Nirvana: Best/Worst/Favorite/Overrated/Underrated - Album by Album

 Hello All,

I started a new series reviewing some of my favorite artist's discography. Last time I did the Beatles and that was really fun, so I'm back to revel in my own self-righteous opinions. This time I'm covering another big favorite of mine...Nirvana.

 As always, here's my overly-detailed definitions of terms:

Best - this is obvious, what I think is the best track on the album in terms of composition and what it sets out to do.

Worst - also obvious, although, this definitely has more bias in it than "Best".

Overrated/Underrated - As I typically don't talk to people about the Nirvana nor am I reading much about them these days...so, this is just a general, what I think others think. Also, the Underrated category acts as another way for me to shoe horn one my favorites into the list.  Finally, if I place a song in the overrated category, it doesn't mean it's a bad song, it just means it's overrated. No more, no less.

Favorite - My personal favorite, not always the best track but the one I connected with the most or have a special memory associated with.

Bleach

Best: "About a Girl"
Worst: "Paper Cuts" 
Favorite: "About a Girl"/"Love Buzz"
Overrated: "About a Girl"
Underrated: "Love Buzz"/"Blew"

Nevermind

Best: "In Bloom"/"Drain You" (this was tough, this album has so many near perfect gems)
Worst: "Stay Away"
Favorite: "In Bloom"
Overrated: There's the obvious choice, and that that would be correct but I'm going to go with every beginning guitar player's go-to "Come As You Are" (and for the record I love this song)
Underrated: "On a Plain"

Hormoaning

Included because, hey, why not? Let's do an unnecessary deep dive on a EP that was only regionally released and consists of mainly cover songs?

Best: "Aneurysm" (such a cool tune)
Worst: "Even in His Youth" (and this is a decent track too)
Favorite: "Turnaround" (maybe my favorite cover of any song by any band)
Overrated: "Aneurysm" (just here because it has to be the only song the general public knows about) but this was
Underrated:Everything except "Aneurysm" but I guess "D-7"

Incesticide

Best: "Aneurysm" (well, this is awkward but yeah, it fits the bill again)
Worst: "Big Long Now" (yawn)
Favorite: "Turnaround" (again, it's here but it's that good) & "Son of a Gun"
Overrated: "Sliver" (I still love it)
Underrated:"Beeswax"

In Utero

Best: "Heart Shaped Box"
Worst: "tourette's" (it ain't that bad either)
Favorite: "All Apologies"/"Dumb"/the first 30 seconds of"Scentless Apprentice"
Overrated:"Rape Me"
Underrated: "Very Ape" and "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"


Unplugged in NYC

Best:"Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"
Worst: "Pennyroyal Tea" (ok sorry, it's not the greatest but if you've heard the rehearsal footage with Pat Smear trying to sing backup vocals, this is X1000 better...it's like they were too afraid to tell him he was off key).
Favorite:"Man Who Sold the World"
Overrated: "Pennyroyal Tea"(gotta pick something)
Underrated: "Oh Me"

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah

I don't wanna do this album. It's a fine compilation of live tracks, I mean it's good but I don't listen to it much anymore. Off the top of my head, my personal faves are "School", "Spank Thru" and of course, you guessed it, "Aneurysm"

With the Lights Out - Box Set 
After pining after a box for almost a decade, the box set finally came out and by then, I was not the hardcore Nirvana fan I used to be. I couldn't really justify spending hundreds of dollars on the set and the "Best of" set I had already heard 90% of it on bootlegs. So, suffice to say, I don't have a list of either. I'm tired and can't list anymore Nirvana songs this late either!

The Beatles: Best/Worst/Favorite/Overrated/Underrated - Album by Album

Hey I'm bored during a pandemic and I got idea for a new blog series.

 I am happy I'm not dying (yet), and I hope you're staying safe as well! We're in a new world and frankly, I want the old one back.

Anyway, with this series, I will be exploring my favorite artist's discography with quick lists off the album. The good news is, if you think my opinions stink, the blog itself will be a pretty quick read. Suffice to say, this was pretty hard to do. There were some amazing Beatles songs that didn't make the cut and singles like "Rain" that aren't on a proper "album". That said, the challenges made it more fun too.

As always, here's my overly-detailed definitions of terms:

Best - this is obvious, what I think is the best track on the album in terms of composition and what it sets out to do.

Worst - also obvious, although, this definitely has more bias in it than "Best".

Overrated/Underrated - As I typically don't talk to people about the Beatles nor am I reading much about them either, this is just a general, what I think others think. Also, the Underrated category acts as another way for me to shoe horn one my favorites into the list.  Finally, if I place a song in the overrated category, it doesn't mean it's a bad song, it just means it's overrated. No more, no less.

Favorite - My personal favorite, not always the best track but the one I connected with the most or have a special memory associated with.


-----------------------

 Please Please Me & With The Beatles 

Given the lack of original songs, I am just combining these and adding another category. Already with the first two albums and I am already breaking my own rules, I am god of this blog and I do as I like.


Best: "All My Loving"
Worst: "Little Child"
Favorite: "All My Loving"
Overrated: "I Saw Her Standing There" (ducks tomatoes being thrown...something had to go here)
Underrated: "Love Me Do"

Best Cover: "Twist & Shout" (Overplayed? Overrated? Maybe - but still an amazing performance)

 
A Hard Day's Night 


Best: "If I Fell"
Worst:"I'll Cry Instead"/"You Can't Do That"  annoying and "You Can't..." is gross lyrically)
Favorite: "If I Fell"/"I Should Have Known Better" (look, it's my blog, there's two, get over it)
Overrated: "And I Love Her"
Underrated:"Things We Said Today"


Beatles for Sale 
 
Look, I never really listen to this album...so, I'm skipping it, although I am partial to "I'm a Loser" and "I'll Follow the Sun".


Help! 

Best: "Ticket to Ride" (it's just such an amazing pop song, I can't deny its placement here)
Worst: eh, I dunno,"The Night Before" ? That kinda sucks.
Favorite: "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (another vocal home run- I'm in love with this song)
Overrated: "Yesterday" (duh)
Underrated:"You're Gonna Lose That Girl"/"I've Just Seen A Face"


Rubber Soul

Best: "In My Life"
Worst: "Run for Your Life" (it's just so gross lyrically but I admit it's an ear-worm)
Favorite: "I'm Looking Through You" (one of my all time fave post break-up songs)
Overrated: "In My Life"
Underrated: "Michelle" (Just a perfect twinge of sweetness and wistfulness that makes me feel warm and fuzzy)

Revolver 

Best: "Here There And Everywhere"
Worst: "Doctor Roberts" (it's good but goofy)
Favorite: "I'm Only Sleeping"/"And Your Bird Can Sing"/"She Said She Said" (also like three other songs, I had to stop somewhere).
Overrated: "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine"
Underrated: "Good Day Sunshine" (pure cheese by Paul, but damn, it's good cheese)

Sgt Pepper's 

Best: "A Day in the Life" (someone might track me down and hurt me if I didn't place this here)
Worst: "Within You Without You" (I'm the kinda Beatles fan that gets bummed by a Indian-inspired tune - just too drone-y and boring).
Favorite: "When I'm Sixty-Four" (What can I say? I'm a romantic)
Overrated: "A Day in the Life" (it's true)
Underrated: "Fixing a Hole"

Magical Mystery Tour (I know, I know this barely counts as an album)

Best: "Strawberry Fields Forever" (one of the best songs in the history of pop music)
Worst: "Blue Jay Way" (one of the worst songs in the history of pop music - just kidding but it's bad).
Favorite:"Strawberry Fields Forever"
Overrated: "All You Need is Love" (it hurts me to write this but it's true)
Underrated: "Hello/Goodbye" (not sure if this is even possible, but I'm putting it here)

White Album (I'm cheating, so sue me)

Sides 1 & 2

Best:"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
Worst: "Rocky Racoon"
Favorite: "I'm So Tired"/"Happiness Is A Warm Gun"
Overrated: "Glass Onion" (fun but ya know, a little too cheeky)
Underrated: "I'm So Tired"/"I Will"

Sides 3 & 4

Best: "Long Long Long"
Worst: "Revolution 9"  (Should I apologize for this? It was a great choice for the time though)
Favorite: "Long Long Long"/"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey"
Overrated: "Birthday" (for lack of a better selection...?)
Underrated: "Honey Pie"/"Helter Skelter"

I refuse to do Yellow Submarine. 

Abbey Road

Best: "Here Comes the Sun"
Worst: "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (this song should not exist and it's everyone who has a brain's least favorite Beatles song)
Favorite: The Melody the ends the album/"Here Comes the Sun"
Overrated: "Something"/"Come Together" (Have you heard the Elvis cover of "Something"? - Don't do it, just don't, it might make you hate it)
Underrated: "Oh! Darling!"

Let It Be

Best: "Two of Us"/"Across the Universe"
Worst: "Dig a Pony"
Favorite: "Two of Us"
Overrated: "Let it Be" (duh)
Underrated: "Two of Us"

Well, there ya have it folks, next up I'm going for Nirvana.

Poem Post: An old poem

Hey poem lovers!

I haven't posted an old poem here in a good long while. I was digging around in my old favorite poetry book and here's a poem I still quite like. I am pretty sure this was written late in college, trying to inspire myself to do something with my life. Because I can basically never stop (Excuse me, I suffer from GLS - George Lucas Syndrome)...I just added a few lines to make it "better".


and if they try to frighten me with tales of woe,
so be it I say,
for it is better to have lived
than to walk amongst the dead.
and if I fall and fail,
so be it I say,
for it is better to have fallen
than to be scared away.
and if they tell me I will learn to regret and only turn grey,
so be it I say,
for it is better to hope even if you've lost your way.


It's kinda got all my hallmarks...and honestly, there's still in my writing style today... it's a heart-on-my-sleeve, simple and, well, adolescent in outlook.

It just happens that way. I wish I could be deep, smart and moody (I'm just that way in real life).

Cheers to all of you in the nether-world of the internet, may this good will wishing find you well and may you day be easy and warm. 

Fresh Start Fragments

It's been a good while since I've caught up with my imaginary readers on this crazy thing called life, here's the latest.

Yeah, we finally moved and all went well. It still feels like someone took all our stuff and we live in someone else's house. It will take awhile to feel like home. I have driven back into the old neighborhood on accident a few times and reach for a string for the closest light that is no longer there.  Still, I like the new house. We got some space now and we ordered a foosball table. Oh yeah. That's a dream come true.

We were driving to dinner out one night and as we passed a sea food place, I was like, "Hey, how about sea food?" and H, our 7 year-old said, "Oh, I hate sea food, except fish, I love fish".

Here's some more kid updates:

C is in 8th grade and amazes me all the time with her humor and heart. She's so talented at playing flute and she's always working on a novel.

E is in 5th grade and getting too old. I love being weird with her, tonight I told her that when you meet someone with the same name as you, you exchange boogers and place their boogers in your nose. She didn't believe me. She's doing great in ballet and is in musical revue at the church theater this spring.

H had a hard time adjusting to the new house but is doing better now. He's loving our new neighborhood is full of boys and having fun playing outside. He's getting obsessed with football, but he knows he is not playing in middle school or high school. We're getting a Switch soon and I am very excited. 

I started binging The Twilight Zone on Hulu (yes, the originals from the 60's). So good and weird and sometimes cheesy. Maybe I'll post my top ten when I'm done. Don't hold your breath.

Lots of excited stuff going on at work but I can't really share it here as I would prefer to remain as anonymous as possible (ya know, just in case some creeper is looking for me, still pretty sure if someone was actually motivated, you could figure out who I am).

Finally, I just realized in April, I will enter my tenth year of blogging. That's nuts. I'll list my favorite posts and have a proper retrospective when the time comes.

That's all for now, kids. Don't forget to double-knot your shoes and drink plenty of water.

Poem For My Children

Advice is a dangerous thing. It's usually given for free and circumstances and individuals can vary wildly, rendering given advice useless.

Anyhoot, I am throwing caution to the wind. The poem came to me in two separate pieces over a 48 hour period. It might be a little smug and cloying but it comes from the right place, I hadn’t intended for it to be written for anyone in particular but it became “advice-cy” driven and halfway through, I knew what it was.

As always, your mileage may vary.

For My Children 

When the world calls out, with her sirens calling,

hold tight and laugh at her insignificance. 

This meaningless piece of dirt has nothing on you.

When money whips you with its displeasure, 

smile at its weakness, for all it can buy is future trash.

When the red tide comes in, give it the finger, 

because there is good in this world and it’s easy to miss.

The chemicals buzzing in that brain of yours are as real as love, 

as real as you and me. 

Reality might be twisted in knots and puzzles, 

but its mazes have their own rewards. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found my way out,

so I admit, I’ve been lost more times than I can count. 

I can’t tell you how to live with the knowledge of your impending death,

only that you must balance knowing you will die with living fully until that time.  

If you wonder why things are the way they are, then you’re on the right track,

and if you know it’s better to be kind than right then I tip my hat.

My children, I only wish for sunlight on your days and moonlight on your nights.

May you dream with your eyes open and sleep with your hearts held tight.  

All That's Old is New Fragments

The fall is fading behind us and winter is now upon us.

Here in South Texas that doesn't mean much, except sometimes it gets kinda cloudy for 4 days in a row and a little cold and then we're back in the 70's or 80's for four more days.

Still, it's in the air and the holidays are here too. The lights, the excitement of the children, the holiday parties and the general bustling about of everyone as you travel around town. I like its  distinctness from the rest of the year.

Here's some Fragments (some of them on the holiday season):

Ya know what my holiday promise is? I'm gonna make me some homemade Chex mix. Ya know, legit, Chex mix. I haven't had any in years.

I always liked holiday decorations. The fam and I put them out the day after Thanksgiving, I'm lazy so the whole idea is if you're gonna bother with this stuff, it might as well stay up for a good long while. It typically stays up until Ethiopian Christmas (1/07) - this year we are are set to move after 12/30, so its coming down early....but next year, we'll be back on regular schedule.

We lost our Elf on the Shelf this year. Holy Holiday Meatballs. I'm 93% sure it's my fault...it wasn't where I typically put it. The younger kids were really confused, but my sister let us borrow hers. I told the kids our Elf was had been pregnant and just had a baby. They didn't believe me, in fact my youngest already has really strong doubts about the whole Santa thing already (and did last year when he was six).

Oh yeah, looks like we're moving, just a little down the road. Good times. When I type "Good times" what I mean by that is that I hate the moving process and hope we don't move again for another 14 and a half years.

Coming soon: Our First Home Fragments.  Are you excited yet?

Old White Man Pop Culture Fragments

The new Beck album is really great. I could never get into the last few album's despite their critical acclaim...so this was a welcome surprise. Here's a track I particularly love:

Finished up Man in the High Castle....it's good. Never understood why it had such low viewership while other stuff I think is okay/boring/etc. is the bee's knees. ?

Watching The Mandolarian. It's okay. Sci-Fi Fluff. It's nice to watch instead of doing housework.

That's it, I'm done. Don't forget to reward yourself with a long hot shower every so often. Good night all.

Warm & Cozy Again (Why I love Lord of the Rings)

Well, I'm back.

Back to reading The Lord of the Rings once again.  I've read this book at least twelve times, more than any other book....and yet when I started to read it earlier this week, I still got a little excited.

Usually when I start reading The Lord of the Ring (LOR), it's usually the fall or winter. After all, it's a cold weather book. At least it feels that way to me. In the last decade or so, I usually wait about 2-3 years between readings after another decade or so of usually reading it once a year. I like to wait until the first real cold front of the season to begin. Most of the book is read late at night, next to a warm lamp, covered up cozily in bed. I usually read as long as I can until I drift off to sleep, sometimes with the book on my chest.

Just typing those words makes me happy.

With each re-read I deliberately read slowly, taking my time with the Tolkien's (at times) overly descriptive text. It's a slow book and I love it that way.  I especially adore the beginning of the book and by the end of the book (yes, of course the appendix, too) I'll be glum at the thought of being finished. Usually what this means is that I will re-read a whole host of other Tolkien stuff, of course, The Hobbit, Unfinished Tales, sometimes referencing back to the something in the appendix of LOR and last time around I re-read The Children of Hurin  and then, almost sputtering out of Tolkien overload, I usually break down somewhere in The Silmarillion and stop. Now you know why I do this only every 2-3 years...it becomes all engrossing.

The first time I read LOR, it was the late summer of 2001. I had heard the the movie was coming out that winter and I felt like I ought to see what all the hype was about. I heard it was boring, but it didn't deter me. I picked up The Hobbit first, not knowing what to expect.  I was charmed after reading the first page. It felt like you were taken right into the fairy tale world and it just felt, safe, safe and homely. 

After a few more weeks, I purchased a paperback version of LOR and while I was on the edge of my seat reading about the Black Riders, after Rivendell, the narrative seemed to slow down and I was a little frustrated. Then, I had a huge car accident that I was lucky to survive. My copy of LOR had been in my truck and it tumbled and flipped across the road just as much as my truck did. It was destroyed.

I was happy to be alive and being in graduate school, I was also extremely busy, so I did not immediately pick up a new copy. However, my best friend's mom was a huge Tolkien fan and she had found out that my copy had been destroyed in the accident and bought me another copy as a gift. It inspired me to finish it before the first movie came out. I still have this paperback version today and although some of the appendix is falling out, I feel like this little edition and I have a long history together. One day, it may fall apart on me, but until then, we're sticking together.

For me, The Lord of the Rings isn't just about the way it makes me feel, but the way it brings you into an almost fully formed world. An alien world that is just out of reach, and yet fully touchable. At times the narrative gets unwieldy, but it doesn't let you go. Some characters feel flat and fairy tale like, but others real and grounded.  A mix of the a fantasy and at times not quite a real world (or maybe as the world should be). It's philosophical and a bit dry, other times it reads as a history narrative and other times, it's downright funny while other parts of the book are pure adventure...but it is always thoughtful and always detailed.  Don't get me wrong, it has its flaws.

The most important flaw being Tolkien's use of race and 20th century "race theory" in the book. It's used to describe the differences between the "races" (elves, hobbits, humans, etc.) and even more disturbingly between the human cultures.  It's sad and enraging and yet, it doesn't make me stop reading the book. Tolkien was a man of his times, he was ignorant but not quite a bigot. It reminds me the way I feel about Carl Barks. I'm conflicted and yet drawn to their art.  Maybe I'm letting them both off the hook too easily but this is a debate for another time....

This fall or winter we may be moving and so I felt a strong need to be grounded and closer to a feeling of "home" more than ever. I'm glad I'm back once again for the ride.

Update from 2020: I ended up reading the Annotated The Hobbit, which is great but all my other Tolkien stuff is stuck at work because of the Pandemic (it's at work because of the move).  To be honest, I have my Tolkien fill and I'll be ready for more in a couple of years.