Sep 12 2023
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Elephant
The White Stripes
4
Sep 13 2023
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I Should Coco
Supergrass
Not my usual choice in music but by Sofia I liked it. Fast mostly but under control. Shades of old groups like who pink Floyd and John Lennon Norwegian wood drop in and out. Most of it I liked. Best to me were alright and Sofia.
3
Sep 14 2023
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Paul Simon
Paul Simon
I can see why this is on the list. It's his turning point and presages the direction he later adopted. His rep as a poet was buried on this album. I don't think he played to what he was best at.
2
Sep 15 2023
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The Seldom Seen Kid
Elbow
Vocals are okay, but use of dynamics is either off or on.
Don't like the instruments screaming and cutting out on starlings. It's pretty repetitive and looping doesn't seem to produce much out of the ordinary. Rock? I don't think so.
1
Sep 16 2023
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Hard Again
Muddy Waters
Yep that's the blues. You ought to be able to shout about your music if you love it. Favorite: the slide on I Can't Be Satisfied
4
Sep 17 2023
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Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
All you ever need in music: rhythm, a theme that wanders in and out, amazing musicians, endless permutations in a perfect build, and Bob Marley!
5
Sep 18 2023
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In Utero
Nirvana
Kurt tried hard to get all the darkness out but it just kept getting deeper. Really like dumb and Grohl's drums. I'm definitely not grunge generation, but I can admire this for its moments of utter darkness from a mind in pain, and Dave Grohl's drums, and a few lyrical riffs. It seemed obvious that the vocals were set down separately--several jugernauts in tandem, occasionally crashing together. It was okay to sing about ghastly rather than to milk the listener for sympathy. It certainly changed entertainment.
4
Sep 19 2023
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Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
Too many extremes: synthesizer, old s & g, montevani, i don't know. I liked a few songs but not the whole thing. Fakin It works for me.
2
Sep 20 2023
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Harvest
Neil Young
This already gets a 4 or 5 because I own it. So now I have to articulate why it has been in a place in my heart and head lo these many years. Simplicity is one thing. Tunes lyrics sounds blending like a slow dance. Honest experiences we could weep over and feel. He didn't just write about rejection he owned it and we could own his thoughts like they were our own. We'd all been through it by 24. Canadian cowboy songs are a little depressing. When this was new most didn't care for orchestration and Neil's voice doesn't actually fit the mold but the way it's used goes back to the dance. Partners aren't the same or its too slick. This is not meant to be polished. Taken as a whole the orchestration builds then drifts away before song 10 leaving us with a crafted work vs a collection of songs. It's also used to see the stark differences between an industrial world and the world lived by a poet. This was a world apart from Crosby stills Nash and young. Starkly sung from the heart.
4
Sep 21 2023
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Blue
Joni Mitchell
5
Sep 22 2023
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A Grand Don't Come For Free
The Streets
Really really liked this. Like the concept of a drama in every song, seemed very timely. Don't know much about rap, but could relate to it and enjoy the artistry of the supporting sound enfolding the lyrics.
4
Sep 23 2023
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Axis: Bold As Love
Jimi Hendrix
The best Hendrix album. Used channels to surround you, and that was pretty alien at the time. No one really gives credit to some amazing drumming on some of the pieces. This was some pretty nuanced music..
5
Sep 24 2023
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Too Rye Ay
Dexys Midnight Runners
Bizarre, but I like it. Some really old time techniques - call and response, crooning, grazing in the grass. Glad the horns stayed on f or this one. Will be interested in what they sound like without them.
3
Oct 04 2023
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The United States Of America
The United States Of America
Really early psychedelic a before I was aware of full albums dedicated to it. Could do without caliope circus and movie UFO noise. The concept was seminal instruments great vocals worth listening to again.
4
Oct 05 2023
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Tea for the Tillerman
Cat Stevens
Always was a 5 still is. Many a day and night listening to this and Elton John. Completely new and unheard sound when it was released. A big departure from cat Stevens the 60s pop singer.
5
Oct 06 2023
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Play
Moby
Remains interesting, but bears more than a little resemblance to background music.. It's a good sound. lyrics are simple and basic, not to relatable--phrases on equal footing with the beat. Whoops was Paul McC borrowing a bit of Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad for his latest album? Best: Natural Blues
2
Oct 07 2023
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Exile On Main Street
The Rolling Stones
i don't hear them going back and taking 30 takes to produce a song. This is making music. I saw another review that said if you removed one of the elements, the whole thing would fall apart; this is that well balanced.
5
Oct 08 2023
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Gentlemen
The Afghan Whigs
Still waiting for them to change chords and tempo. Songs are thankfully short. Cheap tunes for bad poetry. Nothing revelatory.
1
Oct 09 2023
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A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield
She had the voice that fit the controlled creations that 60s women were given to sing. You Don't Own Me broke the attitude mold of always pleasing no matter what. Wishin and Hopin was what school girls did. So this makes sense on the list of 1001. Wonder what she would sound like in a modern genre.
4
Oct 10 2023
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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Always a 5.
5
Oct 12 2023
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I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Richard Thompson
Brass is exquisitely played in Bright Lights Tonight, vocals twist unexpectedly for something that seems straight forward. Very surprising. They couldn't be better matched to draw so much out of each other. No rush, just time for a song to be.
5
Oct 13 2023
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They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Liars
Did't like the lyrics. But what about the rest of it. Why waste time calling it music. I'll try the rest of it later.
1
Oct 14 2023
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Jazz Samba
Stan Getz
3
Oct 15 2023
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Violator
Depeche Mode
There's a famine in my heart to hear something else.
1
Oct 16 2023
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Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
Tough one to rate. It's a limited world and way of life that narrows the mind. 25 years later communities are paying the price. Maybe it's not as creative if you live that life and sing about it as it seems from the outside. Super creative and I'm looking at Snoop doing a corona ad. He may not be living that life anymore but too many are. And the doggy mothers are losing their children like someone else owns them.
3
Oct 17 2023
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Born In The U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
Not much dif from rap: way of life songs, reflective more than influential. Don't think anyone stepped into that life because of BS. Songs are fairly invariable--same beat, same timing. Same elements also in Snoop Dog but a different life. He's good at what he does but I was never a fan. I'm on fire stood out, but the rest was pretty much all alike.
3
Oct 18 2023
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Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Pavement
I liked it. At least half of it. The other half was a bad trip.
3
Oct 19 2023
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Transformer
Lou Reed
Kind of a Leonard Cohen type, just not taking himself as seriously.
2
Oct 20 2023
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Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Soft Cell
Not interested
1
Oct 23 2023
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Let It Bleed
The Rolling Stones
I remember where I was, who was there, the temperature, where the sun was on its journey through the universe the first time I heard Let it Bleed.
5
Oct 24 2023
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Queen II
Queen
Not their best, but still...
4
Oct 25 2023
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Sheer Heart Attack
Queen
The things that must come together to produce this amaze me
4
Oct 26 2023
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Heaven Or Las Vegas
Cocteau Twins
I like it when people come out and say what they mean, they don't do this. They use sounds of words, I suppose getting to the crux of music as a language. 2nd halves produce more meaning. This is a sound but not a very full one.
2
Oct 27 2023
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This Nation’s Saving Grace
The Fall
coagulates into something akin to music. Like nasty B-52s. I think it would be good for tap dancing.
2
Oct 28 2023
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21
Adele
wonderful emotional phenom of a voice backed by uninspired accompaniment. Don't you remember is raw. It would be a 5 if she weren't carrying it alone. What a singer!
3
Nov 01 2023
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Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
I own it on vinal--that's an automatic 5. Another route through which naive girls learned about the blues. Departed from the slapped together junk British youth immitated at the time. Don't know what Clapton was complaining about--not authentic enough. It was all about him anyway. Mayall was pretty amazing too.
5
Nov 02 2023
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Rocks
Aerosmith
Not my cup of tea but one of the best at what they do. All things working together. all the way to lick and a promise before i heard something i'd want to hear again.
4
Nov 03 2023
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Life Thru A Lens
Robbie Williams
It's pretty appealing. Seasoned musicians but not particularly talented or creative. The best is Robbie and his lyrics--interesting but not belabored.
3
Nov 04 2023
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Juju
Siouxsie And The Banshees
Reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane only a little darker and less drug induced--well maybe not. Metaphorically way too dark or it would be a 5. It's definitely a path into someone's squirrely mind, but it had some good stopping off places.
4
Nov 06 2023
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Microshift
Hookworms
Pink Floyd started this with more distinction of input sources. But this has the same appeal. Movie themes? I guess. Long sustained sound, every song is a flight. Lyrics, must be generational. Young don't move on, but welcome the deep deeper deepest analysis. Which is better, I don't know. Comes from being independent and alone. Some are more married to memories than to actual relationships. I like new sounds (I'm evidently older than most of the people doing this), but lyrics often leave me cold.
3
Nov 07 2023
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Exodus
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5
Nov 08 2023
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Different Class
Pulp
See The Real Thing Faith No More for the accidental rating comments. Different Class 3, Faith No more totally unlistenable 0 oh I guess that's a one. I gotta turn it off.
3
Nov 11 2023
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The Real Thing
Faith No More
Starts out relatable then there's a push toward a musical finale that kind of gets in the way. There's a good bit of truth in it--Daddy could stop it all, so true. And a good bit of just plain theater. Dramatic sympathy for the poor old bed song lol. Yay he met a girl lol. But in the end I like it. It's nice to hear a baritone. It's almost a 4
3