Saturday, February 6, 2010

Do Re Mi Fa Oh Si Di

It's no secret (one need look no further than here) that there's a certain obsessive pathology running through the veins—and synapsing through the brains—of brumpelstiltskin.  With that in mind, it's finally time for me, MC Gallagher, to unveil the fruit of my most compulsive musical labors.  Here goes...


Several years ago, circa 2005, I devised an algorithm for rating my favorite albums.  The crux of the formula involves rating each song from 1 to 5 stars (1, 2, 3, 3½, 4, 4½ or 5).  This is quite subjective, but I've become reasonably clear on what each rating signifies.  For example, a 3-star song is one that I "like", but am sometimes just not in the mood for (e.g., if I heard it on the radio, I might switch the station).  Five-star ratings, by contrast, are reserved for songs that do what music at its best is meant to do: induce a reaction that is profoundly emotional and/or physiological in nature (e.g., tears of sadness, chills of nostalgia, lulls of tranquility, invigorating bursts of adrenaline, etc). 

But my condition—which psychiatrists on the DSM-V planning committee are referring to as "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-O-C-D"—does not allow me to stop there. Oh no! Rather, after rating each song on a given album, I am then compelled to weigh songs based on length (i.e., a 10-minute song contributes more to the final rating than a 60-second song), and from there compute an overall average score.  Finally, I adjust the average-of-songs score to account for the aesthetic cohesiveness of the album as a whole (e.g., a really cohesive concept album gets bonus points; an album that's uneven, or drags on a bit too long, gets docked a few points).

That's the gist; here's the list
Was it right and salutary to inflict science and statistics upon one of the most intrinsic and qualitative things in my life?  I'm not sure.  But once I started, I just couldn't stop.  And now, after months and months (OK, years) of just thinking and talking about it, I'm finally ready to reveal my magnum opus: "MC Gallagher's 100 Favourite Albums"!

But first, just a few clarifications/disclaimers: (1) I only considered proper studio albums and live albums; thus, "compilations" that otherwise might have made the list (like Hatful of Hollow by The Smiths) were not eligible; (2) I've long been accused of Anglophilia, and the results have certainly borne that out, so brace yourself for a hearty dose of British music—literate and witty, rousing and swaggering, melancholy and brooding British music!; and (3) to merely say that the difference between my top 2 albums (i.e., 21 ten-thousandths of a point) does not reach statistical significance would be a bit of an understatement; in the end, the album that prevailed is the one that’s dearer to my heart, and which I discovered first, when a then-13-year-old still stood at the threshold of his musical awakening, and the band in question still teetered on the precipice of utter ubiquity, about to “supernova” into greatness.

To view the list, click below on the "Continue Reading" link.