Funny Ways....

Spent some time over the past coupla days looking at the results of Grandpa Web-Reviewer Mark Prindle's recent "Top 7-3 Readers' Survey," a poll of what the readers of his website (http://www.markprindle.com/) think R the best rock albums ever.
...& I think some1 could score a pretty solid gov't grant 2 Xplore in more depth the demographic data revealed in this survey. Almost 370 readers took part. I think it's fairly safe 2 say that Mark's readers R drawn 2 Xtremes, that many of them Njoy music that hits them HARD -- & I'm just talking about the stuff I've either heard or know about by reputation.
Mark asked 4 his readers' Top 7 picks 4 All-Time Best Album, Best Album of the Past Decade, & Best Artists. I hadda damn hard time coming up with 7 albums I've loved since 2000, & as a result I only sent Mark 6....
(BTW, my Top 7 All-Time picks were: The Go-Go's TALK SHOW, Bangles' DIFFERENT LIGHT, Moody Blues' THE PRESENT, Gryphon's RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, Providence's EVER SENSE THE DAWN, Nick Drake's BRYTER LAYTER, & ... yes, the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS.)
But there's some intresting stuff in the poll results, & if yr the kinda person who reads music-review websites & blogs like this 1 & Mark's, U otta look thru the list of also-rans. I won't spoil Mark's countdown by revealing the All-Time Best choice, but it's a very respectable winner that I'm sure U've all heard -- & it's not PET SOUNDS or SGT. PEPPER or DARK SIDE OF THE MOON or LED ZEP 4.
But I think the list of also-rans is REAL intresting, especially the LONG list of albums that got only 1 vote each. Among those finishing in the Top 73 were Nick Drake's PINK MOON (pretty good placement 4 an album that's sposta B stark & Dpressing, sorta the singer's Famous Last Words, tho the 3 songs I've heard from it R all great), King Crimson's RED ("Starless" is amazing & the pounding title track only slightly less-so, but the rest ain't that stunning, & the GREAT DECEIVER box didn't make it?), Captain Beefheart's TROUT MASK REPLICA, & (of course) the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS.
Among the many off-the-wall runners-up were: Kate Bush's THE DREAMING, 2 by the Butthole Surfers, Can's EGE BAMYASI, TAGO MAGO & FUTURE DAYS, 4 Beefhearts, Miles Davis's obnoxious LIVE EVIL, IN A SILENT WAY, BITCHES' BREW & KIND OF BLUE, Genesis's FOXTROT & THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY, Crimson's DISCIPLINE & LARK'S TONGUES IN ASPIC, Love's FOREVER CHANGES, 1 by Magma, Steve Reich's hypnotic MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS, Roxy Music's very smooth AVALON, 3 by Sparks including the robotic NUMBER 1 IN HEAVEN, Tangerine Dream's 2-disc ZEIT, & Yes's RELAYER.
Among the suprising 1-shots were: The 5th Dimension's MAGIC GARDEN (which Nick Drake reportedly loved 4 its mix of pop & orchestrations), Syd Barrett's MADCAP LAUGHS, the Beach Boys' LOVE YOU & SURF'S UP, Blue Oyster Cult's 1st 4, Kate Bush's HOUNDS OF LOVE & THE KICK INSIDE, 3 more by the Buttholes, the Byrds' NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS, Camel's MIRAGE (DEFinitely not their best album), 2 more by Can, another Beefheart, 3 by Faust, 1 by Bo Hansson (who's '70s albums have summa the most dated, primitive-sounding keybs ever), the Hollies' DISTANT LIGHT & ROMANY (Xcellent tho arty), the Incredible String Band's HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER & WEE TAM AND THE BIG HUGE, Jefferson Airplane's trippy AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S, 2 more by Magma, Mars Volta's DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM, Mellow Candle's SWADDLING SONGS (heard by even fewer people than Providence!), Pat Metheny's SECRET STORY, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.'s LIKE A DUCK TO WATER (what, no Tonto's Expanding Head Band?), Os Mutantes, Harry Partch (this 20th-Century modern-classical composer invented his own strange instruments & got his lyrics from hobos' grafitti), Soft Machine's THIRD, 3 more by Sparks, Triumvirat's ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE (by reputation, they're sposta B the German version of ELP), Tubes' REMOTE CONTROL (Xcellent pop concept album about TV-addiction), 2 early "hippie"-era T. Rex albums, Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS & GODBLUFF, Vangelis's BLADE RUNNER soundtrack, & Brian Wilson's SMILE reconstruction....
In the 21st Century countdown, my pleasure at Cing Fleet Foxes' 1st was sorta balanced-out by finding Animal Collective's MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION above it, & Brian's SMILE above that. Not that I wish Brian ill, he's bn thru enuf. I think his version of SMILE is gorgeous musically -- but Brian's voice is shot.
I also wonder if some1 w/ a sense of humor even weirder than Mark's was trying 2 have some fun w/ this whole survey idea. Among the REALLY suprising titles getting a vote each were: The Carpenters' SINGLES 1969-73, ELO's OUT OF THE BLUE, Fleetwood Mac's RUMOURS, Dan Fogelberg's THE INNOCENT AGE, Elton John's TOO LOW FOR ZERO, Journey's ESCAPE, Stacy Lattisaw's PERSONAL ATTENTION, Steve Martin's LET'S GET SMALL (great album, really, & I guess there IS a LITTLE bit of music on it....), the Moody Blues' KEYS OF THE KINGDOM (their worst ever), Frank Sinatra's COME FLY WITH ME & WATERTOWN, Michael W. Smith's CHRISTMAS, & Richard Brautigan reading some of his poetry.... Rn't mosta these way 2 NORMAL 4 the kinda folks who read Mark's website? (I didn't vote 4 NE of these, BTW.)
...Overall, I think it's real intresting 2 C what Mark's readers Njoy listening-2. & of course there R 100's of titles in the list that I've never even HEARD, so it's also good 4 research purposes.
As 4 the Xtremeness of it all -- well, I haven't heard more than a handful of the titles on the 21st Century list, but as 4 the All-Time list ... I pretty-much think that I fit right in....
Now, about that grant....