I might still make some tweaks, and the order is going to change, but here’s my preliminary list. Mostly trying to fill in some “how the hell have I not heard these yet?” gaps.
Right?! I realized last week when I was doing my Weezer kick that I'd never actually listened to Maladroit. Decided to save it for MWE. That will probably be Day 1.
I know many of the songs, but I've never sat down and listened to a Bruce Springsteen album, so going to do his whole discography. I've also only ever listened to After Laughter from Paramore so going to throw theirs in as well. I think that takes up most of the month.
Some amazing picks here. Obviously amped about Prince. Have you heard other Nina records? I like that one a lot but wouldn’t start there. I feel like Armed Forces is absolutely the most up-your-alley Costello record too
The Prince record was the first one I put on the list, per our exchange a few weeks ago. I'm not super well-versed in Nina. I put that one on the list because it was the highest-ranked on the list NPR did a few years ago of "the 150 greatest albums made by women." But like I said, this isn't set in stone yet, so if you've got another rec, by all means! Re: Costello, I'm only super familiar with This Year's Model and My Aim Is True, both of which I love. I figured Armed Forces was the natural next step. Butch Walker borrows so heavily from Costello that I feel like I should spend more time with the guy's music. I remember this being the narrative when I first came to Weezer during the Make Believe era. Then the album kind of slowly gained esteem over time. Sort of reminds me of something like Pop by U2, which was pretty universally reviled when I first started listening to that band and has now been re-canonized as a flawed, misunderstood gem.
Back in 2005, I remember the party line being "Everything after Blue and Pinkerton is complete dogshit."
Personally I'd go with Nina in this descending order (since I'm not sure which you have or haven't heard): Sings the Blues High Priestess of Soul Wild Is the Wind Pastel Blues I Put a Spell on You AllMusic also rates Sings the Blues as her best. That's a great looking list overall. Excited to see you post or tweet about your reactions as you go.
I'm always so tempted to do one of these but just know there are occasional days I can't fit in a record.
Sings the Blues it is! I’m excited. In past years, there have definitely been days that I’ve missed, especially on busy weekends. I just catch up when I have more listening time. I’ve also seen people log a few early to give themselves some leeway during the month itself.