- From the Choirgirl Hotel
- To Venus and Back (studio disc)
- Scarlet's Walk
- The Beekeeper
- Night of Hunters
- Audience bootleg - Helsinki, 28 September 2011
Kate Bush - Aerial
Eskimo Joe - A Song Is A City
Peter Gabriel - So
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Janet Jackson - Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
Sting - The Soul Cages
Talk Talk - It's My Life
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Hey! This thing wasn't supposed to get this far out of date again! I drafted the list and never came back to writing something about what was on the list.
The list is short. This is not simply because a new Tori Amos album dominated my listening... yes, yes, okay, I did listen to it quite a bit at times, but the list is also short because the pop/classical pendulum swung very much in the classical direction, for reasons that will be explained further once the classical post for September is up. The fact that Tori's new album is itself very much in the classical direction only helped push the pendulum in that direction.
I did find time during the month to listen my 'official' favourite album of all time. And no, it's not the Janet Jackson - which is something I hadn't listened to for ages and decided to load onto the iPhone for precisely the kind of reasons this blog exists, exploring the music collection. The official number one is Sting's The Soul Cages.
This doesn't mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that I listen to it frequently. It doesn't even mean that every time I listen to it I adore the experience. It's part of the nature of music, in my view, that connection with any particular piece of music depends in part upon your emotional state when you listen to it, and while I'd like to think I'm not too bad at assessing what kind of music will 'work' for me at a particular time, there are no guarantees.
No, the number one slot was awarded, whenever it was I sat down and tried to create a ranking (far too long ago, a full revision is required rather than the occasional patching that tries to stuff extra albums into the list), because this was the album that, on the occasions when it DID connect, seemed to be most capable of providing a rich, immersive, complete experience. Where the balance between songs contributing to the whole and songs providing their own individual areas of contrast seemed to work. Where the sonic detail made every moment worth listening to ('Q Sound' is not just a gimmick, the album truly does sound exceptional on good equipment).
And frankly, I suspect the fact that an album with 9 tracks managed to have 2 tracks that I found totally overwhelming to the point of being physically affected was a major point in its favour. Even having 1 track fitting that description is rare, I don't think any other has ever qualified for 2 spots on the list. Not that there's an official list for that criterion.
Of course, thematically it's an utterly miserable album that's almost always either about water or death or both. But hey, I respond to that kind of thing - at least, I do at times which is precisely why I don't listen to the album ALL the time. If you don't ever respond to that kind of thing then I guess you wouldn't like it. But if dark and moody is your thing and you've never heard The Soul Cages, I heartily recommend it.
Oh, and why am I talking about an album that came out 20 years ago (eek! I just realised this, it really IS 20 years ago now, and about 18 since I first heard it), instead of contributing to the avalanche of opinions about Night of Hunters? Well, because I don't know just what I think about it yet. Not completely. I definitely do like it, a lot. But I'm still getting to know it and it also seems quite rich and immersive. Anyway, most of what I think of it really developed in October, so talking about it in November about the September post would be cheating, wouldn't it? ;-)
PS Yes, I really did get to listen to a recording of a Tori Amos concert within a couple of days of the concert occurring. From thousands of miles/kilometres away. Ain't technology wonderful?
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