The 11 Best Songs By Pink Floyd

I never thought I'd do a Pink Floyd list for a new release.  Maybe there was a box set coming out yet again...or another remastered deluxe special expanded edition.  Maybe.  But new material...I had given up on that fantasy.  Today...20 years since their last release, a new Pink Floyd album is here.  I know, it's not technically a new release.  It's leftover material from the Division Bell session, reworked into an instrumental tribute to late keyboardist Richard Wright.  No, it's not Dark Side of the Moon...but then again...DSOTM is considered one of the greatest albums of all time in any genre.  Expecting the band at 70-years-old to match a one in a million anomaly is foolish.  Expecting the band to do justice to their later work is honorable.  The album is just that, a touching end to a gallant career.  The Endless River sounds like a film score, floating in at the end of a movie as the credits scroll across the screen.  We expect bands to end their careers with the same bang in which they arrived.  The problem with that is our expectations are flawed.  The band will choose to end their career they way the want to end it and not the way the fans deem.  The band is great not in spite of their flaws but because of them.  The Endless River is who the band at this moment time and we should appreciate they are still around to enrich us one more time with their music. Here are the 11 Best Songs By Pink Floyd:

1. Comfortably Numb (The Wall)
2. Wish You Were Here (Wish You Were Here)
3. Dogs (Animals)
4. Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (The Wall)
5. Brain Damage (Dark Side Of The Moon)
6. Us and Them (Dark Side Of The Moon)
7. Childhood's End (Obscured By Clouds)
8. Echoes (Meddle)
9. Have A Cigar (Wish You Were Here)
10. Green Is The Colour (More)
11. Shine On You Crazy Diamond I-IV (Wish You Were Here)

Buy Pink Floyd's new album, The Endless River...now!    

The 11 Best Record Store Releases (Triple List)

I picked up so much vinyl this year...I'm not even sure how I'm going to pay rent.  And isn't that what good music is about?  Living in a van...down by the river.  There wasn't a release this year that I went in excited about...but I came out loving almost everything I purchased.  I've had the chance to listen to most of my purchases and have heard a lot of other stuff.  And the Calexico album...best release of the year...Period.

It was a crazy day...and I'm still reeling from it.  Some say Record store Day is Christmas for music fans.  It's better than Christmas...because on Record Store Day you get exactly what you want.

To celebrate such a momentousness day and with nearly 400 releases...there's no way to condense it down to a mere 11.  Instead, I've created 3 lists to give light on some on a lot of the material that you may have missed.  And by the way, many record stores still have a lot of product...so if there's something that was sold out at one store...I'd check out the store down the street...just in case.

Here are the 11 Best Record Store Day 7-inches:

1. Pornography (Ryan Adams)  - 7 Minutes in Heaven
2. Elliott Smith - Either/Or Demos 
3. Pink Floyd - See Emily Play
4. David Bowie - Drive-In Saturday Night
5. Hold Steady - Criminal Fingers
6. The Black Keys/Iggy & The Stooges - No Fun
7. Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels - Live 1973
8. Old 97s & Waylon Jennings - Double Set
9. Superchunk - Void 
10. Iron & Wine - Next To Paradise
11. Husker Du - Amusement

Here are the 11 Best Record Store Day Reissues:

1. Orange Juice - Rip It Up
2. Porno For Pyros - Porno For Pyros (splatter vinyl)
3. White Stripes - Elephant (red, white and black vinyl)
4. At The Drive-In - Relationship in Command
5. Braid - Frame and Canvas
6. The Roots - Things Fall Apart
7. The Band - The Last Waltz
8. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (yellow vinyl)
9. Blind Melon - Blind Melon
10. Built To Spill - Live
11. The Zombies - The Zombies

Here are the 11 Best Record Store Day Releases:

1. Calexico - Spiritoso
2. Stephen Malkmus - Ege Bamyasi
3. A Place To Bury Strangers - Strange Moon
4. Soundgarden - King Animal Demos
5. Garbage - Because the Night
6. Willie Nelson - Crazy Demo Sessions
7. G. Love and Jack Johnson - Bloodshot & Blue
8. Mumford and Sons - Live At Bull Moose
9. Grouplove/Manchester Orchestra/Frightened Rabbit - Make It To Me
10. Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me
11. Deftones - Live: Volume 1

The 11 Best Albums of 1979

I had a friend Anthony who was obsessed with Pink Floyd. One day he spent the entire afternoon a dual cassette deck trying to line up the last song on the Wall so it would transition smoothly back into the first song. He was so proud of the 3-second splice that he made a mixed tape with that intertwined between every song. As strange (and super obsessive) as this was, there were something about his actions that embodied the mojo of his actions. That seemingly meaningless minutia was of the utmost importance. Maybe that's because everyone was smoking so much pot or that after the mayhem of the 60s...it was time to chill out.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 1979:

1. Pink Floyd - The Wall

2. Michael Jackson - Off the Wall

3. AC/DC - Highway To Hell

4. Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door

5. The Police - Regatta de Blanc

6. Van Halen - Van Halen 2

7. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (Disorder)

8. The Ramones - End of the Century

9. Prince - Prince

10. Split Enz - Frenzy

11. Bob Dylan - Slow Train Coming (Gotta Serve Somebody)

Buy these albums here at my store!!

The 11 Best Album Releases for August 2007

Usually August tends to be a dumping ground for labels to crap out all their minor releases before hitting the major buying season in September. At first glance, this August looks no different. But once you peel back the releases by American Idol rejects and , you'll find this August may actually have a lot to offer.

1. Kayne West - Graduation - If his young folks cover is any indication of what we're going to expect for Senior West, this release is not only the most anticipated of the month but one of the most anticipated of the year. (21st)
2. Pink Floyd - Pipers At The Gates of Dawn (3CD) - The Floyd gets the royal treatment on this 2CD/1 DVD package, remastered and including an entire album of B-Sides. (28th)
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklights - The first single has mixed reactions. But after the amazing reception of last year's solo album by lead singer Jenny Lewis...there's a lot at stake on this release.(21st)
4. Cake - B-Sides and Rarieties - Cake may do covers better than they do original songs. Just listen to their cover of Barry White's Never Gonna Give You Up. This release is 90% covers. It has to be good.(14th)
5. The New Pornographers - Challengers - Their first release came in with a whisper. Their second release was a critical smash. Their third release was highly anticipated but failed to reach expectations. With their fourth release bring them back to stardom...or will it basically enforce that each member stick to their day jobs. (21st)
6. Talib Kweli - Ear Drum - Hip-Hop is dying. Common's album is the first bright spot in a dormant year. With Kayne and Kweli in August, the times they are a changin'. (21st)
7. Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor - Grandaddy's protege has outlasted its mentor. How will their Central Valley drugged out lo-fi stand-up after a 4-year hiatus? We're all excited to find out! (21st)
8. Art in Manila - Set The Woods on Fire - Adrianne Verhoeven (of The Anniversary) teams with Azure Ray singer (Orenda Fink) for a side project of epic proportions.(7th)
9. Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo - The gayest ( and I mean that in the nicest way) dancing duo returns to prove that the campiness of their first release was no fluke.(14th)
10. Blaqk Audio - CexCells - Davey Havoc of AFI falls in love with a synthesizer and has sex with it...records the sex, and is now releasing it for you to hear.(14th)
11. Northern State - Can I Keep This Pen? - Their last album was flatter than Paris Hilton's....personality. But Adrock is behind the boards on this one. If anything, it has to be better than the new Beastie Boys. (28th)

Other releases of note: Okkervil River - Stage Names(7th), Architechure in Helsinki - Place Like This(21st), M.I.A. - Kala(21st), Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass(28th), Ben Harper - Lifelines(28th), The Liars - Liars(28th), VHS or Beta - Bring On The Comets(28th).