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Thu Sep 21 2023
Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
2
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Mon Sep 25 2023
Back At The Chicken Shack
Jimmy Smith
Terrific for a (nearly) autumn Saturday afternoon. Can feel my spirit noodling around with the rifts. I love the interplay between the crisp guitar and smooth sax and the belly sound of the organ. Playful and wise, loose in the shoulder joints. Very nice.
4
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Tue Sep 26 2023
Moon Safari
Air
This album is very famous among my UK and European pals and I know some of the songs well, but I’ve never listened to the whole thing in a shot. I really like it. I can sense how it would have been in everyone’s speakers that summer and beyond, but I can’t totally find my heart in it.
3
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Wed Sep 27 2023
Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones!!! I know every word (not that there are that many). Jesse Covington took me to see them at the Masquerade. I think it was their last tour, though we didn’t know it at the time. Drivin n Cryin opened. I was 15 or 16, it was summery sunny but not hot. Jesse Covington was in love with me and we could not get enough of that three-chord noise. When I think about how special it was to grow up in Atlanta, this day comes to mind. I would have told you at the time, it was one of the best days of my life.
4
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Thu Sep 28 2023
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
It’s angsty and the layered guitars are only barely this side of sane - but SP always find beauty and melody. Billy Corgan’s voice is part android, part alien. What an album.
5
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Fri Sep 29 2023
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
Winehouse is an icon, with mythic tragedy that surpasses her art. There are some good songs here, and I’ll have Back to Black in my head for a month, but it’s a little underwhelming.
3
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Mon Oct 02 2023
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
This album brings me so much joy. Impossible not to wiggle and sing along. The wiggliest album yet.
4
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Tue Oct 03 2023
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
Really enjoyed this. They have an easy confidence - not afraid to try out new sounds or be a little weird or dark or sad. Seems like an album that I’ll like more and more on future listening. Let’s see!
3
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Wed Oct 04 2023
Oedipus Schmoedipus
Barry Adamson
I have a feeling I’m missing part of the puzzle here. That I haven’t seen the film or gotten the references. As an album, it wasn’t always creepy and unpleasant, but it sometimes was, and I’ve forgotten the rest.
1
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Thu Oct 05 2023
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Spiritualized
Love this
4
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Fri Oct 06 2023
She's So Unusual
Cyndi Lauper
Excellent. One of my favourite pop albums of all time,
4
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Mon Oct 09 2023
Automatic For The People
R.E.M.
One of the first albums I ever truly, truly loved. Many old friends here. Overall, the album is more poignant than I remember - not every song, but many. Sad if you’re happy. Comforting if you’re sad. Take comfort in your friends.
4
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Tue Oct 10 2023
The Band
The Band
Love their warm brown sound. Want to listen to the album more and get to know the songs that are less familiar. Until then, I’m giving this 3.5, rounding up.
4
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Wed Oct 11 2023
Definitely Maybe
Oasis
I usually like sneering, hirsute rockers, but some of these lyrics are unforgivably bad. I liked them as a teenager but in hindsight not so much.
2
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Thu Oct 12 2023
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
I tried listening to this but didn’t get very far.
2
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Fri Oct 13 2023
All That You Can't Leave Behind
U2
Surprising myself, I found this kind of soothing. They know what they’re doing and exactly how to do it. If I had to hire a band for world domination, a band that could get the job done, U2 would be a top candidate.
3
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Thu Oct 19 2023
São Paulo Confessions
Suba
Love this - hip hop, bossa nova, electronica fusion. Really inventive and interesting.
4
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Thu Oct 26 2023
Pearl
Janis Joplin
Absolute perfection.
5
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Fri Oct 27 2023
First Band On The Moon
The Cardigans
Sweet vocals, but find the overall sound a little boring.
2
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Mon Oct 30 2023
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Glad to have listened to this. Like hearing how he is trying out new things to find his own sound. Thought he sounded a bit like Van Morrison on some of these tracks.
3
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Wed Nov 01 2023
In It For The Money
Supergrass
Okay, but didn’t leave much of an impression.
2
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Thu Nov 02 2023
Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Holds up better than I expected. Enjoyed listening, good nostalgia factor.
3
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Fri Nov 03 2023
The Modern Dance
Pere Ubu
Is it weird I’ve never heard of this band? Sounds like the kind of thing I used to listen to a lot.
3
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Mon Nov 06 2023
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
Hard to argue against any of this.
5
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Mon Nov 13 2023
In Rainbows
Radiohead
4
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Fri Dec 01 2023
Oxygène
Jean-Michel Jarre
2
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Mon Dec 04 2023
The World is a Ghetto
War
Loved this, and never heard it before. Didn’t imagine I’d be offering up a precious 5 to an album I didn’t previously know, but here we are. I can’t get enough of it.
5
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Tue Dec 05 2023
Fulfillingness' First Finale
Stevie Wonder
Not my favourite Stevie, but very likeable.
3
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Wed Dec 06 2023
Clube Da Esquina
Milton Nascimento
3
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Thu Dec 07 2023
Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5
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Fri Dec 08 2023
Seventeen Seconds
The Cure
A Cure album that, as ever, makes me happy to be listening to The Cure, but also slightly wishing I was listening to another Cure Album.
3
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Tue Dec 12 2023
Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Classic
4
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Wed Dec 13 2023
Astral Weeks
Van Morrison
4
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Thu Dec 14 2023
The Sounds Of India
Ravi Shankar
4
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Tue Dec 19 2023
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beatles
3
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Wed Dec 20 2023
Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
5
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Fri Dec 22 2023
Seventh Tree
Goldfrapp
Enjoyed revisiting this. Overall the album is poppier than I remember. There are some great tracks and her voice is extraordinary.
3
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Wed Jan 24 2024
Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby
Terence Trent D'Arby
2
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Thu Jan 25 2024
Siembra
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
A real mood lifter. Loved this.
4
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Fri Jan 26 2024
KIWANUKA
Michael Kiwanuka
Love this. The sound is both contemporary (thank you Danger Mouse) and classic. I suspect in another five years I’ll be giving this five stars - let’s see if it holds up as well as it has so far (I think it will). For now a hopeful four. Will gladly listen again and again for now.
4
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Mon Jan 29 2024
Ellington at Newport
Duke Ellington
Excellent - a portal to another time
4
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Tue Jan 30 2024
The Stranger
Billy Joel
I wasn’t that excited when this one came up, but really loved listening to it. I underestimated you, Billy Joel! So many good songs, all the better for being familiar (some very) yet seeming new.
4
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Mon Feb 05 2024
Hounds Of Love
Kate Bush
Amazing album. The only blemish is Waking the Witch, which I found almost unlistenable. But then again its presence here also serves as a reminder that Kate Bush can do whatever the hell she wants.
4
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Mon Mar 18 2024
At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
5
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Tue Mar 19 2024
Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
4
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Mon Mar 25 2024
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
Masterful and timeless. Always find something new in this album.
5
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Tue Mar 26 2024
It's Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Love this album!
4
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Wed Mar 27 2024
Graceland
Paul Simon
5
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Fri Mar 29 2024
Isn't Anything
My Bloody Valentine
I wish I had discovered My Bloody Valentine in high school - they would have linked up nicely with my obsessions with Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins (and are much better than some of the other bands I listened to). This might have been 5 stars if it had a true nostalgia factor for me, but it doesn’t. When You Wake, You’re Still in a Dream is such a great song.
4
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Mon Apr 01 2024
Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
So sad - and this is his ‘upbeat’ album. I like Nick Drake and all of his tragic genius, but for me it is more about a few standout songs than an album I want to listen to again and again. 3.5
3
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Tue Apr 02 2024
Endtroducing.....
DJ Shadow
3
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Thu Apr 04 2024
Tarkus
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Could not stand Emerson Lake and Palmer - that first song seemed to take up half the time I have left to live in the world. I made it as far as #4 and gave up.
1
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Mon Apr 08 2024
The Clash
The Clash
5
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Thu Apr 11 2024
Dry
PJ Harvey
Listening to this album makes me feel young and tough. Watch out, you might get a bloody nose.
4
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Mon Apr 15 2024
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles
5
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Mon Apr 22 2024
Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan
Six stars
5
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Tue Apr 23 2024
Teen Dream
Beach House
I find myself rediscovering Beach House every few years. I always find this album moves me and soothes me, and give it a couple of turns on repeat. For some reason they always make me think of Scandinavia.
4