Category: Music

My Favorite Albums

My friend Royce challenged me to list my favorite albums on Facebook.

I love music, so this is hard. But here we go…

– Nirvana: Nevermind (the album that made me like music and changed my life and my generation.)

– The Beatles: (The White Album) (sure, Abbey Road is a/the masterpiece, but I’ve always loved the chaotic underbelly of the Beatles…for me, this is pure music perfection.)

– Willie Nelson: Spirit (the best Willie album… “it’s been some of them days, Lord.”)

– Flaming Lips: Soft Bulletin (cause “It’s getting heavy…”)

– Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker (even if it is named after a Mariah Carey song.)

– Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Reservations is my anthem and this is the best album of the century so far.)

Not too far away from my list in 2008.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

The album Nevermind was released by Nirvana / Geffen 23 years ago in 1991 (I was 13).

I remember this intensely because the day the album was released I was riding with my mom to the local discount superstore (Roses in Marion, SC) and I was intent on buying an Eric Clapton tape.

On the way, mom switched on the radio and I’ll never forget hearing the first few riffs of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana on her Honda Accord speakers.

It changed my life. I was 13 and I finally heard music. I’ve preached sermons about this moment. Seriously.

“For this gift, I feel blessed.”

I bought the Nevermind tape instead of Clapton’s. It has made all the difference.

Thanks, Kurt.

U2’s New Album

I was a huge fan of U2’s Achtung Baby, Zooropoa and Pop albums. They are still three of my “desert island” albums that I go to when I need a good listen while grinding out some work.

I own a number of b-sides, collectibles, and even vinyl versions of U2 albums that I’ve collected over the the years because of what their music in the 90’s meant to me. However, I was pretty disappointed in the new album (you know, the one that Apple put on your iPhone and iTunes without asking) on first listening.

After my third listen tonight, the album is warming up to me with a couple of standouts, but I’m still trying to get to the point where I actually like it.

Fricke knows his stuff, though. Here’s a good review…

“We can hear you,” Bono swears. “Your voices will be heard.”

via U2’s New Album: Songs of Innocence | Rolling Stone.

R.I.P. Lou Reed

“Oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on”

Lou Reed, a massively influential songwriter and guitarist who helped shape nearly fifty years of rock music, died today. The cause of his death has not yet been released, but Reed underwent a liver transplant in May.

via Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71 | Rolling Stone.

Willie and Trigger

It’s amazing to think that one instrument has pretty much provided the soundtrack of my life:

Trigger: Texas Monthly December 2012: “Without Willie, there would be no Trigger. And it’s only a slight exaggeration to say that without Trigger, there would be no Willie. Willie likes to say that his guitar will probably wear out just about the same time he does. But instead of slowing down, as most people do when they approach their ninth decade, Willie keeps doing the things he’s been doing for years, and so does Trigger. The pair did more than 150 shows this year, and they’ll likely do about that many in 2013. They’ll make some more albums and write some more songs. They’ll play as if they’re going to play forever.”

Fantastic article on my favorite musician and favorite instrument.

Sweating the Details, Apple Style

Beautiful:

Apple’s Tribute To Steve Jobs, Yo-Yo Ma, And The Prelude From Bach:

As it turns out, Ma plays the first four Bach suites tuning down his cello a full semitone, and there is a specific reason for doing so. In baroque times, instruments like cellos sounded a little different: the musical note A (A440) didn’t have a frequency of 440 Hz, but was more around 415 Hz — something known as the baroque pitch.

(Via www.macstories.net)

My Music Since 2005

It’s funny, odd and a little comforting to scroll back through back in my last.fm profile and see what music I’ve been listening to since I signed up for the service in August of 2005 (when I was 26 and a lot more wiser):

samharrelson’s Music Profile – Users at Last.fm

In 2005, the social web was still completely new and the idea of sharing what you were listening to with others was just revolutionary.

Still is.

In 2005, I was living in Columbia and teaching at Hammond School and had no idea what lie ahead.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

By the way, I went a few years without having the last.fm audio scribbler hooked up, so there is so much data missing. I’ve listened to way more than 12,000 songs over the last seven years (about 4-5 a day if that’s to be believed). I’ve probably covered closer to three times that amount at least. But still… fun data.

Yay interwebs.

What Am I Listening To?

I’m always shocked that people want to know what I’m listening to, but I’m pretty open about what comes across my iTunes and Spotify accounts via the @SamsHouseMusic.

Thanks to Last.FM’s Scrobbler, iTunes, Spotify and Twitterfeed, I’m able to stream whatever is playing in my house at any given time.

Even when I’m out of the house, I keep the music going. It’s always fun for me to check in the middle of the day to see what Schaefer is listening to at any given time.

He’s a big Phish fan these days, evidently.