This is good. Like a bit more of an involved bandy white stripes with more thought to the arrangements. Some good songs too, but none that I wanted to save as a 'great' song.
Good intro to east coast hip-hop. A few stand out tracks, e.g. C.R.E.A.M. All the talking skits felt a bit hammed up though.
Very good! Some good songs are Arthur and Victoria. Lyrics supposed to be good too but I didn't really listen too hard. Overall very listenable but not enough to save songs specifically.
A short album but very very good! Young Americans a great find for me. Never thought much of Bowie but that changes here.
Nik Radmore introduced me to this and it changed my musical world! This melodic and arrogant funk rock mix was an elixir to 15-year-old me. It still holds strong today (the bass and guitar lines are amazing), though it does sometimes feel quite juvenile and pretentious. In my old age I find the slower acoustic-driven songs more palatable.
Highlights:
Sir Psycho Sexy
Under the bridge
I could have lied.
Funky monks
I can't remember why I fell in love with Meat Loaf. I must have been about 16 or 17. It was a superb transition from heavy rock (AC/DC, metallica, black sabbath) to a gentler, more lyrics-based world. The songs have humour embedded deep inside them, they are flamoyant, unapologetic and extremely carefully written and produced. This is still up there, though some of the shine has gone in the last 20 years or so; some of the plastic arrangement makes them fall a little flat, e.g. on For Crying out Loud.
Highlights:
Paradise by the dashboard light (a song with a punchline; surprisingly has double the plays of Bat out of Hell on Spotify. I don't think the UK plays this song a lot at all)
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad
... (Hot Summer Night)
This *should* be an album I really like. But in reality, after the first song (which was great) this was a pretty tough listen.
It was good. Not so good that I want to listen to any of it again, but I enjoyed it at the time.
This is a very palatable live blues album. Really nice to listen to, great songs, amazing singing and instrumentation. A great album to listen to in the evening or when working.
My main gripe with it is that it doesn't feel like a very cohearent live album. I think BB King gets 'introduced to stage' on a couple of different songs, which makes it feel like they have just taken songs from a few different recordings and smashed them together rather than the feel of a continuous concert. It's short at 35 minutes; I would feel shortchanged if I'd paid for a physical copy.
But overall this is 4.5 stars which rounds up to 5.
This is extremely difficult to listen to.
I think this is the first real album I've heard where I have thought \"given a day or two I could probably make something better myself\".
I don't think there are any redeeming songs, and some of these songs go on for a very long time. The singing isn't good or enjoyable to listen to. The songs are not catchy or enjoyable to listen to (i.e. if a good singer were to sing them I don't think that would save them). The instruments sound bad and the arrangements are bad.
I bought this album on CD when I was 17 years old, having had it recommended to me by Total Guitar magazine as one of the "best guitar albums of all time". I felt conned out of £11.99; after a steady diet of AC/DC and Metallica this felt like pathetic and dreary soft rock.
When I re-listened to this in my twenties I grew to really like many of the songs on it. Now I'm approaching my 40s, my body is genetically predisposed to love it in its entirety.
The only dud is Oh Daddy which I will typically skip. Perhaps I will take guerrilla action here and create my own playlist of this album with Silver Springs in its place, which should always have been included here.
This is a very very high 5 star rating. (I feel bad now I ranked some other 'good but not amazing' albums as high as they are).
This is a good album. There are some duds, but mostly this has a lot of very palatable (if slightly forgettable) blues rock.
I can see why people like Bowie. But for me this is pretty dull. Not bad. Just a bit dull.
This was perfectly listenable to but didn't blow my socks off
Just like what I said for the yardbirds: this has a lot of very palatable (if slightly forgettable) blues rock. Easy listening.
This was fine. Not bad! Enjoyable. I was going to rate it about a 4 but after the album finished Live Wire by the Meters came on and showed me music which really is a 4. So this gets a 3.
This is hard.
By virtue of having once been 14 years old, I know most of the songs on this album well. While they are probably meant to shock and offend, for me this is basically easy listening; I can happily put this on on the background and work, potter around the house etc.
But not all of the music is very good, and there aren't any songs which make me think "oh that's a very good song". So this is probably a 2 or a 3. Maybe a 3 based on other albums I've given a 3 to.
Ok. I need to rethink my ratings system. So far I have been far too generous, and there isn't enough room for nuance at the top. So I'm going to adopt a new system, roughly adapted from a message I read on Reddit somewhere.
1 star: this offended me or was of such poor quality I would have commented on it if I heard it as background music in a restaurant. I could have done better myself.
2 stars: this was not a good or enjoyable album, but it could happily exist quietly in the background somewhere.
3 stars: this does nothing for me, but I could work to it. Either quite dull, or maybe an album of bad songs but with one or two ok ones.
4 stars: I might choose to listen to this again. But I'm not going to tell anyone about this. Happily would have this on rotation, and it might even have a few really good songs which I like a lot.
5 stars: I'm going to tell someone about this. This is a great album, which has 'changed' me in some way, emotionally or musically. The world would be a sadder place if this album were gone.
With all this in mind, this album is a 4.
I don't like live albums.
Why do I want to listen to something full of mistakes and sloppiness when I could listen to the "real deal", i.e. the studio version?
Anyway, I first got into Thin Lizzy when I was about 15 years old. I loved their 'greatest hits' CD, and this album in a way is a version of that.
There is something incredible about the pared back lack of noise, where a lot of most songs are just bass and drums and vocals. It makes me wonder what the guitarists would be doing on stage, awkwardly standing around waiting for the next solo? But when their turn comes around, the solos are powerful and incredible. That twin lead guitar sound is really unique and their overall sound contrasts so well with rock bands which in my opinion fill the sonic spectrum with too much (e.g. Metallica).
So while I still hate live albums, this is a clear 5.
This is an easy 1*. A very challenging listen.
The only good bit was the 10 second guitar solo in \"World up My Ass\".
I didn't enjoy this quite as.much as I thought I would.
Some of the songs were a bit forgettable, but the good ones were:
- the losing end
- down by the river
- everybody knows this is nowhere
This is either a low 4 or a high 3
This album was good. Fine. ok! Lots of fun! Big songs and big sounds!
I don't think I'm going to rush to listen to it again though.
A nice album. I have to confess I preferred the sections which were both in time and in tune.
This is great. It's not their best, but it's an easy 5.2 stars.
I am hugely biased of course by listening to this album a lot and knowing it all and enjoying it by not needing to focus on it. How would this score change if I was listening fresh? Maybe it would be 4*s?
I am pleased this list made me listen to this album. I liked some of it.
But while I liked how this album sounded, I didn't really think any of the *songs* themselves were good.
On a second listen this didn't really get much better either. In fact, I'm going to switch this off right now.
This is three stars. Listenable, but forgettable.
I really appreciated the uniqueness of this album. This band was clearly trying to experiment with sounds and arrangements. There are some good songs e.g. "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Clockwork Creep". There is also a lot of stuff that doesn't *really* work.
But overall – very nice to hear something that isn't the usual 60s/70s/80s rock/pop.
When I'm not listening to this album I remember it as a 3 or a 4. How many marks could an ABBA album really deserve?
When it is playing I couldn't allow it anything less than full marks.
I enjoyed this a lot. I think it could have been 5* if more of the songs had choruses.
Whenever the songs give hints of a chorus or a 'hook' they take a 90 degree turn and go back to more verse. Which is a shame.
But very listenable to. I can imagine after 10 listens or so I could really get into the songs and really follow the lyrics.
I had never heard of Janelle Monáe. Maybe she isn't so big in the UK? I don't know. But this album is brilliant.
Yes it drags a little towards the end. But this is a fantastic sound, with catchy songs and a consistent musical theme binding together the multiple genres. I loved it and will be putting this on rotation.
I didn't think I'd like this but I did so there
This was an ok album, but I find it hard to get over an unreasonbly-founded dislike of bono
This took a while to get in to. I still don't really like it, but the second half of the album wasn't as hard to like as the first.
This had some good bits towards the end of the album. But I struggled a little with the lack of hook etc.
I have to say I really enjoyed this grunge/blues/rock mashup.
Top tracks:
Country Home
Love to burn
Mansion on the Hill
Worst tracks:
Farmer John (this song alone nearly dragged this album down a star)
This was easy background listening. Reminded me of the sweaty jungle room in those parties at the students union.
This started really really well. After track 1 I was ready to give this album 5 full stars.
By the end, after I'd been dragged through Moonchild and back, my opinion shifted significantly.
Absolutely fantastic. This is my kind of melodic heavy metal.
There are low moments. I feel parts of 22 Acacia Avenue drag more than they should. But overall this is superb.
Highlights:
Run to the hills
The number of the beast
Hollowed be thy name
I wasn't sure about this AT ALL the first time I listened. But on the second listen I started to really enjoy it.
I realise a big problem with rating these albums is that I listen to them when I'm working. So I tend to favour music which suits that environment. This includes either (a) albums I already know and am familiar with, or (b) easy listening 'background work' music e.g. drum n bass or blues rock.
Billie Holiday fits into none of these categories, so it's a pretty tough workday listen straight off the bat. So I need to take this into account.
Really this is a great album for the first hour of a cocktail party, as people arrive and I'm making Campari Sodas all round. Or maybe the last hour, as we sit around with herbal teas at 2am. With those (hypothetical) scenarios in mind, this is a great listen. Her voice is obviously fantastic, and the production sensibly puts it centre stage. It's very atmospheric. Yes the lyrics are all a bit trite, and I'm not going to actively seek this out to listen by myself. But next time we spin up the Dansette and open the drinks cabinet, I'll be looking through the vinyl for Billie.
Overall this album is ok. Bad ok, but ok. It's got some good songs at the start of it! But even they are generally forgettable, and when compared with rock/pop bands from a similar era e.g. Bonnie Tyler or Huey Lewis and the News I think this really falls short.
Her voice is good; it's the songwriting and production which is just a bit lacklustre.
After the first 3 songs the quality really went downhill. Cry on my shoulder I really suffered through.
"Thing called love" is a good song. Not great but good.
Overall this is a classic 2 star album. Fine, but forgettable.
Imagine the Red Hot Chili Peppers without any musicianship or songwriting ability. And then make it a bit worse than that.
The first song: Wow great, 5/5!
The rest of the songs: 2/5.
I have similar thoughts for this as I did for 'Lady In Satin'. This is a great album, but is hard to listen to when I'm working. It's an album that makes you think! It needs 110% of your brain! There's a lot of good stuff going on here.
It's not an album I'm going to rave about and actively seek out (unless I'm throwing an extravagant cocktail party). But it is very good.
Welcome back!
This is the album which broke my project. It was so complicated and difficult to give a score to this. Do I hate it because it sounds like all the other stuff? Or because it's so dull? Or do I love it because of the wonderfully expressive sonic landscapes? The moody beats? The smattering of catchy songs?
Maybe I'm just saturated with the chore of assigning daily star ratings to albums.
So all of that (and the cvpr deadline) led to me abandoning the project for a few weeks, and letting a small backlog build up.
Back to Halcyon Digest. It's probably a 3 or a 4. I was going to listen from the start to decide, but because they broke the project they get a 3.
Next.
Best track: Memory Boy
Worst track: Basement Scene
The sound was a bit muddy and blah. The songs weren't very catchy and it didn't do anything to me emotionally. There wasn't anything here I really enjoyed.
I'm glad to have had the opportunity to listen to it though and find out what Jane's Addition is all about.
I kinda like this. It's fun! But none of the songs are wildly memorable. It's just good background grooves.
I was on the fence between a 3 and a 4 on this one. Nothing really catchy but some lovely songs and a great sound. On a Wednesday morning when I have the house to myself and it is a bit damp outside, this becomes a 4.
Best song:
The girl from Ipanema (Gives me slight "Marathon" by Tennis 'prequel' feelings)
This was fine. Kind of boring. Didn't do much!
This was everywhere when I was younger, but I didn't recognise any songs outside of Clint Eastwood. I don't feel I really missed out.
It's interesting to consider if I might really like this if I'd have got into it way back when it came out. Probably! I quite like Lemon Jelly which has some overlap with this.
It's also amazing how far back this came out, in relative terms. 23 years ago! When I was 15!? That can't be right. But it is.
None of these songs were really in a style I like. Too slow, rambling, not really got a pulse or going anywhere.
Her voice is clearly amazing though, and there were a couple which I enjoyed more than just 'meh'.
Top songs:
White dress
Breaking up slowly
Worst songs:
All the others
This was pretty hard work to listen to. It was mostly just junky noise. It did get slightly (and I mean slightly) better towards the end of the album.
Best tracks:
Fight for your right
Awful bin-worthy tracks:
The rest of them
Some of these songs were ok but overall I realise this is very much not my bag.
I think overall the melody to singing ratio isn't high enough. The overall production sound is fine, and her voice is really good; I just don't think the songs themselves were enjoyable. I.e. if someone else recorded them with a different production style I still don't think I would like them.
I did appreciate the lyrics of several of the songs though, and I feel if I had more time I might have really studied them and got a bit more out of the album. But after 1.5 listens, this isn't scoring well for me.
Best songs:
You Oughta Know
Perfect (this had good lyrics!)
Hand in my Pocket
First things first: I love ZZ Top's sound: It's the perfect mix of heavy but not too heavy. The guitars are distorted but not too much. The drums have this really persistent driving rhythm. I don't *love* the vocals but they work. Even on this saturated album dripping with 1980s production I think the overall sound is great.
Now to the songs themselves: The hits, all at the top of the album, are great. But after that though there is a bit of chaff. I perhaps could compare this a bit unfavourably to Back in Black which came out three years earlier, has a similar vibe and is full of back-to-back bangers.
However, in spite of a bit of a lack of songwriting this album keeps going for me. It's great music to work to; a great sound, driving beat, but none of it interesting enough to make me stop and listen carefully.
Best songs:
Sharp dressed man
Gimme all your lovin'
Legs
Worst songs:
TV dinners (what is that about)
I got the six (such a filler track)
I am very pleased that Stevie Wonder exists. I think his musical sound is pretty good and interesting and contrasts well with the typical music I might listen to. I am pleased that lots of people like this type of music.
For me though: I think the main problem I have with this album in particular is that all the songs (with the exception of one or two) are entirely forgettable. They sort of meander around a bit with some nice sounds and nice backing vocals, with some interesting musical interludes. And then the next song starts. I don't really feel anything, the songs just sort of happen.
Best songs:
Superstition
I Believe
I knew Proud Mary (and a few other CCR songs) before hearing this album. But hearing this whole thing at once is a revelation.
The sound is superb. The songs are brilliant in their simplicity. The production is perfect.
Yes some of the songs are a bit samey; the musical range of this group doesn't seem huge. Nonetheless this is brilliant. A rare album which makes me wonder how different my life might have been had I discovered this when I was 16 years old.
In the early 2000s I went to quite a few punk/ska gigs: Guttermouth at The Garage, Rancid at Brixton Academy, plus some no-name bands at the White Horse in High Wycombe and some Reading pubs.
I went because some of my friends liked this type of music. I didn't have wide enough horizons to know that there were other types of (live!) music out there that I might prefer, and even if I did I didn't have the social nous to be able to coordinate a group outing.
And I feel now, listening to the Replacements, that all these bands I saw that I didn't really like had their roots in this kind of 80s punk. I will say that when it's carefully recorded it sounds ok! It's easy background listening. But, on reflection, when this kind of stuff is played live in the Purple Turtle by 20 year olds jumping around without their shirt on it sounded pants. I'm just not really into this.
Best songs:
I will dare
Unsatisfied
The sound is FANTASTIC. The guitars, the drums – there is so much to love about how these songs have been played and produced. It's excessive but that's the point.
For me though the thing that holds this album back from being 5 stars is the songs themselves. If most of these songs were played by an acoustic singer-songwriter in a pub, I'm not sure I'd stick around. There just isn't a huge amount to them.
I will dedicate the start of this review to rebutting what is currently the fourth-highest rated review of this album. This review basically goes along the lines of: "This is a genre called secretary rock. I don't like secretary rock because the music isn't offensive and it's marketed at women. I'm a man and I don't like music for women. Give me complex man music!". I encourage you to go and read the review in full. It really is something to behold in its chauvinistic laziness. It's also quite baffling that the author chose *this* album to use as a poster child for his complaints about secretary rock. This album (a) isn't rock, (b) is known primarily for its socially conscious folk. Couldn't you have saved your whining for someone who, you know, actually made what is considered "secretary rock"?
Now my actual review: This album is great. Her voice, the songs, combined with the stripped back production, is fantastic. Having done a bit of reading about this I think the story of how she was discovered (and how the recording process panned out) is fascinating and well worth reading. There are definitely some dud songs on this album, with some jarring lyrics or forgettable tunes, but about 2/3 of the songs are superb; I had no idea she wrote Baby Can I Hold You for example! And the sound of this album has really aged well. I was amazed to find out it is basically as old as me.
Best songs:
Fast Car
Baby can I hold you
Mountains O' Things
For My Lover
Talkin' Bout a Revolution
Worst songs:
For You
When I was 20 I had guitar lessons from Pete Friesen, one of Alice Cooper's touring guitarists, at his house in Maidenhead. He was a really nice guy!
On to this album though. For me, this is just 'fine'. I don't think that it shocks me. The music is quite good in places! But there aren't many songs which made me want to listen again. A bit like a proto-slipknot, I feel this is an act which got high on wild performances and edgy lyrics rather than good music. Sorry Alice. Sorry Pete.
This has several absolutely amazing songs, but the filler tracks really are filler. The End drags. The end of the album drags!
But even on the boring filler songs, the sound is really good. So even they are 3 stars. And the good songs really are good. I mean amazing, 6 star stuff.
So this averages at a healthy 4 I think, but I might be being generous as it's the 2nd of January 2025.
This all kind of sounded the same. And I didn't really enjoy it. It got me through writing 2/3 of a CVPR review so it had that going for it, but it just wasn't really *good* in any way. Why is this on this list?
It's like the Postal Service without good songs or lyrics. "All My Friends" has this sort of continuous piano-key hitting things which sounds like what my two year old does when he's not getting enough attention.
I think I've come to realise that jazz albums just aren't going to get above a 4. Sorry.
This is good. Like experimental jazz good. But it's not so aligned with my own enjoyment buttons that I can really truly love it.
Not as bad as I thought it was going to be!
I mean it's very much of its time and place. Those two things being 1999 and my friend's bedroom.
I don't think I would actively listen to this again. But if I had bought this on CD as a 16 year old I would have listened to this on repeat. And I would have done my best to (badly) play half of this on my Aria Pro.
This has some good moments. The scots/reggae sound is quite interesting and works well for some songs, but does tire by about half way through the album. Overall I don't think this is something I'm going to come back to, except for maybe the two songs I list below!
I hadn't heard of Finley Quaye before. It's quite sad to read about him now; he clearly had this really exciting moment of fame in the 90s, but it just didn't last, and since them he's been through bankruptcy and convictions.
Top tracks:
Your Love Gets Sweeter (this is a nice track!)
Even After All
Some fantastic songs. Sleigh Ride is superb. I want to especially highlight the snare drum here, and its little "de-dum" lead-in to the verses. It's one of my favourite christmas musical moments. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is also fantastic.
The Wall of Sound is really "present" here, and it must have been phenomenal to hear all this when it first came out.
But on the other hand, there is also a lot of dross on this album. Frosty the Snowman is not enjoyable, and it gets worse. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is awful. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers I would skip each time. And imagine getting this on vinyl, which would force you to listen to each and every song (without careful needle re-positioning)!
It's also hard to hear a Phil Spector album without digging and feeling pained. It's not just the murder. Reading the wikipedia article for Ronnie Spector (née Veronica Bennett, who fronted the Ronettes) shows that Phil's crimes weren't limited to a single gunshot.
I'm sorry to confess that I like this more than Stevie Wonder, even if it is a massive rip off of his sound. Maybe just to do with what I was exposed to when younger...
So much has been written about this album already that there is no point doing any form of deep generic review. So this is a personal reflection on my ~25 years with this record.
I think I bought this on CD at the record shop on the upper level of Reading's Broad Street Mall in roughly 2001. I think this was the last Nirvana album I bought, sometime after Incesticide, and was perhaps one of only 20 albums I owned at the time. This music was pivotal for me as it kickstarted my "heavy rock to acoustic" transition period (circa 2001-2004). During that era, this was on heavy rotation alongside my (brand new!) acoustic guitar and the 'playalong' guitar chord book.
Listening today, in 2025, there is still so much that makes this album. The cello. The drumming. The layers of guitars. And of course the songs themselves.
Something I was never able to do back in the early 2000s was to watch the videos. These are a revelation. Production mysteries are revealed, for example, the 'unplugged' lie; we see the dual pickups on Kurt's guitar which give the distinctive lead guitar sound e.g. on "Man Who Sold the World". What I thought was cello on "Jesus Don't Want me for a Sunbeam" is in fact an accordion. All the musicians look disconcertingly young, full of nervous energy. We see Dave's softly-softly drumming and the lucky people in the audience who perhaps had no idea what they are witnessing.
So after all these years, I still love this album. But when it comes to scores, the big question is: Is this album a 5 or a 6? The thing which hangs over the decision for me is Kurt's vocals. Do his breaking high notes (e.g. on "Pennyroyal Tea") and his lazy enunciation ("I'm not that thlum") work in this acoustic setting? Or are they really best suited to layering over distorted guitars and heavy drums, In Utero style? After re-re-listening I think this album works because of, not in spite of, his vocals. If it was George Michael on vox with silky smooth perfection, this wouldn't be half the album it is (with no disrespect to George). No song demonstrates this better, in my opinion, than "On a Plain". Going from the verses to "...Love mySELF" is the key vocal-breaking hook. So it's a clear 6. Maybe 5.8 because Pennyroyal Tea is a bit of a drag.
Best tracks (with a * by the ones which I would walk through a house fire to rescue):
About a Girl
Come as You Are*
The Man Who Sold the World*
Dumb
Something in the Way
Lake of Fire*
All Apologies
Worst tracks:
Pennyroyal Tea
I remember when Susanna invited me to join some friends at her flat for a birthday dinner party. We had a three course meal and played charades. Which, for a twelve year old's birthday party in Maidenhead felt like a very grown up affair indeed, and was a strong contrast with the star chart her parents still maintained on the fridge to monitor her behaviour. After the meal her father played us all his favourite song and offered £5 to whoever could name it. A few minutes of increasingly complex culinary clues later and David Wilkes had doubled his pocket money that month. The song, of course, was Green Onions.
This album has a great sound. I like this laid back early r'n'b much more than I like the jazz from a similar era. It's really easy listening. Background Sunday morning. It is magic? No. Does it connect with me on a deep personal level? No. But we need music like this to exist, great music to elevate us a little.
I think there is a point at which you are trying too hard. And this album is three avant-garde saxophone solos over that threshold.
It's hard to give a rating to this one. I didn't hate it. But I didn't really like any of it either. I did like some of the lyrics, e.g.:
I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell
I am a hustler baby, I'll sell water to a well
But I have to say when Eminem made his appearance in Renegade I realised that there are better rappers out there.
Best tracks:
U Don't Know
Renegade
To me this sounds a lot like some early brit-pop bands. And the sound isn't bad! Not great, but it's listenable to.
The big problem is that every single one of these songs are entirely forgettable. In fact I forgot most of them while they were still playing. The chorus would come around again and I would think "oh, yes, I vaguely remember that this might have been the chorus to this song" then the verse would start and if you paused the song at that point there is no way I'd have been able to even hum the chorus. There is just no hook or memorable tune to any of this.
This is the fourth 2* album in a row. I'm sorry.
This again is a nice album with some nice sounds. But... it doesn't do anything for me. Doesn't elevate me, doesn't make me feel anything. (Is the problem me??)
Best songs:
Do Your Thing
Theme From Shaft
It's quite nice to receive this album just a few days after Unplugged in New York. It's amazing how quickly the world moves; in 1994 Dave Grohl is softly drumming along to About a Girl, while in 1995 he's playing every instrument on 'Foo Fighters' and ushering in a new Post-Grunge age.
So yes, this album is seminal, marking a turning point in rock history. But it's also not *that* great to my ears now. I just feel it doesn't have enough great memorable songs to give this a super high star rating. I also feel that the rushed production really shows. These songs sound muddy and blurred, and the vocals are low in the mix making them inaudible in places. Compare this with The Color and the Shape, released just two years later. It's like Dave Grohl (and his production budget) suddenly grew into his new role as rock frontman; on the latter album his vocals are clear, loud, front and centre.
It's a shame none of the later Foo Fighters albums are included in this list as some of those might well be 5*. There's a superb little video of Dave on YouTube (search for oojzmjJ3ugE) where he describes his songwriting techniques to Kyle Gass, with nuggets like "think about [your song] like it's a bumper sticker" and "don't bore us, get to the chorus!". The video is from 2009, and on reflection I feel his songwriting abilities were something Dave really honed between his first two albums.
Best tracks
This is a Call
Big Me
Wattershed
Did I know this album before: Yes! Had it on CD at some point.
The production, the instrumentation, lyrics, vocals, are all "perfect". This is a strong contrast with yesterday's Foo Fighters, which was all muddy and grungy, with instruments played and lyrics written in a mad rush. This album you feel they must have spent months over, tweaking mixing panel knobs until they were happy with every single waveform.
YES this album is over-produced. I'd be surprised if the tapes they mixed on hadn't worn through to transparency given the layers and layers of sounds we're hearing. But that's the whole point. This is the natural end point of the production train, and here they show us what is possible from some instruments and a mixing desk.
But: Do I truly love it? There are great songs, but their tales of a broken American Dream doesn't quite tug at me in the same way some other albums do. So maybe this is around 4.4*, missing out on a top score by a whisker.
I'm not sure I'd listen to this again but I was pleased to listen to this and learn about this band. It also helped me make some connections: I knew that Vince of Mötley Crüe had killed someone drink driving, but I now know that that person was Razzle, the Hanoi Rocks drummer, and this basically killed off Hanoi Rocks as a band. Which is all a bit sad and unnecessary.
There's a lot of fun stuff here. It's very silly and Glam and 80s. It's not the best in this genre though. Maybe its the songs themselves which are just a little lacking some oomph?
This was in danger of being a 2* album but the inclusion of a song about what was once my nearest underground station pushes this up a notch.
I'm a big fan of Back to Black (which I fully expect to give 5*s to when it comes up), but this was the first time hearing this album for me.
And I'm sorry to say that this was the biggest disappointment I've had on this so far.
Ultimately these songs are bad, and they are certainly not saved by Amy's voice (which wavers between 'ok' and 'whiney').
Most of the songs just don't have a good tune (e.g. Fuck me Pumps). And those that hint at good tunes often have tiresome lyrics.
Sorry Amy, but this is going in the bin.
This has some great sounds, is quite pleasant to listen to and is good background working music. But the songs themselves are a bit boring.
Nice but boring.
Best songs:
There goes the fear
M62 Song
Pounding
When I first listened to this it felt like a second-rate Clash. Listenable but fairly forgettable.
I played it a couple of times and forgot about it. Then on Monday morning I woke up with the "See No Evil" riff in my head. I listened to it all again. And it's great. Not brilliant (this is no 5* album) but I know I'll be listening to this again.
Fats brings happy memories of working in Books @ 58 on Cotham Hill. Late one Thursday afternoon Ben Dark spun up Blueberry Hill on the Bose, and it opened a window into a world of early r&b, rock n roll and and swing. This continued in earnest when I met my now wife in 2016 and we swing danced our way to marriage a few years later.
This album is full of amazing tracks. I love the earlier songs in this album (e.g. Honey Chile and What's the Reason...) and it's only some of the slower tracks towards the end (like the Fat Man's Hop) which drags this down a star.
There are some wonderful songs bookending this album (which I list below). But in the middle there is a lot of quite miserable sound-alikes.
Top songs:
Agnus Dei
The One You Love
Crumb by Crumb
Old Whore's Diet
I think I probably danced to half of these songs every Friday night in Ramshackle in Bristol. But in contrast to say the Killers, or the Fratellis, or all the other 2000s-ish indie bands I can't say I really remember any of these songs.
Maybe due to my mental state at the time, or, perhaps, because they are all quite forgettable.
Best songs:
Red Morning Light
Molly's Chambers
California Waiting
Talihina Sky
I don't think I enjoyed this very much.
I didn't really know Santana (I don't think they have ever been as big in the UK as they have been in the US).
But this is great. Hard to fault it really.
Maybe it's a low 5/high 4 as for all the musical quality and high-intensity rhythms, my *emotional* bond with it isn't that strong.
Top tracks:
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
Samba Pa Ti
This is obviously a pinnacle of the prog/rock genre, and it is beautifully made. Really amazing sounds and progressions. And amazing that this was just a few years after the Beatles.
But on the other hand... this is kind of clinical and detached. I feel like I'm watching the prefects put on a concert.
This album has powerful moments and some good songs. I can see why it's considered important. It's got beautiful sounds.
There's a lot of emotion here and it makes me feel a lot when I'm listening.
But the songs aren't truly grabbing me, they aren't changing me. Which is a shame I think.
I will never understand why the Stones are so often mentioned in the same sentence as the Beatles.
I mean there aren't any objectively *bad* songs on this album. They are all good! And a couple are great. But (to me) there is no real magic here. Just a lot of pleasant rock n roll.
There's a lot to love here. There is such a wide variety of sounds, and these songs take you on a wonderful musical and emotional journey. The technical skills are of course incredible. And the songs are so well written and arranged.
Yes some of these sound a bit samey. And I do really think you have to be in the right mood for thrash metal. But overall this album (which is only four months younger than I am!) is superb.
(I am a little wary of giving this album a high score though, for the following reason: I have a view that at the end of this process I should be able to take all the 4* and 5* rated albums and make a playlist from all their tracks to give a mega playlist of brilliant non-skip songs. But Megadeth... well Megadeth needs to be listened to in its entirety, alone. You can't have "Peace Sells" popping up in the middle of a playlist. (Or can you?) But I have to overlook this small issue to give this album the rating it deserves.)
This is great. Kind of proto pop/punk/new wave and in a good way. Lots of songs I'm coming back to. A great listen.
Maybe this is a low 5. Like 4.7. But I haven't had a really really good album for a while so this is a 5.
Best songs:
Moving in stereo
My Best Friend's Girl (some superb little guitar licks here)
Just What I Needed
I've really struggled with this one. I love it – there's a load of great songs and sounds. But is it a 5?
I'm going to say no. I've listened a lot, and love it, but I don't love it 5*s.
There are many superb songs. Of course "Cloud Nine", "Runaway Child" etc. But also songs from the second side, e.g. "Why Did She Have To Leave Me" and "I Gotta Find a Way (To Get You Back)".
This is phenomenal, pop/funk/disco perfection.
The problem is that I don't really like pop/funk/disco *that* much which gives a bit of an upper limit to this rating, no matter how open-minded I can be.
This is very listenable to, but is also so very generically forgettable. It's classic "landfill indie" isn't it??
Having said that, "The Bucket" is a good song. I didn't know it was Kings of Leon though, and I am ashamed to say that if pressed I would probably have guessed it was by The Strokes, who are presumably a much cooler band.
When I first heard this album I was probably 22, and the songs here – like those on Different Class – were all about someone else. I softly chuckled at the fates of these anxious middle aged men.
But now... now some of this is a bit closer to home.
Outside of the university bubble, the chimp is sometimes there sitting on my back [The Fear], I have swapped some of my wild aspirations for domestic duties [Dishes], and I can't remember the last time I was out past midnight [Party Hard].
And beyond all of the journeys and the characters these songs take you on, the music is absolutely mind-blowingly phenomenal. Why don't people talk about how incredible The Fear is? Or This is Hardcore? Or Party Hard? These are top class soundscapes.
Yes, there are a few tracks which are a bit less exciting, a bit less memorable. And it's easy to compare this with Different Class and feel like there's something missing. But let's not quibble. This album is a solid 5, a top piece of work.
I am constantly amazed by how many stunning albums came out in 69/70/71. Johnny Cash, Black Sabbath, Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Layla, The Stones (if you think they're good), Tapestry, Imagine...
Imagine having heard all of that on repeat for the last 3 years. Would you still think this album was good?
Yes! I think you would.
This is some pretty progressive stuff but still really firmly rooted in real instruments with sounds, and doesn't go too far in the "deliberately trying to be off-beat" direction. Some lovely arrangements and great songs.
For years I would see Smashing Pumpkins scrawled in tip ex across the rucksacks of people who were a bit cooler and edgier than I was. Who or what were these pumpkins?
It turns out that they have good songs and good sounds. I think I would have really liked them when I was younger. But do I like them now? Yes, when they are most aligned with what I want. Disarm for example. Soma? Yes. Geek USA? Somewhat. But there is a lot that feels a little juvenile. I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps its just the grungy angst.
It's amazing how separated I am culturally from some types of music. Collectively, these songs have had about 4 BILLION listens on spotify, yet I hadn't heard (of) a single one of them.
And are they good? Yeah they are fine. Like 2 or 3 stars fine.
However, while I usually try to separate the art from the artist, this album does lose 3 stars for Kanye being a literal Nazi.
This is fantastic dark soviet video game fantasy music. Like Black Sabbath meets Talking Heads meets Super Mario.
Yes flood I is a drag. But the rest is great. A nice new discovery for me.
This was a wonderful listen.
Her voice is incredible and the instrumentation and production are perfect. It's an encapsulation of a really mature 1980s flavour of country music, before it perhaps took a bit of dive in the 90s.
And the songs are fantastic.
My only niggle - and it's a niggle that cost this album a whole star - is that some of the rhymes are very unsatisfactory. "Banks of the Pontchartrain" rhymes "train" with "come in". Then on "Love's found a shoulder" she gave up entirely: "I wish you well for your new love // cause true love is so hard to hold // you'll be the one that I dream of // till I find a love of my own".
(This isn't a phenomenon restricted to this album. One of her other songs rhymes "radio" with "radio", "radio" and "radio".)
There are some very cool sounds here. And this must have been phenomenal to hear in 1977.
But a lot of the songs a bit rambling and forgettable. Which is surprising to me as I really really like their "stop making sense" live concert. (In fact it seems that it's only psycho killer from this album which made it into stop making sense. Which does in fact make sense).
So it's a slightly disappointing 3, in spite of some great songs e.g. "The Book I Read", "Pulled Up" and of course "Psycho Killer".
This is hard because of aforementioned irrational dislike of Bono. But let's push through.
"One" is amazing. I first heard Johnny Cash's version many years ago. And the original here is almost as good. "Until the End of the World" is good but kind of background/forgettable to me. As is "...Wild Horses"!
"So Cruel" is good. As is "...arms around the world".
So overall I have to conclude that this is a good album. Yes I can feel the ego coming through in so many places. But there are some great songs behind all that.
A new discovery for me.
There are already many excellent reviews of this amazing album on this site, so I won't dive into the details.
All I can add is my personal experience of listening to the first minute or so of Flugufrelsarinn while walking through Charing Cross station at rush hour. It was impossible to know which squeals and hums came from the trains, commuters, and coffee machines, and which came pre-packaged from Iceland. A bizarre and other-worldly layered audio experience.
This isn't an album I'm going to put on repeat, but when I really need to be taken to a different place to focus intently then this will be on.
For me it's interesting to read the reviews on this site because – in my opinion – in the UK we get a very culturally different musical exposure compared with our US cousins.
Some reviews of this album talk about how generic it sounds: it's described as "standard Elvis country music filler", "the kind of music that an audience at a bar would half-listen to".
But in the UK we don't hear this music a lot, I don't think. Right now I'm in central London, surrounded by thousands of pubs and bars, but I don't know a single one I could walk into right now to be sure to hear music in this genre.
So to me this music isn't cliched. It's exciting and other-worldly. It talks of a different place, of 70s America, of red vinyl seats and long bars and moustaches, Levis and Cadillacs. This is a dream album of a dream land I will never truly understand but can see a window into via beautiful songs like "Gentle on my Mind", "Only the Strong Survive", "Any Day Now", "Wearin' that Loved on Look" and of course "Suspicious Minds".
So yes: Elvis is still king. Maybe his earlier stuff was fresher and more exciting. But my goodness this is incredible.
Today I found out I've gone my whole life thinking Steeleye Span and Steely Dan were the same band. This album is by Donald Fagan, who was highly connected with the latter and perhaps has never even heard of the former.
This album is full of beautifully produced songs. But they are also kind of vapid and bland. I don't feel Ruby Baby is truly about a wonderful woman; this version is about saxophones, piano fills and studio tweaking. This is in huge contrast to the Drifters' original, which is full of charm and really feels like a friend telling you about their exciting new catch.
This trend continues with Maxine (yes I get it, you can play the piano and sing in harmony). New Frontier skirts dangerously close to muzak. And that's kind of what this is: generic background listening for a fairly bland hotel bar. Fine.
Neil Young has always been somewhat on the sidelines for me. Someone I knew, some of whose songs I knew. But not someone front and centre in my life.
This changes today.
This is an album full of amazing songs, beautifully played and beautifully sung.
Yes there are a couple of "filler" tracks. And surprisingly one of these comes early on with the title track "Harvest". What a waste of time. And then "There's a World" later on.
But overall this is an album it would pain me to lose, and more than earns its 5 stars. The Needle and the Damage Done is wonderful. Old Man runs round your head for days after you hear it. And Heart of Gold is possibly the *best song ever written*. For me Heart of Gold holds a special place in my own heart, as for me this is my good friend Charlie Knox-Vydmanov's song. For me, he and Heart of Gold are one and the same; we can't see or hear one without thinking of the other. (And his version definitely rivals the original!)
I seem to have been stuck on this album for ages.
It's good! Lots of good songs! I didn't know Rod could make this kind of stuff and make it well.
But I also think there's a reason it's taken me several weeks to come up with an actual rating, which is that I don't really like this that much.
There's something a bit vapid about it all. Where is this going? What is it for? Who is it for? Why should I listen to this? Is it pastiche? Are they taking themselves seriously? I just don't know and I've run out of time to work it all out.
So it's a disappointing 3 stars for this one. Some fine stuff but not songs I'm ever going to dig out again.
I kind of enjoyed this. Something between Black Sabbath, The Clash, Talking Heads and some other things I can't think of. Lots of nice sounds.
Downsides? There's nothing especially memorable about it all. It's all a bit of nice noise, and then you finish the album and you go on with your day. I'm not humming the tunes or really thinking deeply about places I've been taken to.
So this album is something in the middle. A high 3 or a low 4. It's a nice day and China Girl is really good. So it's a 4. Just.
Complaining that Blood on the Tracks isn't my favourite Dylan album is like complaining about the colour of the defibrillator someone is using as you lie motionless on the pavement outside the library.
This album is brilliant, life changing, expansive. It is everything. Its deep cuts would be headline hits for other artists. And then there are the bigs ones. Shelter from the Storm; Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts; Tangled Up in Blue; You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go; If You See Her, Say Hello ... feed these electrons directly to my ventricles and maybe through his pain I will live again.
I do see this album as a little more of a "bag of songs" compared to the more holistic works of say Highway 61 Revisited or Blonde on Blonde. But no bother. This is an easy 5.8 stars.
This is nice.
But if I'm honest, to me it's fairly forgettable 70s rock. There is a lot of talent here and some nice tunes (Breakdown and American Girl stand out).
If I wanted to listen to music like this I don't think I would choose to listen to this album. Springsteen has more heart. Fleetwood Mac have better songs. The Eagles have more power. CCR have deeper grooves. Neil Young is more emotive.
So this will be assigned an eternity of 3 star purgatory.
I really like a lot of what this music became. Johnny Cash, Folk/Country, Americana. There are so many of my favourite bands that would have grown out of this music.
On the other hand, when it's here in this quite unrefined form it's not my favourite. It's not quite there, not quite got the layers of instrumentation and arrangement to make me love it.
There are lovely songs here. Salty Dog has lovely singing and guitar. "Won't you Join in the Line" is fantastic.
So this is a great album which I love a lot, but which just misses out on the top score sadly
The height of 2010s pop. There are so many hits on this album, so many songs which are era defining, artist defining.
Yes, the production a bit thick for me. It feels that in the final minutes of "How You Get the Girl" every sample they could find in the synthesiser is being replicated 100-fold.
And perhaps this isn't an album which I really really engage with on a deep deep personal level. I think I bond more with her later works (e.g. Evermore) where she really strips it all back.
But this is still absolutely phenomenal. Perhaps the best pop album of all time.
A very powerful sense of dread
Reading the reviews you'd think this album was on trial for crimes against humanity. When in fact it's just a fairly middle-of-the-road example of UK Garage.
It's certainly not offensive. And it's very easy to listen to when working, and keeps the motivation up. But on the other hand it is entirely replaceable; there's little here that is "special".
So I'm hovering between a 2 or a 3, but I've had it on twice today already so that's a 3 in my books.
Lots of lovely songs. Some really good tunes and if I had owned this on CD I think I'd have grown to love many of these
But while they try, this is not as fun as Belle and Sebastian, not as catchy as Oasis and not as bitingly clever as Pulp.
Reading about Luke Haines is also quite amusing. He's clearly a complete arse. In his autobiography "...Haines reserves spectacular bile for Auteurs cellist James Banbury – referring to him only as "The Cellist"" (from a Guardian article).
Best songs:
Show Girl
Bailed out
How Could I be Wrong?
Early Years
I mean this is very English folk. Very very English folk.
And I liked a lot of it. Matty Groves of course. And Come All Ye, Tam Lin and one or two more. Amazing songs and the vocals and performance are superb.
But I also felt very very on the verge of absolutely hating everything about this. If Sandy Denny's voice was just "normally good" rather than "amazing" then this whole album could have been a complete dud.
Very very beautiful but also very very long
This is very different, and I love it.
It must have been incredible to hear this when it first came out. All the samples and layers. This is a laid back sound with a big beat manifesto.
Plus a lot of this takes me back to Bristol: Thekla, Schmike on the decks, Lemon Jelly, all those sweaty caverns of joy.
I was worried that the sunny weather was inflating my scores: I haven't given a 1 or a 2 since the start of spring.
But this album was an easy way to break the run.
Apart from parts of "From out of Nowhere", "Woodpecker from Mars" and the "War Pigs" cover there wasn't really much in this album which I liked at all. It's very whiney and the songs are kind of tuneless.
Took me a few listens to really get into this. But now I'm here, it's really wonderful.
I spend too much of my day being shouted at by small children for me to really find enjoyment in doing the same in my free time.
This album is at least honest in its title. It's a 7* song, surrounded by a sea of kind of middle of the road blues rock.
It's certainly not all bad. There are a few great songs here, and a lot of the guitar playing is (as expected!) phenomenal.
But overall I don't think I would ever reach out for this album again, which really limits my ability to score it highly.
After the first couple of listens I was ready to give this a low 2* rating. I was struggling to enjoy this, an album seemingly full of filler tracks.
But now, a few days later, I see how much joy there is here. Even Yeah Yeah (which according to spotify is the least played of the real songs on the album) is a really fun number. All the songs have great tunes. They are all true "bumper sticker" songs, with a single message, a single theme. It's the Changing Rooms of pop, with Cindy Lauper as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen painting each song a gaudy colour and making us smile and say "wow! imagine your own house being like that!", as we recline on our beige sofa in our magnolia sitting room.
So perhaps this just shows how fickle I am, and how stochastic this whole rating process can be. The time of day or year can have a huge effect on the scores, and in this case this album was saved by me having the time to give it a couple more listens.
This album sounds like the sort of album I might like but actually it's entirely forgettable even after a couple of listens. Maybe I'm just not in the mood for it.
I *should* like the kinks. They are rough-and-ready proto-Britpop, with social commentary, quirky lyrics, raw sound and experimental phases. I like the fact that they exist! I enjoy reading about and seeing pictures of Ray Davies.
However, when I'm listening to this album (with the exception of Waterloo Sunset) I am not really enjoying myself.
I don't know why. I just don't think it's that nice. Sorry.
Lovely ambient background music. But it really is background music. Nice to work to, but does that alone allow this to have a high score? Today, I think not.
Oooh. I am shocking myself that I am giving this album such a low score.
As I have written just a few minutes prior about Elephant: I favour songs over production. And if this album actually had good *songs* on it, it could be a 7* album. But there are so many songs like "I Know There's An Answer". These are nothing songs, with layers and layers of beautiful harmonies and instrumentation smothered on top like cheap fondant.
So what are the actually good songs here? Wouldn't it be nice; God only knows; Sloop John B. And that's it, and even those aren't *that* good.
It's mutton dressed as lamb. Sorry Marshall.
This album has been sat in my in tray for nearly a month, like a tricky administrative form I don't quite have the mental stamina to work my way through.
I think I can appreciate the beats here. The sounds, the rhythms. Let Me Ride is a great example of this. Or Stranded on Death Row. There is intricacy and feeling, and a lot of work has been put in to this. This album also helps open up for me a lot of 1990s culture and understand a bit more the music I was seeing but not really listening to as I grew up.
But so many of the songs sort of blend into each other in a giant cacophony of rap noise. The skits are terrible. And the moral footprint is dubious.
Fundamentally, do I ever want to hear any part of this album ever again? The answer is no, and so I can't give this album any higher than the lowest score possible.
This project has made me realise I favour songs over production.
This album is full of wonderful songs. With really amazing riffs, lyrics and melodies. I love In the Cold, Cold Night; I Just Don't know what to do with myself; The Hardest Button to Button; The Air Near my Fingers; Girl, you have no faith in medicine; Black Math; and all the rest!
And for songs of this calibre, the bare garage rock production is totally fine!
But if the songs weren't good, I think I would hate this album.
When I first started this project I read many reviews by people who complained about the amount of middle-of-the-road British rock/pop in this list.
I scoffed at their moans. Of course there's a lot of British music here! Britain made loads of good music! Stop complaining about being made to listen to nice things!
But that was then, and this is now. I've now trudged through Faces, Yes, Fairport Convention, the Stones, Elvis Costello... And I've had enough.
Traffic by Traffic is just more of the same. I can't give this a high score as it is just a set of ditto marks, an endless legacy of a time where, it seemed, anyone with a guitar and a quirky hat could squeeze out a mediocre record and hit the big time.
In 2005 my fresh new friend Peter Jones told me enthusiastically about his favourite band: The Flaming Lips.
Wasn't that part of the university experience? To be inducted into other subcultures, to be shown a world beyond the mean streets of south-east Maidenhead? And perhaps it says something about the faith I placed in this skinny teenager that I never actually listened to a single Flaming Lips song. Until now.
As it turns out, his pretensions were somewhat justified. The Soft Bulletin is full of sophisticated sounds and big sonic arrangements, an order of magnitude above whatever dross I was listening to at the time. The opening track is phenomenal. It's a wonderful storytelling song, these two scientists locked in a fatal battle to save mankind. And as I listen, I hope that this becomes the album's central theme, a concept album telling the tale of mankind's survival through art rock.
But as the record unfolds, that story never returns. The album circles and becomes loose, arguably baggy. This is an album of lovely songs, but the initial thrill of the opener is never matched, and the themes it sets me up with don't come around again.
Still I love the ambition and the sonic landscapes, the songs and the hints of large narratives. A solid 3 stars, but not quite pushing into 4 star territory.
Reading about the production of this album is incredible. The sellotape to press down two buttons on the drum machine at once, the early use of synth, the kitchen production studio ... It's got a real rags to riches, DIY, "building a cruise ship in the garage" narrative.
And listening to it, for me, is like drinking sparkling water. It's better than the alternative! I like it a lot. I would actively choose it in many scenarios. But it's not going to emotionally move me in the way that say a negroni or an iced jug of elderflower cordial might.
So an amazing album in many respects, and one I will listen to again. But a refreshing ramble rather than a life-changing 40 minutes.
Before this album, all I knew of The Who was Pinball Wizard, My Generation and Pete Townshend's dubious legal defence.
It was turns out that the Who (or at least their early years) is more pleasant than I had envisaged. It's a rockier sound than their Beatles contemporaries, and most of the songs hold up in terms of their instrumentation, vocals and overall sound.
But the songwriting isn't so good. With only limited disrespect to Sir Richard, this is like a whole album of Ringo songs. And Ringo songs aren't bad, but I'm also going to tire of them before too long.
I've been quite scathing about all the Stones albums I've been served so far. But now for the first time I think I'm starting to see the light.
This is fun! An album which sounds quite raw, like a band really enjoying themselves. Sweet Virginia is a highlight here. I also like some of the simpler blues, like Shake your Hips and Sweet Black Angel.
Yes it's a bit too long, and some of the slower songs sort of blend into a generic tasteless soup. But overall this is showing me that the Stones are almost worthy of their acclaim.
I don't really know what to say about this album. But I'm probably never going to try to listen to any of it again.
Which means that after two listens it's stuck in 2 star purgatory.
This is fun. Like eating a feast ice lolly. It's a quick pick-me-up, to elevate your day. It's over quickly and doesn't leave a lingering unpleasant taste.
But it's not something thats going to change your perspective on life. And if you ate this all day every day it might do some serious damage to your internal organs.
A beautiful and enlightening journey into music beyond the English-speaking western hemisphere.
Standout track: Countess' Caper (Bollywood meets spaghetti western)
I think I saw Jurassic 5 in Bristol around 2005 with Joe Banwell. It's all a bit hazy (as was the gig, pre smoking ban!) but this sounds plausible.
I didn't *love* them then, and still don't now. But there are some fun songs and nice moments.
Highlights:
- Thin Line
- Sum of Us
- What's Golden
✅ Huge opener
✅ Mega guitar solos
✅ Massive sounds
✅ Pretentious overdubs
✅ Existential narrative
✅ Soul-crushing bleakness
It turns out those nerds with Pink Floyd t-shirts were right all along.
There are many REM songs that I like. But it seems that none of them are on this album.
On the second listen I started to enjoy some of the second half of this album.
Standout track: night of the living baseheads.
This is the first hip hop album on this list I have enjoyed rather than suffered through.
Did Led Zeppelin use up all the riffs? Did the world run out of rock music in the early 80s simply because Robert and Jimmy over-fished the waters?
Each song on this album has a riff that could carry a whole band. Some have multiple hooks throughout: in my time of dying and the rover are two especially greedy dishes each of which could have fed a lesser rock band for a whole album.
And beyond the songwriting, the playing is brilliant. The sound too: each instrument has its own sonic space to nestle into. Led Zep might have once claimed to be the loudest band in the world, but it seems they didn't get there by layering sounds.
Yes it's a double album. And the second trawler is a little less full than the first. But let's not quibble when the catch is this good.
I was walking, down the street
Saw this girl, she smell so sweet
....Hey baby...
She start running, so I could chase
How they get them saffires, in yo face
....Hey baby...
So we start walking, and holding hands
But she don't know, that daddy got plans
I'm gon' get her, in my car
In the backseat, show her a rock star
She said, "I been hugged, and I been kissed
But ain't no other boy, make me feel like this."
....I know baby...
So then she starts screaming, and reaching for the door
"Daddy I ain't never felt this before!"
Stay in the car, put the windows up
No seatbelt, no need to buckle up
Emergency brakes, no need for the clutch
But wait... ah, don't get a ticket girl!
"When do I" was fun, but it was not nearly enough to save this otherwise god-awful album.
As a Dylan album, this is probably a 3 or 4. If I had to pick my favourite 20 or 30 Dylan songs, I don't think a single one of these would be on there. They are good songs, but they don't come close to some of his earlier works. A few of the songs (Standing in the Doorway, I'm looking at you) are just a little slow and tiresome to really be enjoyed.
However.
As an album, an album made in the wide open playing field of all the popular music ever made by humanity, this is absolutely phenomenally brilliant. Not Dark Yet, Make You Feel My Love, and Dirt Road Blues are all standout tracks. Highlands and Cold Irons Bound are also worth a mention. These are songs which are both beautifully written, performed and produced, but more importantly actually make you feel something deep inside you.
So that's the trouble with this system. What do I rate this? How do I give nuance? Maybe this review will just have to be a written record of the dilemma I faced.
I wasn't sure about this the first time I heard it. Apart from a couple of big hits, this felt like a whole album of the sort of Elvis tracks I would skip over.
But after another listen or two, once I really got to know the songs, I have grown to really love this. It's really quite beautiful. Maybe not quite quite 5 stars. Or is it? Yes it really is.
Really quite lovely stuff. Yes it dragged a bit towards the end. But the first half was absolutely brilliant.
I used to think I was country adjacent. Some forms of country-esque music I liked, some less so.
But this album is so very country. So pure. And I'm not sure I can deal with this much true country at once.
Some of these are fun. Like "I hear you knocking". Really feels like Stevie Ray Vaughn. But ohers are so musically naive (Streets of Bakersville) or lyrically problematic (Buenos Noches...) that they are laughable. Many of these songs feel like they could be country pastiche in a Mitchell and Webb sketch.
So overall there are glimmers of listenability, but I'm not going to be getting Dwight on the jukebox again any time soon.
We have already established that I don't really like Elvis Costello and this album has done nothing to change my mind on that point.
Wonderful, wild, rhythmic and exciting.
But also: all these songs kind of sound the same.
