Nuclear Weapons and the Moral Imagination

On the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we should reflect not only on the destruction of that city, but also on the concurrent realization that the Earth has not yet passed a full century with nuclear-armed humans patrolling it. With all of the other problems occupying our present, the shadow of the mushroom cloud can seem like a black and white relic of the paranoia of another world order. We must continue to acknowledge that nuclear weapons are still a new and dangerous technology with catastrophic implications for our time.

When the United States built its first nuclear weapons, it lacked the moral imagination to respect the suffering they would portend. That is to say, it was contemplating an act that had no moral equivalent in history in terms of its scale. That is also to say, the military and its leaders were not ready to be deterred by what they already understood - that the atomic bombs would be incredibly destructive and lethal. They were after all in the business of killing the people they called their enemies.

The U.S. saw the bombs it was to drop on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as more efficient versions of what had already been done to cities like Tokyo and Dresden. Those kinds of all-out attacks on civilians would later be reckoned by historians as war crimes. At the time, they were considered “necessary” in the logic of total war. Before the U.S. really understand what kind of power it had developed, it had already committed to using all of its power to defeat Germany and Japan.

Did the U.S. military, or President Truman, understand exactly what they were doing when they unleashed Little Boy and Fat Man? They knew they'd be killing thousands of civilians. They ought to have known there would be lasting damage due to radioactive fallout, though it was something that had obviously never been studied before. No one had ever seen a city full of survivors suffer from acute radiation sickness, and later go on to manifest cancer as a direct result. One doubts there could be a full appreciation of the potential for the nuclear trauma to alter Japan's people on a cellular level. The racial prejudice against Asians that prevailed in America, and the blunt categorization of all Japanese as "the enemy", would have diminished any sympathy before the fact.

Only after the atom bombs had been used, did the realization spread that they were capable of so much more than just killing a lot of people. Bombs like these, growing more and more powerful with advances in technology, could render the planet uninhabitable for humans if they were used with the kind of abandon that other bombs were. So non-proliferation became the admonition for nations without nuclear weapons, while the nations that did have them obsessed over testing and building more, for fear that their enemies would build them first.

And that was exactly to be expected, because if humanity's leaders lacked the collective moral imagination to avoid the bloodletting of World War II, and every war that came before it, how could the nations of the world spontaneously and unanimously commit to cooperate on a nuclear policy in the best interests of the planet? Nuclear gamesmanship and the logic of mutually assured destruction were the best our leaders could come up with, and we are amazingly lucky that that policy has "worked" as long as it has.

Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of the Manhattan project, lost his job because he protested that building more powerful weapons, while perhaps diminishing the threat to the security of the United States in the short term, would augment the threat to the safety of the entire world over the long term. It is that kind of morality - to argue for the good of humanity as a whole, rather than the short-term interests of particular populations - that struggled to assert itself in the twentieth century against nationalism and realpolitik. It faces no fewer obstacles today in becoming the dominant mindset among human beings.

There are nine governments in the world that currently have control of a nuclear arsenal. More are interested in gaining one. At this rate it seems incredible that the world would see another seventy five years go by without another deliberate use of these weapons on innocent people - and if it happens, you can be sure the consequences will extend beyond those of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the weapons were smaller and no nation had the ability to respond in kind.

With climate change looming large in threats to the survival of the human race, we should remember that the threat of the atom bomb has never left us. We can’t forget the danger that exists from nuclear war to the habitability of the planet - a danger that can only be lessened by preventing the governments that already have them from engaging in wars of any kind, and only eliminated when all governments have permanently renounced their possession. The imperative to make progress on this front is as strong as that to mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change. Both problems ask much of us and our moral imaginations - and we will be sorry if we don't rise to the occasion.

Seventy five years of geopolitical experience tell us that this is not likely to happen soon. But as long as these weapons exist, there will be a temptation to make history with fire and fury. It is known that the United States is currently considering whether to hold its first nuclear weapons tests since 1992. With that in mind, remember what Donald Trump, the current president of the United States and the man with his finger on the button, has said: “why bother having nuclear weapons if you are afraid to use them?”

Above All Else We Must Move

It seems like for the better part of the decade, America has been having a fruitless conversation, on endless repeat, over whether police brutality is a problem and whether black people and other marginalized people suffer disproportionately from it. It became part of our culture wars, an issue that animated two equal yet opposite ideological groups, while the disengaged remained disengaged and waited impatiently for everything to blow over. But whether it's because the pandemic has reminded us that we live in history, or because the repetition of tragedy has finally begun to move the needle, or because the video of George Floyd's death was really just that much more convincing than the other videos we've seen over the years, something very much like a consensus is emerging.

There's something happening - everywhere, it seems. Not just in America, but in countries all over the world. The world has suddenly emerged from its astonished paralysis to confront racial injustice. Some times, it sounds too good to be true, but there is every indication that change is happening and will continue to happen. Optimism flourishes amid the horror show of history.

On June sixth, 2020, I attended a rally and march with my fiancée on the steps of the capitol building in Salem, Oregon. It was ostensibly in honor of George Floyd, who was killed by a policeman after allegedly forging a check. It might also have been for Breonna Taylor, who was killed when her home was invaded by police as she slept. It might have been for Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed by a former policeman who avoided arrest until video of the shooting was released. It might have been for Tamir Rice, or Michael Brown, or Philando Castile, or Freddie Gray, or Sandra Bland, or Eric Garner, or any one else whose death sparked outrage and then went unaddressed in the last ten years. It might have been for every victim of racist violence in all of American history - the dead, the injured, the humiliated. That's a lot to put on the name of George Floyd.

I came to the rally because remaining at home made me physically anxious, like I was ignoring the clearest commands of my conscience. Going made me anxious too, mostly because of concerns that being near large crowds might expose us to the coronavirus. I'd been firm in my belief that limiting the spread of the virus was a moral priority for all Americans. But I considered the people who were being assaulted by police with pepper spray and rubber bullets because they could not abide the thought that once more, nothing would change. I considered that racism was the longer-standing and greater threat to the health of the most vulnerable people in the country. I couldn't let the coronavirus become a fig leaf for a lack of conviction.

I came partly in my capacity as an educator, because I view it as my responsibility to explain to my students how the present moment fits into the context of our ever-expanding history. But I wasn't there to teach - I kept my eyes and ears open, in order to understand more fully how the people were processing their grief for George Floyd, and their desire to see something done about his murder. I wanted to learn about the true character of this movement to which I'd been drawn.

One thing that was evident was that the protest was not ideologically unified or consistent. The organizers were at great pains to emphasize that they were holding a "peaceful" protest, and that they viewed the police officers who were present as potential partners. Leaders of Salem and Marion County police made speeches and expressions of solidarity and a desire to see racist violence come to an end. An impassioned and slightly profane musician (who seemed to need reminding that there were children attending) told any one who called for defunding the police that they were like the religious zealot he used to be. That part was a little confusing.

The crowd listened respectfully, and even clapped, to messages of unity and reform. But they also brought signs that said "no justice, no peace" and "ACAB (all cops are bastards)". And they applauded all the louder when speakers exploded with rage and sorrow, or described the pain and fear that came with being marginalized and targeted by police. There was rage in this gathering, for systemic racism and Donald Trump and for the possibility that anything like what happened to George Floyd might happen again. They had to have known that it would happen again. But there was a hopeful feeling among them that they could stop it with a show of moral force.

Nuance is an underrated value in public discourse. It's one thing to say all cops are bastards, and another to understand what it actually means - that in a system that incentivizes cops to exert violent social control on the downtrodden and despised, they might as well all be bastards. And it's one thing to preach love and nonviolence, and another to understand that to practice nonviolence in the tradition of Dr. King is to pair it with aggressive civil disobedience. I wanted to hear a forceful, nuanced message about why it was necessary to push the system beyond what it was ready to accept, and a defense of those who did the pushing. I wanted it acknowledged that brave people were putting their bodies and freedom on the line, and that they didn't wear badges.

It was easy to suspect that the organizers emphasized a police-inclusive tone because there were so many officers present, and they didn't want any one to inhale lungfuls of tear gas that day. And it was also easy to imagine how profoundly disappointed many of those present would be if the movement at hand did not succeed in abolishing the whole criminal justice system within a year. I was conscious that my opinions as to what should be done were neither moderate, nor as radical as they could possibly be. But for all our differences, the supporters of this movement can be like magnets pointed in the same direction. We'll move further than some people want, and not as for as others, but above all else we must move.

As an educator, it is my responsibility to question my biases, and think critically about why I believe what I do. That's why I acknowledge that I am moved in part by the voices of the moment to view the defunding of police departments, and their replacement with public services to nonviolently address the needs of their communities, as both an achievable and necessary goal. I can't claim to have always been in favor of it, nor to have arrived at this position solely through dispassionate analysis. But I do believe that the basic idea, whether it is achieved gradually or all at once, stands up to reason. And if the movement is not completely unified on matters of ideology or policy, the unity of its pain demands the kind of radical change that cannot be written off as lip service.

What impressed me the most about the gathering on June sixth was the courage. We came together despite the fear of coronavirus, despite the fear of having brutality visited on ourselves, and despite the fear that we might achieve less than we dreamed. A group of indigenous dancers performed just before the march was to begin - and the start of their performance was marked by wind, rain, and hail. But they drummed, and they danced, and we stood. Against social evil and physical danger, the people who gathered showed courage which the world is bound to respect.

Black Lives Matter is a movement that must succeed, and must be bold in doing so. For all that has been lost to police brutality and white supremacy, there is so much more yet to be lost if society does not achieve a complete transformation. As always, we have everything to gain from laying the foundations for real justice to build upon. The consensus for change is forming, and that is an opportunity we cannot waste.

Another Thinkpiece About A Celebrity Couple's Kid's Name

I have thoughts about the name of the Musk/Grimes child. Should he read this one day, I’d like to apologize ahead of time, because the only people who should feel bad about his (apparent) given name are his parents.

Maybe this makes me some species of curmudgeon, but I’m really over the use of creative orthography in the naming of children.

A human’s name is not the title of a conceptual artwork. It’s a gift from a parent to a new person, and as such it belongs to the person who bears it, not the parent. Treating the process of naming a person like performance art is, frankly, an abuse of a highly personal trust.

When I was a kid, I was extremely adamant that my name was David and I was to be called that, because I was often bullied and made fun of, and I didn’t trust people with “Dave” or especially “Davey”. Looking back, I feel I was overly stubborn at times, but all the same it was my name and I was within my rights. To this day, I insist that most people call me David.

When I got a little order I loosened up a bit, and I used “Dav” a lot in writing, especially online (pronounced like Dave). But that was my choice, and it was also something I wasn’t nearly as comfortable hearing out loud. Only a handful of people call me Dave now, who met me online as Dav, and I tolerate it because I did after all introduce myself that way.

My uncle often greets me with a Spanish “David”, but that’s cool because we get along really well and he’s Puerto Rican, so it comes naturally. My dad does it occasionally too, because he’s a dork like that. But I’ve never questioned in my whole life that my family took my name seriously when they gave it to me, and have respected my right to have it the way I wanted.

Names mean a lot to people, and it is disrespectful to trifle with them. I have a student whom I met four years ago with one name, and then within a few months reintroduced himself with a new one, because he was transitioning to a new gender. Within a year he was on to a new name/nickname combination, and so far it’s stuck. Making sure his name and pronouns were respected was one of our main priorities in helping his whole class through the transition.

Most people don’t have to go through a process like that, but those who do can surely appreciate that a person’s name belongs to that person alone. And even if a person makes the decision to put their birth name aside and take on a new one of their own choosing, it would be considerate of their parents not to start them off in life with a name that reflects nothing but their own vanity.

I would never go so far as to say all spelling variants, or unusual names, or even faux-unusual fad names are illegitimate, because that’s nonsense. What’s important is the parents’ motivation in giving a name, and I for one think it’s transparent that “X Æ A-12“ is a name that exists to turn the birth of a child into a spectacle and promote the Musk/Grimes brand.

People speculate on what the Musk/Grimes child is going to actually be called by his parents when they put their twitter accounts down and use spoken language, but what about the matter of what this kid is going to call himself, in his own mind? Naming a child after the mere concept of a mathematical variable, a multilingual orthographic pun, and a goddamn military spyplane, all at the same time, does not communicate that the name was given with any thoughtfulness. It’s trifling masquerading as significance.

And it would still be a thousand times better if they had just spelled it as X Ash Archangel, instead of insisting on turning the act of reading the name into a rebus, or a cryptic crossword puzzle. But no - they preferred to give their kid the precious gift of one day being able to google himself and learn that the occasion of his birth was met with a chorus of utter confusion over what a weird fucking name he was given.

Name your kids whatever you want; but is it too much to ask parents to consider what is it about names that actually gives them meaning, and even “uniqueness”? Or at the very least, to not treat the naming of a child like an album drop or an IPO?

For a Troubled Political Conscience

At this point, I think that Tara Reade’s accusation against Joe Biden is at least as likely to be true as not. I don’t have the means at my disposal to say definitively what happened, and I don’t think it’s on me to give an account of what “really” took place. Reade has given an account. We know Biden has a history of inappropriate touching, and we know that powerful men do these sorts of things with regularity. Without a thorough investigation, there’s already a high degree of plausibility.

And the thing that I’ve been really struggling with is, what to do about this information, since it is still overwhelmingly likely he will be Donald Trump’s only credible opponent in November. And Trump must go.

Does it matter that Trump has been credibly accused of worse and more? Does it matter that so has Bill Clinton? And does it matter that Trump is still the one who bragged about grabbing women, laughed it off as “locker room talk”, and has intimated more than once that it’s a real shame he can’t have his way with his own daughter? None of these things have any real bearing on holding Biden accountable for his actions. But this is a lot bigger than Biden.

Four more years of Donald Trump means more hard-right conservatives on the Supreme Court. It means the continuing dismantlement of whatever social welfare apparatuses this country has managed to cobble together. It means the pandemic will continue to be mishandled and so will every unknown crisis that may occur in that time. And it means more arbitrary attacks not only on the environment here, but the global climate.

It’s also entirely possible that Trump will consolidate power in such a way that he can put an end to any meaningful role for any organization in national politics, apart from the Republican party and the Trump Organization.

Those are all terrible outcomes that must be avoided. and there are two ways that can be accomplished: either we elect the Democratic nominee in November, or we dismantle the present constitutional order and put an end to the American presidency.

Yes, yes, the second one, I hear you chanting. Well you aren’t going to make it happen in the next four years without a civil war. This is not a thought experiment, it is a fact. There will be a president next year and it could be Trump. He will come down as hard on an insurrection as any dictator ever has. The power of the state will not be diminished because we have become disillusioned with the character of the men who wield it. And Trump will put the power of the state to work doing terrible, terrible things. We know this because he’s been doing it.

The United States, of course, has been doing terrible things with its power for centuries. But that does not mean that we, who are given some small power to direct the course of future events by electing our leadership, have no obligation to push against an outcome for the country and the world that is measurably and demonstrably worse.

Joe Biden may have committed a crime, and that would be a reason to oppose him. But there are much bigger issues than Biden’s sexual misconduct to consider when determining the ethics of this situation. If we only look at environmental issues, it is not a stretch to say that X number of people will die for every day that Trump continues to make climate policy. AND he’s a rapist.

Imagine these scenarios:

• Biden wins, and you have to live with having voted for some one who is guilty of sexual assault, but who has mitigated the climate disaster to some degree.
• Trump wins and continues to make the climate crisis worse solely to “own the libs”, while being definitely guilty of sexual assault on a wide scale, but you didn’t vote.

I can live with one of these scenarios. I’m not satisfied with it. But ethically speaking, there is a clear choice to be made.

A Collection of Vinyl Records, Ranked by Arbitrary and Inconsistent Criteria

With all this free time, why not lend my opinions on things? Gentle reader, I offer you a respite from news that matters, and invite you to peruse my record collection.

This is not a review of the albums as abstract works of art - this would require a much more thoughtful and coherent approach than I'm willing to employ. No, this is a a review of the seventy nine actual objects that currently sit, alphabetically by artist, on the shelf in my living room. The criteria are arbitrary and inconsistent, because I made them up as I went along and made no effort to apply them with consistency or rigor. Roughly speaking, they are being evaluated by how much I enjoy having them there, on this day, the ninth day of April in the year 2020.

For the record, I like all of these albums. Some I like in different ways and many I like more than others, but each one has its charms and I'd encourage every one to give each one a listen, if they were so inclined. Except maybe #78 - that's kind of a special case.

There's no stakes here, except the temporary relief of boredom and the appreciation of a motley collection of new-ish and older vinyl. Nevertheless, I revise the list repeatedly throughout the process, and probably would do so even more if I didn't know when to quit. Let's get into it, shall we?

#79. The Long Run - Eagles

This album was a generous gift from a former student of mine, who found it in an old barn, badly warped from poor storage conditions. It was basically unplayable when I first got it, but it seems to have corrected itself somewhat after being stored properly on the shelf, pressed between its new neighbors. It played all the way through on a recent listen, but the needle wobbled so much near the outer edges that it gave me an anxiety.

#78. Songs Of Western Birds - Donald J. Borror

I bought this disc for two reasons: the novelty of owning a collection of recorded bird calls, and the hope that it would give my two pet lovebirds something to squawk at. Regrettably, they remain mostly unimpressed.

#77. Hotel California - Eagles

This one has exactly the same story as #79, but the songs are better. Arguably, so is the album art.

#76. The Best Of Nat King Cole - Nat King Cole

Some of the songs are really nice, but the disc came without a protective inner sleeve and it's pretty scratched up. It'll play all the way through though, and it's a nice diversion on a lazy morning. But one wonders if a performer with Cole's reputation is really defined by this collection as his "best".

#75. Windy - Astrud Gilberto

 Some of these songs hint at the kind of cool Gilberto embodies on better songs like "The Girl From Ipanema" or "Take It Easy My Brother Charlie". But on this disc, it's mostly covers of songs by The Association, who were... alright. We'll say it drops a few points more for the wrong-kind-of-cuteness of "The Bare Necessities", but makes them back up with a beautifully colorful cover art.

#74. Hello, Dolly! - Louis Armstrong

Well, Louis is clearly having fun (when is he not?) and this was a gift from my fiancée. But it's not exactly a heavyweight effort. I put it on sometimes for that relentlessly jolly "Hello, Dolly!" vibe, though. 

#73. Welcome Sweet Pleasure - The Festival Players

Brought to us by the merry theater kids and renaissance nerds at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a nice jaunt through some folky tunes of the English Golden Age.  It appeals to the part of me that likes unconventional stuff, and makes me yearn to visit England (or Ashland) again some day.

#72. The Opulent Era - Various Orchestras

It's a Big Box from Time Life Records, with four discs inside, filled with works by such opulent composers as Wagner, Brahms, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Saint-Saëns, and Bruckner. The paper sleeves inside are nearly torn to shreds, but the discs themselves are in good form, and the box also includes a helpful listening guide and a historical booklet with pictures. And all of that is really, unironically awesome, but I seldom have the energy to spin eight sides of classical music. That is a demand on my resources.

#71. Dionne Warwick in the Valley of the Dolls - Dionne Warwick

I have great affection for 60s pop for grown-ups, especially of the Bacharach persuasion.This disc came from an antique store in Washington, and like #76 it lacks a protective inner sleeve. But it's in much better condition, and the tunes are hard to resist. I've never been there, but now I'm forever wondering how I can get to San Jose...

#70. Best Of, Volume 1 - The Beach Boys

This record has a lot of really fun energy, which is what the Beach Boys really excelled at in the years when they were still growing into artistic maturity. And it's another gift from my fiancée, so it's got plenty of sentiment wrapped up in it.

#69. STN MTN/Kauai - Childish Gambino

The STN MTN disc is a little weaker, and some of the songs are repetitive in a way that doesn't make me want to dance. But the Kauai disc is as thoughtful and interesting as it's fun. Jaden Smith makes me smile too.

#68. Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack

It's really chill and pleasant, and the title track is an all-time classic, and the front cover does a cool thing like a grand piano opening. There are other songs too, and they all sound nice, like a warm hug.

#67. John Williams: The Star Wars Trilogy - Utah Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Varujan Kajian

It doesn't give that precise frisson that the original soundtrack versions would have, but the selections are choice and the vinyl is light saber red. I was hoping for green though.

#66. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Soundtrack

A surprise gift from a friend - I've never played the game, but I had a lot of fun listening to the album. It sets a mood which I imagine is perfect for stalking werewolves through the pines. Maybe like a better version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow? Four discs is, again, kind of long. But I've spun them twice, and I'll probably spin them again on Halloween this year.

#65. Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Opus 68 - Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan

A lovely symphony, perfect for a Saturday afternoon with tea and a book. Also, I'm intrigued by the slight coarseness of the album cover. A real sensory experience.

#64. The Copland Album - New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein

 I dig the western aesthetic and I've never been let down by a Bernstein performance, but I feel like I'm still getting to know this one. Needs more listens.

#63. The Cole Porter Songbook - Charlie Parker

Kind of a strange collection, this one. Side one is an assortment of arrangements, with big bands, small groups, and even a vocal group backing the Bird on his flights of fancy. Side two, however, is all small group stuff. I like side two a lot better, but in the end it's all Bird.

#62. Spirit Phone - Lemon Demon

This is another record that's good for playing on Halloween, but before it gets dark. It's the silly kind of spooky, and it strongly appeals to a sense of humor that grew up on the internet in the early twenty first century. The riff on the "Thriller" video disclaimer is also good for a chuckle.

#61. I Was The One - Elvis Presley

This came out of the same abandoned barn as those Eagles records, but somehow no worse for the experience. I'm pretty sure it's a European import, which is neat. It's also the best example of the early Presley's sheer dynamism on record that I've got in my collection, across all media. I could have done without the unfortunate "Baby Let's Play House" though.

#60. Cathy's Clown - The Everly Brothers

Another European import, with an oddly flimsy cover that is rather unmemorable in appearance. But the songs sound bright and corny, just like they're supposed to. Sometimes, you've just got to do your crying in the rain.

#59. Tom Lehrer Revisited - Tom Lehrer

I have The Remains Of Tom Lehrer box set on my hard drive, so maybe I didn't "need" this. But I got excited when I saw an original Lehrer album in the wild, and this version has performances from his Australian tour, so I got to hear some new-to-me stage banter. Plus, owning this album probably communicates my level of urbane sophistication more accurately than any other.

#58. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Once More With Feeling - Original TV Cast

The colors of the cover art caught my eye even before I realized this was the Buffy musical, and nostalgia carried me the rest of the way. Some of the vocal performances are less than compelling without the visual element of television, but at least it's an official release, so it sounds way better than the $1 bootleg CD I got at a thrift store once. All in all, a fine conversation starter for nerds.

#57. Murder Ballads - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

I like this album a lot, but I also feel like it's haunted and that just listening to some of these songs will lead to my absorbing their sins. Needless to say, this is one I usually do play on Halloween. Despite its grisly aura, it reminds me personally of a dear friendship, and it fascinates me endlessly because it is the only album I have ever seen that has only three (3) sides of music. I even showed it to my dad, and he'd never seen anything like it either. Fucking weird.

#56. Songs in the Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder

In a better world, this album would be way higher on the list. But the grooves are pretty worn, seemingly past their sonic prime. It's also lacking the bonus EP, and that's a big deal, because it's got me missing Saturn and Ebony Eyes. The state of the cover reflects this record's history, but it's still a funky thing of beauty This is one of those special albums that creates a world when you listen to it.

#55. Speaking In Tongues - Talking Heads

This album should be higher up as well, and it's an even bigger tragedy that it's not. I bought this one new, and was utterly unprepared to find that track one on side one skipped so badly as to cut over a minute out of the song's playing time. Gutting as classic a starter as "Burning Down The House" puts an unfortunate pall over the rest of what is a very fine record.

#54. Get Happy!! - Elvis Costello and the Attractions

This album also has a skipping problem on track one, and "Love For Tender" is basically lost to us. But at least this one has the excuse of being a used record, and the rest of the songs don't suffer quite as much for it.

#53. To Love Somebody - Nina Simone

Nina makes nice work of the Beegees, as well as an inimitable rendering of "Suzanne" and a more politically satisfying rewrite of the Beatles' "Revolution". I just hope she gave an earful to whoever it was that forgot to put the actual album version of that track on the album, instead of just the two halves of the single edit. It's a serious flow killer.

#52. Muddy and the Wolf - Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf

Another gift from my fiancée, with a great title and an unfortunate unfulfilled promise. I want Muddy and the Wolf on the same songs, dammit!

#51. Mingus Dynasty - Charles Mingus

This is a really cool sounding album, and Mingus himself looks appropriately grand and imperial on the cover. It all looks and sounds like the most interesting parts of the 1960s, with the bass solos and flutes. This was also a gift from a friend, a colleague of mine, and it reminds me of the joys of creativity.

#50. Greatest Hits - Martha and the Vandellas

You could never capture the energy of Motown in a single act, but you could come close if you put "Dancing in the Street", "Heatwave", and "Nowhere to Run" on the same disc. If they were all on the same side, you would have a side of unfathomable power, but the other side would be the poorer for it. Fortunately, this collection doesn't make that mistake.

#49. Marry Me - St. Vincent

I really like her style. The songs have a kind of theatricality to them, like the soundtrack of an avant-gardish drama with fancy costumes. However, I knocked this one down several points because whenever I put it on, I always misunderstand the label and play side two before side one. Every. Single. Time. Consequently, I bear this album a highly personal (but ultimately mild) grudge.

#48. Why? - They Might Be Giants

A souvenir from a TMBG concert, one of the most amazing shows I've ever been to. The songs are for kids because it's one of their children's records, but you don't become a fan of TMBG if you've lost your sense of whimsy.

#47. Party! - The Beach Boys

My fiancée likes this one a lot, and it's always fun to chill with the Boys and their make-believe party. The ambience may be less than authentic, but the illusion is unbroken and the song choices are cute.

#46. Before the Flood - Bob Dylan and the Band

You've got Dylan, you've got the Band, and you've got two discs of compelling live music. But undeniable as the musicianship and songcraft is, it excites my passion less than my admiration. I figure I should have a Dylan album in my collection, and a Band album, and it's really very convenient that they went ahead and made one together.

#45. Tumbleweed Connection - Elton John

There's something kind of weird about an Elton John album without any color on the cover, but the songs themselves are not lacking in it. This is a good album for appreciating the sheer songwriting prowess of the partnership of John and Bernie Taupin, without getting distracted by their endless string of well-known hits.

#44. Broken English - Marianne Faithful

I wish the disc itself wasn't so scratched when I bought it, because side one goes "thump" every revolution for about three songs. But when you consider the life and times of the artist, it makes the kind of sense you can't begrudge. Broken English is both artistic and profane, and the cover gives a weird kind of recovering-from-cocaine vibe that I can't properly describe, having never been in recovery from cocaine. So really, the thump kind of belongs here.

#43. Melodrama - Lorde

I bought this as a gift for my fiancée,and as much as I like the music I'm also really impressed by the art direction of the cover and liner notes. Together, they perfectly describe the sound and feeling of being young and pretending to be glamorous while you wait for an asteroid to crash into the Earth. At least I think that's what she's going for.

#42. If You Knew Suzi - Suzi Quatro

Suzi Quatro needs to rock, and this record doesn't always present her in her ideal ecosystem. It's all a little too seventies mainstream with the cover photo and the big single. But when she rocks, she rocks. I wish her records were easier to find, and (resignedly) I figured this would be the one I ended up finding first, but even if she's a little toned down here, she's still got a marvelous sincerity.

#41. Dreamboat Annie - Heart

This is basically the platonic ideal of the classic rock album - the cover gently worn with the passage of time, the monster radio hits alongside the prettier, artier tracks, the grooves still lively after sitting for god knows how long in a bin at a used record store. Playing it is like traveling back in time to before my birth, when people still believed in rock n' roll, of all things.

#40. P'ansori/Korea's Epic Vocal Art + Instrumental Music - Kim So-hee, with Kim Yoon-duk, Chi Young-hee, and Sung Keum-yun

Esoteric, yes. Pretentious, very probably. But playing this record reminds me of the time I lived in Korea for nine months, and I like being a little pretentious sometimes. It can, believe it or not, be a lot of fun to listen to traditional music that sounds nothing like what you're accustomed to. I don't speak Korean, but I still enjoy the storytelling.

#39. Free As The Wind - The Crusaders

This record pulses with the spirit of fun. I like to play it when company is over, and I like to play it just to dance like a dork with my fiancée. I do that with a lot of albums, but this one is very much for that.

#38. Between The Buttons - The Rolling Stones

This one worked its way into my collection out of a friend's, and it has his name scrawled on a corner of the cover. I like that sort of thing in an album, and I also really like "Let's Spend the Night Together".

#37. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac

This one came from my mom's collection, which is part of its charm and also beside the point.Some records are haunted, but this one is enchanted, and I'm pretty sure it's mostly because of Stevie Nicks.

#36. Midnight Marauders - A Tribe Called Quest

I went searching specifically to find People's Instinctive Travels on vinyl, but discovered Midnight Marauders along the way. I love this laid back, jazzy style of hip hop, and I like this album's cover art more than I like most hip hop covers

#35. Johto Legends: Music From Pokemon Gold and Silver - Arranged by Braxton Burks

This was a gift from a friend, and playing it hits me right in the part of my brain that remembers feeling like the world inside an 8 MB cartridge was unimaginably huge. Turning old midi arrangements into orchestral ones is kind of gimmicky, but it turns out I am exactly the audience for that sort of gimmick (I have other such albums in different media) and you can't really complain when it's done so well. The bright and shiny colors of the cover design also tickle the pleasure center of my brain.
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#34. Bush Lady - Alanis Obomsawin

My fiancée chanced on this record, and we found it was incredibly moving as both a historical document and an artistic work. The liner notes are very informative about the status of indigenous people in Canada, and the use of multiple languages in the music is effective.

#33. Porgy and Bess - Ray Charles and Cleo Laine

Perhaps not the definitive recording of Gershwin's opera, or even one of the recordings with its own wikipedia page. But it's got Ray Charles on it, and it's good. Despite the rundown state of the box when I found it in a used record store, it plays beautifully, suggesting perhaps it got passed around more than it got listened to. The liner notes are also fascinating.

#32. Ahmad Jamal Volume IV - Ahmad Jamal Trio

There's something magical about being in a jazz club, when people are there for the sounds and less concerned with the booze and smoke. When I play this record, I can feel a strong club kind of vibe coming off of Jamal's band (and not just because it was actually recorded in a club). The album cover is starting to come apart, but that's alright because this is a time capsule from a bygone age, and I've still got a little piece of it. Anyway, they don't let you smoke in clubs any more, and that's all for the best.

#31. Live At The Hollywood Bowl - The Beatles

Already possessing their complete set of studio albums on CD, I saw the release of this disc as the perfect way to add the Beatles into my vinyl collection. A row of LPs without a Beatles album is just missing a certain Beatley crunch, you know? The lads do their rock n' roll thing, the crowd noise is engineered down so you can hear them do it, and the liner notes promote that documentary Ron Howard made a few years ago. It's no Sgt. Pepper or anything, but it is exciting.

#30. Quadrophenia - The Who

More than most of my used records, this one looks and sounds like it got in a fight. The more-than-typical pops and hisses detract slightly from the Who's music, but it is the Who after all, and the sheer grandeur of "Love Reign O'er Me" is not something that necessarily declines just because it's rough around the edges. This was another gift from my fiancée, and boy did she pick well.

#29. Songs From The Attic - Billy Joel

Most of what I consider Billy Joel's finest songs are on this album, and I've concluded that he is much better live any way. The piano playing man has a gift for inhabiting his crowd. The title and cover design give off an eerie feeling that this album was never actually new, and just spontaneously appeared pre-owned in used record stores all over the world. I'm not going to follow up on that hypothesis though, because it's probably wrong and I don't want to know that.

#28. A Christmas Together - John Denver and the Muppets

Awash in nostalgia for Christmas, and Muppets, and seventies singer-songwriters, we all know exactly why this record is here. We cuddle up under the mistletoe with this one every year in our house. Unfortunately, we're not zoned for a fireplace.

#27. Season Of Glass - Yoko Ono

It's unfortunate that a couple of tracks skip in spots, because this is a beautiful, if dark, piece of work, and you hate to have it interrupted. Good albums can give you a sense of what the artist was really feeling when they made it, but even if you didn't know that Ono recorded this just after the death of her husband, you would know instantly that she really had endured a great loss. The stained glasses (not stained glass) on the cover are the least of it.

#26. Jamie - Brittany Howard

This was a Christmas gift for my fiancée. The music is beautiful, and so is everything that comes with it - the cover portrait, the cream colored vinyl, the childhood photographs on the back of the liner notes. Everything about this album feels openly personal. It combines grace with rhythm in ideal proportion for delivering truth and making the people feel it.

#25. Hypnotic Eye - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Before his death, I often called Tom Petty America's single greatest rock n' roller. I don't think I was wrong and I don't think anything has changed since then. I bought this album last year because I hadn't heard it before. It's not necessarily his magnum opus, but I'm just really excited all the time to have him around.

#24. Eponymous - R.E.M.

Owning Eponymous on CD, or in intangible digital format, would not really make sense for me. But as a chance find at a record store? That's what albums like this are for. Hearing the original single version of "Radio Free Europe" blast out of my set up is a treat, to say nothing of the other rare tracks. A package like this is the reason I bother with analog media.

#23. Joan Baez, Volume 2 - Joan Baez

It's a simple record - folk songs, sung by a woman accompanying herself on a guitar. And it turned out to be a lot better than I expected. There's a quality to Baez's voice that makes me wish I'd appreciated her work earlier. Also, the cover has an message written on it, from a girl named Susie who (apparently) really liked "The Banks of the Ohio". I'm such a sucker for things like that.

#22. Greatest Hits - Linda Ronstadt

Another fine acquisition from my mom's collection.  They're all hits, they're all classics, and they're all driven by a great rock voice. It's not complicated, but in my opinion it's essential.

#21. Jesus Christ Superstar - Original Album Cast

In my mind, there's a recorded version of Jesus Christ Superstar that exists in a state of perfection. But while there's never been a better version of "Heaven On Their Minds" than the one from the movie, but for the most part I prefer this album. The exterior presentation is suitably biblical, and the libretto (fancy word for liner notes) is suitably rock-operatic. Another choice selection from my mom.

#20. Egypt Station - Paul McCartney

I'm not sure where Paul McCartney got the idea that, well into his 70s, he had to keep proving that he is a great artist, who can write, sing, rock, and generally produce at a level beyond all expectations. Maybe he's just that great and this is just what the great ones do. He even painted the cover himself, and it looks really cool. Also, we should listen to what he has to say on "Despite Repeated Warnings".

#19. Portrait in Jazz - Bill Evans Trio

Sometimes I fantasize about living in a cleanly lit modernist home with 1960s-style furnishings, wearing fuzzy slippers all day while drinking tea and and reading great literature. In this fantasy, Bill Evans and his trio are there, playing selections from Portrait In Jazz, or whatever they want to play, I don't presume to tell them what to do. If #32 is an ideal jazz night out, this record is an ideal jazz night in.

#18. Arthur Buck - Joseph Arthur and Peter Buck

I don't even think you can get this on CD. If you couldn't stream it digitally either, would that be better? I love the red/blue vinyl and all those other hipsterish touches.  And I also love the music, which I sought out of R.E.M. fandom, and then came to appreciate Joseph Arthur in his own right as a lyricist.

#17. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel

There's the title track, which is lovely, of course.  We all know that. But there's something in the way this album ends side one with "So Long Frank Lloyd Wright" and (almost) ends side two with a live version of "Bye Bye Love" that tells me why it's a great album. And it's a great last album too, even if it's not actually the last thing they ever made together.

#16. West Side Story Original Movie Soundtrack

There's a good case to be made that West Side Story is America's greatest musical, and the movie is an artistic triumph. The soundtrack is obviously an indispensable part of that, melding a naturalistic look at urban turmoil with the sophisticated artifice of ballet, and finding a sincere romanticism in the depths of tragedy. It's both hip and wise, which is the best definition of a classic.

#15. Wise Up Ghost - Elvis Costello and the Roots

I only just realized that this is presently the only Blue Note record that I have on vinyl. Neither Costello nor the Roots are artists for that label, but the music they made for this album sounds modern and jazzy enough to aspire to that level of cool. Interesting fact: my old turntable can't play this album correctly, because the base makes the needle jump all over the place. I had to put a little cat figurine on there to weigh it down.

#14. Collapse Into Now - R.E.M.

As per #17, I am fascinated by final albums. I never heard this one until a few years after R.E.M. had broken up, so it's hard to hear past the context of finality. But history aside, what's not to love on an album with such a mastery of song structure? And I love everything about this disc - except that weird staticky noise that plays under the first half of track one.

#13. Seven Year Ache - Roseanne Cash

Something about the title track gave me a small musical epiphany when I rediscovered it about eight years ago. When I started collecting vinyl, I knew I needed this album to join the shelf as quickly as possible, and I'm glad I didn't have to wait long. The songs are mostly country ballads with a bit of rockin', but that's mostly what that little epiphany was about.

#12. On The Line - Jenny Lewis

On my most recent listen of this record, I was highly distressed to find that the needle was sticking near the end of "Taffy". It took me out of the moment, and that may be why On The Line didn't make the top ten. It is an otherwise excellent record, from an artist I've long admired to the point of adoration. The sum of the listening experience is liberating and rewarding, as she probes inner demons and transcends them through the joy of embracing her inner clown. And the cover art doesn't lack for appeal either.


#11. Live in London - Leonard Cohen

I appreciate a live album that doubles as a greatest hits catalog, because the songs always sound more cohesive than they would if you just copied and pasted from the albums of origin. Cohen's all about cohesion here, announcing the name of every soloist after every solo they play, making sure none of us ever forget that it's the sublime Webb sisters singing backup on every song. There are three discs to listen to (which is a lot), but it's three discs of songs by Leonard Cohen, performed by a backing band with a warm, lush sound, and punctuated by the horny old bastard's dumb jokes.

#10. To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar

This is an album that's almost synaesthetically visual, a documentary unto itself that remains engrossing across two discs, even when the music gives way to interludes of spoken word, or exhortation. To Pimp A Butterfly rewards close attention and casual listening equally, but I don't think most listeners will be satisfied with just the latter. It's a classic on multiple levels, which raises it to the level of a masterpiece.

#9. The Great Pretenders - Mini Mansions

I would love this album anyway for its inventive melodies and lyrics - it's incredibly fun to play. And I'd also dig the homage to the Voyager Golden Record on the cover, no matter who used it. But in honestly, the thing that makes this record rank so highly is that it was brought to my attention by a good friend, who I wish I saw more of these days. Guest vocals by Brian Wilson and Alex Turner make for a pair of supremely cool tracks at the end of side one.

#8. New York Tendaberry - Laura Nyro

The cover is a mysterious black and white photo of the author, and I have no idea what a "Tendaberry" is. The music is mostly otherworldly singing accompanied by piano, crossing from whispers to wholehearted wails. This is a perfect example of a diamond in the record store rough - a singular masterpiece by an artist who left a rich legacy of song and never got half the credit she deserved for it. Listen to "Gibsom Street" and you'll know.

#7. The Execution Of All Things - Rilo Kiley

A twenty first century classic for the present moment, really - these days we're all a little upset about the disappearing ground. This album is a trusty companion for getting through darkness and the everyday absurdities of everything. I'll let other listeners find the applicability for themselves.

#6. Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player - Elton John

Every time I listen to this album - which is very often - I am stunned by how incredibly tuneful it is. I'm delighted by the full-sized booklet of lyrics and photographs. I'm blown away by the diversity of subjects and themes. I'm puzzled as to whether that bit of distortion on the high note in "Have Mercy On the Criminal" is supposed to be there or not. That's the kind of overthinking that comes from listening very closely, because you just can't not.

#5. Such Sweet Thunder - Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

A suite of Shakespeare-inspired compositions, from the pen of Duke Ellington, is simultaneously a highbrow expression of the art of music, and and a goofy expression of childlike whimsy. That might be a definition of "sublime". This is one of the records I've owned the longest, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I'll definitely never get tired of the way that my lovebirds always mimic the whistling high notes at the end of "Madness in Great Ones".

#4. Look Now - Elvis Costello and the Impostors

 It should be clear by now who I regard as the superior Elvis - the English eclecticist with the passion for extreme wordplay and hurling his nasally vocals into every song with abandon. The young Elvis Costello was precocious and dangerous. But he was also scary in his sophistication, and the years and side projects and genre experiments have only served to reveal that in its glory. A year and a half later, I'm still very high on this record.

#3. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

Friends and acquaintances will know that my history with this album goes deep, and there's no real reason to extol its virtues here. Suffice to say it just misses the top spot, because my emotional attachment hews much more strongly to the Pet Sounds Sessions CD Box Set. It's just got more Pet Sounds in it.

#2. Reckoning - R.E.M.

Reckoning is a great album. It's not my favorite R.E.M. album. But this particular Reckoning is the most expensive LP I have ever bought, because it is an original pressing with a cover autographed by all the band members. This fact automatically granted it about a thousand extra arbitrary-and-inconsistent points. However, because I have it displayed proudly in a frame on my wall, and removing it from the frame is slightly inconvenient, and I feel vaguely uncomfortable actually taking a needle to a record with such a pedigree, I've only ever played it once. And an album that you can't listen to can't really be number one, can it?

#1. Between The Lines - Janis Ian

Conversely, this album is among the cheapest I've ever bought, and also among the most beautiful programs of music I have ever heard. I don't have a single record with superior sound - not in the sense that matters, any way. There is such a profound intelligence, sensitivity, and poetry to these songs, that they often feel more like ancient melodies rediscovered from the ether, than contrived inventions for something as momentary as a 70s pop record. Maybe it only looks that way from where I'm standing, but this is where I stand. Janis Ian ought to be better remembered, for this and for her other work.