Weekend Listomania (Special Three is the Loneliest Number Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental houseboy Hop-Sing -- you know...THAT one -- are off to a weekend vigil outside the Austin, Texas home of dog-burning enthusiast Toby Petzold. Apparently the poor lad is on some kind of suicide watch brought on by depression over the current presidential polling results, and we're going to camp outside his miserable hovel humble apartment with chicken soup and Oxycontin in case he does something rash.

In any case, as a result, posting by moi will necessarily be somewhat fitful for a few days.

But until then, as always, here's a fun project for you all to contemplate:

Post-Elvis Pop/Rock Band or Solo Act With At Least Three Genuinely Great Studio Albums To Their Credit!!!

Totally arbitrary rule: The 60s Holy Trinity -- Beatles, Stones, Dylan -- need not apply. Anybody else -- Ross Bagdasarian, Mrs. Miller, anybody -- is eligible. But not those guys, for the obvious reason that they're too obvious.

Incidentally, I was somewhat surprised while putting this together that there are lots -- and I mean lots! -- of artists I think have at least two masterpieces to their credit (the Kinks, the Clash, and the Beach Boys come immediately to mind). Artists with three? Not so many.

Okay, that said, here's my totally top of my head Top Seven:

7. The Who



Sell Out, Who's Next, and either Tommy or Quadrophenia, depending on my mood.

6. Elvis Costello



My Aim is True, This Years Model and Armed Forces are pretty much unarguable, nest-ce pas?

5. Smashing Pumpkins



Okay, just kidding, but as I promised last week, it's time to resume our project of working Billy Corgan's pretentious bald noggin into every Listomania from now till doomsday.

4. Joni Mitchell



Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, and Court and Spark are all indispensable. And I think you can make a case for Hissing of Summer Lawns or Hejira. Or even Clouds, for crying out loud. Incidentally -- if "River" (the YouTube clip above) doesn't make you cry, I don't want to know you.

3. Stevie Wonder



Talking Book, Innervisions, and Songs in the Key of Life. A genius, obviously.

2. Neil Young



Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Harvest, and After the Gold Rush -- all great, no? And arguably several others since, of course. Incidentally, Buffalo Springfield didn't make the cut because their third and last album, wonderful as it is, is patchy compared to their first two. IMHO.

And the coolest artist with at least three masterpieces under his belt, please, it's not even a contest because the guy's never made a bad album, so don't even think about bugging me with somebody else, is ---

1. Richard Thompson



Liege and Lief (with Fairport Convention), I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, and Shoot Out The Lights. Each totally different, each totally brilliant.

Awrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania [theme: battle scenes!] is now up over at Box Office. As always, if you could see your way over there to leave a comment, an angel gets its wings.]