In Space (2005) features some of my favorite Big Star songs, which is a bold statement when you consider how amazing the first two Big Star albums were. In Space holds up, though. Fave songs: "Dony", "Lady Sweet", "Turn My Back On The Sun", "Mine Exclusively". I highly recommend this album for Big Star, Alex Chilton, or Posies fans.
Living In The Material World (1973) was George Harrison's first album of new material after the mammoth All Things Must Pass (1970), his first post-Beatles LP. Although the album (and its first single, "Give Me Love") managed to reach number one, it remains overshadowed by its predecessor.
Tonight I'm dealing with (hopefully) the tail end of an unpleasant cold. I've got a minor fever and cough, and the house smells like sick person. You know that smell. So I needed some music to mellow out with. I won't say much about this album, since typing is annoying me right now.
As you can see from the picture on the left, I'm trying something new with the "On my turntable" blog feature. This is a pic of the actual record that's currently on, in the handy dandy little "now playing" display stand. Call me a geek if you like. I can take it.
One On One (1982) is one of my favorite Cheap Trick albums. The album was the band's first after the departure of bassist Tom Petersson, who left after 1980's excellent All Shook Up. The only thing that I don't like about this album is that Robin Zander sounds like he's trying just a little too hard. On most songs he is screaming as much as he is singing, which is just unnecessary. The songs rock though, and the album features one of the band's best singles, the overtly Beatle-esque "If You Want My Love", which remains a highlight of Cheap Trick's live shows. Why why why is this band not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame??
Today I'm on the St. Paul Campus of the U to attend a writing workshop. I used to spend a lot of time over here, especially my senior year when I lived walking distance from campus.
Leo and I went to the new Minneapolis Central library today so I could get some books for the paper I'm writing. I felt like a kid with my new library card, thinking about all of the books I could potentially check out. Nerdy, I know. Anyway, I just checked out three books today, on the history of the U of M.
This first week of the semester has been filled with lots of reading. I'm currently just a little behind, and will need to read every night in order to catch up, in addition to working on the first paper that's due next week. I know this is what I wanted to do, and I'm still glad I'm pursuing this PhD, but dang! This really is a lot of reading. It's a good thing I'm interested in the subject matter.
Today is the first day of the new school year at the U of M. I took this blurry picture (I was drunk with excitement!) this morning from a bench on the East Bank. Note the leaves on the ground signalling the end of summer. I'm looking forward to my first PhD course which begins tonight.
My brother used to have a record in his jukebox called "Kites Are Fun" by the Free Design. At first we would play the record as a joke, because it seemed like such a hokey song. Yet, the tune was so catchy, and the production so bouncy, that we soon started playing "Kites Are Fun" because it kicked ass.
