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2002-07-02 ~ 4:08 p.m.
Listening to: Listening to: Shooby do bop bop BAY-EE-AY-EE-AY-BAY! Tee hee. The time has come, Melissa said, to talk of many things. Mainly my favorite albums of all time. Recently I gathered up all of my CDs and soundtracks and even some of my dad's CDs and soundtracks, and listened to all of them. Yeah huh. Two albums per day. And in the end, I was left with three albums that, if I had to, I could listen to forever. One of them I've been listening to since I was a kid, one of them I've had for about 3 or 4 years now, and one of them is a latecomer that totally threw off the original top three when I first heard it. Anyway, I just like to talk about myself, so here are Melissa's Top Three Favorite Albums of All Time (TM) Hanson's This Time Around: Never have I experienced music so inspiring and empowering. It's almost like the album is a person. A person, just like you or me. And the songs are the stages of its life. We'll call this person Bob. Bob starts out young and reckless with "You Never Know" and "If Only." Bob learns how to watch out for himself in "This Time Around" and enters the hellpit known as the teenage years during the impulsive "Runaway Run" and the moody "Save Me." The bulk of Bob's "real" life, where he's out in the world on his own, happens during the next four songs--"Dying to Be Alive," "Can't Stop," "Wish That I Was There," and "Love Song." Bob loves, lives, and cries. It is so so beautiful. Bob goes through a mid-life crisis of sorts in "Sure About It," "In the City," and "Hand In Hand" (which are all songs about either cheating, or ones that make no sense). And finally, in "Song to Sing," the quiet, less-than-spectacular finale, Bob speculates on all he's been through, feeling a little sorry for himself, and ultimately doing a little last-minute soul-searching. It's really hard to believe that a 21, 19, and 16 year old wrote these songs, but when it hits you, and when you accept it, you are left with nothing but true respect for Hanson. Billy Gilman's Dare to Dream: He's the naughty newcomer who messed up my top three! As soon as I heard this album I knew I loved it. The problem is, I don't even know why I love it so much. It's almost like there are subliminal messages imbedded into the tracks. Subliminal messages saying, "Everyone loves Billy Gilman! Dare to Dream is the best album EVER! You will feel compelled to cry during tracks 3, 5, 8, and 9! You will stare at your stereo in awe and confusion when you listen to track 6! You will giggle uncontrollably during tracks 1, 4, and 10, and think that Billy sounds super sexy during tracks 2, 7, and 12! And if you are 15 years or older, you will not feel guilty for thinking that a 14-year-old boy is super sexy! You will also not feel guilty for suddenly liking country music so much! You love Billy Gilman! You must have him! You must buy a life-sized poster of him and hang it on your ceiling! You also must buy Gap low rise jeans!" *slaps herself* Okay, that got a little out of hand. Seriously though. His voice is just phenomenal, it's so developed and mature for a boy. But anyway, I've only had the album for about 6 days, and I must admit that it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. :) Thanks Linds! The Carpenters' Greatest Hits: I used to listen to this one when I was like 3 or 4, and the familiarity and comfort of being a little kid comes back to me whenever I hear this album. Richard Carpenter (who, I think, didn't and doesn't get enough credit for his arrangements) has a way of stringing the songs and unfinished tracks together with interludes and instrumentals that makes the album sound like one continuous song, like the soundtrack to someone's life. But truth be told, in the end it all boils down to Miss Karen Carpenter's Immaculate Voice (TM). I could listen to it all day. It's just so different from the other female singers who were famous for powerful voices, like Whitney Houston or Celine Dion. They both have a (cough cough) slight tendency to go off onto elaborate cadences and ad libs that almost take them into a different key, and also almost make them sound like they are trying too hard--even though they sounded great. Karen Carpenter, on the other hand, sounded beautiful, effortlessly. Her voice was always natural and relaxed, and that was the beauty of it. The saddest thing for me to deal with is that she died before anyone got a chance to tell her what a great singer she was. *crosses herself* So those are my favorite albums. Feel free to sign the Book and agree or disagree. Here are some of the close calls:
So there ya have it. Hope you all enjoyed roughly 3,186,399 words of me talking about myself.
Falling Upward ~ Falling Downward
Miss Anything? i'm portable - 2005-02-16 busy making big mistakes - 2004-06-12 i'm sorry I know that's a strange way to tell you - 2004-03-21 hello darkness - 2004-03-17 another night slips away - 2004-03-15
All words � MM 2001-03 |
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