More albums, please

Time once again for "bands/artists who need to put out another album soon," as most recently organized here, since when four of the five bands/artists have put another album out and Snow Patrol have actually put out two. (God bless 'em, although I've gotten diminishing returns from the two.)

5. Green Day
Say what you will about Green Day, but American Idiot is a pretty great album by mainstream rock standards. And it came out in September 2004, which is a pretty long time ago by general music standards. The next album is scheduled for this coming summer, but that's still a ways off.

4. The Shins
This one's a little greedy since the last Shins album "only" came out a little less than two years ago (which is why they're only #4), but come on, Shins. It can't possibly take three and a half years every time, can it?

3. Doves
Some Cities came out in early 2005. They have a new album apparently coming out in the spring, which is great - but wow, four years. This in spite of the fact that Some Cities apparently went to #1 in the UK. But then, at least they have a new album scheduled, unlike #1 and #2 on this list.

2. The Essex Green
I forget how I stumbled upon them originally - it was via eMusic, I know, so it was probably a recommendation that they were similar to another band I liked and I found it hilarious that their name was the same as a shopping center I often went to in New Jersey. Their last album, Cannibal Sea, came out in March 2006, so they're not at three years yet, which is about the longest amount of time I find generally acceptable from an active band. The thing is, the band members all seem to have relatively new families that may be hampering any recording efforts. I thought I read recently that a new album was in the works, but their official site has nothing on it. Looks like I'm stuck listening to Cannibal Sea over and over for the foreseeable future (not exactly a bad thing, of course).

1. Sufjan Stevens
For a while, Stevens was actually quite prolific, releasing outstanding albums in 2003, 2004 and 2005 (the last of which, Illinois, remains his finest work to date). In 2006, he put out both The Avalanche, advertised as "outtakes and extras from the Illinois album," and Songs for Christmas. Both were great, but both were basically just compilations of older material, meaning that it's now been three and a half years with no new album from a guy who was able to put out three great ones in three years not that long ago. Perhaps he burned out a little. I'd love a new "state" album, but really I'd take just about anything from him at this point.

My Year of Bonds

Yeah, it probably won't take a whole year (although that partially depends on how long it takes From Russia with Love and You Only Live Twice to come off "short wait" on Netflix), but I couldn't resist the sound-vaguely-alike with "My Year of Flops," a quasi-inspiration for this sort of reviewing method. This is all going to be on the main site, since I prefer that layout for long-form reviewing and use of pictures; I'll probably put a link up on the right when I've written a couple more, but here's Volume One, for Dr. No.

Quantum of DVDs

This is an odd post to be making on the heels of announcing my engagement, given that it's the sort of thing you'd probably expect a single guy to do instead. But I plan to take time over the coming months to do two movie-viewing projects which in some respects have been a long time coming.

1. Every James Bond film in order
I've seen all the films of Brosnan and Craig, but that's just six out of 22 total (which doesn't even count Never Say Never Again) and ignores Connery entirely. Alma's father and brother-in-law are both big Bond fans (unless I'm completely misremembering, Tyler is as well), so it seems like an appropriate time to rectify this blind spot, and hey, I get to make a series of reviews out of it! Sounds like a plan to me.

2. Every DVD I own
Movies only, or this would take a lot longer. Thinking on it, I own quite a few films on DVD that I have never watched on DVD - films that I saw in the theater, liked a lot, bought, and then never looked at again. Whether or not I would still love all these films is a matter of debate. So I get to make a series of reviews that involves me revisiting films I loved in the past, and deciding whether or not I still like them enough to hang on to them. And if I don't, I can sell them on eBay and actually make a tiny, tiny dent in the pile of clutter that is my apartment.

Before anyone says anything, I fully expect these projects combined to take at least nine months to a year. That's 22 Bond films (probably by the time I near the end Quantum of Solace will be out on DVD, and yes, I just saw it, but the point is to go in order to see exactly how the franchise has evolved, since at present I'm ill equipped to answer that) and I forget exactly how many I own but it's gotta be at least three dozen and quite possibly over forty. The odds of me watching more than one movie a week with any regularity aren't great while I'm still doing both work and school, which I will be the entire time, so I'll try to hold to something approximating that schedule. In other words - especially since I'm about to leave the country for the best part of a month - if I'm done with the two projects by New Year's 2010 it'll be something of a minor miracle. Just think of me as a cut-rate Nathan Rabin.

Comments? Suggestions?