For 1988, I'd also add (after Nations of Daydream and Millions)

I replaced my Close Lobsters vinyl with used CDs sometime in the 90s, but you can download both albums and a singles compilation from eMusic:

WORLD GONE WRONG was excellent, and has maybe the best liner notes that Dylan — or maybe anyone — has ever written.

@foosball,

@idiotking,

Both of those Close Lobsters albums (and the EP in between) still sound amazing. Even at the time, they were underappreciated.

@idiotking,

1989: The Year in Lists
1. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
2. Neil Young -Freedom
3. Mekons - Mekons Rock 'n' Roll
4. Lou Reed - New York
5. Pixies - Doolittle
6. Beastie Boys - Pauls Boutique
7. Sidewinders - Witchdoctor
8. Pogues - Peace & Love
9. Close Lobsters - Headache Rhetoric
10. Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
11. The…

Such Soulful Vocals, Too
That's another great thing about this amazing, unique record: the raggedy, soulful vocals that Whitlock and Clapton brought to song after song.

I've always loved "Phenomenal Cat." Almost as much as "All of My Friends Were There," which has one of my favorite lyrics ever: "And not just my friends, but their best friends, too."

Dylan & The Band
This is a weird one, of course, since hardly any of the music that Bob Dylan made with the Band in the 60s was officially released until after they reunited for PLANET WAVES & BEFORE THE FLOOD.

Why I Love the Ramones
Because they prove the theory that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

You know what, Ricky. You're absolutely right. Let me amend that to favorite "actual" ballplayer.

Christ, that was a poorly written post, so two points of clarification:
1. Saw both films at a drive-in — The Starlight Drive-in in Fresno, CA — at separate times, not at the same time.
2. Spelling bee plotline was "changed from" not "changed to."
3. My favorite song was "Champion Charlie Brown" — "Once a beginner / now…

"M-A-Z-E"
I saw both films at a drive-in with my parents as a kid, and I listened to the soundtrack album of A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN so many times that all these years later, I still know the words to songs like "Failure Face" and "I Before E,"

The Flash also had Amanda Pays & Alex Desert.

Slightly Less Awful
Is still awful.

The Other Proposals
The procession scene where Holly was turning down the "proposals" from some of the other men reminded me of a somewhat similar scene from M*A*S*H,— when Henry Blake was saying goodbye to everybody prior to getting on the helicopter to go home.

As Always…
Only the first Snoop is free.

Thom Anger
Not "Thom's Thoughts," but instead, a weekly "Thom Anger" column.