Digital Sextant

Okay, so this should have appeared mid-November.  I’m a bit behind.  Here’s my playlist from Oct 15 to Nov 30:

• Michael Jackson, The Essential Michael Jackson, disc 3.  I’ll listen to disc 1 next month.  This album has a bunch of songs I hadn’t heard before or don’t know well.  I really liked “They Don’t Care About Us.”  It was also fun to hear the early MJ hits, “Rockin’ Robin” and “Ben.”
• Reel Big Fish, We’re Not Happy ‘Till You’re Not Happy, remaining tracks.  I downloaded the second half of this album from emusic and enjoyed it quite a bit.  As I mentioned before, these are jaunty songs that are really downers.  “Drinkin’” is a classic ska riff about drinking because they suck; A-W-E-S-O-M-E captures a 1980s metal feel at the beginning.  You will also enjoy “Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em).”  Here are some lyrics: “I wrote this song about you/ I wrote this song about you/ Just to let you know/ that I hate your guts/ and I think you suck.”
• Mike Doughty, Golden Delicious.  The reviews for this album were middling and I agree.  The songs are classic Doughty, with the same feel and almost-goofy lyrics you encounter on Haughty Melodic, but no stand outs for me.  I am pleased to have a song called “I Wrote a Song About Your Car,” as MD seems to do this a lot — American Car, White Lexus, etc.
• The Big Pink, A Brief History of Love.  This album is pretty good, with a significant dancey feeling, and a few great songs.  As I mentioned in early October, “Dominos” excels beyond most songs.
• The Decemberists, 4 misc songs.  I really like “Leslie Ann Levine” and “A Cautionary Tale.”  I’m less impressed with “Here I dreamt I was an Architect” and “Odalisque,” though both are musically interesting.
• Mojo Nixon, Frenzy.  More strangeness and awesomeness.  I feel like I’m not giving this music enough attention — it rewards close attention instead of passive absorption.  Much much more MN to come, thanks to the free-album fest on Amazon.