Editor Note: Drive A Faster Car has lots of internet buddies. My internet buddy Joel here began a really great (and daunting) project over on Last.FM and thought the readers of DaFC might enjoy reading along, alas a series from Joel! Read on for what exactly this project of his is.

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I reset my charts today because I’m going to scrobble every CD I own once to see how the charts turn out. I have a huge record collection and this could take quite a long time. I figured it’d be fun and would give me a chance to delve into stuff I haven’t listened to in a long time.

I’ll keep tabs on the albums I listened to in a particular day by posting daily journals. I should mention that my tastes are incredibly varied. Indie rock, jazz, bluegrass, Indian classical music, avant-garde classical, blues, electronic music, classic rock, Afro-pop, metal, etc. You’re going to see a little bit of everything eventually. I should also state that my commentary won’t always be directly about the album in question. A lot of time it will be musings about the band in general or recollections about how a certain band or record is related to my personal life.

Enjoy…

1. The Beatles – Revolver

No significance in starting with The Beatles, I just hadn’t listened to them in a while and grabbed my favorite by them. I fought liking The Beatles for a long time (stupid, I know), but I used to be a strict modernist when it came to music and didn’t listen to many bands that weren’t still cranking music out. Anyway, what can be said about Revolver that hasn’t been said already?

2. Rush – Permanent Waves

What can I say? I like Rush. I know that cuts into my “indie cred,” but I gave up caring about that several years ago and find that I enjoy myself more. This is one of my favorite records by them and it includes two moderate hits: “The Spirit of Radio,” which is actually a swipe at the music industry and “Freewill.” Also included are two long songs, “Natural Science” and “Jacob’s Ladder” both of which appeal greatly to my inner progressive rock nerd.

3. 16 Horsepower – 16 Horsepower

I still lament and mourn the fact that this band is no more. Few bands made a more immediate impact on me than 16 Horsepower. I remember I had no idea who they were and they were opening for Morphine. Through various connections, I was inside the venue that day for soundcheck and upon hearing the first few notes I didn’t care whether Morphine played or not. This six song E.P. provides a decent sampling of the wide range of instruments they use: guitar, banjo, bandoneon, bass, drums, etc. A great first effort from one of the most intense live bands I’ve ever seen.

4. Pink Floyd – Meddle

I like Pink Floyd, but for some reason they’ve never been an object of infatuation for me like they have been for a lot of my friends (and especially one of my first girlfriends.) I can’t think of anything I’ve heard by them that I didn’t like (well, I’m not crazy about the reunion material, but I don’t really count that.) This disc would be worth owning just for “Echoes.”

AC/DC was the first “big” concert I ever went to. I’d been to some smaller, free events, but it was the first one I ever paid for myself. Considering I know people whose first show was something like New Kids on the Block, I’m pretty much okay with AC/DC being my first show. I kind of wrote them off when I delved into more experimental forms of music, but have found myself going back to their records a lot lately. “High Voltage” is an absolute classic and it’s hard to believe that the band could soldier on without the dynamic Bon Scott. I guess that’s a testament to how good Brian Johnson is. All of the trademark AC/DC stuff is here on their first record: monster riffs, immature lyrics, bawdiness, etc. Fun stuff.

Gustav Mahler is one of my favorite composers. His symphonies are looooooooooong. I think the shortest one is about fifty minutes long and longest one runs around 100 minutes. This one clocks in around eighty minutes and was the last one he completed (fragments from his incomplete 10th have been reconstructed by later composers.) Not many orchestras tackle these massive works because they’re difficult for the audience to sit through because of their length. I saw the Alabama Symphony tackle this one several years ago and it was awesome. I think orchestras should play them anyway. You know what you’re getting into if Mahler is on the bill, so I say play away.