July Playlist: Your Mother Wouldn't Approve

Another month has passed, which means it's time for another monthly playlist. Here are ten tracks that I enjoyed listening to in July...and look, I've (perhaps belatedly) discovered a slick new way to share them with you!

1. You Can't Beat a Boy Who Loves the Ramones by Helen Love

(from Smash Hits)

"Who you gonna call when you're on your own? It's not the Ghostbusters - it's the Ramones!" Poppy punk fun from Swansea's finest, with a bit of Bonnie Tyler thrown in for good measure. Read my thoughts on Smash Hits here.

February Playlist: What Kind of Monster

Another month, another month-end playlist. Here's what I spent my extra-long February listening to:

1. T.I.W.Y.G. - Savages

(from Adore Life)

Don't mess with love. Or Savages, for that matter. Click here to read my review of their new album, Adore Life.

On Finally Hearing Born to Run

Last August, forty years and one day after the release of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, I wrote a blog post all about the fact that I had never listened to it. My attempts to justify this oversight - perhaps even to frame it as some kind of protest - basically amounted to: "Well, I've heard Thunder Road and the title track, so I think I've got the basic gist of it."

Hand-wavy bullshit, I now realise. Judging an album on its best-known tracks is so the opposite of what The Album Wall is supposed to be about that I'm actually kind of ashamed of myself; where would I be today if, for example, I had assumed that Losing My Religion was the only song from R.E.M.'s Out of Time worth hearing? I would have robbed myself of Country Feedback, Belong, Me in Honey, Near Wild Heaven, Half a World Away...

You get the picture. At any rate, I finally got around to purchasing Born to Run a couple of weeks ago, and I'm pleased to report that, yes, Joel '15 was wrong: there are *numerous* worthwhile tracks on that CD besides Thunder Road and Born to Run itself.

August Playlist: Roll with the Changes

August - and, by extension, summer - is just about over, but before we dive head-first into autumn (my favourite time of year, brimming with colour and crispness and dancing celebrities), let's look back at the last thirty days and take stock of what I was listening to this month...

1. Dimed Out - Titus Andronicus
(from The Most Lamentable Tragedy)
August was the month I finally sank my teeth into Titus Andronicus's two-disc rock opera, The Most Lamentable Tragedy. The album's rollicking lead single is still a highlight, but there's plenty more where this came from - read my thoughts on TMLT here.

Why I've Never Heard Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run turned forty years old yesterday. As you'd expect, this milestone prompted a flurry of tweets and articles from all corners of the musical universe:

And lists, obviously.

Sadly, though, I was unable to join in with this storm of appreciation for one simple reason: I have never listened to Born to Run. 

Road Songs

Aside from love and death and possibly a couple of other things, I feel like touring is one of the most written-about subjects in pop music.

It makes sense: once an artist has hit the big time, such go-to subjects as having no money, having no friends, and wanting to get the hell out of this two-bit town become somewhat inappropriate, and the pressures of being on the road become a far richer and more sincere source of inspiration. Sure, you could do what Bruce Springsteen did and just carry on singing about your blue collar, but nine times out of ten, your fans will see through this ruse and your career will crash and burn (just as Springsteen's did).

The Ties That Bind

The latest step on my ongoing journey through Bruce Springsteen's big ol' back catalogue was The River, Bruce's blockbusting double album from 1980.

(Actually, the latest step was also Magic, which I bought on the same day as The River. But, as much as I've been enjoying You'll Be Comin' Down and Livin' in the Future and Girls in Their Summin' Clothes, I don't have anything especially interesting to say about Magic, so I won't be mentioning it again after the close bracket.)

With 20 songs spread across two incredibly varied discs, The River is a real boon to the fledgling Boss fan. If you want bombastic classics in the Born to Run vein, you'll love Two Hearts; if you want quiet, Nebraskan smoulder, vive la Stolen Car. And hey, if you just wanna cut loose, try You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) on for size. There's something for everyone at this party!

Greatest Hits, Guilty Pleasures

To be honest, I always feel like a bit of a cheater when I purchase a 'Best Of' or a 'Greatest Hits'. It's like watching a ten-minute 'Chang's Funniest Moments' compilation on YouTube instead of sitting down with a Community boxset and watching each episode properly. When you purchase a Greatest Hits compilation, you're effectively saying:

"Wait, you've released HOW many albums in your career? Eighteen?!  No thanks, Mr Springsteen - just gimme the songs that everyone knows and I'll be on my way."

But I'm not trying to claim some kind of moral high ground here - I buy Best Ofs as well. In fact, only yesterday I listened to three Best Ofs in a row: 

A Crack in Everything: Born in the USA

It's time for another instalment of A Crack in Everything, where we discover that even the best albums have their problems. Click here to see which albums I've already scrutinised.

For quite some time, Born in the USA was the only Bruce Springsteen album on my rack. Sure, I had his Greatest Hits, but if we're talking about proper, 'this is how these songs were meant to be heard' studio albums, BitUSA was the sum total of my Springsteen experience until I finally picked up Nebraska a few months ago.

Your Track Twos

Last week, I kicked off The Album Wall's second year with a list of my favourite track twos. Iron Maiden were there, as were Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Pulp...you ought to read it, it was really quite the blog post.

Anyway, after publishing that list, I then opened the floor to you lot, hoping to be reminded of some other smashing second songs. You didn't disappoint me, and so here are five of your favourite track twos:

The Modern Age by The Strokes (from Is This It)

Suggested by Hertford Soul
The opening track of Is This It sounds kind of subdued, and so The Modern Age is the moment when things really kick into gear. It's the first glimpse of what has become The Strokes' signature sound: spiky guitars, near-spoken vocals, and plenty of opportunities for jerky, awkward dancing.

Asbury Park and What Might Have Been

Well, my plea for Bruce Springsteen recommendations certainly didn't fall on deaf ears. Quite a few people responded, and while Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town certainly had their champions, the most heavily-recommended album was Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, Springsteen's 1973 debut.

And that's a twist I didn't see coming. I was under the impression that Asbury Park was like Springsteen's Pablo Honey, a false start that barely even hinted at the riches to come (I suppose this analogy makes Born to Run his equivalent of OK Computer). But a cluster of glowing, tweet-length reviews persuaded me to pick it up, and what do you know? That cluster was onto something!

Tips of Icebergs

I like Bruce Springsteen a lot, but I really ought to make more of an effort with his back catalogue. At time of writing, I only have three Springsteen CDs: Born in the USA, which I picked up at a car boot sale some years ago; Greatest Hits, which I found in a charity shop; and Nebraska, a more recent purchase that I bought after reading about it in this book.

Admittedly, buying three CDs by the same guy does suggest moderate commitment to the artist in question, but Bruce Springsteen's discography spans across four decades; I don't feel like I can call myself a full-blown fan when he's got sixteen studio albums that I haven't even listened to.