A Habibi Ouajee T'Allel Allaiya to Half

"A Habibi Ouajee T'Allel Allaiya"  Master Musicians of Jajouka  Manifestation: Axiom Collection II
"Had To Make You Mine"  Cheap Trick  The Essential Cheap Trick
"Haditha"  Me'Shell Ndegeocello  The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams
"Hair"  P.J. Harvey  Dry
"Hairspray"  Rachel Sweet  Hairspray Original Soundtrack
"Hairy Trees"  Goldfrapp  Black Cherry
"Haiti"  Arcade Fire  Funeral
"Haitian Divorce"  Steely Dan  Steely Dan's Greatest Hits
"Halah"  Mazzy Star  She Hangs Brightly
"Half"  Soundgarden  Superunknown

   While I have described this as a reaction and not a review, most of my comments about this set amount to critiques - so it goes.

   So I have a two-cd set of the "essential" Cheap Trick.  I am not sure that a second disc or the adjective can be completely justified.  There are Cheap Trick songs that make me happy to hear almost any time I hear them.  The best of them stands up with the best of almost anyone, but that body of work is not nearly as deep as, say, Prince or Talking Heads.  Even at that, I don't know if there is something such as an "essential" Cheap Trick song.  All right, "I Want You To Want Me,"  but beyond that . . .

  Which makes them at least one song better than Steely Dan.  I am not sure how it is I have a collection of the Dan.  I am sure this is the girlfriend's.  I think I have mellowed to Steely Dan over the years, but I am still not what could be called a fan. 

  Enough hate.  If we are throwing around the word "essential," Funeral is an album that fills a void that didn't exist before Arcade Fire made it.  It is immediately engaging and continually listenable.  I have played it  through numerous times, and haven't grown tired of it.  Similarly, when I am listening to the collection on a random mix as background music, a song will catch my ear and draw me out of whatever else I am doing and engage me.  Frequently it is a song off Funeral.

  Hairspray was not just an entree to the world of Jon Watters, but through this soundtrack, it opened up a set of obscure 60s dance and soul songs.  In particular, "I'm Blue" was the first Ike & Tina song I ever heard and "Nothing Takes The Place of You" is a ballad that stands as one of my favorite love songs of all time.  This title track summons both Watters' camp and the music that he pays homage to throughout the movie.

  Hope Sandoval does not sound like other people, and that has value.