View Album
Wed Jan 17 2024
All Things Must Pass
George Harrison
So there are some classics here. Some meaningful lyrics and intense production. But writing good lyrics makes you a poet, not a songwriter. Don't get me wrong, there's gold here. But there's a lot of dross. Probably better with a relaxing herbal medicine.
2
View Album
Thu Jan 18 2024
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Like a cd you bought at a folk festival where the music was live and the weed was really good. Once it's not live anymore and the good weed is a distant memory, it just sounds like another folk album. Okay if that's what you want. Forgettable.
1
View Album
Fri Jan 19 2024
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme
Simon & Garfunkel
One of the finest albums ever produced. There is a magic in the harmony and pure artistry in the composition. Scarborough Fair may not be the best song ever written, but is one of the most beautiful ever recorded. Every song has a story worth hearing, even oft maligned A Simple Desultory Philippic is a commentary on the self proclaimed enlightened of the time. This album was released before I was born and still speaks to me.
5
View Album
Sat Jan 20 2024
At San Quentin
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash never disappoints.
4
View Album
Sun Jan 21 2024
The Village Green Preservation Society
The Kinks
Good enough for the time. This album could be the background music for any vignette of the time without taking away from the scene. It is almost a characature of 60's pop. Three stars because there's no 3.5 option
3
View Album
Mon Jan 22 2024
Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem
So it all comes down to this: what do you expect from music? If you just want to dance or have a beat in the background while you do something else, this album should do as well as thousands of others. If you expect a musical expression of fundemental truths, look elsewhere.
1
View Album
Tue Jan 23 2024
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Marty Robbins
10 year old me loved Big Iron, Cool Water, and El Paso. In the 90's El Paso was my go to on karaoke night. I still love the smooth vocals and the white hat cowboy lyrics.
5
View Album
Wed Jan 24 2024
Dance Mania
Tito Puente
Wanna dance? Too bad. This album doesn't care if you know how to mambo (I don't], you're going to move your feet. And you will like it.
4
View Album
Thu Jan 25 2024
m b v
My Bloody Valentine
This album might have a place as background to an interesting conversation where you don't want the music to compete. "Did I hear something good in that last song?" No. No you did not. It might also be useful as a party soundtrack for introverts. Sure to get them talking. "This music sucks." "Sure does. Wanna leave?"
This will be the third album of 9 that I've given 1 star. I may have been hasty in those other 2. This is the first I've actually disliked. Maybe "forgettable" should rate 2 stars. That doesn't make sense either. Can we have a "kill it with fire" rating for the truly awful?
1
View Album
Fri Jan 26 2024
Protection
Massive Attack
I really didn't expect to like this album. I'm not sure why I do. It will never be a favorite, but it really makes me wish for a 3.5 star option. Smooth sounds ideal for chilling or sitting at the hobby table.
4
View Album
Sat Jan 27 2024
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
The Smashing Pumpkins
There's a place for everything. The Smashing Pumpkins have earned their place in every 90's kegger between better songs by better bands. Going outside for a smoke or a quieter chat? Their music provided the perfect excuse. Some songs, like Bullet with Butterfly Wings, are cultural touchstones. But not in the way that the Mona Lisa or even Die Hard is. The best of this band will be remembered with the same reverence as the devil's air raid siren that announced you were seconds away from your dial up connection to the internet: it may bring to mind fond memories by association, but you're glad there are much better options and relieved that you'll never have to hear it again. Had this been a single album, I may have considered 2 stars for nostalgia. 2 hours? I listened, but it just made me sad... and not in a way that good music can.
1
View Album
Sun Jan 28 2024
Seventeen Seconds
The Cure
Cool tunes to groove by. Nothing magical, but just solid working musician's music
4
View Album
Mon Jan 29 2024
Disintegration
The Cure
This is what happens when a working band decides to be deep. That's not really something you can choose to do. The album disappoints in very predictable ways.
2
View Album
Tue Jan 30 2024
The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
Musically, what the 70's tried to be. This was music to relax by in a candle-lit room alone or with a few friends. The music became a part of the conversation. This is music to set your phone to "do not disturb" by. Give it a couple of hours some night. It may never be your favorite, but you should give it a fair shake
5
View Album
Wed Jan 31 2024
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
4
View Album
Thu Feb 01 2024
Soul Mining
The The
Heard of this band back in the day from that guy who knew and loved all the obscure music (everybody had one.) I never listened because 90 % of what he reccomended was absolute shit. Sorry, Todd. This was worth the listen.
3
View Album
Fri Feb 02 2024
Teenage Head
Flamin' Groovies
If you want to be different, be great. This unheard of rockabilly album is worse than awful. With poor covers and Elvis wannabe energy, this album is forgettable.
1
View Album
Sat Feb 03 2024
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
A Tribe Called Quest
I really don't like hip hop. This album is making me revisit that stance. Smooth rhythms, cool samples, decent lyrics. I'm not a fan, but I can appreciate the composition.
4
View Album
Sun Feb 04 2024
Microshift
Hookworms
There's another techno album. It's greatest achievement is that it will be forgotten before I finish listening to the next selection.
1
View Album
Mon Feb 05 2024
La Revancha Del Tango
Gotan Project
Jazz fusion with latin undertones. Works about as well as cold nuclear fusion: despite its promise, nobody's been able to make it work. I feel like a lot of my time was wasten listening and waiting for something different that just never came.
2
View Album
Tue Feb 06 2024
Endtroducing.....
DJ Shadow
If you can sample a song and add to it to create something transcendent, you are an artist. If you create something dull and mediocre, throw it on the pile with this album.
1
View Album
Wed Feb 07 2024
Little Earthquakes
Tori Amos
Musically relevant. Lyrically sound. An important album, to be sure. Her voice just hits me a little wrong. It always has. I still love everything else about the album.
5
View Album
Thu Feb 08 2024
Fire Of Love
The Gun Club
I didn't like this album. Plain and simple. That doesn't mean it's not good. It perfectly fills a niche. You might call it Punkabilly. I feel wiser having heard it and that's not nothing.
3
View Album
Fri Feb 09 2024
The Sensual World
Kate Bush
After Wuthering Heights, I thought I'd heard all I needed to hear from Kate Bush. Turns out this album has everything I loved about that song but without the almost shrill edge that made me avoid the rest of her catalog. I'm glad this album was on the list. Time to give her a deeper listen
5
View Album
Sat Feb 10 2024
Slippery When Wet
Bon Jovi
Everything cliché about the 80s and New Jersey. Not great music, but fun and good enough for a Friday night.
5
View Album
Sun Feb 11 2024
1989
Taylor Swift
I was prepared to hate this album. I didn't. Does Taylor Swift live up to the hype? Nobody does. Does she have talent? Absolutely. She'll never be my favorite, but there are spots for her on several of my playlists.
4
View Album
Mon Feb 12 2024
Who's Next
The Who
Classic rock at its finest. Baba O'Reiley will make even the most curmudgeonly geezer break out the air guitar. The whole album is quality.
5
View Album
Tue Feb 13 2024
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
A little Ozzie goes a long way. I loved Paranoia because it said something. Granted it took forever to decipher what the hell Ozzie was saying. Tipper Gore convinced a ton of mothers that he was recording demonic messages backwards. In her defense, he never made much sense forwards and someone with entirely too much time on her hands might be expected to... I don't know. Point is, unless you're a Black Sabbath fan, skip this one and listen to Paranoia.
2
View Album
Wed Feb 14 2024
Arise
Sepultura
I don"t like metal. That said, if you do, this album has everything you need. Strong musicianship. Frenetic drumming. Quintessential metal vocals. Head thumping bass. But wasted on me.
4
View Album
Thu Feb 15 2024
Eagles
Eagles
My least favorite album from my favorite band. Aside from the hits there's a lot of a work in progress vibe. Take it Easy may be the best roadtrip song ever. Witchy Woman was an early glimpse of the icon Don Henley would become. If Peaceful Easy Feeling doesn't lower your blood presure, see your doctor. The rest are some the worst Eagles songs ever. But like chocolate ice cream, the worst is still good.
4
View Album
Fri Feb 16 2024
Vulnicura
Björk
I've often wondered if Bjork was deaf. Apparently not. She just makes me wish I was. It's not all bad. The composition and musicianship are outstanding. Her voice and lyrics though... just no thank you.
1
View Album
Sat Feb 17 2024
1999
Prince
Prince was a consummate showman. How can you go wrong?
4
View Album
Sun Feb 18 2024
Be
Common
Bland.
1
View Album
Mon Feb 19 2024
Hail To the Thief
Radiohead
I can support a participation trophy for this album. An attempt was made.
1
View Album
Tue Feb 20 2024
Oracular Spectacular
MGMT
Synth-pop but with depth. This album is probably not a cabdidate for the best 1001 of all time, but it's different enough that you should hear it
3
View Album
Wed Feb 21 2024
If I Could Only Remember My Name
David Crosby
Reading some of the reviews from younger people, I worry for the future. Yes, Virginia, modern music owes a great deal to David Crosby and his contemporaries. NWA would never have said "Fuck the Police" if CSNY hadn't said "Fuck the National Guard" in 1970.
Back to this album. Listening to it for the first time (and ashamed I missed it until now) I find myself hearing a bevy of familliar voices. "Is that...?" Yes. And Crosby blends flawlessly with all of them. The only fault in the album is it's just too short.
5
View Album
Thu Feb 22 2024
Hotel California
Eagles
One if the most recognized albums in rock history. It is an important lesson in musical history. And it's good. I mean really good. Like top 10 albums ever. Thought provoking lyrics, perfect composition, and incredible musical talent.
5
View Album
Fri Feb 23 2024
The Stooges
The Stooges
Arguably among the founding fathers of Punk. To say that this album isn't very good is kind of like arguing that the Wright brothers didn't make a very good airplane: true in a vacuum, but it misses the significance. You should listen once then move on to better music.
4
View Album
Sat Feb 24 2024
Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
Back in the '80s a lot of things were happening in music. MTV played music videos, CDs were coming on strong. Hip-hop was in its infancy and it seemed like everybody was putting out an album. A lot of it was crap, but producing an album was cheap. The break even point was low enough that a label could gamble on what would have previously been passed over. "Money for nothing" captured the time perfectly. Unfortunately, Dire Straits acted the part of Rock's older (and in hindsight, wiser) brother. Too cool to hang with the youngsters and seemingly out of touch. Some music is good without context. Some music provides context for its time. This album is a bit of both.
5
View Album
Sun Feb 25 2024
Rising Above Bedlam
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
After reading the review about the guy from down the hall in college, I felt like that summed it up. Upon reflection I see a commercial outlet for this album. The kid from film school decides to make a combination of Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers that will "be this generation's The Omen." The writer/producer/director/star is talking to the assistant he got by falsly promising academic credit for working on a "real film set." "He'll work for a credit and a sandwich? Will he come down on the sandwich? Okay, if Jimmie can't get off from Starbucks, make a PB & J and get him in here."
1
View Album
Mon Feb 26 2024
Smash
The Offspring
So there are two kinds of punk: bands that can sing and play, and bands that are "authentic" and "not sell outs." I prefer the former. When the punk bug bites, this album will do nicely.
4