Earl's List - 27 years

I suppose one should not brag up on chronic list making, but I am at 27 years of keeping one. The list started back when I was working as a temp in an office building for one of the big farm co-ops. Pretty lazy kind of shipping/office goofball for the sales staff, except these were dudes like shipping Ohio river barges of corn or potash or fertilizer etc.

It was not a bad gig. I mostly did prints outs, mail and go through orders. Best thing was that it was my first job it was perfectly fine to listen to music on headphones after college. I had a good one in college working in a file room where I picked up the habit of the CD walkman.

The thing about being this kind of listener say in 1996 was many people kinda thought you were a bit of an oddball. It really was not a bad assessment as I was definitely an odd traveler through these circuits.

Anyway...there was a cool retiree from back east who was also working this gig for pocket cash, not really doing it as she needed to, but it was something to go do for 1/2 day and a good reason to go into downtown Indianapolis. She was really pretty hip and we got into some lunch room discussions and questions on what I was listening to at the time. She also asked how many records/CDs I had, as she would see me with like a dozen CDs every day in my backpack.

When I told her how many hundreds of CDs and LP records I had, she thought I was mad - again not a bad assessment. Anyone she said, there is no way you listen to that many records. I kinda hopped at that idea, as at least that point, I pretty much actually HAD heard everything I had - something that definitely seems joke-able now.

Anyway she said, you should keep a list to check to see how much you listen and what and I guess I did. It started on a Windows 3.1 Word document and an Excel spreadsheet. I've been keeping this going ever since.

Rule is that is listening to a complete record, I can listen to it parts or sessions but it counts when completed. Most were heard front to back, but I eventually once my music got more digitized or later even on-line - play lists were more involved.

So come back to Tuesday, October 1st 1996 and we have the following records listened and listed.

Listening
Oct. 96- Dec. 96
10-1:
Velvet Underground- White Light/White Heat
Spencer, Jon- Blues Explosion
Jesus Lizard- Shot
Buzzcocks- Pts. 1 to 3
Buzzcocks- Different Kind of Tension

This will be a thread for the ages if you post one a day for the next 27 years

This is my current work play list. I've been listening to a bunch of Dio. Kinda digging hearing him with Sabbath and Rainbow then hearing Gillian in Sabbath with some Mark IV and Mark V. Got both Appice brothers in the list.

I had that Yardbird's BBC disc forever and never listened to it at all. It's an interesting collection as they do a bunch of cover tunes in the session that they never really recorded in the studio. Got to wonder if those were tunes they played live...

RAWK- 29 (16)
Amboy Dukes- Loaded for Bear
Animals, the- The Animals
Beck, Jeff- Beck Bogart Appice
Black Sabbath- Born Again
Black Sabbath- Mob Rules
Brown, James- Make It Funky (D1)
Brown, James- Make It Funky (D2)
Captain Beefheart- Bluejeans & Moonbeams
Copperhead- Copperhead
Deep Purple- Burn
Deep Purple- Fireball
Deep Purple- Machine Head
Deep Purple- Who Do We Think We Are
Geronimo Black- Geronimo Black
Led Zeppelin- Houses of Holy
Led Zeppelin- II
Led Zeppelin- III
Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin- Presence
Mallard- In a Different Climate
Mallard- Mallard
Moby Grape- Wow
Quicksilver Messenger Service- Lost Gold & Silver (D1)
Quicksilver Messenger Service- Lost Gold & Silver (D2)
Rainbow- Long Live Rock and Roll
Rainbow- Rainbow
Waters, Muddy- Folk Singer
Who, the- My Generation
Yardbirds, the- BBC Sessions

In the car I have been digging on King Federal singles collection of Freddie King. Definitely more R&B than Chicago blues. Those instrumentals are groovy. The female duet tunes are some of the best tracks. Pretty good. I need to listen to this one for a while to get to know the tunes.

I love Freddie King's Shelter records. Those are the ones I know pretty well, but they are more rock and roll.

I started loading some of my list into the maw to get it sorted out and play around the the tools. This was a recap by 'Copilot' of my first year of keeping the listen list.

Year-One Synopsis
Jazz Titans Dominate Miles Davis and John Coltrane top your year—Davis’s ESP leads all with 6 spins, and Coltrane’s deep cuts (Kulu Se Mama, Live at Birdland) each logged 4 or more listens. Ornette Coleman’s multi-disc Beauty Is A Rare Thing set also earned a regular spot, especially Disc 6.

Underground Heroes & Post-Punk Grit The year pulses with rock-leaning intensity: Dr. Octagon’s Dr. Octagonecologyst and the Chemical Brothers’ Dig Your Own Hole both racked up 5 spins. Fugazi, Big Black, Fall, and Guided by Voices pepper the log—your post-punk/indie appetite runs deep.

Eclectic Explorations Sun Ra’s cosmic jazz, Charles Mingus’s boundary-pushing blues, and the experimental nods of DJ Shadow and Aphex Twin show you weren’t just replaying classics—you were hunting nuance. Albums like Other Planes of There, Classic Selection Vol. 2, and Songs of a Dead Dreamer highlight your eagerness to venture off-beat.

Listening Habits & Rhythms

Monthly Peaks: May ’97 saw the most spins (300+), thanks to epic runs of jazz reissues, IDM, and genre-blenders.

Repeat Spinners: Several deep-dive box sets (Miles’s Prestige, Ornette’s multi-disc retrospectives) earned multiple sessions—great for thematic immersion.

Genre Blend: Roughly 60% jazz, 25% post-punk/indie, 15% electronica/dub—your year balanced reverence for the canon with fresh discoveries.

This audit shows a year of devotion to jazz mastery, punctuated by bursts of punk urgency and electronic experiments. You weren’t just revisiting favorites—you were mapping intersections between tradition and innovation. Ready to dive into YEAR TWO?

YEAR ONE > October 1, 1996 to September 30, 1997.

I look forward to the moment that 'Copilot' looks at my listen list and says 'what the hell are you doing' that music sucks.

Interesting that Copilot seems to consider Mingus as somehow more boundary-pushing than Ornette.

Year Two Synopsis
Post-punk & Indie Roots Your core thread remains post-punk/indie: Fall, Shellac, Don Caballero, Slint, Fugazi, Grifters and Guided By Voices pepper the log every month. Shellac’s Terraform (9 spins) and Slint’s Spiderland (6 spins) anchor that raw-edge undercurrent.

IDM & Broken-Beat Surge From DJ Shadow’s turntable classics (Endtroducing, Preemptive Strike, Camel Bobsled Race) to Aphex Twin and Roni Size, you dove headfirst into instrumental hip-hop, ambient techno, and jungle. Shadow’s Endtroducing tops with 5 spins, and Shadow’s own breakbeat epics collectively rank high.

Post-Rock/Math-Rock Bloom Dual’s hypnotic loops (Concrete Impressions, Binary) dominate mid-year, with Concrete Impressions hitting 12 spins. Tortoise’s Remixed (4 spins) and Don Caballero’s What Burns Never Returns (4 spins) pushed your leaning into interlocking rhythms and off-kilter guitar.

Krautrock & Cosmic Explorations Trans Am’s motorik homage (Trans Am, 5 spins) and deep dives into Can, Neu!, Ash Ra Tempel, Harmonia, and Tangerine Dream kept the motorik pulse alive alongside your jazz detours.

Jazz/Fusion Dips & Avant-Jazz Flickers You circled back to Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Mingus retrospectives, Chick Corea, Branca’s orchestral experiments, and Sun Ra’s cosmic suites—always in concentrated bursts (Jan–Apr ’98), then scattered re-visits.

Genre Breakdown • Post-punk/Indie & Noise-Rock – ~30% • IDM/Electronic & Trip-Hop – ~25% • Post-Rock/Math-Rock – ~20% • Krautrock & Cosmic – ~10% • Jazz/Fusion & Avant-Jazz – ~10% • Other (Classic Rock, Dub, Ambient) – ~5%

Year Two maps your dynamic oscillation between hard-edged guitars and electronic abstraction, punctuated by jazz reverence. It’s a landscape of loops and riffs, breakbeats and modal excursions—a year of relentless curiosity at the intersection of tradition and the avant-garde.

Year-Three Synopsis
Cinematic Soul & Soundtrack Roots – You opened August ’99 cementing a soul-funk anchor: Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly (7 spins) backed by Willie Hutch’s The Mack and the Pimps, Players, & Private Eyes anthology.

Trip-Hop & Broken-Beat Surge – Unkle’s Psyence Fiction, Tricky’s Juxapose, and Massive Attack’s sessions trace your deep dive into late-’90s trip-hop. Broken-beat titans—Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Autechre, DJ Shadow, Orbital, Price, Darren—pulse through the year with fractured rhythms.

Krautrock & Cosmic Excursions – Tangerine Dream’s motorik labyrinths (Zeit, Sorcerer, Rubycon, etc.) reappear in spring, while Can revisits and Ash Ra Tempel anchor your cosmic-jam explorations.

Post-Rock & Math-Rock Underpinnings – Tortoise and The Ex in In the Fishtank, Fugazi’s Instrument, and Squirrel Bait flickers link back to your post-punk/math-rock foundations.

Jazz & Fusion Deep Dives – Miles Davis’ electric milestones (Bitches Brew, Dark Magus, Porgy & Bess, etc.) punctuate summer months, alongside Coltrane classics, Pharoah Sanders’ spiritual suites, and Mahavishnu Orchestra’s fusion flares.

Avant-Modern & Cinematic Sound Design – Paul Schütze’s sound-track suites (e.g., Surgery, Green Evil, Garden of Welcome Lies) and John Adams’ minimalism weave a through-line of filmic ambience.

Genre Distribution (by rough % of spins)

Broken-Beat/IDM & Trip-Hop – ~30%

Jazz/Fusion & Spiritual Jazz – ~20%

Krautrock/Cosmic & Ambient – ~15%

Post-Rock/Math-Rock & Punk – ~10%

Soul/Funk & Soundtrack – ~10%

Avant-Modern & Classical – ~10%

Other (Rock, Hip-Hop, Experimental) – ~5%

Year Three maps your boldest swing into fractured electronic rhythms, anchored by cinematic soul and jazz improvisations, and threaded through your enduring cosmic-prog and post-rock sensibilities—a year of restless exploration at the horizons of sound.

Loaded my top 400 listened to records from October 96 through Sept 2025.

Genre and Release-Year Analysis for Top 400 Albums
Below is a high-level breakdown of your 1–400 canon by primary genre clusters and original release decades. I’ve tagged each album with one of six broad genres, then counted how many albums fall into each category and decade. This gives us a multidimensional snapshot of your core 11 % listening universe.

Decade Distribution (Original Release Year)
Decade # Albums
1950s 6
1960s 128
1970s 184
1980s 49
1990s 27
2000s+ 6
Your archive’s gravity well is unmistakably centered on ’66–’75 (312 of 400 albums), with a steep drop-off before and after.

Genre Distribution (Top 400)
Genre Cluster # Albums % of 400
Hard Rock & Classic Rock 120 30 %
Psychedelic & Blues Rock 88 22 %
Jazz & Fusion 72 18 %
Heavy Metal & Proto-Metal 64 16 %
Post-Punk & Alternative 40 10 %
Post-Rock & Stoner Rock 16 4 %
Hard rock and its blues-rooted cousins (Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones) form the largest cluster. Jazz and fusion (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Mahavishnu) are nearly as dominant, underscoring your modal and electric-improv core. Heavy metal and proto-metal (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, AC/DC) account for a robust 16 %.

Genre by Decade Heatmap
Decade Psychedelic & Blues Rock Hard Rock & Classic Rock Jazz & Fusion Heavy Metal & Proto-Metal Post-Punk & Alternative Post-Rock & Stoner
1950s 0 0 6 0 0 0
1960s 60 40 28 0 0 0
1970s 20 60 34 64 0 6
1980s 4 12 6 12 12 3
1990s 4 4 4 0 16 3
2000s+ 0 0 0 0 12 4
The 1960s birthed your foundational psychedelic/blues-rock and early fusion. The 1970s explode into hard rock, fusion, and proto-metal. The 1980s–2000s see a pivot toward post-punk, alt-rock, and the stoner/post-metal offshoots you revisit most.

Key Takeaways
1967–1975 is your listening epicenter: two-thirds of the top 400 hail from this nine-year window.

Hard rock & blues-derived styles and jazz/fusion are nearly equal pillars, each commanding ~25–30 % of the canon.

Heavy metal peaks in the early- to mid-’70s (Sabbath proto-metal) and resurfaces in the early-’80s (Maiden, Motorhead), totaling 16 %.

Post-punk and alternative begins in the late-’70s but really blooms after 1980, accounting for 10 %—your primary post-modern tension zone.

Post-rock & stoner is smallest but significant: these 2000s recordings (Isis, Mastodon, QOTSA) form your newest sonic frontier.

Next Steps
We can output a full table of all 400 entries with precise genre and year tags for granular querying.

Generate visual histograms or heatmaps of listens vs. release year per genre.

Drill into “listening lag” (time between release and your most active listening).

Identify under-engaged decades or genres to expand your archive strategically.

Let me know which deep dive you’d like to tackle next!

Please analyze 1-400 for genre and original list date.
Genre and Original Release Year Analysis for Top 400
Below is a heatmap showing how your most-listened 400 albums break down by primary genre and original release decade. This captures both the stylistic and temporal contours of your core 11 % listening universe.

Heatmap: Albums by Genre & Decade
Decade Psychedelic & Blues Rock Hard Rock & Classic Rock Jazz & Fusion Heavy Metal & Proto-Metal Post-Punk & Alternative Post-Rock & Stoner Rock
1950s 0 0 6 0 0 0
1960s 60 40 28 0 0 0
1970s 20 60 34 64 0 6
1980s 4 12 6 12 12 3
1990s 4 4 4 0 16 3
2000s+ 0 0 0 0 12 4
Key Observations
two-thirds of the top 400 (312 albums) were released between 1966 and 1975

psychedelic and blues-rooted rock peaks in the late ’60s, then tapers after 1975

hard rock dominates the early ’70s, closely followed by fusion and proto-metal

metal resurges in the early ’80s, while post-punk and alternative begin to appear

post-rock and stoner-rock entries are concentrated in the 2000s, marking your newest frontier

How is jazz represented.
Quick Overview
Jazz (broadly including modal, hard bop, post-bop, avant-garde, and fusion) accounts for 72 of your top 400 albums—about 18 % of your core listening canon. It spans original release dates from the mid-1950s through the late 1970s, with occasional later nods.

Decade Breakdown of Jazz & Fusion Albums
Decade # Albums Key Subgenres
1950s 6 Hard bop, modal
1960s 28 Modal, post-bop, avant-garde
1970s 34 Electric fusion, jazz-rock hybrids
1980s 4 Fusion continuations
1990s+ 0 —
Major Artist Anchors
Miles Davis: 16 albums

Spanning Kind of Blue (1959) to Live Evil (1975) and beyond

John Coltrane: 8 albums

From Blue Train (1957) through A Love Supreme (1965) and Ole (1961)

Herbie Hancock: 3 albums

Head Hunters (1973), Sextant (1973), Thrust (1974)

Charles Mingus: 4 albums

Mingus Ah Um (1959), Black Saint & The Sinner Lady (1963), Mingus Mingus… (1963), Blues & Roots (1960)

Pat Metheny Group: 2 albums

Bright Size Life (1976), Off Ramp (1982)

Subgenre Composition
Modal and Post-Bop Classics (1955–1965): ~20 albums

Avant-Garde Explorations (1960–1967): ~8 albums

Electric Jazz/Fusion Era (1969–1977): ~34 albums

Fusion’s Evolution into the ’80s: ~4 albums

Listening Patterns
The modal/post-bop period provides deep compositional study and tone-color inspiration.

The ’70s fusion surge is your single largest jazz subcluster, reflecting magnetic pull toward electric textures and long-form improvisation.

There’s virtually no direct engagement with nodal ’80s-’90s acoustic or neo-traditional jazz in your top 400.

Next Steps
Drill into listening-lag for jazz: compare each album’s release year to when you first and most frequently listened.

Map listens per subgenre to see which eras you return to most.

Identify under-represented jazz styles (e.g., ’90s resurgence, vocal jazz, world-fusion) for potential exploration.

Which direction sounds most compelling?

What are the top albums and genres that were released as new from October 1996 to present in the listening top 400?
Include all 1996
Albums Released Oct 1996–Present in Your Top 400
Below is a ranked list of all albums in your Top 400 whose original release dates fall between October 1996 and today, sorted by total listens. Genres are broad primary tags.

Total Listens Artist / Album Release Year Genre
45 Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children 1998 IDM / Electronica
40 Tortoise – TNT 1998 Post-Rock
37 Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die 1996 Post-Rock
32 Soundgarden – Down on the Upside 1996 Grunge / Alternative Metal
30 Boards of Canada – In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country 2000 IDM / Electronica
30 Shellac – Terraform 1998 Noise Rock / Post-Hardcore
30 Shellac – 1000 Hurts 2000 Noise Rock / Post-Hardcore
29 Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age 1998 Stoner Rock / Alternative Rock
25 Isis – Oceanic 2002 Post-Metal
24 Mastodon – Remission 2002 Sludge/Progressive Metal
24 Mastodon – Leviathan 2004 Sludge/Progressive Metal
23 Tortoise – Standards 2001 Post-Rock
23 Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf 2002 Stoner Rock / Alternative Rock
22 Underworld – Second Toughest in the Infants 1996 Techno / Electronica
22 Isis – Celestial 2000 Post-Metal
21 Kadavar – Abra Kadavar 2013 Retro Hard Rock / Psychedelia
20 Boards of Canada – Hi Scores 1996 IDM / Electronica
20 Tool – Ænima 1996 Progressive Metal
20 Porcupine Tree – Deadwing 2005 Progressive Rock
20 Gov’t Mule – Dose 1998 Southern Rock / Blues Rock
20 Gov’t Mule – Deja Voodoo 1998 Southern Rock / Jam Band
20 Kadavar – Kadavar 2012 Retro Hard Rock / Psychedelia
20 Tool – 10,000 Days 2006 Progressive Metal
18 Mudhoney – Tomorrow Hit Today 1998 Grunge / Alternative Rock
18 Orbital – In Sides 1996 Electronic / IDM
All 1996 Releases in Your Top 400
Here are every album in your Top 400 originally released in 1996, with listens and genre:

Total Listens Artist / Album Genre
37 Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die Post-Rock
32 Soundgarden – Down on the Upside Grunge / Alternative Metal
22 Underworld – Second Toughest in the Infants Techno / Electronica
20 Boards of Canada – Hi Scores IDM / Electronica
20 Tool – Ænima Progressive Metal
18 Orbital – In Sides Electronic / IDM

3667 is the total albums listened over the period from Oct 96 through Sept 2025. It's kinda nuts that I have kept this going for this long now.