CAR CDS

I don't listen to the radio in my car anymore. The radio station I used to listen to, WXRT, is nothing close to what it used to be. The other Chicago FM stations are terrible. I occasionally put on ESPN Radio but I'm not one to listen to lots of sports talk. I like to listen to music when I'm driving, even if it's just to the grocery store. That means I listen to CDs in my car and I can get through several a week just driving to and from work and around town on errands. So, I thought I'd insitute a semi-regular Sunday feature where I talk about the CDs I listened to in the past week...

1. I Heart Huckabees - The soundtrack to the movie done solely by Jon Brion. It has a mixture of instrumental and vocal tracks. I bought it for the new Brion songs and two are fantasitc - "Knock Yourself Out" and "Revolving Door." The others are good, of course, but I'm surprised at how much I enjoy the other music. The expansion of the musical themes on subsequent tracks is very appealing. I don't listen to this all the time but it works as a whole album.

2. Guero - Yup, the latest Beck album. I like it but I haven't fallen in love with it like I did Sea Change. And I haven't learned to lyrics like I did with Mutations and Odelay. It is fun to sing along with the parts I do know of songs like "Hell Yes" and "Go It Alone" and "Broken Drum." His music works pretty well with just driving too. A good album but it won't come close to my top ten for the year.

3. The Man Who - I hadn't listened to this Travis album in a long time. Definitely more than a year. It still sounds pretty good - melodic sense never goes out of style. "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" is one of those classic sad songs. They pick on Oasis on a few songs too - "What's a wonderwall anyway?" A good album but not something I'll start playing more often. One or two listens a year is probably good.