Project 30: Hobbling Back In, Reconfigured
By Paul Shrug, Section Columns Posted on Thu May 27th, 2004 at 08:05:50 PM PDT
All right, so, the most notably disregarded mega-project of mine has to be Project 300, the list of the most important 300 albums of my life. Started on March 7, 2003. Was eventually reduced to Project 30, which I started on, but really didn't have a lot of chance to handle. Since then I've been in a major experiment commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, in which I painstakingly drank as many Witty Chucks as my account could tolerate. The experiment was recently concluded and we should have test results announced by the Washington State Lottery Commission in a coupla weeks, so get your tickets out. I've also -- again -- discontinued the diary entries, after one brief mini-cycle of personal revelations stemming from the April 1 auto accident, culminating with the wondrously elliptical entries of the last week or so. So I don't have anything to write about and I'm not going to be going out that much anymore. I feel we can therefore resume Project 30 and zoom it towards conclusion, except there's been a change in the lineup.

We have a new #20 album. That might not seem like a big deal to you, but it's not even a year old yet. It's been out for about eight months. However, it has pretty much dominated the last eight months of private listening, being the album of choice for many late, late nights over the last eight months, after I've come home in various states of mental awareness, sensing the need to grasp onto something familiar and comforting, or at least life-affirming, or at least in affirmation that I am a Terrifically Sensitive And Classically Romantic Guy With Some Elements of Light Torment and Penchants for Self-Reflection. So we planted the fucker at #20. It's only been out eight months, but it's something of an over-achiever. That said, we had to shove a few albums down the chart a bit -- in fact, the former #13 album had to be removed from the Top 20 altogether. It's still a brilliant release, but I realized I haven't played it at all in the last two years. In fact it was stolen from my car about a year and a half ago and I've been slow to replace it. Especially with the herald of the new #20 album, I decided to put it at #25. That seemed about right given the depreciation it obtained through my not listening to it. I've decided not to write any narratives about albums #21-26, since I still don't have a lot of time, and some of them I don't know backwards and forwards like the ones in the Top 20. So I'll just refresh your memory on Positions 21-30 and start with #20 sometime next week. Or, more likely, some night when I'm up late, which will be sooner rather than later, I suppose. So here's #21 through #30 for all of my beloved completists out there: 30. The Who Sell Out, The Who 29. The River, Bruce Springsteen 28. Personal Best, Harry Nilsson 27. Seducing Down the Door, John Cale 26. Shoot Out the Lights, Richard & Linda Thompson 25. Nuggets: Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era, Various Artists (apologies, Lenny Kaye) 24. Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947-74, Various Artists 23. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys 22. Astral Weeks, Van Morrison 21. All Things Must Pass, George Harrison The creme de la creme are pending.

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