A Live One

Last weekend M and I spent a good deal of time watching "The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time" on Channel 4. It was a pretty entertaining show for something that was essentially Sunday night fluff, with lots of good music, artist interviews, and some pretty interesting factoids about the bands and the albums (Did you know The Clash's London Calling cover was based on an Elvis Presley album? Me neither.).

The albums were nominated by experts recruited by Channel 4 and the winners were determined by public vote. We started watching at #87 (Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis) and just three albums later we had our first hint that maybe – just maybe – the "public" needed a little help. Who in their right mind would shove Paul Simon's Graceland way back at #84, sandwiched in between an obscure Nick Drake album and an American psychedelic pop band called Love that we'd never even heard of ? ('Cause you know there aren't too many American psychedelic pop bands we haven't heard of).

It only got worse. Exile on Main Street was at #42. Pet Sounds was at #33. London Calling (LONDON CALLING, for Christ's sake) was at #44. And worst of all, Remain in Light Wasn't. Even. On. The. List.

At about #30, M and I paused the TV and quickly cobbled together our own Top 10. We didn't think too hard about the semantics of the word "Greatest" (Most important? Most influential? Best (whatever that means)?) because really – this is a stupid exercise. If we had really stopped to think about it we'd have come up with a dramatically different list – guaranteed. That said, we agreed on albums and ranking almost immediately. We then compared our list to Channel 4's...and...well...read both below, then tell me who you think has a better grasp on the 10 Greatest Albums of All Time. Heh.

Jenny and Michael's Top 10 Greatest albums:
10. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
9. U2 - The Joshua Tree
8. Radiohead - OK Computer
7. Nirvana - Nevermind
6. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
5. Led Zepplin - Led Zepplin IV
4. The Who - Quadrophenia
3. Michael Jackson - Thriller
2. The Beatles - The White Album
1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Channel 4's Top 10 Greatest albums:
10. The Beatles – Revolver
9. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
8. Madonna - Like a Prayer
7. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
6. Oasis - Definitely Maybe (I'll forgive the public this...everyone knows Liam and Noel are just crazy enough to actually kick someone's ass if they were left out.)
5. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
4. Michael Jackson -Thriller
3. Nirvana - Nevermind
2. U2 - The Joshua Tree
1. Radiohead - OK Computer

I mean...I love Madonna (see below), but seriously. And Radiohead could have never existed without Pink Floyd. And everyone knows that Use Your Illusion I and II outstripped Appetite for Destruction, "Sweet Child O' Mine" aside.

Don't they?

If you want to see the full list, check out the Channel 4 site.

Posted by jmakunas at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

JQ asked a question on Phantasy Tour yesterday: Do you still care about Phish/Trey?

He actually received a number of fairly normal answers, no one called him a douchebag, and people respectfully (well, as respectfully as they can on PT) agreed and disagreed with each other. If anyone else had posted this question I would have skipped it. But when one of your best friends is asking it, you take more time to think.

It's been well documented that I had a rough year in 2004 after they announced the breakup. I couldn't listen to Phish for a good long while. I'd ask people to turn it off if they had it playing in the car, I couldn't watch the awesome IT DVD (and still haven't watched it end to end), and I will probably never ever be able to hear The Curtain With (which I love) without feeling physically ill.

After I could listen to them again without completely breaking down, I found that I didn't want to. I was trying to do my best to move on – to see and support smaller bands, to really get involved with other genres, to give other music a longer, harder listen. And J's right – there's a massive amount of amazing new music out there that's kicking the pants off of anything coming out of the ex-Phish camp at this point. Why listen to Shine or GRAB or The Everyone Orchestra when there's a new Slip album on the way, or MMJ's blowing your socks off, or TLG's sold out the Fillmore again?

Essentially J's asking whether or not – after the past two years of stops and starts and shit like "Shine" and twists and teases and promises – Phish still matters.

I think they do. That shouldn't surprise anyone...of course I think they do. But in reality, I've been turned back on to them in the past few months to an extent that makes me truly believe – to my absolute core – that there has never been anything better out there.

I've been listening to Fall '97, and that's part of it. There's nothing better to me than Funky Phish, and that's the pinnacle of their pornofunk explorations. I've been listening to summer '04 shows and watching the Live in Brooklyn DVD, and that's another part of it. They had a new sound – "the beast" – and it had so much potential. The Brooklyn Moma jam, the SPAC Piper, the entire Miami run...they were in the middle of something big and new. I've been turning to them for comfort again – work has been rough, but I've been able to block it out with Phish – for the first time in 2.5 years. And then Trey, in his maddeningly hopeful way, comes out with this, and I'm hopping around our flat yelling "GAME ON!" like a total dweeb.

So yeah, they still matter. Nothing excites or comforts or makes me laugh or cry as much as they do. No one else makes me want to quit my job and live in a tent for months at a time. I know a lot about a lot of other bands, but I still want to sit and analyze Phish ad nauseum. I want to get to 100 shows. I want to take my kids. I want them back.

Listen to this AC/DC Bag from 12/30/97 and tell me you wouldn't sell your grandmother to hear them again: AC/DC Bag, MSG 12/30/97

Posted by jmakunas at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)