A-Punk to Abdullah's Delight

"A-Punk"  Vampire Weekend  Live At KEXP, Vol. 4
"'A' Bomb On Wardour Street"  The Jam  All Mod Cons
"A/B Machines"  Sleigh Bells  Treats
"A.W.O.L."  Beastie Boys  Paul's Boutique
"The Abandoned Brain" Robyn Hitchcock  I Wanna Go Backwards
"ABC"  The Jackson 5  Hitsville USA:  The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971
"ABC (Salaam Remi Krunk-A-Delic Party Mix)"  The Jackson 5/Salaam Remi  Motown Remixed
"The Abduction of Margaret"  The Decemberists  The Hazards of Love
"Abdul and Cleopatra" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers  The Best Of . . . : The Beserkley Years
"Abdullah's Delight"  Art Blakey Orgy In Rhythm

   So the Decemberists present a problem with my plan.  There is nothing wrong with them per se.  In fact quite the opposite - a Decemberists song has a way of reaching out and grabbing you by the collar and saying, "Listen up!  you will want to pay attention to this!"  The trouble is that with Hazards of Love, and to a lesser extent The Crane's Wife, the songs are written as a whole - not only does the music relate from song to song, but the tracks tend to flow from one to the next without break.  So when you set out to listen to the tracks out of order, the abrupt finish can be jarring.  This is especially true when the next song happens to be by Jonathan Richman.

  On the other hand, I think Jonathan is well served by this format.  Taken one at a time, Jonathan Richman's are enjoyable breaks from the harshness of every day life (and of a lot of my other music - see Sleigh Bells; Beasties).  In clusters though, his overwhelming niceness becomes a bit exhausting - you can't bear someone who seems to be smiling all the time. 

  Which brings us to the Jackson 5.  Now that he has passed, I think my position on Michael is that I might just have to forgive him his off-stage foibles, however unclear or unseemly they may ultimately have been.  It is impossible to get past the greatness of the best of his music.  (Especially those songs he made when he was actually a child, rather than the strange, creepy child-man from the uncanny valley that he became). 
  
   Regarding the ABC remix - the question with any remix has to be "is there some reason to listen to this over the original?"  Here the answer is emphatically no.