To end another wonderful decade of great music, I’m going to write about ten albums from each of the last ten years, that are either great, or hold some sort of personal significance. A musical kiss off to 00s.
2004 – #1. The Reservations – Last Impressions
(NonZero)
This is the first album I ever recorded. Obviously I feel about this record in a way no one else does. I wont go into everything I feel about this record here – it will take too long. But here are some (marginally) interesting things about this record, especially for people who have never heard, and most likely never hear, this album.
1. I probably should have tried harder to market this record. And even just the artwork and stuff. But I was so tired after we made it. And also, I’m not the best at tooting my own horn. So – it leads me to be impressed by the MySpace generation who seem to be quite good at it. Also, it makes me value label people – because even me, arguably more qualified than 99% of musicians on the planet – can’t be my own label.
2. I am still very happy with this record…and more so as the years pass. When someone (foolishly) asks me to play a song I’ve written, it’s usually something off this album because they are kind of simple, nice, pleasing songs. If it makes any sense to anyone – I was trying to write songs that sounded like real songs! I gave that up after this record.
3. This album came from such a sad place, and sounds so happy. Inversely, when I was quite happy, I wrote a really unhappy sounding record. I think it makes sense though. When I was unhappy, the last thing I wanted to do was dwell. I just wanted to make people happy. There were a bunch of very unhappy songs that we never recorded.
4. I think everyone did a great job on this album, but I have to really say Michael Carpenter’s production was amazing. I had never worked with a producer before. We sounded way better than we were. How we managed to get such an array of sounds, with such limited tools, and limited time, I don’t know.
5. So yeah. This was my record. Others (especially Casey) were involved. It’s not, by any means, all me. But – it’s the record in the history of all time that is MOST me. I still love it, and I still feel mostly the same as the 22 year old on here. I think I managed to stay pretty true to who I am.
6. Yes, we stole the tape reel cut out thing from a Pyramidiacs album.
There is more to say but not here, and not sure who would ever want to hear it anyway. I’ve been bashful in past years, but really, if you ever want to hear this stuff just ask. I should put it up online somewhere, really.
(It might seem really vain to write about this record, but this is turning more into a history than a list. And it would be really disingenuous to exclude this album when talking about my musical like in the 00s)
(We did shoot a film clip that I didn’t really like, and I was quite awkward in, and I don’t have a copy and lets not talk about that again)