my favorite albums... 100 to 91

Didja read the intro?  Do that first.

And now... drumroll please... my 100 favorite albums of all time...

100
"Found a Place" by FFH (2000)... Poppy and light, but still a great devotional/worship album.  Be it a catchy tune about having the faith of "Daniel", or a prayer to be used however He sees fit, like in "Lord Move or Move Me", every song is a great devotion.  My favorite is the simple praise song "Be My Glory"... check that one out on iTunes, if nothing else.


99
"Forever Your Girl" by Paula Abdul (1989)... Nowadays, Paula Abdul is somewhat of a punchline.  Somewhat strange, flaky, rambling, a bubble of fluff and rainbows when she appeared on American Idol for what seemed like forever ago.  But back in the day, she was a hot dancer who became a hot singer who sang awesome stuff like "Opposites Attract", with some dude named MC Scat Cat.  She did a video where she had a romance with an animated, smoking cat!  And she was praised for it!  I love this CD.  My favorite cut is the title track, "Forever Your Girl".

98
"Cocktail" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1988)... My cousins Shannon and Frankie Jr, and his girlfriend at the time, were down from Virginia with family visiting us in Samson, Alabama, and the four of us decided to go to the movies.  Now, this is in Enterprise, Alabama, where you go to the Clark Cinemas--whichever movie you want, that's the window you went to.  Want this film, go to the left, want that film, go to the right, with the concession stand in the middle.  That night, Shannon and I went to see "Hot to Trot", with Bobcat Goldthwait and Frankie Jr and his chick went to see "Cocktail".  After our movies were over, we met in the parking lot.  Frankie Jr raved about "Cocktail", so we all went to see it.  Mine and Shannon's second film of the night, their 2nd time viewing the movie.  And at the time, I thought the movie was awesome.  Now?  Eh. Its okay, I guess.

The soundtrack is rollicking, though.  Its known for two main songs:  Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and the love it or hate it "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys, which subsequently led to a reunion and a new tour and John Stamos on drums.  No, I'm not kidding.

But the real gems are the covers of "All Shook Up" by Ry Cooder, and the original "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard.  It also features John Cougar Mellencamp, Starship and a bombastic Fabulous Thunderbirds on "Powerful Stuff"... my favorite of the bunch, though, is the "Hippy Hippy Shake" by the Georgia Satellites, which sometimes runs through my head when I'm rockin' at the espresso bar at Starbucks. 

97
"Third Day" by Third Day (1996)... At the beginning of my huge Christian music fandom, and what I consider the growing-up of the CCM industry, there was a band out of Atlanta that emerged.  They released this album with a bus on the front, and called it "Third Day"... this was after a few years of playing around the area, growing the fandom and releasing a few indie albums.  They have release 8 studio albums and 2 worship CDs since then, but to me, their first is by far the best.  It kicks off with "Nothing at All", then continues the bluesy rock with songs like "Blackbird", "Consuming Fire", and maybe the most well known from this CD, "Thief".  My favorite is "Take My Life", a soft, worship tune that I first heard when my frat brother Jason White strummed it on guitar.

96
"Momentum" by Toby Mac (2001)... Not sure that dcTalk will ever unite.  Makes me sad. That being said, Toby Mac is awesome.  Christian rap and hip hop sometimes gets a bad... well, rap... because... well... its usually awful.  I mean, most rap is awful, and Christian rap isn't much different.  But Toby Mac somehow makes it work.   And on "Momentum", there are shades of dcTalk all through, but it comes alive when you have guests like Kirk Franklin and GRITS join up.  My favorite track by far is "Irene", but mostly because we did a dance to that song when I did missions in New York City in 2002.  That ruled.

95
"Greatest Hits" by New Kids on the Block (2008)... Now, I know what you are going to say.  What is that doing on your list.  I know, I know... but I chose to put Greatest Hits and compilations on this list because yes, they are albums, and yes, they are albums I like.  There are several GH on this list, including 2 box sets, and even a few live albums.

What?  You meant "Why are the New Kids on this list?"  Well, because in high school, as a dude, I wasn't allowed to like them.  But as a grown up, I think its probably okay.  And I like this CD--it saves me from having to actually get any of their other stuff.  "Hangin' Tough", "Step by Step", "I'll Be Lovin' You (forever)"... take a listen, they aren't bad.  My favorite?  "Tonight"

94
"Dirty Dancing" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987)... Talk about an album to know by heart.  Glancing at the track listing for this record, I know every word to Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes"... every word to Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby!"... and all the cheesy notes to Mickey & Sylvia's "Love is Strange".  And, of course, "(I've had) The Time of My Life" with Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes.  My favorite is "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes.

93
"Songs You Know By Heart: Jimmy Buffett's Greatest Hit(s)" by Jimmy Buffett (1985)... Its hard to believe that all of these songs were before 1985--in fact, they are all from 1973 to 1979.  And yeah, if you are familiar with Buffett at all, you'll know "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Fins" and The Lovely Steph Leann's favorite, "Come Monday"... and of course, "Margaritaville", my favorite from the set.

92
"La Bamba" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987)... from a movie in my Top 500, I freakin' loved La Bamba when it came out.  The story of Richie Valens, starring Lou Diamond Phillips, it chronicles the rise of Valens, his stardom and his death, "The day the music died", in a plane crash with The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly.  The music in this movie should have its own credit in the cast list.  TexMex rockers Los Lobos provided all the songs for Valens, and are featured here on the first half of the album--"Donna", "Come On Let's Go", and "La Bamba" included.  The last half is also great, with covers of Buddy Holly's "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", Brian Setzer's version of "Summertime Blues" and the original Bo Diddley classic, "Who Do You Love".  But its the Jackie Wilson cover of "Lonely Teardrops" by Howard Huntsberry that stands out for me.

91
"Breathless" by Kenny G (1992)... Oh, come on.  In 1992, I liked it.  And guess what?  Its 12x platinum--it sold over 12,000,000 copies.  So, back off.

AND ONE THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT...
The problem with cutting it to 100 is there are still so many albums to talk about... so here's one that I loved, but didn't quite make the list:

"The Greatest Hits" by INXS (1994)... Once again, rather than buying all the CDs, I found it easier to just get this one.  And am I glad I did... "Suicide Blonde" with that opening riff... "What You Need" rocks... "Need You Tonight" is fun to sing... and "Beautiful Girls" is awesome.  It loses points though because it doesn't include the cool "Mediate"...

Coming soon... the next 10 favorite albums of all time... including something a little Weird... our first TV soundtrack... and finally, a real, hard rock album...

2005's Best Television

Everyone else is doing top ten lists... why can't I?

The Ten Best Television Shows of 2005

1--LOST.
By far one of my all time favorite shows, ever. Are you watching this show? If you aren't, don't even try it now. Rent the first season dvd, take a half day and watch about six episodes... it will suck you in and keep you revving for more. One thing seemingly so insignificant in one episode will turn up to be a major part of another episode, seven episodes later... it makes you go back and rewatch things to see what you missed... keep an eye on the background at all times, but don't lose sight of whats happening to Jack, Claire, Kate, Charlie, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Sun, Jin, Walt, Michael, Sayid, Boone and Shannon on the fateful flight of Oceanic Airlines 815.

2--MY NAME IS EARL.
This show is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen... Jason Lee (Vanilla Sky, Kevin Smith's movies, the voice of Syndrome in The Incredibles) is flawless as trailer trash Earl Hickey, trying to improve his karma by going back and fixing all that has gone wrong in his life.

3--SURVIVOR.
Eleven seasons in, and its still the granddaddy of all reality shows... well, perhaps thats The Real World, but Survivor is a front runner. If you have never seen it, season 12 will be popping up in February, where the show goes to Panama for its new Exile Island, a concept yet unseen in Survivordom. My personal favorite season ever was Season 2 in Australia, if only because the hottest thing to ever walk a Survivor aisle was in that season, speaking of Elisabeth Filarski (now she's Elisabeth Hasselback, and you can see her on The View in the mornings). And to top it off, she's a Republican AND a Christian!!

4--DIRTY JOBS.
This one comes on the Discovery Channel at various times... have you ever wondered what it was like cleansing a sewage tank? Perhaps cleaning a grease pit at a Mexican restaurant? Or going on a trash run through San Francisco's Chinatown district? Probably not... but this guy, Mike Rowe, does all this stuff. He spends time with people, doing the dirtiest jobs in America (stirring cheese??), all the stuff we take for granted. Of course, the show is only made better by his quick wit and great expressions when something comes up even he can't handle.

5--COLD CASE.
First of all, I love Kathryn Morris. I would watch her read a science book and enjoy it completely. (She was the grieving mom/wife of Tom Cruise in the movie Minority Report) However, this show is not only underrated, but brilliant... the premise is, Lily Rush (Morris) leads a police team that investigates unsolved crimes, using old evidence and new techniques to figure it out... some crimes are from a few years ago, some are decades old. Just a great show all around.

6--CITY CONFIDENTIAL.
This one is here because I'm a total nerd. I love forensic shows, and stuff on A&E and the like and this one is the best of them all. Simply a tale told of a small town, usually a town that you wouldn't mind living in... except there is always a catch. Usually its murder. It used to be narrated by the wonderful Paul Winfield, but since his death in 2004, Keith David took over. Still a great storyteller, though.

7--COLD CASE FILES.
Like the show of the similar name, old cases are solved... however, this one is real. Bill Kurtis is the narrator, and its like he's a grandfather telling you a tale, except this tale is full of homicides and serial killers. This stuff fascinates me, I can't help it. It recently celebrated its 100th episode with a story about the Green River Killer. Fantastic episode.

8--CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION.
Let me be clear... I have only seen one or two episodes of this show this season. Usually, Stephanie and I rent the DVDs of the previous season during the summer, hence we saw all of Season Four last summer and will see Season Five next summer. (Currently on tv is Season Six). But I would have to put this show down as one of my favorite shows, because it just rocks. Warrick Brown is a mack daddy, and the only reason I didnt rank this higher is because I haven't seen all the episodes.

9--SCRUBS.
Unfortunately, my old employer, NBC, likes to move this show around alot, and doesn't give it the fair shake it deserves. This is one of the most clever, funniest, sharpest shows on television. It will return to the line up I think in January, so I would say check it out. I have the first two seasons on DVD and I love it!

10--DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
Yes, yes, this show is not the cleanest show in the world. And yes, Season One was better. But still... it rocks. Simply a modern day soap opera for men & women, featuring four neighbors who consider themselves best friends, yet don't know much about each other in the least. Like Lost, it would be hard just to jump aboard and start watching. In fact, I don't know that I recommend it...

Shows I Watch Even Though I Don't Like To Admit It
Clean Sweep on TLC
Pimp My Ride
E!'s True Hollywood Story

Shows I Haven't Seen, or Have Quit Watching, but They Were Excellent and I Wish I Hadn't Stopped:
Veronica Mars
Prison Break

Dave's All Time Top Favorite Shows Ever on Television:
1. The Wonder Years (I grew up with Kevin Arnold. We were like brothers)
2. Doogie Howser MD (Doogie was the original blogger, before anyone knew what blogs were)
3. The A-Team (Now its a silly show... then it was the coolest thing ever)
4. Lost* (i would rank it here... has the potential to climb or drop, depending on the future)
5. Home Improvement (bar none, one of the top two or three funniest shows ever on TV)
6. Scarecrow & Mrs. King (comedy drama from back in the 80s. I used to watch this with my parents)
7. Scrubs* (see note for Lost)
8. The Dukes of Hazzard (at the time, it was fantastic. now its a little hokey, i'll admit)
9. Friends (we became friends my freshman year in college... ten years of my life were spent with ross, rachel, monica, phoebe, chandler and joey)
10. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation* (will definately move up my the time its all over)
Honorable Mention: Judging Amy, Knight Rider, You Can't Do That on Television, Hey Dude!, The Cosby Show

How About You?