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Fri Oct 20 2023
Lady Soul
Aretha Franklin
There is only so much Motown I can take and this is about just enough. There are 3 standards on this album but thankfully not the overplayed Respect. Whilst the blues musicianship on “Good to me as I am to you.” Is wonderful, Franklin’s voice is too pure for the genre. And she doesn’t groove, for me, on “Groovin’l But solid Motown from an era where albums contained too much filler.
4
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Mon Oct 23 2023
The Queen Is Dead
The Smiths
I’ve struggled with this album for 40 years. The Smiths are a singles band and their albums are rubbish by comparison. There, I’ve said it.
But this album contains one of the greatest singles ever penned. Seeing “There is a light..” on the track listing means I’ll always enthusiastically jump into this record.
The title track kicks things off in a pulsating and malevolent way but barely errs from its rhythm and barely describable chorus.
Whereas Cemetary Gates is nonchalant and charming. Mare’s melody is all over it and is effortlessly brilliant.
“Big Mouth..” is a greatest hits encore kicking in where it has no right. Bang, bang, bang and after “Thorn in your side” and the aforementioned “There is a light” you think you might be experiencing the greatest working class best combo of an age.
“Vicar in z tutu” and “some girls” done diminish this view and whereas side one contains some of the most unfathomable dross you. Ight experience that still isn’t enough to take any stars away from this 5 star masterpiece.. if collected singles of course.
5
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Tue Oct 24 2023
On The Beach
Neil Young
Such an underrated album. Though thankfully such an under played album too.
It’s ramshackle blues. Straight from “walk On” you have an integrity and authenticity But don’t expect anything as rhythmic and catchy to follow.
It’s no coincidence three songs have the word “blues” in their title. Yet “Revolution blues” could be hard hitting Dylan (apparently about Charles Manson) whilst “Vampire Blues” is deceptively complex and more akin to “down by the river” from earlier in Young’s career. Its only fault is fading out too soon.
Ambulance Blues closes the album with mellow beauty and the closest this record gets to uplifting.
The title track is sombre and timeless. It creates the bridge to a brace of downbeat acoustic numbers to take you home without any danger of excitement or exhilaration.
No hits, no icons but - along with Zumba - the best Neil Young records before accountants and PRS executives started trying to make him fashionable.
Great cover too.
I bought this when it first came out in 2003. There was some furore that Young hated the medium so much he refused to release his work on it until the sound could do him justice. It’s certainly a sonically bleak record and I think its title is irony. It’s not one for the beach.
5
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Wed Oct 25 2023
Reign In Blood
Slayer
I’ve never heard this album. I only came to thrash late and when I did eventually hear Master of Puppets it was not 1986 and that band had matured into something of interest to follow.
I always knew Slayer were the competition but I never felt inclined to try this album. The cover was off putting and the Satanic overtones seemed distasteful.
So it was with some trepidation that I gave this the metaphorical spun today.
It’s alright. It’s 1980s thrash innit? Faster and harder hitting than Metallica but the satisfying rhythm is there although there may be too many words.
Tori Amos did a cover of the title track. Her version was quite different.
3
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Thu Oct 26 2023
Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
Ah, so we have the David Bowie album we need to file under P do we?
Notwithstanding two stellar singles - the title track and passenger - this record just oozes Bowie. But, interesting in my view, the thin white duke was already on a different level. Whilst he was helping Pop with this he was working on Low, a far more adventurous work.
7 years later Marillion would create Misplaced Childhood in this same studio, Hansa, overlooking the wall and East Germany. You can feel the starkness of this place in the production.
The singles would be enough to give the album 4 stars alone. The rest of the tracks can’t get it to a 5/5 because of the overriding Bowie feel. But there are places where Pop even sounds a little Jagger.
Enjoyable album but the history of the time is slightly more interesting than the music overall.
4
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Fri Oct 27 2023
90
808 State
My first attempt via Sonos to search for this artist came up with The Chemical Brothers. Not a great start. It was about to get worse when the Amazon music bespoke album found the album no problem.
I think I saw 808 State live in 1990. Supporting Depeche Mode at Wembley Arena. They were not memorable. Pacific 202 is vaguely memorable.
As nor is this album. I wasn’t an irresponsible e’s and whizz person at the time. I didn’t go to raves and I didn’t scream “aceeed” whilst listening to the radio.
This album does nothing for me except reinforce most musical merit is down to nostalgia rather than worth.
I’m sure others who experienced the “not working for a bank in a graduate recruitment programme” crowd will fund nostalgia in this record but I find nothing. No melody, no tune, no structure and no enjoyment.
I’ll listen to it all but never again snd it’s giving me a headache.
1
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Mon Oct 30 2023
Be
Common
So the problems…
The music is interesting. But is it original or is it sampled? You just never know where credit is due.
And the lyrics. For me, the best music is universal. But life on the Chicago corners is not universal. I’ve seen The Wire, I don’t need it lyrically.
And I don’t believe we see God through our children.
So I’ve got issues with it. It’s not my genre, I get that. But it’s interesting. It holds my attention and I was interested enough to research the lyrics after an initial listen.
I feel my smorgasbord is more varied as a result.
Would I buy it? Would I fuck.
3
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Tue Oct 31 2023
(What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis
The magpie is a resourceful bird. Yes, it might have a moral issue around theft but it’s a survivor and adaptable to carve out the existence it wants.
Morning Glory isn’t as exciting musically as the debut Definitely Maybe. It also hasn’t the raw hooliganism. But it’s got two major enhancements over the forerunner. Firstly, Noel Gallagher has developed his magpie-like songwriting (aka plagiarism) and it’s got hits. Fucking loads of them.
It’s a cheeky start with a blatant theft from The Glitter Band before the sub par Roll With It (which deservedly came 2nd to Blur’s Country House in the UK’s frankly stupid media circus of Britpop.)
But then we go up a gear. “Overplayed” can often simply mean brilliant. Which is the case with Wonderwall. Then the raucous “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” Anthem Iv doesn’t do this one/two justice.
Interestingly, during this period the Oasis b-sides were probably better than some of the tracks on side 2. Though the record does return to form with Cast No Shadow, the title track and Chempagne Supanova.
This album nearly broke Oasis in America. The music was good enough but the working class thuggery - several steps up from the Beatles and the Stones - didn’t translate and global domination was elusive.
Still, an important record and still hugely enjoyable.
4
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Wed Nov 01 2023
The Boatman's Call
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
It’s my favourite NC&TBS album and I despise myself for that.
Because it’s so easy to live the melancholic folk songs played with an intensity and integrity of a jazz quartet.
None of the disturbance of Mercy Seat, the black humour of murder ballads or the sheer avant garde of the early albums.
Just beautiful words accompanied by beautiful sounds throughout. No jars of inconsistent loudness but enough variety for melancholy satisfaction.
5
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Thu Nov 02 2023
Chris
Christine and the Queens
Intelligent pop music though, ultimately, disposable pop which likely works better on a dance floor than on a hi Fi.
3
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Fri Nov 03 2023
Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
Lush, Celtic and melodic instrumentation - this band have been a real testament that new music is alive and well in the 21st century.
Though from Philadelphia, “Under the Pressure” evokes from the off the spirit of The Waterboys and Hothouse Flowers.
The pace might pick up with “an ocean in between the waves” but even then, the guitar is more U2 than anything east coast indie.
But then we are back into a warm, comfortable blanket wrapped around us with a mug of steaming coffee looking out over the misty hills in the distance.
This is where this album takes me. The sonic landscapes of over the hills and far away.
4
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Mon Nov 06 2023
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
PJ Harvey
The mature side of Britpop. Closer to Radiohead than Blur or Oasis. It’s little wonder Thom Yorke duets here.
I saw Polly Garvey supporting U2 on their Zooropa tour. Illuminous pink jump suit and shouty songs it did nothing for me. Yet 2 or 3 years later she produces this, one of my favourite albums from the era.
The songs are string and well structured. Jangly guitars with just enough left field darkness to keep it all interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed digging out my CD to listen to this again.
4
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Tue Nov 07 2023
Meat Is Murder
The Smiths
So two truisms hold constant throughout my reviews: the Sniths were a singles band and 1985 was my greatest year for new music.
And so, a Smiths album with no quality singles of note …in a year when it is up against Misplaced Childhood and Power Windows you can kind of see why it’s a meh from me.
2
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Wed Nov 08 2023
Post Orgasmic Chill
Skunk Anansie
The singles I knew from this band were melodic and absolutely focussed around the personality of lead singer, Skin.
Now listening to this album for the first time it is way heavier than I recalled this band being. It starts Prodigy-esque before moving into Rage Against the Machine territory.
It’s got a real nineties feel and isn’t quite either grunge or metal. It’s all a bit shouty for me and not something I’d particularly listen to again. It feels quite dated.
1
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Thu Nov 09 2023
Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
It can’t be disputed the impact Hendrix made on popular culture as a black, rock guitarist but this album is one hell of a ramshackle of an extended jam with a couple of classics too.
And do you get really irritated when people mix up Voodoo Chile with Child (Slight Return.)?
3
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Fri Nov 10 2023
Forever Changes
Love
Yesterday we had Hendrix, one of the major figureheads of the Hippy Revolution from 1968. If you think the summer of love, flower power and California dreaming you tbink Hendrix.
However, for me, Love and “Alone Again” is the definition of the aforementioned. This whole album just exudes everything of that era when optimism, drugs and music coincided within the aforementioned (brief) cultural revolution before Vietnam and cynicism replaced it.
“Andmoreagain” is a folk classic with Byrd-esque melody, just lovely. Whilst “You Set the Scene” just takes the catchy melody akin to Sgt Pepper to your new favourite ear worm levels.
I’ve not played this album for years but enjoyed it so much I’ve played it twice today.
5
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Mon Nov 13 2023
Aladdin Sane
David Bowie
Listening to Rick Wakeman and his perfectly unique - from Gershwin to Prog - piano playing on the title track you wonder just where careers would have gone if Bowie hadn’t recommended Wakeman take the job offer from Yes because he couldn’t offer him the same stability.
And, as we know, of course Yes wasn’t stable but their revolving doors were not quite as dramatic as Bowie’s as he never stayed anywhere for longer than an album.
I need to ‘fess up. When I put this on I thought I was about to listen to Hunky Dory and the smorgasbord of sprightly pop classics that is. I’d mixed up the albums either side of Ziggy of which “Aladdin Sane” I now recall is my least favourite.
The title track is exquisite and there are well know hits and classics scattered throughout. But it doesn’t hit the melodic heights of its two predecessors. It’s a romp, but just within the speed limit.
3
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Tue Nov 14 2023
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk
Well this is more like it. Something completely unknown that makes you sit up and listen from the off.
Is it the bastard child of Gershwin or the Neanderthal missing link to King Crimson’s perfectly formed Prog debut of 1969?
It feels irreverent, almost burlesque. But I’m sure the gentler parts in the middle will mature into beauty over repeated listens. The bookends though? Everything sordid the jazz underground was apparently meant to be.
Bring it on. I’m off to buy it.
5
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Wed Nov 15 2023
Wild Gift
X
It’s reassuring when you pretty much know what year an album has come out and where the band are from even though you’ve never heard of Twitter, sorry, X.
Except they aren’t from New York but Los Angeles. It’s bizarre. If Talking Heads , Television and Blondie tried to make a lightweight Ramones album it would sound just like this.
Hey, it’s quirky and feisty. Maybe I’ll listen to it again someday but it just seems slightly behind the curve.
3
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Thu Nov 16 2023
Disintegration
The Cure
Move over Morrissey, Smith - the Master Depressant - is in the house.
Yet whilst The Moz may put a wry smile on your face with his downbeat lyricism The Cure have mastered the euphoric cathartic uplifting elegance of the downbeat on a whole new plane.
There is not a second of filler on this wonderful, wonderful record. Play it loud, wallow in your self pity and come away in the happy knowledge you are not alone.
Just wonderful from Plainsong to finish.
5
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Fri Nov 17 2023
Ten
Pearl Jam
I’ve tried for decades to understand why people love this album. I think it’s ok. I have it on CD. I play it every now and again. But it’s not even my favourite Pearl Jam album let alone favourite grunge album.
The singles are fine, memorable and inevitably overplayed.
I tried again today but this record still doesn’t really do much for me. It’s fine. I get people love it.
3
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Mon Nov 20 2023
Ellington at Newport
Duke Ellington
For me, jazz pretty much starts and ends with Miles Davis and a Kind of Blue. And whilst this record is recorded after that benchmark, the music is clearly from a jazz age beforehand.
It seems to evoke the 30s and all that jazz. The dancing, the between the wars rroaring twenties and more Louis Armstrong than Miles. I'm sure it was great to work up a sweat to and dance the night away in a smoky, boozy club.
Not really my bag though, even if I can admire the talent of performance. Certainly 'Skin Deep' very much reminded me of Neil Pearet on the drums Sam Woodyard on drums, a name to note.
4
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Tue Nov 21 2023
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
I don’t profess to either like or understand (the former normally a consequence of the latter in most walks of life) hip hop but I can respect the cultural impact and importance of this record.
But I do like the concepts adopted. Two sides of exactly 30 minutes to avoid dead air on a pirate C60 cassette copy? Very anti-Napster decades in advance.
I know the singles and I feel the confidence and focussed assertiveness.
But there is naivety too. Starting the album with an RP English accent with a live recording from the inventors of colonialism? I don’t think it’s irony. Maybe it’s reflective of their needing to go to a developed and multicultural place where black isn’t feared (as it remains to be in the US.) if so, then after Brixton and Toxteth the UK likely was a fragile choice for such a statement.
As said, beyond Flash Gordon I have little insight into the samples used. I find the music repetitive and the lyrics drift in and out of consciousness. But i know the singles and understand the appeal. Though not to me.
4
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Wed Nov 22 2023
Make Yourself
Incubus
Never judge a book by its cover. I’d always imagined Incubus to be more at the death end of metal.
But it was quite melodic, somewhere between Green Day , Faith no More and Collective Soul.
Not awful but - even though I played it twice today - not memorable either.
3
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Thu Nov 23 2023
Arise
Sepultura
Ok, within 2 tracks you get the idea. It chugs along somewhere between Metallica and Iron Maiden but without any vocal melody or charm.
I’m sure it goes down great in a mosh pit but a 54 year old probably needs a bit more subtlety. I’ll stick with early Opeth instead.
1
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Fri Nov 24 2023
Let's Stay Together
Al Green
Many of my generation will hs e grown up having first heard the Tuna Turner version of the title track. Though once you’ve heard the original you mainly wonder what the point in the cover was. Like many, the original cannot be surpassed.
And the lush, horn infused songs continue in such a consistent way. An album that is surely more than just the sun of its parts.
Just lovely.
4
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Mon Nov 27 2023
Hot Buttered Soul
Isaac Hayes
The ambition is clear from the start. The orchestration, the very fact a simple pop hit of the day is bloated to over 11 minutes as a way to open the album.
And it works. It’s as if Massive Attack never happened. Though by nine minutes in… that word previously used is back in one’s mind. Bloated. Do we really need over 11 minutes of this?
I love records that provoke a reaction. Is it Prog or is it just pretentious? Are the two the different sides of the same coin?
Because well before it’s nine minute conclusion we realise we don’t actually need 9 minutes of Hyper… either.
But , once you’ve worked this out, you can accept it for the brilliance that it is.
One Woman is a soul classic sitting within a Progressive, um, Soul(?) album.
Which is the context within which you need to look at the Jimmy Webb standard, … Phoenix.
Yes did a Prog Rock cover of “America” by Simon and Garfunkel. They took the simple and made it complex. It didn’t work out too well.
And Hayes likely needs to similarly apply the maxim that less is more. Because this song says it all in its original 3 or 4 minutes. It doesn’t need a 10 minute monologue to set the scene.
But we can forgive him for the beauty of his version of the song. And he did beg our indulgence at the start of his monologue.
This is a record that is so uncompromising it demands your full attention. Which is fine by me.
5
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Tue Nov 28 2023
Parklife
Blur
Youthful, confident and fresh. This was Blur’s breakthrough album and probably their most likeable.
And before the later competitiveness that would inevitable come with Oasis. Though that was mainly media fuelled.
It’s difficult to be objective about an album which was one of the musical definitions of the early nineties. Good songs well presented, influences worn clearly on sleeve but effectively so.
4
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Wed Nov 29 2023
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
This record oozes confidence, arrogance and melody from start to finish. You don’t need to subscribe to Nad Hester to be swayed.
Just brilliant.
5
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Thu Nov 30 2023
I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen
Better songwriter than singer
4
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Fri Dec 01 2023
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry
Billy Bragg
Better songwriter than singer .
Levi Stubbs’ Tears the standout track here.
4
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Mon Dec 04 2023
GREY Area
Little Simz
Look. I was put off by the artist name. And I gave it : tracks.
Shouty
Angry
Sweary.
For the kids only.
1
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Tue Dec 05 2023
Beauty And The Beat
The Go-Go's
I always felt the Go-Gos were a second rate B52s. Still bubblegum annoyance but with less catchy tunes.
Here in the UK the FunBoy 3 did the opening track more effectively. I wish these women had their lips sealed.
I was right.
Absolutely not one of the 1,001 albums I needed to listen to before I die.
Though , as the album develops, there are hints at a sub-par Levellers/REM. That folk/indie undercurrent but I just can’t get beyond the cheesy vocals. I don’t recall Belinda Carlisle’s solo career sounding so grating but, yes, I didn’t like Jane Weidlin’s Rush Hour.
1
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Fri Dec 08 2023
1984
Van Halen
Power pop. Not up there with their debut but brought colour to a dour genre. Excellent.
4
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Mon Dec 11 2023
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
It’s the invention of heavy metal. Forget anyone who tells you it’s just a hard blues record. When you take the cover, the lyrics, the title track and the wailing banshee that would never again be called John… you have the invention of heavy metal.
5
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Tue Dec 12 2023
The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips
Whilst I’m not familiar with the album I’m familiar with the band. Clearly this is the template that followed for break through albums like Yoshimi. Vulnerable Neil You g like vocals, over distorted drums over a juxtaposition of melody and cacophony.
And, generally, bay shit crazy lyrics and overallness.
This must be their starting point for a familiar and likeable brand. Worthy of further exploration as there is clearly something there that isn’t immediate.
4
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Wed Dec 13 2023
Fear Of Music
Talking Heads
I Zimbra, the opening track here, exemplifies everything Talking Heads really are and so much so than the few overplayed singles which made them famous.
Tina Weymouth’s bass holds it all together. A dance track but with African rhythm. But not tribal, more artistic. Undeniably brilliant all the same.
And then the pop sensibility kicks in on Mind and, despite the unwelcoming old style computer screen sleeve, we are confident progressive pop boundaries will be pushed.
It’s edgy, more rhythmic than melodic but, in the main, pulsating.
There are no hits per se here but the ensemble are creatively working towards what will be their eventual masterpiece, Remain in the Lighr.
Essential listening. Cutting edge New York New Wave 1979.
4
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Thu Dec 14 2023
Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
When Graham Nash, Manchester’s finest, left The Hollies it would have been a far stretch to think he would end up in Laurel Canyon in a band with Neil Young harmonising on the gorgeous Helpless - so gorgeous, in fact, you could forgive it for, structurally and melodically, being an entire copy of Bob Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door.
It became one of Young’s most well known song whilst Our House , for the remainder, ended up featuring on mortgage commercials the world over.
This album is almost the definition of Woodstock, the summer of live and the interaction of artists at the time. Famous for their melodies, CS&N remained faithful to this style after Young returned to being solo.
It’s a good job Stephen Stills failed that audion for The Monkeys eh?
4
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Fri Dec 15 2023
Club Classics Vol. One
Soul II Soul
Not my bag.
2
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Mon Dec 18 2023
Abraxas
Santana
3
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Tue Dec 19 2023
Off The Wall
Michael Jackson
It was the start of something very special which was immediately apparent as soon as Wanna and Starting Something kicks in. Rock with me is also just brilliant and a stepping stone to what would follow.
4
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Wed Dec 20 2023
Heaux Tales
Jazmine Sullivan
This record just passed me by. Luke elevator music or the only station you can get on a long drive but can’t be bothered to dig around to play a cd.
And what with the bits of interview scattered throughout? Who the fuck cares about a millennial that puts a z in their name instead of s?
1
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Thu Dec 21 2023
Walking Wounded
Everything But The Girl
Thorn is a very good writer of non-fiction. Travelogues of the emerging rock star and such.
But I find the music quite hypocritical. Yes she has a lovely voice and - along with the Lighthouse Fsmily - perfected this lounge music. Produced for the background of a dinner party. For the CD buyer who buys one CD a year.
So the music is more cynical than the descriptions in her books.
As forgettable as you would expect from a Ben and a Tracy.
1
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Fri Dec 22 2023
All Things Must Pass
George Harrison
Quite simply the best solo album by any of the Beatles.
What more do you need to know?
5
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Mon Dec 25 2023
Sheer Heart Attack
Queen
Lest we forget, Queen were a rock band. Despite being seen mainly as a singles band.
Sheer Heart Attack exemplifies both truisms above. Because when it rocks it rocks. And the singles are great.
But as an album it’s, like all Queen albums, patchy.
Brighton Rock kicks it off brilliantly whilst Metallica did Stone Cold Crazy at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. Queen’s version is louder.
Killer Queen has just the right balance between camp and catchy to make it likewise brilliant. Now I’m Here further exemplifies why the original Queens Greatest Hits is one of the biggest sellers of all time.
These were the days - before commercial pragmatism took over the next decade - the vocals were shared. And so we get the inevitable dip with Roger Taylor’s clunky Tenement Funster.
The Prog side of Queen - flick of the wrist - is where they excel for me on these early records. The Lap of the Gods doesn’t quite hit the heady heights of its subject matter.
Bring Back That Leroy should never have appeared on record. But just goes to show that Queen we’re both a rock band and singles band with patchy albums. Like I’ve said.
4
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Tue Dec 26 2023
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Various Artists
Christmas is stressful, frantic, loud and chaotic. Things can become repetitive yet there are absolutes that cannot be questioned. It gives me a headache.
As does this album all in one go.
3
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Thu Dec 28 2023
It's Too Late to Stop Now
Van Morrison
Van Morrison is blessed with the kind of voice whereby he could sing the phone book and give it the beauty and authenticity of a hymn.
This, however, is not the phone book. And it is a long way from being it.
Close your eyes and you are there. The classics are here and , as said, he can make the not so classic sound classic.
A journalist once said there are two types of people. Those that like Van Morrison and those that have met Van Morrison.
Quite.
Hence why you have to close your eyes to let his music take you to a different plane because, by all accounts, it is so superior to the man himself.
5
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Fri Dec 29 2023
Let It Be
The Replacements
It’s like new wave instrumentation with punk vocal. A bit sun-standard Clash or Police.
Not for me. By “answering machine” (the last track) I just wanted to delete all messages.
1
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Mon Jan 01 2024
Blackstar
David Bowie
Sometimes an album is more than a record it is an event. Sometimes an artist is more then a person they are an event.
Bowie’s Blackstar is just that. It’s impossible to see it as anything other than a musical last will and testament.
It’s like its predecessor, The Next Day. Recorded in total secrecy and dropped on his birthday with no publicity.
Dark star. Released 8/1/66 on his 69th birthday. He died two days later on the 10th.
And so it is difficult to see the half dozen songs beyond the funereal come wake 10 minute title track. It has everything. Techno beats, an uplifting passage to seque into acid jazz funk. It’s ten minutes of Bowie’s most perfect music. Which is saying something.
Lazarus is on a par with the title track. And equally prophetic and classic.
“Tis a Pity She Wa A Whore” , “Girl Lives Me” and “sue” are shorter, more jazz and superior for so far into a career. But not to the same level as the 2 genuine classics above.
“Dollar Days” is the closest we get to melancholy on an overall dark yet upbeat album. Gentle and resigned it is, again, the voice of a man “am dying too.” He may say “it’s nothing to me” but we don’t believe him.
The album ends with the most lacklustre song here. I can’t give everything away he sings. Yet two days later, of course, he does.
An event more than judt a record and we are so lucky to have it.
5
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Tue Jan 02 2024
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
I was too young for punk and so everything I know is academic and in hindsight.
If punk was designed to exploit anger and shake up the system it was very good at it.
The music here is pretty basic but gets across what it needs to achieve.
There are 4 hits. Holiday in the Sun, Anarchy in the UK , God Save the Queen and Pretty Vacant. Pop songs with punk lyrics and production. They are rubbish but singalong rubbish that will go down as genre defining.
The remainder is interesting for Johnny Rotten’ cathartic lyrics. Which are beyond disturbed.
Bodies is the most distrurbed and depressing of them. It’s a subject matter that should never have been approached and certainly not in the way Rotten did. Yes he was angry but he needed therapy not exploitation.
Not a record for New Years Day. I know it’s important but I can only give it 2 stars.
2
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Wed Jan 03 2024
Technique
New Order
As this dance album kicks in the vocal melody on the first track is a direct steal from Dead or Alive’s “You spin me right round”. And then the Blue Monday bass beats come in.
It’s not a reassuring start. It’s not my genre and so let’s look for positives.
And there are many.
How far this band has come from the first Joy Division record. Doom, gloom, industrial jar to sprightly pop.
As this records go on the consistency of Hook’s bass lines shine through. The pop sensibilities that later ruled the world on Republic are heard here in their infancy.
Bernard Sumner cannot sing but it doesn’t seem to matter.
If Manchester was going to later have a Mad-Chester it clearly started here with this band.
Not my favourites but important. This album has all the hallmarks of why they would become so popular without having any recognisable famous song.
3
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Thu Jan 04 2024
Pyromania
Def Leppard
Their first two albums were the best hard rock records AC/DC never made . Then they moved Stateside to make this and their fans never forgave them.
And so it’s a good job the record was so modern, relevant and with good enough tunes that the Mutt Lange production would make them global megastars with this and the next record.
It’s all in the production it seems. The intro to Rock Rock (til you drop) heavy with keyboards, the more lush feel than High and Dry and overall, well, slickness.
Photograph caught the zeitgeist and win then America. Quite rightly.
Elsewhere though, the songs aren’t great and this Eighties production jars. Die Hard the Hunter jugs along in a less satisfying way than Iron Maiden were doing at the time and Too Late For Love isn’t a strong enough ballad to get them into that soft metal market. Yet. That would come in 1987 with Hysteria.
Rock of Ages is a commercial enough second single. You can almost see the blueprint for Pour Some Sugar on me.
Interestingly, the live album with the deluxe version is far more balanced with tracks from the first two albums too and a less glossy production.
Pyromania was a prototype for Hysteria. Which makes it an interesting - if not satisfying - record.
3
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Fri Jan 05 2024
Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
50 Cent
I’m sure if there were only 1,001 albums in the world I wouldn’t want to have this as one to listen to.
Look, it’s not offensive. In places the music bounces along in quite a catchy way.
But I’m not convinced the lyrics are either profound, clever or interesting.
If The Wire had a soundtrack this would be it.
1
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Mon Jan 08 2024
Elephant
The White Stripes
From the off can we just agree that Seven Nation Army is the greatest sing of this first quarter of the twenty first century?
4
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Thu Jan 11 2024
The Fat Of The Land
The Prodigy
This combines the punk rock spirit with the dance music of the day brilliantly. One of the few dance albums I bought at the time.
It’s relentless, has touches of Eastern mysticism and is thoroughly politically incorrect throughout.
4
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Mon Jan 15 2024
MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
It’s all a bit folksy and contrived but a fascinating insight into Kurt Cobain none the less.
4
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Wed Jan 17 2024
The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
For over fifty years it has consistently, been considered, quite possibly, the greatest album of all time by generation on generation.
It never outstays its welcome. Musically interesting and varied enough. Lyrically we are all fascinated with madness to a degree.
An example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
Brilliant and, quite possibly, perfect.
5
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Thu Jan 18 2024
Purple Rain
Prince
Though the production is of it’s time this album is brilliant. Varied, fabulous songs and several cutting edge classics.
The title track fade out lasts a week but it still doesn’t outstay its welcome. When Doves Cry is that rare breed of dance hit with killer guitar.
The sexism is immature but, well, it was the eighties.
4
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Thu Feb 22 2024
Dr. Octagonecologyst
Dr. Octagon
The beats and samples are intereting. The mood varies from Prince to Rage Against the Machine. But, in reality, I'd simply listren to prince or Rage against the Machine. Not terible but not really my thing.
1
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Fri Feb 23 2024
Vanishing Point
Primal Scream
This isn't Screamadelica but it's not faqr off. It begins in an almost psychadelic Pink Floyd circa 1967 wqy before merging seamlessly into the thoroughly excellent 'Burning Wheel.' This trance, spaced out style wears out its welcome by the time Kowalaski finishes but 'Star' is a welcome respite and brings enjoyment levels back on track. All in all its too dance orientated for me but certainly interesting. I might paly it again one day.
2
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Mon Feb 26 2024
Ramones
Ramones
Blitzkreig Bop, in a tad over two minutes, is the definition of punk. Full stop. It was 1976. It was the first of 14 songs over 29 minutes which would never be bettered by the genre on either side of the Atlantic.
Forget the Sex Pistols, the Undertones, Buzzcocks, Green Day or The Clash. It started and ended here. The iconic album cover, again, was the start and end of what purists will know as punk. Vivien Westwood and Malcolm McClaren were just fashonista compared to this.
Anybody can play this music but that isn't the point. The point is The Ramones played it first.
I'm not sure whether a whole album over-eggs the pudding. Because, put simply,Blitzkriegt Bop alone - for its cultral importance and sonic efficiency - gives this the 5 stars alone.
5
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Tue Feb 27 2024
Pearl
Janis Joplin
I find Janis Joplin the musical equivalent of an annoying toy with Duracell batteries that only has one setting - full power. It can become somewhat ovebearing. Sure, a great voice and tragic tale to give her songs credibility. But none of the subtlty of her peers like Karen Carpenter and Carole King. Its well played polpular blues. I hope she got a Mercedes Benz for the advert.
3
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Wed Feb 28 2024
Welcome to the Afterfuture
Mike Ladd
Not for me. Its electronic with rap and, nah. No tunes. Not intereted in listening to the lyrics. Gavit about 4 songs.
1
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Thu Feb 29 2024
Kollaps
Einstürzende Neubauten
This must be a record - I turned off after about forty seconds. I'm assuming fans of Aphex Twin get off on this kind of stuff but I have no patience for it.
1
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Fri Mar 01 2024
Devil Without A Cause
Kid Rock
He isn't a kid and he doesn't rock. My patience is wearing thin with such medicrity and if the first track has no positive elements then its off.
1
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Mon Mar 04 2024
Jazz Samba
Stan Getz
I don't know enough about either jazz or samba to know whether this is technically very good. It certainly appears to be well executed and I'd listen again on a summer's evening with a glass of chilled wine thinking about the extotionate cost of living in the South of France.
3
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Tue Mar 05 2024
1989
Taylor Swift
Look, its inoffesnsive. Musically it has a drive, is formulaic and has a hook at the right time in the right place in each song. Lyrically, Swift articulates positivity and mut be doing something right to be the biggest selling artist in this day and age. She has caught the zeitgeist and I see her, culturally, as the ressurection of girl power in the way the Spice Girls originally were.
Do I get why she is a billionaire on the back of music like this? Not at all. The music is predictable and has no interest to me. Will I remember any of these songs in an hour? Absolutely not. In fact, I'm surprised I've no recollection of any of these songs even though - a few years back - I played a few times the Ryan Adams cover version of this whole album.
1
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Wed Mar 06 2024
Music From The Penguin Cafe
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
It was ok. I had it on in the background whilst working and I mainlyt forgot it was there.
2
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Thu Mar 07 2024
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
the future may be bright but it isn't orange. Mumbling rap to irregular beats with an occasional falsetto is not an album I need to listen to before i die.
1
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Fri Mar 08 2024
Close To The Edge
Yes
This is probably one of my top 20 albums of all time and it took lockdown for me to finally get it. And its important that the deluxe edition is highlighted here because the original vinyl only included three tracks, the wonderful cover of Simon & Garfunkel's 'America' has only been added to more recent versions although I think was released as a single at the time. Frustratingly this deluxe edition has an edited single version of 'America' rather than the many more minutes full version.
In fact, the casual listener may be best to jump straight to track 4 onwards for edited versions of the best bits. Not the same as the real thing but more palatable for the first time listener.
To the casual listener the first three minutes may, on first listen, appear a cocophony of noise but is, in fact, as technically proficient and avante garde as modern music has ever been.
The title track was heavilly influenced, I believe, by Sibelius and doesn't really fall into the category a thousand albums to listen to you in your lifetime. Moreso even if you listen to this track a thousand times in your lifetime you'll still hear something new. Some versions willl break the track down into mini segments which really show its melodic and pop sensibilities. The hammond organ solo halfway through is beyond grandios and was written, unfathomably, by the guitarist and only offered to Rick Wakeman for his instrument later down the line. The 'I get up get down' section builds tranquilly into the aforementioned and is one of post-war music's most singe tingling moments.
'And You and I' is just lovely whilst 'Siberian Khatru' has a niggling melody once you get in your head you can't lose.
Finally, if you want a cover version that is totally original yet - just about in there - you get the lovely melody the writers created, 'America' is that track.
This is challenging music and , like I say, took me a couple of decades of regular listening to get into it properly. But I think its actually the true link between classical and modern music, Yes at their very peak.
5
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Mon Mar 11 2024
The World is a Ghetto
War
Its got a Stevie Wonder cover with a Stevie Wonder title in a Stevie Wonder era and its starts like a Steve Wonder mid-seventies kind of song.
And it does sound like Innervisions with a harder edge, which isn't a bad thing. Throw in a bit of hendrix and a bit of Santana influence then you get a thoroughly satisfactory record which I won't have issue listening to again.
Its jut a pity that cover doesn't remind me so much of Wonder's 'Living in the City'. I wonder which came first?
3
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Tue Mar 12 2024
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
Look, I even bought Licence for Ill. And I'm sure the samples are very clever and the lyrics socially aware. If I were to cite a rap artist as being important I'd probably choose somebody like the beastie Boys or Run DMC.
But thirty five years on this just makes my head hurt. The first 90 second sugegsted a more grown up and bluesy feel to things. That lasted 90 seconds.
Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun adds the hard rock samples that made the band famous. And gets it a star. There are many records offered which I wish I could give no stars to. But I'll never listen to this again.
1
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Wed Mar 13 2024
Hunting High And Low
a-ha
I've said it before and I'll say it again, 1985 was my favourite year in music. As soon as 'take on me' starts ( asingle I bought at the time) my mind goes back to pastel type pencil strokes and its ground breaking video. Sure, its cheesy but who cares?
A-ha were a proper band that accidentally had a teeny-bop pop hit single. And the longevity potential for the band runs right through this debut album.
The title track remains sublime, The Sun Always Shines on TV has dated somewhat but remains highly enjoyable. Its not all perfect. 'Living a boy's adventure tale' remains jarred and not quite there.
So cheesy Euro-pop in the main but stil lthoroughly enjoyable and a launchpad for stronger records in the future.
4
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Thu Mar 14 2024
Pump
Aerosmith
The question will always be whether 'Pump' is betterthan Jethro Tull's 'A Crest of a Knave'. The latter won best rock album at the Grammys whereas Aerosmith the former should have.
Look, on the face of it this was the lap of honour for The Toxic Twins who seems to have resurrected in a more dramtic way than even Lazarus. It was a strong successor to their true comeback album, 'Permanent Vacation' and had some massive hits as well as substance that set it apart from the newer hair metal acts on the block. 'Janie's Got a Gun' is the true inspiration here but only Tyler - and maybe Brian Johnson - could come up with 'Love in the Elevator'
Its of its time and is an important rock album for the day. But is it better than Jethro Tull? For the category it was standing in then, yes, probably.
4
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Fri Mar 15 2024
White Ladder
David Gray
Music snobs will tell you that there are certain people who will only buy one album a year.
Music executives spend their lifetime trying to discover which record those people that only buy one record a year will buy.
In 1998 that record was White Ladder by David Gray.
3
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Mon Mar 18 2024
Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
John Foggerty is one of the most under rated song writers of the 20th Century. Yes this record represents the more 'swamp rock' side of things but no one can deny his ability to write a wonderful 3 minute pop song.
And 'Proud Mary' is indeed a wondeerful 3 minute pop song.
I have this album, someone bought me the vinyl for my 50th amongst a selection of great albums released in my birth year. In the main its solid with a couple of more well known tracks. As said, this writer really stands up next to the greats when you play the greatest hits.
3
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Tue Mar 19 2024
Stardust
Willie Nelson
I'll be honest, I only really knew 'On The Road Again' and 'Crazy' by Willie Nelson. Of course I knew who he was and his activism but musicaly, i just thought another Country icon.
I listened to this album twice and have downloaded it. A voice like a comfy pair of slippers, a charisma that is timeless and a singer on a par - though different - with Sinatra. The songs may be standards and all sound similar to 'Crazy' or 'On The Road Again' but a discovery made many years too late.
5
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Wed Mar 20 2024
Clube Da Esquina
Milton Nascimento
Reinded e of the Suth f France in the suer. It was alright.
2
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Thu Mar 21 2024
With The Beatles
Beatles
1n 1963 The Beatles were on the cusp but were certainly not world dominant. It would take Ed Sullivvan for that. But is this music 'tipping point' material?
Absolutely not? Its tedious, nasal, predictable and quite uttely bland. But the haircuts on the cover were revolutionary. The idea of 'Beatlemania', 'the pop star', the teenager with disposable income were all part of the melting pot thaty indeed did create a tipping point.
And the singles were absolutely top notch. 'All My Loving' was, for the time, op perfection. As was the marketing idea of starting to include singles on albums rahter than them being totally stand alone as had happened previously.
Rubber Soul (was it 2 years later in 65?) was the first proper album. Up until then - this included - was a single or two padded with filler. Tellingly, the 'Lennon/McCartney' composoitions were also thin on the ground here. Second rate old fashioned rhythm and blues, rock n roll with trensdy haircuts and dapper suits.
This was still the music of The Cavern and, remember, The Cavern was a dive.
2
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Fri Mar 22 2024
Songs From A Room
Leonard Cohen
'Bird on a Wire' is a fabulous song and elevates this record to 'superior' from the off. Its not his best album or his best songs and 'a bunch of lonesome heroes' is essentially the music of 'so long Marianne' without the infectious melody. But 'The Partisan' is an absolutely immense piece of art and is Cohen at his very, very best.
4
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Mon Mar 25 2024
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
OutKast
This record really irritated me. I thought I knew 'hey ya' was by them so when I got really bored by it I thought I'd check the track listing. Track 28??? I'm not listening to 27 tracks I can't stand to listen to one I know I can't stand.
1
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Tue Mar 26 2024
Synchronicity
The Police
The circle was complete. The angry punk misfits whose vitality and melody of their debut albu just a few short years earlier had turned intov a slick, Corporate, world conquoring monolith. There was nowhere else to go except their own seperate ways.
Sting went one way (with all the royalties from Every Breath You Take) on to global knobhead of Bono proportions whilst Andy Sumners (who wrote the perfectly original and most recognisable riff that denotes the song) went the other with nothing. Stewart Copeland fumed and smouldered into avant-garde jazz still hitting his drums as hard as possible.
Despite the off-record melodrama, there are fine moments on this record. 'Walking in your Footsteps' is absolutely succint and relevant today when we look at global warming and environmental issues. 'Tea in the Sahara' remains one of the most perfect and getle ditties every put to tape. Even 'Mother' shows how, corporate entities now they were, The Police were stil lable to add some bittersweet humour and innovation to their music.
And then there is that hit. The stalker one. That everybody plays at their wedding and Sting pockets a few more gold coins.
I guess he gets the last laugh if youstill lthink its a love song.
4
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Wed Mar 27 2024
Want Two
Rufus Wainwright
I can'tt decide whether this is interesting or pretentious. I also cannot decide whether I think his voice is unique or whiney. Thiugh I've felt that ever since he did Cohen's 'Hallelujah' for Shrek.
3
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Wed Apr 03 2024
...And Justice For All
Metallica
This is progressive thrash and a real mautre development from what was arguably their most creative album, Master of Puppets in 1896. The only controversy is the mix. Virtually no bass (which is strange seeing as they'd hired a new bass player after a tragic death of their original) and its all very sterile and tinny. Stoill, the songs are very hard and very complex. Its long but its stil lexcewllent.
4
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Fri Apr 05 2024
The Stooges
The Stooges
Great songs, loud guitar and a real Doors influence.
4
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Mon Apr 08 2024
The Score
Fugees
Hated it then. Hate it now. Dodn't get beyond halfway through first song.
1
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Tue Apr 09 2024
Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers
I don't dislike the Chillis. The title track on this album is my favourite mainly, I think, because its a traditional rock track. but they put funk into rock music and, as a hybrid, are a suceess.
4
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Wed Apr 10 2024
Queen II
Queen
Its no 'night at the opera' but Q2 is more consistent than the eponymous debut and a reminder they were not just a singles band but could really, really rock in those early days.
4
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Mon Apr 15 2024
At San Quentin
Johnny Cash
The empathy and integrity of the man just shines through. This is more than a concert, it is a social and historical document.
5
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Thu Apr 18 2024
Electric Warrior
T. Rex
I don't really like T Rex but I do like Electric warrior. Except Jeepster. Who could like Jeepster?
As soon as I put on Mambo Sun I reflected what an influence this is on 21st Century bands like The Black Keys. Its got such an effortless groove.
Cosmic Dancer has a Beatleseque / day in the life orchestral underbelly and is Bolan at his sublime best.
But its 'Get It On' which shimmers the blues into a new, funky and swaggering era. Simple, effective and all encompassing. Its the high point of Glam Rock full stop.
In its expanded form on streaming sites this is still too much T Rex for me but, all in all, you can really believe, at the end of the day, "Life is Just a Gas" withits beautiful, dreamy melody.
5
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Fri Apr 19 2024
Pornography
The Cure
Until Disintegration, this was Cure's best album. Straight from the off, you hear with 100 Years that there is anger and energy in a more focussed direction than on the more whimsical singles that had got Smith & Co to this point.
The Hanging Gardens is just sublime as the album builds to a rhythmic crescendo of chaos and anger.
Very dark. Very excellent.
5
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Mon Apr 22 2024
Live At The Regal
B.B. King
If you want authentic chicago blues from a guitarist with a style as individual as they come then you won't go far wrong with BB King. And, whilst there is something initially annoying about the crowd hollering and playing a participatory role in the recording, there is something in the fact this is simply a press play and record live show. Its gotr the initmacy that makes you feel you are in the club itself. Excellent stuff and, whilst not ground breaking music, as honest and enjoyable document of the blues that you are likley to find.
4
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Tue Apr 23 2024
Parachutes
Coldplay
This is a great debut but is it one of a thousand albums you have to listen to before you die? Well, compared to some of the other crap in this list I suppose so.
Clearly having learned from Radiohead, Martin and Co could see the aforementioned had moved on from 'The bends' and there was a gap in the market to be filled. Boy did they fill it. As soon as the guitar drifts in with 'Don't Panic' you feel assured in what you are going to get - well structured songs, atmosphere and a foundation on which to take over the world.
Oh, and a massive hit - Yellow - which is, by a country mile, the worst song on this excellent collection.
4
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Fri Apr 26 2024
S.F. Sorrow
The Pretty Things
Good psychadelic album. Quite US influenced but Sgt Pepper certainly in there.
4
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Mon Apr 29 2024
My Aim Is True
Elvis Costello
In the forty odd years I've been listening to Elvis Costello I have never even considered he was the British equivalent of Bruce Springsteen. For me he had arrived on the scene as part of the post-punk new wave scene with 'Olivers Army' , big glasses and drainpipe jeans.
But as soon as 'Welcome to the Working Week' begins it is pure Springsteen & The E-street band with an equally below average voice.
Except for the singles. The two singles here - Alison and Watching the Detectives - are unique, brilliant and timeless.
Unlike the rest of this sub-par Springsteen-clone album.
3
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Tue Apr 30 2024
Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen
Tramps like us....
5
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Wed May 01 2024
Eli And The Thirteenth Confession
Laura Nyro
This was a decade before Kate Bush. A better voice than what Carol King would do in the seventies too. About what Joni Mitchell was doing on the West Coast but on the east Coast and, again, a better voice too.
The songs are challenging for a first listen. They don't jump off the page. But the voice is unique and interesting. Its not always enjoyable but its a very interesting record.
4
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Thu May 02 2024
Dance Mania
Tito Puente
Originally i thought this was just Cuban music I neither understood, liked or sounded anything different from anything else I'd heard. Yes, mainly this was the case. But there were jazz and progressive influences in there and - whilst mainly way too up beat for me - it held my interest. I'm assuming it was expertly played.
3
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Fri May 03 2024
Marquee Moon
Television
Well its the definitive sound of New York isn't it? We wouldn't have Blondie or The Strokes without Tom & Co would we?
The title track is just one of those songs you think you've known forever and the guitar playing on this album is just something you know inspirted the likes of John Squire of thre Stone Roses so many decades later.
Brilliant record.
5
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Mon May 06 2024
I Should Coco
Supergrass
Would Supergrass have had a career if Hugh Grant hadn't been caught with a hooker and they opportunitistically put the mug shot on the cover of their debut single, 'Caught By The Fuzz'?
I'm not sure. They certainly had snappy pop songs but more on the annoying side than catchy for me.
2