A Pistol Hot Cup Of Rhyme: Favorite Albums: 144

Man, I am gonna have to slow myself down on this shit. It's Monday night, and I'm already writing Friday's post. Guess it's better to be ahead, though, since I never know when the baby's going to let me write. No Greatest Hits or singles collections today, just 2 regular old albums. I know, I know... It's about time.

144. Foiled For the Last Time by Blue October (2007)

Foiled was released in 2006, then a year later re-released as Foiled For the Last Time as a double album. The first disc is the album, the second disc is a live album plus some remixes. The obvious hit here is "Hate Me," and for good reason. That is just an absurdly good song. And, as is the case with most bands on this list, the popular song isn't even the best one on the album. In fact, it may not even make the top five, not sure yet. Most of the songs on this album are pretty depressing. "Let It Go" is especally sad, and you can definitely hear the anguish in his voice as he sings "Why did I go that way? Why do I still? How could I let her go? Why do I feel?" "Overweight" is one of the faster paced songs on the album, and on an album full of apologies it is one of the least apologetic ones, with lines like "I'm here to tell you that I'm sorry I was sorry, but I'm happy that you're happy. This is no longer about me." "X Amount Of Words" is a good song, but seems kind of out of place because it has a bit too much of a techno feel to it. The two remixes of it at the end of the album just make it feel even more out of place.
The live songs on the second CD are all very good, and it's quite obvious they are a good live band. Almost all the songs from Foiled are included, plus a couple from their earlier CDs. The crowd is revved up throughout, and the band just feeds off it. The live version of "Hate Me" is absolutely awesome.
5 Best Songs:
5. "She's My Ride Home"
4. "Into the Ocean"
3. "Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek"
2. "You Make Me Smile"
1. "Overweight"

"Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek"

"You Make Me Smile"

"Overweight"

143. New Adventures In Hi-Fi by R.E.M. (1996)

This was the second-to-last really good CD R.E.M. released. (The follow up, Up, was the last good one.) Most of the songs were recorded while the band was on the road for the Monster tour, usually during sound checks, so it's considered by a lot of music sites as a live album. It's kind of an uneven album, and parts of it sound like remakes of songs from Monster, but it's still a fun album to listen to. Only a couple songs really stand out. "Departure" was co-written by the band Bauhaus. "Leave" is easily my favorite song on the album, but "Be Mine" is probably the best. "So Fast, So Numb" might be the last real rock song R.E.M. has recorded. Losing your drummer will hurt you like that. "Electrolite" is probably the best closing song on any R.E.M. album since Green, just because they didn't try to turn it into something it wasn't. All in all, it's a good CD, but not as good as it could have been had they waited until the Monster tour was over and relaxed a bit, instead of recording on the fly.
5 Best Songs:
5. "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us"
4. "Undertow"
3. "So Fast, So Numb"
2. "Be Mine"
1. "Leave"

"So Fast, So Numb"
He likes to scream during this song, so you may want to keep the volume a bit lower.