Feb 17 2021
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Songs From The Big Chair
Tears For Fears
3
Feb 19 2021
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The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
One of, if not the best record of all time. Great Gig in the Sky is a little bit overrated as a single but Money & Time make up for it. Incredible album.
5
Feb 22 2021
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Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
Not really my thing. Good background music but nothing special.
2
Feb 23 2021
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If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Pogues
Brings back so much childhood nostalgia for me. Used to ask my dad to play this album in the car and always loved it. Some pretty mediocre album tracks in there amongst the gems so 3/5 it is for me.
Tin Whistle makes me want to drink Guinness with mates in an Irish pub.
Also find it mad that the Pogues & Kirsty wrote a Christmas song so ridiculously good that you can enjoy it in mid-February.
3
Feb 24 2021
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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kanye West
It’s hard to be objective on this one as I think Kanye is a massive cunt and none of his recent albums come close to College Dropout and Graduation but there’s some absolute bangers hidden in here such as Power, All of the Lights, Gorgeous and Runaway. I remember Monster being a big hit but after listening to it back, it’s just awful commercialised Poprap. Gorgeous is criminally underrated and Kid Kudi deserves more respect than he gets. All in all, 3/4 good tunes doesn’t push the MBDTF ranking much higher. If I was allowed to, I’d give it a 2.5 for reasons above.
2
Feb 25 2021
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Doolittle
Pixies
Never really given Pixies much of a chance before. Only listened (and enjoyed) their bigger hits but never ventured much deeper and I’m pleasantly surprised with this album.
I think they’re a little overrated by pseudo music purist twats who ping out ridiculous opinions to make themselves feel clever and inferior to others.
It’s not the best album of all time or anything but it’s decent, easy listening with big bass riffs and has some great tunes on it such as HCYM and Debaser.
If I could, I would give it a 3.5. Fuck this voting system.
3
Feb 26 2021
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Vulgar Display Of Power
Pantera
Not my thing at all. Gave it a fair chance and a full listen and it’s still not my thing. RIP to Laura’s heart rate.
1
Mar 01 2021
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White Blood Cells
The White Stripes
Cracking album, cracking band. Not their best imo (Get Behind Me Satan) but really enjoyed this nonetheless. Fell In Love With a Girl is a fucking monster of a track. Meg White is genuinely awful at drums and she can’t seem to play anything other than 2/4 but Jack is a musical genius so it makes up for it. I think 16 songs is a little overkill and they probably should’ve just left some as B-Sides, there’s no way their label asked for it.
I’d have placed it somewhere between 3 & 4 but it doesn’t deserve the whole 4 star rating.
3
Mar 02 2021
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Tubular Bells
Mike Oldfield
A blast from the past in Miss Bird’s music class. Not the most exciting thing ever and hasn’t stood the test of time too well in my opinion but a classic nonetheless. Remember being home alone and watching the exorcist when I was a kid and this still brings me right back to it.
2
Mar 03 2021
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Violator
Depeche Mode
Not much to say other than great album and great band. Much more my kind of thing than a few of the previous albums. Enjoy the Silence and Personal Jesus the obvious standouts but even the album tracks make me want to dance around the kitchen annoying the shit out of Kajsa.
3
Mar 04 2021
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If You're Feeling Sinister
Belle & Sebastian
Just a lovely feel good album. B&S are definitely a band for a hot summers day BBQ so listening to them when it’s horrible weather elicits some mixed feelings from me. Really nice though.
3
Mar 05 2021
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Colour By Numbers
Culture Club
Never properly listened to Culture Club. Mainly because Karma Chameleon is an utterly wank song and also Boy George is a piece of shit who handcuffed a rent boy to a radiator and beat the shit out of him. For these reasons, I didn’t go into this album with a lot of optimism but I thought maybe the rest of the album will be a bit different from Karma Chameleon. It was not and the songs that were different were worse. I’m a huge fan of flagrantly gay 80s cheese pop but this was just too much for me. Church of the Poison Mind is the only half decent tune on it but the war crime against harmonica just ruins it for me. Willing to bet a large amount of money that Boy George will end up on a washed up celebrity show like I’m A Celebrity or Big Brother at some point in the future, the absolute wetty.
1
Mar 08 2021
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Hunky Dory
David Bowie
Absolute masterpiece. Brilliant album but let down by one or two album tracks. Life on Mars, Kooks & Changes make up for it 10 fold though. Never got into Bowie’s later stuff prior to his death but his early decades were just banger after banger. Deserves its 4.
4
Mar 09 2021
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Nebraska
Bruce Springsteen
Never been a big Bruce Springsteen fan. I don’t know what it is about him; maybe the flagrant American patriotism, the complete yer’da-ness of it or just the lack of substance to his music. I appreciate what he does and by all accounts he’s a decent & down to earth dude but I don’t even think an album full of his greatest hits would ever inspire me to listen to it more than once let alone this acoustic mess where he just lists American place names for some reason. Maybe if I was sinking my 5th Miller-Lite on the 4th July, flipping a few patties on the ol’ grill whilst I tell my buddies Greg & Dale about the new Chevy truck I’ve just bought to fit the fishing rods & golf clubs in, then I might appreciate this album a bit more. But I’m not and therefore I don’t.
1
Mar 10 2021
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Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
A classic I guess. I used to love this album when I was younger and full of teenage angst but now when I listen to it in full I just find it a bit... well... pathetic. I guess growing up can really change your mindset. I guess in a few years I’ll be voting Tory and thinking Piers Morgan makes some valid points and that makes me sad. God Save The Queen and Anarchy in the UK will always be top tier classics though and the nostalgia factor of having that teenage fight in me bring the rating up a bit. Imagine how good this would’ve been live at the time though. I bet there’s a lot of people who rate the SP as the best live band they’ve ever seen.
2
Mar 11 2021
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Imperial Bedroom
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Great to see some Wirral representation. Costello is a legend and a fantastic songwriter. I don’t think this album is anything groundbreaking or crazy but it’s very well crafted and excellently recorded with every song seamlessly blending into the nex. Thoroughly enjoyed it but it needs more bangers.
3
Mar 12 2021
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Graceland
Paul Simon
One of my all time favourite albums and I’m struggling to pick any faults with it. There’s something about the African Choral sound that instantly gives me those euphoric goosebumps. This is also my mum’s favourite album of all time so I spent most of my childhood bopping along to the Graceland cassette tape. You Can Call Me Al has a big claim to be high on the list of greatest songs of all time but there’s some hidden gems in here too such as Under African Skies, Crazy Love II & Homeless (with Ladysmith Black Mambazo who are also absolute legends). The naughty little saxophone hook in Gumboots is absolutely stonkin’. Had the biggest grin on my face all day listening to this back.
5
Mar 15 2021
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Surrealistic Pillow
Jefferson Airplane
Just painfully average. A bit like an ASDA frozen pizza. It’s not terrible and it’s nice but there are many better options out there. Every song sounds a little samey. Somebody To Love is clearly the best song on there and there’s a reason it’s their only hit single. There is absolutely no need for this album to have 17 songs on it.
2
Mar 16 2021
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I Should Coco
Supergrass
Another painfully average album from another one hit wonder band. I like the feel of it in places but in others it just feels like hot mess. The only single on it, Alright, is pretty self describing. I quite liked Time and Sofa Of My Lethargy wouldn’t be out of place on a Blur album. Overall, very average and doesn’t inspire me to listen twice.
2
Mar 17 2021
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Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin
Great album. Not putting as much effort into this review as everyone else seems to have given up. Not my favourite Led Zep record by a long way but still a lot of great songs here.
3
Mar 18 2021
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Beyond Skin
Nitin Sawhney
First one of these albums that I‘ve never heard of or recognise so it’s refreshing to do a review without any preconception of what it’ll be like... Its alright. A bit too much experimentation and far too high brow for me. There’s a couple of nice songs amongst mostly jarring over the top experiments with the Indian language but nothing stands out as incredible and I probably wouldn’t listen to it again unless for quiet background music with some snobby people. My first guess that this would’ve won the Mercury Prize. I was wrong, but it did get nominated and I really think this is pandering a little bit to the prestigious weirdness of the award.
1
Mar 19 2021
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Supa Dupa Fly
Missy Elliott
This was a big barrel of wank. That’s my review.
1
Mar 23 2021
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Mr. Tambourine Man
The Byrds
Decent and easy listening but again, nothing too special. Mr Tambourine Man is obviously the best song on there. You can tell Bob Dylan got a lot of inspiration from this.
3
Mar 25 2021
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Rising Above Bedlam
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
Another weird and strange experiment album which is a recipe for disaster in my book but against all odds, I really enjoyed this. I had an extremely productive day and I can’t say it wasn’t because of this album. I especially enjoyed the song with Sinead O’Connor. It just works!
3
Mar 26 2021
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Tuesday Night Music Club
Sheryl Crow
It does not surprise me that Sheryl Crow’s 4th most listened to song on Spotify is from the Cars II soundtrack. That tells me everything I need to know about Sheryl Crow. She is also the same age as my mum. What the fuck?
1
Mar 29 2021
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American Beauty
Grateful Dead
I realised today that despite them being extremely well known and famous, I’ve never actually heard a single Grateful Dead song In my life. God knows why, I assume I just thought they were a bit of a shitty ‘yer da’ band but boy was I wrong. This album blew me away. It feels like a perfect blend of Simon & Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. Such a perfect album to be out biking in the sun on a lovely Swedish spring day. I particularly liked Ripple even though it has the exact same structure as Country Roads and the same lyric scheme as Band Aid. Overall thoroughly surprised and impressed. A well deserved 4/5.
4
Mar 30 2021
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Kid A
Radiohead
Totally not my favourite Radiohead album but its very well crafted and recorded. Easy to put this on in the background and just blend right into it.
3