 |
 |
On my mind: Looking Back
In my annual music-listening cycle, January is the month of rediscovery.
Ever since I started work at Billboard, I've been involved in year-end Best Of lists (see the links at right to explore them). As a result, each November, I enter this six-week whirlwind of music analysis, researching albums from earlier in the year I haven't listened to yet, giving fresh spins to albums I picked up in the spring, double-checking copyright dates on the thing I've enjoyed.
Ordinarily, my music tastes aim forward anyway, so processing the year's releases is no great stretch for me. But each fall I enter a state of urgency, wanting to ensure that I have been exposed to all the heralded music of the past ten months.
By mid-December, it's time to compile the Best Of list, and spend a few weeks enjoying the year's best one last time. I spend a considerable amount of time reading other music critics' lists and hunting down albums they recommended that I had missed.
After Christmas, everything resets. The list is done and published, the albums explored. The labels slack off; few new albums of note are released between Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl. With the (fun) pressure gone, I start mining the depths of my music racks.
And without fail, I unearth some old gems. Never mind my Zeppelin CDs; I'm burrowing into forgotten territory, albums I loved that have been overlooked for a while. Like Sting's "The Soul Cages," which is wonderful background music for the office. And Godschild's "Everybody," the earthy, mystical debut by a long-gone local band trying to hit it big. And Tortoise's "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," with its great wandering base line, which has reminded me that I have several Tortoise releases to catch up on. And Liz Phair.
In a month or so I'll be diving headfirst into 2001 albums. But for now, I'm moving backward, straight past all of my 2000 bests (well, OK, I did listen to Trans Am this morning) and straight into the twentieth century, and and providing a little more proof for the next time I get asked, "Jeez, do you listen to all those CDs?"
January 25, 2001
|
|
|
|
