weekly Stats

I listened to a ton of Counting Crows and almost done with them before moving onto The Cranberries.

I'm really looking forward to completing another letter and progressing to the D's. Should be Monday or Tuesday if all goes well.

I added some stats on the left regarding my progress to date.

Total Songs listened to: 1345

Total Hours listened: 3.6 days or 86.4 hours

Assuming I keep up at the current pace I should finish on April 21st, 2009. I have a few upcoming business trips that I know will slow my progess so I'll have to make sure I listen while in transit.

Thanks for all the comments on the Coldplay post. Keep them coming, without comments I have no idea if anyone is reading this.

Day 36- Finally Coldplay

So after some delay because I had to participate in our country's democratic process I finally finished Coldplay today. I did make a mistake and listen to several songs on X&Y out of order. According to the rules I went back and re-listened to the full album and am now in compliance.

I certainly don't have to tell you that Coldplay is great. So here is an album ranking up front. This was much harder than I thought because all the studio albums are pretty incredible and pretty equal. So here goes and let me know if you agree

1. X&Y- I think this is the most complete album of the four
   
2. A Rush of Blood to the Head
   
3. Parachutes
4. Viva La Vida
   

Overall their top songs in my opinion...

1. Clocks
2. Speed of Sound
3. Amsterdam
4. Viva La Vida
5. Square One
6. Fix You

But on a hopefully more entertaining note... You know how the cool thing for celebs to do these days is talk about how they were uncool or dorks in high school even though we all know they weren't. Well I can imagine Chris Martin says the same thing but from his recent SNL appearance it is clear that he really is a douche. Sure he's got plenty of talent but he has zero stage presence and moves like Bender from Futurama (too vague a reference? Maybe I'm the dork).

I should know about Mr. Paltrow's stage presence from personal experience. I went to see Codplay in the summer of 2006 at Nissan Pavilion in Northern VA. Unfortunately because of the traffic hell hole that is 66 it took us over 2 and a half hours for what is normally a 40 min drive. We made it to the show while they were finishing their 2nd to last song. We went with a group of friends and when we they informed us they were playing their last song before the encore we all decided, F it, we're going home. No need to sit in the car for another 2 plus hours. So technically I've been to a Coldplay concert but only seen them perform one song... White Shadows just in case you were wondering and we did hear them playing Fix You from the parking lot. I hate you 66.

Of course whenever I think about Chris Martin I of course think about Gweneth. And when I think about Gweneth I think about Sliding Doors. Great flick.

Day 35- Stupid Work

I was in meetings all day today and then on calls with Australia and Japan at night. I was still able to listen to some Coldplay today and I'm so close to being done. I'm on X&Y and only have a few songs left.

I definitely promise a good Coldplay post tomorrow. Also please let me know if the post is any good. I haven't seen any comments in a few days so I hope people are still reading.

Also I did receive one comment that said my blog caused Obama's victory. Glad to see I have so much impact.

Day 34- Voting, too busy to blog

I had to spend all of 3 minutes at the polls in Arlington. I love the feeling you get after voting, it really feels good to be an American. Wish I could do that once a month or so.

As far as music today- all Coldplay today and still more to go.

A more compelling blog tomorrow.

Day 33- Artists I Miss

Another quick post before what I think will be an all Coldplay post tomorrow.

Nothing too thrilling today just some Christina Aguilera, Clipse and then Coldplay. Clipse is great if you like Neptunes VA Beach inspired hip hop (I felt akward saying rap). My favorite Clipse song is definitely "When the Last Time".

I thought today it would be worth mentioning the music I miss listening to the most since I started this adventure 33 days ago on October 2nd. What's sad to think is that many of these artists I won't be able to listen to for months.

First and foremost Vampire Weekend (the nerdy/preppy looking white kids above that create amazing music including Pau Gasol second from left). Up until October 2nd all I really listened to for about a month was Vampire Weekend. They are amazing and essentially every song off their first album is incredible. If you haven't heard them before definitely check them out, I would say that their album is 2008 album of the year in my book. Highlights include "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma" and "Mansford Roof". I wish I could describe them well but they are definitely an up beat English inspired alternative pop band. Not sure if that really makes sense but just listen to them and let me know what you think. If I stay on pace I should next listen to Vampire Weekend in May 2009.

Next Kate Nash. Kate is another female British pop star with a tude. She's like Amy Winehouse minus the drugs, plus some teeth, minus the bee hive, plus white girl raping skills. Monica enjoys her especially because of her amazing accent and lines like "don't tell me that you didn't try check out my bum, cause you know that you did, cause your friend told me that you liked it" from "Merry Happy". Highlights from Kate include "Merry Happy", "Foundations" and "Pumpkin Soup" all from her album Made of Bricks.

Lastly Phoenix. If you haven't heard of Phoenix then shame on you. Phoenix is a French alternative/pop/rock band that for some reason doesn't utter a line of French on any of the albums I have. I would have never realized they were French if I hadn't done some research. No throaty accents, no general rudiness, no bad odors and no attitudes. Best songs include "Everything is Everything" (quite possibly one of the greatest songs of all time, yes I'm serious), "Run Run Run", "Napolean Says", "Consolation Prizes", "Sometimes in the Fall" and "If I Ever Feel Better". I'm sure I will ramble on about Phoenix when I get to the P's but that should be a few months away. I'm guessing February.

I'll be bringing my hot jams to the polls with me tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be in line for long.

Day 32- Busy Weekend

Unfortunately I only had a very short amount of listening time this weekend between Halloween, play dates and other activities. I am making progress on the C's and am now on Christina Aguilera. Before X-Tina I listened to Chingy and The Chipmunks.

Other than Chingy's radio hits he his horrible. But I'm not sure I should saw bad stuff about street tough rappers on the internet. I could get a beat down for it.

Regarding Christina, I'm sort of amazed that out of the three blond pop-tarts that came about at the same time- the others being Jessica Simpson and Britney- that Christina is the one that seems to be the most normal. She certainly has the most talent

Getting close to Coldplay which should set up a lengthy post either Monday or Tuesday.
Adios until tomorrow.

Day 31- The Captain and Tennille

I've hit a patch of a bunch of random C's including The Captain & Tennille.

There is so much I would like to ask the Captain and yes of course Tennille about this picture.

Other randoms Carl Douglas and Kung Fu Fighting followed by Carlos Santana and Oye Como va and then Celine Dion. Luckily it was only one song.

Day 30- The B's are Complete!

I finally finished the B's today and what a relief. It seemed like they would never end.

I finished the B's with some Busta Rhymes, Butthole Surfers and The Byrds this morning.

Quick stats on songs in my catalog by "B" Artists...

824 total songs or 50.4 hours of listening. I started the B's on October 10th at 3:00pm so it took me almost 22 days of listening to get through them all.

In regards to my end goal I have now listened to 15.21% of my catalog.

Looking forward to the C's with artists like...

Cake, The Cardigans, Clipse, Coldplay, Counting Crows, etc.

Only 333 songs or 24 hours. Definitely shorter than the B's.

Day 29- It's Britney B*tch!

So here we go an entire post dedicated to Britney - Ms. Spears if you're nasty. I hope you enjoy this classic pic of Britney when she was that innocent.

First for the integrity of the blog and you my readership (all 10 of you) I felt it necessary to download "Womanizer". I repeat this had nothing to do with me liking the song or liking Britney- I just felt to give a full review of Britney I should include her latest song.

After listening to about 3 hours worth of Britney I learned a few things, that are probably well known to the masses. The overwhelming majority of Brit's songs are atrocious and basically un-listenable (if that's a word). Please keep in mind this is coming from someone who secretly loves pop. BUT amongst a plethora of bad songs on each album there are always one or two incredibly amazing pop songs and I know all of you have sung along to them while driving alone.

So in honor of Mrs. Federline's ability to have some pop hits here are her best songs according to what's in my iTunes catalog.

1. Toxic- Who doesn't love flight attendants
   
2. ...Baby One More Time- I remember in college how many sorority's did rush sketches dressed like Britney from this video. That video destroyed the holiness of Catholic school uniforms for at least 5-10 years.
   
3. Oops I Did It Again- My favorite line is... "but I thought the old lady..." - You know you love it.
   
4. Gimme More- It's Britney Bitch
   
5. I'm a Slave 4 U- Reminds me of the good old days when Britney and JT were together. So glad JT got out of that relationship
   
6. Womanizer- It's not that great but its so catchy and Monica has been pissed that it's been stuck in her head all day
   

A few lesser known songs that are also good...
"Why Should I be Sad"- Only because its a Neptunes jam with Pharrel. VB represent

"Email My Heart" - It's all in the name. The song is ridiculous with lyrics about CCing love. It also got some air play at weekend after parties at our place in college. Let's just call them late night dance parties. I'll leave it at that.

I only have a few more songs to listen to by Busta Rhymes and Butthole Surfers before I'll done with the B's. I'll provide some stats on my progress and the B's tomorrow.

Day 28- Short Pre-Britney Post

Didn't have much time to listen today. All I got through was Brandston, Brazilian Girls, The Breeders and Bright Eyes.

One quick thought... Bright Eyes is horrible. There I said it- I'm sorry Neil but his voice makes me angry. The only good song is "First Day of My Life".

But where this leaves me is about to enter the world of Britney Spears. I know at least one reader who will be pumped to see tomorrow's post.

Day 27- Hot Jams rediscovered

After Bjork I had a bunch of random B's intermixed with Black Eyed Peas, Blink-182, Blue Merle, Bloc Party and the Boston Pops Orchestra (I'll explain). But there were definitely some great songs that were rediscovered that I can't wait to share.

First, my certified platinum hidden gem of the week... She Talks to Angels by The Black Crowes. Click the URL to listen to it (and yes buy it) on iTunes. It's an incredible song.

Also back when the Black Crowes were popular (middle school?) I was constantly confusing the lead singer with the lead singer of the Spin Doctors. They were both gangly looking dudes named Chris with amazing beards. Let's see if you can select the correct lead singer. Which one is Chris Robinson and which one is Chris Barron.

I then went through Black Eyed Peas and Blink-182 with nothing memorable to really say other than yes Black Eyed Peas has a song called "Let's get Retarded" but for some reason it became "Let's get it started" for radio play and the NBA playoffs theme song...hmmm.

Bloc Party was next. They are a great alt-rock band with a bit of a techno feel. Highlights are "Banquet", "This Modern Love" and "Tulips (club version)".

Next was a bunch of random stuff like Bloodhound Gang, Blue Merle, Blues Traveler, Bob Dylan and sadly only one song each from Bob Marley ("Is this love") and Bon Jovi (obviously "Livin' on a Prayer", don't think I haven't rocked out to this on Guitar Hero). So definitely some gaps in the catalog identified there.

I ended the day with some John Williams care of the Boston Pops Orchestra. It's an album of all of his big movie hits. So lots of Star Wars themes as well as songs from ET, Star Trek and 2001. It was some enjoyable work music.

Tomorrow I start off the day with a great song "Earthquakes and Sharks" from Brandston and then onto the Breeders. Can't wait to hear "Cannonball".

Day 26- Bjork is Complete or fullkominn in Icelandic

This morning I finished Bjork and am finally ready to give my synopsis of 4.5 hours of the Icelandic songstress.

First to address a few questions...
How did I get into Bjork?
When Bjork first become popular (approximately 1991) with the single Human Behavior off of Debut, my friend Justin's sister had the CD. I really liked the video of the bear walking around the woods and of course liked the song. At the time I got the CD and generally liked the album... Fast forward to my sophomore year of college where I had since forgotten about Bjork. I met this crazy music buff Langer who had a ton of Bjork. We're talking every single and EP. So I borrowed them all and listened to everything. I couldn't get enough of it. I suddenly became a huge Bjork fan. A few years later I was lucky enough to see Bjork perform at Radio City Music hall in 2001 (pictured above) with Langer. This was after the release of Vespertine and as I recall she was accompanied by a choir and a bunch of strange electronic or computer instruments played by one random dude.

I also journied to Iceland with Langer and some other friends (I'm using the term friends loosely here) in 2004 to find Bjork. Unfortunately we didn't find her but did have an amazing time. Iceland is insanely expensive but a great place to visit. Amazing night life, incredible glaciers, geysers and other natural wonders. I highly recommend it. The picture is of us (minus Wart) at Blue Lagoon.




But why Bjork?
I can't really explain why I enjoy Bjork's music other than typically her songs have amazing beats and unique vocals. I think part of the attraction to Bjork is that she is just so different and has such an incredible voice.



Did you survive listening to 4+ hours of Bjork?
Actually it was not as painful as I had thought. I guess I realized why I bought all these CDs in the first place. There were definitely some rough spots - the entire Medulla album, but for the most part Bjork makes great music.

Here is a run down of some rankings of Bjork albums and my favorite songs:

1. Post- Any of the top three I have listed could be ranked first. I chose Post first because I love "Hyper Ballad" (there is an amazing live version of this song from the Woodstock cd but I some how lost that), "It's Oh so Quiet" and "Isobel" which is my favorite Bjork song.
   
2. Homogenic- "Bachelorette" and "Alarm Call" are both amazing.
   
3. Debut- Her first solo album which has "Human Behavior", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy". But I think my favorite song from this album is "Anchor Song". The simplicity is what makes this song along with the harmony. The song isjust Bjork and what I think is a trumpet, saxophone and trombone (Whaley). The harmonies are powerful and it's worth a listen. Here are two live versions I found on youtube unfortunately both are sung mostly in Icelandic. Brass version and String Version.
   
4. Vespertine- Much better than I had remembered. "Hidden Place" is easily the best followed by "It's not up to you".
   
5. Selmasongs- The soundtrack from "Dancer in the Dark". Great soundtrack horrible movie. If you are really happy and need to cry or possibly kill yourself watch this movie. Nothing positive ever happens in the movie. I own the DVD so let me know if you need to borrow it.
   
6. Medulla- This album is dreadful. There is one song where Bjork is singing with two other people and everyone is singing in a different key. It actually makes you feel sick and dead inside.
   

Lastly one of the best videos of all time has to be Bjork's "It's Oh so Quiet" by Spike Jonze. Definitely watch it on youtube Shhh Shhh. Who doesn't love dancing mailboxes?

And if you're bored definitely check out "Big Time Sensuality". I could go on but I have a feeling not many of you are still reading at this point.

More to come tomorrow- Black Crowes, Black Eyed Peas, Blink-182 and Bloc Party.

Day 26- Nobody beats the Biz

Before I do my in-depth analysis of Bjork I thought I should mention a few notable artists that I neglected in my last post.

After Billy Joel I had a few artists before the Bjork mega-mix. The most notable of these artists were Bing Crosby and Biz Markie.

Bing was all Christmas music which got me in the mood to do some online shopping.

Biz Markie was of course "Just a Friend". Of course the whole reason for mentioning this was to put a picture of Biz on my blog. He is quite a sight.

Day 25- All Bjork all the time

The majority of my listening this weekend was of the lovely Bjork. I'm about 1/2 way through as I've finished three albums but still have a ways to go. I'll do a full Bjork synopsis when I'm complete which will most likely be tomorrow. I am really trying to figure out how to make that post entertaining and humorous. But Bjork and happiness/humor don't go well together.

In the mean time I had a musical diversion today with the purchase of Guitar Hero World Tour. We got the full kit so I was rockin' out on Drums while Moni was on lead guitar. We still have a lot to learn before we can do a battle of the bands online.

Day 24- Up Early and Rockin' Out

The little one has been sick and so I got up early with her this morning. After some quality time at the baby gym she's down for the morning nap.

I'm listening to "Up Town Girl" and trying to catch up on email.

More to come later today.

Day 23 - Bill and Billy's All Day

Unfortunately I didn't have much quality listening time today so I only made it through a few artists... Bill Cosby, Bill Withers, Billie Holiday, Billy Gilman, Billy Idol and Billy Joel.

I don't have any truly compelling statements to say other than Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" is hilarious and any song that says "ride the pony" in it is great. Also Billy Joel's "Movin' Out" is amazing. I didn't become a fan of Billy Joel until I lived in Long Island. I always hoped I would run into him in the Hamptons or more likely that he would be going for one of his late night drives and run into me.

Lastly in response to a few comments on yesterday's post..
I would say less than 1% of all humans have 4.2 hours or more of Bjork. I also think my listening pace will slow down dramatically during the holidays, but hopefully I can make it up and still finish by May.

Day 22- Progress Update plus Better Than Ezra, Beyonce, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Big Punisher and Bill Cosby

Progress to Date
Did a quick status check based on a request. I did purchase several new albums (did not break any rules) over the last week so the total number of songs is 7,001 or 19.7 days of listening pleasure.

As of 10:15pm on October 22nd I had listened to 718 songs or 1.8 days of music. That puts me at about 10% complete. At this rate I should finish in another 200 days or Sunday, May 10, 2009. Thank you date caculator.

Thankfully I don't have a Zune with access to millions of songs via a subscription plan or I would never complete this task (that's for you Cantando).

Today's Music
I was lucky enough to have horrible traffic this morning when going to work and probably got another 15 minutes of Better Than Ezra in. I was never a big fan of Better Than Ezra when they were popular so I wasn't looking forward to two CDs worth of them. Overall I wasn't really impressed or disappointed. "Friction Baby" was certainly the better of the two albums we have (Deluxe being the other one). My favorite Ezra songs are as follows...

1. King of New Orleans
2. Desperately Wanting
3. Circle of Friends- from the Empire Records soundtrack. I need to watch that movie again

I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the song "Normal Town". This is off Friction Baby and is a half decent song until about 2/3 in when there is a flute solo. It is so out of place and so awkward that I almost got in an accident when going through the toll this morning. Really, who has a flute solo, even in the 90s? It made me constantly think of my favorite 70s news anchor Ron Burgandy playing the Jazz flute.

After Ezra I moved onto Beyonce. I wish I could tell you that all of the Beyonce was Monica's but unfortunately I have always been addicted to pop and some how acquired Dangerously in Love and a few other singles.

Dangerously in Love has to be one of the most overrated albums of all time....I would call it Dangerously Overrated (BOOM!). I don't understand why it was so critically acclaimed. The low point was easily "Signs", a song about different astrological signs and how her lover seems to have traits from each sign. Just writing about it makes me realize what a horrible song idea it really is. Reminds me of Gemini's Twin from Saturday Night Live.
Thankfully Jay-Z joined B. on a few tracks and those were the high points.

After Beyonce there was some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Big Punisher (aka Big Pun who is still not a player) and Bill Cosby. Yes Cosby doing some old school comedy about Fat Albert and the gang. "Hey Hey Hey look at Coz doing his thang."

Haven't really looked ahead at tomorrow but it does look like I'll hit Bjork on Sunday or Monday. I hope everyone is looking forward to some very grim posts next week.

Lastly RIP Big Pun

Day 21- Ben Folds, Ben Harper and Better than Ezra

First I want to thank everyone for all the positive feedback and what at least seems to be genuine interest in this blog. I think I've finally stumbled across something that is mildly interesting to write about.

Also sorry if you noticed that Blogger warnings when coming to the site yesterday or today. Apparently Google thought my blog was a "spam blog" that was automatically generated. I'm not sure how to take that and what that says about my literary skills- apparently I'm boring and write like a computer. Anyway onto today's easy listening.

I listened to a ton of music today and made some great progress. I finished off Ben Folds and have to say I was very impressed. Ben holds the test of time and is much better than I had remembered. Fun and easy to digest pop/rock at its best.

Ranking of the Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five albums I have...

1. Rockin the Suburbs- tough to choose one out of the top three, but this in my mind is the most complete album that he's made. Every song is great



2. Ben Folds Five- difficult to make this 2nd, Jackson Cannery, Philosophy and Underground are all amazing



3. Whatever and Ever Amen- this is the first BFF album I had and certainly has the hits that made Ben big like Brick and Song for the Dumbed



4. Ben Folds Live- not sure where to put this. It's a great album but I can't put it above any of the good studio albums. Love the crowd acting as the horns section of Army. Definitely worth listening to



5. Way to Normal- Still not sure about Ben's newest album. Definitely has a very different feel and makes me think Ben just got back from a vacation in Asia. Big fan of Hiroshima and You Don't Know Me.



6. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner- this album is way below the others and is too slow and not nearly as fun and upbeat as the others.

After Ben Folds I moved straight into Ben Harper. This presented an interesting situation, I'm not a Ben Harper fan at all but my wife is. So there is no way I could skip through any of these songs (see the rules at left). I generally didn't mind Mr. Harper with the best track being his most radio played song "Steal My Kisses" from Burn to Shine. I will say he does a great cover of Crowded House's "World Where you Live".

I'm now onto Better Than Ezra but not before running into some Christmas music by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra from Christmas Remixed and Bette Midler from Beaches. I survived and am looking forward to Friction Baby tomorrow.

I did get one comment on my last post about any concerns I had in regards to upcoming music (thanks Ween)... One major concern I have is Bjork. I am a fan of Bjork and have made the mistake of picking up all her albums. I have 66 songs by Bjork or 4.6 hours! I do like Bjork but I might actually go crazy after listening to that much Bjork in a row. I probably have a few days before I get there so I will just live in fear until then.

More to come tomorrow

Starting a blog and Beck, The Bee Gees and the beginning of Ben Folds

After a few posts on facebook regarding my attempt at listening to my entire music library, several folks commented that I should start a blog or document this adventure in some way. So today I started my first blog. I plan to make daily updateswith info on what has been tickling my ears that day.

This week I've been navigating my way through the B's. Yesterday I listened to a ton of Beck and finished off Modern Guilt and Odelay this morning. Here is my ranking of Beck albums that I have...

1. Odelay- this is probably one of the best albums of all time and entertained many a card game in college
   
2. The Information- this is a great album to listen to while working
   
3. Guero- first half of the album is amazing, second half is boring
   
4. Modern Guilt- after only one listen I really liked the album but it doesn't have as many memorable songs as Geuro
   
5. Mellow Gold- good album but a little dated at this point
   
6. Sea Change - this album is horrible and I only kept one song from it

One thing I did notice after listening to a ton of Beck in a row... the use of "with...". Basically the make up several Beck songs is a statement of action followed by "with" and then something absolutely rediculous that doesn't make sense. I don't ever even attempt to understand his lyrics but one thing that is common is this phrase that goes something like this..."doing some stuff with your cheescake eye glasses."

After Beck I rocked out to some Bee Gees (please check out the link) and really enjoyed it. Definitely worth a listen.

I just started what will probably be at least 2 days worth of Ben Folds. I started with Ben Folds Live and have really enjoyed it so far. But we'll see how I feel in a day.

Week 2- Friday October 17th

This is the second original post I put on Facebook before starting this blog. This was posted on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 10:53pm

Another week has passed in my attempt to listen to every song in my iTunes library. Now that I've been doing this for two weeks its official that I have outlasted several of my previous attempts at diets and new years resolutions.

This week was focused all on Artists in the "B's". Most of the B's so far have been dominated by songs from just a few artists such as Basement Jaxx, Beastie Boys and The Beatles. I have to admit I have (now had) way too many songs by Basement Jaxx, even for someone who secretly likes techno/house/trance its way too much. So I did a fair amount of trimming there. Also the Beastie Boys most recent album is just bad, sorry I had to rediscover that.

A few discoveries from this week...
The Bangles, yes the Bangles from the late 80s, are actually great. Tell me you don't love Manic Monday and Eternal Flame.

The Beatles are amazing. Of course everyone knows that but when you have to listen to three hours straight of a single artist and are amazed by every song that is saying something. I don't think I really appreciated how much they changed from album to album.

So there are your artists to rediscover this week, Bangles and Beatles.

Next up a ton of Beck and Ben Folds and a few interesting artists including the Bee Gees, Bell Biv Devoe, Belly and yes Bette Midler.

More to come next week

Week 1- Friday October 10th

This is the historical post that I put on Facebook before starting this blog. Post was done on Friday, October 10, 2008 at 8:39pm

Some of you may remember that last Thursday I began an epic challenge that will be exhausting and may take years off my life... yes Thursday October 2nd I decided to attempt to listen to every song all the way through in my iTunes library in alphabetical order by artist. No skipping unless I agreed to delete the song forever.

As of Thursday October 2nd at 2:35pm I needed to listen to 6972 songs which constitutes 19.6 days of listening enjoyment. My plan was to listen to approximately 2.5 hours a day and then I would finish in about 6 months.

It all started with "Take on Me" by A-Ha

It's been a tough road so far but I am happy to say I finished the A's today. There were some tough times when I thought I would quit... Alanis Morisette, Alicia Keys, Arrested Development.

Later this afternoon I started the B's and got stuck on Baby Genius Lullabies. Yes we have baby music in iTunes. Sad really.

More updates to come next week.