I’m already two weeks behind with these posts. I simply ran out of steam. It is a shame because I spent $15 on customizing the page. When I was first toying with the idea of this blog, I had looked at several blogging sites. I had tried Tumblr, but didn’t understand it very well, and I decided to have this blog here at WordPress.

Cut to May, where I am quite comfortable and obsessed with Tumblr. I may take my blogging about my favorite albums to Tumblr, but it wouldn’t pick up until July. I know what you’re thinking, “Lost will end on Sunday, and now this!?!” My apologies.

Here is a 30 day meme list I posted through May, at Tumblr.

I will spotlight 30 songs there through June – June Tunes

Still friends?

These are my favorite albums of 2010,  so far:

I really like Roman Coppola’s CQ. Great film. It feeds my I-should-work-in-film phases. I will forever be a Jeremy Davies fan because of this film.

Now, about the soundtrack… It consists of twenty songs from Mellow and also songs from Claude François, Antonello Paliotti, Jacques Dutronc and Paul Piot. I like all of it and love songs like “Seek You”, “Airplane” and “CQ Song”.  It is fun, playful, kitschy, dreamy, late 60′s era pop gems. Mellow’s “Take Me Higher” has the same come-hither vibe as Bacharach’s “The Look of Love”. Great song.

There was a day when I could play several soundtracks from start to finish and I would be content. George Herbert Walker Bush was president then. Most of those soundtracks were from films that I have a hard time watching now. But CQ works so well because it can be fun background music, an intimate party soundtrack or a way to revisit the film.

How about that cover too? Uau. (Portuguese for “wow”.) I dig Angela Lindvall’s moon glasses.

I admit that it is fun to like relatively unknown films and/or soundtracks. CQ is a film I try and watch at least once a year. I think it was a carefully and semi-personal story, with rich characters, that was wonderfully crafted and filmed. It seems like Roman may have put all of his eggs in this film’s basket. If that is the case, that makes this film and its soundtrack even more rare.

happy coincidence

I noticed, on allmusic.com, that the soundtrack was released eight years ago today, on 30 April 2010.

Playlist Bookend Recommendations

Burt Bacharach: Casino Royale > CQ > April March: Chrominance Decoder

Françoise Hardy: Les Chansons D’amour > CQ > Pizzicato Five: Guilty Pleasures

I hate the sleeve cover.

(so I’ll use this image again)

Ugly with Furry

I love Super Furry Animals. They were to my post-college years, as “Weird” Al was to my junior high years.

This was the first SFA album, since Radiator, that required my full attention.

On last.fm, Dark Days/Light Years ranks #12 on my overall albums list.

There a few tracks like “Inconvenience” and “Pric” that I could cut off and never miss. Then there are tracks like “The Very Best of Neil Diamond“,  “Cardiff In the Sun“, “Inaugural Trams“, “Moped Eyes” and “Where Do You Wanna Go?” that are now some of my very favorite SFA songs.

This album is a goodie bag with lots of treats. I know I haven’t discovered everything that this album has to offer.

Playlist Bookend Recommendations

Tears for Fears: Elemental > Dark Days / Light Years > Belle and Sebastian: The BBC Sessions

Hot Rats: Turn Ons > Dark Days / Light Years > Björk: Post