What’s In My 100 Disc Changer 2014: Good Stuff in Time for Day After Thanksgiving Christmas Shopping!

Firstly, I may have reviewed a few of these albums already, elsewhere. I find that occasionally, and by accident, I review an album twice, but often both reviews are very similar. However, the vast majority of these albums are in my 100 disc changer because I plan to review them someday, and of course because I love to listen to them.

These albums are that which is in my player. I can vouch for this: I have already listened to some of each of these albums and each does seem to be quite good.

To be less confusing to those who might be interested in purchasing any of these albums, only the name of the album is given, and not disc 1 or disc 2, even if each separate disc has a name, such that I don’t arrive at the number 100 in the list, as labeling which disc is in my player for multi-disc sets, especially when they aren’t even near each other in the player, is of no assistance to a potential buyer. For instance, with Steven Wilson, though both Grace for Drowning cds are in the player; I do not label each of the Grace for Drowning cds that are in the player, meaning that there is only one entry for Grace for Drowning though the set has 2 discs.

1. Dregs of Earth and What If by the Dixie Dregs

2. Grace for Drowning by Steven Wilson

3. In Absentia by Porcupine Tree

4. Free Fall and Unsung Heroes by the Dixie Dregs

5. The Wake of Magellan and The Dungeons Are Calling by Savatage

6. Live at Birdland by John Coltrane

7. Back in the World of Adventures by The Flower Kings

8. Spontaneous Combustion by The Liquid Trio Experiment

9. Soul Sirkus

10. Kings of Damnation Era by Black Label Society

11. Without a Net by the Grateful Dead

12. Metatonia by Porcupine Tree

13. Self-titled by Niacin

14. III Sides to Every Story by Extreme

15. …And Justice For All by Metallica

16. Emergent by Gordian Knot

17. United Abominations by Megadeth

18. Stardust We Are by the Flower Kings

19. The Ritual by Testament

20. Bridge Across Forever by Transatlantic

21. Individual Thought Patterns by Death

22. Live at Budokan by Dream Theater

23. The Kindness of Strangers by Spock’s Beard

24. Drukqs by Aphex Twin

25. The Odyssey by Symphony X

26. Machine Head by Deep Purple

27. The Raven That Refused to Sing and other stories by Steven Wilson

28. Listen by Jordan Rudess

29. Start Today by The Gorilla Biscuits

30. The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years

31. The End of Silence by Rollins Band

32. Doin’ Something by Soulive

33. Effigy of the Forgotten by Suffocation

34. Toxicity by System of a Down

35. Scenario by Al di Meola

36. Led Zeppelin and Tony MacAlpine mix cd

37. Aenima by Tool

38. Fire Garden by Steve Vai

39. Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani

40. Secret Story by Pat Metheny

41. Retrospective by Django Reinhardt

42. Deadwing by Porcupine Tree

43. Here In the Now Frontier by Queensryche

44. Full House by Wes Montgomery

45. Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree

46. The Vibe by Roy Hargrove

47. Empyrean Isles by Herbie Hancock

48. Up All Night by John Scofield

49. Greatest by Bee Gees

50. Lightbulb Sun by Porcupine Tree

51. Amazing Journey w/Mike Portnoy

52. The Rainmaker by The Flower Kings

53. Coma Divine by Porcupine Tree

54. The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd by Charlie Byrd

55. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and The Abbey Road EP by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

56. The Blue Note Years: The Best of Kenny Burrell by Kenny Burrell

57. Transgression by Fear Factory

58. Impressions by John Coltrane

59. Birds of Fire by The Mahavishnu Orchestra

60. Coast to Coast and High Tension Wires by Steve Morse

61. Industry Standard and Full Circle by the Dixie Dregs

62. Retropolis by The Flower Kings

63. The Best of Earl Klugh by Earl Klugh

64. First Meditations by John Coltrane

65. Virtuoso #2 by Joe Pass

66. Space Revolver by The Flower Kings

67. Super Hit by Ted Nugent

68. Eat a Peach by Phish

69. II Pornograffitti by Extreme

70. Like Minds by Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland

71. School Days by Stanley Clarke

72. Youthenasia by Megadeth

73. Coda by Led Zeppelin

74. Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera

75. Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell

76. Gretchen Goes to Nebraska by King’s X

77. Ok Computer by Radiohead

78. Greatest Hits by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble

79. Freaky Styley and The Abbey Road EP by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

80. Born This Way by Lady Gaga

81. Fusion by Wes Montgomery

82. Shadows Fall

83. What Did He Say? by Victor Wooten

84. Live by Bill Frisell

85. A Dramatic Turn of Events by Dream Theater

86. Pork Soda by Primus

87. Twilight in Olympus by Symphony X

88. Sex and Religion by Steve Vai

89. Notes on a Dream by Jordan Rudess

90. Pick Hits Live by John Scofield

91. Surrealistic Madness by Candiria

92. Enter Suicide Angles and Character by Dark Tranquility

***** My Favorite Things by John Coltrane – Tasteful Excellence for Anyone and Everyone

My Favorite Things gets my highest recommendation. It is a timeless classic. You could pull this cd out 1,000 years or more later, and this cd would still be cherished by listeners, both tone deaf and those with perfect pitch, and everyone in between. From start to finish, everything about My Favorite Things, the compact disc, remade from the original, is every bit as worthy of cherishing. If someone said, “I’m interested in jazz. Where should I start?” This would be one of probably the top 10 cds I would recommend.  I would say, “If you are looking for jazz, My Favorite Things won’t let you down, and if it does then you might consider yourself as some sort of new species, other than human.”

I actually purchased this disc a long time ago, back when I was at college and in my John Coltrane phase. That would be roughly the year 2001. That disc, the original, got scratched. However, I had burned a copy of it for the car, and that disc, the one I am reviewing, has no scratches. The original got tossed in the trash. That brings me to an important issue. The issue of duplicating cds, which I believe is completely okay to do in the same way people duplicated cassette tapes back in the day. Having a back up is an important thing! I currently have at least one cd in my 100 disc changer that can’t be duplicated for whatever reason, such that if I try to burn a copy, computer won’t comply. If that had been the case with My Favorite Things by John Coltrane, I wouldn’t have been able to have even a copy to write a review, all these years later, because the original would have been scratched. That’s just food for thought, and really almost aside from the review of this cd.

This disc is definitely one of my favorites by Coltrane tied with discs such as, Giant Steps, that are among my favorite discs. This disc is among my favorite things. I love music, and My Favorite Things is a sonic jazz treasure. However, it didn’t spend that much time in my 100 disc changer this time, not because I don’t like it anymore, but because I have much of it memorized. I don’t like to listen to the same thing over and over, and I tend to favor music that does not have a lot of repetition, as I could definitely say I am not sick of this disc. It is just to say that it is time to move one.

Much if not all of this music is in the Real Book. Honestly, I can’t quite remember if everything from this disc made it in. I often overlook the local jazz musicians, who have not composed their own music, and continually play the same stuff from the “Real Books,” as opposed to Fake Books, where it is thought that what makes a Fake Book, “fake,” is that somehow the original has been perverted just a little bit, such that copyright infringement has not occurred.

When it comes to jazz, there is no danger in writing a Real Book, because of the nature of jazz. Jazz is not supposed to be played the same way, and also to argue before a tone deaf jury of tone deaf walkers that the Real Book was indeed copyright infringement would probably be impossible, as there is just simply not enough information about the songs in the Real Books, because it is jazz, that one could arrive at the original completely through just copying the music.

Jazz is a music that by nature must have improvisation. The Real Book provides what is called the “head,” of the song, which is sort of like the theme of the song, almost like a chorus, though perhaps it is only played only once, twice, or thrice during a song.

***** Dear Old Stockholm by John Coltrane – One Of My Coltrane Favorites

This cd was released before Coltrane’s very experimental cds like Stellar Regions, which was a terrible experimental album.  However, Dear Old Stockholm surpasses that age where he was trying to recreate Kind of Blue, something which almost all of the jazz musicians of the time sought to do, and it is no wonder as Kind of Blue is one of jazz’s bestselling albums.  (I haven’t a clue why, because I don’t like it much.)  First, in his solo career Trane tried to do what has already been done before with Blue Trane, and Soul Trane, each trying to copy Kind of Blue.  However, in my opinion these albums don’t represent the best Trane had to offer.  I guess there will be some disagreement with me when I post this.  Trane was at his best on albums that were experimental, where he was pushing the envelope in jazz.  That is precisely what Coltrane does on Dear Old Stockholm.  If you are expecting a same old same old jazz cd, don’t buy this album!!!  This album is nothing short of awesome!!!  So far as I know, this is what I would call a unique jazz album.  I have never heard any album like it!  So many jazz artists try to recreate what has been done before them, but now jazz isn’t healthy enough of a genre to push the envelope like John Coltrane on Dear Old Stockholm.