1001 Albums - #518 Kevin Rowland and Dexy's Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay

This is the album bearing one of those staples of 80's radio - "Come On Eileen". I sat back and listened to the rest of the album last night. Three are some real stand out tracks in here besides the one most people know. I really liked "Let's Make This Precious".

Overall, while it's an excellent album, it feels like Kevin Rowland was trying almost too hard for a new sound. Some of the tracks seem overworked. But it's still a landmark album. I remember the first time I heard it, as a high schooler back in the Eighties. I was babysitting for some family friends, and was making the kids suffer through my music (battered self-recorded cassettes, mostly). They stopped fussing when this album came on, and all three of us were up and dancing around in the sunlight streaming in the windows when "Come On Eileen" came on. You just can't sit still to that one.

1001 Albums - #2 Elvis - 'Elvis Presley' (1956)

'Elvis Presley' was Elvis' debut album. The first thing that struck me when listening to this album was that it doesn't sound much like rock and roll as we know it today. Most of it would pass easily on country stations. He even covers the classic 'Blue Moon'. To me, though the cover of 'Tutti Frutti', the 1955 song by Little Richard, was the most telling. You can see the beginnings of the melding of the types of music he was exposed to, and crossing the genres of country and rhythm and blues into what would be called rockabilly music.

This brings back memories, even though I'd never heard the real album all the way through - my parents had Elvis' Greatest Hits, (parts 1 & 2) when I was growing up.  

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

It's the musical equivalent of history lessons - a critical selection of the best albums from 1955 to the present day.

I've decided to go through it, album by album, and I'll stick my comments up here. They may be a bit out of order, as I expect I'll jump around as the mood strikes me. There's also a few gaps in my collection, and I'll remedy those as I go along.

I'll eventually get going on the 1001 books, too. I've got a bunch of them loaded on my Nook now. Once of these days when I finally finish Cryptonomicon, I'll settle down to that.