Tuesday, September 14, 2004

My Current Traveling Music

What with meetings and other commitments, I spend quite a bit of time driving in my van. One of the things I do to pass that time is listen to music on CDs. My playlist changes, but lately, I’ve been especially enjoying the batch with me now.

Just for the nuts of it, they include...

All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2. By now, Bono and crew have become members of rock’n’roll’s royal family and deservedly so. This collection adds even more luster to their crowns. Lyrics infected with Christian sensibility and a commitment to peace and honesty...Compelling melodies soaring into one’s consciousness on the strength of Bono’s passionate voice and The Edge’s extraordinary lead guitar...Great musicianship...This LP, in my estimation, is destined to be regarded as a classic. It proves that popular music can deliver profound and profoundly life-altering messages.
The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot. Switchfoot, nearly a generation younger than the members of U2, may be their natural heirs for hard-edged, melodic, profound rocking. This is an extraordinary LP that will let you rock and make you think and, like U2, feel...really feel. This is one of the great bands in the world today and this is their most mature work.

Dosage by Collective Soul. This LP is sort of a guilty pleasure. If Switchfoot are the heirs of U2, Collective Soul follow in the footsteps of Electic Light Orchestra, Alan Parsons Project, and Kansas. The lyrics, as was often the case with those bands, are faux-profound. The musicianship, drawing on those influences already mentioned, as well as Paul McCartney and every Motown act you ever heard, is excellent. This brain candy will stick in your brain. A fun LP.

My son has given me two CDs to which I’ve been listening a lot, also. One is by Coldplay, the other from The Strokes. Frankly, I haven’t listened closely to the lyrics on either LP. So, I don’t know if I’m endorsing songs that advocate DDT, regicide, or seriated monogamy. But the songs are fun to listen to, produced by tight little rock ensembles.

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