response 25 of 57:

Jan 7 02:44 UTC 1998

re #16, 19:  Oh, I didn't doubt it, but the conversation so very often is
geared toward listening.

re #16: So you play the keyboard instruments, Sarah?  Do you include organ
in that? (Thank God for lovely bass music in foot pedals-- it was the only
instrument that rumbled before the age of electronic music :) )  I do hope
you improvise, and play a little jazz..I find classical purists a bit stuffy
 :/  Good to hear you're a singer-- singers are very fun people :)
*My* weakness these days is classical guitar :) although I love my guitar in
general..even though I've only studied it a year compared to about 8 years
classical piano training, 2 years trumpet, 1 year baritone horn, 6 years
tuba (and the band here may yet drag me in to play that thing again (; ), 11
years accompanying as a pianist, 9 years in church choirs, and one quarter
in a university choir.

response 27 of 57:

Jan 7 06:09 UTC 1998

Well, here goes...

Sarah McLauchlan - Surfacing.
        It was pretty good, but I was a little dissappointed.

Paula Cole - This Fire
        Wonderful followup to a wonderful first album.  I'm sick of the two
songs off the radio, but the rest is just great.  :)

Loreena McKennit - Book of Secrets
        Yeah, all of her stuff sounds kind of alike, but it's still all
good.  And for all of you who have heard that tainted version of Mummers
Dance on the radio, let me just state here and now that she has NEVER done
anything with a dance beat to it.  Thankfully.

Metallica - Reload
        Yes, Meg does listen to this stuff.  :)  Good album.

Dar Williams - End of Summer
        WOO-HOO!  :)

Richard Shindell - Blue Divide
        No not new this year, but new to me and every other Dar Williams
fans that saw him in concert with her...GOOD stuff.  :)

response 29 of 57:

Jan 7 12:55 UTC 1998

Hey eeyore, still around? (hug)
Hmm, letm e see...
REM- Experiments in hi-fi (or was that a 96 album?)
the Verve- Urban hymns (but mostly for the terriffic single track Bittersweet
symphony, that kept on lingering in my mind until I simply HAD to Buy the
G******mn record)
Nick cave- the Boatman's call (another side of the mean ole man in black:
here actually he is introspective, regarding his life at the age of forty;
a complete musically different album from the former one Murder Ballads. I
know this cave for more than twelve years now, and he neverfails to ammuse
my musical mind.)

But I concur that on a whole 97 wasn't such a splendid year when it comes to
records.

response 31 of 57:

Jan 7 23:15 UTC 1998

I bought George Winston's "Linus & Lucy", which features faithful
renditions of the original jazz piano that was in the "Charlie
Brown Christmas" soundtrack.  "Cast Your fate to the Wind" and
other titles, all by the same composer (whose name escapes me
just now) are also on this CD.  

response 33 of 57:

Jan 8 01:58 UTC 1998

(31... the composer was [watch me misspell the name] Vince Guaraldi)

response 35 of 57:

Jan 9 00:22 UTC 1998

I got Led Zepplin's _Physical Graffiti_ just before the year ended, but I
think it's destined to be one of my favorites - don't know whether it'll stand
up to time, but I think it will.
Phish's _A Live One_.
Harry Partch's _Plectra & Percussion Dances_
Tori Amos' _Crucify_ single.

response 37 of 57:

Jan 9 03:51 UTC 1998

  Y'all can add LeAnn Rimes "Blue" to my list. I love her singing and am still
amazed how  much she sounds like Patsy Cline.  She also does a great job on
"Cattle Call" which is a duet with Eddy Arnold.

response 39 of 57:

Jan 9 15:39 UTC 1998

I forgot one: Will'o the whisp by Claw boys Claw. Which is a Dutch post-punk
band from the eighties, but this album (from 1997) is more civilized than I
could imagine. I like it. Apparently we both are growing old together at the
same pace.
Anyone curious for a dutch tape should email me. We look what we can arrange
then.

response 41 of 57:

Jan 10 05:14 UTC 1998

How could I have forgotten Squirrel Nut Zippers' _Hot_?   

I love SNZ to death. I have both their CDs and their EPs, _Roasted Right_ and
_Sold Out_. I saw them live and haven't been the same since. Honestly I can't
really express here how cool I think they are. 

Besides you just can't go wrong with a name like Squirrel Nut Zippers.

response 43 of 57:

Jan 15 03:24 UTC 1998

I got the SNZ bug in '97 as well.  The multimedia presentation that comes
with "Hot" bowled me over.  Unbelievable.

I also got into a NY band called SOUL COUGHING.  A hip-hop cartoon sample
beat-poetry verbose wacky group that escapes definition.  The songs are
ultra-sharp stripped-down drum hits with an upright blues bass groove.
Combine this with half sung / half spoken lyrics and keyboard samples
from godzilla movies & cartoons and yr almost there.

Also delighted in a band called RED HOUSE PAINTERS.  Very melodramatic
sing-songy stuff like that 80s band THE CHURCH.  Gothic folk acoustic.
One reviewer said:  music which spreads itself over the dark livingroom
of your mind.

response 45 of 57:

Jan 15 04:19 UTC 1998

I haven't heard much Soul Coughing, but I've liked what I have.  They played
at a local festival earlier this year and they're on a lot of movie
soundtracks (the one which I have, on Batman & Robin, totally rocks).  

response 47 of 57:

Feb 2 16:38 UTC 1998

Well, 1998 is here and I've already added a new CD to my collection that is
destined to be one of my favorites for the year.

It's by a band called "Nectar" out of Grand Rapids.. I can't really describe
them, but there are clips of all the songs in Real Audio on a fan page I made
for them: http://www.arborsites.com/Nectar/

response 49 of 57:

Feb 2 21:34 UTC 1998

I was very disappointed by Sarah McLachlan's "Surfacing"
"Fumbling Towards Ecstacy" was much much better.
Odelay is definitely the best of the year..
my goal in life is to marry Beck..
wouldnt it be cute.. Beck and Becca? hehehe