but this was the time of no reply...

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>>>>>ST's ALPHABETICON - Part iv: D<<<<<
Previously in the Alphabeticon: A, B, C

Right. Time for another trawl through the dusty recesses of the shelves that contain most (but not all) of my CD collections. Once again, this is not meant to be a complete list and excludes all the CDs that are in places where I might actually listen to them. It also excludes any of the many tracks and albums that I now only own electronically.

Ah, you know the drill.

It's another short-ish one this week, although it does include not one, but two.... TWO.... Dido albums.


135. The Darkness – Permission to Land
136. The Darkness – One Way Ticket to Hell…. And back!

Ok, so the second album was probably a step too far... but I still quite like the first album and don't find the joke in the least bit boring. Are they taking the piss? If they can take the piss and come up with songs as good as "Growing on Me" and "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", then that's alright isn't it? Then again, I do have a dodgy heavy metal past, so perhaps I am programmed to have a soft spot for this kind of nonsense.

137. Dido – Life for Rent
138. Dido – No Angel

I'll not be apologising for these either. I'll agree that you have to be in a certain mood, and this isn't exactly what you might call edgy, but it isn't so terrible is it? Besides, she's worked with Eminem and Massive Attack, and some people think they're cool. Nice voice. Some decent songs. Get off your damn high horse!

139. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

I believe everyone owns this?

140. Doors – Best of the Doors

I think everyone owns this too. I find Jim Morrison a bit too much to listen to all of the time, but I don't think there's much that can touch the menace of "Riders On the Storm". Sadly it's an album that reminds me of a particularly odious person from school who used to love this.

141. Depeche Mode – Violator
142. Depeche Mode – Songs of Faith and Devotion
143. Depeche Mode – Ultra

A band who I only really began to like when the keyboard began to disappear down the mix and the guitars moved on up. I think "Ultra" actually came out when I was working in HMV York and so I bought it at happily discounted price. Good singles, but little else as I recall. The others are classics, of course. I imagine that this lot are pretty good live.

144. Daft Punk – Homework
145. Daft Punk – Discovery

My wife is French, you know. Actually, I was at a party in Toulouse round at her brother's house when we started talking about music. A lot of her brother's French friends were very impressed that I had even heard of this band, never mind that I actually owned some of their albums. They were so impressed that we put on "Homework" immediately (although it wasn't long before the Clash were back on... I think we all liked the Clash a bit more). Anyone else think Kanye West wants shooting?

146. Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
147. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
148. Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
149. Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

There's a lot of stuff on these albums that I absolutely adore, but I'm afraid my lasting memory of Bob Dylan will be of going to see him play live at the London Docklands Arena several years ago. Was he bad? Yes, unbelievably so. His voice was shot and he was incredibly self-indulgent, mucking his back catalogue around so much that it was barely recognisable. And he was touring a good album too ("time out of mind"). I actually fell asleep. And I walked all the way back to where I was staying in the pissing rain. Legend, clearly, but please learn from my mistakes and never go to see him perform. Ever. Sadly, I'll have a similar story to tell about Lou Reed later on in the alphabet.

150. Dodgy – Homegrown

One of the best acts that I saw at Glastonbury in 1993. This was long before the "Good Enough" years, but "Making the Most" was and is a great song, as is "Staying Out For the Summer" and "So Let Me Go Far" and "Melodies Haunt You". Not heavyweight, I suppose, but a good breezy listen.

151. Divine Comedy – Promenade
152. Divine Comedy – Casanova

By his own admission, Neil Hannon owes his entire career to Scott Walker, including his singing style. Well, yes..... but actually he's not too bad, as long as he refrains from that awful air of self-satisfaction he sometimes carries around. "Promenade" in particular is a marvellous record. At the Athens Olympics, when someone won a gold medal, they used to play a song that they particularly associated with that country. Great Britain's song, as burned indelibly into my brain on that glorious sunny morning at the rowing lake, was "National Express". Go figure.

153. The Dears – No Cities Left

A bit like the Smiths, only different. I like them. They're Canadian, you know.

154. The Doves – The Last Broadcast
155. The Doves – Some Cities

For one reason or another, I've seen this lot live many times, and they're very good. I can never really seem to get into the records though, and I *like* miserable guitar music.

156. Nick Drake – Way to Blue

Another album dating back to my HMV years. I have no idea why I bought this, but I loved it then and I love it now. My fondest memory of this album is listening to it in the car as we drove through the empty Tuscan countryside after midnight on our way to an open-air hotspring. It was a beautiful night, and the music fitted the mood perfectly.

That seems way too short. Let me just have a quick look on iTunes. Ah, no... lots of individual tracks by the likes of Deep Purple, Dio, Duran Duran, Doris Day, Dick Dale, Diamond Head, The Dismemberment Plan and Devo... but no whole albums. Must be a thin letter generally then.

Hmm
....

Shuffleathon 2007 Update.

Nearly ready to start now. I just need the following addresses please:
Mark
Martin
Lisa
Adem

and then we can begin!