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beszpilman · 08-23-2009, 10:43 AM

The Beach Boys - The Very Best of The Beach Boys: Sounds of Summer (2003)
Rating:3.decent | Favorites: I Can Hear Music; Darlin'; Wild Honey; Heroes And Villains; Wouldn't It Be Nice; God Only Knows; Don't Worry Baby
I've grown up with The Beach Boys and couldn't keep myself from ripping this record from dad's collection. Unfortunately most of his collection is made of compilations, so I'd better get buying my own CD's if I'm to experience good productions. My ears are obviously tickling to get a taste of Pet Sounds, but I might just prefer going through all or most of their discography in proper order. The only real highlight of this "Very Best of" is that Wild Honey is followed by Darlin' and then I Can Hear Music, a triple dose of imense goodness. Particularly I Can Hear Music is one of the sweetest songs I've ever come across, originally by The Ronettes (I couldn't find which record of theirs had the song). Many other tracks here are great, but this compilation being far too lengthy I selected the very best for me. Now I wanna see those songs in context.

The B-52's - Time Capsule (1998)
Rating:3.decent | Favorites: Strobelight; Mesopotamia; Summer Of Love; Deadbeat Club; Roam; Debbie; Hallucinating Pluto
Another of my dad's compilations, I have to forgive myself for listening to this one, if only because it contains the not-found-anywhere-else song "Debbie" which is my favorite B-52's song right next to Deadbeat Club. Strobelight is an absolutely hilarious song of random humor that manages to be catchy all the while. Hallucinating Pluto and Roam are highly atmospheric songs, anthems to me, and Summer Of Love, here in it's original unreleased version (never heard the released one to compare), gives me such a fuzzy warm feeling that's probably the mixing of summer, love and nostalgia. Great record for having Debbie but I'll be after studio albums of theirs in the future. Might just start with Funplex.

Norah Jones - Feels Like Home (2004)
Rating:4.brilliant | Favorites: Sunrise; Toes; Humble Me
The good thing about this simmer period is I spent not a dime with the CDs! This was my mom's (castaside) so I picked it out of pure curiosity. Oh! what joy came of it! To date this is one of my favorite albums, though that might not say so much because I have listened to really few albums and among the better artists some were "Best of", just meh. This bluesy country-jazz instantly got to me, my best companion for a cozy day alone doing whatever (doing nothing works best). All tracks are good and it works great as a whole (it's length is just right too), but I have special care for Humble Me. It does humble me as well as Ms. Jones and I like that.

Now for a quick take on the simmer period that followed, my Simmer #3 which lasted only a month (February 2009). Since I had started learning to play the sax by the end of 2008, I decided to make February a month for instrumental and especifically sax oriented albums. Actually it was going to be two months as far as I could tell, but by the end of the first month I couldn't stand the drudgery any longer and longed for voiced, "poppier" works. Maybe it's my age, current musical maturity, bad selection of albums for getting started, all of those or something else entirely. Regardless, I'm done with instrumental albums for the foreseeable future. Here was my selection:

John Coltrane - Blue Train (1958)
Rating:0.refrained
Marcos Szpilman - Um sax no cinema (1995)
Rating:0.refrained
Various - A Buddha Lounge Tribute to The Beatles (2007)
Rating:0.refrained

Blue Train worked well as a soundtrack to workout to but Alas! Otherwise I got bored listening to it's jams.

Schizotypic, thanks for chiming in! Joshua Tree is definitely next on my U2 simmerlist.

08-23-2009, 10:43 AM	#4 (permalink)
beszpilman Groupie Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 11	Simmer #2: 2008 Dec-Jan (2 mo.) & the Third Simmer (or Microwave #1) The Beach Boys - The Very Best of The Beach Boys: Sounds of Summer (2003) Rating:3.decent \| Favorites: I Can Hear Music; Darlin'; Wild Honey; Heroes And Villains; Wouldn't It Be Nice; God Only Knows; Don't Worry Baby I've grown up with The Beach Boys and couldn't keep myself from ripping this record from dad's collection. Unfortunately most of his collection is made of compilations, so I'd better get buying my own CD's if I'm to experience good productions. My ears are obviously tickling to get a taste of Pet Sounds, but I might just prefer going through all or most of their discography in proper order. The only real highlight of this "Very Best of" is that Wild Honey is followed by Darlin' and then I Can Hear Music, a triple dose of imense goodness. Particularly I Can Hear Music is one of the sweetest songs I've ever come across, originally by The Ronettes (I couldn't find which record of theirs had the song). Many other tracks here are great, but this compilation being far too lengthy I selected the very best for me. Now I wanna see those songs in context. The B-52's - Time Capsule (1998) Rating:3.decent \| Favorites: Strobelight; Mesopotamia; Summer Of Love; Deadbeat Club; Roam; Debbie; Hallucinating Pluto Another of my dad's compilations, I have to forgive myself for listening to this one, if only because it contains the not-found-anywhere-else song "Debbie" which is my favorite B-52's song right next to Deadbeat Club. Strobelight is an absolutely hilarious song of random humor that manages to be catchy all the while. Hallucinating Pluto and Roam are highly atmospheric songs, anthems to me, and Summer Of Love, here in it's original unreleased version (never heard the released one to compare), gives me such a fuzzy warm feeling that's probably the mixing of summer, love and nostalgia. Great record for having Debbie but I'll be after studio albums of theirs in the future. Might just start with Funplex. Norah Jones - Feels Like Home (2004) Rating:4.brilliant \| Favorites: Sunrise; Toes; Humble Me The good thing about this simmer period is I spent not a dime with the CDs! This was my mom's (castaside) so I picked it out of pure curiosity. Oh! what joy came of it! To date this is one of my favorite albums, though that might not say so much because I have listened to really few albums and among the better artists some were "Best of", just meh. This bluesy country-jazz instantly got to me, my best companion for a cozy day alone doing whatever (doing nothing works best). All tracks are good and it works great as a whole (it's length is just right too), but I have special care for Humble Me. It does humble me as well as Ms. Jones and I like that. Now for a quick take on the simmer period that followed, my Simmer #3 which lasted only a month (February 2009). Since I had started learning to play the sax by the end of 2008, I decided to make February a month for instrumental and especifically sax oriented albums. Actually it was going to be two months as far as I could tell, but by the end of the first month I couldn't stand the drudgery any longer and longed for voiced, "poppier" works. Maybe it's my age, current musical maturity, bad selection of albums for getting started, all of those or something else entirely. Regardless, I'm done with instrumental albums for the foreseeable future. Here was my selection: John Coltrane - Blue Train (1958) Rating:0.refrained Marcos Szpilman - Um sax no cinema (1995) Rating:0.refrained Various - A Buddha Lounge Tribute to The Beatles (2007) Rating:0.refrained Blue Train worked well as a soundtrack to workout to but Alas! Otherwise I got bored listening to it's jams. Schizotypic, thanks for chiming in! Joshua Tree is definitely next on my U2 simmerlist.