CD Odyssey: The First 400

Three years ago I started this crazy project to listen to and review every one of my albums, and to not stop until I had gone through the entire collection.

Now, 400 CDs in and still not quite halfway, it is amazing how much in my life has changed since I started.  I've lost my job, and then found a new job.  I've paid off my mortgage.  We've lost both our cats (Othello and Inigo) and have a new one (Vizzini).

Oh, and shameless plug - I've written a novel.  If there are any agents out there, I could use some representation.  One thing you'll be able to count on is my dedication to finishing a project.

Percentages on what decade the albums come from continue to hold fairly steady, although there were slightly more seventies albums reviewed in the past 100 (21) than eighties or oughts (17 each).  The nineties continue to hold a commanding lead, which is odd, because I don't think of myself as being particularly fond of that decade for music.  Here are the current standings:

Sixties:  27
Seventies:  88
Eighties:  91
Nineties:  106
Oughts:  90
Tens:  8

Note that I had to add a new category as I began buying music from the current decade, although one of those was a Rachmaninoff symphony from the previous century.  I'm also up to six albums from the nineteenth century with some classical music.

One hundred albums ago, Alice Cooper and Tom Waits led the way with 9 reviews each.  Alice has taken the lead all by himself now with 14 reviews.  Tom holds onto second with 11.  Steve Earle and Queen are tied for third with 10 reviews.

Five star reviews are holding steady at about one every 9.5 albums or so.  In the last hundred albums twelve achieved that mark, including three by Bob Dylan.  The twelve five star reviews were:

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Queen - A Night At The Opera
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Townes Van Zandt - Self Titled
Led Zeppelin - IV
Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Great Big Sea - Up
Tom Petty - Wildflowers
Blue Oyster Cult - Some Enchanted Evening
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

Two albums achieved the lowly 1 star - Jully Black's Revival, and Rare Air's Space Piper.  A third album, the soundtrack to Natural Born Killers was the first record so truly awful it achieved the infamous 0 stars.  I sold Revival, but Natural Born Killers was protected by Sheila and Space Piper has too cool an album cover for me to part with.  I also sold Roger Watters' The Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking.  I gave it 2 stars, but I just couldn't see myself putting it on and listening to it when this is all over, and that's what it's all about.

More albums to come, and may you always have a ready answer for when someone asks you 'what are you listening to these days?'