An Impasse

It is 6:07 and I am currently on either my third or fourth listening of Maritime's We The Vehicles for the day. I sat down around 4:30 to write an entry about the album which has been in the works since Thrusday night. Early in the process of researching the record, I confirmed my fear that the song lyrics for the record are not available on the internet. Anywhere. Occasionally, I have run across obscure songs where I could only find one or two blog-type websites featuring the lyrics, but until today I had never been completely unable to locate the lyrics to a song on the internet. I had previously decided it would not be a big deal to write the blog entry without knowledge of the lyrics. However, I suddenly became convinced I would not be able to do the album justice without access to every last one of Davey von Bohlen's delicately crafted words. I then began the hopeless task of searching for a record store where I could buy an obscure album at 5:15 on a sunday which also happened to be the day before a national holiday. Shockingly, Cheapo Discs is open until midnight 365 days a year. Perhaps more shockingly though, Cheapo did not carry the album. By the time I thought of crossing the river to visit the Electric Fetus due to Matt Swearngin's praises, there were only seven minutes left until closing. I called and spoke with a friendly clerk who informed me that the store will not reopen until Tuesday. Discland in Bloomington is open until seven on sundays but had a recording apologizing that no one was able to answer the phone and urging me to leave a message. I declined. I have yet to decide whether I will spend my Memorial day running around town in search of We, The Vehicles, order a copy online and put the entry off for another week, or bite the bullet and write the entry tomorrow sans lyrics. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, consider this a second entry to hold you over until the glorious day when I finally wax poetic about the redemption of Davey von Bolen. I mentioned to my friend Tom yesterday that I plan to include as many lists as possible in this space. Believe me when I say I was just warming up with yesterday's entry. As proof, I offer you my fifty favorite albums of all time. This no doubt sounds like a massive, daunting undertaking. Fortunately I have set up guidelines to avoid spending my entire evening formulating the list. 1) The list is in no particular order. 2) I will not post any comments about any of the albums at this time. 3) I will make rash, split second decisions to choose the last few albums to make the cut. Here goes nothing:

Face to Face - Face to Face
Mineral - EndSerenading
Texas Is the Reason - Do You Know Who You Are?
Lifetime - Hello Bastards
Amusement Parks On Fire - Amusement Parks On Fire
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Elliott Smith - XO
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary













Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
Superdrag - Head Trip In Every Key
Superdrag - Regretfully Yours
The Casket Lottery - Choose Bronze
The Casket Lottery - Moving Mountains













Jawbreaker - Dear You
Fairweather - If They Move...Kill Them
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Jimmy Eat World - Static Prevails
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
Death Cab For Cutie - Something About Airplanes
Death Cab For Cutie - The Photo Album
Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
Cursive - Domestica
Cursive - The Ugly Organ
Built To Spill - Perfect From Now On
Radiohead - Kid A
Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy













Alkaline Trio - Alkaline Trio
Time Spent Driving - Just Enough Bright
Moneen - Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?
Nada Surf - The Proximity Effect
Weezer - Pinkerton
The Get Up Kids - Four Minute Mile
The Wrens - The Meadowlands
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Mock Orange - The Record Play
The Good Life - Black Out
Green Day - American Idiot
Nirvana - Nevermind
The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles - Help
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Knapsack - This Conversation Is Ending Starting Right Now
Knapsack - Silver Sweepstakes
Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan "The Great Lake State"

Notes: The last cut was Franz Ferdinand's "You Could Have It So Much Better"...I began with roughly 85 albums and whittled that list down to the final 50...I listened to We, The Vehicles twice more while writing this entry. It was part of the original list but did not last particularly long. There is definitely an intentional bias there against recently released albums that have not yet had the opportunity to withstand the test of time.