5
4
Couple of massive hits on this album that are genuinely fantastic songs.
Musicianship on display (especially Copeland) is brilliant - energetic, inventive, fun. I do feel like a lot of the album meanders though and that there's a few different little experiments going on with varied results. Some songs I could listen to regularly and others I'm not bothered about ever hearing again. Top musicianship, mixed bag of songs. 6/10
Full of fun and attitude, Iggy really does just swagger his way through these tracks. Passenger, Success, Turn Blue, the title track... there's just so much personality oozing from Iggy as he shouts and croons his way through this album. Everything is focused towards putting Iggy front and centre and it works really well, but with loads of catchy little hooks. Then you've got Bowie with keyboards, backing vocals galore - and the fact this was wrote, recorded and mixed in eight days (after the two had much success together with The Idiot, Low et al) makes it all the more remarkable - and also make so much sense. It really does feel like things weren't overthought too much and it just feels really natural, and like Bowie's influence really brought out the best in Iggy as the two friends were overcoming their struggles and addictions. Great vibes, memorable songs. 9/10
This is over an hour long but honestly feels like it glides by. Brooding, moody - there's such a great constant groove riding through it all. Chris Cornell is the star of the show, the vocals are incredible. There's lots of moments where he's obviously belting and really letting that rasp go, but he finds such a great balance between being more tender and somber, which a lot of similar vocalists in this kind of realm I feel can lack. Fell On Black Days, My Wave, Suicide... so many great moments where his voice just gives you goosebumps. Rhythm section are doing bits as well - the whole band just propels forward together and never loses any momentum over 70 minutes. Great stuff. 8.5/10
4
This definitely wasn't what I was expecting from the name - and was even more surprised when the album started off with a shrill scream. Not sure what to say about this - it had a couple of nice little riffs but overall just felt very mediocre and run of the mill, and the blending of bits of genres just didn't really come off all that well. There's so many better albums in the styles this touches on (Blues, Rock & Roll, Punk) and it just feels like a bit of a lazy amalgamation at times. I think there's definitely a bit of a slacker, almost parody vibe going on at points, but if you're gonna do that you have to go all in - which I think is what this feels like at the core; nothing is committing fully, just half baked bits of different stuff that never really melds together. I guess the best way to sum this up (which I may well find many times on this journey) is how the heck was this considered an essential listen of all time? Not offensive by any means, just a bit forgettable. 3/10
3 -
Kicks off with Robots which was actually my least favourite, something about it sounded cheesy, almost like a parody. Thought the album generally went better as it went along/I got into the flow.
This kind of stuff isn't always my thing but I'm sure this was revolutionary when it came out. Still sounds pretty fun and fresh to a degree.
Really quite atmospheric - you get a sense of this in the big singles from this (Shout & Everybody Wants To Rule The World) but a lot of the rest of the album is less of a hit-factory and trying it's hand at a lot of different instrumentation and gifting a lot of space and time to it (such as on closer Listen). It's quite interesting and as a whole album does work quite well, but I do wish there were a few more hooks in some of those more atmospheric tunes. Highlight track is (somewhat obviously) Everybody Wants To Rule The World - which really is a 10/10 perfect song. This was interesting and expansive. 7.5/10.
The Bryds - Younger Than Yesterday 1967 7/10
I'll start off by saying I love how quick this album is - I love records that are crammed full of quick little ditties and over in like 25 minutes, it's really difficult to make a song memorable and do 'enough' in (often on this record) 2 minutes, which I really do commend. This is very much of its era with a Beatles/Monkees kinda vibe, but with a little bit of a country edge thrown in. They also seemed to experiment with backwards loops (both vocals and guitar) and other sound effects which is fun to hear on an album that's almost 60 years old. The band also cover Dylan's "My Back Pages" which is actually a real highlight, and overall the album sees itself in and out with catchy, foot tapping songs. 7/10
Pretty classic sounding british punk album - full of attitude, particularly from lead singer Poly Styrene (great name). The saxophone elements are a highlight of this record for me, those brass notes really do elevate some of the songs. However, I felt like the album was a bit repetitive and got a bit stale after the first half. It does take a bit of an interesting take on an anti-capitalist agenda (the focus on sterilisation and germs, using this is a bit of a metaphor for capitalist society, wiping up the 'bacteria' of the working class), but ironically things started getting a little bit sterile to me after 40 minutes. 5/10
Honestly... this was really difficult to get through. Like, I didn't even actually finish it cause I just could not handle it after 40 minutes. Anthony Kiedis' vocal flows just grate on me, and some of the songs just go on for 2 or 3 minutes longer than they need to - even something like title track Californication, which is alright, could be almost half the length. The rhythm section is admittedly keeping things alive and is clearly full of talent, but there's something about this that just really gets under my skin a bit. To be honest, I almost lost it at track one when he goes ding ding, dong dong. I think the popular tracks besides Californication are decent (Otherside & Scar Tissue, basically) but it makes so much sense to me that I seemingly never hear anyone talk about any of their non-hit songs - they're pants. The singles are like a 5/10, but the album as a whole? 2/10. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.
