2025 in 2025: Day 130

My Instant Song [Single] - MONOEYES

Two bonus songs means LOGMAN has to purchase. Especially since they played When I Was King at Fireball Fest, so I needed it to complete the playlist!

Highlights: My Instant Song, When I Was King, What I Left Today

8/10

My Lives - Billy Joel

Things kick off with a few demos from the 60s. They are very poor quality and heavily influenced by The Beatles. They actually end up sounding like a band that is copying a band that is trying to sound like The Beatles. Then Joel goes solo and it gets all 'Paul McCartney meets Ray Charles' - in a good way! Not sure he needed to make a reggae version of any of his songs. And this whole set could be a lot shorter if they did not include so many final album cuts. Then we get some fairly average live cuts, and things close out with Billy Joel trying his hand at classical compositions. I guess.

Highlights: I Go to Extremes (Live), The River of Dreams (Alternate Version), Zanzibar, Christie Lee (Demo), Captain Jack (Live)

6/10

My Own Destruction - ELLEGARDEN

Yes please. 細美さん making silly songs about dating a woman twice his age, and sandwiching it between an angry diss at his ex AND one of the most emo songs in the entire ELLEGARDEN catalogue was a choice. A good one! I am not sure if you realise this, but I quite like this ELLEGARDEN band.

Highlights: 右手, Jamie, Under Control, おやすみ

9/10

My Soul - Coolio

This is only C U When U Get There. I'll C U when I get more Coolio!

8/10

MY STORY - Ayumi Hamasaki

When that first chorus for About You kicks in, it is just massive! Like everything on this album. Every song has so much emotion just pouring out of it - even the instrumentals and the quiet chill-out tracks like HAPPY ENDING. I could be wrong, but this feels like her most guitar rock-centred album; there is some dance pop and some R&B style in here - it is Ayu, so you will always get diversity - but it just feels like 90% of the songs were written on guitar. Which accounts for why this album is just full of the tastiest most perfect guitar solos. And her vocal performance is just perfection. I want to break the marathon just to listen to this album again. M is for Moments Is A Perfect Song? M is for My Favourite Album?

Highlights: Moments, winding road, About You, GAME

9/10

M started with Ayu and ended with Ayu. And the Ayu albums in-between were the friends we made along the way...

"Albums" listened to so far: 1145

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2025 in 2025: Day 98

I is for I Still Have a Long Way to Go...

I - ichika
I recall that first EP being very minimalist, whereas this is pretty much fully realised stuff with vocals and backing. Still that guitar virtuoso stuff, though.
Highlights: Good Enough, a town in a dream, I
7/10

I Am Not a Doctor - Moloko
This is purely the song Sing It Back. I like it a lot. One day I will hear some more Moloko.
8/10

I Am Sam: Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture - Various Artists
I really should check out the rest of this album one day - it is a good movie and the soundtrack is purely covers of songs by The Beatles - but for now all I have is Heather Nova performing We Can Work It Out. Nicely done.
8/10

I am... - Ayumi Hamasaki
One of the first Ayu albums I ever heard, and like A BEST I scored it for $1 at the opshop. And unlike A BEST, I actually liked this one when I first listened to it! I probably love it even more now; there is so much energy and emotion just pouring through every song. It is one of those albums where I need an option for 6 or 7 stars for some of the songs. And bah gawd that guitar solo in Daybreak is just the business.
Highlights: I am..., evolution, Naturally, Daybreak, M, Endless sorrow ～gone with the wind ver.～
9/10

I Awake - Sarah Blasko
This is a bit more of Blasko vs the orchestra, compared to her earlier works. And, for the most part, it really works. I also really like her voice on this album. An improvement over As Day Follows Night, to be sure!
Highlights: God-Fearing, Fool, Cast the Net, Not Yet
7.5/10

I Be... - Ivy
Another random K-pop song in my collection. This is Touch Me. That album title is so close to Ayu's - and she has a song called Ivy, too! Probably says Touch Me in a song, as well. 
7/10

I Believe: The Gospel Masters - Elvis Presley
In case I have not made this clear enough, Elvis singing gospel songs is where he was at his best and it is VERY enjoyable to listen to. Sure, I prefer the uptempo stuff to the slower ones, but we are talking 4 discs of goodness right here. I need to do a back-to-back comparison between the songs that are found both here and on the Nashville sets, because I am not sure I need a million versions of everything. I strangely find some of the home recordings and rehearsal versions more fun that the studio tracks - Elvis is clearly more relaxed and just having fun singing songs he loves.
Highlights: Amazing Grace, Seeing is Believing, Bosom of Abraham, I John, If That Isn't Love, If I Can Dream, How Great Thou Art [Live]
8/10

I Do Not Feel Like Being Good [Single] - Ryan Adams
Wonderfully stark acoustic numbers. How Much Light is genuinely beautiful.
Highlights: How Much Light, In the Dark
8/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 816

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2025 in 2025: Day 90

The Guest - Phantom Planet

It is interesting to me that Jason Schwartzman comes across as a mostly pretentious douche in all those Wes Anderson movies, yet he can make some really bland pop rock like this. Then again, he did co-write the two awesome songs on the album AND he was very good in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. So maybe it is just the Wes Anderson thing? He should stop starring in those movies and I would probably think better of him. But that could apply to anyone!

Highlights: California, Lonely Day, Always on My Mind [London Version], All Over Again

6.5/10

Guilty - Barbra Streisand

Babs goes disco! But not really. The King of The 70s, Barry Gibb, could make an awesome album with me - and Barbra Streisand is no LOGMAN. Which means she can sing helluva awesome. So yeah, this album is just fantastic.

Highlights: Guilty, Promises, What Kind of Fool, Life Story

8/10

GUILTY - Ayumi Hamasaki

This album is a combination of big boombastic rock and adventurous pop stylings. And it all blends together perfectly. The rock stuff is epic; massive guitars, huge drums and the songs go HARD! I cannot begin to express just how much I love the acoustic guitar in fated. I live for it.

Highlights: talkin' 2 myself, decision, fated, MY ALL

8.5/10

Guilty Pleasures - Barbra Streisand

While Guilty was a pop masterclass, the sequel is still very well done, just much more of a mature 'adult' pop album. Which makes sense, since B & B were now 25 years older. Which was 20 years ago... holy bananas. And I just read that Barry Gibb released his own demos of the Guilty album. That might be a more interesting listen.

Highlights: Stranger in a Strange Land, Night of My Life, All the Children

6/10

Gutterflower - Goo Goo Dolls

Did we ever get a definitive answer on whether they are "The" Goo Goo Doll or just Goo Goo Dolls? Well, even if that has not been decided, I have certainly decided that I criminally ignore these guys - because they make very very good pop rock. Like, a lot of it is sneakily upbeat. Great lyrics, too. I may have to check out some of their stuff that came after this album, because I have heard probably one song after this album and I can no longer justify ignoring them.

Highlights: Big Machine, Think About Me, Here is Gone, Tucked Away

8/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 737

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100 Days of Ayumi Hamasaki

I could have titled this 100,000 days of Ayumi Hamasaki, because in the end that's how long I'll probably listen to her for.

It's kind of already been about 227. 2017 has been the year my love for this woman kicked into overdrive. I watched Power of Music on New Year's Day and haven't really stopped listening since, give or take a few days.

So 100 days of Ayumi Hamasaki?
Well, I'm heading to Japan in 100 days. To see Ayumi Hamasaki live (among other things, but yeah that is a massive priority). But I realised this morning that as much as I love her music, I've really been taking my time with getting to know her entire catalogue. Some might say I've been slack. A terrible fan, even. I was. I still am. I had been somewhat content to just occasionally listen to the same 3 albums over the last 7 years - and even then, I don't think I'd actually listened to them in about about 2 years. But watching Power of Music not only re-ignited my enjoyment of Ayu's music, it completely lit a passion in me for Ayumi Hamasaki and her music. The woman is a consummate professional, an incredible performer and makes inspiring music that crosses genres.

Wow I sound like a pretentious dork.

So that was New Year's Day. I think the next day I realised I needed to branch out a bit on my Ayu experiences and downloaded (like I said, still a terrible fan) the Rainbow and Rock'n Roll Circus albums. I chose those because Rainbow sits chronologically between 2 of my favourite Ayu albums (remember, at this time I only had 3 albums in my iTunes library) I Am... and My Story.

Side bar: My Story is still a masterpiece.

Rock'n Roll Circus kind of interested me as this was the album that had just been released when I first discovered Ayu back in 2010. I'd seen a few live clips here and there and figured it was worth a shot. And I was right. After listening to those 2 albums numerous times, I decided to grab (Miss)understood as well, due to my love of the opening track Bold & Delicious. By this point I was falling further into the rabbit hole and downloading a couple of old concert videos, really driving home for me just how great a performer Ayu is. And just when I thought I could not love her even more, I was led to checking out A One and its absolute brilliance meant my total devotion to Ayumi Hamasaki was now complete.

At this point, I figured I needed to stop downloading her works. Enjoying someone's creative works without actually paying for it is somewhat acceptable in very small doses (or where not possible) but by this point I had numerous albums and concert videos that can be legally purchased but I did not.

Not a good fan.

So I decided that I would not download any more music or videos. I would bite the bullet and pay the stupid premium prices for her CDs and DVDs and blu-rays. Because she is now my favourite artist and I should show my appreciation.

But then a funny thing happened; I booked my trip to Japan to see Ayumi Hamasaki live in concert. A trip like this requires a great deal of money, which means less money to spend on luxury items like CDs and DVDs and blu-rays. But then the next conundrum hit me yesterday: I have only 8 of her albums. Which isn't even half of her studio album output. And then you add in the EPs and such... it means there are a lot of songs out there that I am not familiar with.

Such a bad fan...

I don't want to be at this concert and expose my bad fandom by not knowing half the songs. But I also can't go spending $1,000 on CDs when I'm going to a foreign country in 3 months and need as much money for that as possible. Seriously, my accommodation alone is going to be more than that. So I've had to 'postpone' my rule for a little while longer. But don't worry, Ayu, as I will be definitely on track to make a totally legal music and video collection of your works in 2018. But that's for the future...

What is in store for the now?
Well, to properly get my fan level up to a more respectable position, I am dedicating my listening times over the next 100 days to a somewhat chronological study of Ayumi Hamasaki's music. All 17 studio albums, 4 EPs and a couple of compilations as well for good measure. I'll find some way of working in all the non-album tracks as well, though I'm not sure how to go about that right now. But the plan at this stage is to spend 4 days listening to each album or EP, with the goal being that I will end up with a better knowledge of the songs (and the song titles - it's pretty lame that even now I struggle to remember the names to the songs on A Best and I Am...). I have enjoyed taking my time with each album so far, but it's time to step this up a notch. I don't want to be standing at her concert going 'I think I know this song...' and then six months later I find myself listening to it and wondering if she played that at the concert.

Don't get me wrong - I know it wouldn't impact my enjoyment of the concert. I saw Kiss live in 1997 and barely knew any songs outside of Greatest Kiss and Alive III. But it means that to this day I am reliant on others telling me what songs were played that night, other than Deuce and Rock'n Roll All Nite.

Pretty sure I've made up for it by watching every Kiss concert possible.

So yeah. 100 days.
LET'S DO THIS!!!