Operation Appreciation Day 2: The Who - The Who Sell Out

I have been a little sick all day - headaches here and there, very tired, etc. But for some reason while driving home today I was digging The Who Sell Out more than I have in years. Maybe it's because I never realized how long "Odorono" goes before it hits the punchline, or I never noticed the faux-radio announcement, "Radio London reminds you: atteeeend the chuuurch of your choiiiice!" It's such a wonderfully kooky album with a great sense of humor, and yet the serious songs ("I Can See for Miles," "Our Love Was") kick high levels of ass.

This album was always in my top 5 Who albums, but tonight it gets easily in the top 3, even if the "album-as-fake-radio-station" idea does not stick on the second side.

Speaking of The Who, last week, I got The Who Sing My Generation on vinyl. Can we get a good CD mix of this album? Sometime? Please? The original CD mix, as with all original CD mixes, is awful and muddy. The Deluxe Edition that came out a few years ago rocks a faux-stereo sound that features too much spacial separation. The title track doesn't sound muscular, and everything's a bit off. I sometimes disagree with vinyl enthusiasts*, but this is one example of where it is totally worth it.

I apologize in advance for using the word "faux" twice in the same post. That's some kind of pretension fail**.

*(sometimes - all my Elvis Costello and Who albums sound better on the black circle, but the difference between a first-pressing Born to Run and the 25th anniversary remaster don't really set my ears on fire)

**I almost wrote "fale."

Operation Appreciation: Day 1

I have decided this week to put a stop to getting new music for one month* because, for awhile, I have had too much new music coming in to appreciate it all (and I was seriously spending about $100 a week on music. So there.). So, I'll be chronicling albums, artists, songs, whatever that I think about or forgot about for this month, with a new post every day.

Day 1a: Sugar Ray - Answer the Phone

For the past few days, unrelated to this, I have started an iTunes Smart Playlist based on the least-listened-to tracks in my library: anything that has a play count of less than 1, chosen at random. Most of the time, it plays things I had from before I converted everything to digital files that I simply haven't heard on iTunes/my iPod before (case in point: I am currently listening to "In the Light" by Led Zeppelin). Sometimes, though, a real gem comes through, and tonight, one of those gems is "Answer the Phone" by Sugar Ray.

It's what can be considered a minor hit for them, the first single for their eponymous album. I'm by no means a Sugar Ray fan -- I got pretty fed up by the 10 billionth time hearing "Every Morning," and still cringe a little when I hear it at the grocery store. But I am also willing to champion great pop songs, and Sugar Ray (the album) was full of great pop songs(extra sugar). I think I will defend, to my death, Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing (it's like eating 12 sugar packets' worth of sugar through a Twizzler! I swear!).

"Answer the Phone" isn't quite in that league, but it was a pleasant surprise to have pop up in my random list while I was feeding my turtle. It's blasted with power chords and layered vocals. It's a stupid love song, but it does the trick, as far as catchy bullshit goes. Hell, it runs through damned near every relationship cliche I can think of (rollercoaster, phones, doin' it, "this bed is big"... doin' it)

I also always had a soft spot for it because Mark McGrath tries to go for sweetly desperate but dips his toes ever-so-gently into the creepy pool when the bridge repeats "I practiced all my lines on a telephone while you were sleeping" before slingshooting (is that a word?) itself directly into douchebagland by bragging about his sexual conquest and the fact that he's in a band. It's a hell of a jump from part A to part B, there.

Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it because it's not like I discovered a miracle in my iTunes. I just think this song is pretty stellar. And I can say "stellar" because I'm talking about a band that peaked in the 90s.

*one exception: Prince's new albums, out at the end of the month.