he came dancing across the water....

--
>>>>> ST's ALPHABETICON - Y <<<<<

Previously in the Alphabeticon: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, singles, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X

We're staggering towards the finish line now.... nearly there.... stay on target.... I can see the end... stay on target.....etc. Not many CDs left to go on those dusty shelves now, but there are a few more yet.

Oh, and lest I forget to mention - this is not the alpha and the omega of my record collection. It is merely the section of it that resides in one particular room. Some of the ropier heavy metal appears to hidden somewhere else, for starters, as I didn't see any Whitesnake a couple of weeks ago, or any Warrior Soul. Well, it is what it is, and I've started so I'll finish.

536. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Sleeps With Angels
537. Neil Young – Decade
538. Neil Young – Unplugged

He's a genius obviously. "Sleeps With Angels" is the album he recorded in the wake of Kurt Cobain's suicide, and I think is a partial response to Cobain's quoting a Neil Young lyric in his suicide note ("it's better to burn out than to fade away" - man, imagine how Young felt when he read about that). It's an interesting record, but it's not as good as his seminal appearance on MTV's 'Unplugged', which at one point features the triumphant appearance of a musician playing the broom. Still, you can't really go wrong with "Decade", which is double album running through Young's most classic material -- "Needle and the Damage Done", "Like A Hurricane", "Cinnamon Girl", "Southern Man", "Heart of Gold", "Cortez the Killer". Respect to the man. Respect.

539. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell

It's alright, I suppose, but I have to admit that I've never really got them. And I struggle with the guitarist's hair. And I'm always a bit suspicious of any band who are as well known for the way the look and the way they dress as they are for the music they play. Put it this way, I didn't bother buying the follow-up to this.

540. Young Knives – Voices of Animals and Men

I love this record, and I'm currently very much enjoying the recently released follow-up ("Superabundance", which is in the car and thus not on this list). They are an unlikely looking bunch of slightly tubby chaps with glasses dressed mainly in tweed, and they articulate the quiet desperation of the white-collar worker - the accountants of the world - beautifully. They also occasionally rock quite hard, and their references are also oddly bucolic, taking in (amongst other things), the horses of the New Forest. A fantastic band.

....and that's your lot. Not a huge number of bands, but I do feel the quality level of this letter is pretty high. Above average, I'd say....

Lost somewhere in iTunes: Yo La Tengo, Yomanda, Young Marble Giants, Youngbloods...

Next time.... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And you think Z is the end?

Ahahahahahahahahhahahaha!

No.