"...if we got married, wouldn't it be cool?"

When Doves Cry remains my favorite Kid song, but The Beautiful Ones is probably his most poiganant, behind If I was your Girlfriend.



Purple Rain is, for many people, his greatest album. It is one of the best in the past 40 years, but Sign O the Times remains, for me, his masterpiece. Still, there is not a weak second, much less a weak moment on Purple Rain. Entertainment Weekly definitely got something right when they named PR the best New Classic of the past 25 years (hard to believe that this is the same company that publishes People Magazine), if for the artist if not for the album.



Purple Rain remains as close to my heart as anything from my youth, since it moved me from the music that I listened to as a child (AM country and Easy Listening, the Percy Faith sort on the old FM 100) to the glories of pop/rock. Sure, Michael Jackson, The Police and the Eurthymics caught my ear first, but the Kid made me not only a rock fan, but a music fan. He led me (and many others) to the Dawn, which I am forever grateful. Too bad he gets mad if people want to share him with others; I've already bought most of his work in 2 or 3 different mediums (LP, tape, CD), so I don't feel so bad as to share it with you.



Welcome to the Dawn, ya'll...


(look in comments for extra info)

The best band of the past 15 years

Most think they're too hyped, some would agree with me totally. Radiohead, in my humble opinion, is the best band to at least emerge in the past 15 years (I'm not counting R.E.M., U2, Talking Heads, etc. since they emerged well before 1993). OK Computer is a modern masterpiece, whilst Kid A/Amnesiac (I treat them as a double-album, in a way) redefined what music was supposed to be in the new century.

These have been uploaded countless times on the web, but here's those albums at 320 kbps, which I got off Utorrent.

"...hope that you choke, that you choke..."

"Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon..."

"Well of course Id like to sit around and chat..."

Enjoy!

The best Album ever...

...Sign O the Times and its two predecessors, The Crystal Ball and Dream Factory. Sign is easily the best of The Kid's grand career, but the funny thing about it is that, originally, as most Kid's fans know, there was a project with he and the Revolution called Dream Factory, then, after the dissolution of the Revolution, a 3-LP set named Crystal Ball (the whole story can be found at its Wiki page).

First up is Dream Factory:

"This is what it's like at the Dream Factory..."
"...Africa, Cap'n Crunch..."

Next, Crystal Ball... (the image is for the outtake album that came out in the late '90's, not for the '86 album)



LP 1
LP 2
LP 3


and finally, Sign O the Times...



"Shut Up, already...Damn!"
"Would you let me kiss you down there...you know, where it counts..."


Enjoy!

The Best Albums Ever...

...or, at least, my favorites. Let me start off with the fact that, thanks to the internet, I now own almost every single album that I've ever had or wanted over the past 37 years of my life. Since I started this blog, I've decided to forgo the ban on compleat albums and post the 20 or so of the ones that I feel are the best ever. Notice that there are no Led Zeppelin, Elton John or Elvis records here; that's because I consider their entire work to be wonderful and can't possibly break it down to one or two albums. Prince is the same way, after a fashion, but I can provide the two best, including what I feel to be the best albums of all time: Sign O the Times.

Since Prince is famous for having lawyers scan the internet for his work so as to delete it and/or sue, I'll simply refer to him as The Kid, after his nom de plume in Purple Rain.

But first, let me give the best two soundtracks for all time, or, at least for one, the soundtrack that has absolutely no filler. First, Vince Gualraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas, then Trent Reznor's Natural Born Killers. (Yes, this is one Hell of a pair - yen and yang- but it works)

"Christmastime is Here..."



"A moment of realization is worth a thousand prayers."

"Well, let's give that key lime pie a day in court, and a big old glass of non-fat milk, if you please."

2008 Pre-season Jimbo College Poll!

As I said before in the title, "A bit of sport", here's the sports part: My official poll for Division 1-A college football which I've done since 1989. It'll differ from the AP and Coaches' Poll, but perhaps nearly 20 years of devouring college football on a national scale qualifies me some...

1. Georgia (1)
2. Florida
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Mizzou
8. Clemson
9. WV
10. Wisconsin
11. Texas
12. Auburn
13. Illinois
14. Virginia Tech
15. Arizona State
16. BYU
17. Tennessee
18. Kansas
19. South Florida
20. Texas Tech
21. Penn State
22. Oregon
23. Fresno St
24. Cincinnati
25. Michigan

(receiving first place vote(s))

also considered: Cal, Bama, Boise St, FSU, Miss. St.

I'll try to comment on the upcoming games if I can remember to do so, sort of like a handicapping list, but if you bet money on my picks, you're crazier than I am. Only 23 days til kickoff!