100 Essays on 100 Albums: A Journey Through Music and Life

Davey Moore · 07-24-2009, 04:15 PM

Foreward

This is without a doubt the most ambitious writing project I've ever undertaken. In terms of the body of work and reviews I've produced on this forum, this will be my magnum opus. In essence, it's 100 essays on 100 albums, each by a different artist.

Basically, I haven't been reviewing as many albums as I used to because I found I was being too much of a Brent DiCrescenzo. See, I guarantee you nobody would have had a problem with his work if he simply didn't call them reviews and instead put out his own articles and essays on music.

These essays won't be reviews, but I will be talking about the album in a general sense, as well as the band but most importantly I will be exploring the themes in each album as well as the memories and feelings these albums evoke in my mind. Basically, if you're familiar with the brilliant essays of David Foster Wallace and the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, journalistic efforts and their essays end up being about them.

Some of these won't even be essays. They could be short stories, anecdotes, and maybe some poetry thrown in. But rest assured, every essay will connect to the album.

Another thing I'm doing is I'm imposing a minimum word length for each of my pieces. 750 words minimum. That means a total of 75,000 words minimum, which is the equivalent of a 250+ page novel. If everything goes according to plan and life doesn't present any major obstacles, I'm pretty sure this will be the largest series of writing any of us have ever done on this forum, at least in terms of sheer length. My goal is to make it the highest quality series of writings as well, of course that's totally subjective. Shoot for the moon, landing in the stars, you get the gist. I hope I don't sound too pretentious, but alas dear reader, you shall be the sole judge of that.

And now I will give you a list of the albums I will be writing about, in order, and if I have a planned topic/theme regarding it. For now I'll only reveal the first ten, just to demonstrate what I'm trying to do.

Table of Contents

1. On Fire – Galaxie 500 --- "Albums as pieces of a puzzle to make someone whole"
2. Funeral – Arcade Fire --- "Funerals, death, and questions about the meaning of it all"
3. In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel --- "Based on a Steven Erikson quote which basically says the total sum of human history is summed up in the quote 'children are dying'"
4. Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan --- "Regarding Bob Dylan, and the issue of identity within all of us"
5. London Calling – The Clash "Revolution"
6. Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth ---"About a jaded and numb generation corrupted by media"
7. Remain in Light – Talking Heads --- "America and the American dream"
8. The Beatles(The White Album) – The Beatles --- "How the relationships between people deteriorate, using The Beatles as an example"
9. Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones --- "The meaning of Rock n Roll"
10. 69 Love Songs – Magnetic Fields --- "Love and it's many forms"
11. Kid A – Radiohead
12. Entertainment! – Gang of Four
13. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie
14. Perfect from Now On – Built To Spill
15. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
16. Trans-Europe Express – Kraftwerk
17. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
18. Let It Be – The Replacements
19. Bee Thousand – Guided by Voices
20. Odessy and Oracle – The Zombies
21. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic
22. Loveless – My Bloody Valentine
23. Nevermind – Nirvana
24. Marquee Moon – Television
25. Slanted and Enchanted – Pavement
26. Deceit – This Heat
27. F# A# Infinity – Godspeed You Black Emperor!
28. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
29. Is This It – The Strokes
30. Songs of Love and Hate – Leonard Cohen
31. Ambient 1: Music For Airports – Brian Eno
32. Siamese Dream – Smashing Pumpkins
33. White Blood Cells – The White Stripes
34. Spiderland – Slint
35. Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
36. In The Attic of the Universe – The Antlers
37. Repeater – Fugazi
38. Parallel Lines – Blondie
39. The Cars – The Cars
40. Zen Arcade – Husker Du
41. Pink Moon – Nick Drake
42. Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective
43. Dear Science – TV on the Radio
44. Weezer(The Blue Album) – Weezer
45. Tago Mago – Can
46. IV – Led Zeppelin
47. Who's Next – The Who
48. Blue – Joni Mitchell
49. Radio City – Big Star
50. My Aim Is True – Elvis Costello
51. This Nation's Saving Grace – The Fall
52. ...Endtroducing – DJ Shadow
53. The Perfect Prescription – Spacemen 3
54. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
55. Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
56. First Utterance – Comus
57. Chairs Missing – Wire
58. Double Nickels on the Dime – The Minutemen
59. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! - Devo
60. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco
61. Kaleidoscope World – The Chills
62. Black Monk Time – The Monks
63. Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division
64. Histoire de Melody Nelson – Serge Gainsbourg
65. Sail Away – Randy Newman
66. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? - Of Montreal
67. Starsailor – Tim Buckley
68. In The Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson
69. The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
70. The Joshua Tree – U2
71. Psychocandy – The Jesus and Mary Chain
72. No New York – Various Artists
73. Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
74. Dire Straits – Dire Straits
75. Second Edition – Public Image Ltd.
76. Crazy Rhythms – The Feelies
77. Sonic Boom – The Sonics
78. Dust Bowl Ballads – Woody Guthrie
79. Forever Changes – Love
80. Surfer Rosa – Pixies
81. Kind of Blue – Miles Davis
82. The Sun Sessions – Elvis Presley
83. King of the Delta Blues – Robert Johnson
84. What's Going On - Marvin G.aye
85. There's a Riot Goin' On – Sly and the Family Stone
86. Ramones – The Ramones
87. Horses – Patti Smith
88. Legend – Bob Marley
89. Turnstiles – Billy Joel
90. Straight Outta Compton – NWA
91. Electric Warrior – T.Rex
92. Automatic for the People – REM
93. Tea For The Tillerman – Cat Stevens
94. Kinda Kinks – The Kinks
95. Los Angeles – X
96. Kick Out The Jams – MC5
97. The Soft Bulletin – The Flaming Lips
98. Laughing Stock – Talk Talk
99. The Three EP's – The Beta Band
100. 1990 – Daniel Johnston

And finally, don't wish me luck, wish me determination, I'm going to need that a hell of a lot more

07-24-2009, 04:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
Davey Moore The Great Disappearer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: URI Campus and Coventry, both in RI Posts: 462	100 Essays on 100 Albums: A Journey Through Music and Life Foreward This is without a doubt the most ambitious writing project I've ever undertaken. In terms of the body of work and reviews I've produced on this forum, this will be my magnum opus. In essence, it's 100 essays on 100 albums, each by a different artist. Basically, I haven't been reviewing as many albums as I used to because I found I was being too much of a Brent DiCrescenzo. See, I guarantee you nobody would have had a problem with his work if he simply didn't call them reviews and instead put out his own articles and essays on music. These essays won't be reviews, but I will be talking about the album in a general sense, as well as the band but most importantly I will be exploring the themes in each album as well as the memories and feelings these albums evoke in my mind. Basically, if you're familiar with the brilliant essays of David Foster Wallace and the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, journalistic efforts and their essays end up being about them. Some of these won't even be essays. They could be short stories, anecdotes, and maybe some poetry thrown in. But rest assured, every essay will connect to the album. Another thing I'm doing is I'm imposing a minimum word length for each of my pieces. 750 words minimum. That means a total of 75,000 words minimum, which is the equivalent of a 250+ page novel. If everything goes according to plan and life doesn't present any major obstacles, I'm pretty sure this will be the largest series of writing any of us have ever done on this forum, at least in terms of sheer length. My goal is to make it the highest quality series of writings as well, of course that's totally subjective. Shoot for the moon, landing in the stars, you get the gist. I hope I don't sound too pretentious, but alas dear reader, you shall be the sole judge of that. And now I will give you a list of the albums I will be writing about, in order, and if I have a planned topic/theme regarding it. For now I'll only reveal the first ten, just to demonstrate what I'm trying to do. Table of Contents 1. On Fire – Galaxie 500 --- "Albums as pieces of a puzzle to make someone whole" 2. Funeral – Arcade Fire --- "Funerals, death, and questions about the meaning of it all" 3. In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel --- "Based on a Steven Erikson quote which basically says the total sum of human history is summed up in the quote 'children are dying'" 4. Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan --- "Regarding Bob Dylan, and the issue of identity within all of us" 5. London Calling – The Clash "Revolution" 6. Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth ---"About a jaded and numb generation corrupted by media" 7. Remain in Light – Talking Heads --- "America and the American dream" 8. The Beatles(The White Album) – The Beatles --- "How the relationships between people deteriorate, using The Beatles as an example" 9. Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones --- "The meaning of Rock n Roll" 10. 69 Love Songs – Magnetic Fields --- "Love and it's many forms" 11. Kid A – Radiohead 12. Entertainment! – Gang of Four 13. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie 14. Perfect from Now On – Built To Spill 15. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 16. Trans-Europe Express – Kraftwerk 17. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground 18. Let It Be – The Replacements 19. Bee Thousand – Guided by Voices 20. Odessy and Oracle – The Zombies 21. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic 22. Loveless – My Bloody Valentine 23. Nevermind – Nirvana 24. Marquee Moon – Television 25. Slanted and Enchanted – Pavement 26. Deceit – This Heat 27. F# A# Infinity – Godspeed You Black Emperor! 28. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses 29. Is This It – The Strokes 30. Songs of Love and Hate – Leonard Cohen 31. Ambient 1: Music For Airports – Brian Eno 32. Siamese Dream – Smashing Pumpkins 33. White Blood Cells – The White Stripes 34. Spiderland – Slint 35. Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes 36. In The Attic of the Universe – The Antlers 37. Repeater – Fugazi 38. Parallel Lines – Blondie 39. The Cars – The Cars 40. Zen Arcade – Husker Du 41. Pink Moon – Nick Drake 42. Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective 43. Dear Science – TV on the Radio 44. Weezer(The Blue Album) – Weezer 45. Tago Mago – Can 46. IV – Led Zeppelin 47. Who's Next – The Who 48. Blue – Joni Mitchell 49. Radio City – Big Star 50. My Aim Is True – Elvis Costello 51. This Nation's Saving Grace – The Fall 52. ...Endtroducing – DJ Shadow 53. The Perfect Prescription – Spacemen 3 54. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys 55. Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience 56. First Utterance – Comus 57. Chairs Missing – Wire 58. Double Nickels on the Dime – The Minutemen 59. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! - Devo 60. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco 61. Kaleidoscope World – The Chills 62. Black Monk Time – The Monks 63. Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division 64. Histoire de Melody Nelson – Serge Gainsbourg 65. Sail Away – Randy Newman 66. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? - Of Montreal 67. Starsailor – Tim Buckley 68. In The Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson 69. The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths 70. The Joshua Tree – U2 71. Psychocandy – The Jesus and Mary Chain 72. No New York – Various Artists 73. Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen 74. Dire Straits – Dire Straits 75. Second Edition – Public Image Ltd. 76. Crazy Rhythms – The Feelies 77. Sonic Boom – The Sonics 78. Dust Bowl Ballads – Woody Guthrie 79. Forever Changes – Love 80. Surfer Rosa – Pixies 81. Kind of Blue – Miles Davis 82. The Sun Sessions – Elvis Presley 83. King of the Delta Blues – Robert Johnson 84. What's Going On - Marvin G.aye 85. There's a Riot Goin' On – Sly and the Family Stone 86. Ramones – The Ramones 87. Horses – Patti Smith 88. Legend – Bob Marley 89. Turnstiles – Billy Joel 90. Straight Outta Compton – NWA 91. Electric Warrior – T.Rex 92. Automatic for the People – REM 93. Tea For The Tillerman – Cat Stevens 94. Kinda Kinks – The Kinks 95. Los Angeles – X 96. Kick Out The Jams – MC5 97. The Soft Bulletin – The Flaming Lips 98. Laughing Stock – Talk Talk 99. The Three EP's – The Beta Band 100. 1990 – Daniel Johnston And finally, don't wish me luck, wish me determination, I'm going to need that a hell of a lot more __________________ The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.