May 06 2021
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Blood On The Tracks
Bob Dylan
5
May 07 2021
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B-52's
The B-52's
4
May 10 2021
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Trafalgar
Bee Gees
Very Burt Bacharach. Good in sections when it got gospelly but overall very dirgey and slow with organs and strings. Not 'cool' at all.
2
May 11 2021
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Machine Gun Etiquette
The Damned
Really solid second half with some great Rocky songs. First half is standard 1979 British punk. Just missed out on a 4/5
3
May 12 2021
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Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes
Competent upbeat British New wave. Like a less depressing Smiths or less experimental talking heads. Pretty good, but I bit forgettable. 3/5
3
May 13 2021
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Live At The Regal
B.B. King
Excellent live blues album, sensational band, excited crowd and bb king being charismatic and good at guitar. Jazzy and 60s cool. Good for a dinner party 4/5
4
May 14 2021
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Loveless
My Bloody Valentine
A classic album, and one that requires more than one listen to fully appreciate. Like all shoe gaze it's a bit hard to discern one song from another but the overall vibe is fuzzy, heavy, gloomy. Would be great live. Misses out on a 5 due to a lack of variation through the album, but still a classic. 4.5/5
4
May 17 2021
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Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
If 'Black Sabbath' and 'N.I.B' weren't on this album it would be a good proggy, guitar focused rock album. Enjoyable but forgettable. But they are on this album, (plus the album cover looks like it does), so 60 years later teenagers still listen to metal in their bedrooms. It's like listening to the first monkey who discovered how to make fire. 4/5 for just those songs alone.
4
May 18 2021
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Clandestino
Manu Chao
Bright Latin jazzy reggae indie stuff. Very world music, but hasn't aged since the late 90s, shark tooth necklaces and blonde tips. Nice enough, but probably not going to listen again. Play at the beach.
3
May 19 2021
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Killing Joke
Killing Joke
Better than I expected. Big driving bass and drums, heavy riffs, some pommy bastard over the top. The Wait was a good song. Heavy, energetic, competent and keeps it up for the whole listen.
4
May 20 2021
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Marquee Moon
Television
Look, I'm sure they spent a lot on guitar lessons and their mums were really proud they had an album. It's 10-odd songs that are in the same tempo, same key, same vibe, same sound, same lack of effects on the instruments. It's just uninspiring, uninteresting. It sounds like something I wrote in subelius when I was in year 10. 1977 album, already showing the limitations of rock and roll. I could go on. 2 stars
2
May 21 2021
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Slippery When Wet
Bon Jovi
Look, Bon Jovi sucks, 80s hair metal sucks, synthersised stadium rock n roll sucks. But everyone has had that moment when they're at 1st year university and the cool older kids all know the words to Livin on a Dream and for a weird 18 months you get tricked into thinking that it's ironically cool in a daggy retro way. If you have taste you realise bon Jovi is shit around prac year, but it's a wild ride while it lasts. 3/5 based on that alone.
3
May 24 2021
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Aqualung
Jethro Tull
The production was like when you see a movie in 8k ultra HD and you can see all the people on the screen acting and reading lines. I could hear them playing instruments, not playing music. I actually like the much maligned flute, and everytime the piano came out it got into a bit of a bar room rocker. But I'm just confused about what Jethro Tull actually is, because most of the album sounds like a dance around the maypoll meeting of some Hobbits and the album never really takes off. I don't really get why half the album is the sounds of 1650. Hymn 43 was a good song. 2.51/5
3
May 25 2021
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Bitte Orca
Dirty Projectors
This was an interesting modern relief after a run of stodgy 80s acts. Kinda weird, thin, jagged stuff. Pretty good in parts but was lacking either a folk mind or a indie pop dancefloor heart.
3
May 26 2021
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Tigermilk
Belle & Sebastian
Bright, breezy pop folk that was recorded at the other end of a long room to the band. I liked this one, even the distant production worked. Turn it down, put it it the background. It's nice.
4
May 27 2021
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Pornography
The Cure
So doom-y and quite a bit gloomy. They're all just so genuinely affected and the music just drones on and on and somehow becomes more all encompassing. Like a hug from a demon. Real goth stuff.
4
May 28 2021
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Fishscale
Ghostface Killah
One time, Ghostface Killah's manager threatened me because they didn't like how I was selling his merchandise at his concert. So I have beef with Ghostface. But he does good raps, lots of words and keeps it going. The skits are fucking lame though.
3
May 31 2021
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Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Brazillian bond themes. Not altogether interesting, a bit all over the shop.
2
Jun 01 2021
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Meat Is Murder
The Smiths
The band is really tight and complex, they stretch out songs and keep the album chugging. Then fucking Morrissey moans all over the damn thing. Plus, 'Death for no reason is murder'? Dickhead, there is a reason for killing a cow, I make a hamburger out of it and eat it. Piss off Morrissey.
3
Jun 02 2021
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Abbey Road
Beatles
They only had 7 years to be the Beatles, so rhats why there are songs like maxwell's silver hammer on every Beatles album. This is excellent though, even with the silly Beatles stuff. Easy 4, they'll get a five on another album.
4
Jun 03 2021
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Eliminator
ZZ Top
Fun fact about ZZ Top!
The drummer's name is Brain Good-At-Writing-Songs, which is so ironic because this band sucks.
2
Jun 04 2021
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Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
I think if Dylan, the Beatles and the stones created the rock/pop sounds from the 60s to now, the Beach Boys were the last gasp of the proto rock. Falsetto voices, harmony, nothing getting out of first gear. It's well performed and exceptionally well recorded, but it's just not my jam. I suppose it's better than ZZ Top and bovine Jovi and whatever else rock turned into.
2
Jun 17 2021
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Chirping Crickets
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
Didn't think I'd like it but then ended up enjoying it. Half Elvis, half roy or bison, which is to be expected I guess. The slow songs are a bit boring and every song has a very 50s, suburban, milk bar with my best girl and no colored people allowed vibe, but I like the rockabilly. Just wish Buddy would get a bit looser with that but I guess we had to wait for mick and John to do that for us.
4
Jun 18 2021
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In Rainbows
Radiohead
I don't know why I've never listened to much radio head. Maybe ok computer was a bit slow and electronic for me. Damn this was a good album, excellent from start to finish. A rare 5 stars
5
Jun 21 2021
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Sheet Music
10cc
This album really exposes the problem with the 5 star system. It's better than all the other 4s, but is it a stone cold classic 5/5 album? It's very silly, funny, excellently performed and recorded and is very prescient about the Hollywood casting couch 40 years before #metoo. It had me bopping and smiling the whole way through. It was fucking good. 5 stars, damn.
5
Jun 22 2021
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Arc Of A Diver
Steve Winwood
Meh. Phil colins sounds, organs and synth stringy fluff. We get it, it's 1980 and the keyboard synthesizer has been invented. Maybe do something more interesting than standing around in a loose linen shirt in front of a fan rubbing your nipples and singing about romance.
3
Jun 23 2021
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Chelsea Girl
Nico
We all piled on Rebecca black for having no talent but Nico makes the list of albums You Must Listen To Or Else You'll Die? At least RB's song was catchy and she paid for being famous with money rather than blow jobs. A goat being vivisectioned would be more melodic and in key. If I could give this zero stars I would, Nico is the fucking worst.
1
Jun 24 2021
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Queen II
Queen
We all know what to expect from queen but the early stuff is heavier, more proggy, more chaotic. The band is taking a more leading role and Freddie is signing like a power metal lead, rather than an operatic tenor. It's all good, but this stuff is good in a different way.
4
Jun 25 2021
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Moby Grape
Moby Grape
For whatever reason I can only access 2 songs and the bonus tracks in Spotify. Probably just as well, hippy folk music from the 60s hasn't aged fantastically. Have you heard California Dreaming? Yeah, it's that but not as catchy.
2
Jun 28 2021
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Deep Purple In Rock
Deep Purple
They really did just keep releasing Highway Star huh? It's kinda cute, dad rock. The guitar solos are fun, and how good was that song that went for ten minutes.
4
Jun 29 2021
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Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan
It's a masterpiece. He spends too long on the harmonica and if you're not using good speakers his voice can be nails on a chalkboard but it's song after song of depth, beauty and perfection. It's not even his best album but there are songs here that are just timeless. If you don't respect Dylan, you don't like modern music.
5
Jun 30 2021
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Colour By Numbers
Culture Club
It's pretty queer and gender bending. I think Boy George kinda wants to be an English version Prince but he's not quite that talented.
3
Jul 01 2021
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Dance Mania
Tito Puente
The definition of elevator music. The headline act at elevatorfest 2021. Listening to it made me feel like I was waiting for a dentist appointment.
2
Jul 02 2021
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Scum
Napalm Death
1