B-52s were punk as fuck. What else sounded like this in 1979? The debut's still as great as the day it was born. And they just got better. B-52s will live forever, because they must.
The standard. I don’t know jazz. But I know that when I listen to A Love Supreme, I think, “oh, I want to hear that again.” And then I understand what I like about jazz, and why it’s the standard.
Lovely, lonely, longing, like a poem written by a weedy traveler left on the table of a diner. Who knows where it will end up, but it needed to be said. The waitress picks it up - at first she thought it was some shitty attempt at a tip - and reads a few lines between orders. It stirs something unknown in her. Maybe she’ll give it to her son and he can pass it around. To someone who appreciates this kind of thing. “The sound of clouds above the world” is a lyric that plays repeatedly in her head.
Brian Wilson drove his bandmates nuts making this album, but no one else could create the original, wildly creative sound he directed. A pop masterpiece that doesn’t sound like pop at all. Like classical music that’s actually interesting.
Bowie gonna Bowie. I don’t love this album apart from “Sound and Vision” and “Speed of Life”. The rest is very introspective and Instrumental. But I keep listening because even rambling, experimental Bowie is still interesting. I think the final track, “Subterraneans”, is a beautiful mood piece.
Hell yeah King of the Apollo, Hardest Working Man in Show Business rips off the roof and renames it the House of James. This album’s really short! But listen to the famously tough Apollo crowd melt in his presence, and you’ll be wanting more too.
Sure! Fun. Not really my thing. Cool, repetitive, kinda ska, kinda reggae. Skeggae. Okay. Good times.
Plenty has been written about this album, so I’ll leave the review to Simon Fernand of BBC Music: “[Franz Ferdinand] may not be a particularly long album, but it is a masterpiece of funky, punky, suave cool from the first track to the last."
You just made the longest-charting album of all time, a stone classic . It’s okay to take a breather.
SCREECHING NOISES BURSTS OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING A HOWLING FIGURE IN THE NIGHT RAIN ATOP A STONY PEAK SEX ANVILS RAIN FROM THE SKY AS THE GODS SPLIT MOUNTAINS AND BRING FORTH TWIN-HEADED DRAGONS FROM THE DEEP OCEANS SEX A SOFT TUNE PLAYED UPON A MANDOLIN AS THE GOATS FROLIC ANVILS I like it
This would get four stars for “Words” alone. As it is, the album’s a repeat listener. Cool and tight with a style I don’t know what to call. Like if 10cc kept it up. Canadian.
It should be a 3.5 star rating, because there’s some seriously filler shit on here, but I’ll err on the side of generosity due to the stone-legend bangers on this record.
From Wikipedia: Chris Ryan, writing in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), called Illmatic "a portrait of an artist as a hood, loner, tortured soul, juvenile delinquent, and fledgling social critic," and wrote that it "still stands as one of rap's crowning achievements". Works for me
Todd Rundgren, hit machine? No! Todd Rundgren, music maker! This MF sits “Hello It’s Me” at #22 on a 25-track album! But before that are plenty of terrific songs. His sound is unique and he’s one prolific artist. He puts out so much but it never sounds “filler”. Another musician I need to spend more time with.
I came to ZZ Top with Eliminator, and I played it until the wheels fell off. So it took me a long time to learn about the origins of the Li’l Ol’ Band from Texas. I didn’t have much taste for the sound of Texas swag-rock, but this album is a blast. It’s fun! It whips, it rocks! Yeeeahhh! Guitars!
I don’t like Karen O’s voice - or more, the way it’s distorted in the Yeahx3’s songs. I’m in the minority on that, I don’t care. And the songs don’t vary. Loud buzzing until the last few songs sound like the whole band crashed after a sugar rush. I will just never like the Yeahx3s.
Sprawling, sensual, wild, overlong, gorgeous, transcendental, overlong, weirdly written, utterly funky and one of a kind. Stevie had a lot to express on this album, and he let it all flow. It doesn’t all work, but it’s unique and legendary.
This shit didn’t age well. MJ knew it would be hard to top “Thriller”, so he didn’t. You can’t dance to any of it, and the beats and lyrics are so soft. Your butt is mine, indeed.
Hell yeah the raw Seattle sound, rippin out the throats of pretenders, mainlining straight into souls of Mudhoney and Tad and Nirvana and Soundgarden, this shit is awesome and LOUD
Warrior-poet draggy nonsense, repetitive, overlong garbage cut with a couple of absolute gems. If Jim Morrison had learned to sing and write songs, they could have had something!
It's a trip! It's got a funky beat, and I can bug out to it!
Like one unbroken track of flow, funny, clever and rude as hell
It was fine. There are one or two semi-bangers outside of "Brimful of Asha", but the rest sounds like a sleepy jam session among friends. Nice beats but forgettable songs.
A couple of really good songs on here. "Only You Know" is a repeat listen. Unfortunately it's on a double-length album full of half-finished songs that sound very much like each other. Pleasant but really forgettable.
Boring, too long, forgettable. Please no more hour-plus albums with the same beat and shitty lyrics
We kick off with an eight-and-a-half minute track that goes absolutely nowhere. It’s downhill, or rather, level ground with no ups or downs from there. I forgot about the existence of this album halfway through listening to it.
Boring bullshit
All B&S albums are beautiful in their own way. This one moves with the grace of a cat in a spacious, warm house. It sounds like their third or fourth album, doesn’t it? Composed, skillful, moving and confident. Get this: it’s their FIRST. That magic only comes from the earth and the air.
I’ll tell you who’s next: me, to play this album over and over again. Out of my way, I say! Classics are classics because you can listen to them anytime and they don’t get old. So I’m an Xer with Boomer taste maybe, I don’t know; this record smacks.
Dreamy pop that fades as it plays. A coupe of songs I like on here, but “Slide Show” is a farce of an album capper.
You know, it was fine. It wasn’t great. It was pretty bad in parts. I didn’t like it. But if I was super-ass high in a sunlit San Francisco apartment in the summer of ‘71, I would dig on this and then fall asleep. So.
Now this is what I like! The damn-you England rant couched in deceptively upbeat and catchy tunes. I listened twice in relief after so many duds on this generator. Man, they can't sing so well, but they are so distinctive. I keep returning to the Kinks because they keep innovating. Great album.
Oh hell yeah, this was fun! Short and sharp. It’s been ages since I went back to the beginnings of (the white knock-off version of) rock and roll. Buoyant and classic hops! The Crickets sound QUITE old-fashioned, but charmingly so. Always worth a revisit.
New Order was a phoenix.
Wayne Coyne is a fabulous human being. I’m glad the Lips make music beloved by millions. They’re just not my cuppa. I don’t really like his singing, and the songs aside from a few slappers don’t reach me.
Disco. I cruise down Sunset in my ‘74 LeBaron, in the glow of an L.A. summer afternoon, past Grauman’s where the Han Solo impersonators do a little dance with the tourists, smelling the sea breeze trying to cut through the smog. I pick you up and we head for the Mangione concert at the Bowl. Stars in our eyes if not in the skies, baby. Disco.
Very skilled musicianship! I like this, but I don't like a whole album of it. I can't believe this is one of 1,001 albums I MUST hear.
Good listen, but forgettable. They kind of sound like Guided by Voices, but without quite the coherence or catchiness. I was hoping for more, but I couldn't get into it.
British folk-rock psychedelia. Sounds like a blend of the Kinks, the Who, the Stoens and Bowie, while still being its own thing. Who influenced whom? It’s a good album that doesn’t quite stand out from its peers.
Unrivaled. Nick, why did you leave us?
Another classic. What’s underrated about Young is that he incorporates so many musical styles/genres into his sound and makes them something unique. There’s a marvelous orchestral piece on here that sits with folk-rock, country and blues. Amid the classic songs is a remarkable catalog of Americana. ITV’s timeless .
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is widely regarded as one of Genesis's most important and influential works, inspiring generations of progressive rock musicians. -- https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/178476/Genesis-The_Lamb_Lies_Down_On_Broadway-Hybrid_Stereo_SACD?srsltid=AfmBOoqY9Ce99zbVJVEBShZlZ8FNg-GMGjxxdWnZBMC8ETwR_b21g0Ci
I don’t like The Band.
B.B. bent low and whispered in Lucille’s ear. “Lucille, my love… why do I play the blues when I’m a successful and beloved musician?” Lucille looked B.B. in the eye. “Blues is part of your soul. It will always be in you. You can make millions and be world-famous, but you can’t leave the blues behind. And you can’t leave me behind either. Now honey… play me.” And B.B. did.
I mean, the title speaks the truth. It's goddamn Ray Charles, motherfucker. Whaddaya need, a road map?
Space jazz. I like it.
I mean, I like some Yes. A couple tracks on this album really spin. Though it would piss off the true Yes-heads that I prefer the mid-80s output of 90125. It’s maybe not a good sign that I couldn’t tell when the album ended until I was three tracks deep into the next playlist. And Jon Anderson shout-sings and it gets on my nerves. So what I’m getting at is, I have to say no to Yes.
This album was shit when I first heard it, and now it’s remastered shit. Congratulations. You got big and decided to write Really Important songs. But they sucked! And you forgot to write good music to accompany your diary entries! You could have been the AC/DC of metal, man. You blew it.
Eurythmics brought the 80s into focus and outclassed all their imitators. This album was so weird and cool in 1983 and still sounds like nothing else. I got shit for having a crush on Annie Lennox, but come on!
Smoooooooooooooooooooooth.
Harrison had the best post-Beatles output, but Lennon cut himself loose and produced some fine, angry and heartfelt music freed from Paul’s ribbons. There’s classic music on here and some working-it-out jams. John always sang with his heart out in the open. I still think about what he could be producing today.
Springy, slinky and full of jams. Not my typical music but a great album to listen to.
Are the Charlatans for real? Not quite. Catchy songs (“One to Another “ has a nice pop to it) but they don’t rise above the sound of better Britpop bands.
“I hate your guts, Art. Let’s break up.” “Likewise, Paul. Screw it. Before we split, should we record one of the greatest folk-pop albums of all time?” “Sure, what the hell.”
The dawn of smooth jazz? It’s well made for what it is, but what it is is not for me.
Big ugly fun. Even the five-minute “Don’t”, which is J Mascis howling “whyyyy don’t you liiiike me” over and over.
Hadn’t heard this one in a while. It’s a killer. What a range she has, and the emotion comes pouring out of every song. “Sweetest Emotion” is such a strong closer; I crank it LOUD
I kind of hated this one, it sounded like half the album was a protracted fade-out. I know the history. But other reviews have called it something great. I’m going to give another listen; for now, it doesn’t work for me.
Killer beats, snap-wit lyrics, confidence on wax. Points off for being a Nazi fuckhead.
Overlong? Indulgent? Sure. But Wilson has a gift for creating songs that reflect his dreamy yearning as an artist. Some beautiful melodies here; it reminds me a little bit of Brian’s work.
Willie’s voice is so pleasing, I can listen to him sing anything. That twang puts a sweet spin on this collection of standards. He really slows the tempo, savoring the lyrics so that the songs really feel lived-in.
Pretty music
I couldn’t find the chosen album on Spotify, so I listened to The Real Ramona instead, and it whipped ass. It burned the grass, stood me up against the glass, completed the pass, and sounded a little bit crass. I liked the album.
Incredible. Jeff had a unique sound, wild and unpredictable and compelling. I’d never listened to Grace all the way through before, but I will listen again. He met his father only once, and the two sound very different, but both made music that was one-of-a-kind.
Much like Big Star’s “Third”, this is an acid-haze album that’s been celebrated retrospectively. Not by me. A collection of unmemorable half-songs that ramble and then just stop. Just ain’t my thing.
Classic tea-and-cakes Brit psychedelic pop. “Time of the Season” is actually my least favorite track - it sounds annoying compared to a banger like “Our Year”. Good groovy stuff.
I don’t usually go in for pebble-gargling grind metal, but my god did I need to hear this album yesterday.
Outstanding, gorgeous, evocative music made by a fucking ass-brained cuntfuck. You can’t win ‘em all.
Prime 90s pop, with the jangle and the alienated lyrics and the catchiness. One I can listen to multiple times. “It’s a Shame About Ray” absolutely holds up. I say: Dando-riffic!
So good. Not much to say, just playing it again. And again. That album cover is mesmerizing. I wonder who won.
A few classic Simon tunes right off the bat. Tentatively finding that distinct Simon sound without Art’s harmonies. Experimental on a few tracks. The first steps of an incredible solo career
If I want to hear a big multi-instrument band of white musicians play various genres, I'll listen to Chicago. If I want to hear the whitest vocalist on Earth, I'll listen to Rush (I won't listen to Rush). If I want to hear unmemorable and dated songs that pass serenely through my ears for an hour, I'll give this a spin.
FREE BRITNEY!!! There are 3-4 club bangers on here, the rest is typical pop album business. All enjoyable and easy on the ears. You lead off with THAT song, you can pretty much do whatever else you want.
I usually don’t like too much CCR but this album was pretty great! Aside from the classics, many tracks I hadn’t heard before really went hard. “Ramble Tamble” is a great opener.
This is the shit. Dylan goes electric, etc. I recently watched “A Complete Unknown” so it was fun to picture Bobby writing these songs with a sly sneer on his face, thinking “one day they’re gonna make a movie of me and they’ll know I was pretty.” The BALLS to make “Baby Blue” the album CLOSER.
Sleek misery. Dreadpop. Beautiful dirge music. I don’t know, it only makes sense after 9:00 pm and it’s entrancing then. In the daylight it’s out of time and place. And with daylight saving time coming around I’ll be more confused than ever.
Let me just say this: KLF is gonna rock you. It is known. Good power-dance nineties pop. 3AM Eternal is the only true standout but the songs aren’t slack. I’ll listen again.
This one doesn’t even have fuckin Sweet Home on it. What’s the point? Neil Young just released a new album in 2025 and he still whips your asses. Why’d you disappear, anyway? Oh right. The title of the album was strictly for the band’s benefit, ‘cos sometimes they’d forget. They knew three chords and their lyrics were the Crystal Pepsi of southern rock. Too bad Tom Petty came later or we might have done without you entirely.
These aren’t songs. And I hated listening to them.
Hoppin'! The band learning to be tight. Weird album: absolute bangers followed by eight-minute intolerable "free-form" guitar pieces. Loses steam as it goes, but you can hear that these guys are skilled as hell and having fun. Maybe they'll make a few more of these.
Never heard of the band or the album before, but I like it. Psychedelic sort of pop, rock, other in interesting combinations. I'd listen again, it's not something I've heard before but it hooked me.
Why don't they make the whole album out of "Green Onions"? I could listen to that track endlessly. The rest of the album is okay, but only a couple more tracks catch the ear and the organ music gets a bit repetitive.
It's fine. Repetitive, not in a great way.
Pretty good, pretty interesting. Sounds like a pastiche of four-guy guitar bands without being derivative. It's its own thing but it's hard to describe how it's different. Worth another listen.
Kinda drops off after the first two tracks, but the first two tracks are so fucking good it really doesn't matter. You get cut a lot of slack when you lead off with music that literally changed the idea of rap and pissed off the cops for life.
Still electric after 35 years to hear that riff open the album. These guys ruled the world for a few months and got out just before Nirvana extinguished them. It’s easy to forget how fucking huge they were. Then they (Axl) got weird and stupid, like so many bands do, but you just need one classic album to live forever.
B-52s were punk as fuck. What else sounded like this in 1979? The debut's still as great as the day it was born. And they just got better. B-52s will live forever, because they must.
Couldn’t finish it. Why did the songs get so strained and uncool? I know they wanted to move on from “Damage Inc.” and the like but I’ll listen to that song fifty times before I crack the case on the later stuff. This album is NOT essential!
Herbie Hancock always cool. I’m happy I sought out more of his material beyond Rockit. Bringing the jazz and the funk together like PB&J.
“Come On Eileen” was an outlier for this band, and I like a lot of this material quite more than that song, which became an eardrill. Kevin Rowland’s voice is A BIT MUCH sometimes, but when he dials it down and the band gets into a groove, there are some terrific relistenable songs.
byrdsrightsactivist gives this album two talons up
Morose music for morose times. Thanks and God bless, Elliott,
Bob Marley is an actual legend, but reggae bores me.
IGGY POWER
Superfly and Shaft should duke it out in the alley. So smooth and beautiful
Ooh this is fun! Heavy beats and guitars, thudding catchy rhythms. Not a raw sound but quick-seared on the grill. Yeah, Black Keys. All right. What it is.
So glad it’s streaming now. I got to see De La Soul at Bumbershoot years ago, and briefly confused them for Yo La Tengo because I’m an idiot. I make it up to them by listening frequently. I’m not sure this one’s their best when there are so many to choose from. My name’s Plug Four.
Cool. Velvet is best for me in small doses. Well, small doses of Lou Reed. Honestly my favorite album of theirs is VU, which is so playful and divergent from their typical, well, drone. There’s some killer music on here, of course.
“Son of Sam” is a great kickoff track.
It’s AC/DC man, you need a road map? Highway to Hell might be my favorite of the Bon songs. The greatest loss the band took when he died was his sense of humor. Bon was fucking funny, something Brian can’t match.
Pretty good electropop, Nothing kicks like “Connection”, so they probably did steal it whole from Wire. But it’s fun, the songs are short and fast, and they sound cool.
I can’t remember anything about this album ten minutes after playing it. Ancestor of Imagine Dragons, I suppose. That one song about driving a car or something is okay.
Finally, the fuzz pioneers of the Seattle Sound get their due. Goddamn, I haven’t listened to this one in a long time and kicks like a boot to put it on again. It’s nasty, loud, raw, rude and funny as hell. God bless you Mark Arm and your little dog.
I accidentally deleted my first review. This album blew my head off in 1984 and still does today.
Made it three songs. Spare me southern rock - a jug band with electricity. No más!
Hadn’t heard any Frank outside of the Pixies. Wasn’t interested. But I like this and I’d listen again. Different sound from those days: less manic screeching (which I love, don’t misunderstand), more grounded, melodic and even a little countryfied. “Headache” stands out, but several tracks are repeatable. Sexy!
Terrific fun when Humpty's on the mic, pretty bland when he's not. When Humpty's not around. all the other characters should be asking. "Where's Humpty?"
Wow, boring. Listen to “Back To Life” and skip the rest. Easy-listening hip hop.
I don’t know what to write here. I love this album, it’s great. Cohesive, creative, sounds like nothing else. You could put Psycho Killer way down the list here.
marty that was very interesting music
It’s incredible to me that a resurrected Civil War soldier can talk and eat and drink among us in the present day., and “sing” such terrific songs. This album came out in 1975, and he YET WALKS AMONG US TO THIS DAY. Tom Waits is the Unkillable Nicotine Troubadour.
Here's a band that plays opera, music hall, jazz, country, carnival and baroque pop and has the right to call itself one of the best ROCK bands in history. Let's put out a wild, eclectic album of varied styles with energy, humor and creative drive and then we'll put GODDMANED BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY as the next-to-last track. Gods.
Unseasoned soup. Glop. Third rate Astrud Gilberto. Why can’t I review a Gilberto album instead? This jello doesn’t belong on any must-hear list.
Ooohh so sweet. Takes me into a time warp of a mid-70s summer groove. The sound is perfection. Mr. Gaye is buttery smooth and so so horny. I had to laugh when I thought “this one track is beautiful, soulful - what’s it called?” and it was “You Sure Love to Ball.” Yeah you do.
Fuckin great, no mess line drive rock and roll. This album’s basically a classic, not bad for a debut record. Brandon Flowers’ voice was built for these songs, an unmistakable yawp of emotion and power. Let’s play it again!
I’ve listened to this album 54,000 times and it never gets old. Except for “Oh Daddy”, I’ve only listened to that one 48,000 times ‘cos it’s a bit janky. To be a drug dealer in the Sausalito studio - the stories I could tell! I’d contrive to have Christine write a song about our tender encounter and leave “Oh Daddy” off the album.
A prime example of why Paul wasn’t the same without John. Wildly catchy and well-crafted songs share space with utter piddle.
Aside from The Lemon Song and Movy Dick, this album’s a monster that starts in sixth gear with Whole Lotta Love and keeps the pedal down. Honestly you could just make the whole record out of WLL and it would be four stars. But we get 3-4 other classic stompers as well. Just cut the drum solos.
His lycanthropy transformation interrupted by a bolt of lightning in the summer of 1797, Nick Cave stalks the earth, howling songs of tortured love and loss into the lonely wooded mountains. Field recordings have given us the gift of his music, but Mr. Cave himself will never again live among “the normal”.
Julian Cope and the lads overcame one of the goofiest names in music to produce a solid album of psychedelia-tinged Britpop. The origin story is a winner.
It was good and cool. Never listened much to The Jam, they never really cracked the U.S.
“Echo and the Bunnymen, what a dreadful group. They've let me down. There's this duality I feel; I can think other people have let me down, yet as an artist I think that I can do whatever I want to do and I'm not letting anyone down. People trust us not to be stupid, at least in a way.” — Robert Smith https://www.spin.com/featured/the-cure-robert-smith-march-1988-cover-story-cure-all/
I really liked this record except where it falls apart at the end.’m honestly yoo stoned to wtirr Yee w a review but I dig savage English music with bite.
Cool, angular punk. Sexy ska-jazz, riffy, dynamic. Slightly savage. Infecting. Moves like anger. Dance to it. If you can.
Cooke tears through about twenty songs in about 35 minutes, sounding almost manic as he pumps up the crowd and sings every song at full power, and it's terrific. Massive live-performance energy as he goes through the hits, and there are a lot of hits. Cocaine is a hell of a drug!
"It’s a sprawling, messy, politically charged, and ultimately humanistic album. It features Chuck D and Flavor Flav trying to envision the future, and taking chances as performers." -- Jesse Ducker https://albumism.com/features/public-enemy-fear-of-a-black-planet-album-anniversary
Ripping! What are they? There’s no sound like T. Rex. Marc Bolan was a wild man and we were robbed of goodness by his early death. Their influence is everywhere. Look at these titles: Baby Boomerang Soaceball Ricochet Rabbit Fighter Chariot Choogle That’s rock and roll.
Smooth, pretty and like pancakes: all exciting at first, and then you’re fuckin sick of it! (Hedberg) She has a very limited range. I’ll say the non-hit songs are more interesting, but still: just give me some Aretha or Etta. Hell, give me Sade.
It’s not good! Atonal repetitive noise offset by short bursts of musicality. Ugly, repetitive and boring! They got better. Why the hell is this album on the list? Pick “Album” instead; this one is a No.
The Wildest! The goofiest! The funnest (not a word)! Louis’s the king of the swingers, yo, the hustle VIP. Him the best. Thanks for the banana split.
“The tracks on this release this release are not available.” Fuck you, Spotify! I listened to his newest album, The Purple Bird, instead. It’s quite good! Is he always playing countrified folk? Guess I’ll have to listen more.
I tried to compare Sparks to some other bands and I can’t really make it work. Maybe if Queen and Guided By Voixes put on a cabaret show. They are distinctive, weird bastards and they seem incapable of pouring weird and catchy music into the world.
It’s fine. Passed by with a murmur. I’ve never been a Garbage fan, their sound just never sticks with me. “Stupid Girl” is a kick, though the rest of it is mostly… 90s pop.
Had never heard of N.E.R.D., nor that Pharrell Williams was part of it. Here’s the verdict: I like it. It’s lyrically fun, it’s musical, it has a fresh energy that makes good repeat listening. Will I seek out more N.E.R.D.? This will not shock you: yes.
It’s cool. I don’t know what to write about it. It’s not my thing.
Never heard of them before! It’s good, it’s not memorable. To be fair I was listening at work and didn’t really give it my full attention. I liked the 90s sound and I’ll have to give it a full listen later.
Some legendary songs are supported by some, honestly, droning filler. The last two songs are painful. VU are rightly legends for their music, but Jesus - some of their output was pure scag.
This album SLAMS. The production is fantastic, Elvis booms out of the center surrounded by a crisp, snappy, powerhouse of a band. The first few tracks are the best, energetic out of the gate, Elvis seducing you with that mountain echo of a voice. But the remainder are no slouch, as he shows off his whole vocal range. Really fun album, man, listen to it again!
Absolute funkenstein, of course. Prince becoming PRIIIIINCE. Some of these songs go on way too long is all. Partial demerit. But Purple Rain is around the corner.
Knockout. I have to sing along. The Beach Boys mastered harmony but the M&Ps made it soar like a finely tuned choir. And there were so many more hits to come. BRB, gotta listen (and sing) again.
I gave it a listen, or about half of it. That’s more than enough. You don’t need the full 75 minutes (!!!) to absorb Curtis’s worldview, which - guess what?! Women be ho’s and he’s the baddest MF on the planet. You’re boring, Fitty.
Poetic, visceral, angry, loving… Gil leaves nothing out, creating poetry straight from his soul. Nobody else was making music liking this. A couple tracks drift, but forgivable because the album as a whole is a testament. Nothing’s changed but the names.
Rock opera! Nobody does rock operas anymore. Cowards! Umber never seen it performed; it would hold up today as a tale of abuse, cults, pseudoscience and so on. It’s a comprehensive tale told through great music and probably could only have been made in the 60s. Listen for more than “Pinball Wizard”. It’s a masterpiece.
The Dead suck. I hate them. I’ve tried. “Box of Rain” is a pretty good song I suppose.
Sandy Denny had a voice that would make me drop my carpenter’s tools and follow her into the English countryside. She might sing-command me to throw myself off a cliff then, but the journey was all worth it.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3756-stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea/
The debut is not as snarly or speedy as I imagined it would be. More of that comes on the second album. But Exile’s wit and attitude are diamond-sharp, and “Fuck and Run” and “Divorce Song” are still savage enough to make me suck in my breath with a wince. She’s fun. That voice like “molten tar glurping out of a drum with evil on its mind.” (Douglas Adams) A little scary.
I fell asleep one minute and 22 seconds into the first track. The bus I was driving plunged over a cliff and took 13 lives in the crash. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer, D’Angelo.
Hell yeah. The Cobain-wrote-it myth is shit; who’s to say Courtney didn’t write Nirvana songs? She didn’t, she was busy writing ripshit songs about women’s experience. This album blazes, and holds up better than most 90s albums. Kids, listen: women can be drug-addicted absolute rage cases too!
Name one Deep Purple song. No, not that one, a different one. Exactly. A lesser Black Sabbath intercut with a lesser Yes (Maybe?) and just as long, without being terribly interesting. The album cover puts them on a Rock Mt. Rushmore. Sure, in the Superman II universe.
One of the ‘Mats best albums and one of the best albums of the Eighties, period. Playing it takes me right back to high school and maxing out the tape in my Beetle. Raw as hell and fucking funny. And “Androgynous” follows “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out”. What band can put two together like that?
This is damn good. Less glib and more haunted-sounding than his later work, which is the reverse of how that usually works.
He had one-and-a-half good albums remaining in him after this. Don't defend Bad. You can't and shouldn't. After that it was embarrassment. But in 1979 the man could FUNK. This nugget is a pop bomb that announced that Michael had PLANS. And it still rules. I might like this better than Thriller. I'll get back to you on that.
Kate Bush descended from Planet Nine to teach the children about love. But they were obnoxious, so she hooked up with David Bowie to start a nationwide school-lunch program. But Bowie was obnoxious, so she changed clothes and wrote songs about life on her planet, and sang them to us in her alien language, and they were beautiful and strange and captivated our very souls. Bowie hung his head in shame. “What have I done,” he sang to the children, who found him obnoxious.
hummmm it's a long groove, and it is just SO BORING
Avalanches albums are a cosmic collage, full of motifs that appear and reappear throughout the record. “Frontier Psychiatrist” is kind of a culmination of these, but the fragments of sound continue through the other songs in strange ways. They turn all these bits into something catchy and connected, which would seem impossible, but there it is. Listen on repeat!
Kings of English mope produce another stellar trudge through black ash and wet sand. Holidays on the beach! There is no misery like English misery: cultivated, harvested and shared in bounty with the world. Fuck Morissey, but the man knows his milieu.