Letters to you

Back to being able to listen to streaming indie at http://wwwnew.towson.edu/wtmd/wtmdlive.smil

Live streaming had been stopped during the 897 albums month. I wrote and told them I'd contribute... as soon as they gave me back my streaming. They must have gotten my letter and others like it, because this morning the announcer said, "those of you who were waiting for new music that you can't hear anywhere else, we're back!"

Pandora and other sites like it are ok, but there's something different about their streaming indie radio that I missed. Maybe it was the announcer talking about the bands, or maybe it was the fact that they often play genres I wouldn't have thought of listening to on my own, and so I was able to find out that I liked something I didn't know I liked...

WTMD (89.7) is concluding its weeks-long "Top 897 albums of all time" either today or tomorrow. They started this about a month ago, I think - it's taken quite a while for them to get through the list.

I didn't like their decision to do this, because a lot of their selections were semi-classic albums that got plenty of mainstream airtime when they were first released, and many of the featured albums are still played on classic stations.

There are no DC-Balt-VA area local radio stations that specifically play unknown indie bands except WTMD, so I felt they should have stuck to indie music and done the top 897 indie albums of all time if they were going to do something like that at all.

That said, I have enjoyed listening to some of it, and even managed to discover some that I'd never heard before (which I mentioned in earlier posts). Plus, now I've gotten interested in who they consider to be the "Top 897 albums of All Time" (TM) and why.

So far, they say that the list below represents the top 40 of all time. I don't agree with any of these (I think my favorites were, like, #775 or something), but it's been nice to hear some of the songs that are never played anymore. They play about 3-5 songs from each album, so there's a greater chance than usual to hear something that has not been overplayed for decades.

I can't wait to see which album gets #1. I probably won't agree with them, (it will probably be Elvis or something similar). They've been going Way Back on the wayback machine, and some of them were given their ranking because of the influence they had on music rather than what great musicians they were. But it will still be interesting to see who they pick. Maybe they'll surprise me and give it to someone like Muddy Waters (who influenced the Elvises of the world), or maybe they'll go for astronomical popularity, I don't know. By tonight I'll know...

The list so far:

2. The Beatles - White Album
3. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
4. The Beatles - Abbey Road
5. The Clash - London Calling
6. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
7. U2 - The Joshua Tree
8. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
9. The Who - Who's Next
10. The Beatles- Revolver
11. Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin IV
12. Radiohead - OK Computer
13. Paul Simon- Graceland
14. Rolling Stones- Exile On Main Street
15. Grateful Dead- American Beauty
16. Beatles- Rubber Soul
17. Neil Young- Harvest
18. Bob Dylan- Highway 61 Revisited
19. Nirvana- Nevermind
20. Counting Crows - August and Everything After
21. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
22. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
23. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
24. Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
25. Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
26. Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
27. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
28. Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
29. Pink Floyd - The Wall
30. Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
31. Derek & The Dominos - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
32. Van Morrison- Moondance
33. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
34. Led Zeppelin - I
35. Pearl Jam - Ten
36. Joni Mitchell - Blue
37. The Band - The Band
38. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
39. Jeff Buckley - Grace
40. Radiohead - The Bends