Hey there. It's the FNG.

Did you ever get an invitation to a great party, but despite your best intentions end up getting there crazy late, only to discover that the mini hot dogs and shrimp cocktail is gone, and the only thing left to drink is Mike's Hard Limeade? Yeah. That's me right now.

Anyway, my deepest thanks to Courtney and MJ for elevating me from troublesome commenter to actual contributor. When I got Courtney's e-mail telling me that she and MJ were looking for a third, I wasn't sure what to think...after all, I haven't met MJ, and there is the whole issue of performance pressure. Imagine my relief when I realized it had to do with the blog!

Anyway, on to the Throwdown. This was a toughie. As I was explaining to Courtney, my listening habits have trended toward the shuffle. I spend a couple hours of my day immersed in my commute, and lately I've been working toward two music goals: trying to work through all those songs I never listen to on my iTunes, and learning more about this whole indie-country/newgrass genre that's piqued my interest.

So shifting gears to full-length albums has taken some thought. Getting 3 was pretty easy. Five was harder. But I've got 'em, and you're welcome to shoot them to shit in the comments.

Murmur - R.E.M. My purchase of this cassette, at the Compact Disc World in Menlo Park Mall, marked the beginning of my whole thing for R.E.M. It was 1989, and I had just devoured Green while on a vacation with the family. On my return, during the next mall outing, I made it a point to find and buy their first LP. It was love at first listen. From the opening of "Radio Free Europe", through classics like "Talk About the Passion", "Perfect Circle", and "Sitting Still", to the close with "We Walk" and "West of the Fields," this was a statement album that's still best taken in one long, awesome dose.

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen. Ok, this is almost cheating. It's only 8 songs long. But what an 8 songs. And better yet, it's arranged perfectly for the LP format, each side opening with an anthem and closing with the sort of epic that Springsteen does best. Sure, these songs come up all the time in my commuter shuffles. But when I'm hopping in for a long car trip, this one gets run from start to end.

The Joshua Tree - U2. When they laid these tracks down, did Bono and the boys know that they were mere months from jumping the proverbial shark? (And on a side note, can we hunt down and kill whoever it was that sold Bono his first pair of those fucking "fly" sunglasses? Those shades were the end of it all.) But anyway, to me The Joshua Tree stands alone among the U2 catalog as the album where they really tried to do something completely revolutionary and actually got it right. The songs that made the album, and their production and arrangement, are dead-on. This is another one that I experienced first on cassette -- mowing lawns in the summer, this one was frequently in my Walkman. Side One is filled with radio hits, and by itself makes a case as one of those "perfect album sides". But Side Two, with "Red Hill Mining Town", "In God's Country", and "One Tree Hill", is the perfect foil for Side One.

Lucky - Nada Surf. The first time I went through this album, I didn't really dig it. This is not to say I thought it was a bad album -- the first 3 songs are pure power pop heaven. But for the first few plays I wasn't into the rest, and so it was relegated to the back corner of my library. Months later, while prepping for my first Nada Surf show, I dug it back out and gave it another whirl, and I was hooked. I don't know what my blockage was the first time, but this disc is 11 tracks of sweet indie pop, a fantastic blend of songwriting and hooks.

Almost Killed Me - The Hold Steady. I blame Courtney. Also, I'm struggling with the rest of the HS catalog. But the threaded stories of Almost Killed Me make it ideal for a straight-through play. It's one of those cases where, while the songs can be appreciated on their own, the continuity of a full listen make them that much better.

Labels: throw down