1. True by Spandau Ballet

 1. True by Spandau Ballet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI-UNoK-jeM&list=OLAK5uy_kCIuWE2ZiRbRWnVfjsTrgN014SgsfDlfU

In my Top 200 list I explained the following about my #3 song "True."

While many of the songs on this top 200 list are associated with negative emotions and memories, this song hearkens back to a day during my senior year in high school when I experienced a moment of complete bliss. Actually, it wasn't a moment. It was a bliss-a-thon that lasted the entire album version of "True" as I slow-danced with Jennifer Palmer during the senior year homecoming dance. And although that relationship didn't work out in the end, every time I hear this song it triggers a memory of absolute happiness.

Over the years, the association of Spandau Ballet's music and that feeling of bliss has expanded from that one song to the entire album. It reminds me of that time in my life before the Great Depression--from April to October of 1983--when I felt at the top of my game. During that summer the song "True" had been rising up the charts, and whenever I heard it I thought that it would be the perfect slow dance song. I wasn't wrong. Falling head over heels in love when dancing toe to toe was pretty easy with this song playing. Unfortunately, I fell harder than I should have (right through the floor and into the basement), and it set me up to go through The Great Depression for the next four years. But that feeling of bliss was a really important experience for me to have, because after that dance I knew that I would have to feel that level of bliss with whatever woman I was going to marry in my future. And I didn't feel that kind of bliss with any other girl I dated until I met Julie. When I felt it with her, that was the moment The Great Depression officially ended, and I felt at the top of my game again.

In regards to the quality of music on this album, the things I liked about the sound of "True" can be found in every other song on the album. The consistent quality of the lyrics, the interesting instrumentation, the danceable rhythms (with bongos aplenty!), the whole soulful vibe--it is a complete package that, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of Spandau Ballet's entire music catalogue. The albums that came before had a much different punk/new wave sound, and the albums that came after it had less of that soul influence and more of a late-'80s rock sound. But True hits that musical sweet spot for me that makes my ears say "Thank you!" while at the same time triggering that sentimental part of my brain that remembers dancing with the red-haired girl of my dreams while on a double date with my good buddy who, I believe, was also feeling a high level of bliss at the same time on that same dance floor with a cute blonde that had a smile that could melt pretty much anything made by man and a fun laugh that made anyone that heard it immediately want to make her laugh again. Frankly, I thought that out of all the romances that my Arimo Mafia friends had, my buddy and his date were the best match and had the best chance of turning into something that could last beyond high school. I guess that deep down inside I really knew that my chance of having a long-term romance with my dream girl was about one in a billion. Our personalities simply weren't a good match. Also, the age difference was a problem. How could I realistically expect that she would want to wait around for me not dating anyone else for three years while I went to college and a mission? Yep. It was doomed to fail long before it even began. However, it still happened. And it had a huge impact on my tastes in music. So many of my Top 60 albums are related to The Great Depression because music was one of those things that I used to cope with the way I felt about others and myself. But in regards to this album, I know this much is true--the love we may have lost in high school prepared us to find the love of our lives later on. And for the role this album played in making those moments of bliss happen, I have to place it at the tippy top of my Top 60 albums list.

Nardo

2. The Nightfly by Donald Fagen

 2. The Nightfly by Donald Fagen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueivjr3f8xg&list=OLAK5uy_kJmuqJb6DRctnv0NEBJNkhfwy8aSqrYA8

As perfect as Toto IV is, The Nightfly is even more perfecter. That's because it's written and performed by one of those masters of perfection--Steely Dan. When Steely Dan broke up after Gaucho--due in large part to Walter Becker's ongoing heroine addiction--Donald Fagen went out on his own to produce his first solo album. If you like the perfectionism of the Steely Dan sound, but you're a little tired of all the veiled (and not-so-veiled) drug and sex references in Steely Dan lyrics, then you'll absolutely love The Nightfly. It doesn't have to disguise the subjects of the songs in veiled lyrics, and that makes the songs much more accessible to the listener. 

While the album was digitally recorded, when it was released on October 1, 1982, they did not release it on CD. That's probably because it was October 1, 1982 when Sony and Philips began to market their CD players--in Japan! So there wasn't a big market for CDs in the U.S. until the following year. 

By the way, there was one visionary artist that had the balls to market the first CD on October 1, 1982 to all of his fans in Japan. Billy Joel released the CDs of 52nd Street and The Stranger as part of a group of 50 albums released on that day. But 52nd Street had the first catalogue number, so it's commonly cited as the first CD marketed.

The first hit off The Nightfly was "I.G.Y." Well, it really wasn't that big of a hit, as it only got up to #26 on the Top 40 chart. I think that's due in part to the weird title of the song. The letters I.G.Y. stood for International Geophysical Year--an international event concocted up by science nerds to promote cooperation and collaboration between science nerds to improve the world. The event ran from July 1957 to December 1958--so right during the good old days of the Cold War. The song got nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year, but lost to Willie Nelson's "Always on My Mind," which was a remake of a 1972 song that was recorded by a bunch of artists including Brenda Lee and Elvis Presley. So I guess if you wait ten years and do a remake on an old beat up guitar, then you're chances of winning a Grammy for the song go up. The other main reason Fagen's song didn't do better on the charts is because it clocked in at 6:03 long, and everyone knows if you wanna have a hit, you've got to make it fit, so he should have cut it down to 3:05. 

"New Frontier" and "Ruby Baby" got released as singles in 1983. "New Frontier" didn't perform well on the charts, but it did have an excellent music video that got significant air play on the MTV, because what kid in the 80s didn't have fantasies of taking part in a wing-ding in a bomb shelter?! And if you look at the cover of the album the kiddies are listening to in the bomb shelter, you'll see that it's Dave Brubeck's Time Out, which I listed as #58 on this Top 60 album list. (I don't know why, but in my original write up, I called it Out of Time, which is not its correct name. I've now made that correction thanks to watching the "New Frontiers" video.) 

I didn't buy this album when it first came out. But on my mission in Sweden I heard songs from the album while shopping in a store, and I thought to myself, "Hey! I really like these songs! I'm going to buy this album when I get home!" And I did. I listened to it a lot during the next few years of college. And when my old mission companion Elder Adam Skinner came for a visit, this was the only album in my collection that he would listen to. He was going to study music (saxophone and piano) at the Berklee College of Music, which is one of the top music colleges in the nation, and this album was the only one that he found musically interesting. All of the other albums he said were boring, except for my Billy Joel albums, which he knew enough to not criticize in front of my face. A year or so ago I saw a YouTube video of him singing Billy's "New York State of Mind," so he's come around to appreciate Billy since then. 

I listened to this album a lot while I was teaching at Irving Jr. High. It's one of those albums I can let play over and over and never get sick of listening to it, so it got me through lots of after-school grading marathons. I also would just press play on this album and then sit back on my classroom couch, stare at all the tables and chairs in the room, and think about different kinds of learning activities I could do with my students. My principle once told a group of visitors that saw my unique classroom set up that I was the most innovative teacher in the school district. (I heard that he said that from one of the visitors later on.) If I was that innovative, it was only because this album inspired me to turn my basement classroom into a place where me and the kids could have a real wing-ding. 

I think the other reason I like "The Nightfly" so much is that the titular song reminds me of that time in high school when I wanted to be a DJ. And I guess I still kind of would like to try my hand at it. You know. Be a DJ on RadioJoe--the station that plays the best songs you ain't never heard. I'd probably play songs off this album a lot, only I wouldn't be broadcasting from the foot of Mount Belzoni. I'd be broadcasting from the top of Old Tom.

Nardo

3. Toto IV by Toto

 3. Toto IV by Toto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGtVZgCYVgk&list=OLAK5uy_m2QlEWxtNVMr_UTLBZVvlg1JpHue3wyx8

In April of 1982, the first hit from Toto IV began to get airplay on the southeast Idaho radio stations, and as soon as I heard the opening lines of "Roseanna," I fell in love with the sound of Toto. There wasn't anything about that song that I didn't absolutely love. And that's why one of my favorite junior year memories is of me walking down the high school hallway around the end of the day and singing at the top of my lungs, "All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold you tight! Roseanna! Roseanna!" And at that point, my old nemesis--the English teacher that I loved to hate--stepped out into the hallway, tried to shoot me with some eye daggers, and then closed his classroom door behind him. To know that I had truly annoyed him brought me great pleasure, almost as much pleasure as the sound of girls in other open-doored classrooms laughing out loud at my high falsetto voice. 

And if the monster hit "Africa" doesn't take you back in time to the summer 1982, then you obviously didn't have a radio on your tractor.

This album is like the musical equivalent of Mary Poppins--practically perfect in every way. There's really only one bad thing that I will readily admit is associated with Toto IV--the music videos. Yikes! I mean, you'd have to have one damn good record to overcome the ridiculousness of those videos. Fortunately, Toto IV was one damn good record!

One of the reasons that I think Toto IV sounds so good to my ears is that it not only helped sustain me through The Great Depression, it actually helped me get out of The Great Depression. This was one of the albums that Julie liked to play while we were on dates in that black step-side Chevy pickup. I loved the album before I loved her, but I somehow loved the album even more after I fell in love with her. In fact, "Afraid of Love" is one of my Julie-songs--a song that perfectly fits my feelings for her during those weeks right before I decided I wanted to marry her. She really did take me by surprise on our first date, and after our second date I thought if I don't get away from her immediately, I was going to fall in love with her. And I guess I'm not revealing any spoilers here, but the other Julie-song from the album is "Waiting for Your Love," because that's what I was doing all those Great Depression years--waiting for her love. So even though it took 6 years from the time Toto IV was originally released for it to turn into one of those albums I got to associate with falling head over heals in love, it was totally worth the wait. 

Nardo

4. Genesis by Genesis

 4. Genesis by Genesis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lXH0nwirio&list=OLAK5uy_kHRLfBQUF_0QymcIJhE18UQBTix328DYk&index=1

Released in October of 1983, this album was perfectly positioned to help kick off The Great Depression, which officially began November 1983. "Illegal Alien" was the only song that didn't seem directly related to the way I felt during The Great Depression, as I was neither illegal nor alien.

"That's All" and "Taking It All Too Hard" are the perfect summation of everything I went through emotionally at the beginning of The Great Depression. That's because the precise beginning of The Great Depression occurred on Saturday evening, November 12, 1983, at the exact moment I was sticking a thin piece of metal with a piece of food on the end into a large heated bowl of melted cheese, and I heard one girl on the army date ask the girl that I thought I was dating if she had enjoyed the Sadie Hawkins dance the night before--a girl-ask-guy dance which the girl I thought I was dating did NOT ask me to go to. And so, in a nanosecond it became obvious to me that she had gone to the dance with someone else because that's what she wanted to do. And in that moment, just as I thought it was going alright, I found out that I was wrong when I thought I was right. I could have left, but I didn't go, though my heart told me so. I couldn't feel a thing from my head down to my toes. 

Basically, my heart froze at that moment, and I didn't think it would ever thaw out. But being the major thickhead that I was, a short six weeks later, I let the same thing happened again, but with a different girl. Oh, no, I made the same mistakes again. And just as I thought it was going alright, I found out I was wrong when I thought I was right. Once again, I took it all to heart, and I took it all too hard. I realized that no matter what girl I was trying to find a way to love, it would always be the same. It's just a shame. That's all. 

So, that's why I stopped dating and going to dances and basically avoided any kind of situation in which there was the slightest chance that I might end up having any kind of conversation with a girl that was outside of a classroom. I took my heart and locked it away and melted the key like it was a piece of geometrically-shaped cheddar cheese. And that's why when the whole school voted me in as king of the senior prom while I was away on band tour, I said, "Hell no!" And when Ronald Jolley tried to intimidate me into going to the dance with the girl that had been voted queen of the prom, I still said, "Hell no!" And when the queen herself in tears begged me to go to the dance with her, I remained unmoved and still said, "Hell no!" And since everybody liked the queen, I then became a thoroughly hated figure in the school until after the senior prom. Only my three friends in the Arimo Mafia knew why I was doing the things I was doing, and frankly, that was enough for me. I just ran track, listened to a lot of music on the stereo at home when i wasn't hanging out with my three friends, and kept my head down until graduation finally freed me from that social hellfire called High School.  

The rest of the songs on the album can be thought of as really good bonus songs, especially the psychotic "Mama," the extra long "Home by the Sea" and "Second Home by the Sea"--both of which should always be listened to as a single song, as that's how they sound on the original album--and the revenge fantasy "Just a Job to Do." I know it's supposed to be a hitman singing, but it just feels more fun to imagine I'm the one doing the hit job.

Now, you might think that since this album is so closely associated in my mind with those initial moments of The Great Depression that I would have felt depressed when I listened to it. But that's not the effect this album had on me. Instead, I got emotionally pumped up when I heard these songs. It was like a mojo booster that made me feel empowered to keep focused on whatever else I was doing in my life and not get bummed out because I didn't have a girlfriend.

That's why this album was one of my favorite ones to listen to after I got back from Sweden. Thanks in great part to this album, I managed to keep the He-Men-Women-Hater vibe going strong until March of 1988. That's when I met Julie and all my previous oaths to not date anymore were broken for good. She was just too much damn fun! And because this Genesis album doesn't play all that well on dates or on trips with the wife, I stopped listening to it as much. But every now and then when I'm all by my lonesome and I want to listen to something that really sends me back in time to my high school years, I'll put this album on and remember all those extraordinarily strong emotions I felt back during The Great Depression. And for some reason, it just makes my mojo levels shoot up so high that I feel really good and that makes life seem easier, even during those times when it feels like it's getting so hard.

Ha-ha-hah! Oooh!

Ha-ha-hah! Oooh!

Nardo

5. A Night at the Opera by Queen

 5. A Night at the Opera by Queen

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mz4wksGpUUokxRpbyFKZ8pmRY51dWvDH8

I think it was the autumn of 1976 after the wheat harvest when Dad said it was time to buy a new stereo for the family. I was excited to go to Pocatello with Dad, but it was Renda that made sure he paid the extra money to get a decent system. She also talked him into buying a couple of new albums that she said would sound really good on the stereo. One of those albums was A Night at the Opera. And she was right. I cannot explain just how awesome it was to hear this album on speakers that were spaced far apart across the room from each other. Before that day, all of the records we listened to were played on a record player with a single built-in speaker. Having listened to the album at a friend's house, Renda had the good sense to make sure that the first song my parents heard on the album wasn't "Death on Two Legs," what with the line "And now you can kiss my ass goodbye." Instead, she skipped straight to "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon." Both Mom and Dad quickly lost interest in listening to the rest of the album and walked off to do something else like cook dinner or watch TV, but us kids laid on the floor in front of the stereo downstairs and listened to the whole thing straight through to "Bohemian Rhapsody," which in stereo is an absolute mind-blowing listening experience. So we begged to listen to that song repeatedly until Renda finally insisted that we listen to something else. And from that moment on, all the kids in the Olson family became fans of Queen.

Over the years of growing up in Arimo, this album was always a favorite that anyone could put on the stereo and everyone else was okay with it. And that's kind of a big deal when you've got six (sometimes seven) people living in the basement together. We would even sing some of the songs together. And we didn't need to be listening to the album to do that. We could be out doing chores together and start up a Night at the Opera song, and others would chime in without hesitation. In fact, this Christmas when I gave my brother's family a gift of a microphone, microphone stand, and a small speaker, his kids wanted to sing karaoke, and he put on "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Jared, Ruth, and I could still belt out all of the lyrics. Of course, that song has been played so often on the radio, and the lyrics are readily Googled up, that it's probably not that big of a feat anymore. But back in the late 70s, this six-minute long song wasn't played all that often, so knowing the lyrics to that song was something only someone who owned the album could do, as some of the lyrics were more than a little weird. (Scaramouch, scaramouch, will you do the fandango?)

Anyway, A Night at the Opera has become one of those albums that is so engrained in our collective memory that it has become part of the Olson family identity--much like the Beatles White Album and Johnathan Livingston Seagull. Of course, not everyone knows the lyrics to "I'm in Love with My Car" like I do. But if I start singing it, they'll recognize it as belonging to A Night at the Opera. And that's why I've ranked this album so high on my list. (The White Album should probably be up here in the top 10 with the other two albums, but I purposefully started off this list with that album because it's the one album with my earliest memories of listening to it on our old record player.) And because we're all grown and living our own lives now, there won't be any more albums like this that help define the eclectic nature of the Olson family's musical tastes.

I do want to mention that one of my favorite memories of cruising Arimo with my friends is whenever "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on the radio we would all sing along with it and bang our heads during the rock-out ending. That's why I loved that Bohemian Rhapsody scene in Wayne's World so much -- it was a direct link to some of my favorite sing-along with friends memories. So my memories of this album include family and friends, so I have definitely been able to keep good company with this album. But I also had moments of solitude where, as a teenager during the Great Depression, I listened to the songs by myself in the basement and contemplated what it would be like to have a girlfriend that was my best friend (never happened), or to meet the love of my life (which I think is now my poodle Weezy), or be in love with my car (I do really, really like my 4runner, but I haven't given it a name yet, so can I really say that I'm in love with it?), or have a lady call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese (also never happened---oh, wait, Julie does that all the time!). 

Hmmm...maybe it's time to take this album on a roadtrip with Julie for a seaside rendezvous where I can be her Valentino.

What a damn jolly good idea! Give us a kiss!

Nardo

6. Back in Black by AC/DC

 6. Back in Black by AC/DC

Hell's Bells

Shoot to Thrill

What Do You Do for Money Honey

Givin' the Dog a Bone

Let Me Put My Love Into You

Back in Black

You Shook Me All Night Long

Have a Drink on Me

Shake a Leg

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Let's be honest about Back in Black. It's a magnificent mixed bag of bona fide rock and roll classics and forgettable filler. It's got four iconic hits that AC/DC fans expect to hear at any concert--"Hell's Bells," "Shoot to Thrill," "Back in Black," and "You Shook Me All Night Long." I say "hits" but the word does not communicate the level of importance these four songs have to the band's die hard fans. If the band were to NOT play any one of these songs at a concert, the fans would riot. Now, I'm not sure how you would tell the difference between regular AC/DC concert behavior and a riot. But I guarantee there would be a riot. 

Yes, they could get away with not playing "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution," but some fans would be mighty disappointed. I personally like this song a lot. Once when I was listening to AC/DC on headphones at work, one coworker who was always doing stuff to annoy me ask me to turn down the volume on my headphones because she could hear the music. I said "Okay," and before she even made it back to her cubicle way on the other side of the room, I switched the song to "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" and kept the volume loud enough that my nearby coworkers would hear it and get the joke.

The rest of the songs on Back in Black might get slipped onto a concert playlist every now and then, but it's hard to find these other songs on the AC/DC official YouTube channel, and they don't offer any concert footage of them at all. That's not saying they aren't worth listening to. I think that the fillers on this album actually sound pretty good. It's just that when you put them on the same record as those four core songs, they are clearly second-tier material. 

Today this album is unarguably recognized as the apex of AC/DC's discography. But that wasn't the case when it was released in July of 1980. Many AC/DC fans complained that Brian Johnson's singing wasn't up to par with Bon Scott's. But the entire album was a tribute to Bon, including the color of the cover, which signified their mourning of Bon's passing. And to show their respects to Bon, they didn't use any of the lyrics he had written for some of the songs so that they would not benefit financially from his passing. Brian had to come up with new lyrics, and he paid tribute to Bon with those lyrics several times over, so I don't know what the die-hard Bon fans had to complain about. The man had died of alcohol poisoning. What was the band supposed to do? Put away their instruments and never play again? No way. If any other band member had died, Bon would have kept on singing new songs, and the band knew that, so instead of honoring his life with their silence, they honored it by recording the best-selling heavy metal album of all time. And I think that's a more fitting tribute.

I don't have a lot of high school memories of this album. It was one of those albums that seminary teachers and youth conference speakers loved to rail against. If anyone complained about Billy Joel's less than ideal lyrics, I could always say, "Hey, at least I'm not listening to AC/DC." But I did turn into a fan later on in life when my nephew Ryan and I went to an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City during their Stiff Upper Lip tour. After that, I started listening to a lot of their music, and it was clear to me that Back in Black was the best of all their albums. 

But as much as I like this album, there is one persistent drawback to it--I feel both young and old at the same time whenever I listen to it. I mean, it came out in 1980 before I even started 9th grade, so it reminds me of my teenage years in Arimo. But here I am 40 years later listening to it and claiming it's better than the vast majority of music that's been put out since then--at least, that's what I think I'm saying by placing it so high on my Top 60 album list. That's why this album reminds me of the following Bill Burr comedy bit so much. 

It’s one of the sad things about life. You get old and it passes you by. I feel it passing me by. I’m 46 years old. I don’t even have kids, but I can’t keep up anymore. I had a college gig coming up, I was like, I gotta figure out what these kids are into. I was 24 when a senior was born. I got to figure out what these dudes are into, so I guess they’re into like, this like DJ music or some shit, so I’m like, all right, I’ll watch some of this. You know? So I have like a reference or two. I don’t want to be that old comic coming to the gig being like, “What’s up with this Monica Lewinsky? Is this crazy? I mean, this Y2K– Is my stylus gonna work? I don’t know.” So I put this shit on. Dude, I lasted 90 seconds. Ninety seconds. I was open-minded. “All right, put it on!” Ninety seconds later, I’m like this old man. “Ah, this isn’t music!” You know? “When I was a kid, you dressed like a woman and you sung about the devil. Now, that was music! And you had one ballad every album, started off in black and white, and when the guitar solo came in, it went to color. Yeah, that was music.”

I kind of feel that way about this album. It defines what I think of as great rock and roll music, but it also reminds me that maybe I'm a little older than I'd like to be, and death is creeping up on me, and that I've got fewer years ahead of me than the ones I've lived since this album came out. And when I see videos of Angus Young performing on stage today, I can't help but think two thoughts at the same time. One thought is "This is so awesome to see him in that school uniform, banging his head, doing the duck walk, and strutting on stage like the Rock God that he is!" The other thought is, "Man, he looks old. And his knees must be killing him! How long will he be able to keep this up? How long will it be until me and my generation dies and all this music gets forgotten? How long until I hear Hells Bells tolling for me?"

But I suppose the answer to my question is in the last song on Back in Black.  

We're just talkin' about the future
Forget about the past
It'll always be with us
It's never gonna die, never gonna die

Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution
Rock 'n' roll ain't gonna die
Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution
Rock 'n' roll, it will survive (Yes it will!)

Nardo

7. Gaucho by Steely Dan

7. Gaucho by Steely Dan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBdv_tqVqkw&list=OLAK5uy_nY5vTbyJQBHmubrYmo49x0ZNq8zrIh7CM&index=1

Gaucho was released in November of 1980, and while I enjoyed the songs "Hey Nineteen" and "Time Out of Mind" when I heard them on the radio back then, I really didn't appreciate the awesomeness of Steely Dan, or this entire album, until grad school when Erik started getting into playing jazz piano and we had a lot of jazz music being played in the house all the time. Tom Banyas gave me an appreciation for jazz, and having had the opportunity to play a few jazz solos on my flugelhorn during band tour, I have always fantasized what it would be like to play in a group like Steely Dan. Also, it's got somewhat of a timeless sound, as it's one of the bands that Erik and I can both listen to with equal enjoyment, and he often plays their songs when he's painting.

Why are Steely Dan records so good? Because they don't think that they have to do it all themselves. They are not afraid to use oodles of session musicians to record different parts of different songs. For example, they will invite multiple guitarists to play on different songs on an album, depending on what kind of sound they're going for. Also, Steely Dan has a reputation for excellence that is legendary among musicians. No detail is too small to escape their attention. Their records have won multiple Grammys for engineering, and it is customary for engineers to use Steely Dan records to check the sound on their systems. In fact, St. Vincent once fired a sound engineer on the spot when she found out the guy didn't use Steely Dan to do the sound check before she started recording for one of her albums. Because of this level of perfection in their music, when Gaucho was released, it was the most expensive album ever made up to that point. They had 42 other musicians playing on it, and they'd do 40 or more takes of each song recording. Also, the engineer spent over $150,000 (over $500,000 in today's dollars) just to create a drum machine. So, yeah, this album won a Grammy for sound engineering too.

I like lots of other Steely Dan albums, but this one is just chock-a-block full of great songs that you can listen to over and over, which is a good thing, because it's only 7 songs long, which means if you're in the mood to listen to some Gaucho, you're going to have to listen to the album two or three times before the mood has time to pass. But because the music is so complex, and because the lyrics are so clever (they are masters of irony), it always seems like there's something else to explore in the music each time you listen to it. The chord progressions, the harmonies, the instrumentation--it all makes the earbones go "Ahhhhhh!" 

So go ahead and relax, sit back, and chill out to some Steely Dan and imagine what it would be like to play jazz trombone for them. 

By the way, "Hondo Joe" would make a great jazz nickname for a trombonist!

Nardo

8. The Wall by Pink Floyd

 8. The Wall by Pink Floyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLFwTqdsuxw&list=OLAK5uy_nE3dmeYl_9Jgv2CT0aqufkDcyB6BBMcGM

I'm lying on my bed in the dark with my eyes closed. Randy is about ten feet away on his bed. He drops the needle on the edge of The Wall. We don't say anything. We know the drill. Just lie back and listen.

...we came in?

So ya thought ya might like to go to the show

To feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow.

I think about the day behind us. Chores in the morning. Then a rushed shower while listening to Billy Joel on the tape player. Oatmeal for breakfast. Drive the blue clunker truck to school with Randy. Daydream through dull classes, except for band, with five-minute breaks in between when my friends and I swap books stashed in our lockers and try to look at girls without getting caught looking at them. The teachers mostly hate me for my constant disruptions in class. I hate 'em back.

You! Yes, you! Stand still, laddie!

When we grew up and went to school

There were certain teachers who would

Hurt the children in any way they could

OOF!

By pouring their derision

Upon anything we did

And exposing every weakness

However carefully hidden by the kids.

But in the town, it was well known

When they got home at night, their fat and

Psychopathic wives would thrash them

Within inches of their lives.

We don't need no education.

We don't need no thought control.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom.

Teacher leave them kids alone!

Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

Wrong! Do it again!

If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. 

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds! Stand still, laddie!

I think about the girls I don't have the guts to talk to. Then I think about the girls I do have the guts to talk to. Why do I like the ones I can't have? Why don't I like the ones I can?  I've known some of them since grade school. The others I've known since 7th grade. But even after 5+ years of seeing them every day at school, they're still a mystery to me. 

Mother, do you think she's good enough to me?

Mother, do you think she's dangerous to me?

Mother, will she tear your little boy apart?

Mother, will she break my heart?

There's a red-haired girl that I noticed today at play practice. I've seen her before in school a lot and haven't paid much attention to her. She's one of my sister's friends. She even came up to the house one day last year. I walked into the kitchen in my after-school chore clothes--faded Levi's, long-sleeved flannel shirt, blue tractor dealer hat, brown leather work boots--and she was sitting there with her long curly hair at the kitchen counter working on something with Ruth. I paid no attention to them and just grabbed something to eat out of the fridge and told Mom I was going to ride my motorbike in the back 40 after I finished chores. She looked different today during play practice for some reason. Randy has commented about her before, said she was really good looking and fun to sing with in MarVals. She does sing really good. I heard her during practice. And damn! I love that long red hair!

I am just a new boy,

Stranger in this town.

Where are all the good times?

Who's gonna show this stranger around?

Ooooh, I need a dirty woman.

Ooooh, I need a dirty girl.

Will some cold woman in this desert land

Make me feel like a real man?

Take this rock and roll refugee

Oooh, baby set me free.

Ooooh, I need a dirty woman.

Ooooh, I need a dirty girl.

Randy is going to be gone soon. When he first moved in I thought we would become close friends, but that just hasn't happened. We get along okay, but he doesn't want to really hang out with me and my friends. He knows none of us smoke pot, and that means we're out of his social circle. But we've had some good moments during the last 7 months or so. I wonder if he'll want to keep in touch once he leaves. I doubt it. 

Hey you, out there in the cold
Getting lonely, getting old
Can you feel me?

Hey you, standing in the aisles
With itchy feet and fading smiles
Can you feel me?

Hey you, don't help them to bury the light.
Don't give in without a fight.

Hey you, out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone
Would you touch me?

Hey you, with you ear against the wall
Waiting for someone to call out
Would you touch me?

Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home.

But it was only fantasy.
The wall was too high,
As you can see.
No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain.

Hey you, standing in the road
always doing what you're told,
Can you help me?

Hey you, out there beyond the wall,
Breaking bottles in the hall,
Can you help me?

Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.

I know he's wishing he could light up right now. I'm the only thing keeping from doing it. He probably smoked a joint after he finished milking cows at Spencer's tonight. I know how he behaves when he's high, and I think he's buzzed right now. If I hadn't gone to church and scouts with my friends all those years, I'd probably be smoking pot too. But I've made promises to myself, my mom, and my dad that I've got to keep. And I've got good friends I don't want to lose. So no pot. No booze. No girls. There's only one way for me to get high--run track.

Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run,

Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run.

You better run all day and run all night.

Keep your dirty feelings deep inside.

And if you're taking your girlfriend out tonight,

You'd better park the car well out of sight.

Cause if they catch you in the back seat trying to pick her locks,

They're gonna send you back to mother in a cardboard box.

You better run.

I want to break the five-minute mile this season. I think I can do it if I train right. It'll take lots of uphill running. None of the coaches know what to do to help me get faster. I read Jim Fixx's "The Complete Book of Running," but it's about jogging and training for marathons, not winning one- and two-mile races. For the two mile, I want to break 11 minutes, so I've got to get down to an average of 5 minutes and 30 seconds per mile. For the mile I want to break five minutes, so I've got to figure out how to run 75 second laps and then have a good kick at the end. I wonder if that red-haired girl will be impressed if I win those races. 

Crazy,

Over the rainbow, I am crazy,

Bars in the window.

There must have been a door there in the wall

When I came in.

Crazy, over the rainbow, he is crazy.

Naw. Nobody in school cares about track besides the people running track. And no one ever comes to the track meets other than the families of the runners and their friends. My friends come to the meets, but my family doesn't, except for Ruth, but she's throwing shotput and discus. Running long distance is the one thing I can do half decently, but none of the girls I never talk to care about that, and they won't come see me run. So why the hell am I killing myself doing this? I played football this year to try to impress girls, but that didn't work. And I know running track doesn't impress the girls. But it's the thing I like to do most at school, besides play pep band with my friends. 

All alone, or in two's,

The ones who really love you

Walk up and down outside the wall.

Some hand in hand

And some gathered together in bands.

The bleeding hearts and artists

Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all

Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy

Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.

The needle automatically lifts off the record and rests itself on its stand. Randy is asleep. I'm almost there myself. But I lie in the dark...thinking.

I wonder if I'll dream about that red-haired girl tonight. She probably never thinks about me.

Lying on the bed, I stretch out my legs before putting them under the covers. I think I'll run up Arkansas road tomorrow after play practice. The snow melted off last month, so it's just dried dirt and gravel now. It's steep, and it'll hurt like hell. But so what....

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.

When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown.
The dream is gone.

I have become comfortably numb.

Nardo

9. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Neil Diamond

 9. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Neil Diamond

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdlYnrwaQ6w&list=OLAK5uy_lelFztmiUGVIAvJvu3oFxaeSvEyFhp118

In the late '60s, Richard Bach wrote a series of short stories about a seagull that was trying to learn how to fly and, in doing so, become a more perfect being. These short stories got published in book format in 1970, but it became a best-seller in 1972 and 1973. A film based on the book was released in 1973, but it pretty much bombed in the theaters. However, the soundtrack by Neil Diamond did very well in the record stores, selling over 2 million copies. It also won a Grammy in 1974 for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special. In fact, because of all the Neil Diamond fans that were out there, the album made more money that the movie did.

The book, movie, and soundtrack escaped the attention of everyone in the Olson family until the passing of my brother Jeff in 1976. At his funeral, his band teacher, Ms. McKnight, played the song "Lonely Looking Sky" on Jeff's trumpet. It was a song that Jeff had been practicing for band class. My aunt Beverly (who has been the subject of many a joke I've told over the years) did something quite unexpected and completely awesome that I will always be incredibly grateful for. She went out and bought a copy of the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" and drove up our lane to give it to my family. My dad read the book to us while we sat in the living room together. For some reason, it touched us all deeply, and it was very comforting to us as a family. After that, I went out and bought my own copy so that I could read it in bed over and over before I went to bed. Also, the family bought the Neil Diamond album, and I would listen to it on the record player before going to sleep. It found it to be extremely comforting, and while it reminded me of my brother, it just reminded me of the good things, and not all the fights we used to get into.

Several weeks after reading the book to us, Mom and Dad went to the temple in Idaho Falls, and my dad was impressed by the mural in one of the rooms that had clouds with seagulls flying through the air. Dad looked up in the corner of the mural, and he could see an image in the clouds part of Jeff's face with a hand placed on his head. And the opening lyrics to the song "Be" came to his mind--"Lost on a painted sky where the clouds are hung for the poets eye. You may find him, if you may find him." After that, Dad would share with us that he could see that same image every time he went to the temple, and the image got clearer and clearer to him each time. Later on when I went through the temple in preparation for my mission,  Dad was by my side through the whole ceremony. He pointed out the section of the mural where he could see Jeff's face. At first I didn't see anything, but as the temple ceremony continued, I was able to see the outline of a face in the clouds. I didn't recognize Jeff in it, but I could see the face that Dad had talked about all those years. And I was able to continue to see it whenever I went through that temple ceremony in later years.

While I was in Sweden and having a very difficult time, I got a copy of the soundtrack to listen to on tape, and it had that same comforting effect on me. That tape, along with The Man From Snowy River soundtrack, helped me tremendously. They reminded me of home in a way that inspired me instead of making me homesick. I also broke mission rules and purchased a copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull in Swedish and read it repeatedly, which actually helped me with my Swedish a lot because I knew the book so well I could figure out the meaning of the Swedish words without even consulting a dictionary. 

Because I loved this album so much on my mission, later on I sent copies to all of my nephews and my niece that served missions. I told them it was sacred music in the Olson family, so it was okay to listen to it as much as they wanted. 

While I've continued to listen to this album over the years, there has not been any additional memories that I relate to the album except for one follow-up story. My sister got in contact with Ms. McKnight on Facebook and told her how much we appreciated her playing "Lonely Looking Sky" at Jeff's funeral. She responded by telling my sister that while teaching at Marsh Valley Jr. High she had never been interested in attending the Mormon church or learning its doctrine. But she had an experience on the day of Jeff's funeral that changed her life. Right after she finished playing the song, she said she clearly heard Jeff's voice say to her "Thanks Ms. McKnight." She said that she was stunned by this because she had never thought that there could be an afterlife until that moment. Because of that experience, she eventually investigated the church and converted, and she has even served a mission with her husband. 

So that's why this album is in my top ten. I have lots of other reasons for the other albums in the top ten, all of which are much less spiritually oriented and, in fact, quite profane. In putting this list together, I even thought about leaving it out completely. But then I thought that it really wouldn't be a very honest list if I didn't include it and recognize the impact that this music had on my life. So this is the one album on this list that has a strong spiritual meaning for me. And because I'm such a practiced old sinner, 1 in 60 seems to be about right. 

Nardo

10. Laevitas by Winter Forever

 10. Laevitas by Winter Forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htGFmRH-MeE&list=OLAK5uy_mzG7OjAg2lcEYn5vmtIhpX_X1fZxxFm94

Laevitas is the second album released by Winter Forever, a Boise band that consists of three guitarists--the singer plays rhythm guitar--and a drummer. And the reason that I have seen them in concert, and the reason I have a Winter Forever t-shirt, and the reason I clicked on the Like button and subscribed to their channel on YouTube--the only rock group that I've ever done that for--is because the bassist, Max Graham, is a friend and former work colleague. That's right. I know the bass player. I have the bass player's phone number. We text from time to time. And he's the reason that I've been eating vegetarian (mostly) for the last two years. He's the guy on the far left in the picture of the band below.

On the day at work when I discovered that Max was in a rock and roll band, I stopped working and spent the next two hours talking to him about his band and what they were doing and what their plans were for the future. I became an instant fan, and I enthusiastically supported him in any way I could. And being a superfan of the group, Max even let me have an advanced listen to the instrumental versions of the songs on Laevitas before they even recorded the vocals. So this is the only album I've ever heard where I remember listening to the songs before the album was even finished. Max also shared with me details about how the album was recorded and the whole process he went through to just record his bass parts. That means I feel a personal connection to this album unlike any other that I've heard during my life.

But I feel obliged to give a word of caution about listening to this album in front of the kids--don't. Cory lets the F-word rip too often on too many songs for this to be a kid-friendly listening experience. I think their video for "Inadvertently" is clean, but he's drinking and smoking in it, so again, probably not for the kids.

https://youtu.be/bUpKtaBnZDY

After they produced this album, the band was ready to release it and go on a tour of cities in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Utah. And then Covid hit and every gig they possibly could have played at got cancelled. And some of the venues where they wanted to play simply went out of business. And there was no way to even play the songs locally. So they released the album online and on Spotify anyway. They don't have a lot of traffic going to their YouTube channel, but their Spotify numbers are much better. Still, they haven't broken through to fame and fortune by any means. But they did manage to catch the attention of an independent record company and signed on with it. (I don't remember the name.) Once the Covid pandemic gets under control, or at least once everyone stops caring whether or not they'll die from its unchecked spread through the population, then I think the group will be ready to release another album and go on tour. Until then, Max is still working as an instructional designer at a company in Boise. He left CWI after working there a couple years because (a) the company paid him more than what my boss at CWI makes (and she's a dean) and (b) he wanted to make more money so that he can support the band's plans to put out more music. So he's definitely committed to the band, and I think they do have a future as a touring band, but it will be a while before anyone will see them in concert in Boise because all of the local music venues have shut down. 

My hope is that the group does very well over the next decade. They've made the decision to be an indy band for now, but I think that if they put out a few more albums, they might get some interest from the major labels. What they really need more than anything right now is to get their online presence ramped up with  a website, some more music videos, and some new music that gets released on Spotify and other music platforms on a regular basis. Also, when I finish my Red Fox Rising series, I want them to do the music soundtrack for the audiobooks. I'm thinking of the softer sound that they have at the beginning of "Central Parke Circle," "Josephine," and "Brown Recluse." Of course, that means I've got to save up some money to pay for it. But I think they'll do it if I ask Max nicely--and have at least five thousand bucks to throw their way. Musicians gotta eat too.

Nardo

11. A Kind of Magic by Queen

 11. A Kind of Magic by Queen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqzbej78JHM&list=PL-Dlrh3xUEoR5hvzcGlIuUlYYebLWdnv4

I was a BIG fan of the original Highlander film (the sequels were pretty bad) and the Highlander TV series. And one reason I liked them so much was because Queen wrote the soundtrack songs used on both. I think the music on this album does a fantastic job of capturing the themes explored in the film and the television series--life, death, love, hate, friendship, grief, sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, cruelty, kindness...and more. My nephew Ryan and I can talk about these shows for hours. He liked the TV show so much that he named his first son Mac (which was Duncan's nickname on the show). We have discussed at length changes that would need to be made in a remake of the series which would avoid the plethora of problems that the storyline had in the movies and TV show. But one thing we wouldn't change would be the use of Queen's songs as the soundtrack to the series.

Now, if you're a Queen fan and not a fan of the Highlander shows, then you probably think this is an okay album, but not Queen's best work. And I can see why you might think that--because you're not considering the context in which the songs were written or their ultimate purpose. But if you take those things into account, I defy you to find a better movie soundtrack for any movie by any rock group. And it's infinitely better than Queen's soundtrack to Flash Gordon. In fact, It's a Kind of Magic is so good as a movie soundtrack that it ended up being in two movies! "One Vision" wasn't included anywhere in the Highlander movie, but it ended up being included in the movie Iron Eagle.  However, the lyrics to "One Vision" are definitely based on the Highlander film. So when I hear the song, I imagine either Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod or Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod fighting bad guys with Japanese swords, not Louis Gossett Jr. as Colonel Charles "Chappy" Sinclair fighting bad guys with an F-16 fighter jet.

There is a major clunker on this album though. Listening to "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" is much more pain than it is pleasure. 

The 2011 remastered version of the album has a nice piano / synthesizer instrumental "Forever" which is just a variation of "Who Wants to Live Forever." It's played by Brian May, not Freddie Mercury.

Also, there were two songs in the movie that were performed by Queen that aren't featured on It's a Kind of Magic. And after you hear these two songs, you'll understand why that's a good thing.

A Dozen Red Roses for My Darling

https://youtu.be/-DGQzSYFWaQ

New York, New York

https://youtu.be/Rtx5qYjSLNk

Although the album was released in 1986, I really didn't see the Highlander movie until 1988. And the TV show started in 1992. And that was when I started listening to the songs on this album more and more. So most of my memories associated with this album are of the early to mid-'90s when I was a new husband and a new dad and was teaching 7th grade at Irving and trying my hand at being a toy store owner. Shortly after the TV show ended in May of 1998, I ended up moving to grad school in Logan. And since I didn't have my weekly viewing of the TV series to prompt me to listen to the songs as much, I ended up listening to a lot of new music in a vain attempt to make all of the HTML coding I was doing a little less boring. But I do remember that "One Vision" became somewhat of a battle cry for me, as I was one man with one goal--to get my PhD. I used to listen to that song whenever I felt discouraged with my academic progress, and it always managed to psych me up. And although it took me a hell of a long time to finally reach that vision, I somehow got through it with the help of my family and friends. Actually, during those same years that I spent in grad school, Brian May was going to grad school to get his PhD in physics. He graduated in 2007, and I finished up mine in early 2008. Of course, he had started his studies 30 years earlier, so that made me feel a little less bad about taking 10 years to get through mine.

Anyway, this album is almost my favorite Queen album because of all the reasons I listed above. That's right. Almost. It was close to the top, but it didn't quite make it. Which is kind of sad, but we just have to accept it. Because in the end, there can be only one. 

Nardo

12. Discovery by Electric Light Orchestra

12. Discovery by Electric Light Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU9qoM5S2xY&list=OLAK5uy_kxLsiLo3uUk4X2Gl335o91SjkTzZtWGu8

This is the album that made me an ELO fan. I really liked some of their songs before this album, but when I heard "Don't Bring Me Down" back in 1979, my 9th grade life changed, and for the better. That's because it wasn't just a catchy song, it was an anthem for the Virgin Lips Club / He-Men-Woman-Haters Club that helped sustain me through the heartbreak of repeated rejection of those handful of high-school girls that I opened my heart to--most of which never really knew I'd opened it or, for those who did know, how far I'd flung it open. Of course, I'd done my share of rejecting girls that liked me, some which I knew liked me, and some of which I'm sure I was completely oblivious to their feelings for me until it was too late to actually do anything but apologize because I'd managed to hurt them without even knowing I'd hurt them. But such is the nature of young love. 

I remember singing along to "Don't Bring Me Down" during lunchtime in the Jr. High building for a while until the Jolly Green Jolley decided that the line "One of these days you're going to break your glass" was too suggestive and wouldn't let us listen to the song anymore. What a douche! 

Of course, there were other songs on the album that I liked then, especially the disco classics "Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London," as well as the under-appreciated "On the Run." But over the years, I grew to like all the other songs just as much or even more. "Need Her Love," "Confusion," "Wishing," and "Midnight Blue" are great for dealing with the conflicting feelings that come with unrequited love, and they are also a good balance to the I-don't-give-a-hairy-crap-about-you-anymore attitude on "Don't Bring Me Down."  But "The Diary of Horace Wimp," which is now my favorite song from the album, gives me goosebumps and makes me want to cry for joy when I think about the time HondoJoe got out and found himself a wife. 

My only complaint about this album is that there should have been more songs on it. Unfortunately, the B-sides to the hits from this album were songs from previous albums. But there were two songs that are definitely related to Discovery.

Little Town Flirt 

https://youtu.be/20FDKjGIQqs

This was a bonus song on the 2001 remastered release of Discovery. It is a remake of the 1962 song by Del Shannon, so it doesn't quite fit with the disco vibe on Discovery. Still, it's a fun listen. But I think it might have been a better fit if they'd included it on their 1983 album right after "Rock and Roll Is King," as there was a bit of a revival of that '50s and early '60s sound in '83, which in my mind was led out by Billy Joel's album An Innocent Man.

Second Time Around

https://youtu.be/8ubvK-oZTg8

Another bonus track from the 2001 remaster. It's a bit short though. Needed some more development for sure.

And to my disappointment, that's it. There are lots of rare and unreleased ELO songs floating out in the interwebs, but none from the Discovery time period. Of course, part of the reason for that is because ELO produced a lot of albums every few years, so I guess I shouldn't complain. There aren't a lot of "in-between album" songs during this time period because they were too busy writing songs that actually made it onto the albums--which is a pretty damn good excuse for not finding more rare Discovery gems. 

Musically speaking, I think I should probably rank this album much higher on my list. In fact, it started out in my top ten albums, but I had other albums that have such sentimental value to me that I had to push this album down to number 12. 

But speaking of sentimental memories, anytime I listen to this album it takes me back to that 9th grade year and all the fun I had with the Arimo Mafia on campouts and other activities. It's the year I started to really love playing in the band. It's the year I started playing football with Chris as the manager. And it's also the year I started running track and loving the long-distance races, which eventually led me to run a marathon with HondoJoe in later years. So it's a year with lots of good memories of good friends and, thanks to ELO, some damn good music!

Nardo

13. No Jacket Required by Phil Collins

 13. No Jacket Required by Phil Collins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5soq6RLoIz8&list=OLAK5uy_k-NheJU7cAhkVHX4w1pEEw27yVOhCM73M

One of the best things about returning home from Sweden was finally getting the chance to listen to No Jacket Required as much as I wanted to, which was A LOT. I pirated a copy of the album from my brother-in-law and played the tape over and over during the summer of '87 while driving around Twin Falls in the black step-side Chevy pickup. And my reaction to the album back then is still the same reaction that I have today, which is "What the hell, Phil?! Do you love her or hate her? Can't you pick a mood and stick with it?!" I remember thinking that this album would have probably killed me if it had come out during my senior year. The song progression swings wildly between the expression of desperate love for a woman and complete rejection of the same woman. The album is like this emotional rollercoaster that just keeps going up and down and up and down and up and down. It would have wrecked me emotionally if I'd had it in my record collection during that first year of The Great Depression. 

I do remember this album in connections with one occasion that summer when I went to the Arimo churchhouse to look for Sheldon. A bunch of people were getting prepared for his wedding reception in the Arimo church gym. When I got there, I didn't find him, but I did run into that red-head that I'd pined over during my senior year. It was quite a shock to my system. I thought I'd gotten completely over her after my mission, but those same old feelings came rushing back and hit me like a freight train. I don't think I even said anything other than hello to her, and I was just so befuddled as to why she was helping Suzanne with the reception. But that's what she was doing. Anyway, I found it hard to breathe or even think because of how overwhelmed I felt, so I got the hell out of the church as soon as I found out Scapell wasn't there. And then for the next two weeks I listened to No Jacket Required practically nonstop because it was simply the best album to accompany the super-strong rollercoaster emotions that I was feeling. It was just so frustrating to not have those feelings for a couple years and then to have them rush back like that. Phil's music therapy was really the only thing that made me feel like someone else understood what I was going through, so maybe I wasn't completely going insane.

Of course, I didn't really understand what had happened to me until I took a couple more college psych classes--including abnormal psych--and realized that I'd experienced a kind of post-traumatic stress event that triggered really strong past emotions. And as a missionary, I had enjoyed a kind of psychological protection against those emotions because I'd had to spend so much of my mental energy just trying to figure out what in the hell drunk Finns were yelling at me at the bus stop. But once I'd come back home, that protection was gone. Also, because I didn't have a chance to prepare mentally for the encounter, I got the full force of those emotions. It was kind of like how when you get hit by someone that you can see coming at you--there is time to prepare for the blow and get an arm up to defend yourself. But when you don't see the person coming at you, and you're just standing there clueless in the middle of a grocery store, and suddenly there is a hammer blow to the back of your head--yeah, you're going to see stars for a while after that.

Anyway, with the help of this album, I was able to eventually stop seeing stars later on that summer. And once I got back into college, I really did not have those same feelings for her anymore. In fact, I remember that sophomore year of college as being probably the happiest year of my life--which put a definite end to The Great Depression and, at the very end of that school year, brought me a new lover that I've been able to keep loving for over 30 years now. Like Phil said:

Turn your head and don't look back
Just set your sails for a new horizon
Don't turn around don't look down
Oh there's life across the tracks
And you know it's really not surprising
It gets better when you get there

Nardo

14. Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd

14. Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW-lXjOyUWo&list=OLAK5uy_l1x-JAx0w53suECoCI0YJtW6VB8DBQWRQ

If anyone is looking for a prime example of what a holistic "Album" is--verses just a collection of songs on a record (which is what most albums put out over the last 50 years really are)--you need look no further than Dark Side of the Moon. It is a rock-and-roll masterpiece.

But it's one I didn't really get into until my adulthood when I was in grad school at Utah Sate. I bought it to listen to on a super long day trip to eastern and southern Utah to set up computers in classrooms for special education teachers that were so far out in the boonies that they didn't have anyone in the school system that we could count on to do the installation for them. While I wouldn't say it was the best trip I've ever had in my life, it was utterly fantastic listening to this album as I drove through Zion's National Park. 

Fun Fact: Without Dark Side of the Moon, we may not have ever had the pleasure of watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The band used money made from this album to help fund that movie. 

As you've learned from my past entries about Pink Floyd songs, the connection between Pink Floyd and my cousin Randy is a strong one, as listening to Pink Floyd in the dark while laying on our beds was a regular event during my junior year. But for some reason, Randy never bought this album, as he favored The Wall instead. Still, when I listen to this album, like I am now as I write this entry in my Top 60 list, my thoughts always bend toward Randy and my life as a 16-year-old in Arimo. Of course, then I reflect on where my life is now, and I become supremely disappointed in myself. Why? Because the lunatic is in my head. 

But then I remember how last week, for just a moment, I got this flashback while looking at the bright red bare limbs of a sapling tree in the winter morning sunshine, and I remembered with absolute clarity how I felt and thought about myself and my life when I was sixteen--in the days before The Great Depression--and I felt this enormous rush of happiness, like the kind of happiness I felt when the Arimo Mafia got together to play basketball at the church gym or play ping-pong in Scapell's basement or play pool at HondoJoe's grandma's house or ride snowmobiles at the Big Onion or hang out in a cherry Hilton tent in the middle of a forest and play Hearts and rate girls.

So, while I can definitely connect with the themes about life and death and the psychological ugliness of human experience in the lyrics and music of Dark Side of the Moon, I also have abiding memories of precious lifelong friendships that remind me that there's a bright side of the moon too.

Nardo

15. Cargo by Men at Work

 15. Cargo by Men at Work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqYug49O7xA&list=OLAK5uy_kq7QCVIo2veRrifljkVJ12GVNPt238wqc

As good as Business as Usual was, I rate Cargo just a tiny bit ahead of it--mostly because of the song "Overkill," which came in at #18 on my Top 200 list. The entire album, but particularly "Overkill" is actually a pretty good summation of the range of emotions I felt during my senior year of high school. It was one of my Dave Edmund's Mood records that I turned to repeatedly during my senior year, and even through the entirety of The Great Depression. While there are some albums on this list that I liked to listen to while I worked out lifting weights and jumping rope in the basement, this is an after-workout album that I found was best listened to after a jogging workout that consisted mainly of running around the outside streets of Arimo at least once (during the winter) or running up and down the gravel Arkansas road when the weather got better. I'd come home exhausted, hit the shower, and then lay on the bed and listen to this album and get lost in my thoughts. That isn't to say that there aren't songs on the album worthy of placement on a workout playlist. If I'd had a Walkman during my senior year, I definitely would have had a running tape with "Upstairs In My House," "High Wire," "I Like To," and "No Restrictions" on it. But it's the slow songs on this tape that were my favorite to listen to while I was in my Dave Edmund's Moodiness. "Overkill," "No Sign of Yesterday," "It's a Mistake," and "Blue for You," were the songs that had the most meaning for me during my last year of high school. 

As was the case with Business as Usual, I think Cargo should have been released as a double album. Since the album's release in April of 1983, the band released some other songs that were written around the same time as Cargo and that have that Men at Work sound that I love so much (the sound of the band before their third album). The first four are included on the 2003 remastered version of Cargo, and they are all quite good and worthy of being included on the original album. Three of them were B-sides to the four singles that got released from the album.

Shintaro

https://youtu.be/t4fwy7QUKkI

Till the Money Runs Out

https://youtu.be/zuIGE_W0y8o

Fallin' Down

https://youtu.be/uZJYS_QnZOg

The Longest Night

https://youtu.be/lLa0rlhOTvw

There are also the following additional songs that I think could have been released on a second Cargo album. 

Coldfinger

https://youtu.be/kriOmLagNHA

Stimulation (Feeling So Good)

https://youtu.be/ZRPb-NhW058

And I'm not sure if this last one is album-worthy, but they played it a lot in their live shows, and the video is worth watching if for no other reason than you get to see Collin dance wildly and jump around the stage like a kangaroo. 

Mr. Entertainer

https://youtu.be/kEEWlGvTC5A

I can't find any other rare, unreleased songs from Men at Work during this time period prior to the release of their third album, so I guess that second record on the Cargo double-album would have been short a few songs. Seven songs just doesn't seem to be long enough for an entire album. Still, I'd rather listen to these "throwaway" Cargo songs than most of the songs on Two Hearts. 

And that concludes my back-to-back Men at Work album entries. They were one of the most important bands to me during my high school years, and I still enjoy listening to their songs today--especially when I get in a Dave Edmunds Mood. And maybe (just maybe) I'll go buy myself a pair of running shoes and some sweats and put together a Men at Work playlist that will help me get back into some kind of shape where running a mile or two around Arimo won't seem to be an unachievable feat anymore. If I do end up running around Arimo again, I will be running it in the dark, because I learned back in 1983 that's the time when there are pretty lights that nullify the night as ghosts appear and fade away.

Nardo