1001 Albums Summary

S’alright. Bit twee but it’s got some bangers.

Production is mad - even on the remastered version. Drier than a nun’s proverbial. One is arguably the greatest metal song ever written and The Shortest Straw and Harvester of Sorrow both slap. Do think the album as a whole drags on a little bit. Metallica are well harder and stronger than Megadeth.

Not a fan. There are some great, straightforward rock tracks on it - Now I’m Here, Stone Cold Crazy, but a lot of the rest is filler and absurdities.

Don’t mind it. A few decent tunes and I like the production on it - sounds very live. Singer’s voice can be a bit grating sometimes, but the lyrics are decent. It’s very ok.

Some of this slaps and some of it really isn’t my cup of tea. Hard blues rock, yes please. Miss me with hippy-dippy singing about trees and faux-eastern mysticism though.

I don’t even need to listen to this. It’s about as 5/5 as albums get and one of my all-time favourites. It’s got some of the prettiest folk rock songs of all time on it (title track, only love can break your heart, tell me why, I believe in you). Southern man is one of the best rock songs of all time and pissed off Lynyrd Skynyrd, which inspired them to write Sweet Home Alabama. So win/win really. Best songs: Pretty much all of them Worst song: Cripple Creek Ferry is a bit filler-y, but it’s still pretty af

Remember liking this when it came out (in my defence, I was 16), but it’s just a bit shit. The singles are decent enough indie pop, but it’s all so slight and fey (sez). It hasn’t aged well (sez).

I see what they’re going for here. That whole trip-hop, Zero 7, Groove Armada vibe. And to be honest I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Wouldn’t stick it on again, but I’ve listened to worse albums. Could envision this playing at some beachfront bar on a hungover Sunday, if the holiday was quite lame.

As much as I like Pixies, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this album back-to-back. Which is a shame as it’s great. It does feel a bit like Gigantic and Where Is My Mind are outliers, as the rest of the record is so dissonant and strange, in a good way. The start of Cactus sounds exactly like Rock N Roll Star. Think Lloydie will like Tony’s Theme due to his extreme narcissism (and tbf, the song slaps). Only problem I have with this is that the production is all over the show. None of it is bad, per se, but it sounds like every song was recorded in a different room, but I like how ‘live’ it sounds. Favourite songs: Bone Machine, Gigantic, Where Is My Mind, Tony’s Theme, Oh My Golly, Vamos, Brick is Red. Least favourite: None.

Really enjoyed this. Don’t know anything of his work outside of Father and Son, so I was pleasantly surprised. One of the songs sounding like Could it be Magic? by Take That was a nice bonus.

Sounds like the main song to every 90’s Disney film. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Gets the hips shaking - wish there was a video of a mate of mine dancing to it in a slightly questionable way. It’s not really my cup of tea, especially not on a cold November morning, but I could see this working at a summer get together, or sitting off on a balcony on holiday while nursing a can and waiting for the missus to get her fucking shit together she’s been in there for like 2 hours now and I’m starving but you can’t say owt or it’ll turn into a right kick off and spoil the evening and potentially spill over into the next day and you end up swimming on your bill all day all passively aggressively. Found this a bit of a slog and the beats sound like Casio keyboard presets. 2/5

This fucking slaps If I was gonna nitpick, I’d say it’s maybe a track too long and I’m not a fan of screechy vocals in metal. Your Dio‘s your Rob Halfords etc. But those really are just nitpicks, this is proper eighties thrash metal and I can’t believe I’ve never heard it before. Gonna listen to more Anthrax. Caught in a Mosh and I am the Law (shout out for the Judge Dredd reference) are highlights, but I don’t think there was a duff track on it and all of it grooves, which is very important. 5/5

I can see why people call this jangle pop. It’s very jangly. Rickenbacker must have made some serious bunce off Peter Buck over the years. Given this came out in the 80’s, it still sounds pretty contemporary and isn’t as vastly different from the later REM stuff as I thought. Some excellent melodies and Stipe has always been a fantastic, if idiosyncratic, singer. There are elements here of what they’d later become; you can extrapolate tracks like Talk About the Passion right through to your Losing My Religions, etc. Strong album, not my favourite of theirs by a long stretch but much better than I remember from listening to it previously. This would be a dead on a 3.5 for me, but as we can’t give half marks I’m gonna have to get off the fence. 3/5

I don’t like this. I really can’t get past Perry Farrell’s voice - he’s one of the most grating singers I’ve ever heard. Some of the tracks are alright - Obvious and Been Caught Stealing are highlights - but PF seems to suffer from Axl Rose syndrome where he has to be singing on every second of every song. Let Navarro have a proper solo my dude. It doesn’t groove, apart from Been Caught Stealing. Some of the tracks sound like each member is playing a different song and they all just did a weed for the first time. The whole thing is about as sexy the video of that guy squatting a glass jar up his ring. Three Days is actually pretty good, bit proggy. Loves me some prog. PF has taken a back seat on this track, which is nice as I fucking hate him. Overall, I didn’t love this. Couple of tunes on it, but not enough for me to get past Perry Farrell’s nails-on-a-blackboard voice. Decent tracks: Obvious, Been Caught Stealing, Three Days 2/5

Very odd album this. It’s sort of chamber pop but with classical, folk and prog mixed in. I don’t hate it, but I can’t say I particularly like it either. Some of the melodies are pretty nice, some not so much, and some of it seems purposefully obtuse. I’m glad I’ve listened to it as it’s like nothing else I’ve ever heard, but I don’t think I’ll be sticking it on again. Highlight: Penguin Cafe Single, The sound of someone you love whose going away but it doesn’t matter Lowlight: Zopf: Milk, Zopf: Pigtail

Can I shock you? I don’t mind The Smiths (I just fucking hate Morrissey) This is ok - The Headmaster Ritual is a great tune and most of the tracks are pretty boppy. The bass and drums tend to stay the same throughout the songs while Johnny Marr has a mooch on his fretboard and it works pretty well. Morrissey is obviously a cunt and while he throws out some nice melodies, his singing style gets on my tits. Starts to all blur together towards the end and gets very samey. Don’t get quite why The Smiths are as revered as they are. REM’s Losing my Religion came on after this finished and showed The Smiths how you properly do weird indie pop. Highlights: The Headmaster Ritual Lowlights: Everything else was just a bit meh

Weird vibes. Sounds like a vaudeville Nick Cave at some points, like a broadway musical at others and occasionally a bit like Nick Drake. I don’t think that’s *necessarily* a bad thing, but it won’t be to everyone’s taste. Ultimately, not my bag. There’s some nice folk tunes on here but they tend to get a bit subsumed by the campy stuff. Highlights: American Gothic, Oh California!

Man I love Neil Young. While this isn’t my favourite album of his - nothing is gonna surpass After the Gold Rush - it’s still a brilliant album. It has some of his best jams in Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand, one of his best songs in Cinnamon Girl and one of his prettiest songs with the title track. The only thing that holds this back from being a 5/5 for me is Running Dry (the one with the fiddle war crimes). Don’t think it’s bad necessarily, just drags on a little bit. Overall, love this album. Highlights: Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand. Meh: Running Dry

This is like a fart in the wind. I’m not even sure I listened to it. It slips by so inconsequentially that it’s actually impressive. It also undoes a lot of the stuff that I liked about their first album, the low key vibes, the intimacy. All that’s gone and now it’s just loud, overproduced and a bit boring. They’re not a dance band, as much as it seems like they want to be. There are also some really poorly chosen samples like in On Hold, which is otherwise a decent enough tune, but has this completely incongruous sample. Didn’t love it, but it’s so dull that I can’t say I particularly disliked it either. It just exists. Highlights: On Hold Lowlights: Not a single other song stood out to me.

It’s the sound of the summer. It’s the putting your feet up round the pool on holiday, pint in hand. It’s a cool breeze on a warm beach. Can’t understand a bloody word they’re saying mind. 5/5

I listened to the first song off this and really couldn't be fucked to listen to 3 and a bit hours of it. I’m sure it’s very nice and had a sort of festive vibe to it, but no album has any right to be that long. Unless it’s prog metal, then it’s fine.

Never got the whole Björk thing, so let’s see how we go. First couple of tracks are her (I assume) classic weird vocal stuff. Track 3 has a bit of a beat and sounds like a trance version of The Frog Chorus. Decent. Who Is It is also quite good - it’s the first track that resembles an actual song anyway. When her tunes have a beat and a modicum of structure, they aren’t bad and are interesting in a beard-scratchy way. But so many of her tracks sound like Kate Bush warbling over a shit Massive Attack B-side. I just don’t get it, but I respect it. I like weird shite, but her shite is just too weird. Her level of popularity seems completely out of whack with the mad music she makes. You do you babes, doesn't mean I have to like it. Highlights: Where is the line, Who is it, Triumph of the heart (Those highlights read like a night of overdoing bad chisel)

The OG. Anyone who knows me knows I loves me some stoner metal, and this is the progenitor of pretty much all of it. It strikes a great balance between sick riffs and bong rips, and the production on it is perfect. There isn’t really a duff track on it. Even though Rat Salad is an instrumental, it’s a bloody good one which doesn’t outstay its welcome. 5/5 would bong rip again

The website has once again deleted my original review 😡 You can’t deny that The Look of Love and Poison Arrow are absolute hammers. Go on, try and deny it. See, you can’t. Idiot. But I actually quite enjoyed this, almost in spite of myself. It’s got some excellent slap bass that reminds me of Alan Partridge jamming to level 42. Makes me think of sitting in the back of my parent’s Austin Princess listening to tunes. Not sure my parent ever listened to ABC, but they were definitely ABC adjacent. Overall, I liked it. It’s so deeply uncool it’s almost cool again.

Clearly our Iggy was doing a lot of coke with Bowie during this period. And that’s a good thing, great drug. I’ve never been that into Iggy Pop, always thought his solo stuff was just a derivative of The Stooges. This is pretty surprising though, more Bowie than MC5. Nowt wrong with MC5, but it’s good to know he’s got a few more strings to his bow. This is more post punk than punk, and all the better for it. China Girl is proper vibes once it gets going - so good I stuck it on repeat for a bit. Best Tracks: China Girl, Tiny Girls (questionable titles aside), Nightclubbing Worst Track: Mass Production is a bit of a slog

Might as well call this Jizzing: The Album Never been big into Prince. Talented? Sure. Prolific? Absolutely. International sex midget? So he’d have you believe. His stuff’s always left me a bit cold. Purple Rain is obviously flames 100, but his output is a bit spotty. 1999 is a brilliant tune though. I recall New Year’s Eve of 1999 fondly - Nick arrived from the birth of his first child and proceeded to squirt vodka into my mouth using some syringes he’d stolen from the hospital. What a guy. Actually this may have been NYE 2000, which still counts as it’s mentioned in the song and it’s a good anecdote, and I can’t be arsed editing this. He’s managed to formulate the single most annoying synth sound of all time on Delirious (Prince, not Nick). Impressive. “Let’s pretend we’re married and go all night” - is he taking the piss? Maybe he’s being sarcastic. MAYBE HE’S NOT AS MUCH OF A SHAGGER AS HE MAKES OUT. To give him his due, he is excellent at extended on-the-nose sex metaphors (Prince, not Nick). International lover is just ridiculous. Ultimately I think my issue with nearly all of Prince’s stuff is the production. Every note is quantised, every snare sound gated. It just gives everything this weird plastic-y sound and strangles the life out of it. This has its moments (well, one moment), but by and large I think it’s a bit shite and way too long. Guess I like my sex jams shorter and a bit more rugged. Best tracks: 1999 Worst tracks: The rest of it P.S. “two thousand zero zero” would imply the year 200,000 AD, so either he’s shit at maths or he’s doing a very big shag (Prince, not Nick).

Opening 1-2 songs don’t come much better than this. Makes me feel like downing a can of Monster Energy and jabbing some drywall. This is one of the ultimate ‘separate the art from the artist’ situations. With bands like The Smiths, that’s easy as the singer has always been an insufferable twat. For someone like Manson though it’s a bit trickier - despite all the (slightly contrived) controversy and blaming of him for Columbine, it always seemed like he was a sound dude. Example A: https://youtu.be/oeQ4HWhPEdA?si=mddX1yY0kq4a2DmP Context aside, this is really great. Though I’ve learned over the course of doing this that a) I’m a proper whore for how an album is produced and; b) very, VERY few albums should be over 45 minutes in length. This sounds so live, and gives it such an energy that some artists (cough Prince cough) could learn from. It sounds like our Marilyn is grinding his ballbag on my ear as his band looks the other way. In a good way. On the other hand, you could cut about 8 songs off this and it would still hit as hard. So, do I like this? Yes I do. Do I acknowledge that MM is a bad lad? Yes I do. It absolutely stinks of Jilly’s circa 2004, so I’m always gonna be a bit partial to it. But suffice to say, Marilyn Manson is a bad wrong’un. Can’t believe I got this far in this review without mentioning that he removed his ribs so he could suck himself off and that he was Fred Savage’s mate in The Wonder Years. Top pre-internet rumours them. A more innocent time. Best tracks: Irresponsible Hate Anthem, The Beautiful People, Tourniquet, 1996, Mister Superstar/Angel With The Scabbed Wings Also, here’s a really great analysis of this album: https://youtu.be/Wh0Xy7cfvdw?si=sfdU5j-TZLkP16Es

Tough old listen this. It’s very avant garde but definitely errs more towards the “disappearing up your own arse” end of things, as opposed to “that’s kind of interesting”. It’s abrasive and there’s nothing even remotely resembling a song on this. Which is kind of a dealbreaker for a music album. I’m hosting Christmas diner at mine this year, so as a social experiment I’m gonna throw this on. See what happens. Go all Berghain. Have no inclination to listen to this again, but I’m glad I’ve listened to it precisely once. Best track: 🤷🏻‍♂️ Worst track: 🤷🏻‍♂️

Early 2000’s indie bangers don’t come much more indie-y, banger-y or early 2000-y than this. Time to Pretend and Kids are incredible little pop tunes. Remind me of more carefree times. They’re the sound of walking past a wine bar at Glastonbury that’s blasting tunes and a crowd breaking into impromptu dance at 3 in the morning. Can’t honestly say I’ve ever actually listened to the rest of the album until now. It’s pretty different from those singles, more chamber pop-y on Weekend Wars and The Youth, then goes all 60’s prog rock in 4th Dimensional Transition and Of Birds, Moons and Monsters. To be fair, they had to be a bit proggy with titles like those. Enjoyed this overall, but it loses its way a bit in the latter half.

John Martyn - One World S’alright. Kind of inoffensive MOR rock, with some unique vocals and production. Really don’t have anything interesting or exciting to say about this. There’s some decent melodys and instrumentation in there, but nothing to blow my socks off. Just a bit dull I guess. Now I’m gonna go and listen to Battlesnake instead.

Sick this. Despite what some philistines in this group would have you believe, noise rock can be good (take notes Liars and Einstürzende Neubaten). The album reminds me somewhat of Swans earlier/darker stuff but has some rockier riffs that complement it well and give it a bit of groove. Longue Route sounds a bit like Butthole Surfers. So it’s a bit of a heady mix, but one which works for me. It can be quite intense but has some light and shade in there, so isn’t as unlistenable as some of the other records we’ve reviewed here (Prince). It’s gritty but also very French, which isn’t a juxtaposition you get a lot, but it’s one which works on this record. Best Tracks: Longue Route, Rue des Tempêtes

Is there anyone who has not listened to this album? For a period of about 2 years you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a Ford or Oil of Olay advert soundtracked by a single off this. Outside of the ‘hits’ though, there are some proper decent dance tracks on this like Machete. Sounds like the Prodigy, breakbeats for days. There really is something to like on this for everyone, and I imagine it was a lot of people’s introduction to dance, ambient, techno and a number of other genres, so fair play. It’s got some decent dance, some decent rock, and some decent vibes. It’s decent. And the amount of time that’s passed since it came out has lessened its ubiquity. Can’t knock it really. It’s simultaneously got a bit of edge but is also completely inoffensive. No idea how that works. Also Porcelain is proper pretty. Again, time and distance has served it well. My only criticism is that there’s maybe just *too much* stuff on it. You could probably bin off the last 7 tracks on it and no one would notice. Best tracks: Porcelain, South Side, Body Rock, Machete.

Enjoyed this. Didn’t blow my socks off but there’s some decent tunes on here, a couple of which go fairly hard for acoustic songs. Me and Julio down by the river is a nice little ditty with a bit of swing to it, and Peace Like a River has some cool riffs. The lyrics to Paranoia Blues remind me of going through security check in Schipol airport. Overall, not bad. Best tracks: Me and Julio, Peace Like a River, Paranoia Blues

Really like this. Think I may have heard it before but because it’s quite long it blurs together a bit. the tunes and lyrics are undeniable - great fun but with something to say and high energy throughout, sounds like it was recorded live. It’s so very Oirish in a good way. Some of it’s proper silly, like Fiesta. Some of its dead touching like Fairytale of New York. That song gets massively overplayed but it still slaps. Never realised quite to what extent yer Dropkick Murphy’s, yer Flogging Molly’s were complete rip offs of these guys. But they’re complete rip offs of these guys. Overall, thought this was great. Just way too long, and it gets a little samey. The Broad Majestic Shannon is just FONY with the BPM turned up. Best track: Fiesta, FONY, Turkish Song of the Damned, If I Should fall from Grace with God.

This isn’t completely without merit but it feels like it’s being all dissonant and difficult for the sake of it. Smacks of Jonny Rotten railing against the immediacy of the Sex Pistols to prove he’s such an artiste. Nowt wrong with sick riffs mate, chill out. When you’ve got a spoken word piece called ‘Religion I’, you’ve officially disappeared up your own arse. The only thing that saves this from scoring a 1 is the track PiL, which is actually decent and a good example of post-punk. The last track is so fucking shit. So bad in fact, it drags this back down to a 1 again. Fuck ‘em. Best tracks: PiL

Vibes innit. Every song sounds the same and every song sounds like another song you’ve heard somewhere else, but it’s still great. Got proper funk and groove to it. Not sure if it’s the case or not, but sounds like they got in a room and smashed this out in an afternoon, in a good way. It’s all 12 bar blues played by some sick musicians. Perfect thing to throw on at a dinner party to show you’re simultaneously cool and old.

Along with the 36 Chambers, this is THE sound of 90’s East Coast hip hop. There’s not really much to say, there was hip hop before those albums and hip hop afterwards. For me, 36 chambers just edges it but this is still great. Beats slap, lyrics are a great mix of personal experience and storytelling, can’t pick a fault with it (try as I might just to piss Chris off). Best tracks: NY State of Mind, The World is Yours, Represent

Enjoyed this (and think I enjoyed it back in the day as well). There are some very odd, very unsexy sexy lyrics, which is cool and I like the low key, pastoral instrumentation. Few bangers on there, and a lot about shagging in the Lake District. Fair dos. Best Tracks: Hooting and Howling, Two Dancers Part 1

Gonna do a track by track for this one, as finding something new and interesting to write about albums day after day is *hard* The Lovely Linda: Bit simpy. She’s never gonna shag you mate. Nice enough tune though. That Would Be Something: Decent little blues ditty. Like the intimate production on this album, quite different to The Beatles/George Martin sound you associate with McCartney. Even at only 2 minutes and change, this drags on a bit though. Valentine Day: Noodley instrumental track. It’s not bad, but so far this album feels like a load of b sides and offcuts. Fades out just as it seems like it’s getting going. Like my shagging. Every Night: This feels like the most Beatles-y track so far. Never a bad thing. Like the melody and there are some interesting chord changes in this. Hot as Sun/Glasses: Paul clearly wrote this on a beach holiday. Probably sat on the balcony with a can and a rollie while the missus gets ready. Another instrumental, that I think would be well serviced by having lyrics and a vocal melody. Bit of a shame. Goes a bit dissonant at the end, like he’s killed his missus after she took too long getting ready or something. We’ve all been there Paul. Junk: Lovely this. Great melody and vocals. Bit of Xylophone and contrasting background vocals at the end add a nice touch. Loved this. Could easily slot into any Beatles album and not feel out of place. Man We Was Lonely: Again, very Beatles-y. Could be off the White album. Actually sounds like John Lennon harmonising on this. Some very unnecessary electric slide guitar towards the end. Gets a bit repetitive but not a bad tune. Oo You: Proper bit of blues. Decent riffage, sounds a bit like the White Stripes. Good stuff. Momma Miss America: Another instrumental. It’s alright but a few too many of these on this album. Like that the piano sounds a bit moody and the bass line’s are cool. Like it. Teddy Boy: Bit meh, but it’s short. It’s not terrible, just a bit slight. Ted sounds like a melt. Sez. Singalong Junk: Beautiful. One of the few songs off this I recognise (though I’ve no idea where from). Yet another instrumental though. They’re all pretty good, but seems a a bit of a waste when you’re one of the greatest vocal melodicists (not sure that’s a word) of all time. Maybe I’m Amazed: Tune. Classic McCartney, and one of the few tracks where he really lets rip on this album. Like that they just go a bit wild with the electric guitar. Kreen-Akrore: Big chords, then mad monkey sounds. He was definitely breaking the grass ceiling when making this one. Starts going a bit Rat Salad with the drum solo, but in a much more boring way. Then the contrasting vocal melodies with the electric guitar sound great. This song changes every 30 seconds, but in a completely disjointed way. Now he’s breathing down my ear. Kind of this album in a microcosm, just a load of stuff thrown at the wall to see what would stick. Now a classic guitar Beatles guitar solo to finish. Overall, I enjoyed this but it’s very disjointed and felt like a b-side compilation. Like he’s just using up all the half baked ideas he had left over from The Beatles.

Maybe the best ‘classic’ Beastie Boys album. Meaning not as many sound experiments and banging on about Buddhism - though there is still some of that. It probably encapsulates the entirety of their various sounds the best out of all their albums, without going overboard in any one direction. Sure Shot, Root Down and Sabotage are some of the best beats/tracks the Boys ever produced. I like that there’s some proper punk on this as well - don’t think any bands have hit the nail on the head as well as these guys when it comes to the crossover between punk and hip hop. It’s also pretty funky sez, Futterman’s rule is a great little jam. The Boys don’t get enough credit for how good they are as musicians. Sure they can rap, but the dudes can play too. In classic 80’s/90’s fashion though they felt the need to use every single minute of the cd and there are a few too many tracks on this, that make it drag in the latter half. I’d give this a 4.5 if I could, but the length holds it back sez. Best tracks: Sure Shot, Tough Guy, Root Down, Sabotage, Futterman’s Rule

This was nice enough. Only half listened to it while cooking a Sunday Roast but it fitted that vibe well.

Didn’t care for this. It’s better than Medulla but that’s a low bar. There’s some ok sounding post punk on this but I find Bjork’s voice a bit grating and the bloke isn’t much better.

Always had a soft spot for this. It’s one of those albums you listen to constantly as it’s one of the 3 cassettes your mum and dad in the car. THAT SAID, I still think this slaps. Money for Nothing has one of the greatest rock intros and riffs (and videos) of all times. Fond memories of air drumming with Glenn in his front room. RIP buddy. So Far Away from Me is a gentle little opener with a nice melody, Walk of Life is pure 80’s pop, and Your Latest Trick will always remind me of Rob Hanley getting off with a bird in his front room the suave cunt. Instant knicker dropper. Real James Bond stuff. Very much an album of two halves this though. Why Worry is alright, but Ride Across the River sounds like some background music from Lethal Weapon 2. Riggs playing this as he makes love to a beautiful woman in his static caravan. The rest are a bit pish, but Brothers in Arms (the song) is decent enough. Best tracks: So Far Away from me, Money for Nothing, Walk of Life

Never been into The Jam, and this hasn’t really shifted my opinion. When they’re good they’re great, like on That’s Entertainment but otherwise I think they’re mad overrated. Some of this is ok, but other than the singles nothing really grabbed me. I’m sure their best ofs are great, but their albums aren’t for me. Best tracks: Start, That’s Entertainment

What a tune. Rest of the album’s decent too, if a bit samey. Just one of those vibes records, your Sunday afternoons with your Cerys Matthews, your Guy Garveys. Maybe Huey if you’re feeling fruity. Liked it, didn’t love it but Let’s stay together is an absolute hammer of a tune.

For some reason I thought this was some Motown pop group (I think I was thinking of the Supremes) but this goes pretty hard. Proper funky, hard Motown sound. Lots of wah guitar and phat bass. Into it. Lost focus towards the end (me, not the album) as the darts came on. But enjoyed it nonetheless, some of this goes hard. Best tracks: Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On, Papa Was a Rolling Stone

An absolute blues rock classic. While they may interest some people zero percent as a live act, their albums are generally pretty great and this is their best. It reminds me of the days of Napster, Limewire (Bearshare if you were a weirdo) and burning cd’s. Finding out the internet in Cambridge Halls was proper rapid and absolutely rinsing it with illegal downloads. Great times. As well as all the hard garage/blues rock, there’s some properly pretty stuff on here as well such as We Are Gonna Be Friends. I like how unpretentious some of the lyrics are - We Are Gonna Be Friends is literally just about a couple of kids making friends. I’m trying to find reasons not to give this 5/5 but I can’t, soz Pooie. Great riffs, great musicianship (Meg White is decent, actually) and great lyrics. Best Tracks: All the singles plus We Are Gonna Be Friends, Offend In Every Way, I Think I Smell a Rat

What One Armed Scissor did for 2000’s hardcore, Pour Some Sugar On Me did for 80’s hard rock. I’ve always had a bit of distaste for 80’s hard rock/hair metal - you could say I’ve kept it at arm’s length - but there’s something about the production that doesn’t do it for me. Every song is about sex, every song is quite boring and almost every song has a bit where they just shout the track name and (presumably) set the live audience up to go ‘yeah!’ or something. Which once in a while is fine, but it’s on every track. Bet they’re great fun live, but tickets probably cost an arm and a leg. Appreciate Chris will want to throw hands when I say I don’t like this, but he’s a little armchair warrior and I reckon I could take him handily.