Utilitarian Review 4/7/17

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I did a list of the thirty greatest albums ever.

A couple other folks made best of album lists too

And here’s a list of the top 5 albums ever. (one more list next week and then we’re done, I promise.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Buzzfeed I wrote about The Zookeeper’s Wife and gentile savior films.

At the Forward I wrote about Ghost in the Shell and whitewashing Asians and Jews alike.

At the New Republic I argued that Bernie Sanders saying “liberal elites” is basically the left punching itself right in the face.

At Splice Today I wrote about

Salon Kitty and the allure of sexy,corrupt fascists.

the anti-war left, which needs a strategy better than, “warmongers are bad”.

At the Reader I wrote about the 9 piece country rock outfit Sweet Spirit.

2 thoughts on “Utilitarian Review 4/7/17

  1. Fun to read what you’ve got as your top 30. For me, I’d say Wrecking Ball is the best of Emmylou’s albums, because it feels so much an album rather than a collection of songs to me. But also I find the Daniel Lanois production really beautiful.

    I think Astral Weeks belongs on any best album list, not just because it’s fucking beautiful gorgeous, but also because of the shockingly short production for such complex sound.

    To me, again, I’d say Steely Dan should be up there for sound quality.

    I can see why you’d want Sinead, but to me, she’s not as album focused as song focused.

    Zeppelin, I think, has to be there not just because of the sound but for the influence they had on practically everybody–they did so much to make both heavy metal type sound popular while ALSO popularizing folky acoustic, which can be a puzzler. Besides, Bron Y Ar is just the fucking best (stomp or acoustic).

    And I’d add Marvin Gaye, although whether What’s Goin On or something else, tough call. If nothing else, Gaye keeps being played today, see that stupid Robin Thicke mess. I think Gaye defined a certain kind of sound, and that sound feels strong even now, I guess.

  2. Marvin Gaye is in the Motown box set! So he’s in there (I think Let’s Get It On is my favorite of his albums.)

    I love Zeppelin and Steely Dan both; they were on and off the list at various points. I kind of hate Wrecking Ball’s production; Daniel Lanois gives me hives. I like Astral Weeks, but not enough for a top 30 list (it would make top 500 though, I’m pretty sure.)

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