S AT U R D AY, J A N U A RY 0 7 , 2 0 0 620 Favorite CDs -- The Full StoryTHE BEACH BOYS/Pet Sounds -- One of my favorite pleasures is thecomic strip Doonesbury, which I firmly believe combines the socialsatire/awareness of Charles Dickens with the ongoing pleasures of a TVshow and the political bite of Mencken to create one of the mostlasting, revealing and remarkable chronicles of any age. (It's beenongoing for 30 years and shows no sign of stopping.</p><p> Future historianswanting to know what our times were like would do well to start with it.So would future readers looking for entertainment of the highestorder.) And I was never a particular Beach Boys fan till a gay characteron Doonesbury who'd been around for many years came back into thepicture because he had AIDS.</p><p> Slowly, over many months (if not longer),we returned to him and saw his progress in the 80s as he got sicker andsicker.</p><p> This coincided with the rise of the CD, when fans of particularartists waited with bated breath for certain classic albums to finallycome out on the new format.</p><p> The release of the Beatles, for example,made headlines.</p><p> And the man dying of AIDS in this comic stripultimately had one goal: to live long enough to hear Pet Sounds on CD.I don't know how long Trudeau stretched that storyline out.</p><p> But in1990 on a Tuesday on the very day that Pet Sounds hit stores,Doonesbury simply showed the empty bedroom where the man hadbeen seen in his final days, a cool breeze blowing in the curtains andPet Sounds playing on his CD player.</p><p> The mix of the comic strip worldand the real one (hey, I was running out that day to buy the CD too)was stunning and moving and heartbreaking.</p><p> Needless to say, thealbum is worthy of that moment, gorgeous and reflective andexhilarating and sophisticated and sad, often in the same song.BEASTIE BOYS/Paul's Boutique -- Opened my mind once and for all tohow bold and experimental and hilarious and complex rap music andhip hop could be.THE BEATLES/Revolver -- Next week it'll be the White Album orAbbey Road or the unfairly ignored Sgt.</p><p> Pepper.</p><p> But today it's thisonce.</p><p> The greatest rock band of all time, obviously.THE BLUE NILE/A Walk Across The Rooftops -- a crazy little UK bandwith a crazy backstory.</p><p> Apparently, the guys in the band were regularNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: 20 Favorite CDs -- The Full Storyhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/01/20-favorite-cds-full-sto... 1 of 37/29/09 4:44 AMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SMichael in New YorkBiboyAaron POPSURFING.COM: 20 Favorite CDs -- The Full Storyhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/01/20-favorite-cds-full-sto... 2 of 37/29/09 4:44 AMPOPSURFING.COM: 20 Favorite CDs -- The Full Storyhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/01/20-favorite-cds-full-sto... 3 of 37/29/09 4:44 AM
