music for the melancholy - amazon listmania

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Music for the Melancholy

Michael Alexander (New Haven, CT United States)

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The Songs of Leonard Cohen by Cohen, Leonard
$9.98   Used & New from: $6.20
My favorite songwriter EVER.  He's insane and depressed and beautiful.  The music's just as good.  For when love and death become indistinguishable.  You decide whether to cry for joy or woe.

Pink Moon by Drake, Nick
Used & New from: $5.95
Nick Drake's quietest and best.  Listen when you just want to feel quiet and comforted.

Either/Or by Smith, Elliott
$13.98   Used & New from: $8.97
Elliott's best IMHO.  Takes a couple listens to realize how incredibly melodic it all is.  Like a modern Nick Drake, but with a punk emotional edge(bitter and tense) to balance out the dreamy parts.

 

Electro-Shock Blues by Eels
$10.98   Used & New from: $4.85
Two close family members died, and he wasn't exactly happy to start out with, so you can guess the emotional content, but how can it be such great pop too?  The last song makes it all feel ok again.

 

Songs of Love and Hate by Cohen, Leonard
$11.98   Used & New from: $6.99
It has Famous Blue Raincoat(totally perfect, cry-your-eyes out song)...<BREAK>.  The rest's just as amazing, and he's lost hope entirely.  Listen when you feel the same.

 

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division
$8.97   Used & New from: $7.47
BLEAK, emotionally scarred, angsty post-punk.  Some songs make me unable to speak.  Music to lose yourself by in pure angst, with really creepy atmospherics.  Check out Shadowplay and New Dawn Fades.

 

Closer by Joy Division
$8.97   Used & New from: $3.99
More synthesizers and less memorable individual songs, but the overall effect makes this the Most Depressing Album EVER.  You can tell that Ian Curtis killed himself the week after.

 

Disintegration by Cure, The
$14.98   Used & New from: $5.79
Only about half the songs jump out individually, but the soundscapes are both dreamy and dark.  Besides, Last Dance is the essential goth heartache song.

 

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
$13.98   Used & New from: $8.88
His voice hurts the first couple listens, but you get used to it.  Lovely indie-psychedelic-pop-folky melodies.  Depending on your mood, can make you deliriously happy or depressed.

 

The Velvet Underground by Velvet Underground
$9.98   Used & New from: $4.97
Something to curl up with when you just want somebody to hold you.  The "sensitive" Velvets album, with a couple of upbeat rockers that don't disturb the mood.

 

Automatic for the People by R.E.M.
$9.97   Used & New from: $1.05
It's either depressing or uplifting; I'm not sure, and neither are any of my friends.  Greatest 90's REM album.  Another one with a "make it all better" ending.

 

Black Celebration by Depeche Mode
$8.97   Used & New from: $3.67
If you can get past some of the cheesier dated bits, it's a great album to put on when you just want to mope.  "Stripped" need not apologize for anything.

 

Singles by Smiths, The
$14.98   Used & New from: $8.94
He's fey, he's gay, he's horny, he's listless, he's Morrissey!  With Johnny Marr's amazing melodies, this is great sad-pop, with a few more rocking numbers too.  Wistful, ennui-laden, perfect.