WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 15, 2024

 WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 15, 2024

A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. I begin with data from 

Comscore and then pull from every other source available. 

1. Moana 2–$117m / $717m worldwide total 

2. Pushpa 2: The Rule–$74m / $167m ww

3. Wicked–$69m / $525m ww 

4. Gladiator II–$31m / $399m ww

5. Kraven The Hunter–$26m ww debut 

6. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi--$13m / $88m ww 

7. The Last Dance–$12m / $30m ww

8. Red One–$11m / $175m ww 

 9. Interstellar–$8m / $746m ww 

10. The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim–$8m / $10m ww  

11. The Prosecutor–$8m ww debut 

12. The Firefighters–$7m / $12m ww 

13. Interstella5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem–$7m ww debut 

14. Conclave–$6m / $45m ww

15. Burning Star aka Gu Xing Ji Hua–$6m / $13m ww

16. Cells at Work! (2024)–$6m ww debut 

17. Paddington in Peru–$5m / $45m ww

18. I Am What I Am 2–$5m ww debut 

19. Anora–$4m / $29m ww

20. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$2m / $37m ww 

21. Venom: The Last Dance–$3m / $476m ww 

22. Heretic–$2m / $43m ww

23. Y2K–$2m / $4m ww 

24. Queer–$2m ww 

25. The Substance–$1m / $57m ww

26. Cesium Fallout–$1m / $41m ww

27. Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.–$1m / $12m ww 

28. I'm Still Here–$1m / $10m ww

29. Good Luck–$1m / $8m ww 

30. Small Things Like These–$1m / $8m ww

31. Flow–$1m / $ 5m ww 

32. Solo Leveling: Reawakening–$1m / $5m ww 

33. For King and Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas Live–$1m / $3.6m ww

Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit. 

ANALYSIS 

As I feared, Kraven The Hunter and The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim both failed to ignite at the box office. The December box office looked weak and so it proved. Happily, Moana 2 and Wicked (and to a lesser degree, Gladiator 2) proved big hits, with smaller films like Conclave and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever chipping in some steady business. You really do need all sorts of movies at all budget levels for a healthy box office and that's the only ingredient lacking from 2024: not enough movies (in fact, 25% fewer wide releases than was typical from 2016-2019) and certainly not enough of a mix. 

Worldwide, it's great to see the huge success of both China's Her Story and India's Telugu hit Pushpa 2. Now if someone can explain to me why the film Pushpa 2 immediately exploded and has already tripled and will easily quadruple the originals box office–despite similar mixed reviews–I'd be beholden. Why did they give it a budget bigger than the original's entire gross? Why has it proven so much more popular? Was it a massive hit on streaming or as a rental in homes? Heck, I don't even know how well developed India's streaming ecosystem is, actually. I know Hollywood competes but at a much smaller level than in the US. Do most folks watch hits like Pushpa 1 as a rental, on DVD, via streaming, via cable? Enquiring minds want to know.

As an aside, let me share an anecdote. I was doing some Amazon query and spoke via text chat to a live human being. Given their name, at the end of their help I told them I was in London and asked where they were at. India, she responded. Have you seen Pushpa 2 yet, I asked? She was astonished and said no and how the heck did I know about it. Had I seen Pushpa 1? We chatted about it and she was even more blown away when I told her the new movie had opened in the Top 10 in the US (North America really) and was very pleased and proud. I told her further how this happens quite often now and that in Birmingham, AL there's a strong Indian community and the local multiplex (an AMC, but I assumed she wouldn't have heard of it) showed one or two or even three films from India every week. Jaw dropped. And when I mentioned they were Hindi and Telugu and Tamil and so on, I won a fan for life. I humble brag about this because a lot of times Indian studios don't bother to report their grosses to ComScore. They should! It's free advertising. And every moviegoer in India should know about the notable success Indian films have at the North American box office. More free advertising! 

Back to our regular program. 

Now we have to hope Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa: The Lion King will overperform, while Moana 2 and Wicked pick up steam again next week so we can end the year strong and hit $8.3b in North America. That's exactly where we should end up, given the dramatic lack of wide releases, due to the strikes and lockdown. If 2025, brings us a normal level of wide releases and a strong mix of every genre and budget size, we have every reason to expect box office to hit $10b to $11b again. No waiting needed. Hence my weekly reminder below.

P.S. Don't get hung up on the "ranking" of a movie. being #1 or #4 doesn't really matter. Every movie might well be at a different stage in its campaign. The numbering is just to help you read the list easily and check for its notes if you're not sure what the movie is about or where it's from. 

NOTE: Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $7.6b, with Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide

1. Moana 2–Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.  

2. Pushpa 2: The Rule–$60mb. The original Indian/Telugu film cost half as much and only grossed $46m. So the sequel cost more than the original movie's gross.  But it doubled the original's entire gross in its first week. Originally, a chunk of the two films were shot at the same time, but they did significant reshoots, so just 10% came from the first go-round. Yes, it was the highest grossing Indian movie of 2021; yes it's one of the highest grossing Telugu films of all time.  But even the lowest estimate of the original's budget is $23mb, so it wasn't a huge hit to begin with. I am puzzled. Are the economics different for Indian films? I wouldn't be surprised if the calculations were different. There are no reports of the first film being a particular hit on streaming or on demand etc, which might justify all this. I think it's another example of Indian films committing to a sequel before there's any demand. Indeed, this film was cut into two parts before the first release. A number of other films seem to be two-parters, which is a very rare thing in Hollywood but less so in India. Is it a good idea? I don't think so. And having said all that, it's off to an excellent start. Why? It's no better reviewed than the first. Maybe they got lucky but Indian studios should rethink all these two and three-parters.  

3. Wicked–$150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup marketing. It's a big movie! Still has at least 12% of the worldwide market to open in, including Japan, Germany and Russia. 

4. Gladiator II–$250mb for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. It needs $750m worldwide for me to call it a hit from theatrical alone but $600m would be just fine. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have legs? 

5. Kraven The Hunter–$120mb. 

6. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi --Chinese drama, literally translated as "Nice One." Single mom moves in with another single gal; adventures ensue. I don't like calling film's hits without some reporting on its budget. But I can't imagine this type of film costing even $20m, so it's a hit!

7. The Last Dance–this Hong Kong film is about a man who switches from wedding planner to a funeral home, so he can better understand death and dying. A critical and commercial smash, it's been praised as lovely in the Western press and at $16m as of Dec 7 (or HK$122m), making it the highest grossing Hong Kong film of all time. Remake alert!!! Now it's opened in China to $2m. Not sure why it hasn't been on the radar before since it made its money pretty fast. They must not have been reporting to Comscore or others; too busy enjoying a homegrown hit. 

8. Red One–Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans action/Xmas comedy. A budget reportedly up to $250mb. It's a theatrical failure, but that failure would have been just as clear if it had gone straight to streaming. Now at least it is (almost) paying for a worldwide marketing blitz and that can only help. Remember how people rented crap movies at Blockbuster simply because they'd "heard" of it during the theatrical run? Same idea. 

9. Interstellar–$165mb for Christopher Nolan film reissued here after several stops and starts. I wanted to see this in IMAX but life interfered. $734m before reissue in North America.

10. The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim–per Screendollar, the budget is $30mb for this animated prequel to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies. Even at that price, it almost certainly won't be a theatrical hit.  Taken solely from minor footnotes in the novels, it's a gamble but a smart one. An animated film won't be compared to Peter Jackson's masterpiece. (See: the TV series.) And it's not retelling stories we've already heard. (See: superhero movies that go back to the well by redoing an origin story for Superman, Spiderman, et al.) Unfortunately, you still have to be good. The trailer I saw disappointed and audiences are not responding. A pity.  

11. The Prosecutor–Chinese drama starring Donnie Yen, who uncovers a deep conspiracy when a poor young man is framed for drug trafficking. Not on Donnie's watch!

12. The Firefighters–Korean drama with hot young newbie joining firefighter squad, only to butt heads with a legendary veteran. 

13. Interstella5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem–maybe $4mb. An animated made in 2003 to tie-in to the duo Daft Punk's second album Discovery. It seems to have premiered at Cannes (how did I miss it?) and after a nominal theatrical run right onto BluRay. Now it's been sorta remastered and released worldwide to–I think–nearly $7m. (I couldn't find any figures for the first run 21 years ago.) This wordless animated French film tied to an album that came out two decades ago which most of us have never heard somehow opened in the Top Ten in North America. Which goes to demonstrate how thin the competition is for movies right now. (I am not commenting on the quality of this film I haven't seen, which might be brilliant!) 

14. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means they're likely to have a hit when all is said and done. It's at $39m and still going strong, with a boost from potential Oscar noms, assuming they don't rush it to streaming. 

15. Burning Star aka Gu Xing Ji Hua (aka Ancient Star Project)–Chinese drama about hot students who attempt a top secret, doomed-to-fail suicide mission to rescue and evacuate others. 

16. Cells at Work! (2024)–No budget reported. You think Hollywood overdoes the remakes and brand extensions? Ha! Japan is relentless in taking ideas and repurposing them in every way possible. Consider the Japanese manga series Cells at Work!, a serialized story that tells the story of a red blood cell just looking to do her job in the body. It's an anthropomorphized story with a cute girl (the red blood cell) bumping into this hot dude every once in a while (he's a white blood cell) and generally having adventures and romance and the like. It was serialized in a monthly manga magazine and then, oh boy. So far it's spun off into 13 different mangas like Cells at Work!: Bacteria and Cells at Work!: Muscle and then wo anime series, a stage show, a mobile app, an anime film and now a live action film and presumably lots of merchandise. I mean, seriously, Hollywood is practically reserved in comparison. 

17. Paddington in Peru–$50mb? I'm just guessing. (That's sort of midpoint between the original and Paddington 2.) Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise.

18. I Am What I Am 2–Chinese animated film is a sequel to a 2021 animated action comedy. This time, a newcomer to Shanghai agrees to fight in a boxing/martial arts tournament to raise money for his ailing dad. It's a spiritual sequel to the first film, which was critically praised but only grossed $40m ww. In that film, a kid competes in a lion dancing competition while his ailing dad is in a coma. 

19. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. But since the most he ever got before is $2mb, I'm assuming this isn't that much. It's opened pretty wide already, so I guess a real platform throughout awards season won't happen? A shame not to let this play into March 2025 where Conan O'Brien can give Anora her flowers. Still, it's already more than doubling The Florida Project, which made $11m off a $1mb. 

20. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$10mb for this holiday faith-based film based on the gentle 1972 novel. It's a more religiousy A Christmas Story. 

21. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly. And yet...it's just matching the $500m of #2. They might be tempted to go for four, but they shouldn't. 

22. Heretic–reported $10mb horror flick starring Hugh Grant as a gent more than willing to invite two Mormons into his home to debate religious beliefs. 

23. Y2K–teen sci-fi horror comedy (a description that makes me like it already). Two kids decide to crach the biggest party of the year as Y2K threatens to upend everything. In this case, it does. (In real life, by the way, Y2K was indeed a very significant issue companies all over the world spent tons of money–hard to guess but easily $100m+–and time worldwide to fix before computers when klabooey. It was not a "nothing burger." Just saying. Anyway, this could be dumb fun. 

24. Queer–$50mb. Yes, my jaw just dropped. Who the hell spent $50m to make Queer, an adaptation of a seedy William S. Burroughs novel (he never wrote any other type) about a down-on-his-luck older man becoming besotted with a younger man who can't be bothered with him, seemingly. I assumed it was a labor of love from star Daniel Craig and director Luca Guadagnino. I mean, $50m is bonkers for this sad, period drama. Bonkers. I mean, Call Me By Your Name cost $3.5m, caught lightning in a bottle with Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer and grossed an exceptional $43m. Surely that was the blueprint here? They just added a zero, I guess to the budget and their expectations. Challengers cost $55m and grossed $96m worldwide. 

25. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. So I guess despite all the back and forth on its grosses, this really is a winner now. 

26. Cesium Fallout–Hong Kong disaster flick starring Andy Lau. A radioactive leak threatens the island. 

27. Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.–a modestly budgeted film about the anti-Nazi martyr which is denounced by his descendants and experts on the life of Bonhoeffer. They say the film distorts his life and teachings to promote Christian nationalism. While the Nazis accused and executed Bonhoeffer for involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler, he had already been imprisoned and there's no evidence linking him to it. Showing him wielding a gun in the poster is one of many reasons the family and others have lambasted the film. 

28. I'm Still Here–A reported $1.5mb. Director Walter Salles drama about a Brazilian woman searching for her missing husband during the dictatorship of Brazil that lasted more than 20 years. Brazil's Oscar hopeful enjoyed acclaim and awards at Venice. One of the biggest Brazilian hits of all time in its home country.

29. Good Luck–Indian/Hindi comedy in which 75 year old grandmother might be pregnant! 

30. Small Things Like These–low budget Cillian Murphy drama about worker faced with knowledge of nuns treating young women abusively. Backed by Ben Affleck/Matt Damon production company. Lovely to see this small film chugging along. Presumably, the budget was very low and all are just happy to see the film was made and being seen. But who owns the negative? That's the piece of the puzzle that's missing from the coverage I read about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's new production company. 

31. Flow–A critically acclaimed Latvian animated film about a cat; no subtitles. It's been playing in Latvia and France and just now expanding in the US. Doing well via word of mouth, so I'm pretending it grossed $1m this week to acknowledge it going wider in the US. It's now grossed $4 worldwide. 

32. Solo Leveling: Reawakening–this Korean animated film began as a fantasy "web novel," sort of the easiest and cheapest way to launch an idea and see if it might be popular and translate into more profitable media. Yes, indeed, in this case! It became a webtoon, a video game, an anime series and next up a live action adaptation. This film is a compilation of events from the first season of the anime series, plus episodes 1 and 2 from season two. So it's a glorified launch of TV episodes, a la The Chosen. I'm assuming anything they make is gravy since it cost nothing. Hence my calling it a hit from day one. 

33. For King and Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas Live–the Christian rock band offers a live holiday show. Will it play for the next few weeks? We shall see.

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on each movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

What about when I blithely state a film has opened in TK% of the world? For example, I claim The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim opened in about 9% of the worldwide market. I long wanted to know how "wide" a movie has opened around the world. It's easy to know how wide a film opened in one country. In the US/Canada, a limited release might be two theaters or 20. A wide release used to mean 1000 theaters and now big movies easily open on 2000 or 3000 or even 4000 theaters. (We talk about theaters, not screens, since screen count can and does change daily or even hourly. A movie can play at one mulitplex and be on five screens or eight or one.) I really hated not knowing how many countries a movie had already opened in and how "big" those countries are in the worldwide market. So I got a list of the 20 top countries and how much of the worldwide box office they represented in 2019, the last typical year/ Those 20 countries accounted for 90% of the worldwide box office in 2019. For example, Australia was responsible for 2.13% of the $42.2 billion worldwide total in 2019. China was responsible for $22.04%. The 86 or so other countries outside the Top 20 represent well less than 1% and are equally weighted as representing just 0.116% of the total worldwide box office. 

So, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim opened in Spain (1.66%), Mexico (2.37%) and Brazil (also 1.66%) and 28 other countries (none major). The three big markets total 5.69% of the worldwide box office. (Roughly!) The other 28 countries (28 times 0.116%) account for 3.248%. So altogether the film has opened in 8.938% of the world, which I simplified as about 9%. This DOESN'T mean the film will make 90% more in other markets. A movie might open in China or Korea and do little or nothing anywhere else for various reason. Another movie might open in France and prove a worldwide smash. All this number is meant to indicate is how much of the world a movie has opened in already. If it's a big hit and might play elsewhere, it's good to know a film that's making headlines has only opened in 10% of the world. 

If two big films like Moana 2 and Wicked are facing off, it's good to know if one of them still has big markets like Japan still to come. No, I haven't done all the math on those two yet. But Wicked still has Germany, South Korea and Japan ahead of it and they represent 12.3% of the worldwide box office; Moana 2 has already opened in them. I'm hoping to get a program that will do all this for me automatically. Stay tuned. 

--30--    

NYCD'S 40 BEST REGGAE ALBUMS

 I know very little -- ok, nothing -- about reggae. But my friend Sal of the late, lamented NYCD music store and the excellent music blog Burning Wood is a massive fan of the genre. He kindly pondered my request and offers up 40 essential albums anyone wanting to explore the genre beyond Marley, Bob. Dive in!

MORE THAN MARLEY -- NYCD'S 40 BEST REGGAE ALBUMS 

BOB ANDY & MARCIA GRIFFITHS -- Pied Piper ****

BIG YOUTH -- Screaming Target ****

SONNY BRADSHAW 7 -- Reggae Version/Version Reggae ****

BURNING SPEAR -- Garvey's Ghost ****

CARLTON & THE SHOES -- Love Me Forever ****

THE CLARENDONIANS -- The Best Of The Clarendonians ****1/2

THE CONGOS -- Heart Of The Congos ****

CULTURE -- Two Sevens Clash ****1/2

DADAWAH -- Peace & Love ****1/2

PHYLLIS DILLON -- Rock Steady ****

DR. ALIMANTADO -- Best Dressed Chicken In Town ****

ALTON & HORTENSE ELLIS -- Alton & Hortense Ellis ****

THE GAYLADS -- Soul Beat ****1/2

MARCIA GRIFFITHS -- Sweet & Nice ****

JOE HIGGS -- Life Of Contradiction *****

KEITH HUDSON -- Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood ****

JENNIFER LARA -- Studio One Presents Jennifer Lara ****

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS -- Burnin' ****1/2

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS -- Natty DreAD *****

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS -- Uprising ****

TOMMY MCCOOK & BOBBY ELLIS -- Green Mango ****

THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS -- I Need A Roof ****

JACKIE MITTOO -- In London ****

JUDY MOWATT -- Black Woman *****

BUNNY WAILER -- Blackheart Man ****

THE PARAGONS -- On The Beach ****

LEE PERRY & THE UPSETTERS -- Roast Fish & Collie Weed ****1/2

PRINCE BUSTER -- Sings His Ten Commandments ****1/2

THE SKATALITES -- The Skatalite! ****

THE SKATALITES -- Essential Artist Collection (2023 from Trojan) ****1/2

SONS OF NEGUS -- Freedom Sounds *****

STEEL PULSE -- Hansworth Revolution ****

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS -- Monkey Man ****

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS -- In The Dark ****

PETER TOSH -- Equal Rights *****

U-ROY -- Version Galore *****

U-ROY -- Dread In A Babylon ****1/2

THE WAILERS -- The Wailing Wailers ****1/2

WINGLESS ANGELS -- Wingless Angels ****

VARIOUS ARTISTS -- Studio One 007: Licensed To Ska ****1/2

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 8, 2024

 WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 8, 2024

A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. I begin with data from 

Comscore and then pull from every other source available. 

1. Moana 2–$211m / $600m worldwide total  

2. Wicked–$96m / $456m ww

3. Pushpa 2: The Rule–$93m worldwide debut

4. Gladiator II–$48m / $368m ww

5. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi--$21m / $75m ww 

6. Red One–$15m / $164m ww 

7. Paddington in Peru–$7m / $40m ww

8. Burning Star aka Gu Xing Ji Hua–$7m ww debut 

9. Venom: The Last Dance–$5m / $473m ww 

10. The Firefighters–$5m ww debut

11. Interstellar–$4m / $738m ww 

12. Cesium Fallout–$4m / $40m ww

13. Conclave–$4m / $39m ww 

14. Good Luck–$4m / $7m ww

15. Solo Leveling: Reawakening–$4m ww debut 

16. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$3m / $35m ww 

17. For King and Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas Live–$2.6m ww debut 

18. Heretic–$2m / $41m ww 

19. To Gather Around aka Sheng Quan Zai Wo aka Brave New World–$2m / $28m ww

20. The Last Dance–$2m / $18m ww 

21. Maharaja–$2m / $18m ww 

22. The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim–$2m ww debut (8.9% of worldwide)

23. Y2K–$2m ww debut 

24. The Substance–$1m / $56m ww

25. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–$1m / $50m ww 

26. Amaran–$1m / $39m ww

27. Crayon Shin-Chan: Our Dinosaur Diary–$1m / $34m ww 

28. Anora–$1m / $25m ww 

29. Hello, Love, Again–$1m / $23m ww

30. The Young Couple Apartment–$1m / $17m ww

31. Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.–$1m / $11m ww 

32. I'm Still Here–$1m / $9m ww 

33. Small Things Like These–$1m / $7m ww

34. Hidden Face–$1m / $6m ww 

35. Flow–$1m / $ 4m ww 

36. Nie Xaiogian–$1m ww debut

37. Werewolves–$1m ww debut 

Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit. 

ANALYSIS 

Wow, again. Three big movies that proved popular over Thanksgiving continue to be popular the week after Thanksgiving. If they can all remain popular for another month, Hollywood will be happy. I saw Wicked catching up with Moana on some weekdays, but that seems illusory now. It's more a factor of animated films having bigger weekends.

Others seem stoked about the year and highly confident wwe'll get to $8.3b in North America. I look at Kraven the Hunter and Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and am far less confident. We can already see that The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim  is highly unlikely to prove a phenomenon and might well be an out and out flop. (Though I don't see any reported budget for it, surely $80mb is a reasonable base. It might have been much more expensive but surely it didn't cost less.) 

Still, it's great to see three films packing 'em in. Gladiator II is set to become one of those movies that most see as a hit, even though it's unlikely to come within a mile of tripling its reported $250mb. It'll leg out to $500mb and a film with appeal to older folk can run and run. But will they be patient and let it play out? Nope, I'm sure they'll want it streaming by Christmas and thus screw over any chance for repeat biz, older folks "discovering" it and a boost from Oscar nominations announced Jan 17, 2025. Gladiator II is precisely the sort of film a studio shouldn't rush onto digital. It can play all over the world; it has strong Oscar hopes, it appeals to older people, it plays much better on the big screen and is the sort of film people want to see on a big screen. I'd be angling for a second IMAX run, if I were them. (Assuming such a thing is possible.) 

Audiences are clearly happy spend the money and go to the movies. Two things stand in the way of this. One, a robust release schedule including all sorts of movies with all sorts of budgets. Two, the ever-shrinking window. I applaud flexibility from everyone involved. If a movie flops, exhibitors shouldn't stand in the way of a movie jumping right to digital (rental, sales, streaming. But when a movie can play, studios should not yank it out of a predetermined belief that they need to double down on their marketing cost by pushing even hits out of theaters before their time. I'm pretty sure folks would remember Gladiator II come the weekend of March 2, when the Oscars are held. That's when I would send it to digital. 

NOTE: Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $7.6b, with Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide

1. Moana 2–Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.  

2. Wicked–$150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup marketing. It's a big movie! Still has at least 12% of the worldwide market to open in, including Japan, Germany and Russia. 

3. Pushpa 2: The Rule–$60mb. The original Indian/Telugu film cost half as much and only grossed $46m. So the sequel cost more than the original movie's gross.  But it doubled the original's entire gross in its first week. Originally, a chunk of the two films were shot at the same time, but they did significant reshoots, so just 10% came from the first go-round. Yes, it was the highest grossing Indian movie of 2021; yes it's one of the highest grossing Telugu films of all time.  But even the lowest estimate of the original's budget is $23mb, so it wasn't a huge hit to begin with. I am puzzled. Are the economics different for Indian films? I wouldn't be surprised if the calculations were different. There are no reports of the first film being a particular hit on streaming or on demand etc, which might justify all this. I think it's another example of Indian films committing to a sequel before there's any demand. Indeed, this film was cut into two parts before the first release. A number of other films seem to be two-parters, which is a very rare thing in Hollywood but less so in India. Is it a good idea? I don't think so. And having said all that, it's off to an excellent start. Why? It's no better reviewed than the first. Maybe they got lucky but Indian studios should rethink all these two and three-parters.  

4. Gladiator II–$250mb for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. It needs $750m worldwide for me to call it a hit from theatrical alone but $600m would be just fine. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have legs? 

5. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi --Chinese drama, literally translated as "Nice One." Single mom moves in with another single gal; adventures ensue. I don't like calling film's hits without some reporting on its budget. But I can't imagine this type of film costing even $20m, so it's a hit!

6. Red One–Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans action/Xmas comedy. A budget reportedly up to $250mb. It's a theatrical failure, but that failure would have been just as clear if it had gone straight to streaming. Now at least it is (almost) paying for a worldwide marketing blitz and that can only help. Remember how people rented crap movies at Blockbuster simply because they'd "heard" of it during the theatrical run? Same idea. 

7. Paddington in Peru–$50mb? I'm just guessing. (That's sort of midpoint between the original and Paddington 2.) Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise.

8. Burning Star aka Gu Xing Ji Hua (aka Ancient Star Project)–Chinese drama about hot students who attempt a top secret, doomed-to-fail suicide mission to rescue and evacuate others. 

9. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly. And yet...it's just matching the $500m of #2. They might be tempted to go for four, but they shouldn't. 

10. The Firefighters–Korean drama with hot young newbie joining firefighter squad, only to butt heads with a legendary veteran. 

11. Interstellar–$165mb for Christopher Nolan film reissued here after several stops and starts. I wanted to see this in IMAX but life interfered. $734m before reissue.

12. Cesium Fallout–Hong Kong disaster flick starring Andy Lau. A radioactive leak threatens the island. 

13. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means they're likely to have a hit when all is said and done. It's at $39m and still going strong, with a boost from potential Oscar noms, assuming they don't rush it to streaming. 

14. Good Luck–Indian/Hindi comedy in which 75 year old grandmother might be pregnant! 

15. Solo Leveling: Reawakening–this Korean animated film began as a fantasy "web novel," sort of the easiest and cheapest way to launch an idea and see if it might be popular and translate into more profitable media. Yes, indeed, in this case! It became a webtoon, a video game, an anime series and next up a live action adaptation. This film is a compilation of events from the first season of the anime series, plus episodes 1 and 2 from season two. So it's a glorified launch of TV episodes, a la The Chosen. I'm assuming anything they make is gravy since it cost nothing. Hence my calling it a hit from day one. 

16. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$10mb for this holiday faith-based film based on the gentle 1972 novel. It's a more religiousy A Christmas Story. 

17. For King and Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas Live–the Christian rock band offers a live holiday show. Will it play for the next few weeks? We shall see.

18. Heretic–reported $10mb horror flick starring Hugh Grant as a gent more than willing to invite two Mormons into his home to debate religious beliefs. 

19. To Gather Around aka Sheng Quan Zai Wo aka Brave New World–Chinese drama about workplace politics. The Chinese title is literally translated as "Guaranteed Victory." In English, it's also referred to as "Brave New World."  

20. The Last Dance–this Hong Kong film is about a man who switches from wedding planner to a funeral home, so he can better understand death and dying. A critical and commercial smash, it's been praised as lovely in the Western press and at $16m as of Dec 7 (or HK$122m), making it the highest grossing Hong Kong film of all time. Remake alert!!! Now it's opened in China to $2m. Not sure why it hasn't been on the radar before since it made its money pretty fast. They must not have been reporting to Comscore or others; too busy enjoying a homegrown hit. 

21. Maharaja–Indian/Tamil action film; grossed $13m before opening in China.

22. The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim–no budget reported for this animated prequel to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies. But surely $80mb is a very reasonable guess. Taken solely from minor footnotes in the novels, it's a gamble but a smart one. An animated film won't be compared to Peter Jackson's masterpiece. (See: the TV series.) And it's not retelling stories we've already heard. (See: superhero movies that go back to the well by redoing an origin story for Superman, Spiderman, et al.) Unfortunately, you still have to be good. The trailer I saw disappointed and audiences are not responding. A pity. It's opened in about 9% of the world, so this has a long way to go. But given its reception in Spain, Brazil and Mexico and my reaction to the trailer when I'm the targeted fanbase, this looks like a disappointment. 

23. Y2K–teen sci-fi horror comedy (a description that makes me like it already). Two kids decide to crach the biggest party of the year as Y2K threatens to upend everything. In this case, it does. (In real life, by the way, Y2K was indeed a very significant issue companies all over the world spent tons of money–hard to guess but easily $100m+–and time worldwide to fix before computers when klabooey. It was not a "nothing burger." Just saying. Anyway, this could be dumb fun. 

24. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. So I guess despite
all the back and forth on its grosses, this really is a winner now. 

25. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–Indian/Hindi supernatural comedy about a fake ghostbuster. The budget is $18mb. Part 2 made $32m ww total so this needs to do almost twice as much to be a hit from box office alone. 

26. Amaran–Indian/Tamil action film. The budget is anything from $15mb to $24mb which is a huge range but I'll err on the side of caution. One of three big films that opened during Diwali festival. 

27. Crayon Shin-Chan: Our Dinosaur Diary–A Japanese animated movie that opened there in August and then Hong Kong and Vietnam where it grossed at least $20m and yet it NEVER appeared on my radar! Japan is a market like India where indies don't bother to report grosses to international bodies or companies like Comscore. It's only because the film opened in China and that distributor reported the grosses that we're finding out about it. No idea on the budget, but this isn't Disney or even Miyazaki. So a very good gross, though I'm loathe to call movies hits when I don't have any budget to consider. ($22m before opening in China.)

28. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. But since the most he ever got before is $2mb, I'm assuming this isn't that much. It's opened pretty wide already, so I guess a real platform throughout awards season won't happen? A shame not to let this play into March 2025 where Conan O'Brien can give Anora her flowers. Still, it's already more than doubling The Florida Project, which made $11m off a $1mb. 

29. Hello, Love, Again–Filipino sequel to Hello, Love, Goodbye from 2019. Debuting w more than $2m at the North American box office, it's notable as the rare Filipino to even get a commercial release in the US. The original grossed $17m worldwide, at the time making it the highest grossing Filipino film of all time. The sequel did not gross $15m this week, but we're playing catchup on its Filipino grosses and more from other countries. The sequel has now made $23m worldwide and still going strong. 

30. The Young Couple Apartment–Chinese film, perhaps a remake of 1987 Chinese film about lives of six young couples all living in same apartment building.  

31. Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.–a modestly budgeted film about the anti-Nazi martyr which is denounced by his descendants and experts on the life of Bonhoeffer. They say the film distorts his life and teachings to promote Christian nationalism. While the Nazis accused and executed Bonhoeffer for involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler, he had already been imprisoned and there's no evidence linking him to it. Showing him wielding a gun in the poster is one of many reasons the family and others have lambasted the film. 

32. I'm Still Here–A reported $1.5mb. Director Walter Salles drama about a Brazilian woman searching for her missing husband during the dictatorship of Brazil that lasted more than 20 years. Brazil's Oscar hopeful enjoyed acclaim and awards at Venice. One of the biggest Brazilian hits of all time in its home country.

33. Small Things Like These–low budget Cillian Murphy drama about worker faced with knowledge of nuns treating young women abusively. Backed by Ben Affleck/Matt Damon production company. Lovely to see this small film chugging along. Presumably, the budget was very low and all are just happy to see the film was made and being seen. But who owns the negative? That's the piece of the puzzle that's missing from the coverage I read about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's new production company. 

34. Hidden Face–Korean drama about woman leaving her partner. Her lover starts a new relationship, but they feel they're being watched.... 

35. Flow–A critically acclaimed Latvian animated film about a cat; no subtitles. It's been playing in Latvia and France and just now expanding in the US. Doing well via word of mouth, so I'm pretending it grossed $1m this week to acknowledge it going wider in the US. It's now grossed $4 worldwide. 

36. Nie Xaiogian–A Chinese animated film based on a classic ghost story taken from Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. Unless I'm much mistaken, he collected fairy tales/weird stories for decades, so think of his collection as the Grimm Fairy Tales of the Qing Dynasty/17th Century. The story has been adapted many, many times and this 3-D animated film has not captured the fancy of audiences or critics. Wasn't that interesting? This is why you read me!

37. Werewolves–very low budget horror film about everyone turning into werewolves when a super moon appears. The most recent one took place December 4. Shouldn't this have been released the weekend before a super moon? Not right after? The next one is December 23rd. Just saying. 

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on each movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

What about when I blithely state a film has opened in TK% of the world? For example, I claim The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim opened in about 9% of the worldwide market. I long wanted to know how "wide" a movie has opened around the world. It's easy to know how wide a film opened in one country. In the US/Canada, a limited release might be two theaters or 20. A wide release used to mean 1000 theaters and now big movies easily open on 2000 or 3000 or even 4000 theaters. (We talk about theaters, not screens, since screen count can and does change daily or even hourly. A movie can play at one mulitplex and be on five screens or eight or one.) I really hated not knowing how many countries a movie had already opened in and how "big" those countries are in the worldwide market. So I got a list of the 20 top countries and how much of the worldwide box office they represented in 2019, the last typical year/ Those 20 countries accounted for 90% of the worldwide box office in 2019. For example, Australia was responsible for 2.13% of the $42.2 billion worldwide total in 2019. China was responsible for $22.04%. The 86 or so other countries outside the Top 20 represent well less than 1% and are equally weighted as representing just 0.116% of the total worldwide box office. 

So, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim opened in Spain (1.66%), Mexico (2.37%) and Brazil (also 1.66%) and 28 other countries (none major). The three big markets total 5.69% of the worldwide box office. (Roughly!) The other 28 countries (28 times 0.116%) account for 3.248%. So altogether the film has opened in 8.938% of the world, which I simplified as about 9%. This DOESN'T mean the film will make 90% more in other markets. A movie might open in China or Korea and do little or nothing anywhere else for various reason. Another movie might open in France and prove a worldwide smash. All this number is meant to indicate is how much of the world a movie has opened in already. If it's a big hit and might play elsewhere, it's good to know a film that's making headlines has only opened in 10% of the world. 

If two big films like Moana 2 and Wicked are facing off, it's good to know if one of them still has big markets like Japan still to come. No, I haven't done all the math on those two yet. But Wicked still has Germany, South Korea and Japan ahead of it and they represent 12.3% of the worldwide box office; Moana 2 has already opened in them. I'm hoping to get a program that will do all this for me automatically. Stay tuned. 

--30--    

THE MOVIES, BOOKS, THEATER, CONCERTS, ALBUMS I'VE SEEN/HEARD/READ SO FAR IN 2024

 Updated as of December 19, 2024  

KEY: star rating is on the four star scale
          meaning of "/" or "\"
          *** is three stars out of four
          ***/ is three stars leaning towards  3 1/2
          ***\ is three stars leaning towards 2 1/2


The Movies, Books, Theater, Concerts, CDs I've Seen/Read/Heard So Far In 2024

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
(Increasingly, I am sampling books, reading 10%, 20% even 40 or 50% before deciding to move on. The books below are only the ones I've read completely. That also explains what looks like generous grading -- more and more, if I sense a book is not going to be among my favorites, I stop reading. Too many books; too little time!)

1. The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carré (1977) *** 1/2 

2. Smiley's People by John Le Carré (1979) **** 

3. M.C. Higgins, The Great by Virginia Hamilton (1974) *** 1/2 

4. Cover Her Face by P.D. James (first Inspector Dalgliesh) (1962) *** 

5. The Evolution Of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald *** 

6. A London Child of the 1870s by M.V. Hughes (Molly Hughes) (1934) *** 

7. Ferris by Kate DiCamillo *** 1/2 

8. Orris and Timble: The Beginning by Kate DiCamillo; illustrations by Carmen Mok ** 1/2 

9. The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo *** 
10. The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo; illustrated by Yoko Tanaka *** 1/2 

11. The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo; illustrated by Sophie Blackall *** 1/2 

12. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz **** 

13. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon ** 1/2 

14. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon *** 

15. Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo *** 1/2  

16. The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos; illustrated by Doug Salati *** 

17. Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi *** 

18. The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos ***

19. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson *** 1/2 

20. Black Hole by Charles Burns *** 1/2 

21. Here by Richard McGuire **** 

22. The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum by Margalit Fox *** 

23. A London Girl of the 1880s by M.V. Hughes (Molly Hughes) (1936) *** 

24. A London Home in the 1890s by M.V. Hughes (Molly Hughes) (1937) *** 

25. Jules Feiffer -- The Collected Works Vol. 1: Clifford *** 1/2 

26. Fence Vol. 1-6 by C.S. Pacat; Illustrated by Johanna The Mad *** each 

27. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman ***/ 

28. Backing Into Forward by Jules Feiffer *** 

29. The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer *** 

30. Trick or Treat on Scary Street by Lance Bass; illustrated by Roland Garrigue * 1/2 

31. Upstaged by Robin Easter ** 1/2 

32. Kill My Mother by Jules Feiffer *** 

33. My Side of the Car by Kate Feiffer; illustrated by Jules Feiffer *** 1/2 

34. Jacob's Eye Patch by Beth Kobliner Shaw and Jacob Shaw; illustrated by Jules Feiffer **  

35. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer *** 1/2 

36. The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo (2023) **** 

37. The Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo *** 1/2 

38. Alexander at the End of the World by Rachel Kousser *** 

39. Nicked by M.T. Anderson *** 

40. Adventures of Mary Jane by Hope Jahren ** 1/2 

41. Carte Blanche (James Bond) by Jeffery Deaver (2011) ** 

42. Feiffer: The Collected Works Vol. 2 by Jules Feiffer *** Kermit (classical prodigy) **; Dopple (Irish husband and wife strip flat earth) ***; Natalie (strip) *; Army Types *** 1/2; Munro (boy drafted) ****

43. Feiffer: The Collected Works Vol. 3 by Jules Feiffer *** Boom ***; Rollie **; Sick Sick Sick *** 1/2 

44. Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado -- Fatal Intrusion ** 1/2 

45. Jeffery Deaver -- The Bone Collector (1997) *** 

46. This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter *** 

47. Worst Case Scenario by T. J. Newman ** 1/2 

48. Bear and Bird: The Stars and Other Stories by Jarvis *** 

49. Bear and Bird: The Adventure and Other Stories by Jarvis *** 

50. By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult *** 

51. Kermit The Hermit by Bill Peet (1965) ***  

52. Huge Harold by Bill Peet (1961) *** 

53. Big by Vashti Harrison (2023) ** 1/2 

54. Farewell, Amethystine by Walter Mosley *** 
55. Heavyweight by Solomon J. Brager *** 

56. The Boy and the Elephant by Freya Blackwood *** 1/2 

57. Eli by Bill Peet (1978) (grumpy old lion) *** 

58. I'm SorryYou Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff; illustrated by Julie Kwon *** 

59. James by Percival Everett *** 1/2 \ 

60. The Great When by Alan Moore *** 1/2 

61. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (1939) *** 

62. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown; picture by Clement Hurd 1947) **** 

63. The Story of Babar The Little Elephant by Jean de Brunhoff (1931) *** 

64. Amazing Grapes by Jules Feiffer ** 1/2 

65. Bunny Should Be Sleeping by Amy Hest; illustrations by Renata Liwska (2024) ***/ 

66. We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang ** 1/2 

67. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell ***/ 

68. Maybelle The Cable Car by Virginia Lee Burton (1952) ** 

69. Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton (1943) ** 

70. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942) *** 1/2  

71. Big Bear and Little Bear Go Fishing by Amy Hest; illustrated by Erin E. Stead (2024) **** 

72. This Is Happiness by Niall Williams (2019) *** 1/2 

73. Time of the Child by Niall Williams (2024) ****  

74. Journey by Aaron Becker (2013) *** 1/2 

75. Knight Owl by Christophe Denise (2022) *** 

76. Hello, Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall (2018) *** (she does great waves!) 

77. Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell (2017) *** 
78. The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies Of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon *** 

79. Low-Hanging Fruit by Randy Rainbow *** 
80. Final Cut by Charles Burns **** 
81. Fly High Fly Low by Don Freeman (1957) *** 
82. Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis (2016) **** 

83. The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader (1948) ** 

84. The Spider and the Fly illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi; poem by Mary Howitt (2002) *** 

85. Mei Li by Thomas Handforth (1938) *** 

86. Waiting by Kevin Henkes (2015) ***/ 

87. An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter (2001) *** 

88. Lost in the Empire City by Avi *** 

89. The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke *** 

90. The Vegetarian by Han Kang (2007) **** 
91.  King Alfred and the Ice Coffin by Kevin Crossley-Holland; illustrated by Chris Riddell *** 

92. Into The Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah; illustrated by Sabina Hahn ** 1/2  

93. The Wolf-Girl, The Greeks and the Gods by Tom Holland; illustrated by Jason Cockcroft *** 1/2 

94. Skippy: Daily Comics 1934-1936 by Percy Crosby *** 1/2 

95. A London Home In The Nineties by Molly Hughes (1937) *** 1/2 

96. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan ** 1/2 

97. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn *** 1/2 

98. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum ** 

99. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin **** 

100. Tales From Watership Down by Richard Adams *** 

101. Nebraska by George Whitmore *** 

102. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino *** 1/2 

103. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes **** 
104. Killing Time by Alan Bennett *** 

105. Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky; trans Peavear and Volokhonsky ****

106. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf **** 

107. 

CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS (A strong emphasis on the ones I like, so don't think I love everything I listen to -- I just don't bother really listening to the ones I don't )

1. Coleman Hawkins -- The Hawk Flies High (1957) **** 
2. Madness -- The Rise & Fall (1982, on vinyl at Andrew's apt as he packed for St. Pete) *** 

3. Television -- Adventure (1978) *** 

4. Grateful Dead -- Live/Dead (1969) ***\ 

5. Anthony Braxton -- For Alto (1971) *** 1/2 

6. Paul Bley -- Time Will Tell (1995) *** 
7. George Jones -- The Grand Tour (1974) *** 

8. Aerosmith -- Pump (2001) *** 

9. Little Walter -- His Best (1997) *** 1/2 

10. The Residents -- Duck Stab/Buster & Glen (1978) *** 

11. Elomar -- Cantoria 2 (1988) **** 

12. Elomar -- Cantoria 3 *** 1/2 

13. Elomar -- Cantoria 1 (1984) *** 1/2 

14. Otis Spann -- The Blues Never Die! (1965) *** 

15. The Velvet Underground -- White Light/White Heat (1968) ** 1/2 

16. Green Day -- Dookie (1994) *** 1/2 

17. Elvis Costello -- Trust (1981) *** 

18. Various Artists -- Shalimar Original Soundtrack (1978) *** 
19. Deep Purple -- Machine Head (1972) ** 1/2 

20. Howard Tate -- Howard Tate (1972) *** 1/2 

21. Z.Z. Top -- Tres Hombres (1973) ** 

22. Marlena Shaw -- The Spice Of Life (1969) ** 1/2 

23. Bob Marley -- Catch A Fire (1973) **** 
24. Howard Tate -- Get It While You Can (1966) *** 1/2 

25. Howard Tate -- Rediscovered (2003) *** 1/2 

26. Howard Tate -- Reaction (1970) *** 
27. Doc Cheatham and Shorty Baker --- Shorty & Doc (1961) *** 1/2 

28. Elvis Costello -- Brutal Youth (1995) *** 

29. Elvis Costello -- Punch The Clock (1983) *** 1/2 

30. Elvis Costello -- Kojak Variety (1994) ** 1/2 

31. Elvis Costello -- All This Useless Beauty (1996) ** 1/2 

32. Sly and the Family Stone -- Stand! (1969) *** 1/2 

33. Sly and the Family Stone -- There's A Riot Goin' On (1971) **** 
34. Sly and the Family Stone -- Greatest Hits (1970) **** 
35. Peter Tosh -- Legalize It (1976) *** 1/2 
36. Blur -- Parklife (1994) *** 1/2 

37. Blind Willie Johnson -- Praise God I'm Satisfied (1989) *** 1/2 

38. Prince --- Originals (2019) *** 
39. Big Star -- #1 Record (1972) **** 

40. Big Star -- Radio City (1974) *** 1/2 

41. Sly and the Family Stone -- Fresh (1973) *** 1/2 

42. Dire Straits -- Love Over Gold (1972) ** 1/2 

43. Marlena Shaw -- Who Is This Bitch, Anyway? (1972) ** 1/2 

44. Elvis Costello -- Goodbye Cruel World (1984) *** 1/2 

45. Raspberries -- Raspberries' Best (1976) **** 
46. The Beach Boys -- Smile (1967, from The Smiles Sessions box, 2011) *** 1/2 /

47. Brian Wilson -- Presents Smile (2004) ****  

48. Lead Belly -- Midnight Special: The Library Of Congress Recordings (1991) *** 1/2 

49. Brian Harnetty -- The Workbench (2023) *** 1/2 

50. Spacemen 3 -- Playing With Fire (1989) *** 

51. The 13th Floor Elevators -- The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators (1966) *** 1/2 

52. Sly and the Family Stone -- Dance To The Music (1968) ** 1/2 

53. Elbow -- The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) ** 1/2 

54. D'Angelo -- Brown Sugar (1995) **** 
55. D'Angelo -- Voodoo (2000) ** 1/2 

56. Brian Harnetty -- Words and Silences (2022) *** (Thomas Merton) 

57. Brian Eno -- Discreet Music (1975) **** 
58. New Order -- Substance 87 (1987) *** 1/2 

59. Brian Eno -- Ambient 1: Music For Airports (1978) **** 
60. Electric Light Orchestra aka ELO -- Zoom (2001) **** 

61. Brian Eno -- Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980) (w Harold Budd) **** 
62. Brian Eno -- Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance (w Laraaji) (1980) *** 1/2 

63. Brian Eno -- Ambient 4: On Land (1982) *** 

64. Brian Eno -- Evening Star w Robert Fripp (1975) *** 1/2 

65. Brian Eno -- Apollo aka score For doc For All Mankind (1983) ***/ 

66. Brian Eno -- (No Pussyfooting) (w Robert Fripp) (1973) *** 1/2 

67. Brian Eno -- The Equatorial Stars (w Robert Fripp) (2004) *** 1/2 

68. Peter Tosh -- Equal Rights (1977) *** 1/2 

69. Paul McCartney -- Band On The Run (Underdubbed Mix) (1973) *** 1/2 

70. Japan --- Quiet Life (1979) ***\ 

71. David Bowie -- Aladdin Sane (1973) *** 1/2 

72. Brian Eno -- The Shutov Assembly (1992) *** 1/2 

73. Oxomatli -- Street Signs (2004) ** 1/2 

74. Big Star -- Third (1978) *** 

75. The Conet Project -- Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations/1111 (1995) *** 

76. Volcano -- Jungle (2023) ** 1/2 

77. Aphex Twin -- Selected Ambient Works Vol. II (1994) *** 1/2 \ 

78. The Louvin Brothers -- Tragic Songs Of Life (1956) *** 1/2 

79. Brian Eno -- Music For Films (1978) ** 

80. Robert Fripp -- Exposure (1979) ** 

81. Pharaoh Sanders -- Harvest Time Live 1977 (1977/2023) *** 1/2 

82. Cortijo Y Su Combo w Ismael Rivera -- La Quiniela Del Dia (1976) *** 1/2 

83. Dinosaur Jr. -- You're Livin' All Over Me (1987) *** 1/2 

84. Eddie Condon -- 1927-1943 (1997) *** 1/2 

85. Marvin Gaye -- Here, My Dear (1978) *** 1/2 

86. Marvin Gaye -- That's The Way Love Is (1970) *** 1/2 

87. Jimmy Smith -- Back At The Chicken Shack (1963) *** 1/2 

88. Taj Mahal -- Savoy (2023) *** 1/2 

89. Junior Wells -- Hoodoo Man Blues (1965) **** 
90. Pere Ubu -- Dub Housing (1976) *** 

91. Nat King Cole -- The Best Of The King Cole Trio (1992) *** 1/2 

92. John Martyn -- One World (1977) ** 1/2 

93. June Christy -- Something Cool (1955 -- Mono) *** 1/2 

94. The Temptations -- All Directions (1972) *** 
95. Oscar "Papa" Celestin and Sam Morgan -- Recorded In New Orleans 1925-1928 (2019) *** 1/2 

96. Sean Ono Lennon -- Asterisms ** 1/2 

97. Fripp & Eno  -- Beyond Even 1992-2006 (2006) ** 1/2 

98. Tito Puente -- Dance Mania ('58)/Dance Mania 2 ('61)/Dance Mania Legacy Edition (2009) **** 

99. Einstürzende Neubauten -- Kollaps (1981) ** 1/2 

100. The Drifters -- The Drifters' Golden Hits (1968) *** 1/2 

101. Arcade Fire -- Funeral (2004) ** 1/2 

102. Jimmy Smith -- Groovin' At Smalls' Paradise Vol. 1 (1957) **** Vol. 2 (1957) *** 1/2 

103. The New Christy Minstrels -- Merry Christmas! (1963) * 1/2 ("Sing Along W Santa") 

104. Stealers Wheel -- In The Bleak Mid Winter (2019) * 

105. Sonic Youth -- Evol (1986) ** 1/2 

106. Bettye Swann -- Make Me Yours (1967) *** 
107. Steeleye Span -- Parcel Of Rogues (1973) *** 
108. The Shirelles -- Greatest Hits (1963) **** 
109. The Shirelles -- Greatest Hits Vol. II (1967) *** 1/2 

110. The Shirelles -- Mama Said: 52 Original Sceptre Records Recordings (2023) *** 1/2 

111. Circle Jerks -- Group Sex (1980) *** 1/2 

112. Eddie Condon -- The Eddie Condon Collection 1927-1961 (2014) ****  

113. Depeche Mode -- Violator (1990) *** 1/2 \ 

114. MGMT -- Loss Of Life ***/ 

115. Yes -- Yes (1969) *** 

116. Bobby "Blue" Bland -- Two Steps From The Blues (1961) **** 
117. Bill Fay -- Time Of The Last Persecution (1971) ** 1/2 

118. Elmore James -- The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James (9 songs, good sound) **** 

119. Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis -- Very Saxy (1959) *** 1/2 (half a star off for the title) 
120. Brian Eno -- Cluster & Eno (2017) *** 
121. Chris Connor -- Chris Connor (1956) *** 1/2 

122. Ken Colyer -- Club Session With Colyer (1956) **** 
123. William Basinski -- The Disintegration Loops (2002) **** 

124. Etta Jones -- Don't Go To Strangers (1960) *** 1/2 

125. Mylo -- Destroy Rock & Roll (2004) * 

126. Kaiser Chiefs -- The Kaiser Chiefs' Easy Eighth Album *** 

127. Oval -- 94diskont (1995) *** 

128. Cornershop -- When I Was Born For The 7th Time (1997) ** 

129. Serge Chaloff -- Blue Serge (1956) **** 
130. Serge Chaloff -- Boston Blow-Up (1955) *** 1/2 

131. Nat King Cole -- The Complete Capitol Recordings of The Nat King Cole Trio (1991 Bear 18 cd boxed set) ** 1/2 (first 200 tracks *** 1/2; last 149 pretty dire **) 

132. World Party -- Private Revolution (1987) *** 

133. Raspberries -- Fresh (1972) *** 1/2 

134. World Party -- Goodbye Jumbo (1990) **** 

135. World Party -- Bang! (1993) ** 1/2 

136. Raspberries -- Starting Over (1974) *** 1/2 

137. World Party -- Egyptology (1997) *** 1/2 

138. Raspberries -- Raspberries (1972) *** 

139. The Waterboys -- This Is The Sea (1985) *** 1/2 

140. World Party -- Dumbing Up (2000) *** 1/2 

141. Eric Carmen -- Eric Carmen (1975) ***\ 

142. Eric Carmen -- Boats Against The Current (1977) ** 

143. Firehose -- Fromohio (1989) ** 1/2 

144. Beck -- Guero (2005) *** 
145. The Black Crowes -- Happiness Bastards *** 
146. Lester Flatt -- Heaven's Bluegrass Band (1976) ** 1/2 

147. Eddy Arnold -- My World (1965) ** 1/2 

148. Various Artists -- Uptown Top Ranking: Trojan Ska & Reggae Chartbusters (2024) *** 1/2 

149. Mance Lipscomb -- You Got To Reap What You Sow: Texas Songster Vol. 2 (1993) *** 1/2 

150. The Stooges -- Raw Power (1973) *** 
151. Death in Vegas -- The Contino Sessions (1999) ** 
152. Traffic -- Traffic (1968) ** 1/2 

153. Brian Eno -- Nerve Net (1992) ** 

154. LCD Soundsystem -- Sound Of Silver (2007) ** 
155. Fishbone -- Truth and Soul (1988) ** 1/2 

156. Black Sabbath -- Black Sabbath (1970) ** 
157. Ms. Dynamite -- A Little Deeper (2002) ** 

158. Jimmy Smith -- The Sermon! (1959) **** 
159. Portishead -- Third (2008) ***/ 

160. Roger Eno -- The Skies, They Shift Like Chords... (2023) *** 
161. Ringo Starr -- Beaucoups Of Blues (1970) ** 1/2 

162. Pauline Oliveros -- Deep Listening (1989) *** 1/2 

163. Paul Young -- No Parlez (1983) ** 

164. Tears For Fears -- The Hurting (1983) ***/ 

165. Sleater-Kinney -- Dig Me Out (1997) *** 

166. The Doves -- The Last Broadcast (2002) ** 1/2 

167. Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens -- The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-1989 (1989) *** 

168. Raspberries -- Side 3 (1973) *** 1/2 

169. Mance Lipscomb -- Captain, Captain!: the Texas Country Blues Guitar Of Mance Lipscomb Vol. 3 (1998) *** 1/2 

170. Tears For Fears -- The Hurting (1983) ***/ 

171. Elliot Smith -- Figure 8 (2000) ** 1/2 

172. Mel Tormé & Buddy Rich -- Together Again For The First Time (1978) ** 1/2 (an extra half for the scatting on Ella tribute "First Lady Of Song") 

173. Rush -- Moving Pictures (1981) *** 1/2 

174. Genesis -- Selling England By The Pound (1973) ** 
175. Norah Jones -- Visions ** 1/2 

176. África Negra -- Antologia Vol. 1 (2022) **** 

177. Christine and the Queens -- Chris (2018) ** 1/2 

178. Barry Adamson -- Oedipus Schmoedipus (1996) *** 

179. The Cure -- Seventeen Seconds (1980) *** 

180. Various Artists -- Piconema: East African Hits on the Colombian Coast (2023) **** 

181. Ornette Coleman -- At The Golden Circle Vol. 1 (1966) *** 1/2 

182. Shelby Lynne -- The Servant (2021) **** 
183. Pedro Lima -- Recordar É Viver: Antologia Vol. 1 (2022) *** 
184. Billie Holiday & Lester Young -- A Musical Romance (2002) *** 1/2 

185. Lester Young -- The Complete Aladdin Recordings Of Lester Young (w Helen Humes and Nat King Cole) (1995) **** 

186. Iron Butterfly -- In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968) ** 1/2 

187. Sheila E -- Bailar ** 1/2 

188. The Replacements -- Boink!! (1986) **** 

189. The Replacements -- Hootenanny (1983) *** 1/2 

190. The Replacements -- Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (1981) *** 

191. Eddy Arnold -- The Best Of Eddy Arnold (1967) ** 1/2 

192. Ismael Rivera -- Con Todos Los Hierros (w Rafael Cortijo) (1966) *** 1/2 

193. Alexander "Skip" Spence -- Oar (1969) ** 1/2 

194. Baaba Maal -- Djam Leelii: The Adventurers (w Mansour Seck) (1989) **** (expanded *** 1/2) 

195. David Byrne and Brian Eno -- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (2008) *** 1/2 

196. Marcus King -- Mood Swings *** 1/2 

197. The Feeling -- San Vito ** 1/2 

198. Elliot Brood -- Country **** Full City/Country album *** 1/2 

199. Kacey Musgraves -- Deeper Well *** 1/2 

200. Black Sabbath -- Paranoid (1970) ** 1/2 

201. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard -- Skinwalker *** 1/2 

202. Lindisfarne -- Fog On The Tyne (1970) *** 1/2 

203. The Birthday Party -- Junkyard (1982) ** 1/2 

204. Taylor Swift -- The Tortured Poet Department ** 1/2 

205. Ann Savoy -- Another Heart ** 1/2 

206. Ian Hunter -- Defiance Part 2: Fiction ** 1/2 

207. Mel Torme -- California Suite (1957) *

208. Mel Torme -- Meets The British (1957) * 1/2 

209. Mel Torme -- Prelude To A Kiss (1958) ** 

210. Mel Torme -- Torme! (1958) ** 1/2 
211. Mel Torme -- Ole Torme!~ Mel Torme Goes South Of The Border With Billy May (1959) * 1/2 

212. Mel Torme -- Back in Town (1959) * 1/2 

213. Mel Torme -- Swings Schubert Alley (1960) **** 

214. Mel Torme -- It's a Blue World 1955) ** 

215. Mel Torme -- Mel Torme and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette (1956) ** 1/2 
216. Mel Torme -- Sings Fred Astaire (1956) **** 

217. Labi Siffre -- Labi Siffre (1970) ***  
218. Labi Siffre -- The Singer and the Song (1971) *** 

219. Labi Siffre -- Crying Laughing Loving Lying (1972) *** 1/2 

220. Labi Siffre -- For The Children (1973) 
221. Labi Siffre -- Remember My Song (1975) **** 

222. Ted Russell Kamp -- California Son ** 

223. Benny Carter -- Further Definitions (1961) *** 1/2 

224. Britney Spears -- ...Baby One More Time (1999) * 
225. McAlmont & Butler -- The Sound Of McAlmont & Butler (1995) *** 

226. Supertramp -- Crime of the Century (1974) ** 

227. Alice Cooper -- Billion Dollar Babies (1973) ** 1/2 

228. Pet Shop Boys -- Nonetheless ***/ 

229. Manic Street Preachers -- The Holy Bible (1994) *** 
230. Mel Torme -- At The Crescendo (1957) ** 1/2 

231. Ella Fitzgerald -- Ella in Hollywood (1960) **** 

232. Tom Tom Club -- Tom Tom Club (1987) * 1/2 

233. St. Vincent -- All Born Screaming ** 1/2  

234. KISS -- Destroyer (1976) * 1/2 

235. Mel Torme -- An Evening With George Shearing (1982) *** 

236. John Adams -- Road Movies (2004) *** 

237. The Lemon Twigs -- A Dream Is All We Know *** 1/2 

238. Eagles -- Eagles (1972) ** 

239. Prince Buster -- The Original Golden Oldies Vol. 1 (1967) *** 

240. Prince Buster and the Maytals -- The Original Golden Oldies Vol. 3 (1973) *** 

241. Tangerine Dream -- Phaedra (1974) *** 1/2 

242. Frank Turner -- Undefeated *** 

243. The Dixie Cups -- The Dixie Cups (1964) **** 

244. The Kinks -- Arthur (1969) ***/ 

245. Pete Jolly -- Seasons (1970) *** 

246. Africatown, AL -- Ancestor Sounds ***/ 

247. The Kinks -- The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968) **** 

248. The Lemon Twigs -- Brothers Of Destruction (2017) *** 1/2 

249. The Lemon Twigs -- Songs For The General Public (2020) *** 

250. The Kinks -- Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Part One (1970) *** 1/2 

251. Blur -- Blur (1997) *** 1/2 

252. Labi Siffre -- Happy (1975) ** 

253. Brad Mehldau -- After Bach II *** 

254. Don McLean -- American Boys * 1/2 

255. Miles Davis -- In A Silent Way (1969) **** 

256. John Coltrane -- Ascension (966) *** 

257. The Avett Brothers -- The Avett Brothers *** 1/2 

258. Blur -- Leisure (1991) *** 1/2 

259. Blur -- Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993) *** 1/2 

260. Traffic -- Mr. Fantasy (1968) *** 

261. Benny Carter -- Further Definitions (1962) **** 

262. Kamasi Washington -- Fearless Movement ** 

263. X-Ray Spex -- Germ Free Adolescence (1978) ** 

264. Iron Maiden -- Iron Maiden (1980) ** 

265. Blue Cheer -- Vincebus Eruptum (1968) *** 1/2 

266. The Adverts -- Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts (1978) *** 1/2 

267. Paul Weller -- 66 ** 1/2 

268. Shelby Lynne -- Merry Christmas (2010) ** 1/2 

269. The Mavericks -- Moon & Stars *** 

270. Vampire Weekend -- Only God Was Above Us ** 1/2 

271. Emmylou Harris -- Pieces Of The Sky (1975) *** 

272. Emmylou Harris -- Elite Hotel (1975) *** 1/2 

273. Emmylou Harris -- Luxury Liner (1976) *** 1/2 

274. Emmylou Harris -- Blue Kentucky Girl (1979) *** 1/2 

275. Emmylou Harris -- Evangeline (1981) ** 

276. Emmylou Harris -- Cimarron (1981) ** 1/2 

277. Alice In Chains -- Dirt (1992) ** 1/2 

278. Mel Torme -- An Elegant Evening (w George Shearing) (1985) *** 1/2 

279. Emmylou Harris -- White Shoes (1983) ** 

280. William Orbit -- Strange Cargo 3 (1993) ** 

281. Janet Jackson -- Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) ** 

282. Emmylou Harris -- The Ballad of Sally Rose (1985) *** 1/2 

283. Jennifer Lara -- Studio One Presents Jennifer Lara *** 

284. Willie Nelson -- The Border *** 1/2 

285. Bristol Brass Consort -- Festive Brass (2019) *** 1/2 

286. Jerry Garcia -- Garcia (1972) *** 

287. Billie Eilish -- Hit Me Hard and Hit Me Soft *** 1/2 \ 

288. Mel Torme -- Mel Torme's Finest Hour (2001) ** / 

289. Richard Thompson -- Ship To Shore **** 

290. Tommy McCook & The Super Sonic -- Top Secret (1969) **** 

291. Wes Montgomery -- The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960) **** 

292. Jimmy Smith -- Root Down (1972) *** 1/2 

293. The Kinks -- Mussel Hillbillies (1971) **** 

294. Emmylou Harris -- Thirteen (1986) *** 

295. Charley Crockett -- $10 Cowboy ** 

296. Paul Simon -- Paul Simon (1972) *** 1/2 

297. Paul Simon -- One-Trick Pony (1980) *** 

298. Blur -- 13 (1999) *** 1/2 

299. Adrianne Lenker -- Bright Future ** 1/2 

300. Emmylou Harris -- Angel Band (1987) *** 

301. Jimmy Smith -- Home Cookin' (1961) *** 

302. Billy Tibbals -- Stay Teeenage ep *** 

303. Billy Tibbals -- Nightlife Stories ep *** 

304. Emmylou Harris -- Bluebird (1989) ** 1/2 

305. John Grant -- The Art of the Lie ** 1/2 

306. Montage -- Montage (1969) ** 

307. Emmylou Harris -- Brand New Dance (1990) ** 

308. Lou Reed -- Transformer (1972) *** 1/2 

309. Magazine -- Real Life (1978) ** 1/2 

310. Röyksopp -- Melody A.M. (2001) ** 

311. Mel Tormé -- Songs For Any Taste (1957) ** 1/2 

312. Yunchan Lim -- Chopin Études Op. 10 and 25 *** 

313. a-ha -- Hunting High and Low (1985) ** 

314. Blind Willie McTell -- Statesboro Blues (2003) *** 1/2 

315. Jamme -- Jamme (1968) ***/ 

316. Common -- Be (2005) *** 

317. The Divine Comedy -- A Short Album About Love (1997) *** 1/2 

318. Liam Gallagher and John Squire --- Liam Gallagher and John Squire *** 

319. Bee Gees -- 1st (1967; their third album, actually) ** 1/2 

320. Bee Gees -- Horizontal (1968) ** 
321. Bee Gees -- Odessa (1969) *** \

322. Air -- The Virgin Suicides soundtrack (2000) **** 
323. Bob & Marcia (Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths) -- Pied Piper (1971) *** 

324. Kraftwerk -- The Man-Machine (1978) *** 1/2 

325. Kraftwerk -- Computer World (1981) *** 1/2 

326. Emmylou Harris -- Cowgirl's Prayer (1993) *** 

327. Otis Redding -- The Best Of Otis Redding (1972 on Atlantic) **** 

328. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas -- Greatest Hits (1981) **** 

329. The Clovers -- The Best of The Clovers (1991) *** 

330. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas -- Gold (2003) *** 1/2 

331. Les Rythmes Digitales -- Darkdancer (1999) ** 

332. Bee Gees -- Main Course (1975) *** 

333. Wilco -- Hot Sun Cool Shroud ep *** 

334. The Marvelettes -- The Definitive Collection *** 

335. The Marvelettes -- Greatest Hits *** 1/2 

336. The Young Fresh Fellows -- The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest (1984) *** 1/2 

337. Bee Gees -- Children of the World (1976) *** 

338. Camilo -- Cuatro ***/ 

339. Iggy Pop -- The Idiot (1977) *** 1/2 

340. Bee Gees -- Spirits Having Flown (1979) ** 1/2 (side one strong) 

341. Mdou Moctar -- Funeral For Justice ***/ 

342. Slade -- Slayed? (1973) ***/ 

343. Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore -- Texicali *** 

344. Vince Guaraldi -- It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown ** 

345. Otis Redding -- The Immortal Otis Redding (1968) *** 1/2 

346. The Del McCoury Band -- Songs of Love and Life *** 

347. Bobby Womack -- The Poet (1981) *** 

348. Otis Redding -- The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965) *** 1/2 

349. Public Image Ltd. -- First Issue (1978) ** 1/2 

350. The XX -- I See You (2017) ** 1/2 

351. Grupo Frontera -- Jugando a Que No Pasa Nada *** 1/2 

352. Van Morrison -- It's Too Late To Stop Now (1974) *** 
353. Sea Wolf -- Leaves in The River (2007) ** 1/2 

354. Gram Parsons -- GP (1973) *** 1/2 

355. Gram Parsons -- Grievous Angel (1974) **** 
356. Ride -- Nowhere (1990) ***  

357. Maggie Rogers -- Don't Forget Me ** 

358. The 5th Dimension -- The Magic Garden (1967) ** 
359. Ismael Rivera -- La Quiniela de Dia (1976) *** 1/2 

360. Aphex Twins -- Selected Ambient Work 85-92 (1992) *** 

361. Ismael Rivera with Cortijo y su Combo Original -- Juntos Otra Vez (1974) *** 1/2 

362. Scotty McCreery -- Rise & Fall ** 1/2 

363. Snoop Dogg -- Doggystyle (1993) ** 

364. Joe Tex -- Greatest Hits (1991) **** 
365. Beyoncé -- Cowboy Carter *** 1/2 

366. Emmylou Harris -- At The Ryman (1992) *** 1/2 

367. Hermanos Gutiérrez -- Sonido Cosmico *** 

368. Richard Hawley -- In This City They Call You Love *** 1/2 

369. Bee Gees -- E.S.P. (1987) * 1/2 

370. 50 Cent -- Get Rich Or Due Tryin' (2003) ** 1/2 

371. Linda Thompson -- Proxy Music *** 1/2 

372. Badly Drawn Boy -- The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000) *** 

373. Bad Brains -- I Against I (1986) ** 

374 Natalie Joachim -- Ki Moun Ou Ye ** 

375. Otis Redding -- Love Man (1969) *** 
376. Def Leppard -- Hysteria (1987) ** 1/2 

377. PJ Harvey -- Let England Shake (2011) *** 1/2 

378. Khruangbin -- A La Sala ** 1/2 

379. Pokey Lafarge -- Rhumba Country ***/ 

380. Can -- Tago Mago (1971) *** 

381. Ice Cube -- Predator (1992) ** 1/2 

382. Paul McCartney -- One Hand Clapping (1974/2024) *** 

383. Madeleine Peyroux -- Let's Walk ** 1/2 

384. Led Zeppelin -- IV (1971) *** 1/2 

385. Grupo Frontera -- El Comienzo (2023) *** 1/2 

386. Cindy Lee -- Diamond Jubilee ** 1/2 

387. T. Bone Burnett -- The Other Side ** 

388. Mickey Newbury -- Looks Like Rain (1969) **** 
389. Omar Apollo -- God Said No ** 1/2 

390. Astrid Sonne -- Great Doubt ** 1/2 

391. Jacques Brel -- Olympia '64 (1964) ** 1/2 

392. Dehd -- Poetry ***\ 

393. Beth Gibbons -- Lives Outgrown *** 

394. Frankie Siragusa -- Goodbye, My Love (2020) *** 1/2 

395. The Young Gods -- L'eau Rouge/Red Water (1989) ** 1/2 

396. Sparks -- Kimono My House (1974) *** 

397. Nancy Wilson -- The Swinging's Mutual w George Shearing (1961) ***/ 

398. Suede -- Suede (1993) ** 1/2 

399. Zach Bryan -- The Great American Bar Scene *** 

400. Raekwon -- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995) ** 1/2 

401. Rachel Chinouriri -- What A Devastating Turn of Events ** 

402. The Verve -- A Northern Soul (1995) *** 

403. The Jesus and Mary Chain -- Darklands (1987) *** 

404. Maggie Rose -- No One Gets Out Alive ***/ 

405. John Oates -- Reunion *** 
406. Daryl Hall -- D ** 

407. Henry Mancini -- A Merry Mancini Christmas (1966) * 
408. Deep Purple -- In Rock (1970) ** 1/2 

409. The Incredible String Band -- The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1968) * 
410. Meat Puppets -- II (1984) *** 1/2 

411. Massive Attack -- Protection (1994) ** (but Tracey Thorn tracks  great) 
412. Public Image Ltd. -- Metal Box/Second Edition (1979) 12 track version *** 

413. Pet Shop Boys -- Actually (1987) ** 1/2 

414. Bee Gees -- Trafalgar (1971) * 1/2 

415. Megadeth -- Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? (1986) ** 
416. Incredible Bongo Band -- Bongo Rock (1973) ** 1/2 

417. Slipknot -- All Hope Is Gone (2008) * 

418. Balka Sound -- Balka Sound (2022) *** 

419. Marilyn Manson -- Antichrist Superstar (1996) * 

420. Eladio Carrion -- Sol Maria *** 

421. Louis Armstrong -- Louis In London (1968/2024) ** 

422. RM -- Right Place, Wrong Person ** 

423. Claire Rousay -- Sentiment ** 

424. Aaron Lee Tasjan -- Stellar Evolution ** 

425. Sierra Ferrell -- Trail of Fears ** 

426. Charles Lloyd -- The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow *** 

427. Emmylou Harris -- Wrecking Ball (1995) *** 1/2 

428. Mk.gee -- Two Star and the Dream Police ** 

429. Leyla McCalla -- Sun Without The Heat ** 

430. Kali Malone -- All Life Long *** 1/2 

431. Blur -- Think Tank (2003) *** 

432. Pixies -- Surfer Rosa (1988) *** 

433. World Party -- Best In Show (2007) **** 

434. Neil Young -- Fu##ing Up ** 1/2 

435. Sia -- Reasonable Woman ** 1/2 

436. Miriam Makeba -- Miriam Makeba (1960) *** 1/2 

437. Young Miko -- att. *** 

438. Earth, Wind & Fire -- That's The Way Of The World (1975) *** 

439. Jonathan Richman -- Back In Your Life (1979) *** 

440. X -- Smoke & Fiction *** 1/2 

441. The Last Dinner Party -- Prelude To Ecstasy ** 1/2 

442. Bee Gees -- Best of Bee Gees (1969) *** 

443. Bee Gees -- Best Of Bee Gees Vol. 2(1973) *** 
444. Haircut One Hundred -- Pelican West (1982) *** 1/2 

445. Nick Heyward -- North Of A Miracle (1983) *** 
446. Nick Heyward -- Woodland Echoes (2017) *** 1/2 

447. Megan Moroney -- Am I Okay? *** 

448. Hiroshi Yoshimura -- Green (1986) *** 1/2 

449. Lacy J. Dalton -- For The Black Sheep ** 1/2 

450. TV On The Radio -- Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes (2004) ** 1/2 

451. Daniel Romano aka Outfit -- Too Hot To Sleep ** 

452. The Divine Comedy -- Absent Friends (2004) *** 

453. The Hanseroth Twins -- Vera ** 1/2 

454. Mel Tormé -- I Dig The Duke, I Dig The Count (1962) *** 

455. Brian Eno -- Soft Edges ep *** 1/2 

456. Mkwaju Ensemble -- Ki-Motion (1981) *** 

457. Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- Tarkus (1971) * 

458. Grateful Dead -- Dick's Picks Vol. 8 (May 2, 1970) ***\ 

459. Bob Dylan -- Time Out Of Mind (1997) **** 

460. Bob Dylan -- Modern Times (2006) *** 1/2 

461. Shelby Lynne -- Consequences Of The Soul ** 1/2 

462. The Teardrop Explodes -- Kilimanjaro (1980) ** 1/2 

463. Klaxons -- Myths Of The Near Future (2006) ** 

464. The Po' Ramblin' Boys -- Wanderers Like Me *** 

465. John Surnam -- Words Unspoken *** 1/2 

466. Emmylou Harris -- Red Dirt Girl (2000) ***\ 

467. Emmylou Harris -- Stumble Into Grace (2003) *** 

468. Emmylou Harris -- The Travelin' Kind (w Rodney Crowell) (2015) ** 1/2 

469. Tangerine Dream -- Rubycon (1975) *** 
470. Various Artists -- The Complete Friends Of Old Time Music Concert (1965) *** 

471. Grateful Dead -- Reckoning (1981) *** 

472. Grateful Dead -- Wake of the Flood (1973) *** 

473. Killing Joke -- Killing Joke (1980) *** 

474. Spirit -- Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970) ** 1/2 

475. Oso Oso -- Life Till Bones *** 

476. Bob Dylan -- Greatest Hits (1967) **** 
477. Otis Spann -- Otis Spann (1964) **** 
478. Hiroshi Yoshimura -- Surround (1986) *** 1/2 

479. Bob Dylan -- Love and Theft (2001) *** 1/2 

479. Sturgill Simpson -- Passage du Desir *** 1/2 

480. John Legend -- My Favorite Dream * 

481. Kali Malone -- Living Torch (2022) *** 1/2 

482. Popeye: Music From The Motion Picture Deluxe Edition (1980/2017) *** 1/2 

483. Laurie Anderson -- Amelia *** 

484. George Winston -- Eastern Montana ** 

485. Frank Black -- Teenager of the Year (1994) ** 1/2 

486. Brian Eno -- I Dormienti ep (2023) *** 1/2 

487. Scott Walker -- Scott (1967) *** 1/2 

488. Scott Walker -- Scott 2 (1968) *** 1/2 

489. Scott Walker -- Scott 3 (1969) *** 1/2 / 

490. Scott Walker -- Scott 4 (1969) *** 1/2 

491. Jon Hopkins -- Ritual *** 

492. Engelbert Humperdink -- The Best Of... (2005) *** 

493. FKA twigs -- LP1 (2024) ** 1/2 

494. Old 97's -- American Primitive ***/ 

495. Sugar -- Copper Blue (1992) *** 1/2 

496. Various Artists -- Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental and New Age Music 1980-1990 (2019) *** 

497. Joe Ely -- Driven To Drive *** 

498. Crowded House -- Gravity Stairs **  

499. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan -- Devotional Songs aka Love & Devotion (w Party) (1992 on Real World Records) *** 1/2 

500. Sergio Mendes -- Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (1966) ** 

501. Tangerine Dream -- Legend (1985) *** 

502. Bob Dylan -- Greatest Hits Vol. II (1971) **** 

503. Lone Justice -- Shelter (1996) ** 1/2 

504. Nellie McKay -- Hey Guys, Watch This! (2023) *** 
505. Nellie McKay -- Bagatelles ep (2019) **** 

506. Scott Walker -- 'Til The Band Comes Home (1970) ** 1/2 

507. Jon Anderson -- True ** 

508. Syd Barrett -- The Madcap Laugh (1970) *** 1/2 

509. Joan Armatrading -- Joan Armatrading (1976) ** 1/2 

510. Old 97's -- Satellite Ride (2001) *** 
511. The Smile -- A Light For Attracting Attention (2022) *** 1/2 

512. The Smile -- Wall of Eyes *** 1/2 

513. Jack Sheldon -- Ho Ho Ho ep ** 

514. Bjork -- Vulnicura (2015) ** 

515. Frank Zappa -- Freak Out! (1966) *** 1/2 

516. The The -- Ensoulment *** 1/2 

517. The The -- Soul Mining (1983) *** 

518. The The -- Infected (1986) *** 

519. Logic -- Ultra 85 *** 

520. Scott Walker -- Climate Of Hunter (1984) ** 1/2 (but "Blanket Roll" great) 

521. Hugo Largo -- Drum (1988) ** 

522. Miranda Lambert -- Postcards From Texas ** 1/2 

523. The Style Council -- Cafe Bleu (1984) ** 1/2 

524. Rosie Tucker -- Utopia Now! ***/ 

525. Florian Weber -- Imaginary Cycle *** 1/2 

526. Hiroshi Yoshimura -- Music For Nine Post Cards (1982) *** 1/2 

527. The Jam -- Compact Snap! (1984) *** 1/2 

528. The Jam -- Snap! (1983) **** 

529. Squeeze -- Argybargy (1980) *** 1/2 

530. Squeeze -- East Side Story (1981) ***  

531. Squeeze -- Play (1991) *** 

532. Small Faces -- Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (1968) ** 1/2 

533. Paul Simon -- Hearts and Bones (1983) *** 1/2 

534. Willie Tee -- I'm Only A Man (1971) *** 

535. Manu Chao -- Viva Tu *** 1/2 

536. The Jam -- Sound Affects (1980) *** 1/2 

537. Caroline Shaw -- Rectangles and Circumstance w So Percussion (2024) *** 

538. The Fall -- Live at the Witch Trials (1979) ** 

539. Nick Lowe -- Indoor Safari ** 1/2 

540. The Youngbloods -- Elephant Mountain (1969) ** 1/2 

541. Faust -- Faust IV (1973) *** 
542. Fairground Attraction -- Beautiful Happening ** 1/2 

543. Kali Malone -- Cast of Mind (2018) *** 1/2 

544. The Rolling Stones -- Stripped (1995) *** 

545. Bob Dylan -- Dylan & The Dead (1989) ** 

546. Bob Dylan -- The 1974 Live Recordings Sampler *** 

547. Nightmares on Wax -- Smokers Delight (1995) ** 

548. Juan Luis Guerra -- Radio Güira ep ** 1/2 

549. Afrika Bambaata & the SoulSonic Force -- Planet Rock: The Album (1986) *** 1/2 

550. Steve Earle -- Guitar Town (1986) *** 

551. Bob Dylan -- The 1974 Live Recordings Sampler (1974/2024) *** 

552. Bright Eyes -- Five Dice, All Threes *** 1/2 

553. Jeru The Damaja  -- The Sun Rises In The East (1994) ** 1/2 

554. Nick Heyward -- The Mermaid and the Lighthouse Keeper w India Dupre (2022) ** 

555. M. Ward -- For Beginners: The Best of M. Ward *** 1/2 

556. Pet Shop Boys -- Behaviour (1990) *** 1/2 

557. Paul Butterfield Blues Band -- East-West (1966) *** (but terrible singer) 

558. Pixies -- Doolittle (1989) *** 1/2 

559. Pet Shop Boys -- Very (1993) *** 1/2 

560. Outkast -- Aquemini (1998) ** 1/2 (one star off for vile "Mamacita") 

561. Incubus -- Make Yourself (1999) ** 1/2 

562. New Order -- Low-Life (1985) *** 1/2 

563. Public Enemy -- It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988) **** 

564. Pixies -- Bossanova (1990) *** 

565. Outkast -- Stankonia (2000) *** 1/2 

566. Pet Shop Boys -- Bilingual (1996) ***  

567. Public Enemy -- Fear Of A Black Planet (1990) *** 1/2 

568. The Smile -- Cutouts *** 1/2 

569. Nick Cave -- Wild God *** 1/2 

570. Mindy Smith -- Quiet Town ** 

571. Green Day -- Saviors *** 1/2 

572. Malcolm McLaren -- Duck Rock (1983) *** (but v influential) 

573. Gepe -- Undesastre *** 1/2 

574. Tower of Power -- It's Christmas * 

575. Nicol Williamson -- The Hobbit abridged audiobook (1974) **** 

576. Roscoe Mitchell Sextet -- Sound (1966) ** 1/2 

577. Kasey Chambers -- Backbone *** ("The Divorce Song" is great) 
578. Bruce Springsteen -- Magic (2007) *** great songs, can't stand prod by B O'Brien

579. Esperanza Spalding and Milton Nascimento -- Milton + Esperanza ** 

580. Jack White -- No Name *** (needs another listen) 

581. Sonny Rollins -- G-Man (1987 live album) **** 

582. Eminem -- The Death of Slim Shady *** 

583. Pet Shop Boys -- Nightlife (1999) ** 1/2 

584. Public Enemy -- Yo! Bum Rush The Show *** 

585. Public Enemy -- Apocalypse 91: The Empire Strikes Black *** 1/2 

586. Pharoah Sanders -- Pharoah (1977) *** 

587. Various Artists -- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) *** 1/2 

588. Betty Carter -- The Audience With Betty Carter (1980) *** 1/2 

589. Satoshi Ashikawa -- Still Way (Wave Notation 2) (1982) ** 1/2 
590. The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge–Yulefest! (2015) ** 

591. Primal Scream -- Vanishing Point (1997) ***\ 

592. Elliott Brood -- Town and Country (2024) *** 1/2 

593. Ornette Coleman -- Free Jazz (1961) ***/ 

594. Engelbert Humperdink -- A Merry Christmas (1980) * 

595. The Stranglers -- Rattus Norvegicus (1977) *** 

596. The Germs -- GI (1979) *** 1/2 

597. Bob Sumner -- Some Place To Rest Easy ** 

598. Horace Andy -- Timeless Roots w Jah Wobble ** 1/2 

599. Faye Webster -- Underdressed at the Symphony ** 1/2 

600. Bee Gees -- Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits (2017) *** (cut six tracks and change order) 

601. Coldplay -- Moon Music *** 

602. Tom Waits -- swordfishtrombones (1983) **** 

603. Tom Waits -- Rain Dogs (1985) **** 

604. Tom Waits -- Frank's Wild Years (1987) *** 1/2 

605. Horace Andy -- Skylarking (1972) *** 

606. The Hentchmen -- Hentch-Forth w Jack White *** 1/2 

607. The The -- Mind Bomb (1989) ** 1/2 

608. Pet Shop Boys -- Release (2002) ** 1/2 

609. The Thrills -- So Much For The City (2003) ** 

610. Fleetwood Mac -- Rumours *** 1/2 

611. Billy Joel -- Glass Houses (1980) *** 1/2 

612. Neil Diamond -- 50th Anniversary Celebration (2017) *** 1/2 

613. Rush -- Moving Pictures ((1981) *** 1/2 

614. Jackson Browne -- Running on Empty (1977) *** 1/2 

615. Cheap Trick -- At Budokan (1978) ** 1/2 

616. J Balvin -- Rayo *** 

617. The The -- Dusk (1993) *** 
618. Judy Garland -- Judy at the Palace Closing Night (1952) ** 1/2 

619. Ray Charles -- Together Again aka Country and Western Meets Rhythm and Blues (1965) *** 

620. Dinah Washington -- Music For Late Hours (1956) * 

621. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis -- Warriors ** 

622. Ray Charles -- Yes Indeed! (1958) *** 1/2 

623. Ray Charles -- Cryin' Time (1966) *** 1/2 

624. Al Stewart -- Love Chronicles (1969) ** 1/2 

625. Christina Aguilera -- Stripped (2002) *** 

626. Ricky Montgomery -- Rick(y) *** 

627. Sean Shibe -- Bach (2020) *** 

628. U2 -- Achtung Baby (1991) **** 
629. Lone Justice -- Viva Lone Justice *** 1/2 (what a loss) 

630. Nirvana -- Bleach (1989) *** 

631. Nirvana -- Nevermind (1991) **** 

632. Nirvana -- In Utero (1993) *** 1/2 

633. Holger Czukay -- Movies (1979) *** 

634. Lenny Kravitz -- Let Love Rule (1989) ** 

635. Bonnie Raitt -- Nick of Time (1989) **** 

636. Ray Charles -- Modern Sounds in Country and Western Vol. II (1962) **** 

637. XTC -- Oranges & Lemons (1989) *** 1/2 / 

638. Slint -- Spiderland (1991) *** 

639. Linda Ronstadt -- Live in Hollywood Deluxe (1980) *** 

640. Echo and the Bunnymen -- Ocean Rain (1984) ** 1/2 

641. Jay Wheeler -- Música Buena Para Días Malos *** 1/2 

642. Willie Nelson -- Last Leaf on the Tree *** 

643.  XTC -- Apple Lemon Vol. 1 ** 1/2 (tracks 5,6,7) 

644. The Thrills -- So Much For The City (2003) ** 

645. Spanish Harlem Orchestra (w Ruben Blades) -- Across 110th Street (2004) **** 

646. Fantastic Cat -- Now That's What I Call Fantastic Cat *** 1/2 

647. Suicide -- Suicide (1977) *** 1/2 

648. Mercury Rev -- Deserter's Songs (1998) ** 

649. The Bees -- Sunshine Hit Me (2002) ** 1/2 

650. Paul Kelly -- Fever Longing Still *** 1/2 

651. Bob Dylan -- Love and Theft (2001) *** 1/2 

652. Ben Folds -- Sleigher ** 

653. Tito Puente -- Homenaje a Beny (1978) **** 
654. Eslaban Armado -- Amor Perdido *** 1/2 

655. El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico -- ¡Aqui No Se Siente Nadie! (1979) **** 
656. Roy Harper -- Stormcock (1971) ** 1/2 

657. Elastica -- Elastica (1995) *** 

658. Fantastic Cat -- The Very Best of Fantastic Cat (2022) *** 
659. Davy Knowles -- The Invisible Man *** 

670. 'Til Tuesday -- Voices Carry (1985) ** 

671. Lou Donaldson -- Blues Walk (1958) *** 1/2 

672. Art Garfunkel Jr. and Art Garfunkel -- Father and Son ** 

673. Little Big Town -- The Christmas Record * 1/2 

674. 'Til Tuesday -- Welcome Home (1986) *** 

675. Albert Hammond -- Christmas * 1/2 

676. Christopher Cross -- A Christopher Cross Christmas * 1/2 (but a good "Drummer Boy'") 

677. Albert Hammond -- It Never Rains in Southern California (1972) * 1/2 

678. Albert Hammond -- Albert Hammond (1974) ** 

679. Albert Hammond -- 99 Miles From L.A. (1975) * 1/2 

680. The dB's -- Stands For Decibels (1981) ** 1/2 

681. Stan Getz -- The Complete Roost Recordings (1997) **** 

682. Boss Capone and George Dekker -- Blackfire *** / 

683. War -- The World Is A Ghetto (1972) ** 1/2 

684. Onalea -- The End of the World *** 

685. Anthrax -- Among The Living (1987) * 1/2 

686. Ismael Miranda -- Así Se Compone un Son (1973) *** 

687. The B-52's -- The B-52's (1979) *** 

688. Idles -- TANGK ** 1/2 

689. The John Sally Ride -- Melomaniacs ***/ 

690. George Harrison -- George Harrison (1979) ** 1/2 

691. Duke Ellington -- The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (1975) *** 1/2 

692. Siouxsie and the Banshees -- The Scream (1978) **  

693. George Harrison -- Living in the Material World (1974) *** 1/2 

694. Ann Peebles -- I Can't Stand The Rain (1974) *** 1/2 

695. Wire -- Pink Flag (1977) *** 1/2 

696. Susanna Hoffs -- The Lost Record ***/ 

697. Johnny Smith -- Moonlight in Vermont (1956) **** 
698. Richard Swift -- Four Hits & A Miss -- The Essential Richard Swift *** / 

699. Dwight Yoakam -- Brighter Days ***/ 

700. Maria Muldaur -- Maria Muldaur (1973) *** 

701. Beta Radio -- Waiting For The End To Come ***/ 

702. Ringo Starr -- Ringo (1973) *** 

703. Kali Malone -- The Sacrificial Code (2019) **** 
704. Soft Machine -- Third (1970) *** 1/2 

705. Michael Kiwanuka -- Small Changes *** 

706. Harry Nilsson -- Pussy Cats (1974) ** (tragic) 

707 Kim Deal -- Nobody Loves You More *** 
708. LaBelle -- Nightbirds (1971) *** 1/2 

709. Talking Heads -- The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (1982) *** 1/2 

710. Kenny G -- Miracles: The Holiday Album (1994) ** 1/2 

711. Spinners -- Mighty Love (1974) *** 1/2 

712. Eric Clapton -- 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974) *** 1/2 

713. Kendrick Lamar -- GNX *** 

714. Jennifer Hudson -- The Gift of Love ** 

715. James Talley -- Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got A Lot Of Love (1975) **** 

716. The Triffids -- Calenture (1987) ** 1/2 

717. Clay Aiken -- Christmas Bells Are Ringing * 

718. Maria Muldaur -- Christmas at the Oasis (2010) *** 1/2 

719. The Art Farmer Quintet -- Blame It On My Youth (1988) *** 

720. The Who -- Who Are You (1978) *** 

721. Maria Muldaur -- Waitress in a Donut Shop (1974) *** 1/2 

722. Parliament -- Up For The Down Stroke (1974) *** 1/2 

723. Willow -- Empathogen *** 1/2 

724. Aerosmith -- Aerosmith (1973) *** 1/2 

725. Cheo Feliciano -- Estampas (1979) *** 

726. Chicago -- Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits (1975) *** 1/2 

727. The Persuasions -- Chirpin' (1977) *** 1/2 

728. 'Til Tuesday -- Everything's Different Now (1988) *** 1/2 

729. Pet Shop Boys -- Fundamental (2006) *** 

730. Nick Lowe -- Labour of Lust (1979) *** 

731. Dolly Parton -- Jolene (1974) *** 

732. Pear Jam -- Dark Matter *** 

733. Spinners -- Pick of the Litter (1975) ** 1/2 

734. Kraftwerk -- Autobahn (1974) *** 1/2 

735. Average White Band -- AWB (1974) ** 1/2 

736. Dave Edmunds -- Repeat When Necessary (1979) *** 1/2 

737. Pete Townsend and Ronnie Lane -- Rough Mix (1977) ** 1/2 

738. Tipica 73 -- Tipica 73 (1973) *** 1/2 

739. Kurt Elling -- Wildflowers Vol.1 ***/ 

740. Kings of Leon -- Only By The Night (2008) ** 1/2 

741. Bobby Rodríguez -- Lead Me To That Beautiful Band (1975) *** 

742. Amyl and the Sniffers -- Cartoon Darkness *** 

743. Aretha Franklin -- Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) (1973) ** 

744. Spinners -- Spinners (1973) ***/ 

745. Shelley Duvall -- Merry Christmas (1991) * 1/2 

746. Nick Lowe -- Jesus of Cool (1978) ** 1/2 

747. James Talley -- Tryin' Like The Devil (1976) *** 

748. Graham Parker -- Heat Treatment (1976) *** 1/2 

749. Graham Parker -- Howlin' Wind (1976) *** 

750. Graham Parker -- Stick To Me (1977) *** 1/2  

751. Aretha Franklin -- Young, Gifted and Black (1972) **** 

752. The Saints -- Eternally Yours (1978) *** 

753. The Hour -- Ease The Work ** 

754. Mustafa -- Dunya *** 

755. Dion -- Born To Be With You (1975) ***/ 

756. Aretha Franklin -- Aretha Now (1968) *** 1/2 

757. Kurt Elling -- Wildflowers Vol. 1 *** 

758. Ananda Shankar -- Ananda Shankar (1970) ** 

759. Aretha Franklin -- Soul '69 (1969) *** 

760. Jontavious Willis -- West Georgia Blues *** 1/2 

761. The Weeklings -- Christmas *** 

762. Dion -- Rock N Roll Christmas (1993) ("Jingle Bell Rock" a keeper)

763. Sabrina Carpenter -- Fruitcake ** (but "Cindy Lou Who" good) 
764. Billy Bragg -- Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (1986) *** 
765. The Psychedelic Furs -- Talk Talk Talk (1981) ** 1/2  

766. Minor Threat -- Out Of Step (1983) **** 
767.  

MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES 

(Not TV movies, of course, but movies and TV shows -- and TV movies if it comes to that. Mostly I only list TV shows when I've tackled an entire season at once or reappraising an entire series after it's over This doesn't really capture my ongoing watching of current TV.)

1. Bed and Sofa (1927) *** 1/2 

2. American Fiction ** 1/2 

3. The Zone Of Interest ***  

4. Dune (2021) (in IMAX) *** 1/2 

5. The Big Parade (1925) **** 

6. The Student Prince In Old Heidelberg (1927) **** 
7. Nimona ** 1/2 

8. All Of Us Strangers *** 

9.  Dune: Part Two ** 1/2 

10.  Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ** 1/2 

11. Showing Up (2023) *** 1/2 

12. The Quiet Girl *** 1/2 

13. Talk To Me *** (v good script, direction) 

14. Inside Out 2 ** 1/2 

15. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring extended cut at AMC *** 1/2 

16. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers extended cut at AMC ****  

17. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended cut at AMC *** 1/2  

18. The Bikeriders ** (but Toby Wallace one to watch) 

19. The Small Back Room (1949) (at Moma alone) *** 1/2 

20. The Edge of the World (1937) (at Moma w Zoe) *** 

21. The Lion Has Wings (1939; Powell one of four directors) w Smith (1939; 10 min) (w Zoe, Moma) ** 

22. Kneecap *** 

23. Didi *** 1/2 

24. Alien: Romulus **  

25. Popeye (1980) * 1/2 (and yet I'm still thinking about it) 

26. Good One (v good lead, all three really; teen camping w dad and his friend) ***/ 

27. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) **** 

28. Nationtime (1972) *** 1/2 

29. Conclave ** 1/2 

30. Small Things Like These ** 1/2 

31. Anora *** 1/2 (Igor!) 

32. Bird *** (lead!)

33. A Real Pain *** 

34. Blitz ** 

35. Gladiator II * 1/2 

36. 

THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS
(The names after the shows are the people who joined me at the performance.)

1. A Prairie Home Companion 50th Anniversary at Ryman (w Jesse) *** 

2. The Outsiders (four subs including two leads) (alone) ** 
3. Illinoise (alone) *** 

4. Stereophonic (w Noam; partial view) *** 

5. Ex Cathedra -- Christmas Music by Candlelight at St. Martin's in the Fields (w Leslie) *** 

6. 

Updated as of  December 19, 2024