PEARL JAM 10

Pearl Jam's "Ten" (one of my top 25 most influential albums of ALL TIME) has been reissued. From Rolling Stone: "Four different editions of Ten were released on March 24th, 2009, ranging from the double-disc Legendary Edition to the absolutely stacked Super Deluxe Version, which features 2 CDs, a DVD of their 1992 MTV Unplugged performance, 4 LPs and a replica cassette of the band’s famed Momma Son demo tape. Plus, a remix of the album will be overseen by producer Brendan O’Brien, who worked with the band on four albums."

Wyatt and I checked out the remix the other day. I can never really say much about remixes. My ear for that stuff just isn't very good. Maybe if I heard the old and the new back to back I could tell but, otherwise, not. The album definitely stands up, though. Every song is great.

The Giraffes should cover the fourth track "Why Go" simply because it would be so easy for them. I doubt that the Giraffes are influenced by Pearl Jam but they may share some of Pearl Jam's influences. They instantly came to mind when that song came on.

I stumbled upon topalbumcovers.com while writing this post which is really fun to browse through. "Ten" is number 99 on the list of 100. This is #46:

NICE!

Here is Wyatt's list of most influential albums (in no particular order):

Queen- News of the World (my first album ever, I think I was 3)
Nirvana-In Utero
The Dead Milkmen- Big Lizard in my Backyard
Modest Mouse- this is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about
The Beatles- Abbey Road
Songs:Ohia- Ghost Tropic
Smog- Wild Love
Pink Floyd- Meddle
Fugazi- Repeater
Pavement- Wowee Zowee
The Smiths- The Smiths
Califone- Roomsounds
Bauhaus- Mask
David Bowie- The Man Who Sold the World
Echo and the Bunnymen- Heaven up Here
Television- Marquee Moon
Patti Smith- Horses
Joan of Arc- How Memory Works
Yes- Fragile
Pixies- Bossanova

Now that the three of us have all posted lists it's time to analyze. First and foremost: there is no one album that is on all three of the lists. We each cited a Beatles album but all different ones. We also all have Songs:Ohia on our list but Wyatt had to go and be different with "Ghost Tropic" while Jeff and I had the "Magnolia Electric Co." album on our lists. Jeff and I have five common albums, Jeff and Wyatt have one. Wyatt and I, however, have none. Interesting...

BOYS...

You can't have a band with them... pass the beer nuts.

Here's Jeff's list of most influential albums, unabridged:

marquee moon - television
revolver-beatles
gp/grievous angel - gram parsons
sticky fingers - rolling stones
exile on main street - rolling stones
being there - wilco
everybody knows this is nowhere - neil young
piper at the gates of dawn - pink floyd
doolittle - pixies
songs of leonard cohen - leonard cohen
magnolia electric co. - songs:ohia
nowhere - ride
isn't anything - my bloody valentine
stone roses - stone roses
appetite for destruction - g'n'r
velvet underground - self -titled 3rd album
highway to hell - ac/dc
crooked rain, crooked rain - pavement
seamonsters - the wedding present
louder than bombs - the smiths
music from big pink - the band
workingman's dead - the grateful dead
bayou country - ccr
hunky dory - david bowie
lady soul - aretha franklin
everything the kinks recorded from 1966-1970
plastic ono band - john lennon
dusty in memphis - dusty springfield
sweetheart of the rodeo-the byrds
funhouse - the stooges
tim - the replacements
closer - joy division
gilded palace of sin - flying burrito bros.
faith - the cure
daydream nation - sonic youth
modern lovers - modern lovers
pyromania - def leppard
#1 record/radio city - big star
pink flag - wire
entertainment - gang of four
your living all over me - dinosaur jr.
mezcal head - swervedriver
yerself is steam - mercury rev
xo - elliot smith
i want to see the bright lights - richard & linda thompson
viva last blues - palace
galaxie 500 - on fire
violent femmes - s/t
slowdive - souvlaki

No list yet from Wyatt...

Speaking of gender issues in music (something I have a chip on my shoulder about sometimes) my March On the Beat is up.

BEL AIR VS. FACEBOOK

I tried putting Bel Air music up on Facebook but, in order to upload songs, you have to provide 8 kinds of valid ID with pictures and raised seals.


Huh? Too hard!

So, I thought, since I could'nt bring Bel Air to Facebook, I would post a recent Facebook thing that's going around right here on our official blog. The idea is to post your top 20 most influential albums of all time. These are supposed to be albums that "had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions." Here's mine (in no particular order):




1. Appetite for Destruction - Guns 'n Roses
2. Thriller - Michael Jackson
3. Blue - Joni Mitchell
4. Lover Man - Carmen McRae
5. Sgt. Pepper - The Beatles
6. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
7. GP/Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
8. Violator - Depeche Mode
9. Survival - Bob Marley
10. Blue Light, Red Light - Harry Connick Jr.
11. OK Computer - Radiohead
12. XO - Elliott Smith
13. Pentouse - Luna
14. Faithless Street - Whiskeytown
15. 10 - Pearl Jam
16. This Year's Model - Elvis Costello
17. Grace - Jeff Buckley
18. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
19. Magnolia Electric Co. - Songs:Ohia/Magnolia El.Co.
20. Black Sheep - Martin Sexton
21. Music from Big Pink - The Band

I'm not winning any originality awards here, I realize.

Maybe Jeff and Wyatt will post their top 20s, too.

In other Facebook/blog/life news - please check out this post on Grant Miller Media - 25 Random Things about Me! by Bryan Adams.

TOP FIVE

I'm making a late game substitution in my Top Five Voices list.

I need to add Joe Strummer in there. I can't figure out who to bump, though.

WYATT'S TOP FIVE VOICES

Again, in no particular order:

1. Paul Humphreys (OMD)
2. Morrissey
3. Roland Orzbal (Tears for Fears)
4. Bill Callahan
5. Diana Ross

This is a bold list! I particularly like #3.

JEFF'S TOP FIVE VOICES

In no particular order:

1. Leonard Cohen
2. Gram Parsons
3. Neil Young
4. Emmylou Harris
5. Levon Helm

Jeff also has a list of honorable mentions which is totally cheating but I'll list them anyway.

Honorable Mentions: Hope Sandoval, Paul Westerberg, Dean Wareham and Dusty Springfield.

TOP FIVE VOICES

Allie's Top 5 Singing Voices of All Time (in no particular order):

1. Lyle Lovett
2. Thom Yorke
3. Freddie Mercury
4. Joni Mitchell
5. Jeff Buckley

That was hard. Feel free to tell me who I missed. Wyatt and Jeff are currently struggling to come up with their lists. I'll post them very soon.