Popular Music - November 2017

Tori Amos - Night of Hunters
Tori Amos - Native Invader
Beyonce - Beyonce
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
Bryan Duncan - Mercy
Peter Gabriel - So
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Nik Kershaw - The Riddle
Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola
Joni Mitchell - Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
Agnes Obel - Aventine
Simply Red - Picture Book
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Thrice - The Alchemy Index

Early November was one of those times when I listened to quite a lot of pop music. The Tori Amos/Joni Mitchell comparison completely stopped in this period, and my focus was very much on established favourites. I was clearly out to enjoy myself rather than educate myself.

Which is fine. The purpose of the spreadsheets where I keep records of what I listen to, which led to this blog, is to stop myself from listening to the same things all the time, and I do set myself all these listening projects. But I also don't want to turn listening simply into a task with checklists.

Besides, quite a few of the albums on this list were things I had not listened to for over a year. In a couple of cases the gap between listens was several years. My collection is quite large enough for this to happen.

So here is the Beyonce album that made me a Beyonce fan, my favourite Kate Bush album, the Marc Cohn album that I've been in love with for a couple of decades, my favourite Crowded House, Bryan Duncan's masterpiece, the best EP in history disguised as a Peter Gabriel album, Elton John's best and biggest secret, and the best moments of Simply Red, Talk Talk and Thrice. That should be plenty to explore for those so inclined.