40 Records in 40 Years (31/40 – 2004)

This year we had the chance to go to Hawaii but we missed it. Christianes sister married there and we were invited. But for several reasons we couldn’t take the chance. First one was that I changed my job in my office to become a risk controller in the bank and we changed on a new operating system were I was hardly integrated just at the day of her marriage. The second one was that Christiane started a new job at the time of wedding as well. So we decided not to travel for a few days around the world and sent our best wishes to them. In fact of our busy working we took just a few weeks to go to Mallorca in early summer. The weather wasn’t that bad but every time we started a little journey into the hillside it started to rain. So we spent a lot of time in the local pubs to watch the UEFA EURO with some British guys. All in all a year with no very big highlights but a year of relaxed going on. 

Some records that made fun this year.

• Franz  Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand: Great Indie-rock from Glasgow
• Interpol – Antics: Indie-Rock as well from over the Atlantic ocean
• Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Loves Bad News: Fantastic music in the tradition of Pavement, Pixies and Meat Puppets
• Morrissey – You are the Quarry: 
• Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days: Just good songs
• Melissa Auf der Maur – Auf der Maur: Mostly overseen rock album
• Velvet Revolver – Contraband: One of the best hard rock records of the decade
• Four Tet – Late Night Tales: Fantastic remixes

Some songs from this year that are worth  to be played again:

And that’s what we’ve been seeing in the movies:

• The Aviator: Great Scorsese movie about Howard Hughes
• Million Dollar Baby: Another good drama from Clint Eastwood
• Ray: Great biopic about the life of Ray Charles
• The Motorcycle Diaries: Good to see the young Che Guerva riding
• Head-On: Very emotional drama about the life of Turks and Germans
• Hellboy: It’s a cute little devil
• Shaun of the Dead: Zombies could be funny

Let’s take a little look what happended in the world:

251 pilgrims were killed by a Hajj stampede in Mina // Rebellion in Haiti and Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president // Terrorist bombing in the Madrid railways kills 191 people // The start of banning smoke in working places, pubs and bars starts with laws in Ireland // North Korea bans mobile phones // Greece wins the UEFA-EURO in Portugal (what a shame, that defense can win against playing forward) // Armed robbers steal Edward Munchs the Scream in Oslo.

What one must hold of Morrissey, the cover already betrays: there Morrissey poses as a tastefully dressed dandy with machine gun – he embodies exactly this ambivalence also in excellent manner. You are the quarry connects demanding, melodic and minor-heavy guitar-rock/pop with political lyrics, to big gestures and a pinch Morrissey like megalomania: He sings “I have forgiven Jesus”, and this points in which class he sees himself and to whom he has to prove here something else. In addition this striking and warm voice – this carefully produced and on no account stale album completely gets by without gap fountain pen and stands out anyway from the mass product in rock and pop, but why also the “old people” should leave the field without a fight to the “boys”? Maybe also, therefore, the machine gun, or he has reloaded only for his critics? My favorite:„ Also it is for ridge of the way to them“ – subversively about weapons.

Morrissey – Amerca Is Not The World
Morrissey – First Of The Gang To Die
Morrissey – How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel
Morrissey – Let Me Kiss You
Morrissey – Irish Blood, English Heart

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