2007 - My musical tastes

Hi Everyone

So 2007 comes to a close, and like last year, I thought I would reflect on my music tastes during this year. Plenty of other things happened in my life this year, like going overseas and getting engaged, but will keep this post to the music things.

Unlike the excellent “Wireless Cranium” blog, this won’t quite be as comprehensive and informative and will only be in one post.

I guess the first main thing to mention was the 2007 was the year that I got an I-pod proper. Has this changed my musical listening habits? It sure has. Having your entire cd collection in your pocket on the train on the way to work certainly makes you more picky with what you listen to, and I am very guilty of over using the shuffle features and being trigger happy on the skip button. So I do understand the people that claim that the i-pod is killing the album.

However, having said that, I am still purchasing albums, and as you will read on, you will note that I added some classic albums to my collection in 2007.

New Releases from old favourites
2007 saw some new releases from some of my favourite artists – Paul Kelly released Stolen Apples, another strong album to add to his impressive back catalogue. Once again Kelly showed off his versatility, with the album containing everything from lovely ballads (The Foggy Fields of France), to catchy pop/rock (Keep on Driving) to heavier rock (God Told Me To).

James Reyne, another favourite of mine released two albums this year! – Every Man a King, an excellent studio album containing some classic Reyne tracks with his typical biting commentary all throughout the lyrics (Little Man You’ve Had a Busy Day, Mr International, Broken Romeo and Sammy and Dufus and Our Man in New York). Reyne also released a second album under the Liberation Blue Acoustic Series, Ghost Ships, where he delved into the back catalogue of Aussie Crawl and his solo career to re-record some old classics in fully acoustic format. Both Every Man a King and Ghost Ships are great albums that I would highly recommend.

Another favourite, Tim Rogers, released the Luxury of Hysteria in 2007. I still haven’t really given this album enough of a listen, but it’s a real change in direction for Mr Rogers. The album is a much more mature sound, and has a lot of strings throughout it. I like it, but haven’t really been blown away by it just yet. Nevertheless, after the disappointing (in my opinion) You Am I release “Convicts” in 2006, I had low expectations for Rogers solo album, and it is certainly better than what I was expecting.

Crowded House also reformed with a new line up to release “Time on Earth”. I have mixed feelings about them reforming, as I think that when you do such a grand farewell like they did at the Opera House, it’s a little strange, and also when such an integral member of the band (ie. Paul Hester) is no longer alive, its really not Crowded House any more. But who I am to criticize, considering I bought the album and went to the gig!!!! Time On Earth is a nice solid album, with some great tracks on it, such as Pour Le Monde, and She Called Up, but I still think it’s a little top heavy. I am hoping that over time some of the more mellow tracks towards the end of the album will grow on me some more.

Bob Dylan
2007 was the year that Bob Dylan started to invade my music collection. I have liked a lot of Bob’s songs that you hear on the radio, but with such an extensive back catalogue, I never really knew where to begin. But I took the plunge this year, and now have Bringing It All Back Home, Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde and the Essential Bob Dylan (a greatest hits compilation). I still think that you have to be in the right mood to enjoy Dylan’s music, which is why its hard to pick a favourite out of them. If forced, I would have to say Blood on the Tracks, but then again, I like the contrasting acoustic/electric feel on Bringing in All Back home. Blonde on Blonde is a bit of a tougher nut to crack for me. I think it’s the length of the album that puts me off it, but if you are in the mood for it, its brilliant.

Classic Albums
As I mentioned earlier, my collection grew with the addition of a number of classic albums. June brought a great deal of excitement following the re-release of the Traveling Wilburys Collection. I had wanted to get these two albums for a while, and once they were finally re-released, I jumped at the opportunity. I think they are brilliant. Volume one in particular has got a lot of listening time from me this year. Its just a really enjoyable album, from the radio friendly hits (Handle with Care, End of the Line), through to the classic Dylan pieces (Tweeter and the Monkey Man) and the classic Orbison song (Not Alone Anymore). Volume Three (the follow up, there was no volume two), wasn’t as successful as the first, but it still has some solid tracks on it, like Inside Out, and I think it’s a great album too. Ah, the Wilburys, a true super group.

I also purchased Queen’s A Night at the Opera this year. I think I saw a documentary on it earlier this year, and thought it would be an album that I would enjoy. And enjoy I have. Where else can you find a perfect pop song (You’re My Best Friend) alongside epic tracks (Bohemian Rhapsody, the Prophet’s Song), a romantic ode to a motor vehicle (I’m in Love with My Car), with some theatrical light heartedness thrown in for good measure (Seaside Rendezvous, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon)

Other classic albums that I purchased this year include At Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash), Bat Out of Hell (Meat Loaf), A Nod is as Good as a Wink (The Faces). The length of this post prohibits me from going into more detail on these, other than to say they are all great albums.

Compilation Albums
As always, these feature quite prominently in my collection, and during 2007 I picked up some greatest hits by artists such as Cheap Trick, Tom Petty and Frank Sinatra.

Rockwiz released a volume two of the duets from the show, which contains the excellent From Little Things Big Things Grow (by Sara Storer and Archie Roach), amongst others.

I picked up a couple of tribute albums this year – one where Aussie artists (such as You am I, the Living End, Pete Murray, Paul Kelly etc) covered the music of Cold Chisel. Its not a bad album, but with tribute albums like these, you tend to like some of the versions, and not like others.

Another tribute album that I purchased was a tribute to indigenous artist Kev Carmody. I must admit, I had never heard of Carmody before, but it turns out he has collaborated with Paul Kelly a lot, including on the writing of the classic From Little Things Big Things Grow. The tribute album, Cannot Buy My Soul, contained one disc of artists like Bernard Fanning, John Butler Trio, Augie March etc performing covers of Carmody songs, but of more interest to me was the second disc, which contained Carmody’s original versions of the songs. He has a very relaxed folk style to his singing, and his songs pack some powerful messages as well. It was a great album.



As with last year, it seems like I have written a lot again, and will probably be boring you now, so I will end my look back at the year here.

I will try to write more posts in the new year, in fact, I have a bit of an idea for an upcoming post – think a bit 20 to 1 countdown style……
Happy new year everyone!!