The Young Gods - L'eau rouge (1989)

Recently I've re-started collecting CDs instead of MP3s or other such ways of owning my favorite music. For one thing as someone who prefers a full album to a single song CDs just offer the best way to obtain high-quality, easily back-up-able recordings. For another there's plenty of ways for online music to screw you out of being able to listen to a given song or album you want to hear. But I'm also discovering an unfortunate side to the albums on CD model, in the form of the dreaded "bonus track".

Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps (1981)

My 100th Review Flashback!

(originally posted on Facebook)

In honor of a completely arbitrary accomplishment I've decided to take a look back at my musical journey. Coincidentally after 100 reviews I am about 1 year into my project. This does not bode well for my progress, as 100 reviews out of a planned 1,032 is hardly progress at all. I hate doing the math on my time frame and thinking I won't finish this project until I'm 40. I also hate to think that new issues of the "1,001 Albums To Hear Before You Die" list will add yet more albums to the total, and I'll just be doing stupid music reviews for the rest of my life.

R.E.M. - Document (R.E.M. No. 5) (1987)

(originally posted on Facebook)

I'm not sure what to call this album based on the cover alone. The upper left corner says "R.E.M. NO. 5" and the top says "Document". Most places I've seen call it what I wrote in the title, but... I have no idea why I pay so much attention to details like this.

So this album contains R.E.M. mega-hits "It's the End of the World As We Know It" and "The One I Love". And it has a bunch of other songs. It's an easy and quick listen, nothing spectacular but solid. R.E.M. does kinda stick with that one familiar sound though which can get boring. 3 stars since I kinda liked it.

Anyway, following up Napalm Death with some easy R.E.M. was welcome. Though I liked R.E.M. more than I liked Napalm Death, I have no idea why I had to listen to Document before I died, but I completely understand Scum in the sense of the Big List. Document is just another rock album, nothing jarring or exciting except maybe by R.E.M. standards. Scum on the other hand opened a whole new sub-genre, albeit one that is total trash. It's albums like Document that make me wonder if the author of the list included some albums just because they contain one or two hits by popular bands. Albums like Scum convince me that this guy knows his shit.

Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

(originally posted on Facebook)